AC Milan failed to improve the situation in the Serie A standings as Juventus prevailed 2-0 on Saturday evening. It was a very poor performance from the Rossoneri and as a result, unfortunately, all of the main takeaways are of a negative nature.
The first half wasn’t horrendous by any means, even if Milan allowed Juventus to dominate possession from the first minute. However, the Bianconeri didn’t do much with it and the Rossoneri actually had the best chances in that half.
Everything was turned upside down for Sergio Conceicao’s men in the second half, though, as Thiago Motta’s side stepped up their game and eventually found the back of the net. Below are five things we learned from the disappointing defeat.
1. Reinforcements are needed now
Fueled by the injury ‘crisis’, it became painfully clear that Milan need signings this month in order to stay in the top-four race. Kyle Walker appears to be on the brink of joining the club but aside from him, there are no concrete leads 19 days into the January window.
The centre-forward position, which we will discuss more below, is obviously the priority but the Rossoneri could also use a midfield signing. Unfortunately, everything about this mercato feels like deja vu as we supposedly have to wait for ‘last-minute opportunities‘.
In short, we all knew the limitations of this squad as we headed into this month – even in light of the Supercoppa win – and so far the management hasn’t taken any action.
2. Motta outcoached Conceicao
Conceicao talks a big game about the poor attitude and lack of hunger of the Milan players, but we must also acknowledge that Juventus played a lot better thanks to their tactics. Motta got almost everything right, even the subs, and he only improved the game in the second half.
Milan weren’t awful in the first half, creating some good chances, but I bet most Rossoneri fans still expected Conceicao to change things for the better with his instructions during the interval. However, the team looked much worse for the remaining 45 minutes which was worrying to see.
Again, while it’s clear that the players must do better as well, this cannot be the focal point week in and week out. The truth is that we have seen few ‘tactical successes’ since Conceicao took over the club, and with that statement I’m mainly referring to how the team is set up from the start for a game (thus not including subs).
3. Abraham and Morata are not enough
It has been said many times before this season, so the take is certainly not unique, but it’s worth highlighting once again. Tammy Abraham had a really tough evening with just 25 touches and zero shots (!). I will say that again, the striker of Milan had zero shots in a game against Juventus.
Not to hate on Alvaro Morata, given that he has actually had several good moments this season, but he hasn’t been good enough either when you take all of the games into consideration. Of course, this is yet another development that fans predicted in the summer; he has never been a ‘bomber’, in the Euros he was crucial for Spain for his hold-up play and hard work (one goal scored).
Milan need someone who can finish the chances. Oliver and I (Isak) reacted to ‘iconic moments’ against Juventus on Friday and Carlos Bacca scored a lovely goal in one of those games, and he was certainly a player who could finish.
4. Everything still hinges on Theo and Leao
Juventus applied a very high press last night and this put Milan in great difficulty. In the first half, however, they were able to get out of this quite a few things and this always stemmed from the same player: Theo Hernandez or Rafael Leao.
Both of them had some really good moments in the first half and perhaps with a proper striker, one of those chances would have been put away. Things changed for the worse in the second half, though, as the duo dropped significantly in quality and struggled to impose themselves.
This was reflected in our player ratings, especially for Leao, and it’s something Fabio Capello highlighted as well in his post-match column. Without them in form, it’s pitch black for Milan as the legendary manager put it.
5. We need a top-four miracle
Up until yesterday’s game, I was quite optimistic regarding the top-four race still. Perhaps it hadn’t properly sunk in that we could miss out, but now the gravity of the situation is clear. Juventus extended their gap, while the likes of Lazio and Bologna also won.
The worrying thing is that the game in hand, against Bologna mind you, would put Milan within three points of Juve (5th) and five points of Lazio (4th). In short, even with a win in that game, there is a lot of work for Milan to do.
The season is still long, that much is true, but it’s clear that the management should be very worried about the future that lies ahead. Something needs to change, starting with the mercato…
We have no leaders in the team! That is the problem. ‘Theao’ are great players but they are not leaders…
they dump our out-field leader (Maldini) then next season our on-field (Calabria) i guess it’ll go to Pulisic or maybe Musah
We lost the match because we didn’t have an answer to Juventus’ high pressing, just as we didn’t have it against Liverpool. Milan must work on that part of the game. Now, something about the players. Everything starts from a strong midfield (forwards can’t score goals if the midfielders don’t pass the ball, nor can defenders defend if the midfielders don’t help). Milan has only two quality midfield players. Is that enough?
