Milan are witnessing one of their poorest goalscoring runs in recent memory after a toothless stalemate against Bologna at the San Siro. The Emilia-Romagna natives put in a brash defensive display to hold out the seven-time European champions to a draw that sets the Rossoneri two points back from extending their lead at the top of the table.
17 – AC Milan have fired 17 shots so far, their most during a first half of play in Serie A since April 2013 against Catania (21); indeed, #MilanBologna is the match with the most shots seen during the first half of play in the current Serie A campaign. Productivity.
— OptaPaolo ? (@OptaPaolo) April 4, 2022
The Rossoneri have now scored just 7 goals in the last 8 matches across all competitions, with their highest scoring match being the 2-2 draw against Salernitana back February. Four of their previous eight matches have seen them muster narrow 1-0 victories against four teams (Sampdoria, Napoli, Empoli and Cagliari).
The stalemate against Bologna is their third such result since January 24, when they were held by Juventus in a bland draw. The first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final against Inter on March 2 witnessed the exact same outcome, before Bologna came calling. Astonishingly, all three stalemates have come at home, in the San Siro.
? Corriere dello Sport:
Pioli stalled by Bologna: now advantage over Spalletti is just one point
Milan draw, Napoli and Inter move closer: Scudetto race lights up
Rossoneri coach: ‘We were only missing a goal, tournament is wonderful’ pic.twitter.com/BzlasqUbbn
— Milan Posts (@MilanPosts) April 5, 2022
What should worry Stefano Pioli is his team’s ability to convert chances in front of goal, with the Rossoneri’s last eight matches witnessing a steady drop and rise in shots taken, but with the same outcome.
- Milan 1-0 Sampdoria – 15 shots taken, 7 on target
- Salernitana 2-2 Milan – 13 shots taken, 5 on target
- Milan 1-1 Udinese – 9 shots taken, 3 on target
- Milan 0-0 Inter – 13 shots taken, 3 on target
- Napoli 0-1 Milan – 12 shots taken, 7 on target
- Milan 1-0 Empoli – 15 shots taken, 5 on target
- Cagliari 0-1 Milan – 21 shots taken, 6 on target
- Milan 0-0 Bologna – 33 shots taken, 7 on target
The last two matches alone have seen a total of 54 shots in total, with just Ismael Bennacer’s brilliant volley against Cagliari finding the net.
33 – AC Milan have fired 33 shots tonight against Bologna, their most without finding the net in a single Serie A game since Opta started to collect this kind of data (since 2004/05). Fog.#MilanBologna pic.twitter.com/UXrUfOaKn8
— OptaPaolo ? (@OptaPaolo) April 4, 2022
They have taken an aggregate of 131 shots throughout these eight mentioned matches. However, only 43 of them have been on target. Out of those 43, only 7 have been converted into goals.
That reveals the conversion rate of total shots on target into goals at 0.16% – a number that does not suit well for a team looking to capture their first Scudetto in over a decade.
However, all is not bleak for Milan, as they have managed clean sheets in five consecutive matches now and also are unbeaten in 11 games across all competitions.