Week 18 only offered a 0-0 tie at 19th placed Frosinone. The impotence in attack and creativity is at its height, or is that at its depth? Calhanoglu getting starts and even be declared crucial by Gattuso only adds to the frustration of fans, observers and it should to management. Higuain – in the midst of early departure rumours – misfiring at personal records and not being helped by the service adds further more. Late in the week Leonardo seemed to give a vote of confidence to Gattuso but whispers of a dismissal are swirling and this SPAL game might prove the final nail in the coffin. But who are the possible successors? Conte and Leonardo Jardim (ex-Monaco) are possibly the only two realistic and exciting names, at least until the summer.

Suso missed the midweek encounter and as this game comes so quickly after that encounter he was to be at risk but returns to start. The rest of the 11 are more or less predictable and the midfield of Kessie, Bakayoko and Calhanoglu have not helped the cause of the team but will need to do so if 2019-2020 Champions League football is to be in the team’s future.

The team needs the cash injection of the big European competition to have any chance of escaping future UEFA sanctions. The team might be forced to make even fuller use of chief scout Moncada’s skills to unearth emerging stars.

For now the defense is likely to feature Zapata instead of Musacchio. At least Donnarumma has been one of the bright(er) spots this season.

SPAL sit in 15th place with a solid 3-5-2 and are led by none other than Andrea Petagna.

The winter break begins after this match. The break will be interrupted by a Coppa Italia match at Sampdoria on January 12th and the Supercoppa vs Juventus in Saudi Arabia on the 16th. Serie A returns on January 21st at Genoa.

Follow the match as it happens, on the forum.

Follow the match as it happens, on the forum.

Week 16 at Bologna offered another disappointing tie. 0-0 vs a team that is on the verge of firing its coach, Milan legend Pippo Inzaghi, does not inspire confidence. The injury crisis had one bit of good news with the return of captain Romagnoli but little positive else of note. Kessie as ineffective as ever along side Calhanoglu and Bakayoko added to the team’s woes by accumulating yellows. The Ivorian got a yellow to miss Fiorentina through suspension. The Frenchman got two yellow within three minutes to get his own suspension.

Therefore Milan has to face week 17 without either and of course Biglia is far away from a return. The other central midfielders on the team are Mauri, Bertolacci and Montolivo. The latter is frozen out completely with numerous whispers that he will leave in January. Whether or not Bertolacci gets minutes is questionable but Mauri hasn’t done poorly in recent relief appearances.

Word is that a new and reworked middle three of Calabria, Mauri and Calhanoglu will start in front of Abate, Zapata, Romagnoli and Rodriguez in another 4-3-3. The 4-3-3 could feature Higuain, Suso and Castillejo up front.

Calhanoglu’s almost shocking form continues to be a cause for concern and he may be off as early as January as Milan welcome Paqueta and possibly Fabregas or other midfield (Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic?) reinforcement. The Turkish international has been struggling with simple movement but he has not been the only one. Kessie, Cutrone and Higuain – just to name three more – have all seen their form dip. It says a lot about the state of Serie A’s opposition that Milan with one league win in the past five still retains the fourth spot in the table. Lazio, Roma and others are not exactly on fire and the fourth place is perhaps the only thing that is keeping Gattuso’s job safe, for now.

Fiorentina are five points behind Milan.

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A still injury ravaged team managed another solid outing and three points courtesy of Cutrone and Kessie.  Beating Parma 2-1 after falling behind early in the second had this team surpass expectations. How long can this continue? It will interesting to see how the team copes with the continuous injury situation. Having said that Romagnoli could be back as early as week 17 vs Fiorentina and Musacchio not long after.

Bakayoko has been steadily growing in the team and filling Biglia’s shoes better and better. Higuain has now served his two game ban after seeing red vs Juventus and this likely means that Milan will play a 4-4-2 again. The Argentine should line up with Cutrone in front of Bakayoko, and Kessie. The midfield will be flanked by Suso and Calhanoglu.

Parma didn’t pose much of an attacking threat last weekend but Abate was solid at the more central defensive role and he is set to keep that spot along side Zapata. Calabria and Rodriguez will be the full backs. Donnarumma has been less mistake prone too, which has helped the team but the goals allowed (18) is still high for 14 matches. At the end of it all Milan sit in 4th place and aided by lackluster forms of Lazio and Roma can solidify that position further and climb to within 1 point of third place Inter.

