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AC Milan 0-1 Juventus: Five things we learned – naivety, errors and toothlessness

By Ivan Stoev -

AC Milan faced Juventus in the first game after the October international break and it was the first in a tough line of fixtures that includes playing PSG twice and Napoli.

Stefano Pioli had eight absentees to deal with, the biggest one probably being the absence of Theo Hernandez due to accumulated yellow cards and thus suspension, as well as Mike Maignan who was sent off against Genoa.

In the middle Rade Krunic wasn’t fit enough to start whilst Ruben Loftus-Cheek didn’t even make the bench. Up front Noah Okafor was also not 100% as he trained very little with the group in the days prior to the game.

Samuel Chukwueze was not available after picking up an injury with the Nigerian team, and Marco Sportiello suffered a calf problem meaning a 40-year-old Antonio Mirante got his first league start in over two years.

Despite all the absences, Milan started the game rather well as they kept position and had a couple of good chances to score. Everything seemed in control Pioli’s side up until the 40th minute when Malick Thiaw picked up a straight red card, leaving his side a man down after a clumsy tackle on Moise Kean.

Juventus did gain some momentum in the second half and started to threaten Milan a bit more, but it was a deflected shot from long distance in the 63rd minute from Manuel Locatelli that ended up being decisive.

Milan ran out of steam in the closing stages and the substitutions made little impact as Pioli’s men fell to their second defeat of the campaign. Here are five things we learned…

1. Signs of immaturity

Malick Thiaw has been a great signing for Milan showing his quality and also his high potential and whilst the German has had some great moments in big games he has also had some growing pains as well.

The situation against Moise Kean was not one that should result in a red card and the 22-year-old had to do much better to begin with when he presses up to challenge the Italian striker, because he can show him outside.

Even when the ball gets past him he should have not committed the foul that was clearly going to earn him a red card. Kean might have gone on to score, but the Rossoneri would have had a higher chance to keep controlling the game with numerical parity.

After struggling a lot in the derby against Inter, this was another tough lesson for the centre-back which certainly played a big hand in the end result, but mistakes are the best way to improve.

2. Dreadful in the middle

The midfield just simply were not at the races, with Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders standing out above all as having a mediocre game. The duo weren’t necessarily bad nor did they make any critical errors, but they didn’t put their stamp on the game as they have.

Adli often found himself dropping between the centre-backs but his influence was limited, and that might well be due to the fact that Juventus sat quite deep before the red card so there was no space for the Algerian to exploit with long balls.

Reijnders also struggled to involve himself either in or out of possession and this might have been his worst performance for the club since the derby when he was also anonymous.

Yunus Musah, on the other hand, was probably the brightest out of the three and really tried to make something happen. His high work rates allowed him to virtually cover the entire right side, especially after Christian Pulisic was taken off.

3. Evergreen Antonio

Antonio Mirante was called into action given Maignan and Sportiello were not available, and the third-choice goalkeeper did really well considering he hadn’t played a Serie A game in two years prior to this.

The goal was not really his fault as it was a nasty deflection off Rade Krunic – who half-heartedly stuck a knee out towards the ball – that sent him the other way.

He did well with his feet and made some huge saves towards the end from Dusan Vlahovic and Andrea Cambiaso to keep his side in the game.

It was really solid performance and it’s refreshing to see that even the third goalkeeper can have such an impact, especially after the struggles in that particular position last season. In a strange paradox, we might hope that’s the last we see of him.

4. A blunted attack

Whilst we can blame the red card for the loss it’s fair to say that prior to that Milan didn’t look their fluid best up front as they struggled to get clear chances and only once really threatened Szczęsny.

Leao didn’t have much space to operate given how deep Juventus sat plus the fact Gatti and Weah double-teamed him, but when he did get the better of them the decision-making left a lot to be desired.

Pulisic was very quiet before being sacrificed and Giroud wasn’t far away from scoring but for Szczęsny’s heroic save, though we must now point out that he has not scored an open play goal since round one back in August.

