Milan won 3-2, making a late comeback also in Frosinone and thanked Jovic and Giroud.
That this too would not have been a comfortable day for Pioli on the bench it was understood after just 2 turns of the clock. At the beginning of the third minute, Milan had already lost 3 balls in their own three-quarters which, however, Frosinone had not managed to capitalize on. Not getting too upset despite the ferocity with which Soulé and his teammates tried to snatch the ball from Milan at the beginning of their move, Milan accepted the high pace of play in the first minutes, taking advantage of the spaces that Di Francesco’s attitude created accepting the risk of the high pace. And so Milan managed to dictate the pace of the match, finding the advantage with Giroud’s header (eleventh goal of the championship) from a nice cut cross from Leao at the far post.
Frosinone has proven to be a close-knit and confident team, but too young to control a match that he had managed to catch thanks to circumstances where luck had played an important role. First the penalty converted by Soulé for a handball by Leao on the line of the area, and then around the hour mark for a goal by Mazzitelli, with Maignan who seems to have forgotten how to cover the near post. Looking at the replay, the movement of the French goalkeeper’s foot is counterintuitive, he seems to be doing everything he can to avoid saving that shot. The errors do not call into question the value of the Rossoneri number 16, but after having already conceded a goal from Thauvin at his post, one might think that Maignan is declining in readings at his post.
After the lead, however, the yellow-blues melted like a jellyfish on the sand. Blessed youth has come forth. Di Francesco urged the team to lower themselves and no longer press with the same intensity as at the beginning of the match, and every time the players had the ball they were more worried about earning a foul than anything else, defying Pairetto’s very permissive method. Brescianini played a subdued game, Sule was unable to show off his talent and the energy of newcomer Demba Seck was never dangerous. And so Milan never seemed to be completely in trouble despite being down. The Rossoneri’s equalizer was in the air thanks to Leao’s athletic superiority, even before the corner kicked into the net by Gabbia from a splendid tower by Giroud. With still 20 minutes available, a more offensive set-up given the arrivals of Jovic and Okafor and Milan’s habit of overcoming difficult matches, the script seemed written. And so it was with Jovic who takes advantage of a carom in the center of the area in the 82nd minute for the final 3-2, which gives a smile to Pioli, confirms the good moment of the Rossoneri and
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After the second consecutive away win 3-2, overcoming a deficit, what emerges is that Pioli has managed to find an effective formula for his team and which puts them in a position to create opportunities in free-diving situations. Milan’s changes seem to have been called after the 65th minute of the game. Loftus-Cheek and Pulisic out, Okafor and Jovic in with the team switching to 4-4-2 which has a less vertical attitude (also due to the opponent’s lower center of gravity) and more desperate, but no less effective . Jovic is now a talisman off the bench, with his fifth goal in the league and Okafor’s physical impact during the game is to recharge the team’s energy bar. Of course, everything seems more based on putting an extra player in the area, and having an extra threat in aerial duels or set pieces, but so far Pioli’s move has proven effective on several occasions. Even in Salerno the match was regained thanks to this change of formation, and in Bergamo Milan also managed to equalize towards the end of the match, seeming to have the inertia in their favor which was only nullified by Muriel’s back-heel. There has been a lot of talk about Giroud’s dependence in recent years, with reserves like Rebic and Origi too flashy amid injuries and mediocre performances. Given Jovic’s difficulties in the first part of the season, everything seemed to repeat itself, but with this new set-up during the match, Pioli found a way to make the Milan bench more incisive compared to last season. Statistically, Milan’s new players have already scored more than those they replaced numerically. Having more options allows you to distribute the arrows among all the offensive players, with only Leao who is struggling to maintain last year’s numbers (with 3 goals so far he is very far from the 15 of last Serie A) but who remains the player to whom he must pass the ball to create some danger. Today, in addition to the assist for Giroud, the Portuguese managed to sow panic among the Ciociaria defenders more than once, without ever having a teammate reward his well-constructed crosses.
What Pioli has to worry about is the defensive phase, because if Milan is proving capable of overcoming complicated matches at the same time they seem to be complicating them themselves. Gabbia, who rewarded his excellent form with a goal, seems to be the cornerstone on which the defense is based, something that few would have bet on when he returned from Villareal. If he is proving to be attentive and courageous in his defensive interventions, the same cannot be said of his teammates. Milan suffer a lot during matches, often due to setup errors and moments of inattention that turn into goals. It should be remembered how much the department was plagued by injuries and that Pioli practically never deployed the starting central defense on paper. But now that even Maignan is unable to save everything, the goals conceded are becoming a historic problem this season. Milan knows how to suffer, but they must learn to do so less.