After the shocking start-of-season implosion of their cross-town rivals Inter, the red-and-black half of Milan have had some of the attention from their poor start to the season deflected away from them, despite having amassed just one point more than the Nerazzuri following the opening five games.
However following an extremely disappointing – and deserved – defeat to Juventus on Sunday night, the Rossoneri‘s problems were laid bare for all to see. It was a lacklustre display to say the least, with the side seemingly happy to settle for the point. Max Allegri’s three substitutions involved bringing on a defender and two midfielders, hardly a statement of attacking intent from the coach.
Milan did a decent job of soaking up pressure until the breakthrough late in the game, but going forward they were nothing short of shambolic. Their narrow 4-3-1-2 formation didn’t work at all well against Juventus’ 4-3-2-1/4-2-3-1, with the front three being frequently being overrun due to a lack of support from teammates.
There wasn’t a great deal of width, in fact none at all, provided by 34-year-old left-back Gianluca Zambrotta, and makeshift right-back Daniele Bonera, leading to Kevin-Prince Boateng in the trequartista role drifting to the flanks, leading to frequent attacks breaking down.
Despite filling in very well in the trequartista position last season, there’s little doubt that it would suit Boateng better moving into the midfield three, and his disappointing evening in which he completed just 69% of his passes ended in a red card. The sooner Robinho returns from injury to fill in behind the strikers, the better.
The best Milan XI? Five of these players missed the Juve game through injury
On the subject of injures, that’s the one excuse with Milan have at the moment for their poor performances, with Gennaro Gattuso, Mathieu Flamini, Alex Pato, Ignazio Abate and Philippe Mexes joining the Brazilian on the sidelines, with Flamini being the only long-term absentee.
Rather interestingly, Alberto Aquilani was included in the official lineup for Milan last night, before being replaced by Boateng who was deemed fit enough to play late on. Milan’s summer acquisition on loan from Liverpool has been played in the trequartista role when playing this season, but he has mostly been anonymous and appears to better suit the role deeper in the midfield, breaking forward to attack.
A startling lack of pace in the Milan midfield is also no cause for optimism, and when the final whistle blew on Sunday, the trio in the midfield – made up of Ambrosini, van Bommel and Seedorf, were 34-years-old, 34 and 35 respectively, with the latter appearing to be worryingly unable to keep up with the pace of the game. The industrious Antonio Nocerino is a hard worker, but whether he has the quality expected of a Milan player remains to be seen.
Antonio Cassano was barely noticable, and touched the ball only 27 times all game, fewer than half of those by Juventus’ excellent striker Mirko Vucinic. However it seems like a case of make do with the limited resources available for Milan up-front, at least until Robinho returns. Without doubt the unpredictable, exciting Alex Pato is a valuable asset for the Rossoneri, but his alarming injury proneness and whether he’s compatible with Zlatan Ibrahimovic are two potential barriers halting his progress.
It isn’t yet time for major alarm for AC Milan, but without doubt they’ve got some work to do if they want to retain the Scudetto. An ageing squad and an injury crisis has meant a rough start to the season, and whether Max Allegri’s 4-3-1-2 formation is best for them at current is debatable. With most players scheduled to be crossed off the injury list in the next few games, the pressure is now on for Milan to turn their poor start to the season around.
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