AC Milan’s 125th anniversary celebrations were dampened by the action on the field as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Genoa.
Paulo Fonseca decided to make five changes to the starting line-up from the team that beat Red Star with Emerson Royal and Alex Jimenez coming into the defence plus Samuel Chukwueze, Mattia Liberali and Tammy Abraham slotting into the attack.
What he was hoping for was a response after going on a post-match rant following the victory against the Serbians, but it never really came. Milan were slow and unimaginative for most of the match, and when they did generate a couple of big chances Alvaro Morata wasted both.
The Rossoneri restricted Genoa to zero shots on target yet result means that they have not taken any strides towards the Champions League places and have actually dropped to eighth place in the table after Bologna’s win. Below are five things we learned…
1. The gun has jammed
There was a time a few weeks ago when it seemed like the defensive department would be Milan’s Achilles heel for the season, all while goals were being scored in bunches at the other end.
Fast-forward to the present day, and fans are bemoaning yet another blunt attacking display. The Diavolo have failed to score in three of their last four Serie A home games, as many times as in their previous 45 games at San Siro in the competition.
In eight league games out of 15 the team have not scored more than one goal. Against Genoa they huffed and puffed without doing much, then when the final bit of quality was needed for the ball or finish, it totally deserted them.
There is more to come on the strikers, but in a game like this far more has to come from Samuel Chukwueze and Rafael Leao on the wings. Genoa did a good job generally in reducing the space available to them but they never tried anything different and seemed to settle for being marked out of the game.
Noah Okafor came on for Chukwueze on the right side and it was hoped he could change things, yet it was like trying to jam another key into the lock that was completely the wrong size. A wasteful and unimaginative attacking performance.
2. Green shoots
There wasn’t much to celebrate in terms of individual efforts, but Alex Jimenez’s performance was a positive to the extent La Gazzetta dello Sport had him as their man of the match.
The Spaniard combined well with Rafael Leao down that flank and played the game at 100% intensity throughout, which is more than can be said about the man he replaced, Theo Hernandez. He went into every challenge with guts, got forward with his pace and made smart movements.
The 19-year-old got Vogliacco and Zanoli booked, and it raises questions about how long he has been ready for. He could even play right-back given he is right-footed, but maybe Zlatan Ibrahimovic was right about him being the most natural deputy left-back.
In the meantime, we were able to deduce a bit less from Mattia Liberali’s first start, though there were some promising moments. He grew into the game after a quiet start and did a good job operating in the half-spaces.
Coming up against the duel-winning machine Morten Frendrup and the experienced Milan Badelj meant he was always going to find it hard. That said, he had a couple of nice turns, released the ball in a timely fashion and probably should have drawn a penalty (but also given one away too).
3. Reaching breaking point
Despite the magnitude of the occasion and the club doing their best to make it a celebration, the atmosphere felt pretty toxic inside San Siro from the moment (around 30 minutes in) when it became clear it was going to be a long night.
By the time the full-time whistle went it felt like a relief more than anything, because the team had spent almost the entire second half having every misplaced pass, bad decision and erratic shot met with a barrage of jeers.
The fans made their thoughts known by protesting with chants and banners inside the stadium, something that simply cannot have been lost on the directors present. Hopefully the anger reached Gerry Cardinale too, who decided not to attend such an important occasion.
After exiting the stadium, the Curva Sud displayed a sign with some well-chosen words for the management: “Milan management: we have waited for you and supported you endlessly, we have had enough of your mediocrity. Incompetent managers, a club without ambition. You are not up to our history.”
What that suggests is that this is the first step in a series of protests planned because the Curva have made it clear their unwavering support is no longer. Things could get even more toxic before the end of the year, essentially, and who can blame them for having lost patience.
4. What leadership?
Minute 76: Alvaro Morata comes off the bench and has a chance to make himself the hero. Tijjani Reijnders leads a break and slides a through ball to him on the right side of the box, the Spaniard checks back inside but also leans back and curls a shot beyond top left corner.
Minute 79: Reijnders againt provides the pass that opens up the Genoa defence and finds Morata deep inside the box again. This time there is no defender to navigate and he is a few yards closer. The result? He sent a high shot onto the crossbar.
