Filippo Inzaghi has often been given the benefit of the doubt this season because of his lack of experience coaching at the top level, but plenty of questions must be asked of his botched handling of Milan's substitutes and game plan, especially in the second half.
It's hard to argue that Milan even deserved a point against Torino in the 1-1 draw in Turin. A soft penalty call in the first few minutes of the game led to the Rossoneri's only real shot on target, which was the penalty goal scored by Jeremy Menez.
Other than this brief moment of excitement, there was nothing else that Milan fans could applaud for the rest of the entire match.
It certainly didn't help that Mattia De Sciglio received two yellow cards within the first 45 minutes of action, putting a team with few ideas in even more peril.
Before De Sciglio's sending off, the club had been bailed out on several occasions by important one-on-one saves by Diego Lopez, who's showing why he became such a standout last season with Real Madrid. Had it not been for Lopez, there's a good chance Torino would've walked away at the end of the match with all three points.
The most worrying tactical miscue by Inzaghi came in the second half. The club lacked ideas and played scared. There was no offensive threat whatsoever, and the problems were magnified by the substitution that took Jeremy Menez out for Alex.
This change meant that Milan would switch to a back five and lack any sort of striker up front. As a matter of fact, Giacomo Bonaventura remained as the only semi-offensive threat on the field, but he was essentially told to play as a defensive midfielder.
It's a mystery why Alessio Cerci wasn't the natural substitute for Menez. The ex-Torino man still has a chip on his shoulder and is desperate to prove that he's worth the money that Atletico Madrid paid to pry him away from the Granata last season.
With Milan's most glaring weakness being aerial defending, it's surprising to see how defensive the squad became. They constantly allowed Torino to ping balls into the box, and it was only a matter of time until one of these corners or crosses turned into a goal.
Inzaghi still has to experience many game scenarios for the first time, and his tactics in this situation failed miserably. He'll have to learn fast how to deal with certain situations. After all, Milan is hardly a club that has patience for mediocrity.
Only picking up one point from two matches against Torino and Sassuolo to start the 2015 calendar year seriously hampers their chances to make a true dent into the top five and hopefully get themselves that third place in the Serie A standings.
Inzaghi will need to figure out something that works, because right now the club has been getting overrun and outplayed by provincial sides since the start of the season.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1xbSm2m
via IFTTT January 11, 2015 at 02:00AM
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