AC Milan vs Atalanta: Both Teams Desperate for a Serie A Turnaround
An opportunity for both. Ruben Amorim and Maurizio Sarri will face each other this evening at 6 p.m. at San Siro, seeking to turn around the course of their teams' league campaigns. After Thursday's fine victories in their respective European competitions, Milan and Atalanta are now called upon to turn things around in Serie A.
Milan, it must be said, have not yet lost in Italy, but the three away draws against Juventus, Lazio and, above all, Sassuolo have slowed the progress of a team still under construction, with the “work in progress” sign always hanging up. The gap to league leaders Inter, following their victory over Bologna last night, is now seven points (19 compared to the Rossoneri's 12). It will therefore be essential to win to keep pace with the Nerazzurri and, above all, to establish themselves firmly in the Champions League places, currently one point away and occupied by the Cagliari-Frosinone pair, who are inevitably destined to drop off.
Atalanta have made a worse start, partly because of a historic change in tactical philosophy after a decade of playing with a back three. Sarri started on the right foot in both Conference League qualifying and the league (victories over Sassuolo and Bologna), but then suffered three consecutive defeats, softened by last Monday's victory over Venezia. With nine points, the Bergamo side find themselves in mid-table, but not so far from those European places to which they will have to cling throughout the entire season, writes Tuttosport.
Ruben Amorim Under Pressure After Milan's Inconsistent Start
Clearly, given the ambitions involved, Amorim will face greater pressure this evening, if only because the 1-1 draw with Sassuolo disappointed just about everyone, starting with Gerry Cardinale (it is not certain whether he will be present tonight). The Rossoneri's number one has great ambitions and wants to see the team at the top of Serie A.
The journey will not be easy, but after the investments made in the summer, “Mr. RedBird” expects a more convincing and, above all, more consistent Milan than the one seen so far, often fluctuating not only from one match to another, but also within the same match.
Amorim's Tactical Changes and Milan's Search for Identity
Amorim's search for this team's true identity requires time. The coach worked during the summer on a playing system (3-4-2-1), but then (intelligently, too) understood that something needed to be changed to get the best out of the players at his disposal.
In recent matches, several formations and different players have been tried. The objective is to have a fluid Milan, with players capable of occupying spaces and switching from a back three to a back four during the match, but it is clear that this work can sometimes generate confusion.
Maurizio Sarri and AC Milan: The Coaching Move That Never Happened
For Sarri, tonight's match will always carry that bitter taste of what could have been and never was. In 2015, after his excellent seasons at Empoli, a move to Milan fell through:
"After the meeting, Galliani told me that the negotiations were going well, but then I never heard from him again. In my opinion," he later recounted, "the Cavaliere was taken aback when he read an interview of mine in which I said that I would not have voted for Renzi because he was too far to the right, like Berlusconi."
There were a few other approaches in the following years, followed by Sarri himself refusing to replace Fonseca in the 2024-25 season because he did not agree with the Rossoneri's offer of a six-month contract with an option.
Tonight, he will try to turn his record positive against the team he has faced most often in his career: against Milan, he has so far recorded nine victories, the same number of defeats, and six draws.