It simply isn’t good enough. At 32 years of age and with so much experience, those chances have to be buried, or at least one of them. Then, we might be talking about a completely different reflection on the game, a win where Milan needed patience but picked their moment.
😫 How did neither of these go in?! pic.twitter.com/4HB5DxGfKd
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) December 16, 2024
Instead, the man who has the highest salary on the accounts (in gross terms) and the most silverware to his name was unable to provide that moment. The jury remains out on whether Milan got the decision right to entrust the starting striker spot (he only came off the bench due to passing a late fitness test) to someone who has never been a prolific scorer.
We cannot attack the character of Morata and suggest that he doesn’t care about the opportunities missed, it is rather an observation that there are far too many players in the team that cannot be relied upon to deliver big moments and get the team out of trouble.
5. Silence and absences
For as much as there was vocal disapproval from the supporters and the media after the game, it is perhaps the lack of words and also the absentees that have made the most noise.
We must admit that the pre-game ceremony – including legends being honoured on the field and a three-tier tifo – were brilliantly done and befitting of the occasion. It was touching to see the likes of Pippo Inzaghi, Clarence Seedorf, Alexandro Pato and the Tre Tulipani all get such a warm reception.
These are figures that have built the history of Milan over its 125 years, making it worth celebrating in such a way. Yet, perhaps the favourite son Paolo Maldini did not attend despite being invited. No reason was given but he did send a birthday message to the club on Instagram.
Andriy Shevchenko and Ricky Kaka did not come either due to prior commitments, making three quite heavy absences and leaving the whole evening feeling rather incomplete.
Speaking of non-attendees, the owner of the club Gerry Cardinale was not there. The reason that was fed out through close circles was that he intends to leave the stage to those who wrote the history of the club, in essence implying that he didn’t feel worthy of being there yet.
As noble as that might sound, the history means little without a clear future and the radio silence from the upper management regarding the complicated start to the season means the RedBird Capital founder not being there generates more negative headlines.
Finally, we heard from Zlatan Ibrahimovic before the game and he revealed his backing for Fonseca’s words after the Red Star game. After the full-time whistle, it seems the directors couldn’t get out of San Siro quick enough, given only the head coach and two players spoke to the media.
0. We were told that Adli, Kalulu and Pobega were the problem, that they aren’t good enough. Adli, Kalulu and Pobega are no more but the team still wasn’t good enough.
1. We were told that Calabria was the problem, that he wasn’t good enough. Calabria was no more but the team still wasn’t good enough.
2. We were told that Leao was the problem, that he wasn’t good enough. Leao did improve but the team still wasn’t good enough.
3. We were told that Tomori was the problem, that he wasn’t good enough. Tomori was no more but the team still wasn’t good enough.
4. We were told that Theo was the problem, that he wasn’t good enough. Yesterday there was no Theo but the team still isn’t good enough.
5. At which point, which game, which date or what result will it take for us to hear that Fonseca was the problem, that he wasn’t good enough ?
6. At which point, which decision, which date or what result will it take for us to hear that Ibrahimovic, Moncada and Furlani were the problem, that they weren’t good enough ?
7. At which point, which year or what result will it take for us to hear that Gerry was the problem, that he wasn’t good enough ?
We all know that Gerry, the clowns he put in positions of power, and the loser that those clowns hired (Fonseca) are more of a problem than the players. Many of us have been saying it forever.
Certain players have part of the blame but I think their side is more understandable, because when you don’t respect the head coach, you don’t believe in the (lack of) project, and you feel underappreciated, you tend to be unmotivated and to play poorly.
Players shine a lot more when everything else clicks. It’s enough to see how almost the same Napoli players did under Spalletti (great!), then under Garcia (horribly) and then again under Conte (great!).
The leadership above the players profoundly affects how the players play. That’s a no-brainer.
Sure, some of them need to be more professional, but when the “professionals” above them are not professional themselves, players do misbehave.
Well said
Remember we were told Maldini was the problem and he wasn’t good enough.
We were told Pioli was the problem and he wasn’t good enough.
We were told CDK was a problem and he wasn’t good enough.
