After joining AC Milan in last summer’s mercato, Tijjani Reijnders has become indispensable to Stefano Pioli in a short space of time. Today, a report has looked into the role the Dutchman has played and how vital he is for the club.
Hopes about Reijnders’ Milan career were high, and so far, he is fulfilling them and more for the Rossoneri. Originally signed as an all-action midfielder, Pioli has gradually unlocked the best of him as the season progressed, especially in recent weeks when partnering with Ismael Bennacer.
Corriere dello Sport (via PianetaMilan) has written that the midfielder has played the third most minutes of any Milan player this season, behind Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez – the goalkeeper and vice-captain.
It took until February for him to miss a match due to his ability to play several roles within Pioli’s systems. Reijnders has shown himself able to play as a ‘free’ central midfielder or in a more regimented and deeper position.
This is why he has also grown into his role with the Dutch National Team, where he is now considered ‘undroppable’, and the story is the same with Milan.
Reijnders can facilitate so much through his own versatility and talent, to the point where the story continues where he goes, an undroppable player who continues to develop, and the Diavolo and the Netherlands will likely reap the rewards for years to come.
Reijnders is 100% improving over the course of this season. He hasn’t been consistent but he was playing literally every game since the start of the season.
I’m excited to watch him grow and develop more. I hope he works on his shooting and finishing over the summer, because you sprinkle some shot accuracy into his game and he is a sexy beast and a bag of chips!
FORZA Reijnders! 🔴⚫️🟠
great player
It’s really interesting because vs Scotland he looked like prime Seedorf and then vs a proper team like Germany he was quite ordinary. I don’t mean to harp on the dude because I like his passing abilities….. it’s just really interesting that only the “good” game is highlighted but the game against top opposition is sort of swept under the rug. Happened with him earlier in the season. Both him and RLC dominate against weak teams but go missing in bigger games
Against Germany, I don’t think he was the only one that looked ordinary. The ability of the opposition should also be taken into account.
I still see him growing and improving during the year … and I don’t think that’s a fair statement to say that him and RLC go missing in bigger games… it’s just that in bigger games the opponents give you less chances… heck, even Leao and Giroud go missing in quite a few big games (RLC against PSG was MOTM with Leao). Same was said long ago even for Ibrahimovic 😉
I think Reijnders has been improving during the year, and am excited to see how he and RLC will play next year when they’ll be more in tune with the rest of the teammates.
Look at Zirkzee or Lewis Ferguson or Orsolini, they all were with Thiago Motta last year at Bologna but didn’t have the same performance, impact and stats as this year… maybe it was because the team was weaker, but I like to think that it was also because they got more in tune with the coach and what he wanted out of them, and they worked on improving those areas of their game.
Oh yea I know Ibra went missing in Europe too, as legendary as he was in the league. Don’t exactly bring him in for European experience but for league titles.
Ofc I like Deers passing and think he has room for improvement. Like u said both him and RLC should do better next season as they’ll be accustomed to each other. But esp for RLC let’s not pretend he doesn’t go on a few games where he’s anonymous and then a good game and the anonymous again. PSG was the good game and then disappeared the next few. Both him and Deers have only scored most of their goals against lower opposition. Against Germany he had the fewest passes -12, everyone else had like 30+ 🤦♂️🤷♂️
So even within his own team…js
RLC has one goal vs top 4 and that was Bologna. Most of his goals were vs Slavia and Rennes
I think it has to do with the fact that bigger teams can nullify our system thus making our players less likely to shine. And it’s especially true for us who rely more on individual brilliances rather than team play and cohesion.
Big teams wont give players time and space to operate and will target the most important players. It’s on Pioli to find ways to shine against big teams otherwise we wont be able to compete for titles again.
Lets not make it look like Germany is a far superior team to the Dutch. Last edition of Nations League Netherlands was top, beating formidable Belgium in the process. Germany is rebuilding but signs are there for a revival ofc.
See above. Deers had 12 passes total, his colleagues all had 30+ 🤷♂️. Most of his goals against weak opps, goes missing many times vs top 4-6 teams. Him and RLC
I dont mind that they do tbh, but I’d like us to get some players that can get us to the next level
I don’t know how much performance in the Nations League has carryover to performances in other games and tournaments if we judge by whom won it, but I won’t debate too much on that, I was just making a general statment.
For RLC, I think the issue is that he is not a true attacking midfielder. The man has good scoring abilities, is physically strong and has pace. He has shown to be able to bully the opposition’s midfield in order to win the ball and has good holding abilities. Dribbling wise he is not outstanding, but again with his pace and strength, he sort of get past opposition. The problem is that he doesn’t have great vision, quick decisions pass and line cutting passes which are a requirement for an attacking midfielder. We get away with that against tomato cans because anything goes against them and Leao+Pulisic take care of defenders, but against decent sides when we need sometimes great passes from the midfield, he simply cannot do that.
Reijnders is a bit of a mystery for me. He is pretty well balanced aside from his shooting, but as a midfield he doesn’t seem to have a glaring weakness. The problem is that in some games, he doesn’t stand out in anything and seem pretty average. I guess that some teams suit him better than others. But overall I find him to be a bit overrated by the community here.