What Milan are Missing

Milan is one of the most, if not the most frustrating side to watch across Europe at the moment. They have times of pure brilliance in their football, and it was on display for the majority of the game against Juventus last night. The other half of the time their play is marred with inconsistency and headache-inducing mistakes, another trait showed last night and in the prior few games against Chievo and Genoa. There seems to be quite a few issues most Milanisti would agree on.

First and foremost, we lack pace. Suso was outpaced by Barzagli last night, just let that sink in. We probably haven’t had any real pace since El Shaarawy was given away for nothing. Look at who we’ve been beaten by in the past. Salah, Douglas Costa, Cuadrado, El Shaarawy, Felipe Anderson, Antonio Candreva, the list goes on really. Calhanoglu and Suso are creative and can very much be in their element from the outside, and Rodriguez as well as Calabria are insightful defenders, but they’re all dreadfully slow. Our priority this coming summer needs to be securing pace. Memphis Depay immediately jumps out to me in that regard. Sure he had his troubles with Mourinho’s side, but “the great one” is great at ruining players. He can create like Suso, has had a resurgence in form with Lyon, and offers a significant upgrade in speed out on the wing. Outside of Depay, a player who can operate as a wingback, like Cuadrado, would be excellent. Bonaventura is highly coveted by Allegri, and perhaps he could be used in a deal to acquire the speedy Colombian. One thing is certain. Milan needs to shell money out for a player who can outrun a 36-year-old center back.

Secondly, Milan painfully need depth. Montolivo and Kalinic coming on in Turin provided more uneasiness than reassurance within the Milan faithful, and it showed. Locatelli hasn’t found much of a footing this term, but he gives me more faith than the former captain. Experienced players are available for almost nothing this summer. Ander Herrera, Hatem Ben Arfa, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Juanfran, Yohan Cabaye, Yaya Toure, Asamoah and many more are all available in the coming window for literally next to nothing. Milan need to add players who have experience playing at the highest level, and playing well at that. Sure some of these options are far-fetched, but at least have a look at mixing experience with young up and comers like Locatelli, Zanaletto, and Gabbia.

Finally, and this one is known to all, Milan don’t have a true reliable striker. Cutrone is a phenomenal young talent as is Silva, but they’re inexperienced. Milan could look into bringing in a tried and true finisher like Edinson Cavani , Karim Benzema, or even going back to their roots and grabbing Ibrahimovic from the LA Galaxy. We need someone who is a proven goalscorer because Kalinic is a polar opposite from that. Along with the goals comes tutelage for the younger forwards. Cutrone and Silva cannot learn from Kalinic, in fact they could teach him a thing or two. Indeed, Bonucci has done excellently in serving as a maestro for Romagnoli, and our defense has looked much better this season as a result. Perhaps our forwards could use the same kind of treatment.

Until Milan are willing to fix their problem areas, we’ll blow big games like last night, and frustrate in the little ones as well.