The midfield are not chipping in with goals either, meaning Milan just didn’t really have anything interesting to offer going forward. The tactics simply can’t be all reliant all Leao and the ball moves in a slow, predictable way.

Often there are one too many touches in the final third to trouble a side, which has really been the case in each of the four games Milan played against more serious opponents – Inter, Juventus, Newcastle and Dortmund.

Two losses, two draws and just one goal scored in these particular games tells its own story. Pioli may have a lot more quality and depth this season, but things aren’t looking rosy in the big games.

5. The culprit 

Finally, we must mention Krunic’s performance. The Bosnian came on and was just dreadful, to the extent that there has to be question marks about if he was fit enough to play.

The deflected shot came off him and whist these things happen, in this case, we can put a lot of blame on the player because of his positioning and awkward movement of his body.

Even excluding the deflection Krunic played very poorly, giving away the ball on the edge of his own box in dangerous places, putting his side back under pressure and contributing to the early fatigue.

If he wasn’t fit enough then Pioli is to blame for putting him on the pitch instead of Tommaso Pobega, for example, but either way the mistakes the midfielder committed weren’t really fitness-related.

It will be interesting to see if Krunic starts against PSG. If he does and he plays like that then getting far in the Champions League might turn into a mirage.

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Tags AC Milan Milan-Juventus

41 Comments

    1. Honestly speaking who can force poili go read this article maybe just maybe he might know of this blog after all for fan base all over the world

      1. Pioli has learnt 5 things about the Juve game
        I say someone should tell about the 6th thing that he should learn nd that he struggles against the big teams with Milan!
        That being learnt the owners need to sack him and hire Dezerbi to replace him
        Pioli struggled when he had Inter and Fiorentina against big teams and now that he has Milan more of the same
        Embarrassment Pioli!

    2. No chance Pioli has to go!
      Milan will not win another title with Pioli as Manager
      Statistic tell us he can not win against the BIG Clubs!

      Juve was the last straw. Inter, Roma, Atalanta and other clubs do not fear Milan
      PSG will show Milan’s defects as a force in Europe and domestic
      Milan are second class to rivals Juve, Inter, Napoli Atalanta, get DeZerbi NOW!

  2. We need to offload Krunic and Pobega ASAP and get quality players cus honestly they aren’t decent for this Milan team anymore. The Pioli bias in selection is affecting this teams progress and it’s a big worry for any player we look to buy and mostly for our youth team.

  3. I thought Adli was quite good. Won the ball many times. Not all good decisions, but better than Reijnders and just as good as Musah. Thought everyone did well defensively. Remember that we were 10 against 11 for the majority of the game. Gazzetta rated him a 6, and I think that was fair.

    1. And Adli was also the only one who could place passes forward when it seemed there was no passing-lines forward. He’s like the opposite of backpass-Krunic (who made his trademark pass backwards even when there was only 20 seconds left in the clock and he got the ball at the halfway-line!).

  4. Yeah Thiaw’s card was tough to take in but for a while you couldn’t even tell Milan were down a man. Ultimately Pioli’s subs were poor and it showed. But this is Pioli – you take what you can get. He won’t go anywhere either so it will be more or less the same expectations out of him at least ‘till next year.

  5. Imagine turning down a 10 – 12 million offer for Krunic. Utterly ridiculous. They’ll never get that much for him again. That is 100% on Pioli. His love affair for this mediocre donkey is going to cost him his job. And it’s funny to watch all the fools on here that were praising Krunic slowly backing away from their comments. IDKWYDLS

    1. No, it was you who need to understand football and stop trying to misplace people’s opinions. Who’s backing away from what exactly? Because I said Adli played well? Well, didn’t he? Not everyone here is like you that you have to either hate or like a player and get labelled into a box. I like both Adli AND Krunic. They bring different things to the game. You hate Krunic. It’s that simple. I call it like it is, you are always biased. Krunic can have a great game and you’d still have an issue. And it’s for this reason I don’t really have a discussion with you or similar ppl like you. You’re a troll.

