GdS: Milan remain a work in progress – four major issues Amorim must fix quickly
Ruben Amorim’s AC Milan are still a work in progress, but after seven games of 2026-27 some of the same issues remain.
La Gazzetta dello Sport point out that Milan have not lost yet in the league, but they are yet to fully convince either and will return to Milanello after their latest draw against Sassuolo with a bitter feeling. More importantly, not even Gerry Cardinale was happy.
An optimist would read it this way: Milan have not yet found their path, yet win or draw every game. A pessimist would point out that the most convincing match remains the first against Torino and the trend isn’t improving. There are four main problems that need to be solved.
Inattention
“We can’t concede goals like this from corners,” Amorim said after the match, and he was right. When Milan took the lead, they pulled the plug: within five minutes, they conceded three chances on the counter-attack, unbalanced, as if they were the ones who needed to find a goal.
Amorim didn’t call for barricades and a low block, and never would, but he suggested another approach, much more his own: “We needed to have possession of the ball after the goal, to control the game and suppress Sassuolo’s reaction.”
The right man was on the pitch for this: Luka Modric. It didn’t happen. The particular calls for a general statement: Milan are never clinical and at times they lose concentration, struggling to read the moments of the match.
Leadership
Amorim was asked after the game if Milan lack leaders. He replied that no, it’s not a problem of mentality, it’s a problem of experience. The team does indeed have many young players, many unaccustomed to Serie A.
Diego Moreira was the best in the first half but dropped off significantly in the second. Gonçalo Ramos is experiencing the difficulties of Italian football. Pervis Estupinan came off at half-time. Alphadjo Cisse and Omari Hutchinson – with their 41 years between them – rose from the bench.
It’s no coincidence that the goal was set up by Modric for Rabiot. The solution can only be found with time, unless there are profound changes to the squad.
Bluntness
Before the start of this round, Milan were 13th in shots attempted and last in shots from outside the box. They control the ball well but rarely take shots. So far, they’ve had an excellent conversion rate, but they need to change gear.
The eight total shots in Reggio Emilia certainly don’t solve the problem. Ramos often seems isolated, he moves a lot but has few opportunities in the box, and Christian Pulisic only came alive with the through ball to Chukwueze late in the match.
Amorim refused to consider long shots a solution, citing statistics: “Ninety percent of goals are scored in the box. You can shoot a lot, but you have to know that the goal is to get the ball closer to the goal. We’ve tried different combinations, but we need to improve our crossing. There was space on the outside, and we haven’t exploited it.”
True, especially since Chukwueze has shown since the start of the year that he has a knack for crossing the ball. Solutions? Davide Bartesaghi, who crosses well on the run, even first-time, can help on the left.
Identity
Milan seem to be different versions of themselves within the same game. Sometimes last night they were team that wanted to press hard and raise the tempo, then sometimes that gave way to a more measured management.
The 3-4-2-1 has become a back-four in recent weeks and returned after the half-time break in Reggio Emilia. In short, the team is changing shape, as Rabiot himself said: “We adapt to our opponents; during the week, we work differently depending on the game.”
Rightly so, but this is also dangerous, because Milan are at the beginning of their journey and it’s not easy to find certainties. As Amorim said in September, it’s important to buy time with wins. On Thursday the risk increases because a cold night in Salzburg awaits. If Amorim rotates, that cohesion will be hard to build.
