Inter’s heavy and humiliating defeat in the derby, complete with in-your-face celebrations, against Milan essentially put a tombstone on the Rossoneri season, of which we can already begin to draw more than a balance.
In proposing it to you, I was reminded of an article I published on MilanNews.it (HERE the complete article) last January 13th, the day after Milan’s defeat at San Siro against Atalanta which marked the elimination of Giroud and his teammates in the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup and the second failed goal out of two up to that point moment of the season. I decided, consequently, to postpone the first major assessment of the year and to understand if what I had written in that piece had basis with the arduous judgment of posterity.
THE FIRST LETS GO TO THE NORMAL THINGS
The article was titled “Let’s get back to normal things” (quotation of Fassion’s motto “Let’s move on to formal things”), because it was hoped – and I hoped – that for Milan, still recovering from that period, it would be useful go back to doing ‘simple’ things as soon as possiblethat is, putting the players in their role, proposing a module known and tested by the players, without digging into who knows what universe of tactics to find the best strategy to beat, from match to match, the various more or less strong opponents who appeared before Theo and his companions.
This reflection derived directly from 3-4-3 with which Pioli faced Gasperini that 13 January, with Musah pounding the sideline of the field and Pulisic more centralized, with Theo as the left arm even when the debutant Terracciano entered, deployed as a left winger in midfield, despite the result being to be recovered.
WE NEED TO MOVE ON TO NORMAL THINGS
Four months later, we returned to that need there again. Or rather: it’s too late, but – in hindsight – there was that need there. Both against Roma and Inter, Pioli promoted tactical innovations which later proved to be ineffectivei: Musah outside, Calabria in midfield, Gabbia on Lukaku with a lot of pitch to cover backwards, to cite some examples, at the Olimpico, a move then modified in the 25th minute after the Giallorossi’s 2-0, while in the derby the choice to put Leao pointsevidently not skilled in the role due to his technical and psychological characteristics, inhibited the Portuguese and Milan’s attack for over 60 minutes, until the insertion of a striker and two wingers bore some (late) fruit.
A clarification: it’s not all the t’s faultattica (and, consequently, of Pioli) if Milan have failed practically all their seasonal objectives by losing, among other things, the last three decisive big matches, but there is an element of guilt also on the part of the soccer playersoften unable to react with the right pride and adequate determination to the negative moments, which, unfortunately, have affected this season and will affect, even more unfortunately, the future history of Milan.
Tags: Remember article Lets normal Well ..
