Following a frustrating 0-0 against Newcastle at the San Siro, Milan headed into the game against Borussia Dortmund with the aim of claiming all three points. However, they fell short once again.
The game was never going to be easy for Milan and the first half was fairly even, with the Rossoneri having one big chance that Olivier Giroud failed to convert from close range. The second half started out in a similar fashion, although Stefano Pioli’s men improved slightly, with both teams lacking the courage.
In the final 15 or so minutes, however, the intensity rose and the game was wide open with chances at both halves and the bigger chances coming for Milan. For a second game in a row, the Rossoneri failed to be composed in front of the opponent’s goal which resulted in another 0-0 draw. Here are five things we learned…
1. Leao leads but no one follows
The Portuguese winger had a slow start to the game but picked up the pace in the second half, which earned him the Man of the Match award after the game.
His dribbling and pace were just too much for Dortmund as he was all over their defence in the second half and created a lot of chances for his teammates, but they failed to back him up and put the ball in the back of the net.
Whilst the management did a really good job in the attacking department in the summer, Leao still seems to be the game changer, especially against opponents where the intensity is high.
Giroud couldn’t keep up and wasted a lovely chance in the first half, whilst Christian Pulisic also offered little before being subbed off in favour of Samuel Chukwueze. The Nigerian was also disappointing after missing a golden opportunity towards the end, in addition to losing the ball on several occasions.
The depth for Pioli is there and the quality is better, but at the Champions League level, there’s still lots to be desired.
2. Impressive at the back
Despite lacking something in the final third, Milan were great at the back with Fikayo Tomori leading the line. The Thiaw-Tomori partnership seems to be at full speed with just 3 goals conceded for Milan in 8 games in which the Englishman has started.
Mike Maignan had little to do but did well when he had to, while Davide Calabria and Theo Hernandez did well on both flanks excluding a couple of misplaced passes. The midfield obviously helped a lot, but even when the game was open in the final minutes there wasn’t a real threat for the Frenchman.
The next two games are going to be against PSG and Milan will really want this defensive solidity in order to put themselves in a good position prior to the reverse fixture against Dortmund at the San Siro.
3. Giroud is not up to the standard
The Frenchman had another poor game where he failed to really involve himself in the game, and when presented with the chance to give his side the lead he failed from close range.
It’s evident at this point that he’s struggling to keep up with the high intensity and that’s normal considering his age. Because of that, Pioli might be wise to include Okafor from the start more often so that when Giroud does play he is at 100%.
Not to mention that the more Okafor plays, the better the chemistry in the attack will be and it’s time to look ahead to the future and slowly give the Frenchman a supporting role instead.
4. Midfield fails to make an impact
Whilst the midfield has been dominating Serie A, excluding the Inter game, this time around it was rather disappointing against Dortmund, with Tommaso Pobega struggling and misplacing every second pass he made.
Yunus Musah started off well but faded as the game went on, whilst Tijjani Reijnders played an overall good game as he put a lot of energy into both phases of the game, but again he failed to keep his cool in that crucial moment and should’ve really scored towards the end off the game. The Dutchman really needs to bury his chances.
With Rade Krunic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek out injured, there weren’t many options off the bench but Yacine Adli was introduced in the second half and looked good it’s fair to say. Much better technically compared to Pobega and managed to hold off Dortmund’s pressure whilst not being afraid to go forward and try to make something happen. His upward trajectory continues.
5. No need for panic
Despite the rather frustrating result, the draw is still a good result for Milan who played away from home and Dortmund is not a team to underestimate. The goals will eventually come if the chances continue like this, but this defensive solidity will be crucial for a top-two finish in this group.
In the two games thus far, Milan dominated Newcastle, who crushed PSG 4-1 in England and were arguably the more dangerous side against Dortmund. With these positive performances domestically and in Europe, there shouldn’t be a cause for panic and Pioli is managing his resources well for the bigger part of it.
Chukwueze needs to calm the f down and know what his team is now. He needs to have the mentality of playing for Milan!!!!!!!!! He needs to dominate and stop making half-hearted choices and hoping for the best!
