AC Milan made sure of their progress into the quarter-final stage of the Coppa Italia in emphatic fashion, beating Sassuolo 6-1 at San Siro.
Some eyebrows were raised when Paulo Fonseca made eight changes to the starting line-up from the team that beat Empoli, giving a chance to the likes of Filippo Terracciano, Tammy Abraham, Davide Calabria and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Youssouf Fofana, Tijjani Reijnders and Rafael Leao remained in the XI and that core was more than enough against the Serie B table-toppers. Samuel Chukwueze netted a first-half brace while Tijjani Reijnders and Rafael Leao scored too as part of a ruthless spell of four goals in 11 minutes.
Davide Calabria and Tammy Abraham each got goals in the second half to turn it into a real rout, and the result is that Milan will play Roma or Sampdoria in the quarter-finals. Below are five things we learned from the game…
1. Mixed performances at the back
On the scoresheet a five-goal margin of victory makes it look like the defence didn’t have much to do, but realistically Sassuolo generated some clear-cut chances in the first half, with Tomori and Terracciano targeted.
The Englishman was bailed out by Pavlovic on his first big error, but then Milan were punished when he lost his man for the Neroverdi’s goal. Mulattieri had been a threat all evening but was allowed to fire, though Lorenzo Torriani should have been better.
Terracciano had a slightly better game as he contributed in the build-up one of the goals and was decent overall, yet he too was beaten quite easily on Sassuolo’s goal.
On the flip side, Pavlovic and Calabria played well, with the Serbian not ready to give up his position in the starting XI showcasing great aggression and defensive abilities whilst also going stepping out with the ball on a lot of occasions to bait the press.
Calabria also had a positive game it both phases of the game and topped it off with a lovely goal. It was refreshing to see following a rather mixed performance against Slovan Bratislava – obviously now the challenge is to repeat it.
2. Deceitfully decisive
Chukwueze started on the right flank with the winger desperate to get put together good performances in and fight for the starting spot. Pulisic has been fantastic since the start of the season, and Yunus Musah’s new hybrid role has presented another obstacle.
The Nigerian scored twice early in the first half to wrap up the game for Milan, but whilst it might be a controversial opinion the two goals are deceitful and don’t reflect the overall performance we saw.
On the first goal, Chukwueze missed his initial shot after being left 1v1 against the keeper and was lucky that the rebound got back to him so he could eventually put the ball into the back of the net.
The second goal was taken nicely, we have to admit, though the beauty came in the pass from Abraham. Everything after that was frustrating as he so often decided to go alone, obviously looking for his hat-trick but being let down by his decision making.
He often managed to get goal-side of his man and then didn’t take advantage of the situation by checking back or stumbling over the ball, allowing his opponents to dispossess him shortly after or for numbers to get back.
It’s hard to be overly critical of a player who scores twice, it’s just that against better opponents – with respect to Sassuolo – the same space will not be afforded and the finger margins really matter. Efficiency is key for a technical winger like him.
3. Rampant Reijnders
Tijjani Reijnders is the man of the moment – he simply cannot stop getting involved in goals. He first provided a lovely through ball for Chukwueze on his first goal and then proceeded to score a rocket from outside of the box to grab one of his own.
This makes it nine goal contributions in the last eight games and a lot of them have been crucial too, including ones in the Champions League. Tijjani has already surpassed his number from last season and is far from finished as he keeps growing into the season, it seems.
A separate analysis is definitely needed regarding how his role has been fine-tuned under Fonseca (with the help of Fofana too) to find him in better positions. For now though as pure spectators we can enjoy seeing a creative midfielder perhaps only matched by Europe’s elite.
When his contract extension is official – as Reijnders himself admitted is close – Milan can fully celebrate the bargain signing they secured last season. However, until the ink dries on the paper, a run of dominance like this will turn heads.
