AC Milan claimed three points against Genoa last night thanks to Christian Pulisic’s late goal, as well as Olivier Giroud’s (!) save in the dying moments. Indeed, it was a crazy ending to the game.
Pulisic scored a lovely goal to break the deadlock in the 87th minute and Milan looked to be heading for another win. Then, with a few minutes of injury time left, Mike Maignan was sent off and Olivier Giroud had to step up.
Today’s edition of Gazzetta Dello Sport (see photo below) have taken stock of the player performances and understandably gave Giroud the MOTM award at 7.5/10. The Frenchman made a crucial save that will be remembered for a long time.
Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah also did really well at 7/10, with the former scoring the only goal of the game. Musah, meanwhile, worked tirelessly and was involved in all phases of the game (assist for the goal).
Mike Maignan, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori, Tijjani Reijnders and Rafael Leao were all better than average at 6.5/10. The goalkeeper may have been sent off, but it was not an easy situation and he saved Milan earlier on with a great save.
Alessandro Florenzi and Davide Calabria both passed the test at 6/10, while the likes of Theo Hernandez, Yacine Adli and Samuel Chukwueze didn’t do enough at 5.5/10. The worst, however, were Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor at 5/10.
Milan struggle against cattenacio…
If Genoa had a slightly better attack, these counterattacks would have been deadly. We’re still making the same mistakes from the derby.
Not from the derby but every game. Verona could have score 4-5 times, Bologna also in the first match and so on. Every game, against better teams it is goals, against weaker teams you can get lucky because their players miss the chances…
Well Pioli explicitely admitted that he doesn’t adjust to whom he faces even after studying the opponent. And it’s kind of enraging to not be willing to change aspects of your tactics even when you saw firsthand that they fail terribly. We do have good players this year, but we don’t seem to be exploiting them at their best.
These ratings are about right. Musah deserved a 7, Okafor and Jovic deserved a 5 because they were just bad. And Giroud is 100% the man of the match.
Feel like some only saw Musah try taking on that hulk Radu who i think is headed to tottenham and the ref let gave him the freedom to use that hulkness. But musah looks better every game and has the same super power as TR to go 90 and keeps edging him out on distance. I’m a sucker for a true box to box that recovers well, he had some nice tackles and that ball to christian was on the money.
Also if you were visiting the site for the first time and didnt know how the team was doing and just read comments you’d think we were in the relegation zone…Pioli doesnt change systems for specific teams. he made it clear hes a positional die hard. But small role changes based on opponents both before and during half time.
man of the match doesnt do it justice…Hes the leader needed on a young team and his sacrifice can be a defining moment far beyond this game…. Meaning, that’s my goalie vs Juve….
It’s almost hilarious (if it wasn’t so ridiculous) that Giroud’s best rating this season is for something he did as a goalkeeper, instead of actually scoring goals. Just goes to show that we’re struggling for goals so far this season. Every game is a struggle.
Based on your recent comments, you seem to deeply hate Giroud.
Even when he pulls out heroics that save us and show he always gives 200% for the club, not even one small positive word for him, only constant bashing.
Ungratefulness
Stop criticising and start believing, just as Olivier Giroud always does ..The ratings are pretty accurate jovic and okafor,,,very poor indeed ,,,but sure there time will come …,,yes they will progress..
pulisic great goal well done ,,,but definite man of the match ,,,yes it’s none other than my favourite Olivier Giroud….He is a winner ..that’s one reason why we will win the scuddeto this season ..Another is the awsome form of tomori …Never ever thought I would see Olivier Giroud in goal…🙃🙃🙃🙂🙂😊😊🙃🙃
Any way well done Ollie …
Onto the match itself very poor ,especially first half ,plenty of pace ,as expected ,,,running around like headless chickens,,,no real ideas how create chances ,,the trident up front just never worked ..
Second half I had more confidence with the introduction of the famous three ,and the three in my opinion which will win us the scuddeto,,,yes pulisic / Giroud / reafeo leao ..
Of course poli had to make changes ,,do to the amount of games played in such short period of time .
All players need a rest from time to time .
I have great faith in the squad we have and in our management with poili ..can’t wait for Loftus cheek to return ..so not a good match ,but hey we hung in there and won ..it’s good to be able to get results even if you do not play well .
But yippie we are top of the table..
We can stay there for sure ..We are AC Milan …
Sick together all us fans ..
Will I ever get to see Olivier play between the sticks again 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃
If Okafor didn’t control the ball and did the first-time shot, it should ended 2-0. We was pretty good at first 20 minutes. Genoa was got too carried away because of Penalty that they think should be given, and then they played too rush and actually made them less concentrated and open more spaces.
Chukwueze can made few good passes & crosses, and good dribbles, but made no impact in term of goal.
That’s the area they need to improve : Be More Effective.
its almost a good thing the game went how it did. The way these players are becoming more of a team is invaluable. those last 15 min can change the course of your season…