A Progress Report on AC Milan Heading into October International Break
As the season heads into its second international break, AC Milan looks to be almost in turmoil.
After a bright offseason that saw the arrival of a new coach and €90 million worth of signings, the 2015-16 campaign is not going anywhere close to how it was hoped it would.
After seven games Milan has only nine points and a record of 3-0-4 (W-D-L) with a goal differential of minus-five. The losses have been galling. A limp 2-0 loss in the opener at Fiorentina. A 1-0 defeat in the all-important Derby della Madonnina. A disheartening 1-0 setback against Genoa after a pair of wins seemed to have the team trending up.
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And then the nadir—a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Napoli on Sunday that looked worse than even the deepest depths of Filippo Inzaghi's team last year.
This is not the start owner Silvio Berlusconi wanted to see after two years of mediocrity. The former Italian prime minister has periodically displayed an itchy trigger finger when it comes to his club managers, and there are already reports from La Repubblica (h/t Football Italia) that new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic's job is in danger.
What's going on at Casa Milan? Why hasn't Berlusconi's massive summer investment paid dividends yet? Today we'll go through all four phases of the team and deliver a progress report as the season nears the two-month mark, all leading up to the long-term prognosis for the team going forward.
Goalkeeper
Christian Abbiati and Gianluigi Donnarumma have not been needed so far this season, and that's a good thing.
Diego Lopez was far and away Milan's best player last year and remains one of the very best goalkeepers in Serie A.
A confident shot-stopper with a good command of his area, the 33-year-old has been one of the team's few consistent bright spots since the beginning of last season. Were it not for him, Milan would have ended the 2014-15 campaign a lot lower than 10th.
While the total number of goals Milan has conceded the past two years isn't flattering, Lopez has little to do with that. If anyone else was between the sticks, that number would likely have ballooned even higher. He's had the misfortune to be repeatedly exposed by a bad defense, bad midfield or a combination of the two.
One of the few parts of the team that needs zero improvement, and barring an unexpected crash, Lopez will continue to be solid in goal.
Defense
Milan's back four has been a constant source of problems ever since the sale of Thiago Silva to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2012. While not the dumpster fire that it was a year ago, the unit still has a long way to go to live up to the legacy of Alessandro Nesta, Alessandro Costacurta, Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini.
The talent quotient is higher than in years past. The arrival of Alessio Romagnoli and Rodrigo Ely has seen to that.
Ely, 21, was a product of Milan's youth academy, via Brazilian club Gremio, and had been on loan in Serie B for the last two years. Romagnoli, 20, came up through Roma's youth ranks and followed Mihajlovic—his coach last season when he was on loan at Sampdoria—after a protracted transfer saga this summer.
The two are both immensely talented, but with combined aged of 41 they lack experience and have things they can iron out. Romagnoli can work on his passing from the back, but the biggest problem for the two has been discipline.
Romagnoli was booked nine times last year at Sampdoria, and four times in only 11 appearances at Roma the year before. Ely has seen the book in both of his games this year—and was sent off four times last year at Avellino and saw 11 yellows the season before that at Varese.
Both youngsters have seen red this season—a major factor in Mihajlovic's inability to put together a consistent lineup in the back.
The other factor is injury. Ignazio Abate and Luca Antonelli have both missed time this year, forcing Mihajlovic to cycle through three different combinations at full-back. No player has started more than three games on the flank.
One positive from this turnover has been the emergence of Davide Calabria. The 18-year-old was very impressive in preseason action and earned a spot on the first team. With Antonelli already out when the team faced Palermo in week four, Abate pulled up lame, forcing Calabria into his Serie A debut.
He responded in style, producing the key pass that led to the opening goal just three minutes after his introduction. He played well in his two subsequent starts before Antonelli's return put him back on the bench. His performance earned him a first call-up to the Italy Under-21 team this month.
As encouraging as the signs have been for Calabira, Mattia De Sciglio has continued to disappoint. Once considered the next Maldini, the pressure to live up to that moniker seems to have caught up with the 22-year-old, and he's definitely regressed.
Constant switching between right and left certainly hasn't helped, but De Sciglio has simply been too inconsistent, both game-to-game and in individual matches. He will produce a fine tackle or a good pass, and five minutes later, he will give away possession or be found wildly out of position. If he wants to live up to his potential he needs to do better.
When it comes to ancillary parts, Cristian Zapata has played every game since round 2, and he has again failed to reproduce the form he finds with the Colombian national team. His mistakes in the last two weeks have led to Romagnoli's red card against Genoa and to the opening goal against Napoli. The 29-year-old shouldn't be an every-week player.
