Milan beat Venezia 2-0 on Friday evening for their second win of the season, and Ruben Amorim experienced his first night in the San Siro dugout as the Rossoneri moved to six points from two matchdays.
That tally already doubles what Milan managed after the same stretch last season, a run that ended with Massimiliano Allegri's exit at this same ground three months ago following the defeat to Cagliari that cost them the Champions League. Amorim, rebuilding his own career after Sporting and a difficult spell at Manchester United, is putting the pieces back together alongside a squad doing the same.
Both goals came in the second half, and for the second week running it was the bench that decided the game. Amorim's attack lacked creativity for long spells, so he turned to Adrien Rabiot and Alexis Saelemaekers in the attacking midfield roles, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
The change worked, with Saelemaekers the standout. The Belgian set up Ramos for the opener before threading the pass for Jashari, whose effort forced the own goal that made it 2-0, if with a slice of luck on the second.
Amorim's ability to change a match from the bench, as he also showed against Torino, is worth having with a heavy schedule ahead. Gazzetta suggests the Rabiot-Saelemaekers pairing could start next time out, particularly given the opponent.
That opponent is Juventus, at San Siro a week on Sunday, another side that underwhelmed last season and now finds itself in the Europa League. With the transfer window shutting on Tuesday, there will be no room for late reinforcements once that game is played, so both coaches will know exactly what they are working with from that point on.
For now, two wins from two and top of the table for a night is the kind of start Amorim needed, and Juventus will tell him a lot more about where this Milan really stands.