AC Milan beat their city rivals Inter in the Derby della Madonnina which means the two clubs now sit fifth and sixth with the same amount of points and games played.
The win is huge for several other reasons too. For example, Milan had lost the last six derbies and because of the win Paulo Fonseca will probably keep his job, for now at least, following a dreadful defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League, which left him in a very tough situation meaning the derby was a must-win.
Things started well for the Rossoneri, playing with good intensity and it was rewarded in the 10th minute when they took the lead after a brilliant individual moment courtesy of Christian Pulisic. After dribbling past several players he slotted the ball into the back of the net.
Inter were then allowed a bit more space and the Diavolo were comfortable defending, perhaps too comfortable, though, and in the 27th minute, the hosts got their equaliser.
This is where the game flipped, as the Nerazzurri became the more lively team of the two in the following half an hour. However, Milan raised the intensity in the final third of the game and started creating some good chances all of which were denied by Yann Sommer who had a brilliant game.
Nevertheless, the Swiss international was helpless in the 89th minute when Matteo Gabbia showed some great aerial strength, heading the ball into the back of the net and giving Milan the lead, and above everything, a massive win.
One would hope this becomes a turning point for the Rossoneri as it was definitely their best game of the season so far.
So without further ado, here are five observations from the game:
1. Fonseca ball finally in action
We did see a bit of Fonseca’s vision during pre-season but since the beginning of the season, his ideas had faded slightly. When better to bring them back to life than the Derby della Madonnina?
The coach switched to a 4-2-4 – which sounds quite aggressive, and in fairness, it was when the team pressed high – but when on the ball, Alvaro Morata played like a second striker dropping deeper to connect with the midfield and drive the ball forward.
Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders were the two in the middle. The Frenchman doing the dirty work allowed the Dutchman to be the creative force and this played out perfectly as Reijnders was one of the best on the pitch, and was constantly causing trouble for the opposition.
At the back, we finally saw stability, despite the conceded goal, and the decision to replace Strahinja Pavlovic with Gabbia proved crucial as the Italian scored the winner. He also played a very solid game defensively.
Lastly, we could argue that Rafael Leao was isolated amidst all the positives, but we did see him get more involved in the second half. Furthermore, we need to take into account the class of the opponent, so we can’t expect everybody to have an outstanding game.
Looking forward, Fonseca is now tasked to build on this and he should maybe stick with this formation for a while since it worked wonders.
2. Man of The Match performance
Gabbia was given the chance to start replacing Pavlovic in the Starting XI and he produced a masterclass of a performance, winning our MOTM in our post-game ratings. The Italian has had many ups and downs in the last couple of seasons, and even when he played well for a continued period he ended up on the bench for unknown reasons.
Against Inter though, Gabbia proved a point as he played fantastically at the back, both in the build-up phase, where he was composed, and in defending, where he made some very crucial interceptions and tackles.
To top it off, he went on to score a brilliant header and with a performance like this he should be guaranteed more playing time.
3. An engine in the middle of the park
Whilst Pulisic and Gabbia picked up the goals, Reijnders was the engine of this side, and he bossed the midfield for the majority of the game. He had multiple successful dribbles as he seemed to be able to dribble past players easily, but also provided the midfield with a cool head.
The Dutchman knew exactly when to pick up the pace or go for a forward pass. In addition to the lovely cross for Gabbia’s goal, he should’ve probably picked up another assist after a brilliant through ball to Tammy Abraham, but the Englishman failed to convert.
Tijjani also worked hard in the defensive phase, and it was a masterpiece performance. We saw everything from defending to great vision, passing and dribbling.
4. Mixed performance by the front four
📊 The stats from the win against Inter pic.twitter.com/JwBzVNKIxY
— MilanData📊 (@acmilandata) September 22, 2024
There are some critical points to go around too, unfortunately.
For one, Leao struggled to get on the ball throughout the first half and at times in the second half. The Portuguese winger didn’t really involve himself in the game, which is more worrying really as he should be able to move around and pick up the ball rather than waiting for it.
In all fairness that could be down to the coach’s tactics, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen this either. When he did get on the ball more in the second half, he showed a lack of urgency and then failed to make more of a few good opportunities he had. Not a great game by the number 10.
In contrast, Pulisic managed to pick up a great solo goal – his 31st contribution since joining the club – in the first half and combined well with both Tammy and Morata on several occasions. However, he then faded a bit in the second half when Milan shifted to the left, but the American continued to work hard in both phases of the game which was important for the result.
Finally, we have Abraham and Morata, who were great when pressing up front – both were very lively and showed great work rates. The Spaniard also followed Fonseca’s instructions well, dropping deeper to help in transitions, picking up the ball on a few occasions and driving it forward.
Tammy also had a good game, and the only thing that hurt his overall performance was the miss towards the end. It really should’ve been a goal really as he was left 1v1 with Sommer, but the overall performance was very positive against an Inter side that are known to be very good at the back.
5. Improved but not optimal
Emerson Royal and Fofana were the players other than Leao who were probably not at their best.
The Brazilian had a fairly decent game, to be honest. He was solid and the back, and had a couple of good moments going forward. However, he is slightly to blame for Inter’s goal as he left Dimarco to try and close Lautaro, which was probably not needed.
The full blame shouldn’t go to him, though, as Fofana was nowhere to be found and he should’ve been the player to help steal the ball from Lautaro, but he was jogging back instead.
Overall, it was bad from both of them for the goal. Aside from that, they both had decent enough performances after that to help Milan win the game. Certainly a night to build on for both new signings, though.
Posted to another article, but seems more fitting here:
Fonseca should have the balls to bench Leao permanently and shift to a 3-4-1-2. After Pioli was dismissed I resisted a 3 back system manager because of our wingers. I thought Leao might finally take the next step under a new manager. I was wrong. It’s the same old Leao and I have concluded that we should have had the balls to sell him in the summer and shift to a 3 back system manager, like Conte, who has the same Napoli that finished 10th on their way to a title challenge. Just like he did with a Juventus that finished 7th a decade ago.