I wonder what would be the problem now, maybe the yet to come stadium is not allowing the players and managers to focus. 🤔🤔
💯💯
Here’s a 1-11 of our former players (except for goalie) who are currently playing for teams above us in the table…
Kalulu. Acerbi Romagnoli
Bellanova. Darmian
Palasic. Locatelli Pobega
Adli
CDK
Obviously there’s the Turkish Scum but nobody’s to blame for that except the Turkish Scum.
There’s another squad of players scattered around the league.
All former players. All apparently not ‘good enough’ for Milan but in some cases seemingly ‘good enough’ for our direct rivals.
Oh the hypocrisy.
Have you forgotten what you were saying about Adli and CDK while they were at Milan?
Keep the same energy now.
Spare us the quackery.
I only called for Adli to be sold and I do feel bad about including him.
I’ll swap him out for Brescianini.
But what is your point?
This isn’t about one or two players but hundreds.
We’ve been through hundreds of players over the last 10 years, and we finally found some stability and we’re back to high turnover again.
Instead of constantly trying to argue maybe focus on the shared enemy.
We don’t have a shared enemy.
I don’t consider any of these players, coaches, directors, owners, pundits my enemies or even worse my heroes, idols or gods.
It isn’t that deep.
It’s just an entertainment.
Shared enemy!!! 😂🤣😂
What is the point of you?
I think best we don’t engage any further as this just seems to be classic trolling behaviour so I’ll stop feeding you.
No need to respond to my posts going forward.
Look how many players you named saying WE WERE TOLD they were THE PROBLEM.
There isn’t one player that is THE PROBLEM, but all those you named that are still at Milan are A PROBLEM, and COMBINED they are THE PROBLEM.
What are you trying to prove by mentioning Tomori and Calabria?
Defensively Milan has improved without them. How many points and goals have Theo and Tomori cost Milan this season?
Theo is a problem. No one missed him yesterday.
Leao is a problem. He improved for about 3,4 games and yesterday he was again one of the worst on the pitch.
Fonseca is a problem. Management is a problem.
Ownership is a problem.
But neither Fonseca, nor Management, nor Ownership play on the pitch. They don’t mess chances, being lazy or fall asleep defensively during games.
All those players you mentioned are supposed to be Milan’s top players and they have all played poorly for couple years now.
When was the last time Tomori looked good for more than a game? Scudetto season?
Calabria hasn’t looked good since Saelemaekers got benched and then loaned out and he has no one to cover for his shortcomings.
Theo hasn’t looked good since Kessie left, who was covering up for his defensive ineptitude.
Leao scored 9 g in serie A last season(went whole 6 months without scoring) and has only 3 goals thru a third of this season. So he is on pace to score less than 10 again.
They are all a problem. Everyone should do their jobs, especially the players you named.
“What are you trying to prove by mentioning Tomori and Calabria?”
I’m not trying to prove anything, in fact all I did was asking questions.
The players I’ve named might be problematic to some extent, maybe they’re not but that’s not the point. In the end all of them got sidelined at some point and the defenders you’ve mentioned aren’t even regulars at this anymore. Neither Calabria nor Tomori started when Cagliari couldn’t miss our goal, hardly a defensive improvment. You can’t point your finger towards them anymore because they’re simply not here anymore.
But players are low hanging fruits, find a player who isn’t performing well or who isn’t behaving well and bench him. But at which point are gonna adress the coach, point his faults and sack him ? At which point are we gonna adress the management who brought all this circus, including the striker who kept missing as if he was doing it on purpose. When are we gonna get a sporting director and a competent staff ?
Theo, Calabria and Tomori didn’t look good since Kessié left ? Then the mission was easy, just replace Kessié. The player left in 2022 and now the closest thing to a defensive midfielder we have is a box to box midfielder who was the more offensive one of a double pivot in Monaco. It took 2 years, 5 transfer windows and 2 management for us not to replace Kessié.
Sure our stars didn’t look good for a while now and the best of them is at most average now and they deserve every criticism and sanction they got, but so are Manchester City’s stars right now. Foden who had close to 40 G+A still hadn’t score a goal in the EPL, De Bruyne is a shadow of his former self, Gundogan isn’t the same since he came back… in fact all of Manchester City got exposed since Rodri got injured. It took a single injury for the players and the coach to look like dummies. So if we follow the logic of sempremilan, all of those I mentioned should simply get ridden of and replaced by “better players”.
