It is the second season that AC Milan have been without Sandro Tonali, and there is still a hole left by his departure, even after two mercatos to replace him.
Throughout last season, Milan’s midfield was a constant topic of concern. There was a lack of balance, consistency, and depth. Of course, this was then worsened by the fact that each fuelled the other. A lack of balance meant there was no consistency in players, and a lack of depth meant that when injuries became an issue the lack of balance further worsened, and so on, and so on.
If Tonali was still present last year, he still likely would have faced repercussions for his betting activity, and the same issues would have been present if not more present due to the Tonali replacements not being at the club.
Last night, Italy faced France in the Nations League, and the Newcastle United midfielder was fantastic, he dominated the middle of the pitch, and he led by example. Effectively he was everything that the Rossoneri fell in love with.
As Calciomercato.com writes, the Diavolo of today ponders his absence, as a player and as a man. Tonali was a reference point on and off the pitch, and in their current state, Milan are in dire need of him.
Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao could have stepped into the role left by Tonali, and whilst they might have at points last season, they have not shown the qualities that it is imagined the midfielder would so far this season.
Fonseca’s squad misses someone with a ‘sense of respect and total dedication’ that the boyhood Milan fan possesses, and last night was a reminder of what they are missing. A painful reminder.
some folks on here called him mediocre player, overhyped. he shitting what n everyone face and milan face since his come back. like why will pioli allow that. this is pioli only downfall from my perspective allowing the management to sell your heart engine . milan have spend over 100M on the middle pack and still far from filling kessie not to talk of tonali 😂😂😂
Instead we got blind as a bat pass merchant Reijnders and Musah who is an incredibly talented, such much so, we can’t find a spot on the field for him to thrive. He’s THAT good.
This is what happens when you sell a player just for money. The owners don’t get that he was the heart and soul of this team
90 millions spent on midfield in last two summers and non of them comes even close to him.
Our best mid at the moment is Rejndiers who is on the same lvl that Krunic was. Krunic was a back up by the way when we won the scudetto. Just shows you how backward this team went. And people are somehow supriced when the defence is constantly left exposed by our midfielders now. Thats what you get when you go for quantity instead of quality.
If the player who, as the best, leads the Netherlands to the semi-finals of the Euro is the same level as Krunic (whom I love very much), then you are not a fan of Milan. You’ve never watched a game at San Siro.
Lol lead the Netherlands ? Well if we make things up, then add that he lead Spain to the title as well.
Well, Capello talked about it a month ago. He said he watched every match of the Netherlands and that Reinders was their best player. If Capello doesn’t know, then surely you do.
Capello never said that Rejndeers is the best player of the Netherlands, nor that he is their leader. I just checked. So keep making things up lol. Also thats one of the dumbest argument, o this guy said it so it must be true. The management here said a lot of things and it all turn out to be wrong lol.
Capello for the Gazette on July 20, 2024. find the statement and don’t make it up. He said that he watched all the matches of Holland and that Rejienders raised the level of the game to a higher level and he would never give up such a player. Don’t make it up because it means you like to lie
“If the player who, as the best, leads the Netherlands…”
“He said he watched every match of the Netherlands and that Reinders was their best player.”
That above is your comments and initial claims. (You understand that the comments are still standing?)
Now in your last comment you are running away from that and switching it to “Rejienders raised the level” and “he would never give up such a player”. Or in other words you made up the “best player” and “leader” things up and now you are trying to run away from it cause you got caught lying.
Read Capello’s statement and see what he had to say. If he says he raised the TEAM’s level of play to a higher level, he didn’t mention any other player 😉. I’m sorry, but you won’t understand because you’re an Inter fan. Now he hit the crossbar against BiH and then scored a goal. I’m afraid you’ll get sick this year with how many goals they’ll score.
I did read Capello statement. Thats how i caught you lying in the first place lol. So im Inter fan now cause i exposed your lie lol.
My lie 🤣🤣🤣. I feel sorry for you.
Tijani is just a good player but a average one, lot of flaws
Well since I don’t support the Netherlands…I’m still waiting for Reijnders to actually DO something for Milan!
And he’s been given the most chances.
If he doesn’t produce this season he needs to go.
Krunic was far better than Reijnders because he helped the players around him perform better by covering and distributing the ball quickly.
That’s what we controlled midfield in most games he played.
And he was crucial in our Scudetto winning season being central to kicking off our Scudetto run when Kessie and Bennacer were at African Cup of Nations.
He also played consistently after they returned.
After the scum Kessie he was our best midfielder. Losing Kessie was mostly unavoidable and his career has never recovered since he chose money over footballing success.
What are you talking about? In the scudetto season, we controlled the game because we played pressing (real pressing). Chemistry was created between the players and that is the only true thing. Comparing Krunic and Rejnders is a bad job, because the former is more defensive and the latter offensive. You remember the first game in Bologna and the game of the man who just arrived from the Dutch league, everything after that is a matter of coaches, injuries and other things.
💯💯💯💯💯
Did anyone saw the assist Tonali made? World class!
