AC Milan were held to a 2-2 draw against Parma on Saturday evening, missing a good opportunity at the top of the standings. As always, we have picked out five takeaways from the disappointing game.
Massimiliano Allegri and his men had a good week of training, following the win against Roma, and were also handed a boost by some injury returns (including Christian Pulisic). In spite of this, the game against Parma ended up being a disappointing one.
A two-goal lead was squandered by the Rossoneri who, instead of asserting themselves at top, showed exactly why people don’t believe in them in the Scudetto race. Below are the five things that we learned from the game.
1. Duo prove costly
There has been a bit of a theme in terms of Milan’s flops in games this season, and this time out, the usual two suspects stepped up in a negative way.
The first is Pervis Estupinan, who could and should have cleared the ball on the first goal. Instead, he decided to go into a duel that he lost in a very comical way. It proved very costly for his side as Parma scored the first goal and got great momentum from it.
The Ecuadorian was recently injured, so some could point to that as an excuse, but we would argue that a brain fart like that has nothing with his fitness. Instead, it’s more to do with poor judgement and the rest of the game was also a disastrous one for the left-back.
Then, the second culprit is Youssouf Fofana, who fell asleep on the second goal as he didn’t follow Delprato’s run. This resulted in Milan collecting just a single point from game in which they were leading 2-0.
2. De Winter struggles continue
The Belgian has been enjoying playing time as of late, given Fikayo Tomori’s knee issues, but sadly there have been some question marks regarding his place as a starter. And if he’s not good enough, then Milan have just three centre-backs to rely on at the back, which is nowhere near enough.
There were some good indications from the Genoa man, don’t get us wrong, but he looked rather insecure with his positioning at the back once again. Perhaps he will improve with time, and with more moulding from Allegri, but that is no guarantee.
Fortunately, Milan are still close to the top and should they continue in this fashion, then the management could act during the January window to strengthen the defence.
3. Modric and Maignan help Milan avoid defeat
Parma didn’t have many chances in the majority of the first half, up until the first goal they scored, but in the second half they were much more dangerous and Mike Maignan stepped up with a couple of crucial saves. In combination with Luka Modric’s work rate, this helped the Rossoneri make sure they at least got a point.
The duo really led their team and managed to help Milan stay in the game, which resulted in opportunities to even win it despite the poor performance. However, the forwards let Milan down with their lack of composure in the final third.
4. Mixed bag from Leao and Saelemaekers
Saelemaekers started the game in amazing fashion, scoring the opener and winning a penalty that was converted by Leao. However, the second half was the exact opposite and fans havce been rather critical of him despite the goal contributions.
The Beglain had the chance to score what probably would have been the winner deep into the second half, but he failed to hit the target despite rounding the goalkeeper. Such a big miss obviously puts a huge stain on his overall performance, despite the strong first half.
Leao, meanwhile, scored the penalty as said and should have had an assist for Pulisic, but the No.11 missed. That said, the feeling is perhaps that he still doesn’t make the most of Milan’s chances, or rather the counter-attacks.
There were a few of them in the second half when it looked like Milan could really create something good. Obviously, the individual errors of others were more costly, but the reality is that Milan should be scoring more goals and Leao plays a part in that too.
5. Questionable choices from Allegri
The manager opted for Estupinan over Davide Bartesaghi, even though the youngster has been solid in recent weeks and, truth be told, has looked even better than the Ecuadorian.
Estupinan then proceeded to be the flop of the game, and one could only wonder if the result would have been different if Allegri had started Bartesaghi instead, given his positive momentum.
Another questionable decision was to leave Fofana on as he, again, was one of the culprits on the second goal and has been playing poorly for months now. Allegri subbed off Ricci instead, even if the former Torino man was also struggling a bit.
Allegri didn’t really have much to work with either, it should be said, so we can’t really blame him for errors such as Estupinan’s on the first goal. However, the feeling is that Bartesaghi deserved to start again.
You are glossing over the fact that Bartesaghi had a relatively poor game v Roma. Particularly mistakes in the first half (whilst improving in the second). He is very young and Estupinan should be the senior starter of the two if fit. It would be a massive call from Allegri to play the young player over him this soon.
I agree – Estupinan was bad in this game but he was doing great before getting injured..now after one performance he’s suddenly as bad as Emerson Royal..
Napoli ate his lunch. He was horrible the first match and looked okay once Rabiot arrived. Rabiot is out and crap Pervis returns. He can’t dribble which is required on the wing. Look at Saelemaekers, he can dribble and progress the attack or get out of jams. Pervis is a PL player. He can run and he can cross but in tight spaces he’s poor.
We had the chances to win this game. Some really bad misses in the second half.
I thought Fofana was much better in this game. Haven’t rewatched the replays of their second goal to see why we was at fault.
There was nothing questionable about subbing out Ricci and not Fofana.
When your team needs to score a goal, which midfielder would you rather have on the pitch?
A midfielder that pushes forward, makes runs in the penalty area and gets in scoring positions even though he is bad at finishing them, or a midfielder that mostly runs towards his own goal and passes the ball backward most of the time?