      I have always maintained: 1. that Krunic was a solid backup player who at the time can do the job of the DM the best and 2. that we needed a proper DM (which we didn’t get this summer) 3. That the transition to another player in the DM take place gradually but soon (unfortunately the coach didn’t do that soon enough but that not on me, blame the coach) and
      4. That Adli’s weaknesses were his reading, positioning and defensive abilities. Once he worked on that then hed be stellar.

      So when Adli now seem to cover 4, then I can say that he’s better at the role overall because he gives what Krunic can give plus add his own flair and style in terms of progressive passing and movements. He wasn’t better every game but got progressively better and so progressively my criticism got less. But all you guys got is me defending a player(Krunic ) on our team we support? I put reason and facts to my argument, you guys just hate the dude. Also what helped was playing a set of teams in the bottom half of the table. … the perfect time to test out players and it helped us.

      You can go twist ppls words and expose your lack of football knowledge elsewhere. I give an opinion sometimes and also provide facts or stats on certain comments to back it up. All you and others do here are simply spewing hatred. No semblance any analysis or insight.

      I’ve always said in the past (last year)Adli has poor pass receptions, correct? That’s just a fact. So when they put him up in a cam position like last year, he was bound to fail. Adli before coming here actually had great blocks and defence compared to mids in the top 5 leagues. It was obviously better to place him in a role that was not too far up the pitch. But don’t let that get in you way of seeing my name and discrediting what I’ve said on this site. You guys dont read. Either your reading comprehension is poor or your troll game is elite.

      Krunic bossed the game vs Roma, not a peep from you. I didn’t go about saying eat your words K. I just kept it moving. I said Adli had a great game vs Juve. All of a sudden, your highlight is my prior comments?? I’m back tracking when in previous games I said exactly which aspects of the game Adli did well ? but all you see is where I criticize him. I’ve always said his defence, reading and positioning (more so in the def phase) is lacking and that’s true now (culpable on the red card too btw) as it was back then but less so. And that’s all you have on me. I’ve also said his passing was great, where’s that in your comments about me? Where’s the part where I said his progressive carries into the final 1/3 was exceptional given his position on the field? just do me a favour and keep it moving. It’s a waste of time with you guys.

      1. False. I always said Krunic was a useful player to have on the bench because he can play multiple positions if needed. I just didn’t want him starting a majority of games for Milan as he is not good enough.
        You on the other hand were adamant that he was the only player on the roster who could play that position and was too valuable to sell.

    2. To turn a 10-12 million offer first you have to receive such offer. Milan never received 10-12 million offer for Krunic. Not even close.

      1. From this very site :
        “According to Turkish source Fanatik, Fenerbahce launched a new €12m bid for Krunic in an effort to get him in before the transfer deadline and partner him with Fred at the base of their midfield.”

  7. When I read things like “Adli often found himself dropping between the centre-backs” as if it was a problem then I really wonder about how well tactics and positioning are being understood. If it was one game where Adli displayed the correct way to play the DM position out of all his games it was this one. He knew exactly when to cover for other eg for Florenzi at LB on more than occasion and sat between the CBs as is required of the role. Unlike Krunic who tends to stay within a certain zone in the back 1/3, Adli was everywhere he needed to be and he progressed the ball better with passing and movements. Therefore, he not only did what Krunic used to do esp. in the defensive phase (the part that was lacking in his game imo) but he adds his own flair with movements, dribbling and progressing the ball forwards. To me he’s finally up to speed with how the role should be played based on how he played vs Juve…….aaaaand Pioli took him off 🤦‍♂️
    Reinjders on the other hand was anonymous. I’ve been saying he’s been on the decline since the first two games, not by much but enough for a keen eye to notice and not enough for a regular to notice. In big games he goes missing. That’s fine if you take care of the small teams but the big players should play the big games in that case.

    1. For Reijnders I think the international break did him dirty. He’s a player who moves a lot, played all the games and is now a regular even for the Netherlands. I’m not gonna defend his game vs inter, or juve, but to say that he is on the decline is a bit harsh. I think that (just as the rest of the team), he was put to the test when the competition stepped up and that’s his true level.
      pioli is also to blame for how he uses him, mis-uses him.

