AC Milan managed to come back from one goal behind to win their game against Juventus by two goals to one. Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah played a huge part in this, as highlighted by Gazzetta dello Sport’s player ratings.
After a very poor first half, and a second half with some struggles, Pulisic managed to win a penalty from out of nowhere. Although the strike was far from brilliant, he converted it himself and then his compatriot Musah completed the turnaround thanks to a wicked deflection.
Today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport has assessed the player performances and decided to name Pulisic as the MOTM, with a rating of 7/10. He had the right mentality and although his actions weren’t always brilliant, he kept fighting and eventually made the difference.
The worst, meanwhile, was Theo Hernandez at 5/10 as he lost Kenan Yildiz on the goal and then missed a huge chance to make it 1-1 in the second half. He improved at the end but those two errors were fatal.
Sergio Conceicao was given a 6.5/10 in his debut, energising the team from the bench despite having a fever. He also made the right calls in the second half, bringing on players that made a difference in the end.
Gazzetta dello Sport’s player ratings
7: Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah.
6.5: Sergio Conceicao, Fikayo Tomori, Tijjani Reijnders.
6: Mike Maignan, Malick Thiaw, Youssouf Fofana, Alvaro Morata, Tammy Abraham.
5.5: Emerson Royal, Alex Jimenez, Ismael Bennacer.
5: Theo Hernandez.
“Pulisic (6.5): Up until he won the penalty, he had been pretty poor to tell the truth and it wouldn’t have been surprising to see him subbed off. He also got a bit lucky with the penalty strike, BUT it got the job done and helped turn the game around. Still, he could have been way more impactful earlier on.”
Huh
Hernández being the worst player on the pitch again is a much bigger issue than Pulisic rating
Conceição/Someone should probably slap Theo, on the face, with a chair.
@Giga94, what are you blabbing at Bro?
Try harder next time.
What am I babbling at ? I quoted the rating from sempremilan and said “huh” as to doubt it
sempremilan always seem to hate Pulisic for some reasons while yesterday he won MOTM and GDS gave him the highest rating.
I hope that explains it.
Theo has clearly left the club in all but person. The half baked attempt to stop the goal, the miss from 6 yards…
Pulisic is such a clever player, his timing to draw the penalty was genius. I hope this doesn’t spell the end for Gabbia, and that Conceicao was just having a look at Tomori. Gabbia is calm, measured, intelligent and tactically astute. It should be him plus 1.
Early signs are that Conceicao has good in game management, something we’ve lacked for a long time
We all love Pulisic, but he was rusty yesterday. As can be expected, by the way, from someone coming back from an injury and rushed to the starting lineup
This is one of Pulisic’s worst games and he was clearly rusty, but yet it’s still way better than most our players’s “best games” this season.
Maybe having Royal and Bennacer on his side affected his play just a little???
Pulisic might have been rusty, but we only had three actual shots on goal, and they were:
1. The PK CP11 scored. Is it really lucky when the shot is seven feet high and the keeper goes down?
2. A Pulisic shot that was brilliantly saved by the keeper’s trailing foot.
3. The Reijnders shot to the bottom left corner (which was setup by Pulisic, and would have been his assist).
It might not have been his best game, but throw-in that he ran 12 km, more than anyone on either side, and his defensive work, and it’s not like he had one second of fortune and was otherwise useless.
Headed Puli our saviour. Tgats what top players do – make an impact even when not playing that well or in peak condition.
Even when he’s not in his best day, cp11 still managed to pull this team.
Let that sink in.
My word these Pulisic fan boys are ridiculous!
He is a great player! We love him! He has great attitude!!
He is one of our most important players!
This does not change the fact that understandably he was not at his best last night as he has been out for some time. He still managed to impact the game and that is testament to his great attitude.
It was still nowhere near his best level.
So stop getting all upset because he wasn’t rated like he scored a hattrick in the world cup final. He was the best of a bad bunch in a very mediocre performance by the team, in a game we won through sheer luck. Reality people!!!
Theo is one of my favorite players at Milan. Bought his jersey and all. But his current form is unsustainable. Unfortunately he either needs to shape up ASAP or ship the fik out …
Why in the hell are we still debating Pulisic’s rating to death over several threads? It’s not rocket science.
Yes, obviously he wasn’t at his best, coming back from injury. Yes, obviously he still made a big impact by running 12km (the most all players on the pitch considered, for both teams), helping the defense, earning and converting a PK, and almost scoring another goal, and almost adding an assist.
I gave him a 7 based on what I said in the above paragraph, and all 3 main Italian sports newspapers plus the main Italian sports radio gave him the same exact 7. That is, experienced professional journalists gave him a 7, and the league gave him the official Player of the Match award.
Sure, after doing all that, he deserved a 7; no need to highlight that he wasn’t at his best. If he had played on the top of his physical shape while doing all that and more, he’d probably have scored an 8. Being down to a 7 already accounts for his not being at his best.
There isn’t much to debate. He was impactful and good, not perfect due to being back from injury; a 7 is the correct rating for him, which is reflected on the wide professional journalistic consensus.
Most people who feel that he deserved a lower rating are likely just being prejudiced against Puli due to his nationality. No, I’m not saying that all people who said so are prejudiced. But I’m completely convinced that some are, given the virulent rhetoric of some “fans” here.
There was even a poster who rated him a 5. Whoa. Since when does the the guy who contributes with a goal, runs the most, helps with the defense, doesn’t make any bad mistake, only doesn’t collect another goal and an assist thanks to the opponent goalie’s two good saves (on his own shot and on Tijjani’s shot set up by Puli) only deserve a 5? Saying so either betrays a colossal misunderstanding of the sport, or is out of prejudice due to Puli being an American. There are no other possible explanations for someone granting a 5 to Puli in this game.
Yep, a 7 is correct and is quite obvious, no need to waste any more time on this.
What I find way more debatable in GdS’s ratings, is only a 6 for Thiaw. The German didn’t make any mistake, and prevented two goals by Juve. He was solid the whole time. Meanwhile the same newspaper gave to Tomori a 6.5. While Tomori did well, he wasn’t better than Thiaw. While Thiaw made no mistake, Tomori did, and we were lucky that Vlahovic did not convert the ball he got for free thanks to Tomori’s mistake. There is no justification whatsoever to rate Tomori above Thiaw, who was superb.