Question marks were raised after consecutive losses in Serie A, but Stefano Pioli and his AC Milan players have responded like Scudetto challengers need to.
The Rossoneri have picked up six points from a possible six in our last two outings, seeing off Genoa and Salernitana while scoring five goals and conceding none.
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That’s in stark contrast to the issues exposed in our defeats to Fiorentina and Sassuolo prior to that, where we conceded seven goals and looked to be completely out of sorts.
However, just as he has done previously after heavy losses and disappointing setbacks, Pioli got a reaction out of his players and Milan are certainly back on track.
Defensive solidity the foundation of Milan success
The consistent factor in our good run of form is a solid defensive base. Milan have plugged the gaps and become an organised unit again in the last two games, ensuring that the opposition aren’t given an opportunity to get into the game.
From there, we have the attacking talent, even despite our ever-growing injury list, to make the difference and win games for us.
It can be a risky strategy as if our influential stars aren’t at their best, it can lead to a disjointed and blunted attacking display, but more often than not, they have found the answers either collectively or as individuals.
We saw that with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s strike against Genoa along with Messias Junior’s impact and Alexis Saelemaekers curling in a top finish against Salernitana, and the reason they were able to emerge as match-winners was because of us keeping clean sheets at the opposite end of the pitch.
Fikayo Tomori’s return was significant in that regard as Milan look a much more solid backline with him in it, and although we’ve now lost Simon Kjaer to a long-term injury which could rule him out for the rest of the season, we’ve rediscovered our core strength which calls upon the entire team to make us hard to beat without an over-reliance on the defence to absorb that pressure.
Time will tell if he we can put in a near-perfect performance on Tuesday night to get the better of a top Liverpool side, but moving forward in Serie A at least with a showdown with Napoli not far away now, we’ve set the standard once again that we need to meet every week and it’s hoped that we’re now in a position to build momentum and put together another big run of results.
