AC Milan played out yet another frustrating home game at San Siro as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Cremonese on Wednesday night.
It was a game that followed a very familiar trend whereby Milan struggled to break down an opponent who sat in a low block and missed opportunities, while the away side were moments away from a historic win after David Okereke’s goal on the counter late in the second half.
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The Rossoneri did get a late equaliser when Rade Krunic flicked in a free-kick from Junior Messias and there was also a late red card for violent conduct against Charles Pickel, but there was to be no last-gasp winner.
Given that everyone else in the top four battle won but for Roma, it is another game where Milan have lost serious ground in the race for a Champions League spot.
Stefano Pioli clearly had an eye on the Lazio and Inter games up next as he made seven changes to the line-up from the Roma draw, with Pierre Kalulu, Malick Thiaw, Fode Ballo-Toure, Aster Vranckx, Alexis Saelemaekers, Charles De Ketelaere and Divock Origi all starting.
Milan made a bright start to the game with plenty of intensity in the press which caused Cremonese problems. The first couple of half-chances fell to Origi inside the opening five minutes, who firstly fired at Carnesecchi and then didn’t quite manage to control the ball after a strong tackle that might have put him through.
After less than 11 minutes, it was the Rossoneri who thought they had taken the lead with Saelemaekers getting on the scoresheet again. A long ball from Kalulu found the Belgian who ran in behind, took a touch and slotted past Carnesecchi, though a VAR check took place and he had indeed gone too early.
Origi was very close to moving on to three goals for the season when Ballo-Toure won the ball in midfield and sent the former Liverpool man away on the break, yet his low angled shot was tipped wide as it seemed to be nestling into the bottom corner.
De Ketelaere must have thought that he would finally get his goal when a backpass to the goalkeeper from Meite was cut out by the 22-year-old who was bearing down on goal, however Carnesecchi did very well to stop him going around for a tap-in into an empty net with a fingertip intervention.
The game then settled into a rather repetitive rhythm whereby the Rossoneri would dominate the possession and get to the final third but lack that bit of creativity or cutting edge quality to prise the away side and their deep defence open.
The final opportunity of the first half fell to Origi, when a fizzed cross from Saelemaekers down the right side met the head of his compatriot who boomed a header over the bar.
Pioli opted to make a change having seen his side struggle to break down their opponents in the first half, however it was Rade Krunic who came on in midfield for Bennacer.
Just like they did in the first half, Milan began the second 45 minutes well on top, winning the ball high up the field with their press but again lacking end product. Saelemaekers was guilty of drilling a shot well over the bar in the 51st minute.
At times it felt as though Milan were playing a game with themselves to see how difficult they could make thinks, such as on the hour mark when Brahim Diaz missed a header from almost point blank range after a lovely dinked cross from Saelemaekers.
At the other end Cremonese could have sucker-punched Milan when a similar opportunity to Brahim’s ended with Valeri arriving at the far post to head over, albeit from a bit further out.
Two changes followed from Pioli as Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud came on for De Ketelaere and Origi. Leao nearly made an immediate impact when a surging run down the left saw him pick out Brahim, who was unmarked but wanted too much time to steady himself and shoot so saw his effort blocked.
The final two substitutions saw Sandro Tonali and Junior Messias come on for Vranckx and Saelemaekers.
Just as the game seemed to be heading for a goalless draw, Cremonese got a goal on the break that they hadn’t really threatened to all night. A ball over the top saw Okereke up against Thiaw and Kalulu yet he somehow held off both of them to leave himself alone on goal with Maignan and he converted calmly.
It really was just not Milan’s night, and when Leao dragged a shot into the side netting from deep inside the box with next to no pressure it became apparent that a goal wasn’t coming.
However, an equaliser did finally come in the third minute of added time via quite a bizarre method. A free-kick was awarded right on the edge of the box and it seemed to almost roll through everyone, flicking off Krunic and going in at the near post.
There was even more drama to come in the dying seconds as Pickel was sent off for what appeared to be a punch or at least a forearm to the side of Tonali’s head.
im can’t anymore. i have to end my suffering
Honest question for all Pioli supporters: why do you think he’s the only one that thinks he needs to rotate this much? Why do all other teams play with their best eleven, maybe rest just a player or two?
Not to mention that other teams like Inter actually have good substitutes.
