Lazio 1, Milan 1: No Answers As Milan Draw Again

It may have been only the fourth game of the season and just the third where both Robinho and Ibrahimovic have featured. Yet, the signs are not good for Milan.

The team has shown little to no progress in their opening fixtures as both Ibrahimovic and Robinho struggle to find their place in the team whilst the remainder struggle to find their form.

It is not easy task to manage the big egos that Milan currently have in their dressing room and it is not that much easier to know where to play the likes of Robinho, Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic, and Pato. But this is a problem most managers would like to have.

New coach Max Allegri is clearly having difficulty and the performances and results so far this season have shown this. There are question marks that are growing bigger after each game as to whether Max Allegri was the right choice.

Against Lazio, it was evident again that Allegri is still not sure how best to set up his side. Curiously, with Pato out injured he chose to play Kevin Prince Boateng on the right of the attacking trident. A strange move indeed when one considers that Robinho was fit to play yet left on the bench.

Unfortunately for Allegri, the decision to play Boateng instead of Robinho did not work out, as one would expect. Boateng’s strengths are his passion, commitment, and work rate, not his attacking flair.
Utilising Boateng in the trident attack rendered his best attributes almost useless.

Would it not have been better to play Robinho from the start and play Boateng in the midfield and drop Gattuso to the bench? This scenario seems so logical that it makes it an absolute mystery as to how Allegri convinced himself otherwise.

In addition, it should be a priority of Allegri not to play Gattuso unless absolutely necessary.  The World Cup winner has experienced a dramatic decline in form in the last two seasons and is now completely useless.

Given that he was once the best defensive midfielder in the world, one almost feels embarrassed for Rino as he is continuously been asked to fulfil a role he no longer can but once did so well.

The general form of the team is also becoming a real concern. Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf, Ronaldinho, the list goes on, are all struggling with form.

But most likely the overriding factor as to why this is so is mainly due to Allegri’s inability to find the right system for the players at his disposal.

Certainly, despite having a number of stars the squad Allegri has is by no means perfect. However, given what Leonardo was able to achieve last season with a squad that did not include the likes of Ibrahimovic or Robinho, much more is expected.

Milan find themselves in a similar situation as they did this time last season. But things got much better after Leonardo was able to find the right system for the players he had. Let us hope that Allegri can do the same, otherwise Berlusconi may just start looking for another replacement.