Charles De Ketelaere was given a start up front for AC Milan during last night’s Coppa Italia defeat against Torino, but he was unable to break his duck.
Today’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (via PianetaMilan) talks about Milan’s defeat in the Coppa Italia against Torino and in particular the performance of De Ketelaere, who was played up front in a bid to get him firing but aside from hitting the post and shooting straight at the keeper he showed very little.
He was certainly not the worst player on the night but the Belgian was one of the negative protagonists of the evening. The depth players have once again shown that they are on another level to the starters, one that is substantially below.
De Ketelaere was given the full 120 minutes, but he seemed to have the brakes on both as a striker and then when he was moved to attacking midfielder after Olivier Giroud was brought on.
Admittedly the 21-year-old was unlucky with his header from a corner that struck the post, and he ran into a brilliant performance from Vanja Milinkovic-Savic in the Torino goal, but the best players find a way and time is running out for CDK.
So Milan must change its philosophy. First of all, you can’t put youngsters in club and expect miracles. You must have best possible squad and players not just young potential player. Now you can see the worth of Hakan, Kessie and Romagnoli, compared to Diaz, Charles, Gabbia, Vranckx and Pobega.
Yes Cardinale will spare some money 💰 on salaries but long term, fans will stop watch AC and San Siro will be emptied during the time and he will loose all that money they saved on better player salaries.
Hakan leaving gave us the scudetto. Kessie wanted to leave and no amount of money would have changed his mind and Romagnoli… Well… He would have been an expensive backup-player.
So are you saying that Hakan leaving was the reason Milan won the scudetto?
Milan won the scudetto because our rivals got much much much worse than us.
Inter lost their 2 best players and the best coach in Italy.
Juventus lost 30 goal scorer in Cristiano and were in generation change.
In another article, you commented that Milan needs a midfielder that can pass. That’s Hakan. 13 assists for Inter last season.
Go watch the way Milan played with Hakan in the team and how we play today. The game was more fluid because he can actually make the passes that Brahim, Krunic, Tonali and especially Bennacer can’t never make. Our midfielders can’t make the simplest pass. It’s either too late or too early, too far ahead or too short.
And NO Adli isn’t the solution. Pioli sees him in training every day and knows best and a lot more than what we saw in couple games vs 3rd and 4th tier teams from other leagues in the summer.
Hakan was not and isn’t a great player by any means. But he was the best midfielder we had since Seedorf and Pirlo were pushed out of the club.
Yes, he left, and that hurt your feelings, but Milan would be a lot better team today with Hakan in the team than with whatever we have in the attacking midfield.
Maldini lost Pioli’s 2 favorite players in Kessie and Hakan without replacing them.
“In another article, you commented that Milan needs a midfielder that can pass. That’s Hakan. 13 assists for Inter last season.
Go watch the way Milan played with Hakan in the team and how we play today.”
I watched them all live. And the same problem was there. You go and watch them again to see that Calhanoglu’s passes were below average too. But in case you don’t want to waste your time, he’s a great recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MqNrI33Pnc
“Yes, he left, and that hurt your feelings”
LOL. He might be the only Milan player I’ve hated. I wanted him gone ever since the 1st season and was SUPERHAPPY to see him gone. That “deadball specialist” might have made to the record books with ~100 consecutive cornerkicks without a goal. If you don’t believe, google it. Milan had over 100 corners without scoring a goal and 99% of them were taken by… The deadball specialist. LOL.
Had he scored instead of hitting the post people wouldn’t talk like this. And did Giroud fair much better? But why aren’t we talking about his failings? Because he’s “experienced” (so “experienced” he does flicks instead of holding up the ball?).
It’s not a dig at Giroud necessarily but giving some perspective. The media and fans are fickle. Single moments that basically come down to luck are used to judge the entirety of a player.
The fact is CDK is in the top 1% of players on the planet. On the giant spectrum from the player in the park to Messi he’s on the Messi end – bought by the Italian league champions for €30m plus at the age of just 21 and a member of his senior international team who were considered one of the best in the world.
If this doesn’t work out, Milan need to have a long look at themselves. Players of this level cannot be allowed to fail, certainly not at the rate they are doing in modern football.
He needs time. He needs luck. He needs break. We’ve seen this so often. A player doesn’t score for a few games and that first goal then becomes an albatross around their neck. He’ll come good if we give him time.
Even if he scored that header, my view would still be the same and it still wouldn’t change the fact that his 1st season is disappointing (at last up till now), to say it mildly. Moreover, it’s not just this single moment, 15 appearances amassing only 1 assist. Many said Leao is s**t on his 1st season to give the rational excuses, yet his stat were so much better.
Same thing goes to Giroud. Yes, he had several bad matches now, but still wouldn’t change the fact that he scored so many important goals this season.
Well said.
The fact is ketelarae is not a striker and never will be he is a good player that can create space for others .
On the other hand Giroud is a striker ,,,yes he didn’t score last night …What does surprise me is why are we rushing so much to get a strike on goal ,instead of building up play and delivering some decent crosses in ..Rafael leao again I thought was disappointing,and he appears to be trying to hard ,and is not relaxed on the ball .I am not saying he is not a good player ,of course he is ..not one player stood out at all last night .please don’t write us off ,as we have a very good team ..I am sure that rafeol leao and Olivier Giroud will soon be scoring goals ,and the team will go on another good winning run of games ..We are not out of the scuddeto this season ..plenty still to play for ..
So let’s win our next three games …We will all be saying positive things ..yes last night was a awful game ,and we could not win it against 10 men .
We will move forward from this ..We will win against Lecce ,and Olivier Giroud will score ..
It’s AC Milan for me …The only way is up .
bruh the kid is too much in love with the wings, always effin’ drifting wide off-ball, only time he sticks his ass in te middle is when we are defending….jeez-us!!
Lead took years to get to his current form. I always wondered what they saw in his ability but prove me and others very wrong. The same should apply to CDK. He will come to great form with time. Formal Milan.