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A struggling giant meets one of the season's surprise teams on Saturday when AC Milan travel to face Torino.
Date: Saturday, October 17
Time: 8:45 p.m. local time, 7:45 p.m UK time, 2:45 p.m. EDT
Venue: Stadio Olimpico di Torino, Turin
TV Info: BT Sport Europe (UK), beIN Sports (UK)
Live Stream: beIN Sports Connect (U.S.)
After a summer-spending binge unlike anything the team had seen since the turn of the decade and a promising new hire in the manager's office, expectations were huge for a revival at AC Milan this season.
New coach Sinisa Mihajlovic was considered the perfect successor to Filippo Inzaghi. Experienced and tough, it was thought that he was the perfect candidate to break through the mental malaise that afflicted Inzaghi's side through much of the second half of last season. A tactical shift away from Pippo's uninspired 4-3-3 was considered another positive, especially for players like Keisuke Honda, who spent much of last year out of their natural positions.
Unfortunately, the results have not lived up to the expectations. Milan have been anywhere from inconsistent to downright awful this year. They have been fantastic in one half and nearly blown huge leads on the other side of the break. Teams like Empoli and Palermo have put them under extreme pressure. The season has been bookended by flaccid performances against Fiorentina (a 2-0 loss) and Napoli (a 4-0 demolition).
The result is a team in 11th place, having claimed fewer points at this stage of the season than Inzaghi's did a year ago.
The problems are numerous. Suspensions have prevented Mihajlovic from establishing a starting center back pairing. The pairings that have been deployed have been guilty of elementary errors—particularly Cristian Zapata.
In the back line's defense, they have been repeatedly left badly exposed by a midfield that is playing bad football. Andrea Bertolacci in particular has been awful, making his €20 million price tag look like the mistake of the summer so far.
Still, it was something of a surprise when a report appeared in La Repubblica in early October (h/t Football Italia) that Silvio Berlusconi was already considering firing his coach. While the Milan owner isn't exactly Maurizio Zamparini—the owner of Palermo—he can have a quick hook if he feels his manager isn't doing what he wants him to do. Saturday's game must be an improvement, or else those murmurs will increase quite a bit in volume.
Where Torino is concerned, it is becoming less and less of a surprise every time they have success. Giampiero Ventura is one of the best coaches in Italy, and he has spurred his team to fifth place through seven games, two years after finishing sixth and qualifying for Europe for the first time since the 1990s.
With European competition to account for, Torino finished lower in the league but reached the round of 16 in the Europa League, including a famous win over Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames. They may have lost their best player, Matteo Darmian, in the summer transfer window, but Ventura has taken the components of his team and turned it into a fantastic whole.
One concern for Ventura has been the defense. The team have allowed eight goals compared to 12 scored. They have difficulty coping with attacks down the wings and give up too many free-kicks in good attacking positions. Some more discipline in the back three will keep Torino in contention for a potential return to the Europa League.
Projected Lineups
| Torino (3-5-2) | Milan (4-3-1-2) |
| Padelli | Lopez |
| Bovo Glik Moretti | Abate Romagnoli Ely Antonelli |
| Molinaro Gazzi Vives Baselli Silva | Bertolacci Montolivo Kucka |
| Lopez Quagliarella | Bonaventura |
Key players to be careful
After four years at Juventus, Fabio Quagliarella moved across Turin, where he became an everyday starter for the first time since he blew out his knee in January of 2011.
His first year leading the line for the Granata saw him score 13 times in the league and three more in the Europa League, adding three assists along the way.
This season, he's come out like gangbusters, starting every game and scoring four times. With a leaky defense in front of him, the Italy international is likely licking his chops at this fixture. There will be gaps in Milan's D—and if Quagliarella can exploit them, he could have an eye-popping game.
On Milan's side, the man to watch is Giacomo Bonaventura. Easily Milan's best outfield player so far this year, he has scored twice and added three assists. He has shifted between a box-to-box position and a trequartista, but he's excelled either way.
But the most impressive part of his game is his mentality. Bonaventura is one of the few players on Milan's roster who has never given up. While other players have looked like they're playing a in a daze since the second half of last season. Bonaventura, though, has shown the willingness to run through brick walls regardless of how the rest of the team is playing.
Riccardo Montolivo might be Milan's captain right now, but Bonaventura has shown himself to be the person who has deserved it more than anyone else this year. If he can get the ball through to his forwards, Torino's own shaky back line could have problems of their own.
Key matchup
Carlos Bacca leads Milan with three goals, but he's had a rough season. His team-mates have not been able to get him service, and he's often had to grasp at half-chances. His frustration was fully on display against Napoli, when he slammed the ball into the advertising boards after yet another attempt to feed him the ball overshot him and went over the line for a goal kick.
Bacca has been impressive when he's been in good positions. The problem has been that his team-mates can't get him to those positions with enough frequency.
If he does get there, he'll have Kamil Glik to get through.
The Poland international has been a rock in defense for Torino since 2011. While he has seen the occasional red card—including in three straight games against Juventus after the Granata were promoted in 2012.
He's never been a volume tackler, but according to WhoScored.com, he's intercepted 2.7 passes per game and can dog even the most serene strikers into frustration.
Whoever gets the upper hand between the two could very well mean the difference between a crooked number in Milan's column and more disappointment this season.
Odds (according to Odds Shark)
AC Milan win: 39-20
Torino win: 27-20
Draw: 11-5
| Adriano Bacca |
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