AC Milan: Three hopes, one fear

By Sean Maslin | Oct 1, 2016

FLORENCE, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 25: Luiz Adriano of AC Milan reacts during the Serie A match between ACF Fiorentina and AC Milan at Stadio Artemio Franchi on September 25, 2016 in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images) /

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MILAN, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 20: Carlos Bacca of AC Milan celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A match between AC Milan and SS Lazio at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on September 20, 2016 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

MILAN, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 20: Carlos Bacca of AC Milan celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A match between AC Milan and SS Lazio at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on September 20, 2016 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) /

Hope #1: That Carlos Bacca can score buckets of goals again.

Last season Carlos Bacca took Milan and Serie A by storm scoring 18 goals in 38 matches. The Colombian international successfully made the transition from La Liga and Sevilla to Italy in part due to his speed. Bacca is one of the fastest strikers in Italy and used his speed and pace to break past defenders.

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But can he do it again? One of the differences between Italian soccer is that Italian defenses is that they seem to learn quicker than other sides on keying up attackers. The numbers seem to indicate that happened to Bacca last season. Just four of Bacca’s eighteen goals came in Milan’s final ten matches.

So far it seems that Bacca has succeeded in replicating last season’s success. In six matches he has five goals including a hat trick to start the 2016-2017 campaign against Torino. Montella seems to favor a balanced attack with both M’Baye Niang two goals) and Suso (one goal) being given chances. If Bacca can help create opportunities for other players then Milan should find themselves in most matches this season.