Thiaw and Giroud Milan

Player Ratings: AC Milan 0-1 Juventus – Thiaw clear flop; Mirante stands tall

AC Milan lost their game against Juventus earlier this evening after a goal from Manuel Locatelli in the second half. Malick Thiaw was sent off for the Rossoneri and below are the player ratings. 

Starting XI

Mirante (6.5 – MOTM): He wasn’t really tested up until the goal, which he could do nothing about given the deflection. He made three very good saves after that, including a double save in the dying minutes. He was also solid with his feet. Given that it was his first game in two and a half years, he deserves a lot of praise.

Antonio Mirante Milan

Calabria (6): The captain did well for Milan defensively and didn’t let Kostic threaten the Rossoneri with his crossing. He could have done better in the attacking phase, but overall decent indeed.

Thiaw (3.5): He did well up until that challenge with Kean, which was stupid in so many ways. It was bad enough that he was beaten by the Juve striker, but to then pull him down was such a rookie mistake. There was no reason to do it and cost Milan the game.

Tomori (6): He did what was needed at the back and couldn’t do anything about the goal either. After another good display, it’s rough to come away with zero points.

Florenzi (5.5): The veteran had his moments when going forward, but he wasn’t all that convincing in the defensive phase (as expected) and his set-piece delivery was subpar.

Musah (6): He basically had to cover two roles after the red card and did well, even though he wasn’t always brilliant in possession. An important player with his work rate.

Adli (5.5): Apart from when he won a free-kick on the right flank, he wasn’t involved in that many key moments and failed to find the vertical passes. He can do better.

Reijnders (5): Without a doubt his worst game for Milan. It’s fair to say he didn’t get lost between the lines this time out, but he struggled to involve himself and didn’t convince in possession either. Add a couple of poor shots to that.

Pulisic Milan

Pulisic (N/A): He was taken off as a result of the red card and we didn’t see enough to give him a rating.

Giroud (6): The Frenchman came close to giving Milan the lead after a lovely touch and shot, but was somehow denied by the goalkeeper. It was tough after the red card and he was subbed off in the 59th minute.

Leao (5.5): On a couple of occasions he got the better of his man, but above all he struggled as Juventus sat back and allowed him no space to run into. As the star of the team, we expect more from him.

Substitutes

Kalulu (6): Came on and handled the defensive duties well. His return is very important especially now that Thiaw will miss the Napoli game.

Jovic (5): A few good moments, but nothing that changed the game in Milan’s favour.

Krunic (4.5): There are unlucky deflections, and then there’s that. He barely got his body on that ball and it was really a poor attempt at blocking the shot. You need to trust your goalkeeper if you know you can’t block it properly. Furthermore, his passing wasn’t great.

Romero (N/A): He didn’t play enough to get a rating.

Kjaer (N/A): He didn’t play enough to get a rating.

Tags AC Milan AC Milan Player Ratings Antonio Mirante Juventus Malick Thiaw

130 Comments

    1. Half of the blame for Thiaw’s red card lies with him. Why why why play such an aggressive high press against a team clearly looking to park the bus? And even with 11 we never looked dangerous, because Pioli has no clue what to do with a low block. Then when we go down to 10 he should have taken Adli off for Kalulu, not Pulisic. Other scudetto contenders 2 – 0 Pioli. What a fvcking c***.

      1. If manager is going to be easy job, manager would be everyone.
        Firstly, this game is all decided by luck and not Pioli. Milan showed bigger compactness than juventus and much better play. 2 lucky situation changed the game outcome: red card, and deflected shot.
        It was obvious that he must change Pulisic and switch to 2 attackers. You can’t play Pulisic in midfield, and is it normal for club who pretend to win scudetto park the bus and play on counters? No that is not normal.
        It is much better that Pioli continue the same work and watch attacking football, than to count on luck and defend like juventus. They had luck this time but we will see how many luck are they going to have untill end of the season.

        Pioli Milan with Mirante, Florenzi, and Adli showed greater dominance against much more expensive team.

        1. Yeah we dominated possession against inter too and lost 5-1. What milan under pioli is all possession without any realchance creation or creativity. No collective efforts to create chances, all i see in and out is that one or two moments of magic from leao on the left flank per match creating opportunities. Keep supporting an averge coach coaching a great squad.