MM16 and Florenzi who has been out whole season. That’s it. Our vice-captains Theo & Leao are like the anti-leaders with their cooling break things.
It all comes down to clueless ownership that chose to dismantle a successful project when they were in a great position to take it to the next level. Serie A Champions, Champions League semi-finalists, a solid core of talented young players, a couple of veterans, some promising youth team players, and a legend of the game as the face of the team; this is what we could offer to players coming in. Instead, a successful management team was fired in a disrespectful way, our Italian star was unnecessarily sold, our marquee signing was loaned out and then sold to a rival, a lot of horrible transfers were made, a coach was fired in a very unprofessional manner, and now the team is at risk of losing a Champions League spot, all its stars, and the money that goes with it. Our midfield has been abysmal for two seasons. Fofana was a helpful signing and Reijnders improved a lot this season but the wheels have already fallen off halfway into the season. Surely we need a signing or two there instead of Walker.
This talk that Milan needs a striker that can finish chances is getting boring.
First of all there are very few good strikers in todays football. The highest goalscorers on most teams are actually the wingers. But when it comes to Milan we can’t talk about the wingers scoring because will have to actually look at the truth in the face about the left winger and his lack of scoring. Same guy that had a scoring chance in the 1st half but failed to score.
2 of the top 4 scorers in serie A are Lookman and Thuram who are wingers.
In EPL Salah leads the league in goals and assists. He is a winger. 18g, 13 assists. That’s a great player, a top player, an elite player, not the one that some people call elite who can’t score 10 goals in a season.
In Spain outside of Lewandowski, you have Mbappe and Raphinha, wingers.
Milan highest scorers are a winger Pulisic, midfielder Reijnders, and a striker Morata.
Most importantly, what chances were there for a striker to finish? Milan barely got out of their own half and couldn’t string 2 passes together. How is a new striker going to change that?
Milan has problems creating chances, and those that they do create are on the counter where whoever is carrying the ball either is too selfish or makes the wrong decision.
If a striker doesn’t get service, how is he supposed to score?
If Milan wants to change their season, the change has to come from inside, not from outside. The players that everyone wants to overrate and overhype need to play based on the hype and salary because when it comes to them, it’s all talk and no production.
People are too busy looking at the low men on the totem pole, like Calabria, Emerson, or Krunic, Adli, Pobega last season, Saelemakers, Castillejo before that whoie the “great players” on the team play just as bad as those players or even worse.
Don’t talk to me about Emerson or Calabria when Theo is playing worse than them. Don’t talk to me about Morata or Tammy when Leao is worse than them.
The whole talk yesterday was about Emerson on the first goal but Tomori and Maignan just about let Weah walk into the goal with the ball. Don’t know who was worse in that situation Tomori’s or Maignan ‘s positioning. At least Emerson, who is ass, was there to contest the shot, it just took an unlucky deflection.
When Milan top players carry their own weight, then you can come and talk about the lower quality players on the team not performing well. Everything else is just looking for scapegoats and deflecting from the actual problem, that Milan is getting failed by their “top” players.
Nice reply. Improvement needs to start in the midfield- players able to defend, hold up play, and break lines either with passes or dribbles. Regarding the latter, the three who do this ( TJ, Fofana, and Musah) don’t have the sense or vision when to pass the ball
100%. The midfield is the weak link. The Rossoneri could have Mbappe and they still wouldn’t have scored yesterday. Bennacer tried one forward pass yesterday; it was intercepted. He can’t dribble forward, either. Tijiani is exhausted. Fofana makes bad decisions.
Reyna is in play as a possible transfer; and he is great in traffic with the ball and has good passing vision. he would be the trequartista they desperately need. Dortmund have set a $15m transfer fee and I’ll bet Cardinale will pay it.
If Reyna is healthy he is a decent pickup at least as a sub who can play rw or as a 10. Fund it by getting rid of RLC and Chuck. The issue is if he can stay healthy. He does have a Portuguese passport.
Agree. The striker focus is misplaced. They cannot finish chances that don’t exist.
