Are Pippo Inzaghi's Milan Ready to Upset Champions Juventus?

Milan’s supporters could not have wished for a better start to Pippo Inzaghi’s managerial career. After making short work of a strong Lazio team in their opening fixture, the Rossoneri beat Parma 5-4 last Sunday in a game that will live long in the memory. The next eight months would have to be pretty special for Jeremy Menez’s backheel not to finish up as a goal-of-the-season contender. 

Eight years had passed since Milan last recorded consecutive wins to start a new campaign. It was Inzaghi himself who scored Milan’s first goal of the 2006-07 season, and he would later grab the last two, as well, dragging his team to victory over Liverpool in the Champions League final.

There can be no repeat of that achievement this season, with Milan having failed to qualify for any European competition. But Inzaghi might even be grateful for that fact as he prepares for this Saturday’s game against Juventus. Unlike the Bianconeri, who played Malmo on Tuesday, Milan have had a full week to prepare. 

Already, this match is being billed as an important test of Inzaghi’s new-look team. It is one thing, after all, to beat Lazio and Parma, but quite another to get a result against a Juventus side which finished 45 points ahead of Milan last season, and which has not conceded a goal in any of its last seven games across all competitions. 

Despite a change of manager, the defending Serie A champions have begun this season looking every bit as dominant as they did during their previous, record-breaking, campaign. Massimiliano Allegri has opted for evolution, not revolution, retaining Antonio Conte’s 3-5-2 formation while giving opportunities to his club’s new summer signings. It is early days yet, but each of Kingsley Coman, Alvaro Morata and Patrice Evra look like valuable additions to an already robust squad. 

If Milan’s supporters still believe that an upset is possible, it is because their team’s performances this season have been almost unrecognisable from the listless, ponderous side we saw last year. Inzaghi has constructed a team that is savagely direct, capitalising on the raw pace of such players as Menez and Stephan El Shaarawy.

The Frenchman, acquired on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, has revelled in his role as a false nine, to such an extent that one or two fans are already wondering how Fernando Torres fits into this team. By dropping deep and allowing midfielders to stream forwards in his place at times, Menez offers Milan an unpredictability that the former Chelsea striker might not. 

Certainly it is hard to imagine Torres putting in the sort of all-action performance that he delivered against Parma. Not only did Menez score twice in that game, but he also touched the ball 60 times, more than any other team-mate except Nigel De Jong, according to stats website WhoScored.com.

The sceptics will point out that Menez is no up-and-coming prospect but instead a 27-year-old man who has not yet proven himself capable of translating his undoubted talent into consistent performances on the pitch. 

But speaking in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport this week (quotes in Italian, via asromalive.it), the player countered that he had matured, the combination of passing years and the birth of his first daughter (he has a second on the way) prompting him to knuckle down and start taking his football more seriously. He believes firmly that his best years are ahead of him. 

More than the signing of any new player, though, it is the spirit of togetherness in this Milan side that makes fans want to believe. Every one of Milan’s eight goals so far this season has brought forth eruptions of joy worthy of a cup-final winner, with even the team’s unused substitutes eager to join in with the celebrations. 

Inzaghi himself got a dressing down for sprinting out of his technical area to hug Sulley Muntari after the midfielder scored Milan’s second against Lazio. Two weeks later, Giacomo Bonaventura saved his manager the trouble by running straight to the bench after opening his account for the team. 

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Even the owner, Silvio Berlusconi, has become more involved. He has dropped in on the club’s training sessions at Milanello every Friday now for four weeks, and is expected to do so again this week.

Although he has made such visits throughout his 28-year ownership of the club, in the past they were more sporadic. Typically, he appeared only when Milan were struggling or preparing for an especially big game. 

Not all managers have appreciated these interventions. An ardent fan who considers himself knowledgeable about the sport, Berlusconi has never been shy about criticising his coaches’ tactical schemes. 

But as a lifelong football obsessive, Inzaghi has always been happy to discuss the game with anyone who would listen. During his playing days he even used to call up journalists to let them know when he felt they had made a mistake with his match rating (via La Repubblica, in Italian).

He and Berlusconi have a close relationship dating back to Inzaghi’s time as a player with the club. Addressing the press last week, the manager said that they speak every day, and that he is happy to have the owner so closely involved. Inzaghi argued that Berlusconi brought enthusiasm to the club and that he was also something of a good-luck charm (quotes in Italian).

Gazzetta dello Sport supported that claim, reporting before the Parma game that the club had lost only twice in 11 games when Berlusconi dropped in on training beforehand. (via milannews.it, in Italian).

It will take more than fortune for Milan to beat Juventus this weekend. To hold off the champions they will need not only to maintain their recent attacking verve but also to fix some of the familiar defensive errors that showed up against Parma—most notably their shabby defending at set pieces.

But the fact that fans can even feel optimistic tells you how far this club has come in a short space of time under its new manager. If Milan play with the same spirit that they have shown so far, we could be in for quite some game at San Siro.