.@T_Reijnders in 2023-24:
➤ 50 games
➤ 4 goals
➤ 4 assistsReijnders so far in 2024-25:
➤ 18 games
➤ 7 goals
➤ 3 assists[via @CB_Ignoranza] pic.twitter.com/VRS7QH5nq5
— MilanData📊 (@acmilandata) December 4, 2024
4. A leading light
Leao has really shifted the gears in recent weeks as he is constantly creating and causing havoc in the opponent’s half. Against Sassuolo he only got one goal, but it was a powerful low driven shot from the edge of the box to beat the keeper.
As a whole the Portuguese was very lively in the first half, combining well with his team-mates – in particular Tammy Abraham – causing lots of trouble for Sassuolo. He did it with a smile on his face, perhaps aware that he doesn’t usually get such freedom.
We spoke more in depth about Leao’s changing role and responsibilities in a feature earlier today. However, the eye test and the numbers speak for themselves more than any tactical readings, with the former Lille man hitting form in a much-needed moment for his team.
He also came out with some nice words after the game too, making it clear how despite the negative media reports there is a good mood in the camp: The team is doing well, it’s important to have this family atmosphere among us.”
5. A chance taken
Tammy Abraham was given the nod over Morata and he did not want to waste the chance to make Fonseca’s choice a difficult one when it comes down to the starting striker position.
Abraham linked well with everybody, really, as he was very lively on the left side of the pitch, combining with Leao. The duo combined brilliantly with flicks and one-touch passes, moving up into space and stretching Sassuolo.
The striker also worked hard in both phases of the game and eventually got an assist on Chukwueze’s second goal with a lovely through ball. We saw a similarly delightful assist against Slovan Bratislava, showing the Englishman can perhaps match Morata’s ‘quarterbacking’ ability.
He did have to wait until the second half, but eventually got a goal to his name too to mark a really positive performance by the former Roma player. He seems determined to get more game time and to earn a permanent stay too. That’s a nice problem for Foneseca and the directors to have.
The team ticked all the right boxes so credit to the players and the coach. The mentality was great, everyone played well, the bench players got valuable minutes and confidence, and key players managed to rest. Now onto the real test against Atalanta.
I knew it takes Leao nearly half a season to start clicking but apparently this applies to the rest of the squad too. Only Mike, Reijnders and Pulisic have really been consistently great from the outset (and Gabbia potentially) which has a lot to do with where we are in the standings imo. If we can keep up playing this well and as a team I’m optimistic for the second half of the season. 🙏
when you add the stability that Morata and Fofana bring as well, the key issue is now bringing old Theo back.
main RB and Pulisic roles still tbd… CAM Puli means Chiesa/Gnoto/Zherghova, RW Puli means another CM/CAM…
There is LITERALLY 0 things to learn from this game. Nada, none, niet, nothing.
We played a serie B team who didn’t even field its best players and you had Chukwueze scoring a brace, Loftus-Cheek having an assist and Calabria scoring, that’s all you need to know about the level of Sassuolo.
We already knew we had defensive problems, that Chukwueze can do well against overmatched opposition (and not even always), that Reijnders is having a great season, that Leao is getting a tiny bit better and that Abraham can score against sitting ducks.
Bro just admit your an Inter fan already.
Utterly trash comment.
Yes, yours really was. I’m glad to see you realize that.
It’s your comment that’s utterly trash. If you’re trying to be sarcastic at least try being good at it.
I didn’t say anything negative about the performance but I guess for a snowflake like you anyone who isn’t full of praise is automatically a “shinter fan”.
Giga fly to Saudi Arabia, there is this green plant called Aloe vera… you need to skin it, add a bit water to dilute it and apply on your bum cause you got burnt son…
Giga your wit is astounding
Can’t wait to see the revisionist history you’ll push if the team continue to do well. Why follow this team if you shit in half the players and the coach. It’s sad and pathetic.
Take a look at the big picture, what do you see ? Currently the team is 7th, 6 points away from 4th place, is that good enough for you ? This is the first time we managed to win 3 games in a row, are you happy with such a statistic ?
If god forbid we end up outside of the UCL spot, will you still continue to support Fonseca ?
Is it too much to ask for more, especially given we gave away points to much inferior opponents in Parma, Torino and Cagliari ?
