AC Milan went into the game against Borussia Dortmund hoping for a memorable night in front of their home fans but instead they endured a nightmare, losing 3-1 to all but seal their Champions League exit.
Calciomercato.com journalist Daniele Longo writes that the problem lies in the competitiveness that Milan lacked at the crucial moment of the season when it comes to European competitions. His piece is titled ‘Pioli’s defeat: from the massacre of injuries to results, the cycle is over’.
With Rafael Leao and Noah Okafor in the stands and Ruben Loftus-Cheek weakened by the muscular problems of recent days, the mission was already difficult from the start and became more and more so as the minutes passed.
Malick Thiaw was also forced to leave San Siro on crutches due to yet another muscle injury in this ridiculous start to the season, which then saw Rade Krunic come on at centre-back by virtue of necessity.
Milan are virtually already out of the Champions League and have a faint hope of qualifying for the Europa League by finishing third in the group. In the next few hours the Rossoneri will have to analyse the reasons for this defeat.
Net of some errors in the transfer market (a true deputy to Olivier Giroud and a centre-back were sorely missing), the responsibilities of Pioli and the coach and medical staff must be considered. The numbers of injuries collected so far are obscene: 20 due to muscular issues, 25 the overall number.
Without Thiaw, the only centre-backs available are Tomori and the possible promotion of Jan-Carlo Simic from the Primavera, who is not even eligible to play in the Champions League.
Pioli still enjoys the trust of the management but the results achieved so far are disappointing. There are no rumours surfacing about a possible change, at least not immediately, but Longo adds that ‘our feeling is that Pioli’s cycle ended with Adeyemi’s goal’.
You can see how much Leao is better than Pulisic. He can’t get past one player and he is a winger. He is useful and better than Messias but not even close to Leao. Chukwueze will bench him when he gains a bit more confidence. At least he tries to dribble, Pulisic has 80% of passes to the back.
I guess you didn’t watch the game then as Puli got a few decent crosses from the byline after he had gotten rid of the defender. And which do you prefer: a no-look “pass” inside the penalty box where there is no Milan-players nearby (like Leao usually does) or a pass backwards to own player and keep the ball control and continue the attack?
Dude, couple of decent crosses is the best he can do. That is not a starting Milan winger. Yes, I prefer players that create multiple dangerous situations every game. Pulisic was quite useless, like I’ve said, most of his passes were backwards. Chukwueze did more with one move than Pulisic the entire game.
P.S. That stupid “I guess you didn’t watch the game”…Yes, only you watched the game and you still understand nothing…
But I prefer Chukwueze for example. When facing 2 players he will try go past them, Pulisic will turn back and pass the ball to midfield or right back. In 99% of cases. What kind of a winger is that? It is like a version from “Wish”.
You are 100% right except the Transfer
The 4-3-3 setup killed Milan notoriously. What was the problem playing with a 4-2-3-1? See, Dortmund used it and were so fluent in both attack and defense. Why blaming Pioli? He did great last season in the champions League, isn’t he? Last season he didn’t have a fresh team but this season he had to adjust to a new system with a fresh team. The total radical approach was considered by the new owners with the help of the experts like Maldini and Massara.
*without
Bvb was all over the place. The only reason it looked fluent to you is because Milan was that shît.
Klopp been using 433 for over a decade. It works fine you just gotta be a better manager than pioli to optimise it. 4231 is for suckers with no real idea how to use your players and even there, if you don’t have a proper AM you’re fûcked. Milan doesn’t have a proper AM
“Last season he didn’t have a fresh team but this season he had to adjust to a new system with a fresh team. The total radical approach was considered by the new owners ” what??? You’re saying the owners threw the 433 on him? 🤣🤣🤣🤣and blames M&M 😂😂😂wasn’t he in interviews saying he has the team he wants and he wanted to change formation. Bro stop 😂
Btw we played a 4231 last night
I don’t even know where to begin with your comment.
“ The total radical approach was considered by the new owners with the help of the experts like Maldini and Massara.”
Half of your comment is right. The NEW Management wanted “radical” change NOT Maldini and Masara. Maldini favored adding to the existing core – so that meant keeping Tonali and adding 3-4 new starters like a RW like Berardi. However that approach costs $$$ (like 100M) and Ownership didn’t want to spend beyond the 35-40M yearly transfer budget so we had to sell a player like Tonali to fund our transfer market. It was Furlani and Moncada orchestrated it and Pioli said he was onboard and boasted he had his team and he decided to change the system from our successful 4-2-3-1. Blaming M&M for our current woes is comical and delusional all wrapped into one. Blame Pioli, Furlani Moncada and Ownership if you need to blame someone and pls get your facts straight mate
Roberto Mancini PLS
“Milan are virtually already out of the Champions League and have a faint hope of qualifying for the Europa League by finishing third in the group”
While I agree were virtually out of the UCL, a victory for us guarantees Europa at the very least so how’s that faint hope??? I guess it means we have no chance of beating Newcastle at home maybe !?🤷♂️