So bench Leao now. Go with Pavlovic-Gabbia-Tomori as the back three, Theo as left wingback, Calabria/Royal as right wingback, a rotation of Rejinders/RLC/Fofana/Musah as the two middle CMs, Pulisic as the trequartista, with permission to drift wide both to the left and right, and Tammy and Morata up top (with Morata also given some permission to roam, which effectively would create a fluid 3-4-1-2/3-4-3). Call up Liberali to be the reserve trequartista, Vos can be another body for the central midfield, and call up Bartesaghi permanently, since we’ll need another CB as well.
Sell Leao in January and bring in a proper alternative to Theo while pocketing the rest of the cash for summer 2025 adjustments. 11/20 Serie A teams use 3 back systems, 12 if you count Napoli (which played with 4 at the back last time out). Clearly there is a revolution afoot and AC Milan should join it.
Until you have another player that produces the numbers leao does on the team then you keep playing him. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t want leao then management need to buy a player who can recreat those numbers otherwise you are using him as a scapegoat.
What’s the point of selling him when your alternative is okafor who is worse. Even if we sold him for 80millon you can’t trust this management with the money. They will flush it down the toilet.
The best solution is to keep leao on the team until the management can find the balls to sign a replacement not some 20 million randomly from lille
I’m not so sure Ok4 is worse at this point.
Yeah he missed a couple of clear chances, but he go those chances with his movement and hustle. He tracked back. Etc etc etc.
As many have said, Leao has amazing potential but it is time to realize it.
I wonder what Ok4 would look like after 3 starts on the left wing?
He doesn’t have Leao’s ceiling, but his floor seems much much higher.
To be clear I keep Leao until summer unless such a move turns him toxic. This is to exactly your point. My hope is that the stress will help him move from “I love me” to “I love my team”. We need to figure out if 20 goal involvements in league each season is worth the lack of effort or if getting 15 from someone like Ok4 and getting the work rate is what we want.
Leao and Puli have the same number of G+A’s at 31. But while we praise Puli, we criticize Leao for it? He is what he is. He might never be a finished product but even at his halfa*s capacitiy he produces plenty.
Puli runs for 90 mins. He presses. He doesn’t sulk. He isn’t the highest paid player on the team. We can find another, just like we found Puli. I hope Leao can still prove me wrong, but this is the beginning of his sixth season with us, and we’ve been having the same discussion for six seasons.
You are the most ardent defender of Leao.
And you twist the data to suit your story.
The key here are the TRENDS, which for Leao have gone distinctly DOWHILL ever since he got his big new contract and the #10 shirt after the 2022-2023 season.
Look it up on fbref
Leao had his best season ever in 2022-2023 when he scored 15 goals and 8 assists in Serie A, helping Milan limp into fourth place. That’s what got him the big contract, the #10 shirt and all sorts of praise with LOTS of talk of his future as a LEADER of the Milan squad.
HAS HE DONE ANY OF THAT?
DOES HE ACT LIKE A LEADER OF MILAN?
No, quite the opposite.
After getting his big contrct it was clear that his ego inflated massively and his work rate dropped.
THAT was when all this talk of “Lazy Leao” really escalated.
Leao would finish last season with only 9 goals and 9 assists in Serie A, quite a drop off from the year before.
However, the arrival of Pulisic and others invreased Milan’s total goals scored considerably, and the team finished in second place, missing the scudetto because of a poor defense.
Pulisic scored 12 goals and 8 assists in Serie A last season, BETTER than Leao
So far this year, Leao has scored only one goal and two assists in 5 Serie A matches.
Pulisic has scored 3 goals and 2 assists in 5 Serie A matches.
If each play 35 matches like they did last season, you can extrapolate where they will be by the end of the season. Multiple by 7.
Pulisic looks more confident, aggressive, and in better health than I have ever seen him, since his breakout year at Chelsea when he scored 9 goals and 4 assists playing in only 25 matches.
Leao? His attitude and body language on the field has declined further under Fonseca, now exuding not just laziness, but actual DISDAIN. He acts like he wants Fonseca fired, he doesn’t join in goal celebrations by his teamates. He is setting himself APART FROM THE TEAM.
I AM THE GREAT LEAO! DON’T BOTHER ME! I’M NOT GOING TO TRACK BACK AND PLAY DEFENSE, EVER!!!!!
That is his current state of mind, which seems to be in a death spiral, going down the drain this season.
Football is more, beyond the goals. There are assists, the dangers created, the apprehension he generates in opposing teams, the double/triple coverage sometimes coaches often prepare just for him, even during Liverpool game. He stretches defenses and frees space for others to run into.
At 7mil a year, I do agree that he needs to hustle more. But I maintain that if he was World Class player, he would be at a World Class club, not Milan.
So as long as we have other players like Puli and aren’t one wing dependent, I will keep him on the left doing all the things I mentioned above. He can turn on a dime and create in an instance.
Leao’s number are mostly against lowly teams and more importantly when the team is winning. That’s the difference with Pulisic.
why do people make stuff up for no reason? last year it was pulisic who got most of his goals and assists against the worse teams, not leao
We criticized Puli just LAST season for not turning up for bug games, even the derbies if you remember.
You people just sit down at the comfort of your home and scribble whatever that comes to your mind. You all screaming Leoa should be benched. You forgot that the presence of Leao on d pitch is the beginning of fear for most opponent. Go and watch Lean again .You will see how two to three defenders wrap him up while he gets the ball. Some of the reasons why we lose is because we haven’t been able to utilise spaces left by two players against. Leao. He may not be helping on d defence side but he provides lots of assistance. Please we should allow him to play in peace.The critisism is getting annoying.
Well said Gbenga
Slightly to blame? What more can you do to be fully to blame? Merda’s goal was 100% the fault of Royal, start to finish.
