AC Milan's Bright Young Players Cannot Overcome Lack of Creativity vs. Atalanta

AC Milan came into Saturday's game against Atalanta on a high. A week removed from dismantling Lazio 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico for their third straight victory, the Rossoneri were looking to beat La Dea and keep their momentum going into the international break—and the trip to the Juventus Stadium that looms beyond it.

But it wasn't to be. Depleted by injuries and suspensions, Milan looked limp. They struggled to keep possession and were almost totally unable to connect the midfield to the strikers. Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello had a relatively quiet day.

As much as they struggled, though, there were some positive signs for Sinisa Mihajlovic's men. The problem was that those glimmers of light weren't enough to bring them victory, and they had to settle for a scoreless draw.

As well as his team played against Lazio, Mihajlovic was forced into a trio of changes for the visit of Atalanta. Top playmaker Giacomo Bonaventura was suspended for yellow-card accumulation. Health also affected the lineup; midfielder Andrea Bertolacci was out with a muscle injury, and center back Alex was unavailable after suffering a frightening head injury during the second half against Lazio.

The effect of those absences showed the most in the midfield. The unit has been maligned as the team's weakest point for much of the season, and it showed why that was so on Saturday. Bertolacci, who had begun to recover from his awful start to the season, was replaced by Andrea Poli, who was unable to replicate what Bertolacci can do at top form.

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From start to finish the Rossoneri midfield was totally unable to exert any control. They could barely string passes together and allowed the visitors to take the game to them in a way they hadn't been able to do to against any other team on the road this year. They played so badly their attacks began bypassing the midfield altogether, sending the ball to the wings so they could charge forward.

It was in these moments one of the first real positives of the game arose.

With Bonaventura in the stands, Mihajlovic elected to start 20-year-old M'Baye Niang on the left wing of his 4-3-3 ahead of the out-of-favor Keisuke Honda.

Niang is well known to Milan fans—but not in a good way. Milanisti all over the world remember when an injury to Giampaolo Pazzini forced the then-teenaged Niang into the starting lineup for the second leg of a Champions League round-of-16 clash against Barcelona in 2013. With the team clinging to a 2-1 aggregate lead at Camp Nou, Niang was put clear through on goal.

Presented with a golden opportunity to score a tie-changing away goal, Niang's shot beat Victor Valdes—but crashed flush with the far post. Moments later Lionel Messi scored to tie the aggregate, and the Blaugrana dominated the second half to advance to the quarterfinals.

Niang has bounced around on loan since then, but his excellent performance with Genoa in the second half of last season convinced them to keep Niang around this term. An injury curtailed his availability, but with Bonaventura's suspension providing the opening, he made his season debut on Saturday.

What a debut it was. Niang was all over his wing. Cristian Raimondi simply couldn't cope with him. Twenty minutes in, he gave Milan one of their best chances to score when he slipped a through ball into the box for Carlos Bacca, whose effort was blocked by Luca Cigarini. Moments later, he flicked a fantastic pass behind him that narrowly missed connecting with Bacca.

In the 38th minute he cut inside and fired a low, hard shot Sportiello just got a hand to. In the second half, Bacca returned the favor with a through ball, but Niang's cannoned shot was right at the 'keeper.

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Match fitness was certainly an issue—after about an hour, he started visibly laboring to kick in the speed he had shown earlier in the game. But he certainly did enough to make a case to get more game time going forward.

Farther back in the field, 18-year-old Davide Calabria again impressed after coming on at the half for Mattia De Sciglio, who had spent the second half of the first period flirting with a second yellow card. Calabria held his own well, brushing off a stiff challenge from Mauricio Pinilla to keep possession in his own half in the 68th minute and beating the big Chilean in the air four minutes later.

But perhaps the biggest revelation was Gianluigi Donnarumma. Four games after controversially replacing Diego Lopez in goal for the Rossoneri, the 16-year-old made some world-class saves in the second half to preserve the draw.

The 6'5" youngster was spry enough to get down low to block shots from Luca Cigarini, Alberto Grassi and Alejandro Gomez. He attacked crosses with authority and never failed to get his gloves to the ball to punch it away. It was a performance that equalled those made by some of the better goalkeepers in Italy. It's obvious why Milan is so high on him.

But in spite of these encouraging signs, Milan simply didn't have enough to compete in this game. While they had a few chances, especially in the first half, Atalanta had the clear upper hand. They dominated possession—58.8 percent, according to WhoScored.com—and were it not for the heroics of Donnarumma, they could have been two or three goals to the good by the end of the night.

Without Bonaventura, Milan simply has no creative outlet, no one to link the forwards with the rest of the team. Bertolacci's absence has seen the midfield become top heavy on players such as Poli and Juraj Kucka, who are holding midfielders first and creative players second.

In spite of the sheer size of the squad—which is massive for a team not playing in Europe—Milan actually has precious little real depth. That's something that needs to be addressed before this team can take the next step, because if Saturday was any indication, a single long-term absence could spell the difference between the team that beat Lazio and the team that was lucky to hold onto a point against Atalanta.