AC Milan started their Champions League campaign with a 3-1 loss to Liverpool and were totally outplayed, thus further putting pressure on Paulo Fonseca to turn things around quickly.
The game actually started in the best possible way for Milan as they opened up the scoring just three minutes in through Christian Pulisic who combined well with Alvaro Morata and buried a low shot inside the far post.
Unfortunately it was all downhill from there on as Liverpool took the initiative and ended up scoring through Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai to earn a 3-1 win that was actually quite generous in the Rossoneri’s favour.
This loss further deepens the worries at Milan and it won’t be long until the we can say it is a full-blown crisis with the derby coming next which can further worsen the situation. Here are five things we observed during the Liverpool loss…
1. Tactics let Milan down
The first two Liverpool goals were both from set pieces where no Milan player seemingly marked Konate or Van Dijk which sounds bizarre given the threat they are on set-pieces.
That’s mainly because of the way Fonseca prefers to defend using zonal marking, but given the opposition and their strength from dead balls one would think that an alternative tactic would’ve been used. What was even worse was that after conceding the first goal, Milan did not react and managed to let a second identical goal in.
Then we get to all the sloppiness at the back which we can’t solely address to tactics, but we could make the case that the coach instructed the players to try and keep the ball playing it from the back instead of clearing away from Milan’s half.
If that is the case both the carelessness of the players and the instructions of the coach need adjusting since that seemingly didn’t work at the beginning of the game and failed to work as they match went on,
Finally, the lack of urgency with which Milan played meant they were hardly going to trouble Liverpool and that was pretty much the case excluding a few nice combinations. Throughout the 90 minutes we saw a slow Milan that couldn’t move the ball quick enough, thus struggling to find open space.
Given it’s not a one-off but rather a constant since the start of the season Fonseca has less and less time to turn the ship around and against Inter on the weekend it won’t be much easier either.
2. Lack of leadership critical
The leadership – or the lack thereof – really let Milan down on the night. We start with the captain Davide Calabria, who barely put a foot right on the right flank and was also at fault for the foul that led to the equaliser.
Then on the other flank Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao also disappointed. Theo was occupied for most of the time as he had a lot of defensive duties, given the opposition, and he did fairly well but not brilliant since Mo Salah managed to hit the crossbar twice. The Frenchman was much better compared to Calabria on the right, still.
Leao on the other hand was a ghost excluding a couple of moments where he used his speed, one of which was the 96th minute. For the majority of the game Trent seemed to know exactly what the Portuguese was going to try to do and prevented it from happening rather easily.
The winger was also isolated for big parts of the game and instead of trying to get on the ball, move around switching position he just stayed out of the game.
The rest of the squad can also be put under scrutiny excluding only one or two, but the reality is that Milan lacks and has been lacking a true leader for a while now and will continue to struggle in games like the one against Liverpool if someone doesn’t step up in tough situations.
3. Striker duo not enough
Morata put in a real shift, showing great work rate and desire to make things happen, and even picked up the assist for Pulisic’s goal after a lovely one-touch pass to sharpen the attack.
Then in the second half when Abraham came on, he too caused some trouble and looked very lively with his pace and dribbling which is a continuation of his display against Venezia.
Unfortunately for the pair they didn’t have a lot to go off as their team-mates struggled to combine with them, and despite them moving around and looking for the ball it just wasn’t enough.
It is, however, a positive seeing Milan have not one but two such strikers and if the situation behind them improves then there are guaranteed goals for both of them.
4. One positive at the back
Fikayo Tomori had several crucial challenges, and even if he could’ve done better on the first goal it’s not fair to put the blame fully on him. The fact of the matter is that he was the best out of the bunch defensively and prevented the scoresheet from looking even worse.
We already mentioned Calabria and Theo, but Strahinja Pavlovic was another that struggled on the night and had his worst game in red in black thus far. He had lots of misplaced passes that led to dangerous situations and the Serbian pretty much gifted the third goal to Liverpool after one such sloppy pass.
It also might be a tad harsh to blame him for the set piece goals as it’s a collective and tactical mistakes, but realistically if you’re the one player above 1.90m you should have your eyes on Van Dijk and Konate and maybe take initiative to challenge them despite the tactics.