I watched it from October last year until now. He played great.
absolutly agree we have spent over 100 million since tonali and no is even close to his level the closest one is reijnerds but still isnt tonali level
Milan was fortunate to sell Tonali before the gambling scandal broke, and soon they’ll likely move to buy Carney Chukwuemeka from Chelsea.
Ummm…..
Carney is an attacking mid…
Carney costs 40M….
Carney makes something crazy like 4M year….
Carney to date has accomplished zero can’t get a game for Chelsea and has thus far failed to live up to his potential….
Did I mention he costs 40M??? LOL
NEXT
Loved watching Italia smack up France. And all you haters talking smack about the Nazionale. Tonali and Ricci were light years better than the France midfield. Moncada’s midfield savior Fofana was completely outclassed. Will they finally start recruiting Italians instead of French players?
You’re talking about one win. Calm down.
And here’s the hater right on cue.
You would rather our current midfield than Tonali and Ricci or no because they’re both Italians and you cuck for RedBird? What about Emerson over Bellanova?
I didn’t want to sell Tonali, but that’s not the point. Your point that because Italy beat France one time in over a decade that means Italian midfield is necessarily better now? No.
Dude it was one game. France was in the World Cup final Euro Semi final and Olympics Semi Final. Italy have been hot garbage lately. And I am a USA/Italy supporter. Let’s be calm.
If they beat them now, that means they are better now. And Italy also has a more recent trofey.
He didn’t watch the game. Our midfield dominated them. We sold Tonali and refused to even scout Ricci. Moncada wanted Fofana so bad and he was outclassed.
I hope Fofana shows up for us. Cause if he turns out to be bad too, we are in for a bad season with the mid that we have.
Keep in mind this is the Italy who’ve failed to make the two world cups. Now I believe that will change with all youth talent coming through, but it doesn’t change the fact that rn the attack is as dead as can be. Italys main talent is in defence, and most of the players we’d have to pouch from other top teams. Then theirs the midfield. Most of the talent bar Ricci plays for other top teams. Even if Tonali still played for us we’d have been screwed cause of the ban. Also keep in mind that when people said that Italy struggled to make it to the euros and struggled against ever team apart from Albania
He almost missed a year without playing any match. Yet still better than all our midfielders combined.
Hear the deafening sound of team Redbirds silence..the ones who claim Tonali was just average..
Because he’s Italian.. . They can go watch him play 20 minutes per game for a mid level Premire league team if they miss him so much. I don’t. Watching him let a 34 year old Myhkiterian run by him for a goal in the Champions League semifinal while he jogged back was all I needed to see of him. Go watch it.
Nonsense, Tonali tried to single handedly win that match for us, your memory is short. He ran his heart out in that game
Don’t need to re-watch thanks, watched it live,and perhaps if you think he was responsible for that goal then go and learn football 101. Calabria was caught sleeping before the cross came in, the CBs were completely out of position and Myhkiteran ran across Tonali and any contact would have been a penalty
You can literally go watch the goal anytime you want. Mikhytarian sprinted right by Tonali who should’ve been marking him. It’s not up for debate, it’s on video.
https://youtube.com/shorts/ncA7BYL_1DU?si=Vn8oLrgoi2bfLZNS
Just watch where Tonali is and where Myhkitarian is when Inter starts the counter. Tonali is a few yards ahead of him and he is jogging back ball watching while Myk sprints by him and receives the pass for the goal. It’s right on video. This is in a semi final of Champions League against our biggest rival. Any other player would’ve been run out of town by the fans for that effort. But not the golden boy, then they all make excuses for him
It’s on Youtube but they won’t let me share the video on here for some reason. You can see where Tonali was and where Mykhatarian was when Inter started their counter. Tonali was a few yards ahead of him and then you can see Tonali jogging back, ball watching while Myhkitarian sprints by him. He didn’t run across Tonali, he sprinted right by him while Tonali had a few yards head start. That was Tonali’s man to mark if you know anything. That was against our biggest rival in a semifinal of the Champions League. Any other player would have been run out of town by the fans. But not the golden boy. All his little fanboys want to make excuses for him. It’s on video for all to see. You just have to take your blinders off.
When you lose possession the defensive phase has to regroup….they didn’t, someone needs to drop in and cover, it’s footballing intelligence. This is why Milan more than anything are in need of an elite coach
LOL, you are so one note, boring and stale.
Tonali played an outstanding match v france. He is a hugely talented young player.
You are digging up mistakes he made, unrelated to this article.
Not unrelated. The article asks how much do you miss Tonali, and I’m explaining why I do not. Among several other reasons. Not to mention if we did not sell him and bring in all the players we did, the team would’ve been completely screwed when he got suspended and we for sure would not be playing in Champions League this season.
Ok @k. Your entitled to your opinion.
Its just the opposite of many top professional football people, who consider him an outstanding young midfielder
I regret his departure ibra,furl ami and moncada please bring tonali back
Ricci could give us what were lacking frm Tonali… Ricci had a great game against France along side Tonali