Following a seven-game winning run, AC Milan headed into the Europa League clash against Roma with a lot of confidence. However, this didn’t quite show on the pitch and below are five things we learned about the game.
Given the form ahead of the game, plus the home advantage, the Rossoneri fans were filled with hope. However, the night didn’t exactly go Milan’s way with Gianluca Mancini opening the scoring just 17 minutes into the game.
The Rossoneri had plenty of time to react, but looked toothless following Roma’s opener and offered very little going forward. In the second half, it didn’t look like Pioli managed to turn things around with the game pretty much continuing in the same fashion: Roma defending deep and Milan struggling to create.
When the chances did come towards the end, Milan struggled to convert with Olivier Giroud hitting the crossbar when he really should have equalised. Here are five things we observed during the game.
1. Unusually toothless
Although Milan have struggled quite a bit defensively this season, their attacking department has fired on all cylinders most of the time. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case against Roma with Daniele De Rossi finding a way to neutralise the Rossoneri completely.
All of the attacking players struggling in the final third and it didn’t help that Ismael Bennacer and Tijjani Reijnders also struggled to provide key passes. Theo Hernandez looked unrecognisablke when coging forward and this made things difficult for Milan.
Indeed, a reaction will be needed in the reverse fixture, otherwise the Rossoneri will confirm the lack of a troph this season already in mid-April.
2. A ghost on the flank
One of the biggest disappointment of the game was certainly the performance of Rafael Leao. The Portuguese winger has had a very mixed season but at least he managed to find some continuity in recent months. It’s not exactly strange that Pioli was hoping for a strong display on the big night, therefore.
That wasn’t the case, however, with Leao struggling to complete a successful dribble or a shot on target. The winger was arguably the worst player for the Rossoneri (excluding Giroud) and will have to put in a lot of work in the reverse fixture to help his team turn things around.
3. Gabbia and Calabria put in the effort at the back
We did see some positives during the game, mostly at the back. Two of these positive performances were courtesy of Davide Calabria and Matteo Gabbia.
Indeed, the centre-back positive game despite the tough task of keeping Romelu Lukaku at bay. The centre-back won a lot of the duels against the Belgian and when he didn’t, he recovered just enough to prevent anything dangerous in front of Mike Maignan. A really solid performance by Gabbia, who has been impressive since returning from loan.
The captain, meanwhile, started off a bit slow but grew into the game and showcased high work rates in both phases of the game, exploiting the empty space and going into the middle in an attempt to make something happen. That ultimately did not materialise in a goal, but Calabria’s performance was a good one indeed.
4. Horrendous performance by Giroud
Returning to the poor displays, Giroud certainly beat Leao in that contest. The Frenchman did next to nothing throughout the game, with Chris Smalling getting the better of him for most of their duel, whilst failing to have any impact when he got on the ball.
The biggest let-down was towards the end of the game when the striker missed a sitter just a meter from the goal line, hitting the crossbar instead of bringing his team level. A really horrendous miss that you wouldn’t expect from a striker at this stage in an European tournament. Not to mention the striker being Giroud.
The fact of the matter is that it’s probably the Frenchman’s last season in Milan and the big games have proven why that is the case.
5. Pioli got it all wrong
We can criticise the players all we want, but it just seemed like Pioli got the tactics all wrong for this game. Daniele De Rossi did make a few changes that perhaps were a bit suprising, but Pioli still came unprepared to the game.
Samuel Chukwueze, who has been in really good form as of late, was left on the bench and it was evident how useful he could’ve been in the tight spaces if he had more time to work with. Yacine Adli was also left on the bench for too long, as he’s arguably the midfield with the best vision and passing range out of the bunch.
Not to mention that Hernandez and Leao were completely left out of the game. Although Roma did commit a lot of energy to neutralise them, Pioli should have had a reaction to open up space for his star duo or at least utilise the extra space elsewhere.
A really poor tactical performance by the coach, who will have to react in a week’s time.
“Daniele De Rossi did make a few changes that perhaps were a bit suprising, but Pioli still came unprepared to the game.”