In any case were are talking about a player who just joined a big club and lacks the experience still and we can only blame the management for not bringing in experience, really.
5. Going backwards since 2022
After Milan won the Scudetto back in 2022 it seems that they have gone repeatedly backwards instead of forward. The management sold Franck Kessie and Sandro Tonali with no proper replacement coming in and instead they have opted for bargains on the markets and young players who could appreciate in price.
This summer, Milan arguably improved the squad but they decided to not spend big on a coach and went with Fonseca when the likes of Antonio Conte and Thiago Motta were available, for example, who offer more guarantees in Italy.
Now that Milan (on paper) have a fairly good squad they are still struggling to perform. One could argue that the squad isn’t as good even though some of the new signing look promising given that in the defensive department Milan sold Pierre Kalulu who now starts for a very strong looking Juventus side. The replacement? Emerson Royal, who is struggling to even compete with Calabria at this point.
The management have also failed to bring a experienced centre-back when Mats Hummels was up for grab coming of a season where he led Dortmund the a Champions League final.
Whilst the financials look great, Milan are failing to make the leap forward for a couple of seasons now highlighting the ambitions, or lack of rather of the current management and we can’t put all of the blame on the players or the coach.
5 things i learned from this season
1. fonseca should get sacked
2. calabria is not good enough for starting 11 but is better than emerson and i would give him a new contract
3.fofana has yet been a flop and isnt as good as this managment thought he would be
4. this club dosent have a natural 6 fofana is another box to box midfielder we dont need him he isnt necessarily a bad player but isnt the player we need a real 10 loftus isnt a 10 same with reijnerds someone like kaka is perfect but sadly kaka is retired
5.this club needs to get rid of emerson and get a good rb most of the goals have camed from rb emerson should get sold or play for futuro i would never want to see him play for this club again
So do you want to play with no RBs because none of them reach your imaginary standards (or are capable of being in two places at once)?
Based on what Fonseca said and have said since he got hired, it’s obvious that he wants to play possession dominant football. Milan doesn’t have the players for that style. Outside of Maignan, Pulisic, and the strikers, Milan has a bunch of players who are only good on the counter attack. Starting with Milan’s 2 best players, Theo and Leao, who are absolutely useless when they don’t have acres of space to work with.
Milan needs a coach that will play a defensive football, and once they recover the ball to hit the other team on fast breaks. Real Madrid plays like that over the last couple years. Even yesterday. For most of the game they were outplayed by Stuttgart and then scored 2 of the 3 goals on the counter, while the 3rd was from a corner. They don’t have the midfielders they used to have. Same as last season.
Hire Allegri, forget about Terzic, Sarri, Touchel.
Sarri is Italian Fonseca. He needs a year to install his system. Plus defensively he isn’t very good. When he took over from Allegri at Juventus, his team gave up 43 goals during that season, after Allegri’ team gave up only 30 and Pirlo’s team gave up 38 after Sarri.
When he took over from Limone Inzaghi at Lazio, in his 1st season Lazio gave up 58 (fifty eight) goals.
Milan needs an immediate change. No one provides that better than Allegri. He is a leader and he can coach defense. Plus he is actually a coach who can juggle more than one tournament. I would usually be opposed to Allegri, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The season is still salvageable even with a loss vs Inter if they make the right hire.
What about this? Don’t hire allegri, flush the cash he’d ask for a salary down the drain and then hire a competent coach that will build a winning and attractive side..
Jesus with the allegri simps…
Okay. And who would you advocate for …
Benitez probably.. He has the pedigree, won stuff and has Italian experience.
But people will say he’s fallen off or something. Like max hasn’t…
Ofc if we’re daydreaming I’d say tuchel then. Doesn’t last long but his ppm is up there
Our management’s criteria for picking a coach is clearly a$$ backwards. Fonseca when Conceicao and Motta were available.
I doubt they will be as clear headed now that we once again need to upgrade. Sarri is a no for me. Max is too expensive for 1-2 seasons despite his defensive proclivities.
Conceicao is still available and not a terrible option, but a gamble at this point, as are the rest of the names.
Outside of Klopp descending from the footballing heavens above to rescue this club, I don’t know who can.
