There we multiple reasons for AC Milan to celebrate after their 2-0 win against Atalanta as a crucial result also saw the return of two crucial players.
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport (via MilanNews) recall how Mike Maignan made his return to the field 161 days since his last appearance, which was during the 2-1 home defeat to Napoli back on 18 September. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was back too, and he hadn’t played since the title-clinching win against Sassuolo on 22 May 2022.
The French goalkeeper had a quiet night against Atalanta as they did not fire a shot on target but his presence has given Milan further peace of mind. Maignan guided his team-mates from the back and showed that he remains confident in the build-up phase, trying a number of his trademark long balls.
Zlatan meanwhile came on in the 74th minute in place of Giroud, and in doing so he became the oldest Milan player (41 years and 146 days) to play in Serie A in the three points for a win era, surpassing Alessandro Costacurta (41 years and 25 days).
Kudos for Pioli. He might be stubborn, but he handled injury pretty well. Maignan and Ibra should be late christmas for him
Guys-how are your take on Maignan last night? Want to know fellow fans opinion.
Imo, the good thing was that his presence and positioning showed confidence and gave assurance to the back 5 to play with calm and assured pass.
Can’t say much about saves as Atalanta didn’t have any shot on target.
But he is far from his best in terms of passing… His progressive passes often misses and not have much power – lots of times the kick didn’t reach the target or even not pass the mid lane. That leads to Atalanta get the ball easily from his long ball – luckily other players were on point and managed to limit them.
Thoughts?
I think your observations are mostly correct. However I think it’s nothing more than a bit of rust after having not played a competitive game for 6 months. I expect it will take a few outings before he’s back to his best, just as it would with an outfield player.
Expected to be honest, he’ll shake it off in time for Spurs match 🙂
Expected the same, need the best version of Mike for us to reach later stages of Champions league and stay at top 4