AT the halfway point of last season, AC Milan were struggling. A woeful 11-match spell between November 11 and February 10 saw the Rossoneri win just three times, slumping out of the top four as the poor results stacked up.
Gennaro Gattuso’s job came under threat, the team was being heavily criticised by fans and media members alike, making a trip to the Stadio Olimpico to face AS Roma seem even more daunting than usual. Yet Milan would turn in a vastly improved performance in the Italian capital, eventually emerging with a richly deserved point from a 1-1 draw thanks to a neat finish from new signing Krzysztof Piątek.
The Poland international set Serie A alight last term, netting an impressive 19 times in 21 appearances for Genoa, then adding 11 more following his move to San Siro during the January transfer window. But as lethal as the 24-year-old striker has proven to be, that first league goal he bagged in Rossoneri colours would not have been possible without some wonderful play from one of his team-mates.
Marco Giampaolo is choosing to start Silva over Piątek because of technical reasons. He spent all summer starting Piatek in a 4-3-1-2. After a round 1 loss, he's going with a different formation and a different striker.
— Matteo Bonetti (@TheCalcioGuy) August 31, 2019
Hunting down Luca Pellegrini in the right-back area, winning back the ball and then holding off three would-be markers to fire in an inch perfect assist, Lucas Paquetá displayed all the qualities Milan had been so sorely lacking during their mid-season slump. His tenacious pressing, hunger to regain possession and desire to drive into the box were all heavily influenced by Gattuso’s coaching, but the vision to see Piątek’s run and the quality of the final pass were solely down to the quality of the Brazilian midfielder.
Deployed in a central attacking role during the second half of 2018/19, Paquetá would orchestrate the Milan attack, pulling off a string of similarly inviting balls that allowed the team to surge back into contention for a Champions League berth that the club so sorely covets.
He was influential in all their positive play, an essential part of a five-game winning streak that followed the draw in Rome, scoring in the first of those matches as Gattuso’s Milan ran out 3-0 winners against Cagliari. He was so good that, as injury sidelined him for much of the last six weeks, the Rossoneri would flounder once again and ultimately slip back to end the campaign disappointingly in fifth place.
That would see the Coach replaced, but Paquetá was thankful for their time together, happy to explain how the former Italy midfielder’s influence helped him enjoy such a great start to his time at Milan. “Working with Gattuso was a wonderful experience,” he told reporters while on international duty back in June. “He gave me a lot of support and helped me adapt to Serie A.
“What he did in the dressing room, on the training pitch, the way he talks to you and motivates you is indescribable,” Paquetá continued. “Football in Italy is very tactical and played more without the ball but, with Gattuso’s help, I adapted quickly and understood what he wanted from me on the pitch.”
That was evident to everyone who watched him play, but as the current campaign got underway, coach Marco Giampaolo –– who has already started matches with both a 4-3-1-2 formation and then 4-3-3 –– has asked the 22-year-old to fill a deeper role. Using him on the left of a three-man midfield, the new boss has given Paquetá more defensive responsibilities, less freedom and, ultimately, moved him further away from the opposition penalty area.
Do u think Giampaolo was trying to prove a point by benching both Paqueta and Piatek? Trying to get them to wake up and work harder? If so it worked because they looked hungry today, more than they were last week
— Milan Bangers (@acmilan_sa) August 31, 2019
As a result, his impact has been drastically reduced. Paquetá has continued to show the tenacity he displayed in Rome, averaging 4.5 tackles per 90 minutes this term after making just 1.9 per 90 last season, yet in almost every tangible way, his attacking contribution has been diminished. He has yet to create a single scoring opportunity for a team-mate, has taken just three shots – all of which were speculative long range efforts – and has managed only one successful take-on after averaging 1.7 per 90 minutes last term.
The knock-on effect has of course been to marginalise Piątek, who has gone from being the golden boy just a few months ago to finding himself on the bench in just the second game of this season. While understanding that his absence from the starting XI might have been to give Andre Silva one last chance to impress (he failed, and was subsequently sent to Eintracht Frankfurt), it is odd to see last season’s breakout star being pushed out so quickly.
It seems the form and fortunes of Piątek and Paquetá at Milan are intrinsically linked, and by using the latter poorly, Giampaolo has reduced the effectiveness of the former along the way. The coach has admitted his pre-season plans were misguided, quickly recognising that an experiment with former Liverpool winger Suso playing behind the strikers was not going to work. Yet rather than replacing the Spaniard with Paquetá – a natural playmaker – the coach abandoned the formation he had spent months perfecting altogether, reverting to a 4-3-3 framework that his squad is ill-equipped to utilise.
A much better option would be to restore Paquetá to that advanced role, and have him supply the bullets for Piątek, something the man himself has already advocated. “The No 10 position I have with the national team is probably my favourite,” the Brazilian said recently. “I know I can give more to Milan and Brazil. I’m happy where I am, but I will always try to improve.”
It is all too easy to see that the striker has been benched and contemplate the idea of him being a one-season wonder, but he was simply too good last year to just fade into the background in the current campaign. Milan need to bring the best from their two talented young stars, because with Krzysztof Piątek and Lucas Paquetá in tandem, the dream of a return to Europe’s elite competition is well within their grasp.
