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AC Milan concluded their preseason tour of the Far East with a game against Perth Glory, and in truth it could hardly have gone better.
Filippo Terracciano opened the scoring early on, and then after a bit of a lull the scoring exploded. Noah Okafor scored a quickfire double, Christian Comotto won and converted a penalty, then Samuel Chukwueze fired in a rocket for a 5-0 half-time lead.
Milan did not let their foot off the gas one bit in the second half, despite 11 changes being made. Rafael Leao scored early on and then right at the end, with Samuele Ricci and Yunus Musah both also scoring lovely goals to round off a convincing nine-nil victory.
Admittedly there was clearly a gulf between the sides, who are at very different stages in their condition and preparation too. That being said, what did we learn from the curtain call in Western Australian?
1. Youthful exuberance
Massimiliano Allegri opted to make eight changes from the side that beat Liverpool over the weekend, and the most intriguing was probably the decision to give Comotto the nod in the anchoring midfield role.
The 17-year-old was far from over-awed, as his stats show: 45 minutes played, 1 goal, 1 penalty won, 97% pass accuracy, 2 key passes, 36 touches, 9 passes into final third, 4 interceptions, 4/5 ground duels won.
There were a couple of hairy moments, particularly when trying to bring the ball out from deep, but all in all it was a very encouraging performance from the youngster. A loan spell at Spezia apparently awaits, but might that panenka penalty show the confidence required to complete immediately?
Another star from the first half was Alex Jimenez, who had a hand in multiple goals. Having played a lot of minutes at full-back and as a right wing-back last season, the Spaniard provided a reminder of his agility, speed and skill with constant darting and weaving runs into the box.
It will be intriguing to see what Allegri settles on in terms of his ideal position, though for now Jimenez is demonstrating that he is adding a bit of end product to his game, which is very useful. As a reminder, he is only 20.
In the second half, it was time for Mattia Liberali to get a run-out and he too had some fine moments. Playing somewhere between a box-to-box player and a playmaker, the teenager’s back-heel to Alexis Saelemaekers then led to Samuele Ricci’s peach of a goal.
Overnight, the news broke that Liberali is apparently heading to Catanzaro in Serie B, in a permanent deal for no transfer fee. To play 45 minutes in this friendly and show some promising signs must surely make everyone reflect.
Finally, a brief bit of praise for Davide Bartesaghi. He has had some very tough assignments like Mo Salah and Bukayo Saka, though this was a game where his tenacity and effort was more rewarded. Overall, a good exercise for the younger players.
2. Exemplary attitude
Allegri spoke to Milan TV after the match just before the team fly home, and he summed things up very well from an application point of view.
“The boys are working hard and with enthusiasm, which is the most important thing. Above all, they’re very serious,” he said.
“Usually, the last match of the tour is always taken a bit too lightly, but instead the boys did very well because they took it seriously. We needed to train well; it should have been a great evening for sport in Australia, and we’re happy.”
He’s absolutely right: most players and sides would put everything into the games against Arsenal and Liverpool for obvious reasons, leaving little in the tank for a match against the side that finished bottom of the A-League.
There was none of that on show. Instead, every single player who took to the field seemed to see it as a further opportunity to build fitness, to create cohesion, to learn attacking patterns and to gain a bit of confidence too.
Again, we must mention the obvious gap between the sides, but this was not the usual mauling of a Serie C or Serie D side at Milanello in mid-July that we have become accustomed to. Milan went to Perth, took on a team in their home ground who had a desire to impress, and wiped the floor with them.
Being consistently resilient, ruthless, focused and applied is a habit that must be learned early. The proof will come when the competitive games start of course, though playing with such intensity for 90 minutes in this game was a good signal.
3. Further tactical indications
The final point is more of a summary, so bear with us. Whether it was fully intentional or not, we have seen an evolution from Milan across the three games played in the Far East.
The Arsenal game felt very much like a war of attrition, where the focus was more about establishing a compact and solid defensive shape to try and limit the damage against a side that were better equipped and further ahead in their preparations.
It is unlikely that the plan was to sit very deep for the majority of the game and get outshot 23 to three, hence the ‘whether intentional’ notation, though the big positive was that Milan’s defensive shape bent but only broke once.
Then, in the Liverpool match, the challenge was to keep those solid building blocks but to do more at the other end, in the opponent’s final third. What we saw was another good rearguard display complemented by looking far more threatening on the break, as the four goals show.
Perth Glory were an entirely different proposition. In the final game the pressure was on Milan a bit to show they can dominate a game, that they can press effectively, that they possess the ideas to break down an opponent and – with respect to the Australian outfit – score a bunch of goals. They did that.
We learned some things in terms of formation too, which also took on a chameleonic touch. Against Arsenal the five-man back line was seen, usually a 5-4-1 with Leao being the leading man. Versus Liverpool, it became more of a 5-3-2 and this certainly helped support transitions, adding some bite further up.
In the Perth Glory match we saw a 4-3-3 moving into a 4-2-3-1 in possession, but also into a compact 4-4-1-1 when the opposition were in control. At times, depending on the players on the pitch, a five-man midfield was seen.
This also raises some questions. Is a €35m+ midfielder really needed with Ruben Loftus-Cheek looking so good? If yes, should the budget be re-allocated from the right-back signing, to proceed with a three-man defence and wing-backs? Could Leao work in a front two?
Luka Modric and Santiago Gimenez are still to join the team and play in this system so there is plenty of intrigue to come. For now, though, Milan can enjoy their flight home knowing they had a very worthwhile couple of weeks.
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