Should be Fonseca be sacked after Sunday (unlikely) who would you propose as a coach ?
The truth is we missed a good opportunity during the summer and also by not contacting Motta before Juve.
Right now we don’t have a lot of options, even Pioli is now with Al Nassr.
Not allegri..never allegri. I won’t watch allegri again at Milan. Nope
Honestly I don’t care about aesthetics. I don’t care if we have like 20% possession, park the bus, shoot once per game,… if we win, that’s good enough for me.
and thinking like that is the reason we are in this mess. NO, that is not good enough.
So he says that Allegri is a bad choice but then he brings up Benitez! Ha ha 😂.
whats wrong with Benitez? Give him a good team and watch him cook. Only thing max can cook is park the bus.. snooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Watch him cook!?!
You better have someone standing over him and watching him cook so he doesn’t burn the building down.
The last time he “cooked” was 10 years ago. The last time he “cooked” anything good was 20 years ago.
What are you talking about?
You remember that Benitez was chosen to take over at inter after Mourinho? How did that go?
You remember he was chosen to take over at Real Madrid after Ancelotti? How did that go?
And you say that Allegri plays boring football? Guess what kind of football Benitez teams play? Boring, because he is a defensive minded coach too.
Who is your next chosen coach if Benitez isn’t available? Hector Cuper? Ha ha.
Allegri isn’t no one’s first choice. He is the best available who can bring immediate effect on the team.
Ha ha 😂, give Benitez a good team and watch him cook!
-But people will say he’s fallen off or something. Like max hasn’t…-
Max definitely isn’t the best choice.. he’s one of the worst ones.
Yes I’m perfectly aware benitez plays tactical. I remember benitez did just fine after jose and Carlo but the clubs expected him to do like them which is literally impossible.
Seriously Allegri? You want to ruin this club? Or is it misdirection, the management hires allegri and after that fiasco jerry is forced to fire the lot and we get a proper director?
Benitez did fine after Jose and Carlo?
He was fired mid-season.
He started inters banter era, which in hindsight is a good thing looking at it as a Milan fan.
Allegri won a trophy with a bad Juventus squad just last season.
He earned more points than both Milan and Inter the season before while navigating injuries of his best players and club turmoil because of managements illegal activity.
At this stage last season he had more points than Motta has right now with much worse squad.
Fallen off? Guve him a good team and watch him cook as you say.
It’s one thing to not like Allegri but to bring a name like Benitez is just ridiculous.
Benitez wasn’t even able to finish a full season in his last 2 stops.
still a better coach than max. i hope he never comes back to milan. i rather we stick with fons. Max will only kill what is left of the talent in this squad
Allegri????
God pls NO
Didn’t Pioli have a possession style???
The main problem with the possession style or indeed any style is our lack of midfield.
Hire Allegri? Really? He’s teams play so definsively boring football I’d rather lose than watch his boring football. Are there no other managers than Mr boring who won in his first stint at Juve because of the team and tactics left behind by Conte like Inter now who win because of Conte’s old team and tactics.
Hard to argue here.
Yes the team has been upgraded on paper with promising talent. But midfield is full of 8’s when we need true 6’s.
Coach hasn’t been upgraded. RB have been upgraded. Defensive solidity hasn’t been upgraded.
There’s no sporting director to define a project, to tie in a transfer strategy. To argue that we have no leaders in the team; that we need established players with pedigree – not just projects.
I commend the management for stabilizing this club financially as it was overdue. But it has to translate to the field.
Cardinale is the long term vision guy. Fine. But put a better system underneath yourself. Take Zlatan out of the equation. Bring in a Director of Sport.
Wow bro you’ll never cease to support this management, that’s something.
Cardinale is either just here for business or he’s some kind of sugar daddy and is fooled by the management. I would go with the first option, he’s like “I watched Milan for one year and now I’m an expert at football and we don’t need Maldini anymore.” Absolutely silly, ego-driven pure stupidity. He has the reverse Midas touch.
No way this team has been upgraded, on paper or in dreams or anywhere. Pulisic is an upgrade. Abraham is showing grinta but jury is still out. The rest is trash and a criminal waste of money.
