Defeated away by Atalanta, Giroud, who has scored five goals in the last six rounds, has played extremely well individually, but he still can't escape the fate of the team's loss.
I can hide from the first day of junior high school, but I can't hide from the fifteenth.
A month ago at Lecce, Piccoli's 93rd-minute goal was whistled for a foul as Milan escaped a shutout away from home and struggled to bring a point back. A month later, at Bergamo, without the foul-mongering man, Milan's makeshift defence was thoroughly breached at the last minute. Murel's light heel knock put Milan's record of not losing a game in Bergamo for four years to an end, and also gave the team a taste of the pain of being killed.
Murel's 95th-minute strike gave Atalanta their first home win over Milan in four years and the first win in the last six meetings between the two sides.
Compared to the fiasco four years ago, Milan fans are much more tolerant this time. Milan will celebrate their 124th anniversary next week, and a defeat to Atalanta will inevitably add to the congestion for fans ready to celebrate, and if they fail to qualify for the group at Newcastle in midweek, Milan's celebration cycle will inevitably be bleak.
This week is an important indicator for Milan's season, and it will have a huge impact on the operation of the winter window even in Milan. After the defeat to Atalanta, Milan have distanced themselves from the title contenders and become more entangled with the race for the top four, and if they do not qualify for the Champions League at Newcastle in the middle of next week, the league race for the top four will remain the main goal.
Despite the defeat on the road, Stefano Pioli claimed after the game that his side were excellent at a tactical level, but that they had gone too far wrong defensively.
If that were the case, Pioli might be on the wrong side. With Milan's current squad used only for one-line play, it would not be much of a problem for Pioli to hold on to the top four – the team's wobbly results in the second half of last season were more due to Pioli's lack of experience in how to rotate on two fronts. Stefano Pioli has led the team to the most consistent periods of results often at the start of the season. At this time, the team is full of energy and personnel, and it is more than enough to focus on the league field.
Playing single-liner, Pioli can be safely appointed, and it will also allow him to enter the cycle of being replaced early. The defeat to Atalanta was understandable, but it should never be an excuse for Pioli to avoid his death. A wealthy coach, when he is in trouble, he will fold, and the wind will fall, and the 4-year performance cycle of leading the team will become more and more unstable, and the downward trend is obvious, what is he left for?
According to the rhythm of the change of coach reminded by **, choose Motta or Farioli, or other options, Milan will most likely start next summer. If Stefano Pioli does lose the season's two highs this week, it cannot be ruled out that the management will establish a tacit understanding with him and postpone the team's adjustment and rebuilding cycle until next summer. Anyway, the ceiling has been broken this season, and Pioli can keep the lower limit, so there is no need to act hastily and ask for trouble.
Maignan has been in talks with Milan for a contract extension recently. He made four saves in the game to prevent Lookman from scoring a hat-trick and kept Milan's hopes of a point until the very end.
Bergamo played a away game, and it was not unjust to see Milan lose. Match expected goals statistics, Atalanta have won 4 absolute chances, and expected goals 358, playing until 95 minutes to make a difficult kill is already beyond expectations. On the other hand, Milan expected only 112. Giroud's goal was purely an individual opportunity, not a real feedback on the showdown.
The gap outside the score was huge, and Milan were inferior in many positions, giving the impression that this improvised patchwork of central midfielders could not stop the opponent's impact at all, and the depth of the defensive line was penetrated. Te'o lacks positional sense and stability in central defenders, and his speed and explosiveness, which are the strengths of wide attackers, do not play a decisive role in central defenders, but rather leave gaps due to his frequent pressing.
Te'o, who recommended himself to supplement the central defender position, still maintained his wing-back style in his personal Xi, which left him a lot of hidden dangers in the defensive position, and Murel's final goal came from his defensive zone being breached.
Te'o's move to the middle was his own recommendation, and it seems that Pioli has nothing to do with it. When he fell behind again, he immediately adjusted the defensive strength in the middle and sent Bennacer to make amends, but it was obviously unrealistic to rely on Bennacer, who had been lying in the hospital bed for more than 200 days, to fill the defensive hole. Calabria was blotted down the flanks by a series of raids from Lookman and De Ketelaere, which made Pioli's defence leak everywhere and it was difficult to fill in.
In the situation of serious leakage in the defensive line, Pioli's two adjustments in this game rarely had a good effect. His biggest tactical mistake in this game was the lack of the decisive attitude of the coaches to maximize the benefits of the situation - when Calibria was expelled and the game entered the final count, he did not simply let Simic and Baltsagi come on the field to delay the pace of the game, and did not instruct the Special Olympics to completely retreat to the penalty area to fill the defensive space, and used the most rigid way to prevent Murrell from holding the ball and shooting, grinding away one point to make an errand, and the result was that the whole court effort was ruined.
Jovic, who has been the subject of much criticism, has seen a noticeable upturn in form recently, coming off the bench to score the equaliser. Unfortunately, Milan fell short in the final moments, and Jovic's efforts were ignored.
Compared with Carlo Ancelotti, Allegri and other Milan predecessors, Pioli does lack the style of a famous coach. Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid injury is no less than Milan's, and it is difficult for Real Madrid to maintain consistent results in Pioli's handsAllegri's style is conservative and dull, but his tactical ability is unsurpassed. Leaders like Pioli and Maurizio Sarri who come from the grassroots have ideals and philosophical beliefs, but what they lack is the ideas and experience that should be retreated in a competitive environment. This means that, like Maurizio Sarri, he can achieve stage success, but it will be difficult for him to win consistently. This ceiling is difficult to breach, and it is determined that Pioli and Milan will enter a period of burnout sooner or later.
Moncada and Flani, who were on the spot, failed to get a good mood on the road, and how they run the team in the winter window will be very interesting.
Witnessing the team's stunner at the visitors' scene, Franey and Moncada didn't know how to feel. The good news is that this time, the South Stand supporters' organisation was still steadfast in their support for the team after the game: "We will always follow. This shows that the fan organization has long expected the current situation of the team, and does not have the idea of high ambition.
This is of course in line with the Red Birds' thinking, after all, Cardinale has previously expressed the team's goal through Scaloni's goal, which is to "participate in the Champions League steadily". With the expansion of the Champions League next year, this goal will become less difficult to achieve, and there may be a situation where there are five places in the first ranking league in the future. This also means that if Redbird is focused on capital gains, it can maintain the status quo and continue to invest and operate at a low cost.
Paul, who had previously told the management in an interview with La Repubblica, represented the contradiction between the Milanists and capital.
Fans who have feelings for Milan and desire more naturally cannot accept that capital is running their beloved club as a business, which is the root cause of the breakdown of the relationship between Maldini and Redbird. In an interview not long ago, Paolo Maldini finally revealed many details of being swept away by the Red Bird after nearly half a year of absence, in which differences of ideas occupy an important position.
The Red Birds' routine is not surprising, in line with the principle of capital's pursuit of profit, their attempt to win sponsorship income by building new stadiums and expanding influence is the norm in today's football world, and Moratti's endless way of paying for feelings is not in line with the nature of capital, and it is only a matter of time before he is eliminated in a professional football environment.
But how do you find a balance between competitive pursuits and commercial interests?The unfamiliarity of American capital with the European football market environment makes it difficult for most American investors to find a direction at the beginning of their clubs. Clearlake Capital became a joke at Chelsea, and the Frasers were lucrative at Manchester United, but at the cost of their families being greeted by the usual verbal greetings from Red Devils supporters. Who does the red bird want to follow?