Yahoo Sports MN: Aston Villa, Juventus and Bologna performances raise doubts about Milan’s ‘timid’ approach
The varying opinions continue to flood in after AC Milan’s defeat against Bayer Leverkusen, with one piece pointing to the performance of other teams in the Champions League as a guideline for what should have happened.
An article on MilanNews begins by acknowledging that Milan were much improved in the final half-hour of the game against the Bundesliga champions and that we could be talking about a different result but for some missed chances and refereeing controversy.
However, what deserved criticism is the approach up until that point, because Bologna played well at Anfield against Liverpool whule Lille (Paulo Fonseca’s former team) played well and won against Real Madrid.
Aston Villa played well and won against Bayern Munich, and Juventus – with 10 men and two injuries in the 10 ten minutes, with a new coach and many new players – won by coming from behind against RB Leipzig.
Many of the players of the teams mentioned above are having their very first experience in the European field, while many of the Rossoneri players already have plenty of games under their belt. Simply put, this is not the Milan of three years ago who could afford more timid approaches.
Leverkusen are a well-drilled team which has been traveling at a crazy pace for a year, while Milan are a work in progress under Fonseca, but all this cannot justify the ultra-defensive performance in the first hour.
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Playing with ‘courage’ – as Fonseca has repeatedly tried to instil – certainly does not mean going on the attack all guns blazing, but defending in an organised way and breaking in numbers seemed a good compromise. Instead, there was barely a chance until the hosts went 1-0 up, with the first shot coming in the 39th minute.
Most of the teams took to the field to play with their heads held high even against opponents who were clearly stronger on paper. Bologna didn’t stand on the Anfield pitch afraid of taking a beating and even scared Liverpool on more than one occasion.
Aston Villa didn’t let themselves be intimidated by Bayern’s power: they stayed there, focused, and found the goal, fighting for every ball and deserved a win. Lille didn’t give Real Madrid any respite, and the list goes on.
The article ends: “Why can’t Milan do the same? What does Milan have less than all these teams? Were Bayer Leverkusen really that unbeatable? No, and the last half hour proved it.
“Fonseca, among other things, has the right thing to do here: it’s the players, all of them, who have to give something more in desire, in spirit, in mind. Because the ball is round and nobody is unbeatable. And Milan has a strong team that can be much more scary in the Champions League.”
