Milan's Magic Week

First they came from behind against Roma, then they came from behind against Madrid in Madrid, today they came from behind at Chievo thanks to a 92nd minute goal. Oh, and the 92nd minute goal was Alessandro Nesta's second of the game.

It has certainly been a crazy week. Three of the most amazing wins in three of the most amazing fashions. Milan haven't looked dominant at all and may have been lucky in all three games, but it is the kind of run that can turn a teams season around. Before Roma, Milan were mid-table in Serie A and were third in their Champions League group thanks to an embarrassing loss to FC Zurich. After this mornings effort, Milan are fourth in Serie A and top of their Champions League group. What a difference a week does make.

While things do seem much rosier at Milan now than it did just over a week ago, Milan still have plenty of issues. The playing roster isn't anywhere near what it needs to be for a club of Milan's history and ambition, they have issues starting games, they have issues scoring, they haven't found a formation they are comfortable with just yet and injuries are an ever persistent problem.

The issues about the playing roster, its age, depth and versatility have been well documented and don't require repeating. Injuries are once again a major problem. The squad is just plain old and is always going to be prone to injuries. It seems that Leo has brought a change of heart to Galliani and Berlusconi and transfers have focused on younger players, but this is a squad in development and major injury concerns will be a fact of life for Milan until next season at least.

The worst of these injury crises is probably the goalkeeper crisis. First choice keeper, Christian Abbiati, is still recovering from last years shocking injury and second choice Marco Storari got injured after some encouraging performances. Third choice keeper Dida shows some glimpses of why he has a couple of Champions League winners medals at home, and has shown plenty of reasons why he is now a third string keeper. It will be devastating if Milan's momentum is killed by another Dida howler.

Scoring is an issue for Milan. They haven't scored more than 2 in any league game this season. In fact, in 66% of league matches they have scored just 1 goal or less and have just 8 league goals at an average of just 0.88 goals per game and some of those goals have been own goals. Milan's goal scoring troubles aren't a home or away thing either, they've proven to be equally inept at netting the ball where ever they play. I think their search for a formation has added to their struggles up front.

As far as the strikers go, Huntelaar is taking time to gel and force a place. Borriello has had injury troubles and managed to fluff a whole swagger of opportunities against Chievo this morning. Inzaghi is patchy and seems to perform best when saved for the big occasions and should only be used in 30-35 games a season anyway given his age and injury record. That leaves Pato, the great white hope. While he certainly looks like he will one day be one of the worlds greatest strikers, at the moment he is struggling to try and carry Milan while at the same time develop his game, where he needs to improve his decision making, tighten his dribbling and learn to build combinations with the other attackers.

However, I think Milan's biggest problem currently (that they can work on without the aid of transfers) is the fist half. In the Serie A, if you made a table based on first half results Milan would be last, 4 points behind second last. Milan have not gone into half time with a lead in Serie A or the Champions League this season which is now 12 matches old. Conversely, they would be top of Serie A if you made a table based solely on second half results. In all competitions Milan have a 7-3-2 record based on second half results (24 of a possible 36 points).

My advice to Leonardo would be to send the team out in the first half to just defend, defend, defend. Get to half time on at least equal terms and hope that the teams second half form continues. I guess you could make the argument that Leo could send the team out to just flat out attack from the start, but I think the team clearly has issues finding a rhythm and maintain ball control early on and that sending them out to just defend for the first 20 minutes or even the whole first half is probably the best choice.

Then once January comes I'd buy a centre-back, a fullback and a winger. I'd make sure they were all young without a history of chronic injuries and build from there. Hopefully Abbiati is back and picks up where he left off prior to his injury, like Nesta has, and Milan might have a reasonable season to build from in the future.