Milan were comfortable winners over Bayern Munich in Shenzhen this afternoon, triumphing 4-0 with a brace from Patrick Cutrone.
With a raft of new signings to bed in, Football Italia looks at how Vincenzo Montella’s side are progressing in pre-season.
Words: Federico Manasse
Needless to say, it’s never wise to make holistic judgments of a team as a result of a pre-season friendly. This said, Milan’s thumping 4-0 against none other than Bayern Munich showed that the Rossoneri have a lot to be pleased about.
Milan were comfortable winners over Bayern Munich in Shenzhen this afternoon, triumphing 4-0 with a brace from Patrick Cutrone.
With a raft of new signings to bed in, Football Italia looks at how Vincenzo Montella’s side are progressing in pre-season.
Words: Federico Manasse
Needless to say, it’s never wise to make holistic judgments of a team as a result of a pre-season friendly. This said, Milan’s thumping 4-0 against none other than Bayern Munich showed that the Rossoneri have a lot to be pleased about.
What can certainly be judged, however, are the performances of the single players; the newly-arrived in particular. Still, a brief overview of the team’s overall outlook is necessary.
As against Borussia Dortmund, Vincenzo Montella’s team fielded a 4-3-3, the formation being, and while here the outlook was similar, defensively, the team displayed a 4-5-1 of sorts, with M’Baye Niang and Fabio Borini doing a good job of tracking back. Unlike Milan, Bayern fielded many, though not all, of their starting players, such as Roberto Lewandowski, Thomas Müller and the new arrival Corentin Tolisso.
The main ideas behind Milan’s style of play seemed to be the team’s intensity, shown by the constant high pressing and, in true Montella style, the willingness to play the ball from the back. The latter was not always carried out successfully and resulted in a couple risky mistakes, which were not capitalised by the Bavarians. This is one of the limits of Montella’s insistence on playing the ball on the ground at all times, which was also noticeable throughout the majority of last season. Hopefully for Milan, Montella will be able to rectify this problematic, with the aid of the new signings.
In terms of individuals, the standout performers were Franck Kessié, Patrick Cutrone and Ricardo Rodriguez. The Ivorian confirmed all the good characteristics that were put on show in the debacle against BVB. Until his substitution, Kessié showed that he is in fact the archetype of the box-to-box midfielder, able to defend and attack constantly, due to his impressive physicality. His opportunistic goal also confirmed his goal-scoring tendencies, which were demonstrated throughout his season with Atalanta and, Milan fans will hope, promise to be repeated this year.
It was 19-year-old Patrik Cutrone who stole the headlines, after putting two goals past the German champions in just 45 minutes. Given a chance in the starting XI, the academy product made the best of it, scoring a difficult header first and coming up with a tidy finish for the second, which was the result of some admirable team play. It’ll be interesting to see if this will have been enough to secure a place in the squad, at least as a rotation option.
Left-back Ricardo Rodriguez also showed off his offensive prowess, prompting Kessié’s goal with an insidious cross and directly assisting Cutrone’s first with a curved free-kick. On which note, the ex-Wolfsburg man confirmed his ability to take set pieces, which will really make him an added value for the team this season. Rodriguez was also solid in defence and very rarely out of position, despite his constant presence in attack.
The only other new signing on show from the first minute was Mateo Musacchio. The Argentinian was notable for his attempts at playing vertically, which is what is expected of him, and for his overall solidity, proven by the clean-sheet and by Donnarumma’s undisturbed evening: overall a positive performance from the ex-Villareal man.
In the second half, three new arrivals made their debut for the club: Lucas Biglia, Andrea Conti and André Silva. The ex-Lazio captain organised the midfield and certainly looked sharper than Montolivo in terms of composure and reaction to pressure. Conti and Silva, on the other hand, were certainly less impressive: the Italian seemed to suffer Kingsley Coman’s accelerations and made some questionable passing choices, whilst the Portuguese youngster appeared a bit shy and inconclusive. This said, all three did not play long enough for a considerate judgment to be made.
Leonardo Bonucci also made his long awaited debut, coming on together with Hakan Calhanoglu after 60 minutes. Whilst the former was left relatively undisturbed throughout the whole game, the Turkish fantasista was able to leave his mark, sealing the 4-0 victory with a powerful shot from just outside the box.
With regards to the ‘old’ players, M’Baye Niang and Giacomo Bonaventura stood out above everyone else. The Frenchman, who is expected to leave Milan this summer, will have raised the interest of a number of clubs, displaying an excellent physical form and orchestrating Milan’s third goal. And whilst M’Baye’s objective might have been that of showing off to scouts, Bonaventura seemed determined to assert his position in the team’s starting eleven. Jack bagged an assist and showed his well-known mobility, creativity and technical skills – this kind of performance is likely to provide Milan with the healthy competition that any elite team needs.
Overall, the performance was certainly a positive one, in terms of attitude and adaptability of the newcomers. Vincenzo Montella will certainly be left with a few considerations to make with regards to the striker. Patrick Cutrone impressed, whilst André Silva failed to leave his mark – what now for the former? And will the latter be enough to spearhead the team’s attack next season? We’ll leave it to Montella to think this through.