      1. It’s a soft decline. This is why I said to the noticeable eye. Or maybe the first two games were overrated 🤷‍♂️.
        Btw, honest question, where do you think he should be used best? I think right now he’s in probably his best position but I think he should position himself lower on the field so he can make his impact going into the final third. Right now it’s too congested at the top. The problem is Adli is taking some of his offense away as he can also spray balls into the final third too.

        1. By mi-used I don’t mean that he shoud change his position, it’s sometimes how the others play around him and or specific instructions in some games. For example, in the game against Verona where we played 3-4-3 many complained that our players didn’t do as well as they usually do (but I didn’t watch that game so I don’t know). I do agree that he should perhaps play a bit lower, especially considering how our lines are too high anyways, and that his shooting is subpar.

          1. Ok I see 👍
            Yea it’s a weird conundrum. His passing is impeccable but I think he needs to know when to pass, move forward and when to stay back.. hopefully with time this consolidates but he’s not impressing me as much as others or this site seems to think.

  8. Adli is blowing up at the same time Krunic’s liabilities are being noticed. There is no excuse for Pioli ever again playing Krunic outside of emergency substitutions and games where the ending is already clear.

  9. Juve played with 5 mids and sat back in a defensive stance and didn’t even press until we were at their 18….so how in the hell was Adli supposed to break that?? Who is this new writer of this article? Ivan?? Did you watch the game bro?? LOL. Krunic was terrible but I blame Pioli for that. He has no business putting in Krunic when the score was still tied and when Krunic hasn’t played in over a month. It was pure stupidity to put Krunic in that position in such a important game with such a long layoff – and it showed. Add putting in Jovic over Okafor and it was an absolute disaster. Thiaw made another huge mistake but these are the growing pains you have to live with. Hopefully he learns from it.

    1. Agreed. That sub should have never took place. Adli was playing it perfectly. And it’s obvious Krunic was super rusty. Apparently Okafor was injured but in that case I wouldn’t take off Puli, I’d taken off Reinjders. Or move Leao to forward and bring on Romero. Either way terrible subbing and game management. It was clear what Juve wanted to do and they easily executed it.

  10. Pulisic was quiet but he can suddenly score. He shouldn’t have been the one sacrificed to bring Kalulu in. Without a RW things were more difficult for Leao. Bringing an obviously unfit Krunic was a grave mistake. And Jovic is useless. Should have been Okafor. Pioli’s subs were dreadful and he shares a lot of blame for this defeat, together with Thiaw, and Theo whose immaturity compromised the defense by being suspended due to silly yellow cards. We should never have lost this game.

  11. I dont like our formation – its too flat in attack.

    I would rather see us use a 3-4-3 (with a Christmas tree attack).

    ———————-Okafor———————

    ———-Leao——————–Pulisic——-

    Theo———-Reijn—–RLC——-Florenzi

    ———-Tomori—–Kjaer—-Thiaw——–

    ———————Maignan——————-

    This would push Theo to get more involved and combine with Leao. Same on the right side with Florenzi and Pulisic. Okafor can run eights around the opposition defense to keep them occupied which would open up space for Leao and Pulisic.
    Reijnders can be a bit more offensive than RLC that can offer support in front of defense.

  13. Smart coaches know how to play vs Pioli coached team. They know Pioli’s team is only dangerous on the counter attack so they let them dominate possession and exploit their aggressiveness with their high line to punish them.
    Even with a man up, Juventus allowed Milan more of the possession and still punished Milan on the counter.
    Pioli is a one-dimensional coach who has no counter tactics. Milan is in the 7th place in serie A when it comes to expected goals, way behind inter and Napoli, and even behind a team like Monza. Monza with far less talent than Milan in the squad creates more goal scoring chances than Milan.
    Milan under Pioli plays as a provincial side. Small club tactics. A club like Milan shouldn’t only rely on counters to score goals.
    There are absolutely some players and positions that Milan needs an upgrade but they first need an upgrade of the coach.

