Throughout the season, there have been questions about hierarchies and respect across the board at AC Milan, and this weekend, the issue has risen again.
In a game where Milan had to win, the Rossoneri conceded within 120 seconds, and from that point on, the game looked bleak. So, when Romelu Lukaku made it 2-0 less than 20 minutes later, it seemed like the game was done.
However, a penalty early in the second half gave some hope of a comeback, but it was not to be as Santiago Gimenez shot weakly and Meret saved with ease. Today, Pietro Mazzara offered his views on the penalty situation when writing for Milan News.
“At the moment when Sozza ruled the penalty kick in favour of AC Milan, Christian Pulisic took the ball, but later, according to reconstructions from the pitch, he allegedly let Santi Gimenez have the ball in an attempt to give him a chance to break free after more than a month’s drought.
“The result? A penalty wrongly kicked by the Mexican, Meret parried, and the score remained at 2-0 when there were still 22 minutes left on the clock plus recovery. If there are hierarchies, they must be respected. Full stop.
“And who cares about Inter and the Scudetto fight, Milan had to win last night for themselves and to try to respond to the victories of Roma, Juventus and Bologna. Instead, now they remain ninth, locked out of any European zone to the happiness of all.”
Considering the issues with Pulisic giving up penalties earlier in the season, and what happened, it just feels like another mistake which players have failed to learn from. A frustration in itself, made worse by the fact that the Diavolo seemingly never learn from them, even if the sentiment is nice.
I really think Santiago Gimenez and Joao Felix continue to show they do not fit at AC Milan. Without both of these guys the team plays better. It’s my humble opinion.
I don’t understand Gimeneze yet is football is just nonsense
I’d wish that the scouts would look for a midfielder like Luciano Cabral who plays in Argentina on Independiente and a strong defender like Paulo Diaz from River Plate.
He Is a bust…!!!😭😭
I’m not ready to give up on him. He arrived in a very difficult moment and as a result the expectations are sky high. Serie A is Serie A. I think given the amount paid and the situation, that Gimenez should not be truly judged until summer 2026.
What some people have said is true, he lacks service. We mostly play down the flanks, relying on some kind of magic by Leao or Pulisic, with the result usually being that they either take a shot, they get tackled, the ball gets cleared somewhere or if they cut back it’s to the top of the box. There is very little play down the middle that would provide for a through ball to Gimenez or to a pass to him in a position where he would be able to make a space-making move before taking a shot. Three different strikers have been ineffectual this season: Morata, Abraham and now Gimenez. All of them have been successful (to different degrees) elsewhere. It’s becoming difficult to blame the strikers. The game plan and supporting cast need to improve.
My opinion is that the tactics should be based on the center forward, not the winger and midfielder, like when he was in Porto, he used his two strikers. All the wingers or the midfielders on the sides would give the ball deep so that the center forward could use the ball and score, which is why he was always successful. But in Milan, everyone relied on Liao, who in the same game or Napoli, if it was any other player, would have been the goalkeeper, instead of burning the opportunity, they would have converted it into a goal, but Liao ruined it, if he had scored, we would have won the game now.
100% that the Rossoneri need a beefed-up midfield. We spend far too much time focused on the front line when the real challenge is not controlling the game between the boxes.
TJ is the #10/CAM (or offensive 8) but we need a real destroyer add a real playmaker next to Reijnders who can pass through lines and quickly respond on counters before the defense sets up.
Milan is one team that should live by Rangnick’s “respond within 8 seconds” counterattacking rule (“gegenpressing”).
Today, when Milan wins the ball back in the midfield, there’s no sense of urgency. We give the other side way too much time to reset their defense. That, couple with the fact that we have been frequently conceding within the first 15-20 minutes, means we make it harder to chase the game.
Yes the midfield is over ran for the third straight year. The defense is bad enough to be constantly hung out to dry with bad passes and in ability to control the midfield for any meaningful portion of the game
The only solution to AC Milan midfield is too bring back Adli to this team again,Adli is more creative and accurate pass than any of our midfield right now,in my opinion we made a mistake too let benacer go this season,this Milan board are so dull and they makes a so many mistakes so far,you sell tonali,kessi without a good replacement,the only good player we buy is pulisic,tijani the rest are illusion players,sell this club to the Arab people,they will spend and buy good players not this American that always buy flop players from Chelsea always…
1. Adli is technically limited. Good vision but cant pass good enough especially under pressure, he was prone for mistakes.
2. Bennacer is the one that demanded to be sold to Marseille.
There are lies, damned lies, and statistics!
The PK statistics that stand-out the most are these three:
1. AC Milan have converted 5 of 9 PKs, this season (as an aside, it’s a bit amazing that we’ve only won nine PKs, this late in the season, but the eight we’ve won in Serie A is joint-top; it’s in cup ties and especially the UCL where we were treated poorly).
2. Pulisic is 4/5; the rest of the squad is 1/4.
3. Since Pulisic was named the primary taker of PKs, all three of the PKs taken by anyone NOT named Pulisic have failed to be converted.
For the love of GOD, I don’t care who needs emotional support, who’s been “hot” recently, or whatever other idea ANYONE has, if Pulisic is on the pitch, he MUST take any PKs.
I really find TJ’s personality similar to the kebap.
Remember when the media called this guy is like Sheva? Fortunately i didn’t believe their BS.