No it wasn’t. Don’t be ridiculous. He left his man to go help out Gabbia who was beaten on the play and did need help. WHen Lautuaro faked the shot and cut it back, Gabbia was beaten there. It’s possible Pulisic would’ve gotten there to help in time but it was questionable. Still Emerson should not have left Dimarco all alone but it was a choice he was forced to make because Gabbia was beaten. It’s ok to say that. Gabbia had a great game and there is no shame in being beaten by Lautauro, but lets not blame it all on Emerson , he was trying to help his teammate out and if he had gotten any of the ball there people would be praising his effort.
My God. That was absolutely Emersons fault. I was screaming at the screen the others had him and stop drifting over.
Yep!
Well done, you’ve come onto the internet and stated that you know nothing about football. Firstly Emerson is out of position far too narrow for the long ball across to Di Marco, he then gets completely done by the ball back in to Lautaro and instead of marking his zone and staying in the area where Di Marco is dangerous, he follows the ball back in to the centre right next to Gabbia and leaves Di Marco in about an acre of space for an easy goal…in fact all of Emerson’s howlers this season have been due to him being far too narrow. The whole goal was Emerson running round like a headless chicken
Then again I’m pretty sure you’re the one who said Gabbia was rubbish..I suppose you have to try and justify that somehow after his motm performance in the derby
you are ridiculous one, Pulisic has covered enough areas and there is no need to question it, while Royal made the mistake of pressing and leave marking on Dimarco it was not necessary. and he was used to doing that even when he was at Totenham
Gabbia wasn’t beaten.
He was turned.
Martinez wouldn’t have scored from that angle.
Emerson should’ve stayed because when he came forward (without giving a shout to Tomori) he left Dimarco onside, in the box.
It happens. I’ve done the exact same thing as Emerson (not that I’m saying I’m a professional footballer). But I’ve been in that exact situation numerous times.
The stay or push dilemma is one of the great dilemmas in football, and the difference between good and great defenders.
And I don’t think anyone is saying Emerson is a great defender.
He did do well overall though and should be applauded for that.
Gabbia wasn’t beaten. He was turned.
Martinez wouldn’t have scored from that angle.
Emerson should’ve stayed because when he came forward (without giving a shout to Tomori) he left Dimarco onside, in the box.
It happens. I’ve done the exact same thing as Emerson (not that I’m saying I’m a professional footballer). But I’ve been in that exact situation numerous times.
The stay or push dilemma is one of the great dilemmas in football, and the difference between good and great defenders.
And I don’t think anyone is saying Emerson is a great defender.
He did do well overall though and should be applauded for that.
Gabbia wasn’t beaten. He was turned. Martinez wouldn’t have scored from that angle.
Emerson should’ve stayed because when he came forward (without giving a shout to Tomori) he left Dimarco onside, in the box.
It happens. I’ve done the exact same thing as Emerson (not that I’m saying I’m a professional footballer). But I’ve been in that exact situation numerous times.
The stay or push dilemma is one of the great dilemmas in football, and the difference between good and great defenders.
And I don’t think anyone is saying Emerson is a great defender.
He did do well overall though and should be applauded for that.
What is diff between beaten and turned in your mind? (Honest question and thanks in advance)
I though it clear that Emerson was to stay narrow by instruction. See the 4 uncontested crosses in a row by Bastoni later in the game as an example.
Turned means you can still recover and the attacker still doesn’t have a clear goal scoring opportunity or opportunity to play a killer pass.
Gabbia even could’ve potentially blocked the shot at that stage.
Had Emerson not come Martinez would’ve either tried a shot that he had a 1/10 chance of scoring, or had to lay it off to someone.
Rewatched that. I see what you mean. Mechanically his hips were wrong giving a disadvantage to his ability to reached.
Thanks again.
He wasn’t even turned. Gabbia was squarely between Martinez and the goal.
You’re right about the call to Tomori. But at the same time, I partly feel that Tomori should have been a bit further up so that Dimarco would have been played offside. The goal was the result of a collective mistake rather than one man’s fault. So many things went wrong there, starting from how easily Barella was able to pass it to Dimarco.
I thought Emerson had his best game of the season by a long shot, but the goal was at least 80% his fault. Against teams as good as inter one mistake even if marginal (Emerson’s mistake was not marginal) is enough to cost points. The level Milan need to take the next step is the level of a perfectionist.
With that said what I saw from Emerson and Fofana left me feeling better and we all know what Dimarco’s pace would’ve done to Calabria…
Gotta disagree. Everyone has their assignments. Lautaro had Gabbia and Puli around him. Emerson’s move was impulsive to try to cover Lau who is intelligent enough to not shoot through 3 people.
So that would have been a maybe on Lau’s shot compared to a certain goal from DiMarco who is pretty deadly from his position. I think Emerson should have stayed with his assignment.
I agree that Emerson shares more of the blame on the goal, he should not have left Dimarco, it still would have been better to let Lautauro shoot from there then to have a wide open Dimarco Get the ball. But people acting like he just chose to leave his man for no reason. That’s not true. He did because Gabbia needed help. Whatever you want to call it, he was beat or he was turned, Maybe Gabbia would have recovered, maybe Pulisic would have gotten there in time to help, but it was a dangerous situation.
The one thing I learned, Leao needs some time with the Futuro. Seems Fonseca was trying to prevent further escalation by keeping him on despite a poor show and a lack of commitment, which is becoming all too regular. And yet look at his reaction after being substituted, absolutely dismal. The funny thing is , after his long sulking walk to the bench, he goes and sees a dry plan Tammy showing absolute passion and decides to join him, just comedic.
Everyone knows Leao’s ability, but with this attitude, Fonseca should not be afraid to put Leao to his place if that’s what will help the team. Milan should have cashed in on long ago him and moved on already.
*dry loan Tammy.
*dry loan Tammy.
6- We’re more suited for a low block and pressing with a deeper line and more of a counter attacking style of football. Yesterday we gave away possession (44%) and had overall less passes than inter. On average, our players are among the fastest and the youngest in serie A, we should use this to our advantage.
7- If the 4-2-4 (although it’s a bit a hybrid of a 4-2-3-1) becomes our main formation, we should think about who can sub Morata and Abraham.
