Yunus Musah always believed that AC Milan would find a way to win against Empoli even after the red card, and now hopes consistency will follow.
After a goalless first half at the Stadio Carlo Castellani, and action-packed second followed which began with Fikayo Tomori being sent off for getting a second yellow card. Then, Marianucci kicked out at Santiago Gimenez to restore numerical parity as he got a red too.
Rafael Leao gave Milan the lead with a header at the far post after Christian Pulisic’s cross, then the American teed up Gimenez for his first goal since arriving, and that would be enough in the end for a vital three points.
Musah spoke to both DAZN and Milan TV after the full-time whistle to give his thoughts on the game, with his comments relayed by MilanNews and translated below.
You wanted to win this one, the coach took a risk and the result was the reward…
“The feeling on the pitch was that despite the red card we were still pushing and creating. We didn’t have the feeling of being in difficulty.”
What changed at half-time?
“It seemed like we were playing more direct and Empoli seemed deeper. However, we came out well and pushed hard.”
Now the Champions League play-off…
“Unfortunately I won’t be there for the first leg due to the red card, I hope the team can do their job well and I will support them until the end.”
How do you rathe the performance?
“A solid match, there were few moments in which Empoli gave us problems. Even after the red card I was confident about the victory and so it was.”
You are a very versatile player…
“I have the qualities to play anywhere, I attack and defend and I willingly help the team.”
Do you feel the squad is more complete?
“I think we feel the strength of the team, not from this match but from before as from the Supercoppa. We have a good group to continue like this and achieve our targets.”
This Milan only lacks consistency…
“We are starting to have consistency, we like this feeling and we want to continue to feel it.”
He’s got a good head on him, works hard and is very versatile. Would love for everything to work out for him, especially with his Italian heritage. Hopefully the Zagreb game will be a kick in the right direction. Versatility can count against him though, preventing him from really specialising in a position, so part of me hopes he can focus on being the best CM he can be; the last couple of games have looked promising.
He offers nothing on the wing, that experiment has been overdone and needs to end. But as evidenced yesterday, he is brilliant at carrying the ball through the middle third against lesser teams who play a lower block.
He’s never going to be great, but he’s very useful.
How many starts in a row now? Coaches love Musah.
It’s not like they have a choice though.
Both Musah and Fofana can make sudden easy mistakes from nowhere. But Musah is four years younger than Fofana and is physically good.
Also, Musah is very quick with the ball.
Both Fofana and Musah can make opening passed to team mates every now and then.
If they can limit their mistakes and better the passing something big could happen.
He “can” play anywhere but he’s virtually average/bad everywhere.
He is strong and fast, so when he runs, the opposition has to pay attention and as far as we’re concerned, since we’re often so bad at constructing an actual attack, it’s sometimes the only way to at least get the ball from our own half to near the opposition’s box. However the kid can’t shoot and is bad at every type of pass in the book (short pass, long ball, through ball and crosses) so unless there is a player close enough to him to whom he can confortably pass, we’ll end up losing that ball somehow.
It’s a bit astonishing that even in his best games with us and the few ones that can be considered decent, he doesn’t have a single decent shot and most of his passes were wasted.
I don’t have a lot of hope for him so in my opinion, next summer he should leave (wether on loan or be sold) alongside Chukwueze, Loftus-Cheek, Jović and Royal.
“ He “can” play anywhere but he’s virtually average/bad everywhere.”
Spot on sir 💯💯💯💯💯💯
He’s till young so maybe he improves (let’s pray) – BUT he is not a starting caliber player. He’s a bench player to bring on AFTER we have a lead to run around with his high energy. That’s all I see in him right NOW
That he says he can play anywhere is probably an indictment that he himself doesn’t even know his best position. Who exactly knows where he’s best at really
Musah, can you play on the bench? 🙂
Jack of all trades, master of none. Gattuso was technically lacking but excellent in his workmate and defense. But Musah was bang average or subpar.
to echo your feelings. He should master one role. Whatevr that is. Take for example a Puli or a Tiji. Puli “can” play anywhere upfront. He can be SS, he can be AM, LW and RW. But his bread and butter is the wing. Versatility is awesome, but master a role first. He’s got time to do it.
talk about average blabla, did you all forget about gattuso? the lad is young and have room to improve.. and not all players need to be flashy in terms of skill.
Players like Musah are rarely appreciated by the champagne football crowd. Musah’s hard work and running proves balance in the midfield allowing Pulisic Reijnders and Leao to do their business. its no surprise to me that Conceicao keeps him in the lineup. And he is young and will get better.