CM: Why Milan’s win over Atalanta showed the best and worst of Amorim’s management

AC Milan managed to survive a late comeback attempt from Atalanta to beat them at San Siro last night, but there were some concerning signs.

Calciomercato.com write that the alarm on Atalanta’s bedside table may have gone off too late, but it must be said that Milan also helped them to get back into the game, one that seemed to be beyond them with 65 minutes gone.

Amorim gave the Milan fans a beautiful and exciting performance for an hour, with a three goal advantage built up over their opponents. Then, he completely mismanaged the substitutions, which put the result in doubt.

Omari Hutchinson for example is still tactically lagging behind for matches of this level despite his excellent performance in Salzburg. Pervis Estupinan made more mistakes in terms of both his positioning and his build-up play. Ardon Jashari did not bring the required control either.

Jekyll and Hyde

Let’s start with some positives. What immediately threw Atalanta’s game plan into disarray was Amorim’s tactical set-up, which deprived their opponents of being able to keep tabs on the key players.

Goncalo Ramos was constantly swapping positions with Christian Pulisic, Luka Modric alternated between pushing up and dropping deep, while Adrien Rabiot was all over the pitch again. The defensive line also alternated between a three and a four.

The former Sporting CP manager’s ability to rekindle struggling players like Yunus Musah and Samuel Chukwueze is evident to all, as is his ability to keep everyone in the squad attentive with rotation from game to game.

Another constant in Amorim’s footballing philosophy is to always dare to make substitutions. The 65th to 75th minute seems the time for changes in his mind. Against Torino, Juventus and Lazio they went well. Last night, not so much.

With the score at 3-0, Amorim brought on Estupinan, Jashari and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The result? Atalanta had enormous space to attack, which, as the minutes ticked by, deprived Milan of confidence, causing their fans to experience 20 minutes of unjustified apnea.

A partial explanation certainly comes from a schedule that sees the team play every three days: on Thursday, Milan will play away in Bournemouth. The next step for Amorim is to find the balance between courageous management and a changes that bring freshness.