8- We still have some work to do finishing wise (especially Leao)
9- Gabbia should become the regular starter in the defense and be promoted captain one day.
10- Both Theo and Leao have been criticized before the international break. Both have taken a different approach from one another. I hope Leao learns a bit more from his teammates.
11- We should probably try to make Abraham a permanent deal as soon as possible.
Your 6th point is exactly why I was saying that if Milan fires Fonseca, that the best coach to hire based on the players Milan currently have would be Allegri, not Sarri.
One thing I have learned is that Milan need to sell Leao and it must be done by next summer and reinvest in getting an another striker.
Leao is not needed in this team because Pulisic favored position is on the left. So we only need to find another winger for the right.
Leia’s attitude and effort are nonexistent for a professional player. He is lazy and he doesn’t work hard to make a difference in the defensive phase of our game.
At this stage I wouldn’t mind if he got benched more because he cannot be relied on to make a difference.
Maybe Fonseca can play give Okafor a start on the left for the Leece game.
The coach has shown that he can work with all the players. We need Leao, but, Okafor in that position is something I would like Fonseca to try, every now and then. This debate about the way Leao behaves on the pitch has gone on for too long. See what a new player like Pulisic is doing for the team. Abraham, Morata, have really impressed with their work rates, even though they were not fan favourites before their signing. Maybe, a new face, in that position, will make him get serious.
5 things we’ve learned about Shinter:
1. Hakan should learn to keep his trap shut
2. Inzaghi still doesn’t know what subs are
3. Frattesi would’ve been the biggest waste of 40mil in Milan’s history
4. The title race isn’t as straightforward as they think
5. Two stars don’t mean sh*t when you cheat
One thing I noticed about shinter is that even during last season, they slow down considerably after 1 hour, with the exception of some games of course, including the first derby last season. Although I have to be honest, I don’t like watching them that often.
Statistically, if one pays attention, most of their goals came during the first hour of the game and they just try to manage the game from then and sub a lot of their starters. Last season, I was trying to compare Dimarco and Theo stats and was quite surprised to notice that the former, despite playing only 1 less game than the later in serie A, has around 600 minutes less than him.
Someone said that shinter was fatigued because they had 1 less day to rest, but I think them slowing down had also to do with their playing style. Also half of their midfield being yellow carded, Inzaghi couldn’t afford to keep them and was probably trying to settle for a draw during the second half.
I do think they are starting to age…still a very good team but at some point it’ll need rejuvenation
“Fatigued” my a*s – typical merde excuses… they were outplayed – although like Drew says they are getting on a bit.
Fatigued in the sense of them being older, but also their playing style is not very economical and it drains stamina, and Inzaghi likes to start with the same 11 (especially Dimarco, Barella, Calhanoglu,..).
But for future games (next derby and if we meet them in coppa Italia) maybe we should try to emphasize on the last half hour.
Agree man. I was referencing merde fans using fatigued as an excuse – they’re so annoying.
And 7 is more than 3 😂😂
😂
Fonseca ball???????????????? All I see is the victory of a player who has been abandoned and is not the team’s first choice, keep his spirit and show his character
This team is much more suited to be a devastating counter attacking team. Play solid defense and hit on the counter. That’s what we did when we won the Scudetto, we were not a possession team but now every coach wants to play like Man City instead of playing to their own strengths. Hopefully Fonseca will learn from this result.
Milan can be deadly on the counter attacks with the speed they possess from Theo, Leao, Morata. Abraham, Pulisic and Reijnders. The problem is that all of them hold on to the ball for too long, instead of spreading it around to an open teammate.
Add Musah to the mix and you’ll have the entire midfield+attack who can’t let go of the ball.
Fonseca will work on it
90% of the teams we play come to block low, you can’t counter against that. Milan need to learn to break teams down and finish teams off early. Too often over the last 2-3 seasons we get the ball to 20 yards and then look clueless, we start going sideways, then backwards, and then before we know it you have the ball with Leao one minute and 2 seconds later Mike has it again
Well shinter is also a lowblock type of team, yet we managed to stretch them, push them more upfront and create chances of our own.
Our best wins since 2022/23 came from a lowblock and counter (Tottenham, Napoli, PSG and now Inter).
“Too often over the last 2-3 seasons we get the ball to 20 yards and then look clueless, we start going sideways, then backwards, and then before we know it you have the ball with Leao one minute and 2 seconds later Mike has it again”
That’s because possession is not in our nature. Possession is hellhole, a configuration full of complexity and entanglement and each opponent who comes prepared with a different answer requires even more head scratching. Because of Guardiola, many coaches were inspired to turn their team into a possession one, but few have understood what they’re doing, and once things go out of hand, they’re left with no clue about what to do next.
Possession requires a very special type of players, players that we don’t possess and that you can’t acquire for less than 30M€. You can’t remain static while passing, each teammate has to create space, drag his marker, switch position,…
Fonseca likes his possession football. If you want to defend and counter, which I completely agree we’re perfectly suited for, we would have to bring in another coach.
Unless Fonseca is tactically flexible enough to try it against stronger opposition. We have Leverkusen and Madrid coming up – perfect time to try it.
yes, that is when it comes into play
Disagree on point 5, especially when it comes to Fofana.
If we analyze inter’s goal and look who to blame, Fofana isn’t 1 of them at all.
First, Barella is free to make a diagonal pass from inter’s right, Milan’s left side, because Leao isn’t where he is supposed to be defensively. If people haven’t noticed yet, pay attention in future games that opposing teams build their play thru Milan’s left side because they know their player will be allowed space and time to do it.
Second, Gabbia, yes Gabbia who had great game and was the derby hero, losses Lautaro and then gets easily beat off the dribble by Lautaro which leads to Emerson rushing towards Lautaro, leaving Di Marco free, who was kept on side by Tomori’s inability to read the game and move up in line with his teammates. Lautaro was surrounded by 3 Milan players when he made the pass. Gabbia, Emerson, and Pulisic.
A conceded goal is almost never a one man’s fault.