Torino are led by Andrea Belotti, the once 100 million man, and sit in 7th spot. The Turin team have yet to lose away in seven matches. The away unbeaten run is only matched by their neighbours, Juventus.

The more big picture news of the week was the official appointment of Ivan Gazidis as CEO, the ex- Arsenal man bring with him a costs control reputation. Heeding that the appointment of Geoffrey Moncada as chief of scouting is important. The ex-Monaco man is widely credited for finding players like Kylian Mbappe and will be tasked with finding future stars before they command multi-million dollar transfer fees.

Before the international break a meeting with Juventus were to provide a confidence boost, even if it was unlikely a positive result were to be had. Injuries had been mounting and the team was without Musacchio, Biglia and Bonaventura. All three are to be out in times measured in months and in Bonaventura’s case, after knee surgery, the player is almost certainly out for the season. The game therefore featured a handicapped Milan and as it transpired the frustration grew within the game. First Higuain missed a VAR awarded penalty and then lost his cool and got himself sent off in what was to be a 0-2 loss. The Argentinian earned himself a two game ban for screaming at the referee, a ban not reduced on appeal. To add to the crisis level injury misery captain and defensive leader left the Azzurri camp and is set to miss a month.

The battle of 4th vs 5th is of course very important and Milan would do well to emerge from this and next weeks relatively unscathed.

All the above leave the team with only Zapata as a recognized central defender – plus Stefan Simic who is officially on the squad. The team is therefore not only short on bodies it is also in search of a formation to fit the available players. It had been suggested that Gattuso will use something resembling a 3-4-3 and make use of wing backs in search of a balance in defense and attack. As it happened Abate, Zapata and Rodriguez started with fears of a defensively porous game seemingly being realized in the first few minutes as Lazio started well.

It might have been expected that the back three will be aided by Laxalt and Calabria acting as full back and wingers in one to not only move up but also to help stop the likes of Senad Lulic and Adam Marusic. However the much maligned Borini started in place of the Uruguayan.  In the middle the only players that are in some form are Bakayoko and Kessie. The likes of Montolivo and Bertolacci do not inspire any confidence at all. Up front Cutrone got the first of his two deserved starts now that Higuian is suspended. Suso and Calhanoglu were, as expected, the first options for the other spots. The game settled as Calhanoglu missed a chance and Lazio had a goal ruled offside. Borini came close in the second. Lazio made two subs as the game reached the last quarter still tied. The expensive but under performing Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was one of the players withdrawn. Donnarumma did well when tested. As the game stalled into a stalemate Suso found Calabria onside in the final third, the Italian ran and pulled back for Kessie whose shot was deflected by Wallace and in. As the game entered added time and the ref had made several perplexing decisions Correa shot through a crowd and tied it for Lazio. Simone Inzaghi still had the time to have himself sent off from the touch line before the final whistle sounded. Gattuso had not used a single sub, not even to kill time in added time. He would invite post match criticism as Milan dropped two points.

Read more about the match on the forum.

Follow the match as it happens, on the forum

Two wins vs the Genoa based teams has propelled Milan to the top 4, before week 11 matches start. The 2-1 win vs Genoa midweek and 3-2 win vs Sampdoria last weekend both required winning goals that may have seen unlikely at times during the match. Neither game featured a team impressive in movement, shape or tactics. One featured a departure from Gattuso’s preferred 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2  – with both Cutrone and Higuain starting vs Sampdoria. The other looked more like a 3-5-2 that reverted to a 4-4-2 when Abate replaced the wing back/winger Laxalt. The three at the back is very unfamiliar to the players and it showed.

Biglia’s injury that will keep him out for over a month has added to the injury list with news that Caldara will miss three months with a calf problem. The midfield lacks the most depth and it seems likely that Bakayoko will be getting more minutes . The French midfielder has to cut down on his mistakes, one of which was partially responsible for Genoa’s deflected goal midweek.

Despite question marks a back three could make another appearance with Rodriguez lining up with Musacchio and Romagnoli. The midfield will still miss Bonaventura who is out with a knock therefore Laxalt, Calhanoglu, Bakayoko, Kessie and Suso could feature behind Higuain and Cutrone. The latter scored the opener vs Sampdoria and has one of the best goals to minutes ratios in the top leagues . The 20 years old has scored five goals (in all competitions) so far this season in 327 minutes.

There is also more news of an Ibra return, an 18 months deal starting in January 2019 could be in the works.

Udinese sit just above the relegation zone in 17th place with Rodrigo De Paul having scored fully half of their 10 goals so far this season.