Just a few days after an extremely poor performance against Sampdoria it seemed AC Milan got their groove back with a familiar formation. Gattuso came out playing a 4-3-1-2 with Paqueta playing behind the strikers. Injuries forced Gattuso to start Abate and Laxalt on the wings and Bakayoko in the midfield. Milan came out hot and it seemed they had shaken off their poor form.

After 43 minutes the partnership of Cutrone and Piatek worked beautifully as Cutrone sent in a cross and Piatek put it in the back of the net. Milan seemed to be playing well in this formation as they were dictating the pace of the game. Then tragedy struck as Lucas Paqueta sustained an ankle injury and was substituted for Samu Castillejo. From that point on Milan were back to their terrible form which didn't create many chances and passed it around the back for the majority of the half. Udinese then equalized the score in the 65th minute and that is how the game finished.

Now we shall look at the players performances. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @SBNRossonero

STARTING LINE-UP

Gianluigi Donnarumma: After last weeks massive error Donnarumma was looking to bounce back. However he did not get the chance to redem himself because after just 11 minutes he was subbed off due to an injury. At the time of this writing Donnarumma is still conducting tests to see if he is able to play against Juventus. N/A

Ignazio Abate: Being placed in the starting eleven due to injuries Abate came in and played a fairly solid 67 minutes. At this stage of his career Abate is not expected to due anything spectacular but he shows he is still an option if the team has injuries. 6/10

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Mateo Musacchio: Again Musacchio puts in another fine performance. After last years debacle of the three man defence it is nice to see Musacchio keeping form and combining with Romagnoli to form a good partnership. 6.5/10

Alessio Romagnoli: After bouncing back in the game against Sampdoria, Romagnoli continued to play well and at times even saving Milan from conceding certain counter attacking threats. 6.5/10

Diego Laxalt: Similar to Abate Laxalt came in because of an injury. In my opinion Laxalt played a fairly good game as he defended well and brought some pace to the attack. Laxalt deserves more minutes if we continue to play this formation and Rodriguez continues to struggle. 6/10

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Tiemoue Bakayoko: Again Biglia and Bakayoko are played in the midfield together. This is something I don't think helps Milan. Bakayoko seems out of place in this position as he doesn't bring much offensively whereas Kessie makes attacking runs to support the strikers. Bakayoko played fine defensively and would work in the middle of the midfield in this formation. 6/10

Lucas Biglia: As always Biglia is solid as he is never really out of position and his distribution is fairly on point. Ever since returning from injury he has shown he makes a case to be in the starting eleven. The question is does he deserve more time than Bakayoko. 6/10

Hakan Calhanoglu: Finally Calhanoglu got to play where he has most of his career. In the first half he played well being active everywhere on the field helping Paqueta to link up the attack. Like the rest of the team his performance fell off in the second half. To be fair to Calhanoglu he made some important tackles to save Milan. 6/10

Lucas Paqueta: This game proved that Paqueta is the difference maker on this Milan team. When he was on the field Milan were flying, playing great football and creating chances. Paqueta was vital in the minutes he played. Sadly he got injured and it seems that the injury could leave him out in the game against Juventus. 7/10

Patrick Cutrone: Finally Cutrone and Piatek get to play alongside each other. This partnership worked out beautifully for parts of the game. Cutrone as always played like a warrior and ran his ass off for 90 minutes. He even surprised many by putting in a beautiful cross in for Piatek to finish. 6.5/10

Krzysztof Piatek: As previously stated his pairing with Cutrone worked for Milan. Piatek scored again as his chant was sung throughout the stadium. Piatek was the one who got more chances out of the two. With a chance right in front of goal off of a corner he didn't capitalize and that led to Udinese scoring their goal. 6.5/10

SUBSTITUTES

Pepe Reina: Coming on early for an injured Gigio Donnarumma, Reina played fine in net as he did not make any vital mistakes to cost Milan the game. Reina had no chance on the Udinese goal as it was blasted perfectly out of reach. 6/10

Samuel Castillejo: A poor performance from Castillejo in this match. To be fair he was playing out of his natural position on the wing to a more central position behind the strikers. Castillejo did not contribute half of what Paqueta did and the cover picture for this article sums up his performance. 4.5/10

Davide Calabria: Calabria was poor in this match to say the least. In the final third Calabria had many opportunities to put the ball in the box for the strikers to score but instead every cross was deflected or came up short. 5/10