After a reasonably comfortable 2-0 win against Lecce, Milan were hoping to add another one to their tally but only managed a 1-1 draw against Roma. Albeit in rather spectacular fashion.
Milan started the game well and controlled most of the play, but struggled a lot with creating chances and that came back to haunt them in the end. Because in the 94th minute, after a mistake by CDK, Roma opened the scoring with a quick counter.
Alexis Saelemaekers had other plans, however, and in the 97th minute after a lovely cross by Rafael Leao, scored the crucial equaliser. A goal that could end up meaning so much for Milan in the top four race. Here are five things we learned…
1. An all too familiar hurdle
Mourinho and Roma played the game very well from a tactical point of view as they let Milan have the possession and decided to sit back, waiting for their moment on the counter for the bigger part of the game.
This has been an issue for Milan since the start of the season, if not longer, and proved to be an issue yet again as the Rossoneri managed to pass the ball around well, but when they got close to the penalty box it all seemed to crumble.
Pioli needs to find a temporary solution in the last few games, where Milan needs to be more efficient in attack and try to secure a spot in the top four.
2. The centre-forward issue
Giroud wasn’t particularly helpful on the night as the striker had a lot of troubles against Ibanez and Mancini and failed to win a lot of the duels he was involved in.
The Frenchman wasn’t very efficient when he did get the chance to play with the ball either, as he misplaced a few of his passes and just couldn’t combine with his teammates- Something that is usually a strong point in his playing style.
The issue might also be because of fatigue and the fact that Pioli doesn’t have a replacement for him highlights that Milan didn’t do enough last summer to reinforce the squad. The management thus needs to take some of the blame.
3. Unusually shaky display by Krunic
The Bosnian has had some great performances in recent weeks, but he wasn’t at his best against Roma. Defensively, he did great and helped a lot even preventing some potentially very dangerous chances, but offensively he wasn’t efficient enough as his passing was quite poor throughout the game and he gave away the ball away on several occasions.
A mixed performance overall, which isn’t necessarily bad, but considering his recent form it was an unusually poor display on the ball by the Bosnian.
4. Contrast between the flanks
Whilst Leao was once again the only source of creativity for Milan, his partner on the right (Diaz) was pretty much invisible and we barely saw anything from him before he was subbed off.
The Portuguese winger was crucial in the end as he provided a lovely cross for Saelemaekers to convert and equal the score. Diaz, meanwhile, struggled against a low-sitting defence and never really look in place on the night.
Diaz, of course, has been brilliant in multiple games lately but it remains to be seen if Saelemaekers will get the chance more often. One thing is certain: it’s good for Milan that the competition is there between the two.
5. Mixed feelings off the bench
De Ketelaere, Saelemaekers, Kalulu, and Thiaw were introduced in the second half with De Ketelaere being the only one to disappoint really as he just kept passing the ball back. He was also at fault for Roma’s goal as he was easily dispossessed by Mancini.
His compatriot, on the other hand, was a massive upgrade to Diaz as he was more involved in the game and eventually scored a goal to bring Milan back level after keeping his cool in the 97th minute.
Thiaw and Kalulu were also solid at the back with the slight argument that the Frenchman could’ve done a tad better against Abraham, but the whole defence was caught off guard at that point so we should perhaps not be too harsh on him. Still, we’ve seen him intercept better and he could’ve been a bit more aggressive.
No Kalulu was not good this time around. Thiaw was solid fortunately as he hasn’t been stellar of late but Kalulu marked very softly on a few occasions and in the end was punished for it on Tammy’s goal and just wasnt good. Just hasn’t been his year. Great talent though and he still has immense potential as he’s already good.
That said our Belgian trio is just the saddest set of subs, 100% not worthy of being on a supposed top team besides maybe Saelemaekers as a backup as he does come up with some decent moments here and there…
“No Kalulu was not good this time around.”
Even if some people here keep repeating the same old clichés that “Kjaer is too old” and “Kjaer is too slow”, it was obvious that Roma knew their chance had come when he was taken off. No way on Earth Abraham would have been allowed to score if Kjaer was still on the pitch.
And yes. Kalulu wasn’t good. Which begs the question: when was the last time he was good? Especially on the CB spot? Because I can’t remember anymore.
We are too much depend on Left Flanks (Leao and Theo hernandez). The qualified of right flanks is poor and its not Pioli’s fault in my opinion. Management has to bring quality player especially on the right flanks. Just bring zaniolo or berardi.
Too late for both. One is ruined by injuries and off the pitch issues and the other is too old to have his first European experiences.
One thing I learned: Thiaw is going to be even better than I thought.
His closing speed is bloody quick. It is not always obvious because he moves in a very mechanical way. On a few occasions against Roma he hit something close to full speed chasing back and he really took off.
When you add that speed to the rest of the package, it’s pretty amazing. I don’t recall his contract details but we’re probably going to re-negotiate sooner rather than later to keep him around.
And looking at Thiaw play, he would fit in nicely in the midfield as well as he gets by the pressing opponents with ease and delivers a good, fast & accurate pass afterwards. That’s something 90% of Milan-players are unable to do.
We just got handed another lifeline by Bologna. *IF* everything else stays the same and we beat Juventus in our head to head we finish top 4.
Lol that’s a big if for a team that can’t win a game in the league right now
Indeed, but I rather have that if than not have it. We’re hanging on by our fingernails at the moment.
Yes Juventus not winning and Lazio losing keeps us in the hunt, but it has also allowed other teams to catch up.
6 points separates 2nd place Lazio and 7th place Atalanta.
6 teams are fighting for 3 UCL spots and no team is in worst form than Milan.
Milan has only 2 wins over the last 2 months. 8 games only 2 wins.
Milan only has 6 wins since January 1st. 4 months, 17 games only 6 wins.
Milan can’t score vs teams that sit back and in the next 6 games we play only 1 team that will come to a game to attack vs Lazio, the rest sit back.
At this pace we are closer to finishing completely out of Europe spots than finishing top 4.
Hopefully somehow we squeeze in and make top 4
Yeah no other way than to win remaining matches. Or else there will be controversy and conspiracy in the end of the league.
Don’t write statistics because it is combined number of bulls*it.
Milan play 4 games home 2 aways. Four games they play against top bottom teams. 2 games against top rivals.
So no matter what, this team must give best of them each game to collect most point.
Than we don’t need to forget how juventus could be banned or lose points again after end of the season.
“Four games they play against top bottom teams. 2 games against top rivals.”
Yes. Exactly this is so worrisome. Milan plays badly (horribly bad) against the lower table teams. Who wants to bet Milan drops points on Wednesday against the 2nd worst team in the league?
I get what you’re saying but some of those dropped points have been the result of heavy rotations. As long as long Leao, Theo and Giroud start, our chances to pull off a win are good enough.
We’re not that bad. We’ve been distracted by CL recently.
Yep. Terrifying for us, but objectively good for Serie A.
Tôi đã nhìn thấy kết quả của cả mùa giải này thông qua kỳ chuyển nhượng mùa hè vừa qua.