AC Milan were once again left licking their wounds at the hands of their city rivals Inter as they were beaten 5-1 in the Derby della Madonnina on Saturday evening.
Both teams had won all three games in Serie A thus far heading into the game at San Siro, but goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Thuram before the break made it clear Inter were in the mood to continue their recent derby dominance.
Rafael Leao’s well-taken finish did halve the deficit and suggest it would be a close finish, but Mkhitaryan’s second and a Hakan Calhanoglu penalty pulled the Nerazzurri away again in the torrential rain. Davide Frattesi added some gloss to the scoreline in added time.
The result means that Milan are now below Simone Inzaghi’s side but also Juventus who won against Lazio, while waiting for the other games to happen this round.
Stefano Pioli made one change to the line-up that started the first three games of the season and it was a forced one with Fikayo Tomori suspended. Simon Kjaer came in to partner Malick Thiaw, with Pierre Kalulu out injured.
It took less than five minutes for the first controversial moment to occur, and it ended with Inter putting the ball in the back of the net. There was contact between Dumfries and Theo and then between Thuram and Thiaw before the French striker fired in a low cross.
The ball was recycled and eventually Mkhitaryan turned it in first time from close range, and the goal stood despite the incessant protests from Milan players, and a length check too.
Mkhitaryan should have had his and Inter’s second five minutes after he opened the scoring, with Dimarco whipping in an inch-perfect ball that the Armenian met with a glancing header that went wide of the far post.
Midway through the first half Milan began to build a bit of pressure with some passing moves inside Inter’s half, but it was a clipped ball over the top from Theo towards Leao that caused panic. The winger had got goal side of Dumfries, and though his first touch took it down Sommer was able to collect before he had time to readjust.
The questionable officiating from Souza continued when Thiaw chased Thuram towards the byline and slid in, though the referee whistled for a foul and gave a yellow card despite the fact replays showed he got a touch on the ball.
Milan thought they had almost carved Inter open with an excellent free-kick routine that saw Theo slide in Leao, though Sommer saved his attempt and the offside flag rightly went up.
The dancing feet of Theo Hernandez almost brought the Rossoneri level on the half-hour mark as he weaved between two defenders and skewed a shot just wide of the far post from deep inside the box, and Darmian could perhaps consider himself lucky that the full-back didn’t go down.
Just as Pioli’s men had got well on top and were knocking on the door, they were sucker-punched at the other end. A counter-attack saw Dumfries play a ball into the path of Thuram down the left side and though he was initially held up, he got one-on-one with Thiaw and fired a stunning shot into the far top corner.
Right on the stroke of half-time Milan had a golden chance that they needed to take when Giroud won a free-kick just outside the edge of the box, yet he dusted himself off and whipped the shot well over the bar.
The pattern in the early stages of the second half followed the latter part of the first half, with Milan allowed to harbour the majority of possession but without much penetration and plenty of threat on the counter.
The only attempt before 55 minutes from a Milan player was Reijnders, who wound up a shot from 25 yards out but sent it flying over the bar as the rain lashed down.
However, in the 57th minute the Rossoneri did get themselves back in the game and it came through a beautiful link-up between Leao and Giroud. The striker held the ball up and with his back to goal sent the Portuguese winger through on goal with an inch-perfect pass, which he converted one-on-one with Sommer.
Just as it looked like being a grandstand finish to the game, Inter re-established their two-goal lead with just over 20 minutes left on the clock. Again Milan’s defence in transition let them down as Lautaro was allowed to square to Mkhitaryan, who took a couple of touches and fired past Maignan’s near post via a deflection.
With just under 15 minutes left, Pioli made some changes. Alessandro Florenzi, Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor came on, with Calabria, Giroud and Reijnders coming off.
A few minutes later, they made it 4-1 from the penalty spot. A silly attempt from Theo to get to a loose ball inside the box ended with Lautaro going down after being kicked on the boot, and the penalty was emphatically despatched.
The final change came with not long on the clock left as Yunus Musah came on for Loftus-Cheek, but by this point it was a training exercise to play out the final few minutes.
Things got even worse in the third minute of added time as the unmarked run of substitute Frattesi was picked out by an excellent through-ball by Mkhitaryan, and he had the simple job of finishing one-on-one past Maignan.
Lord Cardinale was watching 😝😝😝
This year Inzaghi-Pioli 5-0-0 12-1
I won’t even say any more.
Pioli has no clue and no answer, we need to fix the defence in winter mercato or next summer, plus a proven striker. This year I hope Inter can earn 2nd star, they deserve it.
we need to be realistic with our milan team, we just need maintaining top 4 for CL qualification and keep increasing our revenue, so we can reinvest and improve our squad and probably calibre coach
Pioli is a one trick pony. One plan coach. Never a plan B.