Not true. Morata missed a sitter against Genoa, hitting the woodwork from 6 meters. Abraham wasted 2 golden opportunities against Cagliari. That alone is equal to 4 points. Giroud scored more and was more influential overall, drawing defenders who would leave more space for Rafa. Morata is a hard worker, but not the forward we need. I don’t even know what Abraham is. Your argument about them not missing chances, hence not sharing any of the blame is a bit simplistic. The forward has to be more involved in the pressing, more skillful with the ball and more physical when fighting the defenders for the ball. We’re seeing none of that this season. It’s just Morata falling to the ground any chance he gets, while Tammy does the same and almost always getting himself injured. The fact the we need players in other departments doesn’t change the fact that both our forwards are having a Lapadula-season and even Lapadula was a reserve player to Carlos Bacca. Simply not good enough.
Its very shame u compared giroud with abraham🤣..
3 Simple solution
1. Don’t start Emerson Royal.
2. Don’t start Emerson Royal.
3. Don’t start Emerson Royal.
Getting Walker should fix that. That’s why I’m all in with the transfer and willing to chip inn.
*in.
1. Aside from Pulisic, Maignan, Leão (on a good day), Theo (on a good day) and perhaps Gabbia, our team is made of average or below average players that are simply incapable of turning games on their own. So, when Pulisic is absent if our remaining “best players” are incapable of playing to the levels they’re supposedly capable of how are we expected to win an away game against a club who spent a lot trying to reinforce itself and came channeling all the rage and anger from previous bad results and unleash it against us ? To put it shortly, how are we expected to win, if our “best players” are playing like garbage ?
2. Why is our team made of mostly average or poor players ? The answer lies between Moncada and Ibrahimovic. Yes sure, they spent 200M€ or so these past 2 years, but it was mostly money flushed down the toilet. With the 70M€ of Tonali’s sale, in the first season only Pulisic performed well, Reijnders was mostly average, Loftus-Cheek only did well as a second-striker, Pellegrino played less than half a game and was sent to the shadow realm, Chukwueze was hyped as the right winger Leao only to score and assist in the single digits while Okafor and Jovic could only score when we had like 3 or 4 strikers at the same time in the dying moments of the game, but don’t worry we had the “potential” of Yunus Musah, the NFL player. In the second season, Royal is a catastrophe and we KNEW he was bad before getting him, it’s not a case of a player underperfoming compared to previous seasons, no, he was always that bad. Pavlović showed us exactly why a team from the great Austrian bundesliga accepted to let him go for almost half the price while Abraham and Morata are trying their best to show that Okafor and Jovic were good players. Jimenez is too green and might go back to Madrid if he becames good. Oh and let’s not forget all the talk about needing a defensive midfielder only to get a box-to-box midfielder than now has to learn how to play like a defensive midfielder. But hey, what’s the difference between all these positions anyways ?
3. You can almost hear our midfield SCREAM in need of reinforcement, but hélas so far no new midfielder in sight. But why, I thought Fofana and Reijnders were good enough ? Yes, so much better than the others actually that they were rewarded by playing virtually every minute they can play. But can’t we rotate them ? Why in a team made of more than 20 players NO ONE can replace Reijnders and Fofana, I thought Adli can…ah yes. But don’t worry too much we have now Bennacer who is almost like a new signing and who is going to improve, until he gets injured again.
4. While not as urgent, the same can be said about almost all our departments. Walker might work but we need a long term solution for the right back where the genius management decided that Royal could be an improvement. Theo can do as he pleases because we have no left back deputy and after getting 2 strikers on top of the 2 we got last season, it turns out that we need a striker.
5. I won’t blame Conceição too much, but here he was outcoached and the team has actually yet to improve. He took the reigns less than a month ago when injury crisis reached its peak and some regular starters are exhausted because of lack of rotation, but at some point, he will have to prove that he is capable to back up all those “epic” quotes of his.
As closing words, we are an average team, made of average players managed by incompetents and was coached by an average coach till december. When you [management] make stupid decisions, you will get stupid results.
👏👏👏👏👏👏
Couldn’t have said it better.
Also that we are getting a right back in January is a clear indication that Royal wasn’t cutting it. Clearly.
So many things wrong with the team, it’s badly constructed and it’s our cheapness (to pay proper wages) is the reason we dont have proper personnel. Add in this weird obsession to constantly tinker a d change the team, no wonder why we’re playing so disjointedly. Only 2-3 years ago we had a completely different midfield and attack apart from Leao. And now we’re dismantling the defence… because apparently it has never won us anything
Well said – but I would add Thiaw as one of our better players.