It was a great and well-deserved win. Outside of that one situation, Milan played very well defensively. You can knock Fofana for some of his passes, but defensively, he was great.
There were a couple of derby wins over the last 6 years that even though Milan won the games, they were not the better team. Yesterday, they won and were the better team for most of the game. Kudos to the players and Fonseca. For the 1st time they played as a team. Hopefully, this was a start of something good and not just a one-off.
What on earth are you talking about? Gabbia doesn’t lose Lautaro at all. Gabbia stays in position…he doesn’t get dragged away from his zone. Lautaro is a class player and he notices the GAPING hole left by Emerson doing his headless chicken act, and pokes it through to Di Marco who is the freedom of Milan to take his shot….seriously, go and play the game a few times. Emerson gets pulled from pillar to post, he leaves the space empty
Gabbia was beaten. It was clear. It’s ok to admit that. Both things can be true. Gabbia had a great game. He was also beaten by Lautauro on that play. It happens. You can still say Gabbia had a great game and that he was beaten by Lautauro on that play, because he was. That’s why Emerson left his man and came to help.
He wasn’t beaten…he was holding his position, Lautaro had to go sideways back to Di Marco, it’s called zonal defending, Lautaro wasn’t a threat so there was no need to make a challenge, he feigned a shot which didn’t fool Gabbia, he still held his position so Lautaro went wide to the gaping hole Emerson left…
It’s so weird that people on here can’t concede anything, even if it’s on video, clear for everyone to see. If you like Gabbia you have to say that he was perfect and never made a wrong step the entire match. Can’t say that he had a great match but on one play he got turned around by one of the best strikers in the world. That’s too much to concede, even if it right there for all to see on replay.
Gabbia also had to hold as Pulisic was running back to the zone as well. Potential collision. A less assured defender would dive in there and potentially give a away a FK or a penalty. Like Maldini’s Heir says, it’s knowing when to stay and go, anything rash there considering Lautaro isn’t really in a dangerous position could end up badly. Thiaw probably dives in there, gives a FK or pen away, yellow card…who knows
Gabbia wasn’t beaten, at least not to the point that Emerson needed to pressure the ball. If Emerson had stayed in a good cover position, the chance likely comes to nothing.
dude…. he wasn’t beaten, how much have you played this game? just because a player turns away from a defender it doesn’t constitute the defender being beaten. Gabbia had his zone covered. pretty much everyone here can see that and sees the fault of the goal with Emerson….Emerson shouldn’t be leaving his zone, but that is what he does…..frequently. Gabbia was in no danger. Emerson is following the ball like a 7 year old…. the kids I coach get told not to do that and they are 7-10 years old! Had Emerson stayed at RB then Lautaro has nowhere to go and probable ends up taking a bad shot into the stands
If you look at the replay, Lautaro managed to wrong-foot Gabbia.
He only make the pass to Di Marco because Royal come quickly to close him down (which in turn leave Di Marco free).
But if Royal dont come to press him, Lautaro would’ve dribble past Gabbia easy and shoot himself.
Now arguably that is not going to result in a certain goal, but Lautaro DID leave Gabbia dead in that situation.
This is BS…..Lautaro turns away from Gabbia, if he has wrong footed him, Gabbia would be off balance…..he isn’t…he then stands his ground. Gabbia even puts an arm out to protect his zone. Lautaro then goes to ground and is surrounded as Pulisic has got back, and Emerson is out of position. It is only the skill of Lautaro that allows him to poke the ball through to Di Marco who is in wide open space due to Emerson not maintaining position.
If anything Tomori who is the free man in the box should react quicker to the danger of Di Marco
you actually see Gabbia throw his arm up in frustration as if to say who the f@ck has got Di Marco
You’re right about this one. It all started after Leao lost the ball, and didn’t track back in time. Tomori was way behind the others, and kept Dimarco onside. So much attention was paid to Emerson indiscreet decision to help Gabbia, leaving Dimarco free. But, if Tomori was in line, with other defenders, Dimarco would have been offside.
Agreed about our nonexistent midfielders on the goal.
But Gabbia didn’t get beaten. He got turned. But Martinez still had work to do to get a shout off. Had Emerson stayed with his man he’d have cut out that passing lane leaving Martinez the option to either shoot or lay it off someone else.
Both Fofana and Reijnders were our worst performers (in a match where everyone including they performed). We had no midfield except for Morata who basically did both their jobs for them.
Fofana tried a dribble and got tackled, and gave the ball away numerous times from the DM position.
Reijnders got knocked off the ball and slowed things down too much.
Nothing but pure and utter nonsense, as per usual.
I usually agree to some of your points but this is… another level.
They are worst and never be good because they are not signing by the great Maldini
It must be because the commentators waste saying what a good game they were having. And I was watching it thinking, no, they’re not actually doing anything.
For Reijnders of course there was the free kick and that exquisite pass to Abraham, but beyond that it was the usual combination of not doing enough to demand the ball (Morata did that), not doing enough defensively, being too light weight and losing possession, and taking too many touches.
Fofana did better in the duels which was a huge improvement but DMs shouldn’t be giving possession away or trying to dribble passed 4 people.
Dry talent for a great coach. How come no one has noticed you yet, because it’s a shame that such knowledge and ideas are lost behind the keyboard 🤣🤣🤣
I would say that instead of helping cover Lautaro in front of the box, Fofana was nowhere near, casually jogging back from midfield while Puli had to help cover.
It is Fofana’s role to help cover in and in front of defense. So I would shoulder some of the blame onto him.
Agreed.
Fofana definitely improved on his performance against Liverpool but he’s still not doing what he needs to do in that position and I think that is largely because he’s not actually a DM but a box to box (who generally only heads to the other box like all our other box to boxers).
Our futuro team is struggling a bit. Kinda expected for a brand new team
Kind of expected for a squad of 17, 18 and 19 year olds playing against professional grown ups, even if it’s the third division. Now the question is: what happens when they get relegated?
