AC Milan’s 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth on Thursday night has prompted profound reflections on Ruben Amorim’s selection policy again.

As MilanNews recall, the coach didn’t want to take much from the game: “It’s difficult to talk about the performance. It was over after 20 minutes. Today wasn’t a match. We tried to defend and we tried to attack, even with 10 against 11, but the sending off killed the game. It was difficult today.”

It’s not that the Portuguese coach is wrong, as Mike Maignan’s sending off in the 27th minute essentially ended the game there and then. However, Milan never created anything, not even in the 25 minutes when it was 11v11.

Beyond Bournemouth’s vehemence, the pressing, the rain, and other easy-to-use excuses, Milan’s main difficulty arose from Amorim’s truly bizarre formation.

Over-rotation again?

Some changes are mandatory for any team with a schedule like this, but above all the coach’s experimental choices that once again proved flawed.

While Alphadjo Cisse leading the line might have seemed interesting, or at least possibly sensible, the rest of the attacking positions were not at all. The most obvious one concerns Diego Moreira, who looked disoriented on the right again.

The Begian becomes extremely predictable on the right and can’t unleash his full physical power as he does on the opposite side. It’s fair to say that for now – emergencies excluded – he’s a solution to be ruled out for that flank. It’s now all too obvious that Moreira is a different player on the left.

One player who fails to contribute regardless of position is Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Playing him on the left flank in a 4-4-2 was questionable, especially given he barely got the ball. He was not the useful outlet Amorim hoped.

We ‘only’ saw 25 minutes of equal play before the expulsion, but it was enough to demonstrate that this type of experiment should never be repeated. There’s also much to discuss about the validity and value of the fringe players: when they’re all on the pitch together, the overall level inevitably drops.

In conclusion, it’s already sad enough to use the Europa League to ‘experiment’ in this way. Now, Amorim must at least try to make sense of what was seen in the torrential rain by learning from what the pitch revealed.