The woes continue for AC Milan as they find themselves unable to salvage the three points after traveling to meet northern Italian side Bologna, final score of 2-1 in favor of the locals. Yet another nervy and uneven performance has left the Rossoneri floundering in eight place ahead of their clash with Lazio on Sunday. It’s fair to say that it’s been a rough couple of weeks for Milan, as they crashed out of the Champions League and have faced back-to-back defeats in Serie A.
Bologna earns a well deserved victory over the visiting side after a fast-paced game in which tempers flared. Vincenzo Italiano’s men put on a tireless display and managed to turn the tide around after going down late in the first half, with an immediate equalizer at the start of the second and a late goal by Dan Ndoye in the 82 minute after a cheap giveaway by Alex Jiménez (We’ll get back to him in a bit).
On the other side Sérgio Conceição and the fans are left scratching their heads, after what seemed to be an excitining and rather successful winter transfer market. The team’s form seems to actually have worsened, having lost some of the balance that was keeping them afloat during the first half of the season and as a result Champions League qualification is seeming farther and farther away.
The one and only highlight for Milan was some spark from Rafa Leão who left De Silvestri in the dust after a long pass from the back and put the ball past the keeper with a cool and collected finish for the his side’s only goal. Christian Pulisic was left out of the starting line up after a lackluster performance against Torino on Saturday, but did get some play time after coming in for João Félix in the second half, after an equally underwhelming display from the Portuguese international. While Kyle Walker (a player that by the way has been at the club for less than two months) was sorely missed in the right back position, with his replacement, Alex Jiménez having a terrible night against Benja Domínguez. Tijjani Reijnders was nowhere to be seen, Malick Thiaw looked nervous and lacking confidence and Mike Maignan still continues to leave doubts about his solidity between the sticks.
Who is to blame for Milan’s crisis?
So who’s to blame for this deplorable form? Is it Conceição, the players or the management? Hard to say. One thing is for certain, Conceição and his team better find the answers and start turning these results around because, come the end of the season some really hard questions are going to be asked in the locker room and they might be looking at a different “Mister”. Milan’s fourth in less than two years.
