Mental Frailty Plagues AC Milan in Spite of Victory over Sassuolo

Much of the talk surrounding AC Milan’s 2-1 win over Sassuolo on Sunday afternoon was based around Sinisa Mihajlovic’s reportedly uncertain future with the club and his controversial selection of 16-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The win should temporarily halt any talk of Mihajlovic being prematurely dismissed, while Donnarumma put in a fairly assured performance on his debut.

Instead, the major storylines should focus on Milan’s negative mentality.

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While they eventually picked up three vital points, Milan struggled throughout much of the game despite having a one-man advantage following the dismissal of Sassuolo goalkeeper Andrea Consigli in the 29th minute.

Having been unable to create many real chances before that key moment, Milan failed to press home their advantage from open play, conceding an equaliser before an 86th-minute winner from Luiz Adriano spared the team’s blushes.

Mihajlovic has referenced Milan’s mental issues in recent weeks.

Speaking to Mediaset Premium (h/t Football Italia) after the Rossoneri’s draw with Torino on October 17, he said: “It’s as if we got nervous at taking the lead…It’s probably an issue of character and anxiety.”

This anxiety was on display via several interchanges once more in the win over Sassuolo.

On one occasion, captain Riccardo Montolivo showed unwillingness to take even the slightest of risks regardless of his team’s one-man advantage, passing backward unnecessarily when forward options were available. For that he was roundly jeered by the home crowd.

In another instance, Juraj Kucka was guilty of ineffective distribution, venturing forward only to give the ball straight to a Sassuolo player with a lazy pass when an accurate, incisive one would have been easier.

Evidently there was negativity in the decision making of certain individual players, though it was also more widespread through Milan’s collective performance in the form of a slow tempo in and out of possession and in transitions to defence having lost the ball.

The slow pace and lack of ingenuity could be down to the mental block that Mihajlovic discussed after Milan's draw with Torino, a frailty that could be attributed to a number of different sources.

Firstly, Milan went into the Sassuolo clash without a win in over a month. In three league games, they had picked up one point and had been humiliated by Napoli at home in a 4-0 defeat.

That form cannot have been conducive to team morale and could perhaps have instigated a nervousness in the team’s play that simply required a positive result to subside.

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An alternative source could be the inconsistent selection of Mihajlovic of late. The defensive line has been chopped and changed, with the latest alteration coming in Donnarumma’s displacement of Diego Lopez between the sticks, while the midfield and attack has yet to settle.

Mihajlovic has also modified his tactics recently, dispensing with the 4-3-1-2 system in favour of a 4-3-3 shape for the matches against Torino and Sassuolo.

Milan’s players barely had time to get used to the old formation before the coach was implementing another one, and this cannot have boosted their confidence at a time when results were poor.

Alternately, issues off the pitch may have spilled over into the team’s collective on-pitch character.

Fan unrest has been both visible and audible of late after what has been another underwhelming start to a season, while there have been some very public questions asked of Mihajlovic’s ability by those within the club’s upper echelons.

Per Sportmediaset (h/t Football Italia), club president Silvio Berlusconi was ambiguous about his thoughts on Mihajlovic recently, saying "Mihajlovic's future? Who knows..."

Milan’s negative mentality could be the result of any one of these issues, or potentially a mixture of all of them, but no matter what the source is, Mihajlovic will need to eradicate it if the team are to string together consecutive good results.

The win over Sassuolo should alleviate some pressure from his shoulders, while it should also boost the morale of the team temporarily. The result may also encourage Mihajlovic to be slightly more consistent with his team selection and tactical choices in the knowledge that they can work.

Milan entertain Chievo at the San Siro on Wednesday night in what promises to be another tricky, yet winnable, encounter. On the back of a win, Milan should showcase a more positive attitude.

However, should the Milan players' nervousness and negativity continue, this may be evidence of greater underlying issues that Mihajlovic and the club will need more time to solve.