GdS: ‘Compact, balanced’ – Allegri’s Milan vision thrived against Liverpool

There were few expectations heading into the friendly against Liverpool. However, AC Milan showed that they are more than capable of performing. 

Getting too excited over a friendly is a danger, of course. However, Milan were solid and made the most of their chances, whilst also keeping Liverpool at bay. Impressive, yes, despite the fact that its relevance to the season is little.

Gazzetta dello Sport, this morning, states that it is a showing of ‘Allegri’s Milan’. The ideas have manifested onto the pitch quickly, and the team have bought into his style. Compact and balanced, alert and capable, the Diavolo ‘passed with flying colours’, the paper writes (seen below).

Defensively sound

Whilst Liverpool had most of the ball and had more shots, they failed to really create much danger. It was never a case of the Rossoneri bowing to their opponents, at least consistently. There were chances, of course. However, it was not a one-way street.

Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Strahinja Pavlovic worked well in the backline, whilst the paper also gives solid scores to Samuele Ricci, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Youssouf Fofana.

A 5-4-1 shape limited space for the Reds’ midfield, and sacrifices were made, as seen by Rafael Leao’s deeper positioning. With that, they found confidence and belief in one another.

Regeneration

The goals were scored quickly, with the Rossoneri counterattacking strongly. However, there was a clear need for a ‘box-striker’, to allow this system to blossom more beautifully. Leao impressed, as did Alexis Salemaekers and Christian Pulisic.

In fact, the Portuguese was involved in the two opening goals for Milan, showing just how good a performance he had. Pivotal.

As a team, there was more of a spark than what they had shown last season – again, pre-season needs to be remembered; however, this is Allegri’s forte. He makes players better, and then teams grow with it.

Tomori, Thiaw, Loftus-Cheek, Leao, Noah Okafor, Pavlovic. Each had previously shown issues, but as Gazzetta write, they seem reborn, regenerated, revived under Allegri.