Dreaming of De Zerbi right now. He just beat Ten Hag to pulp.
Say whatever you want, but don’t say that they “deserve second star” and they should earn it before us.
AC Milan were once again left licking their wounds at the hands of their city rivals Inter as they were beaten 4-1 in the Derby della Madonnina on Saturday evening.
Well it’s 5-1 now. Yes I know, it just a point that we really had to stop watching. The referee was kind enough to blow the whistle directly at 95. And embarrassing is really an understatement.
The coach tactics is rubbish,you are not guardiola Calabria not Dani Alves,the approach is very poor a novice coach his game plan completely expose the defense.
Paolo Maldini, Ricky Massara, Charles De Ketelaere, Alexis Saelemakers and Junior Messias would like to say Congratulations to Cardinale, Furlani and of course best coach in the world, mr Stefano Pioli. Pioli is on fire.
This is pathetic…….
pioli has no escaping on this. thiaw was just dreadful, and easy target for inter everytime they hit counter and the team didnt play fast enough, struggled to get past inter organization. the fact that they actually scored 2 more with their b team speaks volume. really unacceptable performance by team.
2 goals they scored from previously fouls on Milan players that were not given to Milan players.
Those goals were first two goals in the game.
It’s only a foul if the ref whistles a foul. The players would do well to remember that.
“I’m glad that we are not signing Thuram and Fratesi, as they both are overated and not worth the money” i heard someone whispered me that statement
Would be worse if Arnautovic also score.
Just because Pioli is terrible that doesn’t mean M&M and CDK were any better. Alexis and Messias did a decent job but nothing great either.
Ironically, in the last 6 meetings, we only beat inter when CDK started the match.
We keep conceding against inter’s counter attack. Should have parked the bus all day long.
We beat Napoli because we let go of ball possesion and use counter attack. inter is giving us the possesion to exploit our weakness in defending their counter. Conceding early goal didn’t help but we should not bite an obvious trap.
Indeed. Milan had over 70% possession after 1st half. One would expect the team “dominating” the game to be 2-0 up instead of trailing 0-2. Inter wanted Milan to have the ball and strike on counter-attacks. Worked flawlessly.
Exactly, and yet Pioli hasn’t figured this out ALL YEAR. Simone must absolutely love playing against him. Guaranteed victory.
Inzaghi-Pioli in 2023: 5-0-0 12-1 – just wow
Where is Piolo and krunic fans? Come get out and comment here pls….
It was so bad they didn’t post our goals lol. Oops I meant goal. I’ve been trying to tell ppl to temper their expectations but to no avail. Oh well 🤷♂️
Inzagh is a great cup coach and derbies are like a cup final. Plus this was team which played City in the UCL final and should have won. They were clearly on a higher level
Its pointless. Next time we beat Bologna with two penalties, people here will be hyped again and talking how we will win CL. Thats how it is, most people just cant see further from the hype.
nah only you see the truth, Milan will fight for 10th spot because everyone sucks now after this one game
Newcastle gonna win 4-0 right?
Why does it always have to be black or white? We have a decent chance against Newcastle because they are not that great right now, and we’ll probably beat most Serie A teams because they are terrible but when it comes to Inter we always lose now because Inzaghi has figured out Pioli’s weaknesses and Pioli is unable to adept.
Its the usual crap from him. Goes to the extreme. It’ll be like…..Hmmm seems like it’s drizzling. Boulden: this must be a category 5 hurricane
It’s so ridiculous. I wish I could make that up but it’s something he would actually say. All this means is that Pioli’s kryptonite is Inzaghi. It doesn’t mean we’re mid table all of a sudden smh 🤦♂️ how people go from drizzle to hurricane in these comments section is wild. And they try to put it on you, like u said that 😂😂
Please do yourself a favor by using your mental faculty to reason well, before responding.
It’s very embarrassing to anytime you respond so ignorantly like a child. Throwing a tantrum
I was looking forward to the derby now i wanna forget it.. Every damn time.
Also fok this site and the struggle to post one foking comment
You are pathetic.
Inter was embarrassing Milan last season as well when all those bums you named were part of the team.
Maldini fans showing their true colors
They arent Milan fans, there’s no way fans sh*t on their own club as much as they do, they are literally waiting to comment only when things go wrong lmao
Where are Furlani and Moncada.
