Frustrating Milan Derby Defeat

After four long years in Serie A and three across all competitions, Milan is red and black. It is inevitable that one day, our unbeaten run in the Derby Della Madonnina, would come to an end. The slight consolation for us was that the match was played in front of a small audience. Let’s start with my analysis and thoughts.

Kolarov

His was a signing that wasn’t greeted with much enthusiasm by the fans and his displays so far, have proven our doubts right. Aside from a great ball to Achraf Hakimi in the build-up to the first goal against Benevento, he has had a torrid time in defence. This morning he made an inexplicable decision to chop Zlatan Ibrahimovic down in the penalty box and give away a penalty. He was signed to bring experience and winning mentality into the team but the rash decision he made in panic belied the vindication of his signing.

Samir Handanovic nearly saved his team-mate’s blushes by saving Ibrahimovic’s penalty but the big Swede was too quick to tuck in the rebound. Handanovic became the best penalty saver in the history of Serie A with his 25th save. 

One-On-One Duels

There were some duels where we had the upper hand in the game. Romelu Lukaku on Alessio Romagnoli, Lautaro Martinez on Simon Kjaer and Achraf Hakimi on Theo Hernandez. We lost others that turned out to be key. Davide Calabria surprised me with a disciplined and astute performance to nullify Ivan Perisic. Nicolo Barella and Ismael Bennacer had a good battle shaded by the Milan man. A change in position for Barella freed him from the shackles of his opponent. Frank Kessie was massive in the second half sitting in front of the Milan defence to cut out our attacks and had the physicality to out-muscle or at least challenge our more physical players. Danilo D’Ambrosio had a tough time dealing with Rafael Leao and was embarrassed by a drop in shoulder and change of pace by his younger opponent for Milan’s second goal.

A duel I found captivating was that of Serie A 2019-20 Best Defender, Stefan de Vrij and Ibrahimovic. It was an even contest with the spoils shared between the two.

Missed Chances

Despite the result, we didn’t produce a bad attacking performance. We created several chances that we failed to take causing me to pull my hair at various stages. Martinez had a header cleared off the line, Lukaku missed with a header in the first half and in stoppage time, didn’t connect well with a volley, Perisic had a header that he put over, Hakimi got close with his header and Barella could only shoot straight at his international team-mate, Gianluigi Donnarumma at the end of a sweeping move. There was some indecision as well in the final third that was agonising to watch.

Wobbly Defence

From the meanest defence last season, we have regressed to have a porous defence. Inter bitterly missed Milan Skriniar and Alessandro Bastoni who were sidelined by COVID-19. D’Ambrosio, normally very reliable typically needs time to get up to speed. The release of Diego Godin is coming back to bite us now. Matteo Darmian was the last signing we made but was left on the bench today morning. He is a player that might not be highly-rated but I believe with his under-rated quality and Conte’s coaching, he can re-instate the quality in our defence.

Lessons for Conte

Antonio Conte will be under intense pressure to deliver this season. With the public revelation that he is the highest-paid manager in Serie A as well as the reinforcements in the team, anything short of a Scudetto win will be deemed as a failure. You can’t win a title without a solid defence and he has his work cut out to find the balance in the team of a free-flowing attack and a tight defence.