Milan 1, Roma 1: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Milan and Roma played to a 1-1 draw that could of ended with any of about half a dozen other scorelines, with bad luck and bad finishing keeping the score down. Roma dominated one half, and Milan the other -- but who were the standouts to Milan?

The Good: Kevin-Prince Boateng

To call the fan reaction at Kevin-Prince Boateng's return to Milan "mixed" would be putting it lightly, fans saw the signing as another washed up former player trying to recapture a little bit of magic (see Kaka, Riccardo and Shevchenko, Andriy).  Having not played a  competitive game in close to one year, expectations for his season debut were very low.  Instead Boateng put on a great performance and was one of the engines that drove Milan forward after he was subbed on for Luiz Adriano in the 57th minute.  Boateng was a constant threat to Roma's defence as he showcased his array of tricks and flicks while driving forward and linking up well with Carlos Bacca.  Boateng's clinical pass to Bacca, which the Colombian nutmegged, set up Juraj Kucka perfectly for the go ahead goal, but the Slovakian fired his shot high.  If Boateng can play this way on a consistent basis, then his low risk-high reward signing will be a massive coup for Milan.

The Bad: The Luiz Adriano- Carlos Bacca Partnership

Both Bacca and Luiz Adriano played fairly well against Roma on Saturday night.  Luiz Adriano's impressive work rate and pace was showed off again and again, and Bacca always seemed to be making the right run at the right time, his shot that rang off of the post in the second half almost won Milan the game.  However, it's becoming more and more clear that the two players don't compliment each other.  The amount of times they passed between themselves could be counted on one hand.  It looks like its time for Milan to walk away from the Luiz Adriano-Bacca partnership and try out some different attacking combinations.

The Ugly: Ignazio Abate

For the longest time Ignazio Abate was one of the steadiest players that Milan had.  Abate wouldn't go out and set the world on fire, but he also wouldn't make too many mistakes.  He was a dependable, consistent player who was a regular member of the starting eleven.  In the last two seasons however, Abate has been in dreadful form and has quickly become one of the most error prone players in the squad.  On Roma's opening goal, it was Abate who lost his man (Antonio Rudiger) and allowed him to poke home Miralem Pjanic's cross.  Throughout the game Abate was an offensive blackhole as he routinely killed off promising attacks with bad passes or inaccurate crosses.  Defensively, Abate struggled mightily to keep up with Roma's pacey wingers all night.  Abate should be dropped for at least the next few games, as both Luca Antonelli and Mattia De Sciglio are better options than the Milan veteran.