Tactical Review of Milan's Huge Derby Loss to Inter 2-0

Milan and Giampaolo were outclassed in the first derby of the season. Here's the game in review:

Giampaolo’s Stubbornness Is Killing Milan

Do you recall Gattuso receiving similar criticism last season when he was adamant at starting Borini and Biglia over Bakayoko and Castillejo. Giampaolo is making the same mistake now, Biglia seems to have a spell over new managers and Milan suffer as a result. Biglia has been awful, he is clumsy, he is slow and he has absolutely no forward drive. He takes the sting out of our play and offers no cover for the defence whatsoever. He might as well have not been on the pitch in the derby as he was entirely inconsequential. Bennacer needs to be brought on: Yes, he is new; Yes, he isn’t as experienced but he is a winner, he has passion and he has the skills that Giampaolo needs.

Piatek Has Been Abysmal

I’ll start by saying that Piatek has been starved for service however everytime he has been brought into the play he has done absolutely nothing. Piatek has a worse first touch that a Romelu Lukaku blooper reel, he has entirely forgotten how to hold the ball and struggles to even control the ball to pass it on. The Polish striker has not taken his chances when he does gets fantastic opportunities such as Paqueta’s lob and Leao’s cross to the back post. Worse of all, Piatek dives so often when it’s entirely unnecessary to do so, thus he is developing an unsavoury reputation with referees. I’d love to see Leao rotated as a ST supported by Suso and Rebic.

Donnarumma Saving Milan Time and Time Again

The first half was seen as a rather even competition between Milan and Inter however this was only the case due to the interventions of Donnarumma. Milan’s defence were split open on multiple occasions but Gigio did well to make a number of incredible saves to keep us at 0-0. Milan have looked rather average defensively as the trio of Romagnoli, Musacchio and Donnaruma are exposed to numerous threats due to the shortcomings on the fullbacks leaving them in impossible situations. Donnarumma was wrong footed by a deflection on the first goal and sadly missed out on a clean sheet despite a 10/10 performance.

Andrea Conti Confirms He Cannot Defend

Conti, in my opinion, was directly culpable for both goals conceded by Milan and confirmed what I have said for a long time now, Calabria is Milan’s indisputable top choice at RB. Conti was pretty average going forward and did not look confident enough to whip in crosses or cut in from the wing but his poor performance was compounded by his awful defensive decisions. Conti was caught out multiple times during the games forcing him to sprint back and make rash tackles. He gave away the foul that led to the first goal after being caught out in the wrong position and his indecisiveness to attack the cross nor to close down the angle allowed in the cross for Lukaku to head home the second. Conti does not look likely to rediscover his form at Milan.

Suso and Milan’s Poor Decisions in Attack

Suso could have turned the whole game around, he made an incredible run across the pitch and held off defenders to place himself perfectly against the Inter backline. But when he had the option to lay it off to Leao who was unmarked and open on goal, Suso was selfish and rammed a shot into Asamoah. Leao would have almost certainly finished that off to give Milan the lead and that has been the tale of ‘ifs’ in Milan opening games. The attackers always shoot when they should pass and pass when they should shoot, they have no feel for the game and do not look like a unit on the same page. This is the biggest indictment against Giampaolo to this point and he needs to fix this if he hopes to last the season.