On another note, Conte’s Napoli is on a 4 game streak of not scoring a single goal. I remember there were fans who didn’t want Allegri because he is a defensive minded coach, while at the same time they wanted Milan to hire Conte, like he is known for offensive football.
Allegri’s Milan has scored 1 more goal (17) than Conte’s Napoli, but at the same time Milan players have around 25 big chances missed. Only team with more chances created and missed than Milan are inter.
Meanwhile Conte’s Napoli doesn’t even create chances. 2 total shots
vs Bologna today, only 1 on target. And people say this is the favorite for the scudetto.
Gasperini’s Roma have scored 12 goals in 11 games and they are currently 1st on the table.
This should be a cakewalk to a scudetto for Milan if they can just convert a third of their chamces. The league is very week.
Let’s check some actual stats from this season between the two:
Fofana played 11 games, 1 goal, 1 assist
Ricci played 8 games, 1 goal, 1 assist
Fofana duels won in % – 20
Ricci duels won in % – 90
Fofana forward passes in % – 47
Ricci forward passes in % – 94
Fofana progressive carries in % – 56
Ricci progressive carries in % – 80
That’s about it from “A midfielder that pushes forward, makes runs in the penalty area and gets in scoring positions”. You can just say you don’t like Ricci instead of try and twist his image around here without any base. Tipical narcissistic behaviour. Wouldn’t expect anything less from a narcissist like you.
Thanks now I don’t have to dig that stuff up.
The only thing Ricci doesn’t have over Fofana is size and a spot on his national team
Is that % of successful passes or how often do they pass forward?
When you make a short forward pass to your closest teammate of course you are going to have a high %.
Try watching them play and see who gets into scoring position and who is scared to pass the ball. Milan needed a goal, not playing scared.
We see Fofana getting in scoring position not Ricci.
He misses most of them but at least he gets there, the other doesn’t even get there, and as it was pointed out Milan needed a goal.
My opinion on Ricci is very well established.
And we know Allegri’s opinion of Ricci is also very well established. He didnt play him until every other midfielder was injured and yesterday when he needed to go for a goal, he took out Ricci not Fofana.
He must be a narcissist as well or he just understands football better than you.
Duels won? Let’s check some actual stats.
Without Ricci, with Fofana, in 6 games Milan gave up only 3 goals.
With Ricci and with Fofana in 5 games Milan gave up 6 goals.
Do you have any % about how much worse Milan is defensively since Ricci started playing in the starting lineup, and how much worse the midfield has been even though they played vs a lower level opposition in those 5 games with him compared to the previous 6 without him? Outside of Roma every other opponent is from the 13th to 20th in the standings.
Without any base, right?
We’ll see how much Allegri likes Ricci once Rabiot and Jashari are back healthy.
Oh BTW, ‘Sandro Tonali took a voluntary pay cut on his £120,000-a-week salary out of ‘GUILT’ after being handed his 10-month ban for illegal betting, reveals Newcastle boss Eddie Howe’.
It literally says “forward passes in %” which Ricci has higher and you’re still talking about him passing backwards.
And yes you also have duels won in percentage, where Ricci pockets Fofana, meaning Ricci is Milan’s defensive player who does “the dirty work” and not Fofana like many here want to persuade.
“meaning Ricci is Milan’s defensive player who does “the dirty work” and not Fofana like many here want to persuade.”
These are your words.
Now let’s look at what I wrote that got you triggered to write useless %.
“There was nothing questionable about subbing out Ricci and not Fofana.
“When your team needs to score a goal, which midfielder would you rather have on the pitch?
A midfielder that pushes forward, makes runs in the penalty area and gets in scoring positions even though he is bad at finishing them, or a midfielder that mostly runs towards his own goal and passes the ball backward most of the time?”
Milan needed the defensive player who does the dirty work or the player who provides another player in the penalty box when you need a goal and you don’t have a striker but 2 wingers on the pitch?
You basically fell in your own crap.
You responded to me not to many who say that Fofana does the dirty work. I was talking about scoring goals not defensive midfielder or dirty work.
Can you ever stay on topic?
Also, about the silly % you posted.
There is a huge difference between % of completed forward passes from how often he passes forward.
Lets say a midfielder like Ricci passes 40 times a game. If 5 of those 40 passes go forward and he completes 4 of them, thats comes up to 80% forward passes completed. But the other 35 passes are going sideways or backwards.
So is he someone that passes the ball forward or someone who barely passes the ball forward?
Fofana forward completed passes % is lower because most of his forward passes are in the final third since he plays further up the pitch and those passes are less successful than a short pass forward to the nearest teammate like Ricci does.
@Z
“to write useless %”
Only a narcissist like you will neglect actual statistics in favour of own conviction even if it’s completely wrong.
Duels won – you need to be in possession of you are going to score.
Fofana shooting is … Well … A crap.shoot at best.
The basis of your logic is also flawed.
With Pulisic coming on, Ricci should stay so we have the ball to feed to him.
Our problem in the last two games was not finishing big chances.
In this game Ricci was not responsible for either goal. Fofana is largely seen to be out of position on the second goal.
