Old issues continue to haunt AC Milan in their race for Champions League football

Another game and another round of points dropped for AC Milan as they were held to a 1-1 scoreline at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza to a crafty and cunning Udinese side.

Seeking to bounce back from a horrendous outing against Sampdoria in their last game, Gennaro Gattuso must be given credit for tweaking his side's formation and opting sensibly for a more attacking approach. Patrik Cutrone and Krysztof Piatek were both paired upfront, with Lucas Paqueta ushered into an attacking midfielder role as Gattuso seek to unleash the full range of the Brazilian's creative abilities.

Gattuso's tactical adjustment looked to have paid dividends when Cutrone and Piatek combined to give the Rossoneri the lead with the latter finishing deftly from the former's perfectly timed cross just before half-time. However, in the second half, the same old problems resurfaced again as Milan could not dominate the game despite Udinese's minimal attack on their goal. It was understandable why the San Siro faithful began to get jittery.

Indeed their fears were not unfounded as Udinese would soon equalise in the 64th minute through a quick counter-attack from a Milan corner at the other end. The goal it can be said was typical of how Serie A sides at the bottom half of the table then to score against the bigwigs of the league; by sitting deep and hitting on the break. Igor Tudor's charges must be given credit for never giving up and staying in the game.

Milan, on the other hand, was rightly booed off at the final whistle given how they struggled against a side 11 places below them. More importantly, the team's inability to kill off a game is worrying and questions again will be asked of Gattuso's ability to lead the Milanese giants. They will next face the Juventus juggernaut and one wonders how they will approach that game while also noting that two of their key performers in Paqueta and Gianluigi Donnarumma got injured during the game against Le Zebrette.

So many questions surround Milan and only Gattuso and his coaching staff can provide the answers. Supporters of the club are anxious as they want to see their team return to Europe's elite competition. At the moment, it can be said that they are pretty close to achieving their ultimate goal this season, but recent performances show a team far from achieving it.