        2. Who is talking about “defending like Juventus”? How are people interpreting my comment about not being overly aggressive as a call to also parking the bus? How does your logic take you from 8 men in their box to 8 men in our box? Is there nothing in the middle? Haven’t you seen enough games in which Pioli struggles to break down teams with a 5 man backline sitting deep, whether it’s Inter or a relegation team? We need another tactic besides giving it to Leao (and now Pulisic) and trying to cross it from the side to a Giroud that looks like he’s beginning to fade fast. Our midfielders should have been more central and closer together. Leao and Pulisic should have tucked in a little more. Let our fullbacks take the attention of Juventus’ wing backs, to make up the numbers in defense you have a midfielder (Adli) drop in between the CBs. Like this you create a defacto 3-4-2-1. This give us numbers in midfield while permitting Leao and Pulisic to either receive the ball at the top of the 18 and turn and shoot, play the ball through to Giroud, or receive a knock down from Giroud for the shot.

          You have to pass through this Juventus. They can defend crosses all day. Either that or play a little deeper to draw them out and THEN use the speed of our wingers. We saw flashes of this when Juventus did come forward and was dispossessed with their RWB forward leaving Gatti to face Leao. Gatti v. Leao is a Leao win almost every time.

      2. No, Thiaw’s mistake is on him, 100 percent.
        1. It actually makes perfect sense to play a high block against a low blocking team, precisely to try and break the block in case of a turnover. This is one of Pioli’s main tactics, and it won us a scudetto,
        2. When you are marking an attacker and he flips on you while you fall and get a red – it’s your fault. This has nothing to do with tactics, and is even more true for a scudetto level defender. BTW, his error against Inter was even worse.

  1. Thiaw was a major disaster on the 2 matches we ended up losing, vs. Inter and Juventus. The potential is all there but his game mentality still needs to be heavily worked on. Still think that we need a ‘ready-made’ CB with enough experience under his belt.

    1. Yes he was. However, playing with such a high line leaves the most experienced defender with average speed exposed to counter, if they face a gast forward. That is the case of thiaw. I would blame it more on pioli than thiaw honestly. Same as inter. He should’ve made the proper adjustment prior to the game. Double coverage to their speedy players, weah and kean. We struggled all knight on that side. I hope this fool doesn’t make the same mistake agaisnt psg as they have even more speed.

    2. All Milan need is 2 capable defensive midfielders, 1 wonderful striker 1 already made CB, a deputy to Theo and conte as couch get these d scudetto and champions league will be ours

  2. I think we need to get rid of untouchable positions. When Tomori felt he is not going to sit on bench. He started getting crazy red cards, when Leao noticed he is not sitting on bench, he stopped running without ball. Finally, when Thiaw noticed he is not going to sit on bench, he started doing whatever he wants… Thuram dunking on him supposed to be red alert. But…. when you watch, he was laughing when he saw the red card today and did not give a f**k!

  3. I’m so sick of watching former players playing against us.

    We’ve got more alumni playing against us for our direct rivals than any other team.

    Every team bar Napoli has some of our former players.

    Locatelli had established himself when we signed Biglia to replace him for no reason. We’ve now got Adli and Krunic fighting over that position having flipped Tonali.

    So much wasted talent, money, time, emotion and joy faffing about on the transfer market.

    1. Another dumb, sentimental post from Maldinis Heir. Everyone who plays at Milan should stay there for life. Great strategy. Thank goodness Tonali is no longer here. Best piece of business Milan has done in a long time.

      1. It would help if they stayed more than 5 minutes. And it would also help if they didn’t play for our direct rivals.

        But hey who needs sentiment when you’ve got such clever strategy.

    2. You got many point but in my vision our midfield is Bennacer Reijnders Loftus, with Musah Pobega Adli as back up and Krunic is best for everyone to be sold. Krunic did good job but its time for Milan and him to cash in now in the winter.

      1. TRADING IS NOT PART OF THE GAME!

        Getting the ball in the back of the net is ‘part of the game’.

        Trading is some other game that increasingly has very little to do with getting the ball in the back of the net.

        1. You’re wrong. Trading is a part of the game.
          It happens in practically every sport.
          If you can’t accept that, might be time to quit football.
          The least you can do is stop whining about it.