Z is a literal nutcase, he argues like a woman. If the facts back him up he talks about that, if he knows he is wrong he starts making up the most stupid sh*t you’ll ever read.
Hahahahahahahaha. Yes, it has nothing to do with Rabiot missing. It is Fofana. Hahahahahahahahahahahah.
Allegri like defending so Fofana is a starter for him
What I learned is Milan stopped playing after scoring the second goal. To make matter worse, there was no reaction until Parma equalised. I was so angry watching the match. We made Parma looked like a top team. What we really need is to pin the small teams to their half. Sitting too deep is suicidal and we all know what normally happens. Most importantly, we need to score more goals.
It was a disappointing result but we know the team has issues. We don’t have a proper striker and our system relies a lot on Rabiot. On the bright side, we’re only two points off the top. Before signing Rabiot, I was worried this team wouldn’t reach top four. Our rivals haven’t looked great and have to deal with the Champions League as well.
Ha yeh I never got the Napoli hype this season either – although I can’t them or their fans so I’m probably a bit biased ..
@Z
Milan likes to sit deep but cannot defend crosses and wing play.
Leao set up like 3 clear goal scoring chances…. Still ends up in the “mixed bag” section lol 😅
It’s crazy. Leão played a great match, he even worked on defense.
I learned the same thing I learn basically after every game:
1. We’re missing a good no. 9;
2. We need another experienced CB for depth and rotation;
3. Jashari or RLC needs to replace Fofana in the starting lineup ASAP;
4. Leao disappears when he’s not afforded space to run into, typically against small teams in a low block; and
5. Parking the bus when we have the lead just leads to opponents getting back in the game.
you have that spot on. Fofana turning to another Yunus Musah.
“Leao, meanwhile, scored the penalty as said and should have had an assist for Pulisic, but the No.11 missed. That said, the feeling is perhaps that he still doesn’t make the most of Milan’s chances, or rather the counter-attacks.
There were a few of them in the second half when it looked like Milan could really create something good. Obviously, the individual errors of others were more costly, but the reality is that Milan should be scoring more goals and Leao plays a part in that too.”
How dare you find blemish in Leao’s performance? He was perfect. He deserved a 10+ and a 🌟.
I guess Ivan didn’t see the imaginary 2 other assists Leao could have had that his fans hallucinate about.
You dream of Leao. I’m so happy he’ll stay at Milan forever, just to annoy re*ards like you, Ian and bb. That is why you’re all so nervous, because you know he isn’t going anywhere. Every article you write the same sh*t. 😀 Amazing.
How come Maignan doesn’t get a share of the blame for Parma’s 2nd goal?
Yes Estupiñán got beat, yes Fofana lost Delprato, but if Maignan stayed at his goal line and not dive about 10 meters behind where the ball was, it would have been an easy safe.
Felt sorry for Pervis. Had a pretty good run before the injury. And suddenly he had to start the game and made a costly mistake. I thought Allegri would just make a less risky choice to put Barte on LWB. Pervis’s less experience in Serie A really showed.
But to make a point that he’s the new Royale is just too far.
“Leao, meanwhile, scored the penalty as said and should have had an assist for Pulisic, but the No.11 missed. That said, the feeling is perhaps that he still doesn’t make the most of Milan’s chances, or rather the counter-attacks.”
LOL. Check the conversion stats. Athekame & Pulisic share the top spot for Milan with 40% conversion rate. 40%!!! Stop whining about him “not making the most of chances” when he is almost scoring from every second shot – which btw is AMAZING performance. Even 30% ratio would be excellent but Pulisic hasn’t stopped there.
So biased, so biased… 🙂
Ooops, sorry, Athekame is 1st with 50% and not 40%. So, Pulisic is “only” second.
hxxxs://www.kickest.it/en/serie-a/stats/players/shot-conversion-rate?teams=1
And? He missed that 100% chance. He can have 99% conversion rate, irrelevant. It is also a stupid stat without number of minutes played, shots made etc. Athekame has how many shots? 2. He converted 1. Wow, great sample, must be correct. It is basic common sense that didn’t get into you when it should have…
Hey kiddo, adults are talking. STFU already with your childish BS. No one gives a flying **** about your comments. No one.
Oh, and why didn’t you reply to the other comment? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Also, why are you telling me no one gives a F? Why would I care? You think I’d want morons to like my comments or agree with me? Exactly the opposite, but how would you know? You can’t even read properly.
I’m not sure that people with such low IQ like you are actually considered adults, more like grown up re*ards. Comfort yourself, but you’re just proven me right. You can’t even read.
Sorry man, “You’ve”, I don’t want you to miss understand everything again. I’ll spell it out for you from now on and use capital letters so you don’t have issues. Y O U ‘ V E.
Even the title is “4. Mixed bag from Leao and Saelemaekers”.
This is gold. Nice to see you understand what you read, makes sense you explain stuff to us all the time.
Omg, you think the text is about Pulisic? It is obviously Leao. You can’t even read with understanding. Stop explaining things. Special school kid.
“but the No.11 missed. That said, the feeling is perhaps that he still doesn’t make the most of Milan’s chances, or rather the counter-attacks.”
Yeah, the text was all about Leao. You are amazing. 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