Prior to the start of the season I wouldn’t been happy with anything less than going far in the UCL and fighting for the scudetto, but now we’re so deep in waters that even managing a fourth place would make me happy.
As for the “revisionist history”, I’ve never done such a thing. Don’t accuse people if you don’t have stuff to back it up brother ! In the past I criticized Reijnders and I considered him average but I’m happy to see he has proven me wrong. I’ve said Thiaw should be sold and that Tomori is our second best CB but right now the former is better. I’ve also said Conte can’t push for anything that isn’t a 3-5-2 but right now with Napoli he is using a 4-3-3.
For the 1st time in over 5 years I see an improvement in Leao’s game where he doesn’t just hugs the left sideline trying to go 1v1 but he actually moves without the ball more centrally and inside the box. He plays more and more as a 2nd striker than just a left winger. Imagine how much he would have inproved if he wasn’t babied by Pioli, management, media, and especially fanboys for 5 years and actually was treated like Fonseca has treated him these few months by benching him for being lazy.
As Motta told Vlahovic publicly when he complained that he is forced to run a lot more at Juventus than with Serbia, that everyone has to run at Juventus, and that is not an option but an obligation.
As some of us were telling Leao’s fanboys who criticized Fonseca for Leao’s treatment, that no matter what coach Milan hired last summer, be it Motta, Conte, De Zerbi, they would have treated Leao the same and worse.
Hopefully, he continues his improvement , and this isn’t just a short lived phase where goes back to being the infamous Lazy L.
Hilarious.
You must have missed all the last 5 years with your moaning.
I’m glad it’s taken Leao 5 years to earn your praise.
As for Pioli Fonseca has to deliver a minimum of a top 4 and that’d still be matching Pioli’s worst season.
It is hilarious, isn’t it? Now we see the Leão haters squirming, trying to phrase it carefully in order to attempt to save face… and it’s not working because we all know how they feel. Comic stuff.
Hopefully he does continue to improve and you gotta give him credit for what you described. It’s true that any coach will most likely have benched him for being lazy but in the end he took the criticism to heart and tried to adjust.
There have been games where he was visibly frustrated but I think it’s clear he wanted to do more.
I guess those who said that Leao will never improve, that he will never try, that he should be sold,… have to acknowledge his recent form.
I agree with you here:
“I guess those who said that Leao will never improve, that he will never try, that he should be sold,… have to acknowledge his recent form.”
I’d add, not just his recent form. Leão has had other stretches of superb form in the past (even better stretches than the current excellent one), and was the MOST instrumental player for the Scudetto, something that was even officially recognized by the League, which bestowed to him the MVP award, that season. But sure, like every other human being, Leão also had some down times.
I don’t necessarily agree with you here:
“It’s true that any coach will most likely have benched him for being lazy”
What you guys don’t seem to understand is that Leão was never truly lazy to start with. It’s rather a matter of player characteristics; he is the kind of forward who is explosive with a burst of speed, suddenly scores and assists, doesn’t really focus on tracking back and defending, and saves energy for those bursts of speed.
There is another “sort of” famous guy who does it exactly like this, too. His name, you may have heard of him, is Lionel Messi. LOL
Would any coach call Messi lazy and bench him? Messi barely walked on the field for long, long stretches of a game. He barely moved. Then he’d suddenly burst into a formidable action and would score or assist for a score. I’ve followed his career pretty closely. Messi would disappear for 85 minutes of a game, then would play for 5 minutes and score two goals. Was he lazy???
How many times have you seen Messi in his team’s own box, trying to defend, or running like crazy to track back some opponent’s forward who was breaking away? Virtually never. Was he lazy???
Mind you, I’m not saying that Leão is as good as Messi. There is NOBODY as good as Messi; at least, nobody alive (Maradona and Pele had some arguable claim to being as good but even that is disputable). What I’m saying, is that static forwards who don’t track back and don’t defend are not necessarily and automatically lazy.