20 Mil for Musa he can’t even walk yet alone play football
20 Mil for ChukuVuvuzela
14 Mil on Okafor
Ah wait for it mr can’t play against big teams Pulicis
and now we know why Pioli has got to go
Really waste of money. They could have got Scamacca who fits in Pioli tactics for 25mil and not relay on 37 year old who cant move that much. Also kept Tonali for regista instead of splashing money to just end up with Krunic as regista smh.
yes Tonali who got torn apart at this same fixture last season, did jack all and you think he would’ve made a difference
you on crack…?
Exactly. Tonali is overrated. We were super lucky to get all that money for him. We also made some great signings, but Pioli doesn’t know how to use them. He is clueless about offensive tactics, subs etc.
Pioli for life! Viva Pioli!
Sucks
But result is more useful for us than a than 2-1
Instead of trying pulisic out in the middle so that chukwueze could start, nah what about my beloved Krunic lol 5 derbies in a row and this guy still coaches a team like Milan? Not even Klopp or Pep would be that safe hehehe
I think Simone Inzaghi has a picture/statue of Pioli in his house to give him confidence and also a good laugh.
This place is now gonna have a field day, they waited for this type of loss for 2 months now
Look at them, so happy to sh*t on Pioli, already brining up Paldini and his fav bunch of players
But Pioli is really bad in this game tho, no excuse. He didn’t do anything. Just sticking to the same strategy over and over. While Inzaghi utilize Dumfries in 3 different way on first half alone, and have the balls to overhaul his eleven when Milan start catching midway 2nd half.
Pioli may give us another Scudetto, but still… Inzaghi owned him.
I told you he will blame the fans to protect Pioli’s one dimensional tactics.
and you will celebrate every Milan loss and then pretend to be a Milan fan
nice job
Most fans are moving on from Maldini vs Cardinals thing.
Being critical to Pioli who clearly deserved it doesn’t mean we celebrate the loss. This game expose Pioli weaknesses. So far, only Inzaghi could do it to Pioli. He just better than tactician.
I mean the record is 5-0 in this calendar year. The record that never happened before.
I would bet everything that Pioli will never win another Scudetto again. With any club.
Inzaghi basically outsmarts Pioli every single time. He made 3 changes immediately after they conceded a goal and saw that Milan started moving a ball around with more freedom and courage, whilst Pioli basically made only 1 change until 75th minute. Embarrassing!
Krunic is a genius! Pioli too!
This game is so embarrassing for us. This is a good signal for the management. Losing like this is unacceptable.
I am tired of this derby. Pioli cannot figure out how to play against inter.
First off, inter a great team so take nothing away from them.
We have two very slow center backs and we’re playing such a high line. Why? We got burned for speer on every single goal.
Maignan and the two cb’s were absolutely horrible today. Krunic showed he isn’t up the the task against a good team. Inter capitalize on their first two goals while milan screw up each time.
But the most important thing here is pioli. It’s been over a year now that pioli has been absolutely outclassed by inzaghi. Whether inter have a better team or not inzaghis tactics are far superior than pioli’s and he never changes it. You know inter have a strong defence, one of the best midfields and two dangerous attackers. What does he do? PLAY THE EXACT SAME. we are playing with fire when we attack. Our midfield goes too far ahead we do that stupid side to side passing instead of going more direct, inter counter against our two slow defenders and they score.
Today this defeat is totally on PIOLI’S TACTICS.
Should have been pragmatic instead of idealistic. Should have not used high line against inter who keep scoring against us in transition.
100%
The thing that killed me was that we played a great style the first 3 games and then it was totally missing this game. I couldn’t believe it. Why ? Just play the game u played first 3 games and be proactive. They ended up playing like last year smh 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ that’s the most disappointing part
Just terrible game plan from Pioli. Needed to sit back and counter against Inter. Our defense would never catch up to them on the counters in transition, which is exactly what happened… How could he not see this? We needed to hit THEM on the counter. Inzaghi just outfoxing Pioli EVERY derby so far.
Inter just too clinical and the gap is still so wide… Tomori/Kalulu wouldn’t have done much better IMO. Our back line needs help.
Even in the presser he got asked if the tactics would change with Kjaer, and he said Why Would They? Should have been a warning sign…
I think he definitely deserves to see this thing through the end of the season, but his limitations come to light more and more. Maldini saw this, Furlani I’m sure is aware of it too. We will need to upgrade on him eventually.
If by ‘eventually’ you mean at the end of this season, at the very latest, then I agree 😉
FU$K this $hit. We lost to them 5 times in 8 months. Conceding 5 goals twice in 6 months. It’s not even funny any more man, how is this a team that used to dominate Europe, Pioli thinks he can copy Spalletti and De Zerbi???????? This is just embarrassing, man. Not even gonna mention any player today, it’s all on Pioli for this embarrassment.