          Next you’re gonna tell me that having a good, competent director is also not a part of the game..

          1. Trading does not happen in other sports at the level it happens in modern football.

            Competent directors don’t change half the squad every transfer window.

          2. Trading does not happen in other sports at the level it happens in modern football.

            Competent directors do not change half the squad every transfer window.

          3. sure it doesnt..
            I’ll just add that Biglia was bought in 2017 and locatelli was sold in 2019. Just in case you wanna rethink your bs view.
            I like to believe Loca cash was used on Bennacer who was bought in 2019 for a similar fee and is a real asset for the club.
            Sigh, trading, right?

          4. “Trading does not happen in other sports at the level it happens in modern football.”

            Ever heard of NHL? Those teams make trades almost weekly. 😀

    3. Locatelli is overrated. He is not terrible but not one I regret leaving. BTW his “goal” today was going well wide until Krunic deflected it.

      1. Yes “overrated”. They’re all “overrated”. Even when they are playing for our direct rivals they’re “overrated”.

      1. He never wanted us or we buried him under about 3-4 midfielders (none of whom stayed at the club for more than 5 mins)?

        If one of his many, many replacements were still at the club it’d be one thing but we have just faffed about for the past 6 or whatever number of years.

        1. Bro he’s a self confessed Juve fan and he’s at the club he wants to be in. You gonna force him to want to play for us? Sure we had slips up in how we dealt with his growth but he’s where he wants to be.
          And on the subject of trading, bro you are totally wrong. Hockey, baseball and NBA are 3 major sports that trade ALL the time. Get over it. Matter of fact the system in those sports is better in some ways. They trade the perceived value of players and no transfer fee involved except in some cases where the value traded is less than the player so they give cash and they move players to suit with players having less of a say.

    4. “Locatelli had established himself…” Yes – under Montella. You can thank the genius Gattuso for benching Locatelli when he took over, which is why he wanted to leave (to his boyhood club Juventus btw.) If a player doesn’t want to stay and fight for his place he can p*ss off if you ask me. Just like Andriy Colombo.

      1. Benched in favour of…..Bakayoko….

        You can’t stay and fight for your place when they just keep piling more and more players on….

        Conservatively we’ve probably signed about 20 midfielders since he left the club including 3 newbies this summer. And apparently our midfield is still not complete!

        It’s like those ridiculous IT projects where the IT consultants come in a break everything just keep the gig going a bit longer…..

        1. Bakayoko was playing ball at the time. In the year before it was clear Locatelli should have played but other choices were made. It is what it is.

    5. Because Locatelli scored a deflected shot? Lol. Also, Locatelli didn’t take the renewal offered to him and forced a sale to Sassuolo. He is a Juventus fan and that’s where he always wanted to be.

      1. He wanted to go because the club was so appallingly managed that we kept signing players in the exact same position as him!

        And, yes, the only thing Locatelli has done in his short career so far is score one deflected shot. Those goals he scored FOR Milan and Italy never happened.

    6. Locatelli is, at best, and average player. And even in an average midfield like the current Juventus has, he did not stand out over the rest. The goal was a lucky moment because until that he did SHEET in the match

      1. The “average player” who won the Euros and plays for our DIRECT rivals.

        But this is how this keeps happening. Any existing player is written off as “average” to justify more transfers and before you know it we’ve gone through 20 midfielders in 6 years.

        1. You can be average and still win things in teams that have way better players. Like Rodney Strasser…a Scudetto winning player who now plays in an anonymous league.
          Winning a trophy and equating that to greatness is a fallacy

  4. Pioli is a master tactician when it comes to in game management especially during crisis situations with his substitutions. 🤣
    Also milan plays some collective football under him, not just depends on one or two magic moments from leao to score 🤣🤣

  5. There was a moment when Thiaw hesitated to pass to Mirante when it was the best decision. Who the heck this sucker thinks he is.

    Should learn to stop using his hands in every moment to begin with & start playing football.

    As for Krunic — typical MOTM performance.

    1. I’m pretty sure you’re being sarcastic about Krunic, right? I ask because some people really think he has quality… Every bad moment Milan has had this season happens when Krunic is on the field.