So maybe before we decide to bid farewell to our “top” players (I put top between “” because they’re aren’t top anymore), perhaps we should try to understand what was behind their previous success and how do we bring it back. If the above fails, then it’s time for yet again another revolution (yay!).
Calling players a problem doesn’t mean that anyone is calling for their sale but that their poor form is a major problem.
Is Pep a bad coach because Foden is ass this season, Gundogan and De Bruyne old? Pep can do just so much, the players need to play and execute.
If his best players don’t perform at top level, he, just like every other coach, looks very mediocre. His best players, just like Milan’s, have failed their clubs.
You seem to forget that Theo was at fault in Cagliari’s goals. Gabbia and Thiaw have been very good as a duo. Defense is better without Tomori.
Kessie kind of player is needed at Milan but that’s not an excuse for how bad Theo, Tomori and Calabria, been without him. You can’t expect 1 player to cover for 3, 4 different players laziness, poor positioning and poor ability.
Everyone needs to do the jobs they are getting handsomely paid for instead of looking for a savior.
@giga that Man City no DM thing hits home for me. Incredible what a difference maker he was to that team. Kind like ours with Kessie (who many ppl criticized me for saying we’ll miss him the most when he left us….”we had Pobega” apparently).
We’ve been limping along without a DM for so long, it was only a matter of time before the bill became due
Erm many weren’t a problem for 4 seasons that delivered a Scudetto, 3 top 2 finishes, and a champions league semi-final.
But the team you built in FIFA I’m sure did better so there’s that.
I almost wish Thiaw had scored with that back pass – would’ve been even funnier than Okafor’s “what’s this round yellow thing everyone’s kicking?” performance… Next game, please for the love of God start Jimenez at rb, Fonseca. And keep Liberali over RLC in the #10 role. It’s like playing with 10 men with Cheeks there, sheesh.
Liberali isn’t ready for first team football. And neither is RLC in that role. The only solution is Reijnders at the 10 with someone else next to Fofana. But often Reijnders has to drop deeper to get the ball. So I don’t even know if that would work… just a flat 433.
But more importantly Fonseca while fighting hard to turn this team around, probably doesn’t have what it will take to turn this ship around with these players many of whom just aren’t mentally Milan material. Not a lot of fight in many of them.
Agreed. Reijnders should be the 10. Leao and Pulisic wingers and I’d play Camarda up top for now.
In an ideal world we revert to 4-3-3 but Fonseca seems allergic to it – and to playing Reindeer in the #10. Personally I think Liberali just needs game time and he could play there – at least against the smaller teams. Interesting to see if management actually buy a true dm this winter…or are our transfers literally being run by Ray Charles?
What I feel the club should have done was integrate some of the players it sold, Maldini and simic and even Colombo and Alexis should have been retained, letting Adli and Kalulu leave was a no brainer, the coach should have replaced both Chukweze and even Liberali earlier, we needed to be more direct, Okafor should have come in far earlier, and his directness would have helped.
Jimenez is a good player, I honestly think he would be even more effective as a winger, on either side , especially the right..
Letting Adli a technically gifted player, and kalulu a utility player who can both play cb and rb leave was a no Brainerd really. Like really man.
Ooooo
Sigh. When Reijnders finally breaks down who picks up. His technical duties, would that not have been where Adli will be needed now.
And Emerson over Kalulu. Am sorry did you read what you wrote. Letting the sorely needed depth in midfield and defence leave was a no brainer.
Ahhh things I see at sempre Milan. It is well
There’s a far more profound lesson from our 125th anniversary game.
Look at the team.
We started with just two Italians. People say it doesn’t matter but Milan are supposed to be a team from Italy, from the city of Milan, and a team that provides a base for the Italian national team.
Many Milan fans are Italian and therefore have a duel interest in supporting Italy. We watch Italy now and none of our players are involved (many of our former players are).
Leaving aside the lack of Italians, there’s a lack of identity. The club has frozen out its longest serving player, local hero, captain and a key part of the club’s rival over the last few years.
And it’s been systematically working its way through the others to the point that we only started with two of our regulars from our Scudetto winning season (which was just 2.5 years ago).
Our entire Scudetto winning defence has been frozen out: Calabria, Kalulu, Tomori, Theo.