Italian ref hate Milan, but you will not get what you want
How…. Not in this match… We were totally outclassed.. The ref saved our ass for not extending the the extra time given . It would have been ‘ may be ‘ 10-1
The only way to close the gap is simply the tactics. Inter aren’t far superior in quality but inzaghi S’s tactics over pioli’s are. You’re absolutely right. We should have been the team sitting back and countering not doing these stupid little passes side to side he they have 9 behind the ball.
This was meant for ACM1899
100%. This is on Pioli… You HAVE to adjust your game plan based on opposition. Pioli doesn’t do that. And that’s what worries me about him the most.
Inter a strong through and through. Not even a question. The only way they don’t take the Scudetto this year is through injuries or if they get in their own way (unlikely).
Well said
At least we scored a goal this time, after 400 minutes…
Where are the fans of pioli that said that average and overrated pioli is better than inzaghi??? That’s 5-1 for you, inzaghi outclassed him again, taught him that you can win football without having most possession, humiliated him.
Again i say that 21-22 scudetto was a giveaway!!!
My username is iminmilano,admin suspended me
Lol I was attacked by some hardcore pioli fans yesterday that said pioli is better than inzaghi. See what i said???? HahahahahahahHahahahahahaha
Pioli is average, inzaghi is genius, 20-21 scudetto was a giveaway, inter is still much more superior team than milan, even the players who sit on the bench, you can’t convince me otherwise!!!
To the ones who attacked my comment yesterday, reply here cowards!!! Give me your bullshhhit excuse for this loss!!@
dejan probably, he also explained to me that Pioli has the Serie A title so he is better. Even though he lost to Inzaghi 12 times in 21 matches. That guy doesn’t really understand football but he “feels” if the player is good. By his feeling Thuram was bad and we doged a bullet. Same for Openda. I wouldn’t bother that much with people that write nonsense mostly.
Well, Pioli wanted possesion, he got it…
Because Inzaghi want Milan to have the possesion.
Pioli should have started chuks, pulisic looked very tired. He would have made better impact as a sub. Sincerely I dont know what Mensah is playing, always disappointing when he passes the ball. I wish kalulu was never injured. We cried for a cb alot , kijer extremely slow and its so obvious he’s declined .
Overall the team would get better. They shouldn’t loose concentration when ever they concede a goal. Big Mike just gave up when they scored the third. No more urgency to get the ball forward to the wingers.
Chuks is a 1v1 attacker just like leao get the ball to him on time when he is free and he would do magic not when he is tied on by two men….. they kept on concentrating on leao always. The midfielders were alittle sluggish today except krunic who was always in on all tackles.
Pioli please start the other attackers early so they can pick up and we have everyone firing up front not bringing in your subs and they all look displaced most times . I expect this the next league game after the champions league match .
Am sure this team would become better before the second leg. We would have our revenge. Forza Milan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forever
If Pioli is still our coach when we meet Inzaghi again, that’s another guaranteed 3 points for Inter. Padre never learns.
Honestly this defeat was coming, I don’t know why a “competent” Coach would set up his team to play like this, Calabria should have stayed permanently on the right, this inverted system is not something to be used, and to think this system exposed the defence, especially Kjear who I have said countless times has no business being in this team or the Club, Pulisic looked tired from the beginning, couldn’t he have started with Okafor or Chukweze, we need to play like a normal team Calabria simply does not have the talent to play that system, playing simply is the best policy, they were playing unnecessary passes because the midfield was crowded.
Hernandez for all his speed and power lacks one key trait, intelligence, he does not know when to hold the ball, or at the very crucial stage to release it, he is now very predictable, his head is always down when he runs, and refuses to play intelligently, the apart from the mistakes of the defenders, the midfield too and a lack of knowing the relevance of the moment cost us, we need to stop playing this system of inverted midfield, let the wing backs stay in their right full positions, we are too exposed.
Honestly I think Pioli needs to leave, he is incapable of improving this team,why did he wait so long to start making changes, the lack of Italians clear shows in this team, look at the effort and hunger the Italian players in Inter showed, we will continue to lose if we continue with this stupid tactic.
Lol at those who celebrated Maldinis departure and Piolo’s continuation and mid signings. If he is not fired and major changes implemented by the winter transfer market we can kiss Leao, Theo, and Maginan goodbye next season and any hope of being relevant in the top tier of football.
