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AC Milan failed to clinch all three points against Sassuolo in the early Sunday kick-off, thus losing control of first place in the standings. As always, there are some things that we learned from the game.
Knowing their difficulties against newly-promoted sides, a lot of the Milan fans went ‘here we go again’ as Sassuolo opened the scoring early on. However, after a brace by Davide Bartesaghi, the Rossoneri turned the game around.
Nevertheless, due to a relatively late equaliser, it wasn’t enough for Massimiliano Allegri’s men who dropped points against a newly-promoted side once again. Below are five things we learned from the game and the performance.
1. The future is bright!
We simply have to start with the big positive from the game, namely Bartesaghi. I mentioned in my key battles piece that his overlapping runs would be crucial in Rafael Leao’s absence, but I obviously meant more for crosses. In short, it didn’t see it coming!
While some might look at the first goal and see an open net, it should be noted that Bartesaghi’ s angle wasn’t brilliant, not to mention that he arrived at the ball with full pace. The second goal also showed a lot of composure, finding the gap at the near post.
It’s a huge shame that Milan didn’t come away with all three points because it would have been such a great day for the youngster, who became the youngest defender to score for Milan in the league since Paolo Maldini. If that doesn’t paint the picture, I don’t know what does!
2. Pick up the runs…
The thing that infuriated me about the final result was that Milan, despite the errors of the referee (more on that later), could definitely have avoided the goals. Yes, they were well-worked moves, so kudos to Sassuolo there, but the marking was shocking.
On the first goal, Strahinja Pavlovic failed to pick up the run of Ismael Kone and pushed up at the wrong time, not doing any good in the end. Matteo Gabbia also could have done better even if the Sassuolo man arrived with pace. One of the midfielders probably could have helped with the run too!
More or less the same thing happened on the second goal. That time, Alexis Saelemaekers and Fikayo Tomori switched off completely, which allowed Armand Lauriente loads of space. Such easy mistakes that ended up being super costly. We simply cannot allow it.
3. Depth haunts us again
Besides bringing in Christian Pulisic, Allegri didn’t make any changes to the starting eleven, so the team that played from the first minute was pretty good. However, once again, it was very clear that Milan lack the depth needed to compete for the Scudetto.
It could have been a different story with Rafael Leao and Santiago Gimenez available, but that’s not reality. Just ifs, buts and maybes. The only attacking move that Allegri had on the bench was bringing in Samuele Ricci, while pushing Ruben Loftus-Cheek further up.
It’s insane to think that Sassuolo actually had more attacking depth on their bench, subbing on Lauriente who immediately made a difference. It should be the other way around in games like these, i.e. a big team vs. a newly-promoted side.
4. Questionable officiating
Throughout the game, the inexperienced referee Valerio Crezzini kept making strange decisions, from not giving certain free-kicks (Jay Idzes on Pulisic, for example), to missing handballs and more. Sure enough, his lack of quality cost Milan dearly.
In the 57th minute, Pulisic had a completely legal goal disallowed for a foul by Loftus-Cheek in the build-up. However, all refereeing experts agree that it shouldn’t have been disallowed, meaning the American and Milan were effectively robbed of the goal.
That goal likely would have been the difference between three points and a draw, as Milan would have been able to relax at that stage. Sassuolo, meanwhile, most likely would have lost a lot of momentum in their search for a goal.
5. Glass half empty
Allegri stated after the game that the draw ‘could prove useful’. while he was generally quite positibve aboit the performance. For me, however, it’s certainly a glass-half-empty situation more than anything, as another two points were dropped against a newly-promoted side.
Another very worrying stat is that Milan have conceded six goals against the three newly-promoted sides this season, while all of these games were played at San Siro too. It’s unacceptable and could prove fatal even in the Champions League race.
Having subbed off Pulisic as a ‘tactical move’, which the gaffer explained himself, he has to take some blame too for the disappointing result. Playing a more defensive game for the sake of it, against a team like Sassuolo, perhaps wasn’t the best move.
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