The truth is: We HAD it with Maldini. Just like he said all we needed to do was to add 2-3 starting caliber players after our UCL semi final loss and following year we would have been challenging for UCL and Scudetto TITLES…..BUT nah we chose to tear it all down because of some a$$🤡’s fragile ego…..
we are NOT a serious club.
LITERALLY JUST 2-3 signings,.smh 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Unbelievable! I’ll throw in the stupid wage cap for good measure too
Waitin6 4 sixth point still
Probably benches and 5 subs are expansion that nowdays coaches cant working with still
Its like you can gets just one strategy plan per season or top players are their bad
Using only system and only team is never bad idea at all saying at all there are 5 subs this is like 1 and 2
Paying system is good idea too much money and power
Thats all staying behind your team firstly
Lets us see what it is
Milan cant buy for all positions. For all the money they have, they wasted on players like emerson Royal, Pavlović. They cant buy top players, promising players also don’t work. Not sure where it gone wrong, while almost every player going to Atalanta, their value gone up, they perform more than expected. Buying players like Walker, Morata are also wrong. The management needs to resign.
1. “The highest goalscorers on most teams are actually the wingers” is not true. Immobile, Giroud, Lautaro, Thuram, Retegui, Vlahovic, Moise Kean, Osimhen, Dybala, Dovbyk, D. Zapata have all been the primary source of goals. I consider Lookman a second striker but even he was outscored by Scamacca last season and Retegui this season. In other leagues it’s Haaland, Kane, Mbappe, Lewa, Isak, Wood, Marmoush, Schick.
2. I agree with you that problem is much deeper than just a striker. The squad is poorly constructed, there is no clear system of play, and our midfield is much weaker than recent years despite Reijnders and Fofana putting in good performances this season before running out of gas from being overplayed.
We are in survival mode now. In terms of competing again, we need a plan, a transfer market or two to complement that plan, and a pre-season with everyone involved.
Responding to Z
Emerson Rojal is something we have learned long ago.
But since MM16 is captain he lets savable goals 3 games in a row. One of witch…
TJ should join the kebab.
It was very very hard task to win against Juve in Torin. Lets get some points on the bord in next games and work on our play style. Milan does not have identity (common, its the 5th game after being in limbo for 6 months)
And for sure we will do better this year since we do not have a certified idjot on the bench.
I don’t care.
The teams we’re playing against are being captained by our former youth players.
This Milan team is pointless. And the signing of Walker re-enforces our pointlessness by further insulting our longer serving player and captain.
Calabria will leave the club with his held head high knowing that he oversaw Milan’s return to the top, and watched from the bench as the club returned to mid-table.
Are you related to Calabria or something?
The fact that so many people don’t understand the need to stand behind our longest serving player shows that we will never return to being a top club.
Do you want Calabria to be your boyfriend?
I hope you enjoy each of your 10 new RBs over the next 10 years.
The only thing we learned is that Fonseca wasn’t the problem. Well, I personally knew it all along, but people who are bigger supporters of RedBird, Leao and Theo had a painful realization Saturday night.
Leao is much better when Pulisic is on the field as they both get the attention of the defence. Against Juve Leao was decent but there was nobody else for the defence to worry about. He also seemed to be instructed to play centrally as a 2nd striker. Musah on the right was almost never forward.
Leao has yet to show that he can do that role as striker instead of RW.
What we’re missing cannot be bought.
What we’re missing was summed up by Calabria and Locatelli’s messages to Cutrone when MALDINI forced the latter out:
“Brother, I still can’t believe it, but this is the harsh reality,” Locatelli wrote on Instagram.
“From kids making their debuts to the senior squad, a story we can tell to children who are chasing the same dreams we had. That dream that after eight years we could look each other in the eye and say, we did it.”
“You were the perfect incarnation of what it means to be Milan. I wish you the best, because you deserve it. Life forces us to make choices and we have to take them. I hope for you that this is the right path. I am convinced that with your determination and hunger, you’ll give your all and prove yourself in England too.”
“Distance can never be a problem for us, and we’ve already proved that. I can only say that I’ll always be here for you. All the best, my brother.”
Calabria added: “It’ll be strange, so very strange, after all these years not to be in the same dressing room, wearing the same shirt, not having you constantly under my feet at Milanello. But that is football. That is life.
“You already know everything I think and what you need to do. It won’t be easy, but with your grit, you’ll manage it. I wish you the best, my friend, I will miss you.”
We had our base.
