OPINION: Milan lack depth, and their starters are running out of steam
Milan wasted a big chance today, failing to make the most of both Inter and Fiorentina drawing by sharing the points with Udinese. To rub salt in the wound, the Rossoneri had even gone behind to a goal from Pablo Armero... who notoriously flopped in his brief time at the Giuseppe Meazza.
The truth is, the Diavolo has papered over the cracks in recent weeks by winning, and doing so convincingly. This current run of form could grind to a halt, however, if no work is done to improve the quality on the bench. The attack is particularly threatened: both Keisuke Honda and Giacomo Bonaventura aren't capable of playing 35 games in a row. Today, Mihajlovic had the novel idea of trying Juraj Kucka on the left. Whilst he's impressed in the middle, he was a fish out of water hugging the touchline, and contributed little of value.
Mihajlovic manned the pump when he saw that things weren't going to plan, throwing in Super Mario Balotelli and shifting M'Baye Niang to the wing... but the results were just above mixed. Milan found their equalizer thorugh Niang, though he paid the price by running out of steam, with replacement Kevin-Prince Boateng unable to bring the same quality and intensity to the role.
Honda, for his part, is still keeping up, but it won't be long before he needs to take a breather, too.
With Luiz Adriano out too - through injury, though the transfer speculation will follow him for a while yet - Mihajlovic ran out of useful players he could rely on, which is why he only made two changes. This is not a slight on Andrea Poli, more the acknowledgement that Milan have players who can protect a lead, but no-one who can turn a game on its head.
Jeremy Menez's expected return should hopefully put this to rights, but it will be a metter of whether he can recover at all. Milan can still aim for third, but they risk running out of gas.
@Albri_Fede90 translated by @EdoDalmonte