  14. I’ll keep saying this until I’m proven wrong. The midfield signings have not been great. We basically signed three of the same player. They have good engines but in terms of building up play, maintaining possesion, creating chances, and defending, they are a step back from what we had last season. Zero wins and one goal scored in our four big games is beyond alarming. Individual moments from Leao, Pulisic, and Theo will keep us competing in Serie A but we need something more in order to win.
    I still think we have enough to beat PSG and Napoli if we cut out the silly mistakes but for the rest of the season, we need one or two new midfielders in January.

    1. I agree about midfield. It’s all about headless running and muscles. Except for Reijnders, that kid is the only one able to break through and create something. But he disappears when it matters. Maybe he’s just tired or something.

      Reijnders and Bennacer are our only capable midfielders.

    2. One or two midfielders in January?

      After we signed 3 and ‘discovered’ a 4th?

      How many goes does it take to fix the midfield?

      Considering we replaced half the squad this summer with ‘depth’ (remember to whispered it in a very smooth fashion – ‘deeepthhhhhhhh’) we seem to be remarkably light on (say it with me) ‘deeepthhhhhhhh’.

      I mean we don’t seem to have another CF (or one that we have a faith in) or another left back (although Florenzi really should be able to do a job) and we have, you said it, 3 identical midfielders….

      But say it with me ‘deeepthhhhhhhh’……

      A bit of critical analysis over the summer might have helped. Instead we got ‘deeepthhhhhhhh’……

    3. You are wrong. Our midfield is undeniably stronger and deeper than last season. Our midfield was the weak point of the team last season.. You take away 1 player, Tonali who is overrated and has already lost his starting spot at Newcastle, and added 3 strong players. Yes, Bennacer being out hurts as he is still our best midfielder, but he will be back. And RLC before he got injured was doing very well.

  15. I think, we was tactically wrong too after the red card. We took Pulisic out and keep Giroud. I think we should take Giroud off, because with less men, we need 10 players work harder & roam more spaces. And Giroud is more static style, not fit for roam more spaces.

  16. This is such revisionist writing, sorry. OK, Thiaw showed a bit of inexperience and ultimately the side couldn’t get a goal but they were playing against close title favourites with ten men for over 60 minutes and were dominant in the game until then. Yes, struggled to break through but no points about the fight showed until the end or the correct setup at the start of the game or still having more possession and passes by the end even against a top team?

    I get the result wasn’t ideal in the title race and failing to capitalise on a good start is an issue, but there’s two sides to the story and I think this only tells one of them.

    1. Dominant in what? We did not create anything worth mentioning even when we were in 11. Like you said, they struggled to break through.

      1. Not true. Giroud had a brilliant shot on goal which the keeper had to make a great save to keep it out. Very easilt could’ve been up 1-0 there.

  17. The problem is always the same, instead of the coach giving certain players a chance, no , he prefers to use out of sorts players, the problem that resulted in the goal came from Florenzi, who is not a left back, or even fit to play in such a game, he left Thaiw totally exposed, and had no business pushing up, clearly this teams game play has to be revised , if not the same thing will happen next year, chopping and changing players every time is not the answer, if the team does not improve, then the best thing is to let Pioli go.

  18. The gag is Pioli’s, with the substitution when Milan received the red card, instead of bringing Giroud out and playing with the speed of Leao and Pulisic in the attack, does he keep Giroud in the game as he walks… the rest is history then, but this coach is seen as not having the capacity to make the right decisions at the right moment…

  19. Doomed if you do, doomed if you don’t.

    People (including me) always want Pioli to give more playing time to youngsters. Inexperienced players make more mistakes. It comes with the territory. If you’ve been wanting more youngsters in Milan squad, then you have no business criticizing Pioli for this game.

    I’m not happy with some decisions either (Jovic over Okafor, for real?) but people bending over backwards to pin this loss on Pioli is just ridiculous.

  20. We had a title wining side (as evidenced by the fact they won the title) and we sold a load of players who had won the title (as evidenced by the fact that they won the title) and replaced them with many players who had never won a title (as evidenced by the fact that they had not won a title).

    But gee the transfer market was exciting.

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