Milan, Cisse is already better than Saelemaekers and Loftus-Cheek: Amorim need him and Pulisic’s return

Moving from a more conservative style of play, like Allegri's, to a more proactive one, like Amorim's, takes time and has to happen in stages.Step by step, as the English would say. AC Milan tried to dictate the game even at the Allianz Stadium, but Juventus' greater intensity hurt them, as did Nico Gonzalez's clever work between the lines. The wider verdict also takes in De Winter's all-round display, Gila's charisma and tenacity, and the saves of a razor-sharp Maignan. What Milan lacked was quality in the final 25 metres: for Rabiot it was just an off night, while the bigger doubts surround Saelemaekers, whom Amorim is reinventing as an attacking midfielder. In such an important role within the mechanism needed to build the game Amorim has in mind, different characteristics are required.

Watching him is a thrill, and Amorim, as a dressing-room leader, has to protect that at such a young age. Yet with every match the sense grows stronger: Cisse is ready, direct and ruthless. Two goals, each better than the last, in his first three appearances. Clear signals from the former Catanzaro man to the Milan world and to Italian football. The way he moves inside and finds the goal so easily already makes him central to Amorim's 3-4-2-1.

Alongside Cisse or as an alternative to him, Milan need Pulisic. The real one from the first part of last season. They are missing someone who can attack the goal, an attacking midfielder who breaks the opposition's defensive line. They also need goals, which always matter when the level of the opposition rises too. The American is still behind in terms of fitness, but he is expected to step up the pace this week as he pushes for a starting shirt against Lazio.