Three talking points from Milan’s 4-0 hammering of Venezia

Milan are finally off the mark in Serie A, having recorded a thumping 4-0 victory over Venezia in San Siro on Saturday evening, and Paulo Fonseca can now breathe a minor sigh of relief. There is no time to rest, though, as major fixtures against Liverpool and Inter await over the next seven days.

Here are three talking points from Milan’s 4-0 hammering of Venezia.

The performance Milan had been waiting for 

That was the perfect response after a rocky start and a dragging international break. Whether it was something Fonseca said, or whether the fan movement outside the Stadio Meazza gave the players an extra push, the team were fired up right from the off and looked determined to set the record straight.

Milan were ruthless in front of goal. Four different players on the scoresheet means the confidence will be spread around the team as well. Most promisingly, the attacking unit looked in-sync and relentless. They might have slowed up a bit in the second half, but the game was already seen off by that point and there is a big run of fixtures coming up against Liverpool and Inter over the next few days.

It is only one game, but that is the type of performance that has the potential to kick-start a season. The Rossoneri need to replicate those sorts of displays on more of a regular basis moving forwards.

Reijnders-Loftus Cheek experiment worked well 

Fonseca opted to field Tijjani Reijnders in the trequartista role, like Ronald Koemann did with the Netherlands over the international break. That meant Ruben Loftus-Cheek joining Youssouf Fofana in the deeper midfield positions. Though there were no major personnel changes from Milan’s 2-2 draw against Lazio, the switch worked really nicely.

Reijnders is very neat with the ball at his feet, and always looked to move it around quickly and into dangerous areas. Loftus-Cheek’s profile is better suited to making driving runs, utilising his strength and natural build. If he can work on some of his tactical awareness and defensive interventions, there is no reason why Loftus-Cheek can’t excel from a deeper role either.

Knowing now that Reijnders is perfectly capable of performing from the ‘10’ role, Fonseca is definitely not short of options, as Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic and Noah Okafor are all perfectly adept in that position, too.

Major opportunity in the Champions League 

Milan’s turnaround in form could not have been timed much better. The Rossoneri are in action again on Tuesday, hosting Liverpool in the first Champions League fixture of the season.

Typically, when teams are on form, the games can’t come quickly enough. Though Liverpool will still provide a tough test, they suffered a shock defeat against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday, and did not look anywhere near as impressive as they did prior to the international break.

Paulo Fonseca would be wise to study Gian Piero Gasperini’s notes from last season, when La Dea thumped Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield in the Europa League quarter-final. It will require an equally motivated, energetic and disciplined performance to replicate Atalanta’s success, but if you have to play a team like Liverpool, now is the ideal time to do so.

Words: @peter_yng