Maldini is not a sporting director. We need someone like Moretta of Inter. Completely agree with acm1899. But it’s also too early for all the doom and gloom. We ain’t winning the CL, we all knew that from the start. But serie a is still wide open, and honestly, we can only improve from here
Wake me up when it’s time for doom and gloom then. Lost management, poor coach, dysfunctional team, average players following lousy mercati, stadium half full, ugly games, media crisis, etc. Keep the faith.
Maldini was part of a management that built a Scudetto winning team from scratch, brought Milan back in Serie A and UCL. All of that without the resources that Moratta can enjoy at Inter. Everybody was smiling, good vibes. Those days are long gone. That’s insane that people still criticize him today…
Yoooo
🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 You Killin it man.
💯💯💯
The Cardinals Cucks are ridiculous. At what point will they say they are terrible?
Maldini is not a sporting director. We need someone like Moretta of Inter. Completely agree with acm1899. But it’s also too early for all the doom and gloom. We ain’t winning the CL, we all knew that from the start. But serie a is still wide open, and honestly, we can only improve from here
What do 6s and 8s even mean?
This is just more nonsense pigeonholing.
What we actually need are midfielders who can control the game regardless of what arbitrary positions people want to pigeonhole them in.
What Reijnders in particular lacks is the ability to seize control of the game. The only reason he seems to get away with ghosting the whole time is that the media seem to only focus on players who are actually involved in the game.
Since Reijnders basically doesn’t exist as an entity he gets a free pass (if only he could actually pass).
Meanwhile the full backs get all of the attention because they’re left completely exposed marking two or three players because we have no midfield that comes across and no wingers that come back (although hilariously Leao seems better at coming back than Pulisic!).
And then we get these completely meaningless statements about ‘leadership’ (and then with no sense of irony calls for Reijnders The Invisible Man to be captain!).
These are just buzz words being bandied about because people want to give their two cents.
But the only cents that matter is having a coherent project, players that play together for an extended period of time (which is probably why Theo and Leao are actually doing better in combination down the left), and focus on signing actual world class, verifiable, no ceilings, players.
And they don’t need to be expensive.
Ibrahimovic famously turned the squad round almost single handily and he was free.
Hummels was the obvious choice to give leadership and a winning mentality in the center of defence and he was FREE.
We then needed a midfield general like Tonali (but we sold him) so someone like…..Morten Hjulmand.
Morata was the right kind of signing upfront (albeit Abraham is also doing well – one of them will end up moving on next season).
That would’ve been 80m spent on Hjulmand which is 10m more than we made selling Tonali…..actual LOL.
Add furlani, moncada etc to the list that need to be taken out. They are at fault just as much as ibra. Experienced proven managers is what we need. Even if they cost more. Can’t run a club like milan with janitors. They literally wasted Jerry’s money these 2 seasons. Besides puli, morata, pavlo the rest of additions a bunch of expensive bench players.
rb has not upgraded emerson is much worse and getting rid of kalulu was a msitake
Financials are going to take a hit soon.
Only 60K fans at the San Siro for Liverpool.
That’s 15K tickets unsold. If we average the ticket prices to around 180 each, that’s around 2.7M Euros not earned.
Gerry about to feel the pinch.
We’ve failed to grow into a strong team. Also Emerson for Kalulu, whatever algorithm they are using to recruit is clearly hacked. Players performances are getting worse.
That season before the scudetto had most of the team improving on individual level. We started to dream. We played incredible football during lock down.
Nowadays, every team that steps on a football pitch has a chance against us.
milan need to hire a true sporting director. the problem start there. the technical area of the management. furlani moncada ibra combo is a bad patch. it’s buggy. they choose fonseca but they left him at the distance, the same with last season with pioli. there is more distance with the players. it’s worse that player not convinced nor inspired to play fonseca ideas. milan need a good ceo and sporting director. and a good coach.
I’m now convinced that there is no hope for Milan.
