AC Milan Defeat Pescara in Spite of Vincenzo Montella's Bemusing Negativity
It’s hard to criticise a winning coach and almost sacrilegious when that person has redefined a team used to dropping unnecessary points. But in order to avoid repeating past mistakes, reasoned analysis must prevail.
AC Milan needed hope after three desperately poor seasons, and Vincenzo Montella has restored that. Since arriving in June, he has led the team to seven wins from his first 11 Serie A matches in charge, taking them up to third place in the table as a result.
He has imbued the team with a clear sense of identity and taken away some of the underlying fragility that seemed to haunt the players in times of uncertainty.
He also guided them to their first win over reigning champions Juventus for almost four years in what felt like a symbolic moment for a team built on teenagers such as 17-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and 18-year-old playmaker Manuel Locatelli.
However, in spite of his impressive record, Montella’s performance has not been perfect. And to ensure a degree of realism amid Milan’s turnaround in fortunes, it’s important to point out where he can do better.
On Sunday afternoon, Milan defeated Pescara 1-0 at the San Siro. The win was the Rossoneri’s fourth in a row at home and their fourth in five games overall. It was an important result on the back of a dispiriting 3-0 away loss to Genoa on Tuesday and took the club back into the Champions League qualification spots.
However, it was also a nerve-jangling affair, a difficult contest against a struggling team. It was a reminder that Milan’s turnaround is still in its formative stages.
Carlos Bacca was presented with Milan's earliest chance from a Suso ball, but it was the away side that had started the brightest, with Alessandro Crescenzi cutting in from the left to cross straight into Donnarumma’s arms.
Milan then gradually asserted themselves as the first half wore on. Mattia De Sciglio’s shot was well saved by Albano Bizzarri before the woodwork denied M’Baye Niang, whose header crashed off the post as half-time loomed.
And Montella’s men couldn’t have asked for a more positive beginning to the second period. Four minutes in, a free-kick was given just outside Pescara’s penalty area. Giacomo Bonaventura stepped up to pass it cleverly beneath the wall and into the net.
It was an exceptional bit of skill that seemed to spark the game into life, with both sides taking it in turns to test the other’s defensive line.
Pescara striker Gianluca Caprari had a goal disallowed for a tight offside call before Bacca found the post from close range. Ahmad Benali then blazed a strike over the bar before a dangerous cross saw two of the Delfini’s midfield trident, Alberto Aquilani and Ledian Memushaj, collide with one another.
However, with his team’s one-goal lead still in place just after the hour mark, Montella decided on the safe option, substituting Niang for central midfielder Mario Pasalic, who made his first competitive appearance for the club since joining on loan from Chelsea in the summer.
The change was an inherently defensive one, with Bonaventura moving out to the left wing just as he has done at this stage in previous games. It highlighted an uncharacteristic pragmatism that Montella has operated with successfully in recent weeks, but it almost backfired here.
The lead was slender, and Pescara only grew in confidence and momentum as the second half progressed. Their emboldening came from a positive tactical tweak made by head coach Massimo Oddo, who once played for Milan.
Sensing an opportunity to seize the initiative, he pushed his full-backs, Francesco Zampano and Crescenzi, further down their respective flanks. In turn, he moved his wide men, Benali and Alexandru Mitrita, into more central areas of the field, enabling them to drift between the lines and get into more dangerous positions.
The switch had the effect of pushing Milan’s wide men, now Bonaventura and Suso, back. Consequently, while Montella had willingly taken a more defensive posture, there was no way out of it.
Milan defended deep, something depicted in the image below, while their counter-attacks and attacking moves were becoming more and more disjointed. Lone striker Bacca looked lonelier by the minute and showed his frustrations readily when taken off on 84 minutes to be replaced by Luiz Adriano.
Eventually, the home side resorted to relying on the fingertips of Donnarumma to keep them on course for all three points. The young shot-stopper pushed away Memushaj’s effort from range and foiled Caprari’s cheeky lobbed strike when through on goal. It’s no surprise WhoScored.com named the Milan goalkeeper as man of the match.
In the end, this was a hard three points for the Rossoneri. And while Pescara should be credited for their bold attacking play, it is also reasonable to question Montella’s bemusing negativity in so hastily accepting a defence-first policy with the smallest of leads to protect against a team that has won just once in the league this season.
Afterward, Montella told Mediaset Premium (h/t Football Italia) that, “These three points are worth just as much as the three we got against Juventus. We could’ve killed it off earlier, but I liked the performance. Pescara play very good football and deserve our compliments.”
Yet while the Milan boss has a right to be happy with another three points, he should also think twice about employing such tactical alterations in future games unless the circumstances call for them.
His philosophy is very much a changed one from that he appeared set to proceed with upon his appointment. Brought in to oversee a stylistic improvement after implementing beautiful football with Fiorentina in the past, Montella’s mindset seemed to take a different direction after the disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Udinese early on this term.
Following that bitter loss, he spoke to reporters, not of possession, patience or philosophy but of the need for a new mentality and the immediate collection of points. "I expect anger, pride and responsibility, in addition to the technical and tactical aspects, which are secondary," he stated. "After two defeats in a row, we need to get some points, and we will do everything to get them."
And his new attitude has been eminently visible throughout Milan’s recent upturn in form.
Away to Fiorentina, he took Niang off for Locatelli, thus replacing an attacker with a midfielder, on 67 minutes and put left-back Luca Antonelli on the left wing to see out a 0-0 draw. And at home to Juventus, he brought midfield workhorse Andrea Poli on for Niang and centre-back Gustavo Gomez on for Locatelli to close out a 1-0 win.
In both of those matches, the quality of the opposition made Montella’s pragmatism perfectly understandable. But against newly promoted Pescara at the San Siro, it looked out of place. And, ultimately, his team nearly paid the price by encouraging their opposition so early on.
Milan next travel to play relegation-threatened Palermo in another fixture the Rossoneri will be expected to win. In the circumstances, Montella would be wise to eschew an overly cautious approach. His players are confident, cohesive and getting used to winning; there's no need to shackle them.
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