Milan, the Scudetto defense has become a horror film: Pioli has lost his wall

What can be seen on the pitch from some matches – three friendlies, three in the league and one in the Italian Cup – discreetly clashes with what has recently been happening at Milanello. And that is a coach who cancels days off and nights at home in order to have more hours to spend with his players to be able to explain them. To illustrate. Get it into your head which mistakes to avoid and the virtuous paths to follow. Because, for example, if the result of having made everyone sleep at Milanello after the foolish performance in the Coppa Italia is what we saw in Lecce, then there are two cases: either the coach no longer knows how to explain himself well, or his lads some reason they can’t follow him anymore.

Highway

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The first half in Lecce was a gallery of horrors which is really difficult to give a rational explanation. For a simple reason: in Pioli’s three years Milan has never had such evident collective fainting, in such a short time. Individual and ward amnesias. A show – so to speak – which was hard to believe due to the madness of its script. The defendant number one is Kalulu, who stands out in the negative in both Apulian goals. On the first he misses the support in the wing, hitting too weakly a few meters outside the area and opens the highway to action which then leads to Hernandez’s own goal. The second Giallorossi goal, on the other hand, saw him miss Hjulmand’s cross which landed on Baschirotto’s head. Two notes in this case: unlike the first episode, where most of the responsibility lies with the French, the blame is shared in the second. Okay, Pierre can be seen passing the ball over his head, but the action started from a corner, and when Hjulmand hits it into the area, the defense is lined up. On line. Theoretically ready to repel the assault. In other words: there are no particular movements, cuts or holes created by the crossings of Baroni’s men. It’s all very scholastic: a precise cross on the head of a player who heads just as precisely.

Fear

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The figure shows that Milan have conceded seven goals with headers, which is more than any other team in this championship. And the data also show that the Rossoneri are struggling like hell on other players’ inactive balls, as he perfectly explained the two-on-one against Roma. Except that in that case, at least, Milan came from 85 minutes played decidedly well. In Lecce we also saw comic scenes – so to speak, also in this case – with players who clashed in the first half out of frenzy, and out of frenzy they swept the area and land close to the area as if it were the last minute of recovery. In short, the fear of making a mistake and the lack of peace of mind are obvious factors, combined with the aggravating circumstance of facing an opponent with eighteen points less. And if Kalulu is the one who carries the heaviest cross, the others are certainly not immaculate. Hernandez follows closely behind him for example – and the worrying thing a few days before the Super Cup -, exhausted and not very concentrated. Both in the reaction times that lead him to chase Blin with a clear delay, with the result of slipping through his own goal, and in the lack of lucidity and leg in the push phase.

Performance

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When Kalulu is not wrong, Tomori is wrong, who is spending a season with a much lower performance than last year. Pioli puts them in front of the tactical blackboard, gives them lessons in video analysis and then tests everything in the field, but obviously that’s not enough because things are getting worse. In the last nine league games, the Devil has kept the door closed only once, in Cremona. And the last time he matched a clean sheet at the three points it was even three months ago (8 October, 2-0 against Juve). Between December and January, Milan played seven games (three friendlies, three league games and one in the Coppa Italia), always conceding goals for a total of 16 goals conceded. And what stands out, dramatically, is above all the ease with which the opponents find the way to the net.