Some Thoughts in the Aftermath of the Derby

I was unsure if I wanted to make a post like this at all with the amount of vitriol that is consuming this subreddit these days. It's hard to find the desire to make posts in search of constructive discussion when so many week after week fill the subreddit with insults or ridicule towards anyone not sharing their opinions, not to mention towards the coach and the team over every tiny mistake or decision they don't agree with. Being critical is good and all, but it's harder and harder to find attempts at discussion in the critique and not just spouting of shit talking and mockery. Still, I'll give it a go, since I do believe there's positives to take from the bitter defeat yesterday.

Obviously, there were plenty of things that went wrong yesterday, and most of them have mentioned 100 times over, so I'll skip quite a lot of that. It doesn't mean I'm glossing over them, but rather I'll leave that to what's already been said elsewhere. I'll just mention in regards to one of the shouts right now that I disagree wholeheartedly with the shouts of firing the coach 4 games in. There were quite a lot of talk in here about a year ago (and over a period after that) that had quite a few supporting voices behind them that the cycle of hiring and firing coaches was a big problem in recent years at Milan, and the resetting of the project got us nowhere. I'm not going to say I was a huge backer of this notion, even if I do agree up to a point with it, but I think it's worth keeping in mind for those that agreed with that a year ago to consider if they still believe that now, and if they also are thinking it might be a good idea to fire the coach 4 games into the season.

Regardless, regarding the game last night, there was one thing I feel positive about more than anything else. This was the first game so far where I actually started to see the traces of the tactics Giampaolo wants to see in the team. It wasn't so much in the team having good passages of offensive play, but rather where the differences were shown when some individual players played the way I think Giampaolo wants them to play. The main focus here to me are two concepts that have been mentioned in other threads by both myself and others, and those are movement off the ball into space and passing the ball towards those movements.

I think the easiest example that most people agree with is the inclusion of Leao. We probably saw this last night more than the previous 3 games combined, where Leao would make offensive movements off the ball, and the ball being sent to him in that movement. For example he would make a run behind or on the outside of the fullback, and the pass would go to him creating a one-against-one situation where the defense had limited safety cover if Leao would win that battle. I would've liked to see even more attempts to find Leao this way, and even more positive movements of him, but this was a good start both from him and those that looked to make the passes to him. I'll also say that the few minutes Rebic got, he also showed a couple of good moments like this, which adds to the positive impression he already made against Verona.

The second example is on the surface negative, but I choose to see it as a positive for the future. When Paqueta came on we saw a team that unraveled in possession outside of a few moments created by Theo's great runs. The reason for this in my opinion was that the way we played at that point was sending the ball to Suso or Paqueta, who then held onto to the ball while the rest were standing around watching them rather than making off the ball movements. The reason why I look at this as a positive is that it really emphasized that the team was falling back to the old sins of hoping the two playmakers that were now on the pitch would come up with something magical. Where in previous games it felt more like there were so many problems it was hard to pick out what to focus on improving beyond "everything", this in my opinion gave some clear indications of possible changes that could make a big impact fairly quickly.

1. Right now it seems to me that to improve the flow of our attacking play we need to only use one playmaker at the time, and facilitate the best possible conditions for that playmaker to shine. Suso and Paqueta are really the two candidates for this role more than anything, so only one of them should be on the pitch at the time. Personally I would prefer Paqueta because I believe he's more suited to thrive in a system where we try to provide him with options for quicker play, but that's beside the point.
2. Team selection around the playmaker should more than anything focus on players able and willing to put in the effort of movements off the ball. Offensive runs, breaking free from markers, creating space for teammates etc. I'm sure there's quite a few players that can learn to play this way, but right now I'd focus on the ones showing this on the pitch, just to get us going. Players like Leao, Rebic, Theo and Hakan (I'll get back to the latter, because I know most people in here will think "no fucking way" as soon as they read his name) are the ones I believe should be heavily considered for this, while someone like Jack probably will come into the picture at some point when he's hopefully fit.

In regards to Hakan, I do not see him as a playmaker the way Giampaolo utilize him, and I believe the coach is correct in that. Hakan is not playing like he did last season, he's changed quite a lot. Last season he was used as a playmaker together with Suso, holding onto the ball for ages, trying to score from very long range very often and roaming long distances sideways (getting close to the right wing even). The Hakan we see today is putting in a lot of effort moving into space off the ball, passing the ball to a much higher degree than transporting it himself and focuses his movements more vertically than horizontally. His shots are also in large part at a much closer range (<20 meters), which have created dangerous situations. His contribution is not flashy, but it's something we need as much as possible of right now for the team machine to run smoothly. He's not an amazing player, but right now I believe that he contributes some crucial things that others are not (but might do better than him in time). Ideally I see him as a useful bench player in the future, but right now I believe he needs to be a starter. I know that's contrary to what most people in here think, and I don't necessarily think I'll change anyone's mind, but I guess I'll live up to the Hakan supporter reputation that I probably deservedly have built up over time.

There's a lot more that can be talked about both regarding the above focus points and other points, but I'll wrap up before this ends up a book-length post. I'll end it with what I've heard Giampaolo said a few times so far this season, "the players aren't doing what I tell them to". Well, I think that yesterday he started to see some players starting to do parts of what he tells them to do (which he might not have seen in the previous games), and some that are continuing to not do so. I also believe that regardless if Giampaolo agrees with what I write here or not, I believe that his trained eyes sees a lot more than me. I believe that we will start to see him making some significant changes in the next few games aimed to improving very specific parts of our many problems.

But I could be wrong of course.