No no no. DDR made alot of tactical tweaks (451, ElSha, hold up play by Lukaku and runs playing off him). So did Pioli (invert fullbacks one at a time, Leao as SS, RLC playing off, both pivots for some reason high up). It’s just that DDR preparation had better success than Pioli and with devastating effect. His tweak nullified our tweaks. When we reverted to our normal tactics, we got better. Sometimes changing for the sake of trying to outsmart your opponent backfires and in this case it did
And even still Milan should’ve won the game.
Roma’s goal shouldn’t have happened because Lukaku was clearly offside before the corner, Milan should’ve got a penalty, and 9/10 Giroud would’ve scored a goal from 5 yards out.
Had Milan won say 2:0 Pioli would be declared a tactical genius.
It’s that superficial.
It’s not that superficial. Vast majority of fans sitting through that performance can acknowledge that Roma controlled the game.
Had Milan got the better of those moments you described. Most of would be thinking “we got out of jail”.
Well it’s clear that those vast majority of fans don’t have realistic expectations.
It was a tight game where things nearly went to plan for Pioli. It wasn’t pretty but we nearly got the result and that’s all that matters.
Nearly doesn’t kill a bird
Nah, please, the way we played we deserved the lost. Just plain and simple. Just watching the match for the first 15-20 minutes you’d know Milan would have a hard time. The attitude was just not right. The approach. And we can clearly see Roma played a wait n’ see game with a tight defense around the flanks. And sadly the substitution (something that can change the game) was done
How many time have we seen we just can’t break that kind of game? How many time that we have to see it over and over again? It’s like when we play against Inter which they didn’t change any single thing, 10-15 minutes in and we know how it’ll play out. The slightest hope is that Roma will have a more attacking approach (which is extremely unlikely). Only then, we’ll have a chance.
* And sadly the substitution (something that can change the game) was done horrendously.
Most people agree on lots of things it doesn’t make them right!
Those ‘flashes’ were the difference between winning and losing.
That is what matches come down to. Inches.
The only records I care about are the ones at the end of the season. We’ll judge at the end rather than reacting to every result along the way.
Overall Pioli has us finishing in top 2 every full season bar last when we finished 4th but made it to the semi-finals of the champions league.
If the game was as you describe how did Milan end up hitting the cross bar twice, having two balls cleared off the line and being denied a clear penalty???
And no Pioli’s record against the big teams apart from inter is quite good.
I mean you’re posting this under an article about a Roma game, an opponent who Pioli has had the upper hand against.
There’s just so many false narratives around these parts that just regurgitate the same myths that are not connected to reality.
We’re second in Serie A and our only 1:0 down in a Europa league quarter final with all still to play for.
You don’t to this point with a coach with this many failings especially given the players aren’t exactly world beaters and haven’t played together for very long.
Well I saw a game in full, not just a flash / clip. And I think most of us would agree that we played bad (or not up to the standard to say the least). Most of the clips / moments you stated, it all came down to individuality’s brilliance (like how Chuk single handedly dribbled into Roma’s box before that Giroud’s miss). And when Leao is isolated, that’s when the Pioli gameplay is over.
I said it many times that this season Pioli really relies too many on individual brilliance rather than a well concepted team play. He literally requested a RW that’s superior in 1 vs 1 situation. He literally said to pass more ball to Leao and insya Allah. He chose many ‘mover’ box to box with more dribbling traits rather than passing / creating. What happens to his 433 revelation? I love Pioli during the Covid era, even tho we didn’t win anything. That’s an example of a team that depends on a unit rather than individuals. I’ve been a truthful defender of Pioli until this early season when clearly he started to think he’s bigger than he actually is.
Yes, we dominated Roma until the previous match. Isn’t that the point? Did you also want to mention that Roma never win at San Siro for 7 years? Or the other fact that Udinese never win at San Siro for 17 years. If you have to talk about Pioli breaking records, you should see both side of equations.
I agree both with both Maldini’s Heir and Ibrahim Ba.