Bonus question: if we, the Pioli ‘haters’, are so stupid and don’t understand his genious, why do we see things like this coming from a mile away? Why can we tell the result before the game is played, time and time again?
At least a duzen people on this site predicted exactly how this would turn out, and it’s not the first time.
Good questions. Too bad we will not be getting any good replies though.
go read about sports law. your team needs a minimum amount of games played for us to not have their contracts rescinded. that is 1 reason.
Second reason, if he rotated more this season, we would be out the race by now.
Third reason: we weakened a team after winning a titled instead of keeping it together and adding to it when we relied on 30 plus year olds to win that title. We knew Ibra was out, didn’t replace his goals, that isn’t a coach who buys goals and talented players. Those orders came from the top. Our rivals got better we got weaker. The obvious outcome is playing out.
4: We had a world cup in the middle of the season, look back to number 3. We all knew this would be the case. Our best player’s were with their national teams. Went deeper than other clubs. Lazio had 3 who barely had games in the competition. Can you say that for other teams ahead of us with more world cup games and minutes played by their best players? Plus the champion’s league to contend with. Coppa Italia and the League. Look back to Point number 2 as well.
1. your players need to play a minimum of games played based on the amount of competitive games the team plays to not have their contracts terminated.
“1. your players need to play a minimum of games played based on the amount of competitive games the team plays to not have their contracts terminated.”
LOL. Yeah right. So Adli will have his contract terminated for playing only 4 matches? 😀 😀 😀
For sure, for sure… 😀 😀 😀
If that were true, Milan would have used this to get rid off deadwood that refused to leave the club and collected hefty salaries while watching others play during the last decade.
How the f… we gave up champions league position? He screwed us this season..for us League is more important than UCl as we know with team we have can’t win..atleast we would have played next year champions league…disgusting team management..also how f.. we keep on dropping point against lower teams when they play defense..feel pioli screwed us well..
UNACCEPTABLE. The refereeing was absolutely the worst I’ve ever seen in football. But I can’t accept this performance. The boys know better. I thought I was watching Chelsea. Tomorrow, training, all day until they f***ing throw up if that is what they need.
Yeah, for sure. The ref had decided that Cremonese can use rugby-tackles and wrestling grips against Milan-players but whistled immediately if Milan-player even touched the white shirt.
Yet still… No need to blame the ref if one cannot defeat the 2nd worst team in the league with 3 wins in +30 matches. You can only blame the coach and the players on the pitch. No one else.
2 May 2023, 20:24 at 8:24 pm
And Leao will be surely be introduced somewhere in 50-60 minutes trying to help the team to get that crucial goal.
Why does seem like all of us knew exactly what’s coming, except Pioli? This kind result only brings low mentality for the next match which will be much much harder. And for the icing on the cake, we’re 6th now.
He picked a squad everyone knew couldn’t win, he picked Origi over Rebic, who at least runs, he left Diaz on and subbed of CDK just as he was finally start to get in rhythm, he’s failed Milan and is clearly too stubborn to learn his lesson. Goodbye CL. F u Pioli
Even Rebic playing worst season of his career would have made 10000x more sense than playing Zerogi.
He should have subbed Brahim instead of CDK and why did he sub Bennacer
Another devastatingly disappointing night. I have no words, and for me personally, this was a last drop. It seems Pioli is determined to keep us out of the Champions League next season. I am tired of his asinine rotations, which have not brought us any result even once (!!!).
Didn’t I f’ng tell Milan will drop 4p against Cremonese when you start these matches with CDK & Zerogi?!!
And let’s hear once again how Kalulu’s best position is CB and not the RB, eh? Unfckingamateurish defending by him – once again. He should take some lessons from the captain Calabria as he’s lightyears behind the skipper.
F*** Pioli. F*** his obsession with Zerogi & CDK. That’s it. Season over and no UCL next year. Say goodbye to Leao too as he’ll abandon the EL-ship quicker than you can say F*** Pioli!
It was fun while it lasted but enough is enough.