#PioloOut #RedbirdOut
Pioliis professional coach, while I am not, but still, I am really wondering why on earth he uses same starting 11 and strategy again and again for every games regardless who the opponent is, meanwhile this season he has great depth. It is not that the quality difference between his choice of starting 11 is way better than the subs, but rather, those subs were not chosen as starting 11 for some matches just because they didn’t go to USA for pre-season. Are they that dumb not be able to catch up the tactic just because missing pre season? They are professional. Normally other team’s coach only have new players for subs for 1-2 games, and starts rotating and using them in starting 11 accordingly depends on opponents. Pulisic seemed really tired, but Pioli forced to use him as starting 11 anyway. Smh
Where is pioli and krunic fans who insult me? My name is mario andrew. Even, this web admin spam my name because he didnt like me complained krunic and pioli.
Come on, give ur comment. Stupid !!!
You guys are such full of crap. The whole team failed but nah, let’s blame only Krunic. Not culpable pretty much on any of the goals but hey, past hate for him dictatea that all our losses this season will be his fault. LMAO 😂😂 😂😂😂 such, invoking my inner Giancarlo, i6iots. That’s when i know people don’t even watch games but just hate players
this is the way
Lol 🤣🤣🤣 nice throw back to WSB there. I love it 😂
When you see how Carlos Augusto, Frattessi, Thuram and Arnautivic have adapted to inzaghis style, one can only wonder why a player like chukwueze is a far cry from how potent he was for Villarreal. The answer is simple.. Pioli is mediocre. Every derby Di Marco suddenly turns into Roberto Carlos, Dumfries becomes Lillian Thuram. Inter are Most confident when they play against pioli.. they won’t have it this easy against any other serie A team. They don’t even beat champions league minnows that easily.. give this milan team to any decent coach, and inter will be frustrated.. We can’t keep backing pioli just because he won us a scudetto, after all Allegro won a scudetto, then made us lose Pirlo only to go use him well at Juve. My point is Milan can part ways with any coach and still do just fine.. it’s time for a new tactician
Even pep’s tika tika is dead against inzaghi’s system. New coach doesn’t enough, milan needs a couch who understands what kind of players they actually need and will fit in their system. Milan’s past summer window was just random signing and fans were happy about it. Lol
Pioli is the problem. Cannot adjust IN GAME tactics. Waits too long for subs. He HAS the players he needs (w the exception of another #9) – so he has zero excuses. Inzaghi made him look like an amateur. It was obvious in the first few minutes Inzaghi figured out how to neutralize our inverted RB system and Pioli in response did nothing to adapt until the 80th min (w the game already decided) when he took Calabria off.
Yes there were many poor performances all around – esp in mid where we were completely overrun and Thiaw had serious growing pains and was bullied by Thuram (who was fantastic – and would have been the exactly type of player we needed). Theo is too busy flighting w Dumphries (who owns him) instead of playing football. Pulisic and Giroud looked gassed which is not surprising. Chukuweze has the makings of a 30M bust. It’s early but if he thinks he can just dribble past 3 defenders to the goal like he did in Spain he is in for a rude awakening. Hopefully he adjusts and fast. Not even sure why Jovic took the pitch to be honest – what a waste.
Well we finally saw what we are made of against a really solid team and coach. Doesn’t get any easier w UCL in 2 days….fingers crossed the boys can regroup and put in a solid display Tuesday. But Pioli has some real soul searching to do. If Inzaghi figured him out I’m sure the other UCL teams will as well and that is not good news for us at all
Glad u pointed out what Chuk would be facing. He always seem to cut into his left very early in his dribble and Inzaghi picked up on that. Acerbi was always there on his left waiting for him..
Also Inzaghi solved Pioli’s new system already lol. Teams will look at this as a blue print unfortunately
Just simple, when opponents are use defend and counter, what tactic you must use. When i wtched the Derby, Pioli tactic was outsmart from Inter first goal.
think when you play total football you wont tailor tactics 2 who you face.. you just play your game. Obviously Milan is not there yet, maybe in half a year, this takes time.
So first you master total football only then you can tweak it, mid game, like Pep does
We can’t congquered the city, how can we congquer the Serie A or even Europe.
I did not see the real Milan, i did not see a real fighter..
yes! we won the 19th Scudetto because of Zlatan.. thats the real Milan
Pioli is just too soft for being a coach, he can’t fight. We have a good squad list, but he make them can’t fight.
This Derby just embarassing
Not a Milán or Inter fan, just watched the highlights and… the ref allowed the inter attackers to score after committing a fault twice and also gave them a fake penalty… that is 3 goals! Is that normal in Italy? Looks like a boxing match! That ref was going for inter!