We have some good players but they don’t play as a team like the Scudetto team did and are not used to the best of their capacity. We have an incredibly mediocre coach who will probably get sacked but it seems like we’re again looking at a mediocre and cheap coach (Terzic) to replace him. We have an owner who is right in aiming for a new stadium and has invested on Milan Futuro and these are both good moves but he is unable to surround himself with competent soccer people, while he is himself unfamiliar with soccer; he got a silly clown as his trusted advisor (Ibra, great player, lousy administrator). We don’t have a sporting director and if people think that Moncada is a good scout, just think of Terracciano and Emerson Royal. We have no defensive midfielder, no competent right back, and no deputy for left back so our defense is pitiful and we leak goals like a sieve. We have a decent goalkeeper but he has been declining steadily and is made of glass, having just collected his 10th injury. Our otherwise good left back is unmotivated and so is our left winger. Maybe the only truly bright spot is Christian Pulisic.
Meanwhile our competitors have better coaches and better players, as well as better scouts and better sporting directors. It doesn’t look like we will qualify for the next Champions League (and we won’t be advancing this time either).
I think that at this point, it is WAY more likely that we will be entering another banter era, than the odds that we will improve.
The very first thing that would be needed to improve, would be hiring a winner of a coach, like Tuchel or Sergio Conceição. I have very little hopes that this will happen. We will probably just get another mediocre loser, like I said.
Next if we did get a good coach (we won’t), we’d have to fire Ibra, Moncada, Furlani, Scaroni, the whole bunch, get a proper sporting director, and a proper scout. Next we’d have to sell several players and rebuild the team from scratch.
None of the above will happen, therefore we will remain confused and mediocre, and not any better than a mid-table team unable to compete for trophies and out of the Champions League.
I don’t know how to explain it to you. Milan does not receive goals because it does not have a natural six or because it does not have or has a player. Milan didn’t concede a goal last night because of Emerson Royal’s mistake. Even Liverpool doesn’t have a natural six, so they destroyed us. You didn’t see that our players in the middle were scared, that they hid and did not reveal themselves to receive the ball, when they received the ball they immediately looked to get rid of it. You can’t play under fear even against Empoli. Milan has to get rid of fear and panic. Milan’s biggest problem is FEAR and it’s useless to bring Pep if they don’t get rid of fear. In defense of panic and when there is panic, you have to make mistakes. Under the urgent fear of being released otherwise there is nothing from the season.
Can I say it’s entirely the fault of people like you?
We had a plan, we had a squad, we had a team that won the Scudetto and made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League (when it was obvious that Pioli had banked the Juve points deduction and used it to focus on the Champions League).
But none of you were satisfied. You’re still not satisfied.
“no competent right back’
Who the f do you think was the RB in all of those games?
People like you brought the whole down because people like have all of these great expectations for Milan and therefore demand the impossible.
And this plays directly into the hands of the management, the agents, and all of the middle men and money men, who like to do a bit of wheelin’ and dealin’ on the transfer market.
Looking for that elusive RB that:
– can mark two or three players at once;
– is never beaten; and
– never gives away free kicks (or corners),
and has the “X Factor” (because it is all some reality TV show now).
The total lack of substance, loyalty, patience, reality, appreciation both on and off the pitch is the reason we are in this mess and are returning to the so called ‘Banter Era’ (where Milan destroyed numerous players’ careers, and failed to develop some of the best talent of their generations).
Everyone both declared last summer’s signing a huge success and last season’s second place a huge failure. Out with Pioli, in with Fonseca.
To every single one of you who demanded that, you are very much part of the problem.
And this is why I keep telling these people to go support another team. Because Milan cannot return to greatness with fans like you.
You’re toxic.
Toxic is your delusional love for Calabria. Nobody here likes you. You are clueless and obnoxious.
Lucky I am not here to make friends….
But seriously it’s pretty bizarre for a club fan forum to spend their time slagging off said club’s captain.
With fans like this who needs Inter.
(Actually that Inter Fan is probably more respectful than you lot)
😂😂😂
We need to learn how to shut teams down. Watch Inter vs city and learn
It is not just about tactics but also players quality. We have quality defenders like Bastoni and Pavard, who are shielded by a quality DM, Hakan. Then Barella links the pieces by running all over the mildfield. Who does have these characteristics at Milan? It is not only the fault of the coach and not that easy to fix without a good mercato.
No Inter fan, it’s mostly tactics. Hakan is very slow, and defensively not a natural DM, and our midfield is more energetic (and young for that matter) than Inter’s. Bringing him up as a reason for Inter’s defensive skill is ridiculous.