This is the side that we think the youth players will be able to come into?
With foundations built on sand.
It’s difficult to know where to begin because it is such a mess.
The coach needs to go asap so we can work out the squad’s potential. We can’t be losing players to attitude problems who never had an attitude problem.
We need a winner in the heart of midfield because we consistently get overrun. Even Genoa managed to control the pace of the game through Badelj. We need a player similar to him. He had one with Krunic but alas.
As for the strikers they can have bad days. If I didn’t have such a problem with Fonseca I’d have defended the result which basically came down to the width of a cross bar.
But there’s no goodwill. There’s no goodwill because we have bunch of strangers playing and managing our club.
What did we learn?
Same $hit we already know:
1. Cardinale is trash and couldn’t even show up to the 125 year anniversary?????
2. Fonseca is trash
3. Ibra, Furlani amd Mocada are trash
4. We miss M&M
DISGRACE
Yes 5 things how to blow chance, how to play with no desire, how to play without leadership, how coach without coaching strategy, No idea of proper management, and how to make a great club mediocre at world level!
Jimenez did well yesterday yes but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. It was Genoa and the player he was facing isn’t the corresponding right back (Sabelli came on in the second half). This is exactly what a backup is supposed to do. Get the job dones esp if a star player is out injured or to give rest vs lower sides. Well done!
Now let’s find a backup for Deers and Fofana because they’re probably going to be running on empty soon
Oh the other thing and main thing we learnt is we are who we are after so many games. The last 4 games didn’t change anything. We can’t keep this pace and think we’re going to even be 4th
He got caught out a number of times defensively.
Other players would’ve been slaughtered for that but modern football favours novelty over loyalty.
My concern with him are twofold:
1. The club can’t seem to decide between him and Bartesaghi although he seems to be slightly ahead because he’s not Italian and was signed from someone else so we can train him up to send him back as you do.
2. He’s coming into a toxic atmosphere not least the toxic atmosphere around the player he’s supposed to be understudy to.
It all feels very set up to fail. Or at least fail in the short term and then starring for Real in Tje long term.
I agree with the first part especially but in these parts you’ll get crucified for saying as much. That’s why I said it was only Genoa and also he didn’t actually face a proper RB until the second half. He had some defensive lapses which another team with more quality would have made him pay.
Hence why I reserve my judgement because I’m not getting caught up in this wind because we saw something different than Theo so automatically it’s this big revelation. The kid did well but check the opponent out. Great a backup can do that.
As for Bartesaghi imo he’s better technically but he seems more a center back than a full back and yes I agree with the sentiment…why are we once more developing a Real Madrid player.
As we’re on the topic of noticing small details, Chuk had a “bad game” because he had to do what Musah did and that’s to cover for Emerson’s poor defending abilities. If you notice, the gap on the field between Leao and Jiminez was far greater than for Emerson and Chuk. Poor Chuk had an ineffective offense simply due to having to cover for the poor Emerson and initiate his own offense way further back than he would have liked. It’s incredible how bad that flank is due to E.
“Chuk had a “bad game” because he had to do what Musah did and that’s to cover for Emerson’s poor defending abilities. If you notice, the gap on the field between Leao and Jiminez was far greater than for Emerson and Chuk. Poor Chuk had an ineffective offense simply due to having to cover for the poor Emerson and initiate his own offense way further back than he would have liked. It’s incredible how bad that flank is due to E.”
We spent 15M€ and lost a place of a foreigner for a player that is essentially a liability. Wingers have to have more defensive duties, he kills attacks with lateral and back passing, can’t cross and has no goal contribution so far.
Incredible really!
And I feel bad for Chuk now because he looks bad due to another player smh. I still can fathom that decision
Liberali looked too young/small to me. I didn’t see much of an impact from him. He had one bad turnover that almost lead to a goal scoring chance.
The team seemed really short of ideas in attack.
I think we look better with Abraham on the field. We really need to keep him fit.
We are going to need to start rotating some youth players through midfield. There is literally no depth with Bennacer, RLC & Musah all injured.
Generally.
I have no confidence in the management to bring in the right players & coach to fix the situation.
Jimenez was okay, nothing more.
He also got confirmation that Milan has difficulty winning games, even against teams at the bottom of the table, without Puli on the pitch.