GdS: How Amorim’s fluidity helped Rabiot record career-best start to a season
Adrien Rabiot continues to deliver in the biggest games for AC Milan, and Ruben Amorim is arguably getting the best ever form out of him.
La Gazzetta dello Sport begin a report by recalling how different things were in the summer. With Milan falling to fifth and Massmiliano Allegri being sacked, many presumed that Rabiot could follow him to Napoli, to play Champions League football.
Rabiot not only remained at Milanello, but is also the Atlas of the team this year. He carries it on his shoulders and takes its weight with disarming ease and personality. While Allegri observes Milan from below, Adrien has found a new coach who is giving him a new lease of life.
World-class numbers
The derby goal is an excellent indicator of Rabiot’s confidence, attempting that billiard-like shot (even though some, like Yunus Musah, maintain it was a cross) in a match like this, with the game still wide open, signifies complete self-confidence.
The Frenchman knows perfectly well he has a powerful shot, but he opted for finesse, guiding the ball to kiss the post and land in the back of the net as eleven Nerazzurri players watched it slowly and mockingly cross their penalty area.
Rabiot was one of the derby’s heroes but has been performing at a high level for several matches now. He currently has the best average rating in the squad, and it’s a stratospheric 6.81 (out of 10, across all games).
The other key number is nine: five goals and four assists this season makes nine contributions, the most in the squad. In the league, he’s been involved in a goal in each of his last five games: assists against Lazio, goals against Lecce and Sassuolo, a goal and assist against Atalanta, and a goal in the derby.
To better understand his further improvement from an already very high level, we must consider that in the entire last season, Adrien had six goals and four assists. He’s one goal away from matching that tally.
Why the improvement?
Some tactical considerations help contextualise things. Compared to Allegri, Amorim’s style of football is on another level, being much more attacking. It’s not based solely on counter-attacks, but on a flow of play that starts from midfield and allows for the runs of those who move in between the lines.
Rabiot has always been a player who can get forward: he has the physique, technique, and footballing intelligence. Amorim has given him a further step because he’s made him more difficult to read for opponents.
If before, the Frenchman was a classic pivot midfielder, now you find him practically everywhere. At the start of the season, Amorim’s style of football was positional, locked into a 3-4-2-1 that seemed set in stone with Rabiot behind the striker.
Then the Portuguese coach realised he was doing himself harm and began a tactical overhaul. The fundamentalist has become fluid, and the playing system is now an abstract concept that must be filled with individual interpretations.
This is a set of circumstances where Rabiot shines. The derby is a perfect example: the former PSG man was everywhere, depending on his own tendencies and the team’s need for certain characteristics in certain parts if the pitch.
This is the best start to a season of his career. Now, in addition to the pitch, he’ll also have to keep an eye on his desk. After Strahinja Pavlovic and Christian Pulisic, he’s the next one destined to ascend to the fourth floor of Casa Milan to sign a renewal waiting for him.