It’s two different perspectives which I can appreciate. If we think about it, yes we really could have had a couple goals (Lazio keeper actually saved the ball onto the bar which richoheted off his own hand and back out, Giroud miss) and Roma should have never have their goals. BUT at the same time I can’t help but think we played waaaaay below our potential/what we’re capable of. And this is what I think most people are feeling in terms of us underperforming. It seems we know we can do so much better and I believe we can go to Rome and win. We had an off night/played poorly but only lost 1-0 and had great chances. Paradox. And we know we can do better
The thing is, even if Lukaku was offside, we don’t really have an excuse for the corner. Our marking in the corner was poorly done, hence conceiding the goal, and it’s not the first time we conceide goals like this from set pieces.
All this talk about Giroud 9/10 is a “what if” and purely speculation, some could say that if we’ve scored, Roma would have come out of their shell and scored another time.
Like it or not, it was Roma, not Milan who was in the driver seat. Yes it was a tight game, but it was so by Roma’s design.
But in the end, we still have the second leg in Roma, shall we manage to go the semi-finals somehow, the loss will be just another bad day in the office.
Exactly. Too many what ifs is just a justification in the end. What if Lukaku scored that cross and made it 2-0, what if what if and what if. Try to differentiate controllable and uncontrollable factors. It’s not like we played like a European superstar but only missing a goal by a pure luck. We played poor. We didn’t have plan B. We lost. We moved on. Simple.
The thing is, it’s not. Milan lost, Giroud miss, and DDR tactics locks Milan wings. Pioli is a decent manager, he don’t need what ifs from the fans to defend his tactical choices. One thing for sure. Pioli lost a lot against top side this season.
He is decent coach, one on the better side in
Italy. But to make Milan better, it is time to move on.
Same old same old.
First from the author of this article who always singles out Leao lol.
Second from Pioli who ONCE AGAIN was out coached TACTICALLY by another coach. Rinse and repeat. Not saying we can’t or won’t win the second leg- we have the talent to do it – but defenders of Pioli (who I like) have to stop w the excuses. He is simply NOT a good tactical coach. Is he good with players – yes; developing youth – solid; but he is not and has never been and apparently cannot evolve into a TACTICAL coach. Perhaps he should hire better assistants who are to help him in this regard because until he does or until we hire a tactical coach we will never become an elite team
Not ONCE AGAIN.
If you’re a bad tactical coach you don’t coach a team to a record number of wins in Serie A, achieve back to back top 4 even 2 finishes, make the semi-finals of the champions, and latter stages of the Europa league.
The bad tactical coach thing is just another myth that everyone is in furious agreement with but it doesn’t make it true. If something is repeated enough by enough people it’ll become accepted by enough people.
He’s outdone some coaches before (e.g. Spaletti, Mourinho, Conte, Gasperini etc) and he’s been outdone by other coaches (Inzaghi only really ).
This is his first game against De Rossi. de Rossi got lucky with some ref calls and missed chances. Let’s see what happens next game.
Relax.
Stop looking for definitive answers from a series of random events that is one football match.
LOL.
Your claiming Pioli is a good TACTICAL coach??? LOLOLOLO
He is good at many things as I mentioned above, BUT TACTICS is NOT one of them. Every expert commentator and anyone who knows the game understands that and can see that.
If you want credibility pls stop trying to portray Pioli on the same level as a Klopp, Pepe, or Carlo. That is foolish. Spaletti, Mourhino, Conte??? Is that all you can come up with??? LOL. Conte???? Are u serious? When in 1983? All three no longer in the league – (Mourhino and his old outdated style of play – and you think that was impressive to beat Roma earlier in the year?) and we haven’t beat Atalanta and were bounced from UCL – beat by better tactical coaches.
I get some people like Pioli – as do I and I thank him for the work he help to in conjunction with M&M – brought us back to being competitive – BUT at here is a difference being a competitive club (like Atalanta) and one that challenges consistently for titles. He is NOT a manager like Klopp and to me has peaked and IF we are to make jump to next level we should replace him with a more innovative and TACTICAL coach. Who that is we shall see – but it’s is the same old story over and over – we get beat by better tactical coaches.
This isn’t about one game either – it’s is about years of getting beat by better tactical coaches. Sure we can beat Roma next week – I think we will because we have more talent than Roma to pull out a win – but that doesn’t change the fact Pioli is poor at tactics. That is a fact.
