AC Milan had to fight from two goals behind to earn a draw against Torino in their first game of the season, and La Gazzetta dello Sport have produced a predictably mixed bag of player ratings.
As seen below, the paper gave Milan’s overall performance in the Serie A curtain raiser a score of 6 out of 10, with Paulo Fonseca getting a 5.5 because certain choices like starting Alexis Saelemaekers at left-back and Luka Jovic up front did not work.
The man of the match was Noah Okafor for his impact off the bench and getting the equaliser in the 95th minute, earning a 7, while Malick Thiaw got a score of 4 for making a ‘gallery of errors’ which ended up costing both goals.
Looking at the rest of the team, Mike Maignan and Alvaro Morata were the only other players to get above a passing grade (6.5), as the French goalkeeper made a number of decisive saves while Morata lit the touch paper for the comeback with his instinctive finish.
Fikayo Tomori and Tijjani Reijnders were given a 6, with Rafael Leao, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Luka Jovic getting a 5.5. Davide Calabria, Ismael Bennacer and Christian Pulisic were awarded a 5, then Alexis Saelemaekers and Samuel Chukwueze got half a mark less.
It is obvious, Okafor must be deputy for Morata. Jovic third option or forth – give more chance to Camarda.
Thiaw can’t play before Gabbia.
Chukwueze unfortunately must be on bench.
With Fofana and Reijnders as 2 midfielder and Ruben or Bennacer as attacking midfielder .
Also, if we can’t rely on the second and third option for LB, why the hell do we have them in the squad. Saelemakers on LB then RW then RB… he might be Pioli’s Musah.
I think this match was on Fonseca, I imagine he wanted to draw Torino a bit in our field to open spaces for us, but it backfired because of big chances missed and Thiaw having another Thiaw game.
spot on. Saladman has improved since his loan, done well in preseason etc. BUT he has never played LB for us. Geez, i dont think i cant even blame the guy. Might as well put Morata as CB if we are going to put ppl so out of position.
Well, I can’t agree less
Guys it was one game. We can’t reshuffle the whole squad after one game.
I wished we did better too, but we must be patient.
I agree with you!!
It’s just starting and there are many matches to play‼️
We must be patient and support Milan without complaining too much as the management have done a lot to improve our squad
Tomori-thiaw was horrible, that’s why Newcastle don’t want to buy him. In my opinion, Milan must buy 1 more player in leao position, so he won’t lazy anymore on the pitch and I think leao need som internal competition.
To blame the coach now is wrong after just one game .
The fact is if the tools you have aren’t good enough you can only do so much.
Judge everyone next may not now I’ve said after watching and support Ac milan for over thirty years this team and the owners Elliot /Redbird don’t convince and I think I know how this season is gonna go however don’t judge now.
Well that was like last season except the full backs were in the right positions…
It’s one game.
Have patience.
By the way the reason Calabria is such a great player (yes) is because he moves the ball quickly which is something few on here seem to understand.
By contrast Musah kills attacks by holding the ball too long.
A good example is at the end when Okafor made a run out wide and Musah faffed and the pass was gone. Calabria would’ve hit Okafor.
He takes two or three touches at the most.
He also didn’t do a lot wrong in defence and the goals were not his fault. He had his man for the second goal, it was fan favourite Reijnders who allowed the cross.
Bro you are one of the few ppl that understands Calabria is getting hate for things that have nothing to do with him. His man isn’t scoring, he’s not out of position and he transitions and moves the ball quickly.
Meanwhile Thiaw shows his worthlessness when we have gabbia who is our answer for defense. Tomori again shows his low iq when defining from a stand still. Reijnderd got cooked twice in the second goal sequence but no one talks about that… the list goes on but according to ppl here, Calabria is the reason we get scored on 🤦🏾 Emerson will be bad but won’t get the same heat guaranteed!
Man, stop embarrasing yourself. Calabria was terrible yesterday like most of last season. He was abysmal in the build up of the first goal, and he was clueless in the second. Stop defending him. And Thiaw being bad does not make Calabria good
So you noticed when:
“A good example is at the end when Okafor made a run out wide and Musah faffed and the pass was gone”
But you didn’t notice:
But when Calabria was casually strolling next to Zapata before he put the cross in (unchallenged) which led to the first goal?
Or that in that same sequence Bellanova was being (not really ) marked by Saelemaekers who according to you “except the full backs were in the right positions” – you also somehow didn’t notice?
LMAO!!! Nice take!
La gazzetta back with their rage bait ratings.
Let’s see how our real XI plays, with Morata, Theo, Tiji and Fofana, before we start to panic
Why does Leao play every minute of every game? Why can’t one coach tell him to go 100% then we will get you out after 70 minutes? I feel Leao paces himself because he plays 90 minutes of every match. I understand he is influential, but if he is conserving himself it is bad for the team.
Who the hell scheduled the Milan match at the same time s the Futuro match should be shot.
Jimenez would’ve done so much better than Salaesmaeker at LB.
Rafeal Leao should be sold with immediate effect same as Thiaw the younger should be a bartender Congo or Mali including Tomori then Calabria should pls retire from football or anything sport.
Hilarious to read all those who said this summer to sell Mike we don’t need him and he’s easily replaced – LOLOLOLO. You know nothing about the game of football.
And even more funny is those that claim we don’t need another striker because we have Jovic – Hahahahahahaha!!!! You also know nothing about the game of football. Jovic is trash as a #9. He is a 2-striker system forward – that is all. Last season the goals he scored came from playing WITH Giroud – not in place of him. Wake up management. We cannot go into another season w one pure #9 in Morata with all the games we play and pray there are no injuries. Horrible.
We are a team of mix-matched players. RLC is neither a DM nor a CAM – and like he has been his entire career – vastly inconsistent. Salad is not a Wing back – he’s a backup winger that is all.
Fonseca??? LOL. Was the same as watching Pioli-ball. Nothing changed. Same problems w the mid and TEAM defending. Fofana and Pavlovic will help – BUT – individual players will not on their own solve our defensive problems. TEAM defending is the problem. Not sure we can play Pulisic as a CAM either as while he did well offensively – he wasn’t good defensively – and the mid got overrun – AGAIN.
Lots of work to do – but Zlatan better not be sleeping on the 7th day – he and Georgie Boy have lots of work still to do. Atalanta signed Samardvić for 22M without hesitation (amongst other players) and we struggle to make one deal and take 2 months to do it LOL. And we aspire for UCL glory???? Ya right
I know most milan fans will not share my view but we must get rid of leao immediately. He hardly ever delivers; is lazy and laid back – so, is it worth keeping him to give us eight or nine or ten good matches in one season and then do nothing in the remaining thirty matches? I know my choice.