Okafor needs to start that guy is hungry.
Leao can still go further with his effort and conviction.
hes playing for milan not man city
The half choice and second guessing comes from lack of playing. Pylisic was actually even more invisible ….but anyways we need pioli to try back the 4231. Or just force the chances to Chuku in the 433
You think Calabria did well? I would disagree. He gets beat 1v1 every time. He’s always out of position. Almost every one of the opponents dangerous attacks come from his side. He is shaky , to put it nicely and offers nothing going forward. Florenzi has performed much better in both phases this season and should be starting over Calabria.
Chuku is a one footed player and from what I can tell so far not very good with his one foot.
“Every time”.
There’s glass half empty and then there’s just disliking your own players.
I wonder what Napoli fans make of him….
Napoli is thankful that they have a good RB and that Calabria is not on there team. And if you are eluding to the tired old “he shut down Kavara”, he didn’t he had multiple people on him at all times.
Thsi Maldinis Heir is a type of user who lives with the past. According to his logic, we should always pray for that scudetto winning team even if they no longer perform.
Uefa has Davide Calabria in the UCL team of the week but someone who has picked Calabria to be his new whipping boy since Tonali is not on the team anymore says that bum a*s Florenzi is a better defender than Calabria.
Milan needs an upgrade on the RB position, that’s a fact, but in no way shape or form is Florenzi a better option than Calabria.
If Calabria is getting beat by wingers faster than him like Malen, what do you think those same wingers will do to Florenzi?
Unless Calabria is resting or Milan is playing vs. the bottom feeders of serie A like Cagliari, Florenzi should never be the preferred option over Calabria.
Even before his ACL surgeries, Florenzi was never a good defender. People seem to forget that the first and foremost duty of a full back is to defend.
No matter what you think of Calabria as a defender, he is still better than Florenzi.
Florenzi can’t defend.
Roma plays with wing backs, a position that Florenzi is better suited to play in, and they wanted nothing to do with Florenzi.
Thanks and I agree with most of what you’ve said, but how do you go from saying he’s in UEFA’s team in the week and he’s great and all to saying it’s a “fact” that Milan needs an upgrade at RB?
If we sign some other fantasy right back who didn’t make the UEFA team this week who will be our captain?
Is David Calabria any worse than Gary Neville?
Why can’t he be our Gary Neville?
Gary Neville has:
Premier League: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2008–09[136]
FA Cup: 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04
Football League Cup: 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10
FA Community Shield: 1996, 1997, 2008
UEFA Champions League: 1998–99, 2007–08
Intercontinental Cup: 1999
FIFA Club World Cup: 2008
Would you take that many trophies over some new signing?
Florenzi has been better this season than Calabria. Did you see the goal saving block he made against Lazio? Yes Florenzi lacks speed but at least he’s smart enough to know that and positions himself better than Calabria does. And at least Florenzi offers something going forward.
Give Chuk time for the love of god. Giroud clearly isn’t Ibra and Calabria isn’t garbage but he’s not exactly world class either. The only pure garbage we have in the team is Pobega, bless him.
All are truths
Yeap… talentless and gutlesss
I really wanted to like pobega. He has the drive and hunger to do better than his body will allow. With that being said the kid just isn’t good.
I felt awkward when he was running full sprint. Never seen a pro not know how to run properly.
Yet please tell me who else did run those sprints and how if we is soooo bad he found himself twice near the goal from running the whole field while his other “speedy compatriots” never did? And his “bad passing” that set up Leao twice and Giroud who could not convert?
And the guy writing his analysis here. Please rewarch the game and in particular this moment when Adli lost the ball in from of penalty box and Dortmund nearly scored.
This is not objective analysis. Just random dude thoughts.
Bro he missed both shots wildly and then was out of position allowing counters. He’s terrible and looks no better than the dudes I play pickup games with.
