11 hours ago
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A first win of the season saw AC Milan pick up three points at the Via Del Mare, beating Lecce by two goals to nil.
Following the disastrous performance against Cremonese, which kicked off the season with a loss, Milan had to react and win against Lecce before the international break, which comes at a good time. Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic can recover, whilst Christopher Nkunku, who was announced today, could also get up to speed as he will not be part of the French squad.
The Rossoneri’s lineup was depleted against Lecce with Ardon Jashari, Pulisic and Leao all out, but excuses had to be put aside as the three points were all that mattered.
Things started brilliantly for the Diavolo, with Gabbia scoring a goal just 4 minutes into the game. Unfortunately, that goal was disallowed, and the Rossoneri had to wait until the 66th minute to open the scoring through Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Before the goal, Santiago Gimenez also scored, but the goal was again disallowed, this time due to an offside.
In the 86th minute, Pulisic killed the game with a lovely finish to form the final 2-0 scoreline, as Milan got their first three points of the season.
Here are five things we learned from the game:
1. Saelemaekers steps up in the absence of Pulisic and Leao
Alexis Saelemaekers was played up front, in the absence of Pulisic and Leao, and ended up playing on either side of the pitch and at times behind Gimenez, too.
The first half wasn’t the most efficient from the Belgian, but he was probably the best player for Milan in the opening 45 minutes and looked for the ball, trying to make something happen. He was, however, let down by his teammates a bit as they all seemed lost and didn’t make any runs forward.
In the second half, he picked up the pace and had multiple good dribbles and even got the assist for Gimenez’s disallowed goal. He also won the foul that resulted in the opening goal.
All in all, he did well across the front line and proved his versatility again. He was also the only player who could actually beat his man and work in the tight spaces, and he continues to be an asset for the team.
2. Modric orchestrates in the middle
Luka Modric was a bit poor in the first half, but it was mainly due to the whole side looking a bit off in their game.
In the second half, as Milan picked up the pace, Modric also improved a lot and dictated the tempo very well, eventually getting the assist for Loftus-Cheek’s goal. If you take into account the lovely delivery in the first half for Matteo Gabbia’s disallowed goal, then the midfielder had quite the impact.
Modric was also crucial towards the end in helping his team keep its cool and close the game down. It was also helpful that Samuele Ricci came on as the Italian added a bit more passing ability in the middle, which made life for the Croatian easier.
3. Trio disappoint
There were a few players that didn’t manage to step up in the second half either, after poor first halves – Pervis Estupinan, Youssouf Fofana and Santiago Gimenez.
The Ecuadorian still seems to be getting used to his new team, and he did have the occasional good combination with Saelemaekers down the left flank. Nevertheless, he was quite shaky as he made quite a few mistakes.
Admittedly, the second half was better, at least defensively, but still plenty to improve.
Then Fofana continues to frustrate as he did against Cremonese. The Frenchman offered little in both phases of the game, moving the ball really slowly, and other than a good through ball to Gimenez, we didn’t see other positives.
That leads us to Gimenez. The Mexican was very poor and has not been able to make the most out of the two games he had to prove his worth against arguably easier sides to play against.
The disallowed goal was the only moment he actually managed to control the ball and fire off a decent shot. In the other instances, he failed to control the ball. When he did manage to get a good first touch into the box, which was maybe once, he sent the shot wide whilst being 1v1 with the keeper.
A really disappointing performance by Gimenez, who needs to do much, much better if he does end up staying with the Rossoneri.
4. Compact at the back
On the positive side, the Diavolo managed to keep a clean sheet, and there was only really half a chance for Lecce to threaten Mike Maignan. It was a night and day performance compared to the one against Cremonese, as it looked more like the defence we were expecting under Allegri.
Lecce might not be the best team to measure against, but then again, the same could’ve been said for Cremonese, who had no trouble creating goal chances. It’s definitely refreshing to see such a performance at the back.
These clean sheets will ultimately allow the Rossoneri to win games where the attack might not be performing well, and that’s all that matters in the end.
5. Captain America seals it off the bench
Pulisic didn’t perform well against Cremonese and was on the bench against Lecce, due to a minor injury, but he did what he does best after coming off the bench. He quietly found the space to cause some chaos and then calmly slotted it in to give the Rossoneri the win.
The American isn’t as spectacular to watch compared to Leao, for example, but he works hard and always knows how to get himself in these dangerous positions and has more than enough abilities to find the back of the net or provide an assist.
Hopefully, this season will not be any different, and one might hope that he can even get better with players like Nkunku and Modric around him.
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