The traditional giants AC Milan continued their downturn. On January 25th, they lost 0-4 to Lazio in the last game of the 19th round of Serie A. This year, they suffered five consecutive official games without victory.
AC Milan fiasco
AC Milan lost 0 to 3 to Inter Milan in the Italian Super Cup last game, and was eliminated by Turin 0 to 1 in the 1/8 final of the Coppa Italia on January 12 after overtime at home. The Serie A champions have failed to score in three of their last four games this season. The offensive line led by Leon and Giroud lost its vigor, and it was difficult to suppress the opponent’s defense line. AC Milan’s performance was extremely abnormal.
Only 4 minutes into the game, Zacagni easily broke through from the left and made a pass. Milinkovic pushed a shot to give Lazio the lead. Lazio’s goal was too easy, AC Milan’s right back Calabria was out of position, and the two central defenders Tomori and Kalulu were like sleepwalking.
AC Milan coach Pioli made a passive substitution in the 24th minute, replacing the injured Tomori with veteran Kjaer. Unfortunately, it did not help to strengthen the defense. In the 38th minute, Marusic hit the post and Zacagni made a supplementary shot to expand the score.
lazio goal
In the 58th minute, Pioli replaced the “Belgian Three Musketeers” De Kettleaire, Origi, and Selemex, and replaced Dias, Giroud, and Mesias, hoping to use the tacit understanding of the Belgian players to strengthen the offense. Unfortunately it didn’t work.
In the 65th minute, veteran Pedro broke into the penalty area and was brought down by Kalulu. Alberto scored a penalty kick. In the 75th minute, Alberto sent a wonderful pass, and Anderson sealed the victory for Lazio.
lazio goal
Since the rematch after the end of the World Cup, Milan has played 6 official games. Except for the difficult away victory over Salernitana, the remaining 5 games, the team either draws or loses, including the last two games with 7 goals. An embarrassing performance, this is an incomprehensible and unacceptable poor record.
The new boss is too stingy
It is difficult to explain the sluggish performance of AC Milan at the technical and tactical level. Pioli seems to have no way: “AC Milan is in poor condition because Ibrahimovic has not yet returned? It is really too easy to make excuses after the game, and we don’t want to Make any excuses. We always believed in the way we played and I will continue to support my lads, who are desperate to get back into that competitive team.”
The root cause of AC Milan’s slump is that its hard power has not improved. In September last year, AC Milan was acquired by Red Bird Capital of the United States. The new owner has limited financial resources and insufficient investment. In the transfer window last summer, AC Milan technical director Paolo Maldini “begged” the Belgian powerhouse Club Brugge for nearly two months before introducing Belgian midfielder De Kettler at a price below the market price of 32 million euros. The biggest signings.
Because AC Milan was too poor, central defender Bottman, who had been favored by Maldini for a long time, finally moved to Newcastle. In the transfer window this winter, AC Milan has been on hold. Coupled with the procrastination of contract renewals with meritorious players such as Leon and Giroud, the result affected the team’s state.
AC Milan also signed Belgian center Origi for free last summer. He is in a sluggish state like De Kettleaire, and the winning lineup of last season has not really been strengthened. With the financial strength of Red Bird Capital, it is difficult for AC Milan to make large-scale signings. It can only try to avoid being poached from key players, and at the same time try to tap the potential of existing players.
In the past two seasons, Milan has been able to achieve a good record. In addition to the use of the whole team, the club’s strong performance in the transfer market is also one of the important reasons, such as Maignan, Fikayo Tomori, Giroud, etc. The arrival of the man has improved the strength and momentum of the team at once, but in the past transfer window, the overall strength of the team did not rise but fell, which made Milan’s performance this season appear more obvious ups and downs. If they are healthy, perhaps the Rossoneri can still perform in a good state, but at the most “critical” time, the team suffered successive injuries. In this game, the team once again compromised Tomori and Kara Bulia, this will definitely have a bad impact on the team’s next game. You must know that in the next round of competition, they will face Inter Milan again. If they still play with such a broken formation, they will be “bloody” , should be a high probability event again.
After the game, Maldini encouraged the team to get out of the predicament as soon as possible: “We can’t just judge Origi and De Kettleaire from the performance of the first 5 months. They have long-term contracts of 4 and 5 years respectively. A new team needs time to adapt. De Kettleair is very talented, I believe he will be able to perform well, it is only a matter of time.”
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