Inter do have way better CB’s and they play with three of them, I’ll give you that. And
yes, players need to have some basic understanding of tactics (so maybe no Mussah), but defending is the phase that requires the least skill and talent in football.
Heck, there used to be a time (not so many years ago) when even Empoli and the lot would know how to shut down games. A terribly mediocre Milan with Mexes and Poli shut down Messi’s Barca. So many examples.
You must be quite young and not following Italian football for long to think we can’t get a better defensive game from this squad, or even much worse squads. And bringing up Hakan, lol. Our missing link, the savior.
Well, you must dislike Hakan enough for leaving Milan on a free I guess.
“We steal league titles, decimate other teams and plunge Serie into crises just to make Inter #1…”
Inter has a great coach tho.
It’s painful to watch ManCity v Milan and realize once more how much better our main rivals are. Their defense is so solid as compared to ours!
*Inter
Everyone — breathe.
1 — Give the Coach a chance — he has a Summer training camp and six games under his belt following Pioli’s FIVE year run — and he wants to play differently, while integrating new players.
2 — I watched both AC Milan against Liverpool and Inter v. Man City. Stats were pretty equivalent. Three observations
Defense
Defense
Defense
Inter put on a Master class of defense and organization. Milan was a shambles. We have new personnel, injuries and nothing organized on set pieces.
standing on the ball in the back. Conceding the midfield most of the time. Passing it around back there under pressure is a crap-shoot for these guys.
All you have to read is POINT#5
“After Milan won the Scudetto back in 2022 it seems that they have gone repeatedly backwards instead of forward. The management sold Franck Kessie and Sandro Tonali with no proper replacement coming in and instead they have opted for bargains on the markets and young players who could appreciate in price.
This summer, Milan arguably improved the squad but they decided to not spend big on a coach and went with Fonseca when the likes of Antonio Conte and Thiago Motta were available, for example, who offer more guarantees in Italy.
Now that Milan (on paper) have a fairly good squad they are still struggling to perform. One could argue that the squad isn’t as good even though some of the new signing look promising given that in the defensive department Milan sold Pierre Kalulu who now starts for a very strong looking Juventus side. The replacement? Emerson Royal, who is struggling to even compete with Calabria at this point.
The management have also failed to bring a experienced centre-back when Mats Hummels was up for grab coming of a season where he led Dortmund the a Champions League final.
Whilst the financials look great, Milan are failing to make the leap forward for a couple of seasons now highlighting the ambitions, or lack of rather of the current management and we can’t put all of the blame on the players or the coach.“
FINALLY!!!!!! One of the moderators on the site says the truth.
Agree with your first point but where is the
“This summer, Milan arguably improved the squad” coming from?
Because we signed some new players and lets just assume (based on nothing) that these new players are somehow better than the previous lot who finished 2nd place in Serie A?
Isn’t this the whole reason we ended up selling Tonali for 70m and signing [lost count] number of midfielders for [lost count but it’s more than 70m] amount of money?
We figured the new mob could do the job just as well if not better particularly the ones who hadn’t won anything ever but had these amazing ‘ceilings’.
Again if fans keep falling for the same nonsense over and over and over and over again for 20 years what do you expect?
We haven’t had a CB pairing for more than one season in over 20 years.
We signed at least 1 new CF every season that Benzema played for Real Madrid.
This summer we repeated the same mistakes for the 20th plus time. We signed two strikers, one or both of whom will end up struggling and leaving the club in January or next summer to be replaced by more strikers and on and on and on and on.
Tonali was the third solution we had to that problem and the other two were free.
We could’ve had Cristante playing over 10 seasons for the club, Locatelli entering his 9th or Tonali. But, no, we have to keep changing things up. Over and over and over and over and over again.
And the fans keep lapping it up. Each transfer window is greeted with excitement. The itchy feet around anyone who has been at the club for more than 5 mins.
Half the reason there’s so much hate directed to Calabria is because people are annoyed that he’s been around too long.
Look at every single top team around Europe and they have players playing for them for YEARS. Each one of them has a Kimmich or a Carvajal and the only player we have that even comes close to this level of longevity is written off by most of the fans on here.