Donnarumma was a mercenary but Gabbia, Calabria, Locatelli and Cutrone were our base, our soul, our raison d’etre.
It was MALDINI of all people who dismantled our base but somehow managed to to replace it was something.
We found another base of Maignan, Calabria, Tomori, Kalulu, Theo, Tonali and Leao but one by one we’ve dismantled that base too.
We now need to start again.
I don’t really have the appetite for yet another revolution, to try and get to know more new players, to try and find out what makes a new crop tick.
None of the new crop will be around for very long anyway.
It’s pointless.
I’ll follow Locatelli and Cutrone for the remainder of the season. Let’s see about next. Another revolution and I think I’m done for good.
Well written. This is exactly what’s missing.
The way you capitalise Maldini name like he was happy sending him away, or he was the only one taking decisions.
And while I loved cutrone, tell me how has cutrone faired in all the clubs he played for after Milan.
It’s better you do yourself a favor by staying away. No one saw you for sometime, so I thought you finally left to be with Como, you know since you love them so much.
For you it’s player over club. But now you are back here crying about Milan. I personally don’t want walker, it’s a deal that is not in. The best interest of Milan long term. But just stay at Como and juve.
That’s where your heart is. No need pretending to support Milan.
Crying and blaming Maldini like, if cutrone had not left then, he would still be playing now. Like without Maldini cutrone would have been an everlasting print at milan🤦♂️🤦♂️.
He claims soul and cries that players should be given chances but he did not give said chance to adli. Hypocrisy. He claims football reality is not a video game and pace is not everything, but he lambasted adli for been slow hypocrisy.
Just like he complained about CDK. You just want a selective Milan the one where your players stay and the ones you don’t like leave. I hope Como knows what kind of fan they are getting in you with your selective hypocrisy.
It is ridiculous to say Conceicao was outcoached, when 90% of our players were unable to even control a ball, which is basic soccer 101. Musah had a hard touch that went away from him ao far, I kicked it back to him on my couch…
The problem, for me, is the lack of quality players… Why is Emerson, Calabria, Musah still there? Why is Jovic or Morata?
You can’t blame Tammy, he is a loan, which can be terminated, but we bought trash and are unwilling to get rid of it…
Why can’t we try to sign 1-2 quality signings at this stage? I have an answer for you, the management. We went from an 80% successful signings to less than 25%. Furlani, moncada and Ibra are all male genitalia suckers that spend their time sucking each other rather than trying to analyze what to do. Cardinale is a brokie that couldn’t afford the team and now is struggling to make it work. A team is built from the top, and if the top is headless, we will not progress.
3 coaches, same results, mediocrity. What’s the constant? The players. . And who signs them?
You get that Calabria has barely played this season?
But for 5 seasons when he was starting RB we finished in the top 4, we finished in the top 2 in 3 of those seasons, and of course we won a Scudetto.
But let’s keep searching for a Scudetto winning players…
Agreed, when kalulu and Tomori were at their peak… If you can’t see that Calabria is dribbled past every time he faces an opponent, every time he plays. Lost possession 11 times vs Cagliari in his last game, and in Liverpool he did not win a single duel, but yes we expect him to be the best RB. You are missing the point, that team is gone, we need an actual roster that wants to win and has won something…
Based on your logic let’s bring back giroud and Ibra since we finished top 4 and won a scudetto with them, or Maldini to win 5 UCLs in a row??
Well said.
Kyle Walker of Rossonerri scored already before contract this is what am talking about
That Tonali sale keeps looking better and better right?
This is probably an unpopular opinion, and I’m definitely not happy with the current state of Milan. BUT…
When are we expected to win away at Juventus? Honestly? They’re a legendary club in their own right. It’s a tough place to play. Are we really expecting Milan to win every time they step on the pitch? It’s not reasonable.
Well… Juve hadn’t won in 27 days. They had been underperforming for months. Until we came to visit… It’s always like that.
1. This team has beaten Juventus, Inter twice, and Real Madrid this season. Losing to Juventus away without Pulisic isn’t that surprising. The problem is they are inconsistent and tend to not play well against lesser sides with a low block. Hopefully Conceicao is working a lot on that problem.
2. The two things that I don’t understand since Conceição took over is why Gabbia got benched for a not very good Tomori and why Pulisic doesn’t take corners anymore.
3. Too tired to do all 5
Since Pulisic stopped taking the corners, we have scored zero goals from them. Incidence? 😀
*coincidence
Exactly.