Tactical Review of Milan's Solid Defensive Performance In Their 1-0 Loss To Juventus

AC Milan played incredibly against Juventus with a defensive game plan but unfortunately lost the game to a moment of brilliance from Dybala: Here's our review of the game:

Slip Ups Hurt Us Again

Milan played are fantastic defensive game against Juventus and their game plan worked for 75 minutes but a small mistake and misstep cost us the game. Dybala managed to skip past Romagnoli and slot past Donnarumma for the only goal of the game. Milan were unlucky to say the least. The defence held up pretty well and Duarte particularly looked solid showing clear improvements under Stefano Pioli. Andrea Conti was another surprising story as the right back put in a great shift where he kept Ronaldo quiet and managed to cut off ALex Sandro’s approaches. The defence is looking more sure and confident but the mistakes needs to be dealt with.

Improved Build Up and Passing

It pains me to admit it but Kessie was slowing down the midfield and hurting the flow of passing. Bennacer and Krunic have demonstrated the major fluidity that can be seen in the middle of the park when there is a flow of passes and few mistakes where possession is sloppily lost. The passing of the team has significantly improved from the short Giampaolo stint and the movement off the ball was good and anticipatory. The transition play was quick and smooth despite the constant pressure from Juventus but possession was rarely lost in the midfield. The key is still translate this build up into creativity in the final third.

Bennacer Is Revolutionary

The Algeria international is finally beginning to live up to his hype and the upgrade of Biglia is monumental. The midfielder is swift with his dribbling, sleek with his passing and strong with his recovery despite being a relatively small guy. The midfielder is pulling the strings effectively and pushing Milan higher up the pitch than was the case with the likes of Biglia, Bakayoko and Locatelli in previous seasons. Most importantly, Milan have somehow found a player who can act as an extra layer of protection for the defence while simultaneously having the ability to jump start attacks. Against Juve the midfielder was impactful in reducing the reach of Pjanic and Bernardeschi to reach Higuain and Ronaldo while being able to play passes to break the Bentancur/Matuidi defensive line.

Milan Missing A Goalscorer

Milan’s biggest fault is the same as it’s been since Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Filippo Inzaghi left. Milan lack a sure fire goalscorer. The likes of Balotelli, el Sharaawy, Bacca, Cutrone and Pitaek are just too inconsistent and unable to act as gamechangers for the needs of Milan. The club needs a clinical finisher who will take his chances and not leve the fans with regrets and what ifs week after week. It is no secret that Milan do not create enough in the final third thus the fix needs to be either an overhaul of the wingers/attacking midfielders or bringing in a striker who can create on his own. Until Milan have a consistent goalscorer the club will be colatile from one season to the next as we are now.

Milan Will Hit Back Hard Soon

To be honest, I was really happy with the display against Juve as Milan show determination and responded well to going behind. There was a swagger about the team and more foten than not I was optimistic that Milan could’ve scored and run away with the game. Pioli has brought back some belief and Milan looked scary. Also, as a side note Milan should only wear the home kit with black socks, the team looked much more intimidating with them and this may be a silly point but appearances do make a difference. I am confident that Milan will hit back hard against Napoli and go on an unbeaten streak thereafter as the quality is beginning to show and the players seem more confident.