We are going nowhere with this attitude.
Juro was quoting the article 😉
I agree with most of what you wrote in the comments, especially the part on Reijnders and the fans being guilty. Look around here, there are still some people asking for patience and protecting Jerry and the management… There is only one thing to do and it’s to boycott the stadium and merch. Some here will say « Venezia game was full », yeah during the weekend A LOT of tourists go to San Siro.
Seriously, defending Calabria after this game, and then complaining about Reijnders? C’mon. You couldn’t have watched the match if that is the case.
And yes, sometimes fans are guilty of hype – like in Maignan’s case who seems to get something like 10-15 unnecessary goals a season (including the liverpool match) and is still considered a top GK.
Calabria actually touched the ball (and was involved in the goal and not involved in the goals conceded).
What did Reijnders do?
We spent almost the entire game in our own half with Reiknders unable or unwilling to provide any outlet.
How does that not infuriate you?
I agree and the statement “they have opted for bargains on the markets and young players who could appreciate in price.” is not even true.
Do we think after a full season that Reijnders, Chukwuezee, RLC, and Musah have appreciated in price? Do they have the potential to? Maybe Reijnders but not significantly.
Fonseca is on fire 🔥. That is what we must be doing, supporting our team. I don’t think we lacked tactical wise in that Liverpool game. We lacked emotionally and mentally. I am on Fonseca’s side along with Arrigo Sacchi. Because we know that everything is there, what’s lacking is that last piece. Which is emotional intelligence, support from the fans. I wish the CURVA SURD comes to Millanelo to support and show love to the team.
What was gabbia doing on the bench????
Milan is already a dead team, we had the opportunity to sign de zegbri but let it pass us by, we also let our young future out with no trace, where is Romeo, where is Colombo and the rest of our young talent?? Romeo is an born 10, he needed a little time to grow.
Our midfield has no flair, it’s so so stiff. With this mad man as a coach Milan might not make it to top 4. Leao is becoming more lazy and relaxed, he is no more hungry to play or win. He should learn from Vini, rodrygo, garnacho, yamel, nico Williams and other young blood d hunger de have to grow, and stop fooling around.
On Leao, he was tracking back against Liverpool even ore than Puli, and those other player you mentioned, get services from the midfield, how many passes came from our midfield to Leao?
How many came from the defenders to the midfield? Pavlovic as a case study. The midfield was non existence
That midfield was just hiding behind the Liverpool players as if they were been man marked smh, instead of moving around and asking for the ball from the defenders and Mike.. That’s where I knew I would miss Bennacer even thou it may now sound right to sell him. The mid was afraid of the ball but to be fair to them ,aside from Reijnders, it’s not like the others are comfortable with the ball as a ball distributor. All summer guys here were saying that Fofana will be the difference in the midfield. Smh. This is why I don’t like to blindly trust fans opinions on transfer targets. Fofana looks to be good at other things thou but he needs help. That can’t be provided by RLC. I quite like Musah but he’s not the solution to the lack of control in midfield. Zeroli I’ve seen abit of ,is not the solution either. Now hopping that Vos can be the deep playmaker that dictates the tempo of our games. Imagine hopping for an unknown kid to run our midfield. I really don’t know how they’ve structured this midfield.
RLC is far better than Reijnders because he actually comes to the ball, holds it up, wins free kicks.
Reijnders disappeared completely from the game. He never once came to the ball or dropped into a position to help out.
Against Inter I think we need to drop Reijnders and play Musah and Fofana and RLC. It will at least give us physicality, and with RLC, a chance to relieve pressure if he can win free kicks.
Playing with Reijnders is like being a man down.
True Reijnders was equally poor. But he’s some qualities to hold drop ,deep collect the ball and just distribute passes. You need one in a proper midfield set up. He was playing as an advanced midfielder so probably wasn’t responsible for that duty even if he was also too static for my liking.
Reijnders has got the technique but he has never once managed to control a game for Milan.
I cannot think of a single match (and he’s played in most games) where he took charge. Even against Venezia he did very little and one of the few things he did do he was set up by RLC (and then took too many touches).
