No honeymoon period, only a tough start? Amorim's Milan winless in three games, can he save himself against Manchester United?

When the final whistle blew under the Jakarta night sky, the glaring "0-3" on the scoreboard not only announced AC Milan's complete defeat in this preseason friendly but also hit like a heavy blow to the hearts of all Rossoneri fans. Since new coach Ruben Amorim took over, the team has recorded two draws and one loss in three preseason matches, failing to win a single game. There is no so-called "new broom sweeps clean," nor the "honeymoon period" fans had hoped for. Amorim's Milan start seems to have been written with the word "difficult" from the very beginning.

This 0-3 loss is by no means an accidental slump but a concentrated outbreak of the team's current systemic problems. Facing a Chelsea side whose squad has already shown signs of gelling and whose counter-attacks are sharp, Milan looked sluggish on the field. From a statistical perspective,zero shots on target throughout the gameis an embarrassing record even more disheartening than the 0-3 scoreline. It starkly reveals Milan's lack of creativity in attack and their inability to cope with high-intensity pressing without a proper midfield ball-playing system. The high-pressing and overall defensive concepts Amorim is trying to implement seem out of place given the players' insufficient execution and ongoing fitness issues.

The deeper "difficulty" lies in the club's dilemma in the transfer market. The 3-4-2-1 system Amorim wants requires specific types of wing-backs and half-space attacking midfielders to activate, but the club's summer window operations have clearly not fully met his needs. The current squad appears bloated but is structurally imbalanced—crowded in midfield yet lacking a true tempo-setter, and explosive on the flanks but without effective support up front. Amorim admitted after the game that the team will make choices on the squad next week, which is both an ultimatum to the players and a silent pressure on the management. Clearing out redundant players, freeing up space, and making precise signings—any hiccup in this causal chain could plunge the new season into a quagmire from the start.

However, it might be too early to point all the blame at Amorim. We must recognize that this is a preseason friendly, a "laboratory" for Amorim to evaluate players and test tactics. Key players like Leão and Modrić either returned late after the World Cup or only had limited playing time, so the team's overall integration is far from complete. Amorim himself admitted that the team is still struggling physically and is playing in a completely new way. At this stage, the awkwardness of tactical execution and the chaos of match content are the growing pains any coach pushing for change must endure.

The real test is imminent. On August 15, Milan will face Amorim's former club Manchester United in a friendly. The significance of this match far exceeds that of an ordinary preseason game. It is both a "name-proving battle" for Amorim to show his worth to the outside world and a "touchstone" to test whether the team can quickly adjust their mentality and make tactical changes after a heavy defeat. Facing his old club, Amorim's tactical arrangements, in-game adjustments, and even his psychological resilience shown in press conferences will be scrutinized under a magnifying glass.

So, will Amorim suffer a fourth winless game? Purely from a competitive state and the team's current situation, it is not impossible. Manchester United is also actively preparing, and their squad depth and cohesion may not be inferior to Milan's. But the charm of football lies precisely in its unpredictability. A heavy defeat can sometimes ignite a team's fighting spirit more than a mediocre victory, and a match against a former club could become a catalyst for hitting rock bottom and bouncing back.

"Is it really difficult?" — Yes, it is really difficult. What Amorim faces is a complex situation with a flawed squad structure, incomplete transfer operations, and a tactical system yet to be rebuilt. "Is there still no honeymoon period?" — Indeed, there is not. But perhaps, for a rebuilding AC Milan and an Amorim eager to prove himself, they neither need nor should expect a false honeymoon period.

The real honeymoon does not belong to the false prosperity of preseason but to the long season ahead—when the new tactics finally click, when key signings integrate into the system, and when the team shows resilience in adversity—that internally generated, unbreakable chemistry and belief. The August 15 match against Manchester United is not the end, nor even a turning point; it is just a signpost indicating whether Amorim's Milan is painfully trudging on the road to rebirth or sinking deeper into the abyss. The answer lies not in the scoreline of a friendly, but in the training ground every day from now on, and in every league match fought with real steel.

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