Nothing happens when (if) they get relegated. They then play in the 4th division and try to get back to the 3rd division. The point of Milan Futuro is to expose our youth players to challenging games with many minutes played, so that they further develop. It doesn’t matter if they do it in Serie C or below Serie C (I actually don’t know how the fourth division is called; is it Serie D?).
Yes, it is challenging for them because even though they are nominally a U23 team, they are actually under 20 like you said, playing against grown men.
Normal.
But there is one interesting lesson to be had from this. People here go berserk saying that Liberali, Zeroli, Camarda, Vos, etc., should be playing for the first team. Guess what? They aren’t even doing well in Serie C. They are clearly not Serie A material yet.
Let’s let them develop, get some muscle mass, and fine tune their skills. They will eventually become Serie A material but we shouldn’t rush them.
A couple of days ago some people were saying that Liberali and Camarda should play in the Derby. Whoa. We’d be throwing them to the wolves. It’s fine for them to get some small number of minutes with the first team, in games against bottom feeders, hopefully once the score is already settled. So, we’re 3-0 against some bottom feeder, sure, let’s bring a youngster in for the last ten minutes.
But throwing them at freaking Internazionale Milano in the Derby della Madonnina? That would be insane.
So I hope that with the difficulties they are finding (naturally, normally) in Serie C, the frenzy about bringing them to the first team now, gets played down a little.
I never felt comfortable with the idea of exposing them too early to the pressures of playing in Serie A. They are not ready yet.
We have Bonera in charge. What did you expect?
Bro, that Inter goal was not Emerson’s fault, neither is it Fofana’s.
Tomori failed to step up, he played Dimarco onside. He let Gabbia down with his laçk of awareness, he stayed back when everyone stepped up!
Inters Goal is 100% to blame on Leao. He lost the Ball in the worst possible spot, didnt try to recover. You saw it live. It was almost like he had a Bet on this game, for inter to win, hmm. But no player would ever gamble
only thing jeri learn, Gabbia is Italian & he’s potential huge capital gain
Wow!!! Now Inter’s goal was said to be 100% Leão’s fault. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!!!! That’s ridiculous. Leão who is not a defender nor a midfielder and plays on the left side of the pitch, is said to be fully responsible for a goal that happened in defense, on the right side of the pitch. Whoa! The Leão hatred is strong.
So, regardless of all the midfielders and defenders who could have intervened but didn’t, it’s a forward on the other side of the pitch both vertically and horizontally, who is said to be 100% responsible for the goal. Wow. Just wow!
What do you actually want from Leão??? Next, will you blame him too for not saving the ball with his hands like a goalkeeper? It’s the one thing you haven’t said yet (the most rabid Leão hater here pretends that all goals we suffer start with Leão not tracking back; there are plenty of forwards in world football who don’t track back so well either; as long as they score and assist very often, that’s fine), but given the level of hatred here, that’s probably coming next, LOL.
By the way, Leão almost scored twice. Both his header and his shot were on target, but Sommer saved both because he is an excellent goalkeeper, not because Leão was poor. With a slightly less good goalkeeper, at least the header would have been a score (it was perfectly delivered by Rafa; Sommer pulled off a miracle), but then, had he scored, people here would just say that Leão got lucky and is LAAAAAZZZYYYYYY!!! Even the shot, which some called a sitter missed by Leão, he did send the ball outside of Sommer’s frame and on target; Sommer simply showed excellent reflexes, raised his hand and saved it. But it wasn’t such a poor shot. Again, it could have been a score with a less good goalkeeper. That one, yes, it’s more arguable, but the header? Absolutely perfect; it wasn’t a score exclusively because of Sommer’s miraculous save.
So, even when Leão does poorly (which he did, yesterday; I’ve acknowledged it myself several times) he creates two near-goal opportunities.
No player scores or assists every game, not even Messy, Pelé, CR7 or Maradona (I’m not saying that Leão is as good as these; just, saying that not even the very best players in the history of the sport scored and/or assisted every game; people hold Leão to an impossible standard). So, yes, Leão is a bit irregular and in some games he does worse than in some others. Still, he creates enough goal interventions to be VERY helpful to the team, and again, those who don’t see it are blind or just hateful or just ignore facts (just consult any site that keeps track of scores and assists; the FACT is that Leão has many). Does he defend well or track back well? Hell, no. But that’s actually not his primary function, as a forward. It would be nice if he were good at that too; he is not. But he is good enough at being a forward, to compensate for those shortcomings.
I’m glad that these people here don’t actually have the power to sell Leão. The administrators who can, know of Leão’s importance to this team (highest number of goals + assists or at worst second highest, in all of the last three seasons and this start of a season). There’s a reason why his contract has received a 175M buy-out clause. It’s because they know that he shouldn’t be sold. Thankfully.
As for Inter’s goal, it was absolutely Emerson Royal’s fault. Whoever doesn’t see it is also blind. HUGE space left on his sector when the long pass came to Dimarco. Then he ran towards Lautaro again leaving Dimarco completely unmarked. Lautaro simply sent the ball back to Dimarco, noticing how free the latter was, and Dimarco then had all the time in the world, unchallenged, to pick and choose where to shoot the ball so that Mike wouldn’t have a chance. Goal. Could have been avoided by a better left back. You know, the right back is supposed to contain the opponent’s left winger. Period, full stop. It’s not up to our left winger to contain their left winger. They actually play on opposite sides.
It’s incredible how people here seem to have a magnifier glass focused on Leão, ready to crucify him for every failure small or big, but then can’t see the HUGE space left by Emerson in the sector he should be covering.
Not that anybody should care; I’m just some random fan posting here and if I leave I won’t be missed, but frankly, sometimes I wish to just abandon this website and go post elsewhere, because over here there is this huge crowd whose online life seems to be focused on bashing Rafa, and I’m sick and tired of it.
It’s interesting how it happens a lot more here, in this English-language site, than in Italian-language sites. I don’t know why. It’s a weird phenomenon: why do these English-speaking Milan “fans” here love to bash our most prolific forward?