I would add that this team has a huge lack of grinta in the big games, which eventually makes the difference. This is why it was a mistake to sell Tonali, we don’t find many talented guys who would die for these colors (red and black, not pink and blue). Gabbia and Calabria are like this. Tomori, Adli and Bennacer show it too. It was also a mistake to appoint Leao as the leader of the team. He’s our most talented player but he’s not a leader for this team. And the last mistake was not to focus on Italian players, who grew up knowing what it means to play for a top 3 Italian team.
Roma had a core of Italians: Mancini, Spinazzola, Cristante, Pellegrino and El Shaaraway.
I’d be lying if I wasn’t jealous and sad for our former players.
Remember before we had Tonali we had both Cristante and Locatelli both of whom were in the national team ahead of Tonali.
Ironically Gabbia and Calabria were not the best of a generation that included Dollarumma, Locatelli and Cutrone. And the only reason those two made it was because of accidents and injuries.
Look at Gabbia. The plan was to freeze him out to Villarreal and the club was forced to bring him back due to injury. Even then, even after he puts in the performances he has on his return, he’s not guaranteed a start, and he’s still subjected to random rotations and early substitutions.
And we all know deep down that if he makes one mistake he’s finished. If he gets sent off in the derby like Thiaw did, he’ll never play for Milan again.
Players who cost us ZERO are given higher standards than players we spent money on. It’s bizarre.
That sounds like you are being critical of the tactical genius Pioli.
Haven’t you seen his winning percentage?
He’s the one making these selection and substitution calls.
This sounds you’re not being a true fan. You are questioning our most important person at the club.
First most of my criticisms are directed at structural failings within modern football where Milan especially have suffered more than most.
Those structural failings include the excessive number of transfers driven by everyone – agents, players, the media, fans, directors, managers – the lot.
It’s impossible to develop home grown players or any players with thousands of transfers occurring every few months.
At Milan the reason we have ended up in this situation is because in the so called ‘Banter Era’ we spent over a billion euros on panicked buys which turned the club into a conveyor belt of random signings every few months and wrote off an entire generation of youth players (most of whom would be Italian).
Things improved slightly under Maldini with the associated results but he’s still responsible for pushing out Cutrone. This new mob seem very busy and unfocused but again at least the results are going our way.
Second there’s a difference between criticising and hating. We can all make constructive criticism but people who clearly display hatred towards the club, its manager or players, or who revel in defeats and failure, are not fans and that shouldn’t be controversial!
The fact remains. You are complaining about young Italian talent not getting enough trust and opportunity in the side.
Pioli is the person in charge of selection and substitution.
He’s the one not giving them opportunities.
Perhaps the directors would hang on to more academy players if they had a belief that Pioli would give them adequate game time to develop.
By the way, i agree with the point you’re making about Gabbia etc.
But needed to point the contradiction with your opinion on this and everything else you’ve said on this article…
We could replace Pioli and there’d be the same issues.
How many managers did we go through in the Banter Era?
And what did we have to show for it?
You yourself want a squad of 24-30 or whatever which means more signings which means more crowding out the likes of Gabbia.
Even signing a conservative number of say 2-3 players would make it difficult to develop youth. We average about 10 each summer all with the support/to meet the demands of the fans, the media, and the directors.
Pioli as coach is to blame to the extent he picks the team. But the reason we have director(s) of football is to manage the long term strategy. Instead we have numerous directorS all justifying their existence by wheeling and dealing.
Get off the Italian thing !!! Bennacer was getting shit from his own teammates for not tracking back at times to help out on defense. HE IS SLOW AND CANNOT GIVE A FIRST TIME PASS WITH HIS HEAD DOWN , AS FOR Calabria ,love his effort and desire but can only go so far with his skill set & size. one of the weakest to wear the captains arn band
Bennacer is not Italian….and Calabria’s skill set and size has got him this far so I think he’s doing ok. But your lack of loyalty to the club captain is noted.
Guys, can you help me choose, I cannot decide which one to go with:
No Leao, no party
No Theo, no party
No left side, no party
No midfield, no party
No DM, no party
No red card, no party
No penalty, no party
Much appreciated👍
No red card, no party got me 😂. Pioli fanboys thought EL is a piece of cake after the matchup against Rennes lmao
You get that a Pioli ‘fanboy’ is just a ‘fan’ of the club?