Well that’s certainly an overreaction. The season isn’t over yet and the table hasn’t been settled. Lol
It is not over yet dude. AC Milan only 2 point below inter and 5 point below juve . We still have match clash with lazio and juve while inter clash with Roma and atalanta, dont forget concentration on final coppa italy too. Im still optimistic we can finish top 4 and go to final CL despite our worst depth but if zero tropy and no CL participation next season better sack pioli and replace him with Sarri or de zerbi ( AC Milan need to pay lazio or brighton to free that coach )
I mean we keep predicting the score and endgame everytime pioli rotates like this. Every time. We’re gonna be not only without UCL but without any european cup next season. Absolutely disgraceful. If we played our top 11 for just 45 mins we would have won this match. Bringing in your top player at min 60 never works like we see every single game like this ome
Pioli your mumu too much 🙃
Pioli has to start his best eleven in these games and make subs when we get a lead. It’s painfully obvious. 7 matches left everybody has to suck it up and play every three days.
# pioli out
#conte in
#hahahaha
#whatanidiotfanmightsay
Conte will loose all of his hair again dealing with this kind of squad depth. And we’ll loose all our money to pay his contract termination.
I want klopp
Pioli is good in positioning his team and defending
But is a zero in attack
We can only score on counters
You cannot have Klopp. He wouldn’t want to work with players Milan have.
Yeah maybe
But liverpool before klopp want that great eather
It’s time to accept it. We’re going to lose points every single time we need to make rotations, unfortunately. Sadly, as shown tonight (and before too but specially tonight) our substitutes are not even at Serie A level. If our substitutes played as a starters we would probably be at the bottom of the table. Incredible, but true.
yeah, we have a bit part team of loanees and Turkish league players…our team goes for substitute free agents over star players…We could of had Dybala but choose Origi. Could have kept Kessie, we went for Adli, Diaz and Pobega. Neither of them half as good as Kessie not even combined….Imagine having a fresh Bennacer, Tonali or Kessie instead of Krunic….
This guys substitutes CDK when he’s playing well, bravo Pioli
CDK played well. What game you watched? ‘Best CDK games’ in YouTube?
The overall quality of the squad gets inflated by the performances against Napoli because their style of play suits us, once we sort out their midfield outnumber by playing Bennacer as the 10.
At the end of the day, what do you want the coach to do? He’s trying to manage appearances in 2 competitions with a squad of 15 players and virtually no one who can unlock a low block from the middle of the park.
It beggars belief that our reserve squad can’t get the job done against a pretty awful Cremonese in 19th place.
Pioli can’t continually be out in the catch 22 whereby he must continually picks the best 11 at the expense of the matches to come.
What concerns me is this delusion that they are going to persist with CDK, doubling down on a clear loss when we don’t have time to wait for him to come good.
“At the end of the day, what do you want the coach to do? He’s trying to manage appearances in 2 competitions with a squad of 15 players ”
Milan has one of the biggest rosters so don’t complain we have a squad of 15. There’s adlis, bakayokos etc who gets zero minutes. Even Bakayoko would be a helluva upgrade over Zerogi. Even as a lone striker he’d be more useful than the Belgian. Or even the two Belgians.
Shame
Is really shame
The biggest problem is not the changes he made. It is rhe fact that after 3,5 hears Milan stil dont have a style of play to create chances. Right now our way of attacking is Leao or Theo on The drive. What does he expect will happen when they are not on The field. Will we try to play ball possesion. We cant even central a midfield proberly. This has to ens. Bring in someone new next year please.
You forgot about the 3rd attacking play we have: throw the ball to Diaz and pray for a miracle. Those happen 3-4 times per season but he’s already used his miracles this season (remember the goal against Juve? that’s what I’m referring to here)
Got what Pioli’s selection deserved.
You can’t change the team! Over and over and over again, the same bloody tactic!
No-one else does it! You have to play your core, every single game. Rotate 2-3, no more. Yes, we have some sub-par players but not starting your star man, really. Get a goal then take him off if want to wrap in cotton wool ffs.
I’ve not been a fan of Pioli’s game style for a long time. It’s tired, it’s predictable and the lower teams know how to frustrate us.
I can’t understand the delusion of banking your UCL qualification on hoping to win the trophy. Only a fool does that and he is turning out to be that man.
Myself and quite a few others in this forum, won’t be sorry to see him go..
Someone should buy San Siro, demolish it and build a giant statue of Origi & CDK in its place to remind everyone of the fun times we had with them on the pitch. True Milan legends for generations to come.