Yes, Puli is great. Yes, my current Milan jersey has Puli’s number and name. I love Puli. But even though Puli is such an extraordinary player who actually also tracks back and helps with defense, he is still just as prolific as Rafa, not any better than Rafa, in terms of goal contributions at season end. So, if you all love Puli so much (like I also do), please do appreciate that Rafa scores and assists as much as Puli. Or more.
Lately people even fault Leão for his body language. I couldn’t care less about his body language. This is football, not a fashion show. He can have the poorest and most negative body language of them all for all I care, as long as he keeps scoring and assisting regularly, like he does.
Someone here said “he didn’t score against Liverpool or Inter.” Guess what? Lautaro Martinez didn’t score against Manchester City and Milan.
Are the Inter fans screaming to the top of their lungs that Inter should sell Lautaro because he didn’t score against ManCity and Milan? LOL
By the way, Lautaro Martinez is the ONLY player in all of Serie A who had more seasonal goal interventions than Leão, last season, and that was by just two. Leão was the second most prolific Serie A player only behind Lautaro, all competitions considered, and just by a hair.
If the Inter fan base got to be as delusional as ours, they’d be crucifying Lautaro every time he doesn’t score.
You rant for so long considering its a reaction for someone thats clearly trolling…
But you have to face it – Leao was the worst performer in the last game. Defensively almost non existent as usual but wasteful when given chances.
The thing is, most of the team struggle when they play against low block team but Leao also struggle when playing against a more attacking team like Liverpool and Inter. He is supposed to be our star player, he is our no. 10, he has the highest salary in the team. He is expected to produce result, and he should know it. No excuse.
Why in the hell do you think I’m trolling? You don’t seem to understand what a troll is. A troll issues a controversial and provocative opinion to get a reaction from others. Leão being a good player is NOT a controversial opinion: just look at his number of goals and assists in the last three seasons, and just look at the 175M clause. So obviously he IS INDEED a good player, therefore I’m not trolling.
He is expected to produce results? He does. Look at his goals and assists. Those are results, and those are what really win games (body language doesn’t). But of course he can’t do it every game. Nobody can.
AR didn’t say that you’re trolling, rather that the person you appear to be responding to was trolling.
Ah OK, sorry AR, I misinterpreted what you said.
Dude Tammy and Morata not defender but they do what they can to push
They are different players with different characteristics. Certain players even though they are forwards, are also good at defending and tracking back. Rafa is not such a player. I know that. But he is an excellent forward.
But then, even though he is not as adept at defending as Morata and Abraham, do you want to bet against me? I say that Rafa by season end will have more goals and assists than Tammy and Morata. You say he won’t, and we bet on it. I’m confident I’ll win, because, hey, don’t look, but he is ALREADY ahead of them in goals and assists, now, and will be way ahead by season end. Mark my words.
Ha ha ha 😂.
We found the last believer in Leao.
Everyone else is blind, only you see that Leao ALMOST did this ALMOST did THAT. He could have scored if sommer was a slightly less good of a goalkeeper. Ha ha 😂. If Di Marco was slightly less good of a player, Emerson almost would have stopped him from scoring.
You acknowledged when leao did poorly? Brother, we are at a stage when we should acknowledge when Leao does well, because that’s rare.
And no, he is not good enough forward to compensate for his laziness.
Don’t worry, Leao won’t be sold because there aren’t buyers. 175m? Every Barca player has a €billion release clause. Is it because Barca know that they shouldn’t be sold?
When you abandon this platform and go to another platform you will read the same truth being told about Leao. The problem aren’t the fans but Leao laziness and your refusal to see the truth.
Leão almost did this or that in THIS game. In other games, he has scored and assisted. My point was to say that even when he is not good, he still creates scoring opportunities.
Oh, so, it’s rare? Really? Who else did better? Giroud once, Pulisic currently. Rafa two other seasons was first, once he was second to Giroud, now for now he is second to Puli. Nobody else did as well as Rafa, Giroud, and Puli.
So, where are all the other 30 something professional players in our first team, all of them behind Rafa in goals and assists except for Giroud once and Puli once?
Are you screaming for them all to be sold because they are lazy and they don’t assist and score regularly?
No, you aren’t. You only do it regarding Rafa.
MilanDatal @acmilandata
Since the start of last season (2023-24), Christian Pulisic has been involved in the joint-most goals among Serie A players in all competitions with 31 contributions (19G + 12A), level with Lautaro Martinez (27G + 4A).
[via @OptaPaolo]
Milan actual most prolific player.
What did I say? That Leão is at worst second. Currently he is second to Puli. I won’t be surprised if by season end he is first again. In the last 3 seasons he was first twice, and second (to Giroud) once (in which season, he was ahead of Puli). He started this season a bit behind Puli. We will see, by season end.
By the way, he is second to Puli “since the start of last season” due to Puli’s 6 goal participations in six games THIS season. Because if you look just at last season and you don’t include the start of this one, then Rafa was 1 or 2 goal participations ahead of Puli. I don’t remember exactly but If I’m not mistaken, Rafa had 28 and Puli 26 or 27. So now Puli caught up (thanks to his recent 6), passed Rafa, and I actually think that he hasn’t just tied Lautaro (your stat probably doesn’t have all of Puli’s latest; I think he has now passed Lautaro who so far has had only one assist; he’s having a quiet period. But the season hasn’t finished yet. Rafa may very well pass Puli again.
Yes, you are right that SINCE Puli joined (that is, one season + 6 games) Puli is now the most prolific Milan player. But Rafa is a close second.
Which for me matters little. Like I said, I love Puli too. I just don’t like the INSANE amount of criticism that Rafa – always our first or second most prolific player – gets.
If either Rafa or Puli finish first by this season end, the more the better. I am not praising Leão to put Puli down. I love both.
Source: footystats dot org
All competitions, all games, per season, scores + assists for Rafa in the last 3 seasons and the start of this one:
2024-25 so far, 4 (that includes 1 for Portugal but do notice that for Milan, Rafa had one fewer game than Puli, and fewer minutes in one of the other games, as he was benched for most of the game).
