Milan for the Scudetto?

With this somewhat undeserving win, the title race is now back on. Milan are just four points behind Inter and with thirteen games still to play, the title is all to play for.

But, Milan were lucky, very luck in fact. Fiorentina were the better side all night. They had twice as many shots than Milan and twice as many were on target. If it were not for some truly world class saves by Christian Abbiati and the referee’s decision not to award Fiorentina a penalty that was, the outcome could have been very different for Milan.

Do not get me wrong, I am clearly delighted with this win. It has brought Milan back into the race for the title and it will give the team much more confidence in believing they can actually win it.

However, Milan’s performance in this game was poor and to come away with all three points, Milan have to consider themselves extremely lucky.

What was most worrying was how Leo’s side failed to impose themselves in the game. La Viola were in control of this match from the time they took the lead early in the first half through Gilardino. Even after we equalised we failed to take control of the match as it was La Viola that went on the attack in search of the winner.

We failed to impose ourselves on the game because we lost the battle in midfield. It was Montolivo, Donadel, Vargas and Marchionni that dominated the midfield and dictated the game. Our midfield trio of Pirlo, Ambrosini and Gattuso were simply no match. Gattuso in particular had a poor game as did Ambrosini before being replaced by Flamini. With our two defensive midfielders struggling to dominate, Pirlo’s performance was always going to suffer as a result and it did. Flamini was an improvement when he came on, but only just.

Milan have Ronaldinho to thank for once again for providing the assists for both of Milan’s goals. Ronaldinho is such a superb talent, there is really no one else like him. He really has come good this season and it is he who Milan rely on to make things happen and perhaps a little too much too.

For though it is great to see Ronaldinho providing so many assists, it is a problem if we start relying on the Brazilian magician too much. And I feel that this is already the case as there is no one else in the team that shares the burden of creating goals along with Ronaldinho.

In all competitions this season, Ronaldinho has provided fourteen assists. Seedorf and Pirlo are both far behind the Brazilian with just four assists each. The burden of creating goals has become the sole burden of Ronaldinho and this is a problem.

At full back, both Abate and Bonera came out second best in their respective duels with Vargas and Marchionni. Vargas was a constant threat down the left flank as was Marchionni down the right flank.

Vargas is an exceptional talent and I would love to see him don a Milan shirt in the future. He would be ideal for our problem left back role. Abate was always going to struggle to contain the Peruvian, though I do not think that Abate did all that bad either.

Bonera on the other hand should have done better in containing the threat of Marchionni. Marchionni is not in the same class as Vargas and Bonera is more capable defensively than Abate. For these reasons, Bonera should have done better.

Up front Borriello had a frustrating night and was not his usual workmanlike self. He did not run and hustle as he did in Bari over the weekend and he barely got sight of the goal let alone a chance on goal.

As for Huntelaar, the Dutchman showed his true predatory instincts. Before his arrival, Milan had not registered one shot on target yet Huntelaar’s first shot was not only on target, but it made the teams level again.

There is no doubt that when provided with the service, the Dutchmen does not disappoint. He just needs the service. It is for this reason that there is no doubting his quality. The Dutchman’s problem is that if not provided with the service, he becomes almost completely anonymous.

Special mentions are also deserving for Abbiati who single handedly kept Milan in the game with a string of world class saves and of course Pato who scored the winning goal.

Though I believe our growing reliance on Ronaldinho is becoming a problem, our biggest problem is in midfield. Last night we lost the battle in midfield because the legs of Gattuso simply cannot sustain a high level throughout such a busy match schedule.

Pirlo too, can no longer perform at the highest level week in week out. But it is his dependency on being played alongside able defensive midfielders that impacts his performance more than anything else.

Like Gattuso, Ambrosini also displayed signs that he too can no longer consistently perform at the highest level.

To Milan fans, all this comes as no surprise. But it is a real concern. Given Milan’s busy match schedule, playing these players week in week out is what will be our undoing. Whilst Beckham and Flamini are alternative options, Beckham simply is not a substitute for either Gattuso or Ambrosini whilst Flamini does not have the quality despite having the youth.

Juggling these players in order to keep legs fresh will be Leo’s biggest challenge now and in the coming weeks.