4 belgian on squad have very few impact for AC Milan . The best from the worst belgian squad in Ac Milan are saladmaker. I dont know what on maldini mind before signed CDK & origi , he can signed dybala or randal ( just one enough ) but he choose sign CDK and origi . If Maldini choose dybala ,all our budget can go to striker, if he choose randal then budget can go to RW. I hope if RedBird sacked pioli ( AC Milan failed finish top 4 serie A and 0 trophy) better they sacked maldini too and replace him with napoli or atalanta DS
Pioli the clown does it again! Salernitana, Empoli, Cremonese. He fields a team without any of our threats like Leao, Theo, Giroud. He expects the Belgian clown duo to score. When that doesn’t happen, he waits too late to bring in the real threats. Then the panic sets in as the clock runs out. Why not start them and take them off once we are up by 2-3 goals?
When was the last time we were up 2-3 goals? Even with the A squad
( exept the napoli game)
they play Fifa on consoles and think these ideas work in real life…
I haven’t played FIFA in 20 years. Got better things to do at 42. I was a Milan fan probably long before you were even born so maybe that’s why I don’t accept results like this.
Hear, hear. Some of us have lived during the glory days of the Invicibles and have higher expectations. Draws with relegating teams is simply unacceptable in every possible way.
Funny you should say that. That’s also Pioli’s fault. Do you really think it’s acceptable for a club like Milan to not dominate matches against small teams?
We dominating every small team in serie A in ball possesion even vs Roma we have 65 % ball posesion. We lacking finishing , no prolific striker / winger/ AMF that can score many goal like in glory day. We used 37 years giroud , 42 years ibra as starter striker and in the bench sit superstar king origoat, you expect we score many goal with old striker ? Or with belgian superstar king origoat? Since there will be no new striker until next summer, lets satisfied with squad like this . The only best side from AC Milan are from theo and leao in left. Striker old and Right side are like deadwood ( RB and RW )
This disaster is on RedBird, Maldini, and Piolo.
– RedBird were cheap and refused to inject significant money into the club during the summer and winter transfer windows when it was clear the team needed enforcement and depth.
– Maldini and Massara wasted the little money they had in the summer on below-par and weak players who have not contributed to the team. €35m for CDK who is not worth €5m.
– Piolo sticks to the same tactics and formation that have failed to break down defensive teams. He keeps making the same mistakes over and over again.
A lot of you guys have to calm down. This is not Pioli’s fault, he’s an incredible coach. What’s wrong is that our last 2 (maybe even 3) transfer windows are among the top 5 worst in Europe.
Right now we have 8 midfielders for a 3 man midfield and 5 CB’s fighting for 2 spots. We almost have a backup for every backup in defence and midfield, and that fact is so frustratingly stupid, because our strength was defence and defending mids. WHY DID WE NOT IMPROVE OUR WEAKNESS: ATTACK?!
We have NO DEPTH and LESS QUALITY in attack. 2 LW’s, 2 ST’s, 2 RW’s. 4 are bad, and 1 is turning 37 at the start of next season.
Players who we should have and should still get rid of, plus players we shouldn’t have bought and others we should also get rid of:
1. Bakayoko
2. Ballo Toure
3. Saelemaekers
4. Messias
5. CDK
6. Origi
7. Pobega
8. Adli
9. Tatarusanu
10. Rebic
11. Florenzi
Players we lost and didn’t replace with anyone even close in quality:
1. Kessie (Pobega, Vranckx?)
2. Romagnoli (Thiaw?)
3. Snakan Snakanoglu (CDK?)
We should respect Pioli for his work. He tied the record for best away record in top 5 leagues. Leao = M’baye Niang without Pioli. Tonali = Andrea Poli. Isma = Bertolacci etc. There is no scudetto or CL semis without Pioli, but his squad is half CL winning quality and half relegation quality.
Sure, Pioli has done miracles with the squad he has had but nevertheless it is UNACCEPTABLE to lose 4 points against relegating teams. You cannot blame management for those. Are you saying that even without Kessie & Roma the last year’s scudetto winning team “is on par” with the relegating team of this year? It’s not how it goes.
Every dropped point against the bottom teams is on Pioli. If his only idea to win these “easy 3 points”-matches is to rest the star players and rely on CDK & Origi, it’s 100% on the coach for repeating and repeating the same mistakes.
Unacceptable. Unfckingbelievable.