Sunday, Milan Primavera lost 1-0 to Roma Primavera at the House of Puma, their second consecutive loss. Worse still, they ended on nine men, with two players having been sent off. Last season, Renna's Primavera became more inconsistent toward the end of the season, which led to an 11th place finish in the league, well below the previous year's sixth place finish under Federico Guidi. Already this season, with two wins, a draw, and a loss, Milan Primavera sit in tenth place. And with back-to-back losses now, and four red cards in just five matches, it begs the question: is all of this a giant red flag for their season?
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| Was this just another poor match? Or does Renna have some real problems on his hands? |
It is well known that Roma's Primavera have been a team to contend with in recent years, it is why Milan poached Guidi for the 2024-25 season, which, ironically, was when Roma finished first in the league (without him.) While he returned last season, this year Roma Primavera are managed by the 32 year-old Mattia Scala, their youngest ever Primavera manager.
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| Nolli created one of the best chances in the 1st half, but was sent off at the end of the 2nd. |
That makes it even more impressive that Roma created more chances in this match, and had the better chances as well, forcing Catalano into a save just 30 minutes in, and hitting the post just before halftime. Other Roma chances were directly from errors by Milan players. But Milan Primavera were not without their chances, especially the shot from Nolli that went across the face of goal and painfully just wide.
Malick Cissè earned a yellow card just after halftime, in the 48th minute. Milan's best chance of the second half was probably Culotta's header from a corner two minutes later that went just over the crossbar. A few minutes later, Catalano had a great save, but Roma Primavera were creating plenty of chances, and it was only a matter of time before they scored. Guaglianone's 63rd minute goal was also the match winner, but Roma still continued to attack, and Catalano had at least two more saves before the full time whistle.
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| Catalano was forced into making a few important saves. |
Where the biggest red flag is, however, is the discipline issue. Malick Cissè earned a second yellow in the 65th minute for pulling a player back, and was sent off. This was actually already his second red card of the season, having earned a double yellow sending off in Milan Primavera's win over Torino week one. Already on ten men, however, Nolli earned a straight red in the 92nd minute vs. Roma for a dangerous foul, leaving Milan on nine men. Along with Leonardo Colombo's quick double yellow last week, this was Milan Primavera's fourth red card of the season.
Milan Primavera's loss may have only been by a goal, but Roma were clearly the stronger team, and the two red cards made the loss that much more painful. Brief highlights of the match are available. This was definitely not the ideal way to leave it before the international break, but at least Renna will have plenty of obvious things to work on over the break. He will have three weeks to work with most of his players before they travel to face Atalanta Primavera on October 10th when the league resumes. (Where he will obviously be without Malick Cissè and Nolli.) Hopefully, he will see the event of this match as a red flag, and be able to make some improvements before then.
Reviewed by Elaine
on
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