AC Milan remains a work in progress with new coach

AC Milan starts the season with a new coach and new players, but that didn’t make a difference versus Udinese.

AC Milan finished the 2018-2019 Serie A campaign in fifth place: respectable, but not up to standards. Fans simply expect more from a club with 18 Scudetti, five Coppe Italie, and seven Champions League titles.

The fifth-place finish last season extended Milan’s almost decade-long run of relative mediocrity. Here are the club’s most recent Serie A finishes starting with the most recent: fifth, sixth, sixth, seventh, tenth, eighth, and third. You have to go all the way back to the 2010-2011 season to find a first-place finish.

Milan starts the new 2019-2020 Serie A season with new management. Club legend Paolo Maldini joins as technical director, while Marco Giampaolo takes over as AC Milan coach.

Maldini and Giampaolo aim to usher in a new era for Milan. After one game, it is clear that this new era remains a work in progress.

Milan’s new coach has a new formation

Milan fortified its squad during an active summer transfer window. The club spent over $100 million on new players, including Rafael Leão, Franck Kessié, Theo Hernandez, and Ismaël Bennacer. With these new additions, Milan’s squad appears deeper and more talented than last year.

The bigger change, however, was with Milan’s formation and style of play. Milan lined up in a traditional 4-3-3 formation last season under former coach Gennaro Gattuso. After Giampaolo took over, however, he immediately sought to institute a 4-3-1-2 formation.

This new formation started to take shape during preseason training. Giampaolo and his coaching staff worked with new and returning players to make sure everyone fit with their new role.

Certainly there would be hiccups early on, but everybody seemed confident in a positive result.

All confidence perished after the opening game.

Milan struggles against Udinese

The first test for this new Milan squad was the season opener versus Udinese. Expectations weren’t super high at the start, but Milan certainly was the favorite.

The game was a rather boring affair. Milan struggled to find any offense and managed to finish with zero shots on goal. Udinese eventually won 1-0 thanks to a goal off a corner kick.

The outcome against Udinese itself wasn’t a major problem. There were legitimate reasons behind the sluggish start. New summer signings like Leao and Hernandez weren’t ready to start, and returning starters played in new positions. Suso, for example, played in a central position behind the strikers instead of his natural wing position.

What happened after the game was an issue.

AC Milan’s coach admits new formation is a problem

According to Football Italia, Giampaolo admitted that Milan’s players may be unfit for the new 4-3-1-2 formation. He even brought up a possible return to the 4-3-3 formation from last year.

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Giampaolo’s postgame comments paint a scary picture. He and his staff spent all preseason with a new formation. The club acquired players to fit the formation and the new style of play. Yet, after only one game, Giampaolo wants to switch gears?

What happens if Milan switches back to a 4-3-3 and still loses its next game? Will Giampaolo opt for a third formation? The players will never adjust with so much change.

Milan’s opening week loss and Giampaolo’s comments show that this new version of Milan remains a work in progress. The AC Milan coach needs to finalize a formation and style of play, and then the players must adapt to their roles.

Here’s the big question: how long will this all take? Napoli, Juventus, and Inter all started the season strong, and they don’t show signs of slowing down. Milan cannot afford to fall too far behind so early in the season. If Giampaolo wants to get Milan back in a Champions League spot, he better finalize his team soon.