Pioli is the most important person at the club because he coaches the club and you can’t support the club without supporting its most important person.
You can see the problem when [the opposite of ‘fanboys’…..Inter fans?] celebrate Milan defeats because it somehow proves something or other.
What I will never understand is why waste so much time on a voluntary activity that you clearly don’t enjoy?
If you don’t like watching Pioli’s Milan go do something else. It’s that simple.
Delusional to the core.
Pioli is irrelevant, managemen is irrelevant, owner is irrelevant, players are irrelevant. They all come and go, the only constant is the club, you support the club. You may like some of them, but you support the club, not a glorified gym teacher.
More than a decade of banter made some forget, some here aren’t even old enough to know what it was like, but Milan is Europe royalty. It wins trophies, not 2nd places, not 4th places, doesnt get eliminated in semi finals, it wins trophies. They are the only measure of success for a club like Milan. Trophies won, good season, no trophies complete and utter failure. It is as simple as that.
Milan is not Lazio, Atalanta, Fiorentina or Roma, mediocrity is not acceptable, never was, never will be.
Erm what’s the club without a manager, players or owners?
A brand?
You support the brand?
Like Nike?
What’s delusional is watching people who you don’t respect because of some kind of weird brand loyalty.
Switch to Adidas if you prefer them.
This.
Players, managers and coaches come and go. In the end what we support is the club.
Cheering players and coaches and hoping for win is one thing and certainly important, but lying to ourselves and pretending we’re good when we’re not is gonna lead to loser mentality and accepting subpar results as great achievement.
This.
Players, managers and coaches come and go. In the end the constant is the club we support. I support Pioli as a Milan coach, I won’t support him as a Lazio or Inter coach. I cheered for Hakan when he played for us, now I only wish for him to lose. I didn’t care about Redbird before 2022 and I won’t after they’re gone.
Cheering players and coaches and hoping for win is one thing and certainly important, but lying to ourselves and pretending we’re good when we’re not is gonna lead to loser mentality and accepting subpar results as great achievement.
Like I said, delusional.
@Shiva:
This. was about your comment not Maldini’s Heir’s.
I do agree with you not him.
Don’t worry about inter, they have a great manager, world class in the making. We need to worry about Pioli who cannot win against Simone Inzaghi.
It you like inter so much there’s a really simple solution….
Being a fan is VOLUNTARY!
World class Manager? Don’t make me laugh. This is the fool living off Conte’s team and will soon start losing once his first team starts to age in the next couple of years. He doesn’t give any of their young players a chance. In the next two years ACM will be ahead of them.
You missed No Kessie, No party 🤭
Leao was there but he was trash, like in every big game.
Theo was there but he was very poor.
Left side was there but was easily nullified by some dude Mehmet Zeki Celik and El Shaarawy.
Midfield was there, matter fact the only shots on goal came from Reijnders and Adli.
Don’t know what not having a DM had to do with the loss yesterday. Milan gave up a goal from corner (a problem throughout Pioli’s tenure at Milan), and having a DM wouldn’t have created more scoring chances vs a team that sat in a low block, defending with 10 players.
I agree about the no red card and no penalty no party.
Milan has had troubles breaking down teams that sit back in every season with Pioli as a coach.
Theo and Leao are useless vs a team that sits back because they are only good when they have a lot of space to utilize their only strength which is their speed.
Chuk is a dribbler, Leao is a runner.
Leao was mad after the game because everything FantAntonio said the day before was proven right in the game vs Roma.
Pioli outsmarted by a rookie coach
If Leao was stellar in EVERY game, he wouldn’t be playing at Milan. LMAO!!!
He would be at Madrid or ManCity or the likes… Don’t be ridiculous.
“Leao was there but he was trash, like in every big game.”
I didn’t say EVERY GAME, but EVERY BIG GAME.
He is good in most of the games vs the bum teams
It’s because big teams actually DO have a plan to neutralize our best weapons (in this case Leao, Theo and even Pulisic), and our own tactics are narrowed down to “pass the ball to Leao and hope for individual brilliancies”. I mean they’re big teams for a reason.
