AC Milan defender Fikayo Tomori has made several errors since the Scudetto season of 2021-22, but his actions during the Fiorentina game tipped fans many over the edge.
La Gazzetta dello Sport write how Tomori has been a mystery for a long while now. He is and was one of the main reasons why Milan won the league title two years ago, and while he still has performances of that level, they tend to alternate with more negative outings.
The question ‘why has Tomori dropped so much in his performance?’ continues to hang in the air at Milanello and no one can provide a comprehensive answer, not even those who observe him on a daily basis.
Fluctuating performances are more tolerable if a player is showing exemplary professionalism, but Tomori ended up in the crosshairs after the penalty incident when he jumped to get the ball and passed it to Tammy Abraham rather than the designated taker Christian Pulisic.
It is easy to understand that behind that gesture is the friendship that binds Fikayo and Tammy. Both are English and with a long history in the same dressing room starting from the youth teams of Chelsea to their current club in Italy.
The affection and the bond, however, do not justify the transgression: that ball should have ended up in Pulisic’s arms, not Abraham’s. The centre-back has a lesser degree of guilt than the striker, but the fact and the gesture remain.
Tomori is one of the potential captains, he too knew very well that Theo Hernandez taking the previous penalty constituted insubordination that should not be repeated, and yet he acted according to what his head dictated to him at that moment.
He also got a yellow card during the first half for protesting quite aggressively towards Luca Pairetto after being penalised for a foul. If even players with more level-headedness like Tomori behave like this, how can we think that calm will return to the squad overall?
It is a clear sign of being on edge, perhaps of frustration because Tomori looks around and recognises little or nothing of what was there before. Milan’s defence, the jewel in the crown of the 2021-22 Scudetto, no longer exists. It has become an amusement park where opponents come in and have fun without paying for a ticket.
He himself will know well that he has significantly lowered his attentiveness, such as during La Viola’s second goal when he jumped well below David De Gea’s long ball and it led to the winner, scoring by Albert Gudmundsson.
Comparing his stats this season to 2021-22 shows a drop in key data like balls recovered, interceptions, tackles won and duels, while the average rating drops from 6.32 in the title year to a sad 5.62 (among the lowest in the squad) this season.
Se puede ver lo mal técnico que es Fonseca. AFUERA PAVLOVIK!!! UNO DE LOS MEJORES!!! hola tomori 🤷🏻♂️🙎🏻♂️🤡🇵🇹🤮
Lol gonna be a long International break 😂😂😂
Tomori is known as a level-header player? Total BS. He shows emotions more than anybody else on the team does. An agitated defender like him is worthless.
There is a reason why Southgate ALWAYS selected Harry McGuire over Tomori. He’s just not that good as some people believe.
BUT I think he would be a good right back though because of his speed and that’s where I think he should play. Since he can use both his right and left foot equally well even though he is right footed.
So I would still keep him but not at CB. Gabbia and Pavlovic is a better pairing because of Pavlovic height and physicality.
Tomori was a good stop gap for a team in transition. But let’s stop pretending that he’s more than what he is. He’s an average defender with a poor sense of positioning and proclivity for impulsive errors combined with overly aggressive tackling.
He absolutely can not start every game because he needs to compete for the starting spot. He had the same issues under Pioli – entitled attitude with the permanent starting position.
I did enjoy watching Tomori in 2021 and 2022, but let’s bet honest, his best performances happened when he was paired with what was back then a terrific Kjaer, when Kalulu decided to become Desailly for half a season and all of them shielded by Kessié.
Once we had no defensive midfielder, that all of our midfielders bar Fofana can’t defend and that he was paired with the likes of Thiaw and Pavlovic, his weaknesses got exposed pretty badly.
Now, aside from some poor performances here and there, he gave us this misbehaviour and disrespect towards Pulisic.
He cannot lead the defensive line, Kjaer had that quality Tomori just doesn’t.
Any defender would look good behind kessie tonali.