Gennaro Gattuso accepted his punishment. Walking out on to the pitch after Milan’s game against Lazio, he bowed his head and entered a circle formed by his players. All at once, they started to hit him – clambering over one another to deliver open-palmed cuffs to the side of his head.

In one sense, it was predictable. Lazio had arrived in sensational form, scoring 13 goals in three games as they moved to third in Serie A. Fifteen points separated them from Milan before kick-off. Who hadn’t expected them to turn over the lacklustre Rossoneri, mired in mid-table and missing injured first-choice centre-forward Nikola Kalinic?

Only, here’s the thing: Lazio didn’t win on Sunday evening. Gattuso’s players were not striking him in anger but in joy, faces marked by gigantic grins. Milan had beaten Lazio 2-1 and, more impressively still, they had thoroughly deserved to.

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“I do it to make the players happy,” the manager explained of the post-game fracas. “There are one or two who won’t get into the team, and so they start to look at me funny. In that moment there, they have the chance to give me a clip round the ear. I go and stand in the middle of the huddle and that way I make sure no one tries to hit me in the changing room.”

Who would want to, really? Even the unused substitutes were bouncing on the sideline as full-time approached, revelling in the sense of a season transformed. Milan began 2018 in the bottom half, but this was their third consecutive win.

The turning point might have come even earlier, with the Coppa Italia quarter-final victory over Inter in December. At the time it was easy to scoff at hyperbolic headlines suggesting Gattuso had saved Milan’s season. Even now, we should guard against getting carried away with a team that still only finished the weekend in seventh. If nothing else, though, the mood has turned.

It was enough to see the way Milan began this match, a hurricane of pressing and attacking intent. Hakan Calhanoglu had already forced a good save from Thomas Strakosha before Patrick Cutrone put Milan in front after a quarter of an hour. Did the goal come from a handball? There was no major protest from Lazio after Cutrone arrived with impeccable timing to turn a Calhanoglu free-kick into the net. Only later did we see replays showing the decisive last touch had come not from the striker’s forehead but his elbow.

On a weekend of contentious decisions, here was fresh fuel to the fire of those who despise VAR. How did replay officials fail to alert referee Massimiliano Irrati to the fact this goal was worth a proper second look?

Cutrone, for his part, maintained the ball had come off his shoulder. Simone Inzaghi was less convinced. “I asked him whether he scored with his hand,” said the Lazio manager. “If I had seen the images then I probably would have been a lot less gentle.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Milan’s Patrick Cutrone puts his side a goal up but there was a suggestion he handled the ball. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

It is possible to appreciate Cutrone’s performance, though, even while acknowledging that his strike ought not to have stood. His movement was constant, occupying all three members of Lazio’s back-line and drawing them out of position as he dropped deep not just toward the centre-circle but also out wide. That, in turn, created spaces for Suso and Calhanoglu to do what they do best: cutting in from their flanks and on to their stronger feet.

There are many Milan fans who would prefer to see the 20-year-old Cutrone start ahead of Kalinic every week. With his strike on Sunday, the Italian became Milan’s first player this season to hit double figures across all competitions.

He was not the only homegrown player to thrive. Davide Calabria was even more impressive, overlapping with tremendous effect from right-back and providing the assist from a deeper position for Milan’s second goal. Lazio had equalised quickly through Adam Marusic, but the hosts regained their advantage before the interval – Calabria picking out Giacomo Bonaventura with a pinpoint 25-yard ball for his team-mate to head past Strakosha from close range.

The defender enjoyed a fine game at the other end, helping Milan preserve their advantage till the end. Lazio seemed eager to attack down his flank, funnelling the ball out constantly to Senad Lulic and the in-form Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, but neither could find a way past.

Calabria insisted the credit should go to Gattuso, saying: “The boss is drawing the best out of me.” There were plenty of people – myself included – quick to criticise Gattuso’s appointment, and as a tactician he still has plenty to prove. Perhaps, though, a little man-management is more important to this team right now than systems and schemes.

“The players have learned first-hand that working hard can lead to something,” said Gattuso. “They wanted to do double training sessions, something which is usually not even contemplated at big teams. Then, after that, they want to eat together.”

Somewhere in between, they want to give their manager a clip round the ear. In the best possible way.

Talking points

• An unexpected loss for Lazio must mean an opportunity for Inter and Roma to gain ground in the race for Champions League berths, right? Oh. Inter were held 1-1 at Spal, and don’t let the fact they were winning until the 90th minute fool you. It took an own goal for Inter to open the scoring, and they continue to look desperately blunt up front, as they have throughout this seven-game winless run. Roma were a bit more unfortunate, thwarted by a tremendous goalkeeping performance from Emiliano Viviano in their 1-0 defeat at home to Sampdoria. But they were outplayed in the first half and have gone seven games themselves without a victory. The mood in the stands was already mutinous over Edin Dzeko’s anticipated sale, and manager Eusebio Di Francesco used the word “crisis” at full-time to describe the current state of affairs.

• None of which should take away from Sampdoria. They appear to have kicked out of their own mid-season slump and may yet have designs the top four. This win was all the more impressive for the fact that it was achieved without Fabio Quagliarella or Dennis Praet.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jubilant Sampdoria players at the Stadio Olimpico. Photograph: Giampiero Sposito/Action Plus via Getty Images

• Napoli stay top after beating Bologna. It was a very soft penalty from which they took the lead, having fallen behind in the very first minute. But they have claimed a league-best 18 points from losing positions – demonstrating the resilience that might just be crucial in their bit to unseat Juventus.

• As for the Bianconeri, they kept pace with a 2-0 win at home to Chievo. That was their 12th clean sheet in 13 games, but the champions still do not look like a team firing on all cylinders, and could not break the deadlock here until their opponents had been reduced to nine men.

• And finally, tanti auguri to Gigi Buffon – who turned 40 on Sunday. And if you’ll permit me a little plug …