The sittings ducks we’re using to beat play right into our hand and allow for space than Leao, Theo and Pulisic can use to score or deliver.
And until Pioli figures out what to do against this type to tactial scheme, Leao is always gonna end up being absent in the so called “big games”.
“no midfield, no party” or “no DM, no party” that’s where we lost it. Roma overcrowded the midfield area and put us in trouble. All the time.
Having Leao who didn’t even try to put in the effort and frustrated Theo is about the first three.
Second no red card no party
Yeah seems like it from last couple of games
Pioli’s biggest failure in this game was his refusal to change the game plan. His only “positive” move was at 60th minute to like for like swap Benacer for Adli. At least bringing on an in form player (who could run with the ball and unlock play). Benacer could have been dragged at half time.
After that all he could manage was two more like for like changes at the 78th minute.
RLC and Giroud both performed badly all game. It is astounding how they stayed on for the whole match.
When Chuk came on he showed the potential to change the game.
I wish he’d been bold enough at 60th minute to take RLC off with Benacer for Chuk and moved Pulisic back into the central role like he did so well just days earlier.
Agreed about the subs.
And Jovic on for Giroud.
He didn’t use his subs well in this game. But you still bet on Giroud scoring from 5 yards out!
Giroud is still a great player but at 38 we can’t be relying on him to play so many minutes. He should now be an impact player from the bench much of the time.
Yep, sliding Puli at the 10 and a new 9 would probably unlocked it.
Agree with Warren 100 percent !!!!
Did Mr PioLOL adapted to Roma’s formation or by his own style? He must learn Roma’s tactic or formation’s order and player’s capabilities then send the right formation, playing style/game plan and player’s marking and setting flow of the game in order to be more dominant and winning the game.
Here’s the problem, teams have figured out Milan by doing 2 things…sitting back and neutralizing Leao. Milan is playing into there hands thru this slow build up play, giving teams a chance to regroup. The best way to deal with low block teams is to transition as fast as possible. When we regain possession after the opposition attack, recycle the ball a bit quicker and go swiftly on the counter. The minute we play at the back, opposition regroup, sit back and wait for us to run out of ideas in the final 3rd, which has been our problem of late. Our slow transition play does not inspire confidence (why do you think Inter has been so successful this season…quick transitions, they attack before you regroup). Something our beloved Milan need to learn if we are to be successful in the return leg.
Furthermore our off the ball play is also suspect…do we have sifficient support play when in possession…and thats why Pulisic for instance runs into dead ends because he can only pass back to Calabria because the off the ball support from RLC and others are always late in coming…if you have 2 to 3 players to pass to this will help unblock low blocks…let’s get our support play movements right
Jesus f’ing Christ it’s our first defeat after 7 wins on the trot!
Clearly teams haven’t figured us out given the 7 wins in a row.
Defeats will happen. 1:0 defeats to Roma which could’ve been draws or wins will happen. We don’t lose our sh*t every time.
Wait until the end of the season and we’ll see what happens but spare us the armchair tactician. You don’t know more than a Scudetto winning coach.
“Clearly teams haven’t figured us out given the 7 wins in a row.”
You mean Slavia Prague ? A 8 men Lazio ? Lecce ? Empoli ?
We still have the return leg to play so we can’t judge till there, but stop acting like these 7 wins in a row were some sort of achievement.
I’ll put it this way: considering our 7 previous opponents, ANYTHING LESS than 7 wins would have been a dissapointment. Beating Empoli, Lecce, Hellas Verone should be a normal day in the office, you win, you get happy for an hour for getting the job done and you move on.
The Magnificent Seven!
Come on man, it is expected to beat those team, still a good run but this was our first big test and it was a terrible showing.
It is games like this where you see the true level of the team and it was very disappointing.
I wouldn’t be so upset about it if we had given our best and lost, but it is unacceptable to put in such a poor performance in an important game.
Bear in mind Liverpool are under pressure now, so this is a HUGE opportunity!
We had our players fit, most of them in fantastic form, playing at home, against a team we have a psychological advantage over having beaten them comfortably twice this year
We have zero excuses for this
And how long has it been happening exactly? To see until this day we don’t seem to have an adequate solution for that matter is clearly a failure.