As for Alex, the 34-year-old Brazilian has only found the field once, in the second half against Udinese. Coincidence or not, Milan very nearly lost after his introduction.
Overall, injury and suspension have prevented the defense from forming a cohesive unit. If, once Abate returns from his leg injury, Mihajlovic can find a consistent foursome to play every week, there may be some improvement.
There is enough raw ability in the foursome of Abate, Romagnoli, Ely and Antonelli to produce a confident defense—the key is getting them together consistently.
Midfield
Of course, any improvement in the defense will mean little if they keep on getting exposed by the midfield.
Early in the season, Mihajlovic was having a problem balancing the midfield as a unit. Nigel de Jong was initially deployed in the regista position of the manager's 4-3-1-2, but the Dutchman is a destroyer rather than a creator and was ill-suited to the role.
Things improved when Riccardo Montolivo finally returned to the lineup in the derby against Inter. The only player on the team fully capable of playing the regista role, Montolivo has covered the defense well, although his creative ability has been up and down.
The box-to-box men around him have likewise been inconsistent. Juraj Kucka, largely considered a throwaway buy late in the window, has shown a surprising combination of technique and brute force that should earn him a consistent spot in the starting XI.
The problem has been the other spot—the one occupied most often by Andrea Bertolacci.
Signed for €20 million this summer, the former Genoa man has been absolutely terrible this season. The 24-year-old gives the ball away cheaply, completes less than 75 percent of his passes (per WhoScored.com) and gets beaten on defense far too easily.
Unfortunately his price tag is going to keep him in the lineup for the foreseeable future. That, and the fact the alternatives aren't appealing. Either the unimpressive Andrea Poli, who has only been used in garbage time this year, takes the spot or the job falls to Giacomo Bonaventura.
That would mean Bonaventura would have to vacate the trequartista position in favor of Keisuke Honda or Suso, neither of whom has played well when given the opportunity this season.
Bonaventura, 26, should be singled out for praise. He's been Milan's best outfield player this season, playing hard from whistle to whistle and leading the team with three assists.
Beyond him, though, the midfield has been somewhere between average and really bad. The defense has been exposed on multiple occasions, and the strikers haven't been getting much in the way of service to threaten the opposing goal.
Right now, this is the weakest point on the team. If Mihajlovic can't find an internal fix from a tactical perspective, some outside help will be required, and the sooner the better.
Forwards
The striker position has been a three-man rotation between Carlos Bacca, Luiz Adriano and Mario Balotelli thus far.
Of the three, Adriano has been the weakest, which isn't necessarily surprising. The 28-year-old was making a huge jump in quality between the Ukraine Premier League and Serie A, and it will take him time to get used to it. Defenders are catching on to him and the former Shakhtar Donetsk man has yet to readjust. Time will tell if he can do so.
Balotelli and Bacca have both looked dangerous, but in different ways. Bacca needs service to be effective, but he hasn't been getting it the last few games. Late in Sunday's loss to Napoli, the 29-year-old slammed the ball into the advertising boards after trying to react to the umpteenth wayward ball coming his way.
Balotelli, on the other hand, has been a creative force up the field. He's been making key passes, drawn fouls and, most importantly, kept his head even though the opposing defenders have been trying to provoke a reaction from him.
He's only scored once, from a fantastic free-kick against Udinese, but Balotelli has so far been the team's most complete threat at forward this season. If he continues this kind of play, the 25-year-old could finally be the kind of forward that matches his talent.
Overall
There have been some positives so far this season, but they haven't been able to outshine this team's warts.
The mental problems the team displayed at times last year are slowly creeping back in. Against Palermo, Udinese and Genoa, the team played like Jekyll and Hyde. In one half, they dominate the game, but look afraid to be seen on the pitch in the next period.
Fixing that mental block should be Mihajlovic's number-one priority. Unfortunately, that's not the same as fixing a tactical flaw. It takes much more time and the situation can be amorphous and hard to grasp.
Of Milan's next six games, two—against Chievo and Atalanta—should be considered winnable, while another two—Lazio and Juventus—are against teams better than they are. The remaining matches of the sequence, against Sassuolo and Torino, are tossups as both clubs have had impressive starts and need to prove they can keep them up.
In the last two weeks, Milan have gone backwards rather than forwards, and these next six games will determine whether the San Siro team can get over the hump or whether they'll get buried by their inability to play a complete game.
