AC Milan vs. Empoli: Winners and Losers from Serie a Game
After a nightmare start last week at Fiorentina, AC Milan needed a better result on their home debut Saturday against Empoli.
With the international break and then the season's first Derby della Madonnina looming, it was important for Sinisa Mihajlovic's men to take three points.
Take them they did, with the hosts claiming a 2-1 victory, but the Rossoneri certainly didn't look particularly good doing it. Both of their goals came more or less from nowhere, and Empoli took three times as many shots.
Despite the shakiness of the performance, three points are three points, and Milan will now go into the break on a high note.
What were the highs and lows of Saturday's contest? Let's take a look at some of the winners and losers from Round 2 in Serie A.
Winner: Giacomo Bonaventura
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Last week Giacomo Bonaventura started as a box-to-box midfielder, but this week he started the game on the bench while Suso took over the attacking-midfield spot and Antonio Nocerino handed a surprise start further back.
Suso disappointed at trequartista, and Bonaventura was inserted to replace him only 10 minutes into the second half. The difference was night and day.
Bonaventura connected much more effectively with the strikers, and his set-piece delivery was a marked improvement over the young Spaniard. His corner kick with 20 minutes to go gave Milan the victory, and his play in midfield helped them hold on to that lead after they gave away their first in less than four minutes.
Bonaventura has been somewhat overlooked in the battle for the trequartista spot, and he made a major case for himself in this match.
When the Derby kicks off two weeks from now, he should be the man in the hole.
Loser: Andrea Bertolacci
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The big news coming into the match was the statement of protest by Milan's Curva Sud ultras, as observed by Football Italia, demanding the dismissal of transfer chief Adriano Galliani.
One of the accusations in the statement was that Galliani gravitated more toward moves benefitting preferred agents and friends in calcio rather than ones that would truly be good for the team. Genoa chief Enrico Preziosi was specifically named, as Milan and the Griffone have done quite a bit of business over the last few years.
The performance of Andrea Bertolacci—who was signed from Genoa for €20 million this summer—didn't do much in the way of deflecting that criticism.
Bertolacci was flat-out bad in this match. He was repeatedly dispossessed in his own half, sent through balls to no one and did more to hinder his team than help. He certainly didn't look anything like his price tag.
Bertolacci will be in the starting XI for the foreseeable future due solely to his price tag, but if he keeps on producing performances like this, he's certainly going to be on a short leash—both with Mihajlovic and Italy manager Antonio Conte.
Winner: Riccardo Saponara
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Revenge is sweet.
Riccardo Saponara arrived at Milan two seasons ago to much fanfare. But three coaches let him rot on the bench before he was finally sent out on loan back to his boyhood club Empoli, in a deal that inexplicably carried a buyout clause—one that Empoli eagerly triggered after he scored seven goals and notched three assists after the move.
After missing this fixture last winter, Saponara must have felt fantastic when he took a great backheel feed from Massimo Maccarone and slotted past Diego Lopez to equalize four minutes after Milan had taken the lead.
Saponara was the best player on either side on Saturday. According to WhoScored.com, he put two of six shots on target and added three key passes and two tackles, completing 85.9 percent of his passes.
So far Saponara has been the revelation of the year, scoring twice in two games and generally serving as Empoli's most dangerous threat. To put one over on the team that snubbed him for two years is just icing on the cake.
Loser: Nigel de Jong
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Nigel de Jong has spent the majority of the season as the regista in the 4-3-1-2 that Sinisa Mihajlovic has brought to Milan.
That's an odd fit considering how little creativity De Jong brings to the game. He's a destroyer, not a creator, and he's been shoehorned into a position where the latter is a requirement.
Until Bonaventura was introduced to inject a bit more creativity farther up, the midfield was completely devoid of any inventiveness. De Jong dropped far too deep into his own half, which hindered his already-limited ability to get the ball upfield.
He didn't even play particularly well as a supplement to the defense either. He allowed Saponara to get ahead of him on Empoli's goal and lost track of the young trequartista several more times over the course of the match.
De Jong needs to get farther upfield and play box-to-box, where his passing weaknesses are less glaring and where he can do what he does best—beat the heck out of people.
Winner: Carlos Bacca
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A week ago Carlos Bacca had a rough game, but much of his struggles were due to factors out of his control.
Saturday, he finally opened his account for AC Milan. It was a fantastically taken goal set up by strike partner Luiz Adriano with an excellent through ball. Bacca powered forward, rounded the keeper and held off two Empoli defenders before slotting into the empty net at an angle.
He found the target with his only other shot of the night and generally played well up top. Bacca cost a lot of money—€30 million, to be exact—but Saturday he showed that he's got what it takes to lead Milan's line going forward.
Loser: Lukasz Skorupski
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Empoli keeper Lukasz Skorupski played a few games last year for Roma in relief of an injured Morgan De Sanctis. Those games ended up including their 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich and the controversial 3-2 loss to Juventus.
He didn't play particularly well in either of those matches, but Empoli saw enough of him to bring him in to succeed Luigi Sepe in goal. In this game he certainly didn't justify his place.
He was put into a bad position when Bacca came barreling toward him in the 16th minute, but he still could have made it more difficult for the Colombian to get around him. In the second half, he looked incredibly shaky.
In the 54th minute, he tipped a corner kick away from Luiz Adriano but let it flutter only feet away. His defense needed to bail him out of the tricky situation.
Ten minutes later, he came off his line to challenge for a ball that Adriano was bearing down on. He managed to get the ball cleanly, but it was a risky play that could've seen both a penalty and a red card if it had gone wrong.
Five minutes after that, he came out for Bonaventura's corner but let Adriano flash in front of his fist to head home for the winner. It was a horrific effort—many keepers in Italy would have easily taken the right route to the ball and punched it to safety.
Skorupski is going to have to play better if he wants to stay between Empoli's sticks long-term.
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