And the other thing is that Pioli didn’t require anything else of Rafa, so likely he didn’t really develop an effort to do other things. Remember, under Pioli Leão was still pretty young, and young players are often reactive to what a coach asks of them (they aren’t experienced enough to develop their own personality) and may not know how to do anything different when the coach doesn’t guide them and doesn’t ask of them to behave any differently. As Fonseca did require more of him, he then stepped up to it. That’s hardly what lazy people do. Lazy people remain lazy, no matter what is being asked of them. Not Rafa’s case.
For me, it was more an issue of bad coaching, and player characteristics.
Only you could sort of praise Leão a little tiny (very tiny) bit (even for you, it’s hard to ignore his superb current form so you try to backpedal one centimeter to avoid losing face – a failed effort, by the way; your face has been fully lost already) while also managing to bash him a whole lot in the very same post.
It seems like your online life here at Sempremilan is consumed at 90% with Leão bashing. Has he stolen your girlfriend? Slept with your wife? Hey, honest asking because it’s otherwise hard to understand such hatred against one of Milan’s most prolific forwards whom most fans deeply appreciate.
And don’t even start saying that my online life is consumed with praising him. I praise Pulisic, Reijnders, Gabbia, Fofana… and several other players. Leão is not even my favorite Milan player (Pulisic is). And I also criticize Leão when needed.
We all know that you hate Rafael Leão. Just quit. Your opinions on him are ridiculous and nobody cares for listening to your hatred; just your buddies bb, flyingturtle and that guy with the black and red dots may care for it, but nobody else does.
We normal fans appreciate Leão and that’s not being a “fanboy” like you say, but just, being able to see quality, being thankful for his contributions to AC Milan, and not being hateful with the “lazy” label you like so much (kind of stereotypical racist label when applied to a black player, to tell you the truth; not accusing you of being racist but maybe you just don’t realize that you are using a racist stereotype; I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, there). Hey, Lionel Messi is another player who doesn’t track back, doesn’t defend, and walks slowly on the pitch for long stretches of a game. Have you ever called Messi lazy? Hm… but then, Messi is white. Just curious.
LOL so, for the FIRST time in 5 years??? Have you somehow missed the 28, 29, and 30 goal contributions Leão put together in the previous 3 seasons, and his MVP official status in the Scudetto season? But hey, do pretend that ONLY now Leão is showing some quality. LOL. Yeah, I know you’ll rely on the semantics of “improving only now” but who do you think you’re fooling? We know you’ll phrase it carefully trying to save face, but we also know how deeply you hate him regardless of how you phrase it.
It’s funny how you and your three Leão-hating buddies have been mostly quiet about him, lately…
At a time when he wasn’t doing so well, I told you he’d soon enough restart scoring and assisting and would reach his usual high numbers by season end, but you wouldn’t believe it, and you wanted him him sold. Well, he is on his way to achieving it a fourth time in a row. Should we put you on suicide watch, for when it happens AGAIN?
I pity you. The life of Leão haters isn’t easy, as he consistently pokes the balloon of their inflated claims against him.
Maybe you should go hate someone else who would be an easier target, because I’ll tell you, Rafa won’t stop scoring and assisting like you would love to see, to be able to save face.
I suggest you direct your hatred to the easier target Emerson Royal, but beware, because even Royal has been improving, lately, LOL.
Maybe the easiest thing for you would be to just go support Inter or Juve. This way, it won’t be as painful for you to be here trying to save face after still another superb performance by Rafa.
Now, go on a rage, call me fanboy, say that I am the ridiculous one… I don’t care. I won’t even be reading your predictable response. Have a nice day.
Yeah I wouldn’t compare Leao with Messi. Even in the slightest. Messi could be lazy and make up for it. I’m glad Leao is playing good but he is also working harder.
That no look pass from Loftus Cheek was comical.
It was beautiful.
There’s not a lot to learn but seemingly the media has a new campaign to out Tomori as part of its wider F’ck All The Scudetto Winners campaign.
Him being so bad recently is certainly not helping his case.
I am frustrated with Tomori. He had a superb season at the time of the Scudetto and was for a good while our best defender. However, it’s been a good while that he’s been committing error after error, and it’s been costing us. I don’t know what is wrong with him, that he declined so much, but that, he did. It’s impossible not to see it. He’s been angry, impulsive, has been yelling at companions and at refs, has been sloppy…
Currently Gabbia and Thiaw have been performing a lot better than Tomori.
