The Milan frontline is facing a lot of scrutiny, but the problems on the other end, whose robustness is supposed to be the hallmark of Massimiliano Allegri’s style, have played a big part in their prolonged slide too, La Gazzetta dello Sport points out.
The Rossoneri gave up 20 goals in the first 28 matches, keeping 13 clean sheets. Since then, Mike Maignan has conceded 12 times in 10 rounds. The average has nearly doubled, from 0.71 per game to 1.5.
Milan haven’t been allowing significantly more shots, roughly 11 per tilt in both stretches. Instead, the number of those on target has gone up from 3.25 to 4.25 per contest. They have paid the price for their subpar approach lately. Their goalie has been beaten in the first half seven times in the last eight meetings. It had happened just on nine occasions across all previous fixtures.
Most of the Rossoneri defenders have had some blunders in recent games. Strahinja Pavlovic has been the only steady one all year long. Even Maignan has looked normal, if not even poor, as of late. Both starting wing-backs have been worn down, failing to contribute convincingly on both ends.
Our Take on the Milan Defense
Allegri has a history of doing the bare minimum to reach the goals. They let go of the rope once Inter pulled away, but all will be swept under the rug if they make the top four. Koni De Winter has had some okay stretches, but one of their main issues is that the line has worked well only when Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia, and Pavlovic were forming it, which can’t be the case all the time in a long season.
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