AC Milan had the opportunity to gain points on the teams above them, yet it was a familiar tale as they were held to a disappointing draw by Cagliari.
Many of you may remember earlier in the season when Paulo Fonseca declared after the 3-1 win away against Real Madrid in the Champions League that he was worried about going and winning at Cagliari on the following Saturday.
Well, in some ways history repeated itself last night. After returning home with the Supercoppa Italiana, the Rossoneri played the Sardinian side again, and they were again unable to hold onto a lead as they drew 1-1 last night.
La Gazzetta dello Sport’s player ratings
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) has their ratings from the game, starting with the team’s overall performance which was a 5.5 out of 10. Sergio Conceicao got a 6 for his management of the game.
Alvaro Morata was the man of the match for Milan in the eyes of the paper as he scored the only goal for the home side, earning a 6.5. Tammy Abraham missed multiple big chances to win it so he got a 5.
A number of players performed below par, with Rafael Leao an Theo Hernandez getting a score of 5. Mike Maignan, Davide Calabria, Yunus Musah and Youssouf Fofana were given just half a mark more.
Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw, Tijjani Reijnders and Alex Jimenez were awarded a passing grade of 6, while Christian Pulisic (6.5) joined Morata as the only player to get above that.
I agree with these ratings more than those that Isak gave on this site.
Calabria could have 0.5 higher. He was decent but definitely not MOTM level.
Interesting, so Calabria got only 5.5? Not 7.5 like Cafu in his prime? Probably Gazzeta is an American journal owned by Cardinal … Lol
Yeh 5.5 is spot on. I can’t give the guy a pass (let alone MOTM) when I had to watch from behind the couch every time that winger ran at him.
Lol, I know what you mean. And it’s not like he was facing vini jr, even though at times it looked like he did.
I have nothing personal against Calabria, but he was never that good (for instance, zero call ups to a relatively mediocre national team), and since he’s recent injuries he’s level has dropped drastically. I’m not sure he even has a place in Cagliari for instance. No joke.
Who played better than him against Cagliari? No one.
I think many here confuse loyalty to the club with quality on the pitch…
Honestly speaking, we don’t have attack er.
About Cagliari’s goal –
Fofana is the biggest culprit, obviously, as it was an outrageous minute of terrible decision making by him. But the whole team failed to run back. Cagliari weren’t too quick in that attack, they were actually kindda taking their time. Where was Calabria and Reijnders for instance? Why didn’t they run back to position? Mussah was deep as he was meant to receive Fofana’s terrible pass, but even he had time to track back.
And Theo. I love the guy, but if an opponent finds himself in shooting distance with only Theo between him and goal, he should always take the shot because the chance Theo will block it is less than one precent. Always falling to the ground, never looking at the ball or the opponents feet.
And Mike. I’ve already said this multiple times, he looks exactly like someone who switched mid career to a goal keeping position. He’s one of the best in the world with the ball in his feet, if not THE best, but as a shot stopper he’s average if not below. Or at least that’s his level since the scudetto season.
re: Mike – you can’t be average and make the save he did in the game. To me the goal was a mental mistake not a physical shortcoming. He lost focus/concentration. Troubling either way but average guys don’t make the saves he comes up with.
I don’t think the goal was due to Fofana’s lapse in judgement. Even when the shot went on goal, Mike had it covered but blundered the ball under his hands.
Yes, Fofana should have pressed but the guy looks mentally fried, honestly. Clearly needs rest, reset and a pedicure.
Did anyone miss Emerson? I hear people talking sh1t about him being better than Calabria. 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
This rating on Pulisic is right. He sure wasn’t perfect but he contributed a lot. Isaak’s rating was skewed negative as usual.
Terribly unlucky to hit the woodwork twice. Once again he was our main threat and probably the hardest worker on the pitch.
Too harsh on Calabria and Musah
Too generous with Fofana