Look, I know how much you love the Scudetto-winning players, and it’s understandable. Any Milan fan is appreciative of what they did, that season. But sometimes, players do decline, do have down periods, do stop being as good as they were before…
I used to love Rebic. He was one of my favorite players. Then things went sour and Rebic started being very ineffective and even undisciplined regarding coaching instructions. He ended up being appropriately sold. It happens.
We can’t just live in the past. We need players to perform well now, as we are in trouble with the standings, far from even the top 4 Champion League spots. And currently, Tomori has been atrocious. I hope he recovers his form, but I’m frustrated with him.
I just want to add Tomori hasn’t started in a long time in the league. Consistency can affect players especially CBs. Thiaw is back to being the player we once saw because he’s now getting more game time on a regular basis and back from a prior injury. I still think there’s a good player in there for Tomori. Scudetto form Tomori ain’t no joke.
The other thing I’ve noticed is Fonseca plays Tomori in Europe and benches Thiaw and vice versa. Thiaw plays the league games. It’s really interesting the divide. There seems to be a method with Fonsy. It’s not a matter of rotation for rotation sake. Anyways let’s see what happens with Atalanta. That’s the real test. For now I’m gon a enjoy this wonderful victory..haven’t felt so good before halftime in a while
Since he has arrived I’ve seen him up and down but his tendency to completely remove himself from some defensive positions has been consistent since he arrived. His aggression can be an attribute but I think over the course of his career it has been a detriment more often than not. But for me the penalty bs is quite irritating. It will take a long while before I root for him again. He’s got major penitence to pay
Penance*
I don’t mind his aggression so much but his lapses in positioning is partly due to not knowing who and when to cover…likely due to it having a stable partner. His greatest weakness is aerial ability. Usually shorter guys compensate by having really good hops. But not him. It’s a major flaw. Otherwise when he’s on form all other parts of his game are among the best
This isn’t new, but we have learned yet again that musah is a better dm than Fofana…how many times is he going to come in and outplay him before he gets the role? I assume never because this coach loves Fofana and is willing to live with his mistakes in positioning and timing defensively…against better teams, there are two bad mistakes that turn into goals…its not good enough…
I’m not particularly impressed by Fofana but you seem to have a beef with him sometimes.
I’m not impressed either…do you disagree with any of that? Musah was way better in this game on both sides of the ball…then after the game they both get a 6 score like they somehow both played ok…but obviously musah was much better…
To say that we learned yet again that Musah is a better DM than Fofana is wrong. Musah’s best games were with him being a RM/RWB sometimes going centrally. Musah has no positional awarness and has tendencies to overcarry the ball and overdribble. Fofana has learned to position himself much better and doesn’t exagerate with dribbling and even his passing has improved. Currently he is our only player who can play in front of the defense, even if he’s not that great.
As for yesterday, context is need. Fofana played when Sassuolo was still trying, Musah was subbed in when the game was already over and was fresher against a tired Sassuolo physically and mentally. It’s obvious that a player is going to have an easier time looking good when the game was already 4-0 by the time he got in.
When musah wins the ball on his tackles (which he has done on 12 of his 13 tackles)…it is not because he is a magician…the fact that he has won the ball almost as many times as Fofana (15 times on 25) in 1/3 in the minutes is not because he is teleporting…It’s called positioning…defensive positioning…when Fofana runs at someone and they dribble around him…this is called bad defensive positioning…it happens a lot..a lot…
I am curious what you think positioning is and positional awareness is…because to me…the timing and position that Musah shows is far and away his best quality, better than how he reads opponents in the middle of the field to beat them off their momentum…its Konte-esq (hence the interest from Conte)…He has been dribbled passed 10 times in his 3000 min at the club, while Fofana is well over 20 already.
Is he better as an 8? maybe, but all double pivots are made up of 8s (see Tonali and Kessie).
Maybe Musah played better than Fofana because Sussuolo wasn’t trying anymore thats un-quantifiable so I won’t argue with it.
