Hopes for a Champions League spot are vanishing for AC Milan as they fail to secure any points for the third Serie A match in a row. This time they fall to visiting side SS Lazio in a dramatic game that saw a red card and a last minute penalty call at the San Siro.
The Starting Lineup for Milan
Sérgio Conceição made some chances from the previous match against Bologna. He decided to drop Malick Thiaw at the back in favor of Matteo Gabbia, after a couple of unconvincing performances by the German player. In midfield João Félix was also excluded from the starting lineup after underwhelming performances in his last couple appearances. Conceição however insists on keeping as part of his starting lineup the American Yunus Musah, who in his own right is a hardworking player but lacks finesse and is an absolute wildcard in terms of possession and positional awareness. The youngster Álex Jiménez once again fills in for Kyle Walker at right back and was again beaten by his man, this time in the form of Mattia Zaccagni to give Lazio their first goal.
What’s Going Wrong for “The Rossoneri”?
This is the question the fanbase and the management continue asking themselves. On paper this should be a winning team, young, dinamic and full of individual brilliance, yet these factors don’t seem to yield the winning combination necessary for Milan to hold on to a top 4 place in the Seria A table. Defensively Milan is still plagued by uncertainty, every counterattack or instance of build-up play by the oppositions seems to have them scrambling to mark their men. Christian Pulisic who was the most prolific player on the squad during the first half of the season, now seems to be lacking confidence under Conceição. Youssouf Fofana the most exciting signing in the summer 2024 transfer market seems to have checked out by this point in the season and finally the front three are still struggling to combine for goals.
Late Drama
The second half started in a much more positive light with the substitution of Álex Jiménez for the veteran Kyle Walker, they had longer possetion spells are looked more fluid in attacking transition. On the 67th minute of the match they were dealt a blow by the expulsion of Strahinja Pavlović after his challenge on Isaksen, but ten-men Milan was able to still rally forward and get an equalizer on the 85th minute by substitute Samuel Chukwueze. Milan seemed like they would be able to get away with yet another second half comeback under Conceição but a late offensive action saw Mike Maignan make contact with Lazio’s Isaksen in the area, after a lengthy VAR review a penalty was awarded on the 96th minute which the experience Pedro converted without any problem.
This result puts Sérgio Conceição under the looking glass and brings to question his ability to get the best out of the squad he was given. A direct and confrontational manager who seems to thrive under chaos was able to bring some silverware to AC Milan in only his second game in charge, thats true, but will he be able to find and maintain consistency? It remains yet to be seen.