La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Alessandro Vocalelli analyses Milan‘s loss to Monza and Stefano Pioli’s decisions, saying that the Rossoneri ‘lost twice’ at the U-Power Stadium.
Milan missed the chance to overtake second-placed Juventus in the Serie A table by suffering a 4-2 loss away at Monza on Sunday night.
Milan coach Pioli heavily rotated, leaving Rafael Leao, Tijjani Reijnders, Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud initially on the bench.
They were all introduced in the second half, with Milan 2-0 down after the break.
“Milan paid a high price for the more than questionable choice to do without Reijnders, Pulisic and Leao,” noted journalist Alessandro Vocalelli.
“One thing is to rotate the squad, but another is to totally change a team that practically lost twice. In the first half, they suffered Monza’s blows, and in the second half, after Jovic’s red card, the starters were introduced and forced into a crazy effort for a comeback.
“Did it make sense to completely change the team and force the players to swim against the current, making a huge (and useless) effort?”
Pioli explained after the final whistle that Leao and Pulisic were not fully fit, so he decided to rest them against Monza initially.
The Rossoneri meet fourth-placed Atalanta in the next Serie A match at San Siro on February 25.
Before that, they’ll travel to France to visit Rennes in the second leg of the Europa League knockout play-off following a 3-0 victory at San Siro from last week.