Roma 2-1 AC Milan (3-1 agg): Five things we learned – poor tactics and mentality

SempreMilan

·19 aprile 2024

Roma 2-1 AC Milan (3-1 agg): Five things we learned – poor tactics and mentality

AC Milan failed to complete a turnaround in the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final against Roma. Instead, they were rather embarrassed as the home side played better despite being a man down from 30 minutes onwards.

Indeed, it was yet another bleak performance by the Rossoneri and despite dominating possession, they had a very hard creating anything of value. Matteo Gabbia ended up on the scoresheet with a nice header, but it was too little too late.

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Several players scored 5 or below in our player ratings and Stefano Pioli got his fair share of criticism as well. We could highlight several things from the game, in truth, but below are the five key things we learned from the disastrous performance.

1. Big game struggles and poor tactics

Both in the first and second leg, it was painfully obvious that Roma were tactically superior, controlling the tie pretty much from start to finish. This became even more evident after the red card last night, as the Giallorossi still managed to defend comfortably and even attack.

Heading into the second leg, one would have expected Pioli to come up with some new tactics but instead, it looked pretty much the same. There are just so many question marks from last night’s game and the manager doesn’t do a very good job of answering these.

For example, the decision to start Yunus Musah was understandable on paper. However, his position in the team was to facilitate Davide Calabria’s inverting – a position where the Italian is largely untested, and when he has played there, he has not shone. Pioli’s stubbornness to continue with this failed experiment certainly highlights his incompetence.

In addition to the poor performances that these tactics result in, the main worry is the decline of the stars in the team. Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao, even if the latter got an assist, were never at their best in the tie and one can only feel for them.

The same goes for Christian Pulisic, and many other players, as the tactics just don’t seem to elevate the key figures in the team. Roma did a perfect job of neutralising Milan, but it’s also clear that Pioli’s tactics left a lot, and we truly mean a lot, to be desired.

2. Giroud is officially done

The Frenchman helped win Milan the Scudetto in 2021-22 and considering the money paid to get him, it was a great signing. However, his era has come to an end and yesterday’s performance was just further proof of that.

He lost most of the duels against the Roma defence and whenever he got on the ball, he always made the wrong decision. There is one video making the round on social media of him receiving a ball from Luka Jovic, which he then proceeded to kick high up in the sky.

3. Midfield no-show

The midfield was a big problem from the start and it ended up punishing the Rossoneri. Ismael Bennacer continued his poor form and Musah didn’t cover the right spaces in defence. Not to mention that Calabria was in an inverted role, which made the transition difficult when Roma countered.

Without a doubt, this issue is Pioli’s responsibility as the players are clearly good enough to perform better than that. At the very least, they are able to do the minimum defensive cover but Milan didn’t even have that yesterday, which points to a fatal tactical error.

After the second goal, Pioli also decided to take off Bennacer and replace him with Luka Jovic. This left Milan even more exposed in the centre of the park as Musah continued in his role on the right flank. And this is why, despite being a man down, Roma were able to keep some possession when they regained the ball.

Tijjani Reijnders has arguably been one of Milan’s best players this season and you’d think that he would start in such a big game. He might not have been brilliant after coming off the bench, but we still cannot understand the decision not to start him.

4. Mentality is gone

Roma had a lot more energy, and above all, grit last night, which ultimately helped them see the game out after the red card. This used to be one of Milan’s main strengths too but this is clearly not the case anymore, which is a very alarming sign.

Of course, teams do go through tougher periods but Milan came into this tie with seven consecutive wins, following the tie, though, they now have not won in three games. The confidence should have helped them, in other words, but instead, they appeared beaten from the get-go as Roma wanted it more.

Since the infamous game against Rio Ave in the Europa League qualifiers, Pioli has always been keen to highlight the impressive mentality of this team. Unfortunately, frankly this whole season, we haven’t seen enough of that mentality and it has cost the Rossoneri a lot.

As alluded to earlier, this has mainly been the case in the big games (we have seen turnarounds against smaller teams) and that is when you need the mentality the most. The question is how Milan can solve this issue, perhaps there is only one solution…

5. Pioli’s future hangs in the balance

It seems that yesterday’s defeat was the final nail in the coffin for Pioli’s tenure at Milan. An incredible performance in the derby seems unlikely and the fact remains that the Rossoneri have been knocked out of the Champions League, Coppa Italia and the Europa League.

Finishing in second place is good, don’t get us wrong, but the teams behind Milan have also been very inconsistent. Juventus collapsed completely and if it hadn’t been for that, they probably still would have been ahead of the Rossoneri.

Seeing as this is Pioli’s fourth full season in charge of the club, the fans are right to expect a lot more. Especially since the squad has improved a lot over the years. It’s arguably even better than the Scudetto squad, which says a lot about the decline of Pioli’s tactics.

This season just doesn’t scream progress and it’s difficult to think that the management can look at the outcome and think “Yes, let’s give him another season”. It almost cannot be justified in any way, but it remains to be seen what decision will be made.