2023-24 = 29
2022-23 = 30
2021-22 = 28
Career stats for Rafael Leão:
85 goals, 53 assists. That’s a freaking 138 goal participations.
Wow. To think that such a lazy player can produce 138 goal participations, he must be the luckiest guy on Earth. The ball must just deflect on him by random luck and go into the net, right? Oh wait, no? Those were actually goals when he kicked the ball himself into the net, or assists when he passed it himself to a companion who scored? Hm… maybe he is not as lazy after all, huh?
———–
Yes, whoever thinks that Rafa is not a good forward is blind or just ignores facts.
I can understand someone who likes Leao AND Reijnders but I can’t understand a person who criticises Leao AND accepts Reijnders lack of contribution.
They contributed almost the exact same against Inter and Leao even set up Reijnders for one of his three contributions.
Leao also didn’t get muscled off the ball in dangerous positions, and moved the ball quicker.
And of course Leao has actually scored lots of goals, provided lots of assists, and single handily won lots of games for Milan over the YEARS, and is part of that legendary group of players who delivered only Milan’s third Scudetto this century.
So frankly Leao can do what he likes.
Others need to prove themselves.
Wow! Thank you Maldinis Heir. I don’t agree very often with you on the topic of Calabria, but it’s good to know that you are one of the few here who acknowledge Leão’s contributions to Milan. Bravo!
I would like to also remember that against Inter, Leão headed a perfect ball that was only saved by Sommer out of a miracle, and produced another good shot on target that Sommer also saved well. That shot, maybe Leão could have done a bit better to actually beat Sommer, although it wasn’t a bad shot. But that header, absolutely, should have been a score if not for Sommer’s incredible save. The non-score there wasn’t because of Rafa finishing poorly (he finished superbly) but only because of Sommer’s merit.
So even when Leão plays below what he can do (I do acknowledge that he wasn’t one of the best players against Inter; not as good as Puli, Gabbia, Reijnders, Morata, or Abraham), he still creates two golden opportunities for himself, and one for Reijnders who also should have scored that goal, granting an assist to Rafa.
And that’s in a game when Rafa didn’t do so well. Still, 3 fabulous opportunities.
Since the 2021-22 season, Leão has been producing at least 28 goal contributions per season. He was our most prolific forward in two of these seasons, and the second most (behind Giroud by 1 contribution) in another one. Currently he is second behind Pulisic (but the season hasn’t ended yet, and Leão had one fewer game for Milan than Puli this season, and in another game he was benched for three fourths of the game).
In 4 games plus only one fourth of a game, Leão had 3 goal participations.
In 6 games, Puli had 6 goal participations.
By season end, I won’t be surprised if Rafa passes Puli again like he did last season. But I love Puli too, and the more the better; I hope both Puli and Rafa keep scoring and assisting. Like I said, my praising Rafa is not intended as putting Puli down. It’s just a way to show that people here keep heralding Puli and bashing Rafa, when Rafa is just as prolific.
People should stop this unwarranted criticism about Leao. THis presence is like a roar of lion that put defenders into panic. That’s why you see at least two defenders wrapping him up quickly whenever he gets d ball. The coach is to exploit this opportunity created by defenders on Leao.
None of what you described happened sunday.
How lovely to see all the “waterboys” as K,soccer boy,zion bs gathering here to build up a new trend selling the idea that Leao should be sold.I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Jerry will go for another big cash in just like for Tonali “spending”them on other useless tools like chukuweze,musah,royal etc.Seeing their comments you can understand they are clueless gringos as clearly they have nothing in common with football as they can’t even understand the difference between turned and beaten.This muppets are here for damage control,to try to save their master’s image and to convince more fans selling Leao is a good idea just like they did with Tonali.
Am surprised nobody notice that leao is not comfortable playing with the team he prefer counter attack football it happen last season wen pioli played 433 formation… But he is developing his marking I believe with time he will gel with the team… Fonseca has balls to make bold decision which I love against Lazio benching leao and theo and against inter changing formation to attack and not defending againt them… Let’s build on this formation it’s create Ballance Forza Milan
Stop saying trash. Leao thinks he is mbappe and even mbappe has more work rate than him. He barely track back fights for the ball. Pulisic literally won the ball from leaos own path of the pitch to score a goal. Where was leao shouldn’t he be more involved. He was the only player that didn’t leave blood on the field for Milan same as in every other matches, he makes defending difficult for theo cause he doesn’t track back. Tammy was almost a DM fighting for a team he barely know. I don’t know what you guys are talking about here but it’s clear you’ll rather tolerate leao than punish him. Yes he has quality I love him having the ball, but without the ball he is useless to us. He walks on the field against Liverpool and inter, even Salah tracked back for Liverpool then what’s the excuse for leao.
I’ll tell you the truth. If leao can be more like Pulisic fighting running for every ball, this milan team will win anything. He has that potential. When on who is considered a leader and best player in the team puts in the work the others will follow. And definitely he will achieve more heights than before. I wish he could be like that but now it’s clear this kid will. Never learn. Milan is without a leader. Theo sometimes let’s himself be influenced by leao. No matter how upset theo is. He knows he’s playing for the fans and not the coach.
I’m so angry with that guy. So yes sell him if he won’t bleed for this team. And buy players like Nicole Williams or ebere eze of crystal palace. Enough tolerating this man. I’m glad Pulisic is turning to be the man for milan, so he can see that he is nothing
It was a fantastic result and performance by the team. There are a lot of positives to build on and team chemistry and decision making in the final third will only improve with time and consistency. The only question mark is the midfield depth. Fofana and Reijnders can’t play every game. Bennacer is injured, and there are a lot of questions about whether RLC, Musah, Zeroli, or Vos can fill in effectively.
If you want to sell Leão, you are not a real Milan fan. Period, full stop.
Mr rlc hhh
where did you get the beef to reijnerds he was one of our best player the player this game that shoulld be blamed is leao but i still is against all the people that wants to sell him emerson royal on that goal he was okay tho and fofana that still has been one of our worst player so far this season