Don’t bother, that dude LOVES Pobega, he had a horrible game and this guys still in denial
If the team doesn’t have the right attitude and discipline then of course they crumble and cannot create well. Obviously, you need more than that to win trophies such as champions league, you need to be a fearless person reflecting God’s strength when facing the pressure of the competition.
People cannot comment on Messias.
Messias would have scored on one of two games.
People forget Messias big miss in the Semi Final v Inter.
Let’s hoe Samu improves, we need him to
The failure to sign a starting #9 was a huge mistake by management. That is already evident and it’s only October and whispers of us dipping back in the market for help in January also confirm that. Still no valid backup for Theo. We could have taken Singo for RB to challenge Calabria – but passed (Pioli) and that looks foolish as well as we now have to rely on Florenzi in his advancing age. Let’s hope Kalulu returns to the fold soon. We also need to hope Chukuweze figures things out soon as we invested 30M in him and so far looks a shadow of that. I wasn’t expecting miracles but was expecting a similar impact Pulisic had, being he’s and experienced player and should not take that long to acclimate. Pray he gets up to speed quickly to add some much needed fire power to our attack.
The striker issue really seemed a haphazard attempt to sign a player, any player on the last day.
Obviously we would all love a world class no. 9 but honestly we could just use a functional one, not everyone needs to be a star.
A functional striker can at least get on the end of chances, like Okafor has done lately (despite it not being his natural position), I’m sure Jovic is also capable of scoring tap in’s the likes of which Giroud missed against Dortmund.
I still think we should have kept Colombo.
LB I think Bartesaghi is doing well enough.
RB Kalulu can do well for us there.
Samu really does need to step up
on rewatch it seems almost impossible that no goals were scored. from the giroud flick, to a point blank fire from pogeba, to the Theo header, chuk, there are shots in here that make it hard to put place blame on any one guy. Leao had even more great plays than i recalled. That ball for the theo header was just…insane.
Knowing we didnt score i could appreciate how much stronger we looked not just in the second half.
Id personally change the title of 4 to: decimated midfield leaves everything on the pitch. I thought going into the game with only 4 mids was a suicide mission…but they held up.
Instead of wasting 30 millions on overrated Chuk we could have a proper DM or ST. This midfield is weak even after spending 55 millions on it.
Too early to judge Chukwueze but it’s funny how people were scoffing at the idea of signing Berrardi.
I agree we could have spent more and better on the midfield but we desperately needed a right winger, maybe not two (or three if you count Romero) considering we would have had Salemaekers and Messiahs on the bench. No need to panic though. We’re tied for first in Serie A, still in a decent position in the CL and we’ll get a chance to reinforce in January if needed.
Point 4 is the most important. Most of the team’s problems come down to midfield. From Inter onwards, they have not been good enough at creating chances, keeping possession, building up play, or even defending. This is why Giroud and Pulisic/Chukwueze aren’t as involved as they should be. Leao creates 90% of our chances and the main reason he gets the ball is because Theo can drive and give it to him. We can’t just rely on those two. The midfield (and Pioli) need to find a way to build play and involve the others
But even now I see Theo and Leao struggle. It is down to 433 where they find their space limited. Before in 4231 they had all the space and freedom to roam and create down that left flank.
I don’t think the system limits those 2, they are playing their best positions. The 2 of them are starting to look like Prima-Donna’s, they turn it on when they feel the enthusiasm and walk around when they don’t feel like it. They are too comfortable.
When Jovic is ready we should give time to Okafor on LW in league games and also Bartesaghi, hopefully they can do well and put some pressure on Theo and Leao to work harder
We also wouldn’t have only 1 goal allowed in the last 5 games with the 4-2-3-1. The entire point of the 4-3-3 is to strengthen the midfield. This is bearing out, with the exception of the 5-1 hiding by Pioli’s kryptonite Inzaghi. We just need to tweak our attacking movement a bit to get 4-3-3 to begin yielding better offensive results.
Pulisic looked like one of the best player on the field.
Leao was decent also, doesnt have great shooting form.
and chukweaze omg what are u doing man.