Musah dribbled through all of Real Madrid to give Leao a 1v1…is the other side of that coin (he also obviously has a much higher success rate than fofana on 1v1s)…he can easily turn and beat one man and create a numerical advantage going forward which most positional coaches dream of…but he hasn’t really been doing that, what hes been doing is passing the ball at a really high level…Fofana is almost there, but he still makes a lot of errors…
@danc27: You do make interesting points.
Positioning =/= tackles won or duels won. I’d even say that winning more tackles demonstrates less positional awarness but more abilities to track back, stalk the opposition, run and athleticism, but I won’t emphasize on that. Ball interceptions, blocks and clearances have more to do with positioning IMO, since you pretty much win the ball with less movements. Now Musah is a freak of an athlete, which means that even if he is poorly positioned, he can make it up with speed, reflexes and so on.
I’m curious to know what data did you use for Fofana and Musah. Because in both datamb and fbref, Fofana is on higher percentile in every defensive aspect (duels%, defensives actions, tackles, interceptions, clearances and blocks) while Musah is better in forward carrying, given that he is a much better dribbler anyways.
Now of course stats don’t paint the whole picture. Also don’t forget when comparing them that up until recently Musah was mostly a bench player who was used either against weaker teams or came up later into the game, while Fofana has been a starter from the get-go and had to deal with fresher players.
I think that it really diminishes Musah’s skillset to say that his athleticism makes up for 10 years of Arsenal’s academy failing to teaching him how to position himself defensively. They pride themselves on pressure defense and scanning which are the two things he does very well. You can be very athletic and not be the best open field defenders on a team like Milan…winning the ball is more about position, touch and timing…he tackles to win the ball…create counters…some guys tackle to stop the play…
I am an opta guy myself so all from fbref…Milan…all competitions…going down to defensive actions: first column Tackles, second, Tackles won…that’s where the numbers I listed are from…from that standpoint I see duels% Musah is higher all be it a small sample….defensive actions per 90 they are just about identical….tackles/90 Musah way up, Fofana indeed with more interceptions and blocks /90. The dribble by stat is from futmob…I can’t speak to where they source it, but having watched all the matches…its accurate…their per 90 percentiles must show a very different picture of musah and fofana.
Datatmb is where statistics go to die…they haven’t responded about where they are sourcing data when I message them, but working in the data space what they are doing with football stats should be illegal…
All this said…defensive stats in football are deeply flawed and there is a long way to go to figuring out how to accurately show a players usefulness within the full team…I am open to debate about these topics…I suppose I just see Musah as a truly better player right now than Fofana in a lot of ways…he and reijners are undefeated when they start in the pivot together (except parma, but it was tied when musah was subbed for Fofana and then they scored immediately so I don’t count that one)
and I will say that part of this is just to raise the idea that people’s first interpretation of a player could be more nuanced. I didn’t like seeing that with Emerson who is certainly not a world beater, but for 14M or whatever the final cost, was hardly some catastrophe. Teams have spent many times that on worse players…
Musah is 22 now…he has stepped of the bench and straight into battle against Dortmund, Real Marid, PSG, etc…My hope is that he is given the playing time and confidence to continue to grow, but he is clearly ready now to play at a high level…you don’t play well against that type of competition based on potential.
Musah better DM than Fofana? Nah bro we can’t be watching the same games. Musah over carries. That’s his weakness. He has tempered it a bit this season to his credit but he still over does it.
Fofana made some bad mistakes and Musah was on point in this game is all I’m saying…Fofana had the ball stolen twice in this game and Musah 0 times despite more touches…so you see when you say that..it makes it seem like its ok for fofana to overdribble and not musah…but they play the same position.
Oh ok, that makes sense now. My bad. And yes I agree. It’s not like I’m saying Fofana is this extraordinary DM. He definitely isn’t and he also carries but I do prefer his thru balls from deep.
It was a great game. Most of our staters got to rest. But Friday is the real test. We can’t afford a loss against Gasperini and Atalanta. And obviously it’s a whole different match, this is not Sassoulo. Exciting but also a bit scary weekend.