PatoMilan 4 Lecce 0
Traditionally, I would expect this game to be a grind. AC Milan to sweat it out and a striker to finally come off the bench and score a wonder goal. This season though, it appears that Milan will be a different animal. With the arrivals of Ibrahimovic and Robinho, we could become a different monster. I say that because so far we have resembled a mutated ape jumping tree tops without limbs. It's appeasing to watch Milan play, at last. Pun intended.
Lecce entered this fixture with the intent of playing bravely. I would say the approach was brave, but it also was stupid. You don't stand in the way of an oncoming Bugatti Veyron to display bravery, do you? Lecce did something similar. Initially the game was very open. End to end football reminding me of the distasteful Premier League. We were pushing forward with all 10 outfield players getting involved in the attack. Silva threatened with a 35 metre bullet. Pato scored Allegri's first official goal as Milan manager. This was scored from a tight angle. Pato has been working on his finishing and this finish would have made any striker proud. Borriello on the other hand, was the parody. He didn't show any resemblance of a striker and hardly got into the right positions. If not anything else, he has justified the arrival of Ibra. Silva scored Milan's second of the night. It was scrappy goal indeed, but I am not one to care, really. It was soon becoming embarrassing for Lecce as Ronaldinho's superb pass found Pato who turned the keeper to score Milan's third. Pirlo also was getting his passes right and was spraying the balls beautifully. On days like this, he is the best midfielder in the world. His pass to Seedorf was a class-apart but it seems the Dutchman is comfortably with scoring from distance whilst scoring from 3 yards out isn't as easy a feat. I was just beginning to believe that Pato has finally cured his finishing woes but some lazy play on his part post the brace convinced me against it.
Ronaldinho was easily Milan's best player. He was unplayable in both halves. But given how open Lecce were, that is hardly saying anything. In the second half, Milan began to take their foot off the pedal. Chevanton was brought on to introduce some bite in the attack. His experience was actually coming through as he tested Milan's defense considerably. He also came close to scoring a goal as his angled shot kissed the outside of the bar. Inzaghi wrapped up the game by scoring the fourth. He was fortunate on the goal as he shot straight at the keeper with the ball deflecting into the back of the net.
Lecce made several tactical errors. The biggest arguably is giving Pirlo all the time and space in the world to dominate the midfield. Andrea Pirlo is no longer the player he once was. All that needed to be done was to mark him and give him little or no time on the ball. If he was hustled, he would have fumbled and lost the ball in the midfield. Milan run short of creativity if Pirlo is choked. That has been fairly obvious for awhile now. And what usually happens in such cases is Ronaldinho is burdened with creating play and providing assists; a task he isn't capable of performing any more. Several big teams have adopted this tactic and bottled Milan. Since Lecce didn't do their homework, I am not going to read too much into this result. However,one of the bright spots in the game was Ronaldinho's improved work rate. There were a couple of notable occasions where Ronaldinho dropped deep to defend and also successfully stole the ball to launch a counter. Change has arrived.
AC Milan - Pato (16' 28'), Silva (23'), Inzaghi (90')
Lecce - /
Lecce entered this fixture with the intent of playing bravely. I would say the approach was brave, but it also was stupid. You don't stand in the way of an oncoming Bugatti Veyron to display bravery, do you? Lecce did something similar. Initially the game was very open. End to end football reminding me of the distasteful Premier League. We were pushing forward with all 10 outfield players getting involved in the attack. Silva threatened with a 35 metre bullet. Pato scored Allegri's first official goal as Milan manager. This was scored from a tight angle. Pato has been working on his finishing and this finish would have made any striker proud. Borriello on the other hand, was the parody. He didn't show any resemblance of a striker and hardly got into the right positions. If not anything else, he has justified the arrival of Ibra. Silva scored Milan's second of the night. It was scrappy goal indeed, but I am not one to care, really. It was soon becoming embarrassing for Lecce as Ronaldinho's superb pass found Pato who turned the keeper to score Milan's third. Pirlo also was getting his passes right and was spraying the balls beautifully. On days like this, he is the best midfielder in the world. His pass to Seedorf was a class-apart but it seems the Dutchman is comfortably with scoring from distance whilst scoring from 3 yards out isn't as easy a feat. I was just beginning to believe that Pato has finally cured his finishing woes but some lazy play on his part post the brace convinced me against it.
Ronaldinho was easily Milan's best player. He was unplayable in both halves. But given how open Lecce were, that is hardly saying anything. In the second half, Milan began to take their foot off the pedal. Chevanton was brought on to introduce some bite in the attack. His experience was actually coming through as he tested Milan's defense considerably. He also came close to scoring a goal as his angled shot kissed the outside of the bar. Inzaghi wrapped up the game by scoring the fourth. He was fortunate on the goal as he shot straight at the keeper with the ball deflecting into the back of the net.
Lecce made several tactical errors. The biggest arguably is giving Pirlo all the time and space in the world to dominate the midfield. Andrea Pirlo is no longer the player he once was. All that needed to be done was to mark him and give him little or no time on the ball. If he was hustled, he would have fumbled and lost the ball in the midfield. Milan run short of creativity if Pirlo is choked. That has been fairly obvious for awhile now. And what usually happens in such cases is Ronaldinho is burdened with creating play and providing assists; a task he isn't capable of performing any more. Several big teams have adopted this tactic and bottled Milan. Since Lecce didn't do their homework, I am not going to read too much into this result. However,one of the bright spots in the game was Ronaldinho's improved work rate. There were a couple of notable occasions where Ronaldinho dropped deep to defend and also successfully stole the ball to launch a counter. Change has arrived.
AC Milan - Pato (16' 28'), Silva (23'), Inzaghi (90')
Lecce - /
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