Yahoo Sports Slovan Bratislava 2-3 AC Milan: Five things we learned – washing machine rotation and self-destructing defence
AC Milan made it three wins on the bounce in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, beating Slovan Bratislava 3-2 away from home.
Milan started off their European campaign poorly after losing to both Liverpool and Bayern Leverkusen, which meant they had to win all of their easier fixtures if they wanted to guarantee themselves a spot in the last 16.
The Rossoneri started off well in that regard, defeating Club Brugge 3-1 at San Siro, but it was certainly not a walk in the park. Then came the big shock: a 3-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid, which rocketed enthusiasm again.
Poor performances against Cagliari and Juventus domestically ramped up the pressure ahead of the trip to Slovakia, and Paulo Fonseca made quite a few changes to try and freshen things up against a physical side.
In the end, goals from Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao and Tammy Abraham were enough to seal a victory, yet the home side levelled moments after the opener and they made it a nervy finish late on with 10 men. Here are five things we learned from the game.
1. Like a washing machine
Once again, Fonseca made the decision to interchange a number of key players and it can be argued that there isn’t much obvious strategy at play. Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana are probably the only two players that are a constant in the line-up and have been able to build some kind of chemistry.
In the defence department we constantly see different centre-back pairs whilst Emerson Royal was also rested this time out, though there were doubts about his condition going into the game. The result? Two goals conceded, against a team who had scored twice in four games before last night.
The attack – and admittedly partly due to necessity – was also overhauled again, excluding Christian Pulisic who played in a central role. Tammy Abraham did have a very positive outing, it must be said, but overall the football was not fluid and not pleasant to watch.
The Portuguese coach doesn’t seem to be able to decide on which is his best starting XI and that’s really hurting the cohesion of the team. With the performances of Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor, it’s obvious that they are not in rhythm and when they do get starts, the pressure is then on them to produce instantly.
2. Trio save the day
Abraham and Pulisic combined really well in the first half resulting in the opening goal. The Englishman held the ball up very well, evaded his marker with a nice touch and played a perfect through ball.
In the second half Rafael Leao was need to shake things up after a ghostly performance by Okafor and the Portuguese did not disappoint after a lovely run and finish to give his side the lead.
Then Abraham got his goal too to double the advantage, and these three moments are probably the only real dangerous attacks that Milan had throughout the game which is telling. Aside from that, it was a lot of tame possession and aimless crosses.
Fonseca’s team continue to labour in their attempts to achieve the ‘possession-based domination’ the coach has spoken about, hoping individual brilliance will get them out of trouble. Against Slovan it worked, but in games like the Juventus one it didn’t.
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3. Both flanks disappoint
Davide Calabria started his first game in weeks after overcoming a calf issue, and it would be fair to say that the captain seemed a bit rusty. He didn’t time a couple of his challenges well, whilst also not being particularly efficient going forward.
The same can be said for Theo Hernandez although the Frenchman was tidier at the back compared to his team-mate. The fact remains though that the left-back just simply doesn’t look close to the same electric levels we have been used to.
As mentioned above, Okafor and Chukwueze both failed to contribute with anything meaningful in front of the two full-backs. The Nigerian was a bit more active in the sense that he received the ball fairly often, but then he followed with a sloppy pass or failed to beat his man every single time.
4. Self-destructive defence
There’s little new to say on the defensive front since it has been an issue since the start of the season and it was an all-round horror show again on both of the goals conceded, even if the second was a rocket.
On the first goal, the last Milan players were incredibly high up the pitch due to it being a set piece situation, allowing Slovan to break quickly and get in behind with relative ease. This was despite the Diavolo having just established a lead that they could handle with care.
Assuming those were Fonseca’s instructions given it was a corner, then this was baffling as well given the chance of a counter-attack happening against you. Surely with a lead the instruction has to change, by leaving an extra man back for example.
On the second goal it was again a group effort: a failure to clear the ball and then to react allowed Nino Marcelli all the time in the world to let off a belter of a shot into the top corner. Fonseca has blamed the collective and the individuals in recent weeks, when will it change?
5. Time is running out
We might as well keep the fifth point reserved for Fonseca’s future each week and ask ourselves how long is he going to last at his current job.
Milan played the team sitting at the bottom of the table in the Champions League and created very little aside from the two goals (the Expected Goals was 1.6), with the third one being a gift from the home side.
It’s just incomprehensible that a team like Milan can barely cause trouble for Slovan Bratislava, with all respect to them. The ball was moving slowly, the players were taking too long to release it, there was no creativity or risk-taking with the passing, and on top of that there was no compactness at the back.
There is only so long without improvement before the fingers begin to point at Fonseca himself, and whilst Milan clinched the victory they continue to look way off the pace. A European run might not be enough to save him either, given the domestic struggles.