I hate criticising individual players but I’ve lost patience with him. He needs to step up. If he starts against Inter he needs to contribute to the game. If we get overrun again in midfield then he needs to be dropped.
Talking about RLC, I think he’d be more suited at AM in an open game where he’ll find more space to run at like against PSG. He’s not that creative for the role against teams that sit deep. I don’t see him being useful as a pivot.
And God why was the coach at some point asking 3 players (Leao,Morata& Abraham) to at the same time press at the 2 Liverpool CBs who’d just passed the ball to their fullback and then 3 of our strikers are already easily left behind with the opponent countering against just 7 infield players. You’ve to first close down their fullbacks with your wingers and their no6 with your SS/AM then press with a striker to their two CBs who would be forced to send it long or take silly risks. You can also do it with zonal marking but don’t fúcken let them easily go through their fullbacks while we are so exposed high up the pitch you idíot. The fact that it was a struggle to see any good plans in either defending or attacking is very concerning to say the least.
Agree with that.
I am really struggling to understand how Milan are supposed to defend the flanks if neither the midfielders nor the wingers provide any support.
And what about Liverpool not pressing Pavlovic?
Clearly they weren’t too worried about his distribution!
Exactly. There’s little need to press a CB in general let alone with all your strikers. You close the passing lanes or mark the players he’d pass to.
1 thing I learned this season:
– the management s*cks that they’ll need to get replaced ASAP with professionals who ‘KNOWS’ how to manage BIG CLUBS like AC Milan.
What i really hate is when the ball is passed back and sideways over and over and over again. Maignan and Torriani together touched the ball many, many more times than morata, leao and abraham put together!!!!! Also Tomori is no longer the tomori of two years ago …. he is slow, indecisive, unsure …. get gabbia in his place.
The backward passing would be because we have no midfielders showing for the ball.
I’m still in two minds but if we get humiliated by Shinter on the weekend (again) I think I’d fire Fonseca. Some coaches have a golden bounce when they arrive – like De Rossi – that either remains or fades. Others like Pioli Ancelloti Ferguson etc need more time. Problem is I don’t think Milan has more time. Fans are losing their sh*t online and the team’s getting booed off the pitch. Management’s identified a big part of the problem – a useless RB – then rushed out to buy one who’s just as useless. Maybe we need to start from Year Zero again.
No point in firing him over a game we can’t win anyway. I’d be for it if we get a quality replacement but we all know that isn’t gonna happen.
We can make a nice run up to napoli if the team comes together so imao we wait. Season is far from over.
Fans should stfu and show some patience, crying online is all we’re good for.
The thing is we fired Giampaolo after 6 games or something and no one thought Pioli was the answer… But yeh I can’t see them getting Conceição or someone – they’d have to pay three coaches at once for a start.
How people are still mentioning Emerson, our cheapest purchase of the summer, when he barely played against Liverpool (and subbed arguably the worst person on the pitch) and had a good match against Venezia, is a wonder to me.
Emerson Royal & Matt Hummels. Everyone involved in these decisions should be fired. Instantly. No excuses.
*Mats
None of these decisions surrounding our defence make any sense – shipping off Kalulu to help out Juventus, spending 15 mil on someone who’s just as awful as Calabria, not selling Thiaw, not playing Gabbia or getting Hummels on a freebie – the list is endless…
I wonder where we’d be if Maldini had just bought Botman instead of chasing CDK all summer?
Or not allowing the European Championship player of the tournament to walk away for free.
All five points were spot on. Excellent article.
The performance against Liverpool was truly disturbing, the team has been in a constant decline since 2022 and now the Club needs drastic action. That performance against our European nemesis is just pitiful.
Can the leaders make the right choices to save this season? We will see, with the first choice that needs to be made, which is hiring a coach who can mould these players into a solid unit. Judging by their previous recruitment not many are hopeful.
We can fantasise about coaches but I don’t think we have the financial pull nor a well constructed squad for a high calibre coach to risk his reputation on us. The treatment of Maldini, Massara, and Boban after their success is enough to scare most coaches away. The two most realistic options are:
1. Risk taking a hit this season to give Fonseca the time and the players he needs to deliver in the long-term.
2. Find a low-profile coach willing to make a name for himself.