      1. Krunic should have been sold when there was an offer of 10 million on the table & replaced by Dominguez, who was waiting for Milan all summer long. Or even better, Federico Redondo.

        1. Thanks to Pioli, who says he is untouchable. He is now getting a renewal with $3m salary hike. For Pioli, Krunic is as valuable as a Viera or Xavi

  6. I really wish Pioli would look at that team’s performances as a whole when deciding who to play. Milan’s losses and other bad performances have come with Krunic playing. When Adli plays, we are so much more confident. Also, opponents stay deeper when Adli plays because he can make long passes.

    It’s scary when Krunic is on the pitch. I wasn’t surprised at all when he handcuffed Mirante from making that save.

  7. Thiaw did made good decision. He fouled player who would be 1 on 1 vs goalkeeper.

    If thiaw is 3 then rest of defence is 1 because they left Thiaw alone against much faster forward.

    The red card wouldn’t be if Thiaw weren’t last man so Thiaw wasn’t main responsible player.

    1. You sound like Pioli – Thiaw made a right decision? He got twisted like a pretzel by Kean and then took a dumb foul that cost Milan the game.

    2. Wrong on so many levels. Thiaw made a bad play defensively by getting turned around by the player. Then makes a terrible decision to grab him once he is beat, which is a sure red card. I would rather he just let his man go at that point. Yes, he is in on goal but I would rather take my chance being down 1-0 with 11 guys than 0-0 with 10 men for more than half the match. We were getting the better of them up until that point.

    3. Not sure about “good decision”, you don’t know about that, because had Thiaw chosen to not make that move, there is that chance Kean misses the 1v1. Though I agree Thiaw wasn’t mainly responsible in the first place, just fell onto him to clutch up. The problem I see is this lack of shot generation up-field, we had 0.24xG vs their 1.81xG. Again, while xG doesn’t tell the full story, it at least tells us that AC Milan chances were trash

    4. Why are we playing with such an aggressive press and such a high line when Juventus has 8 men basically in their own box??????

      1. What do you want exactly, Pioli to put 8 men on Milan own box too?

        We play on our home FFS so obviously we need to play aggressive!

        1. One extreme to the other. Clown. “We play on our home FFS so obviously we need to play aggressive!” Obviously? We don’t “need” to do sh!t other than win the match. Teams like Juventus and Inter understand this, and don’t play like chickens with their heads cut off even if they’re at home.

    5. he cant play on wednesday. that is the important game…unless im missing something. that makes this a terrible mistake. even if it might have saved a goal. cause also now everyone is tired.

      1. I think he should play on Wednesday because 1) Benching him will destroy his morale, and if he’s going to learn from his mistakes he has to get right back on the horse; 2) He’s suspended against Napoli, so if you start Kjaer he will be tired out for Napoli, and we need him for Napoli because we’ll be dealing with a lot of dangerous forwards in that match. Kalulu did OK against Juve, but he seems rusty, and there is always the danger he and Tomori will revert to their risky defending ways because they’re similar players.

        1. my mistake. Thiaw and Tomori have had some really strong games (Dortmund stands out).that was certainly inexcusable, but he will hopefully learn from it. Hopefully he comes back the way tomori did.

  8. I don’t want to rant about this loss… I want to to focus on the coach. Barcelona just won and you could see a lot of youth system players on and off the squad, I just wish Pioli can stop moaning about injured or suspended player and focus on integrating youths into this team.

  9. Krunic was on the field raising eyebrows. Come on… Lord hasn’t played for a long time, and even with 11 players, I always wonder what his function is on the field. With the “goal” he scored, hopefully Mr Pioli will wake up and give other, more deserving players a chance.
    Anyway, the score for Adli is too hars. He and Musah were bright lights in Milan’s midfield, even more so when Milan lost 1 player.

  10. I was not confident at all going into the game but I thought the culprit was going to be Mirante – plus losing Maignan and Theo. But then up steps Thiaw again with another schoolboy error that basically cost us the game. And then we have Krunic playing hard ball over a renewal while simultaneously turning into Pobega. We probably would’ve still drawn if he hadn’t come on. Juventus won Liverpool-style tonight – completely hopeless the whole match and yet somehow winning it on a lucky deflection. And what the hell was that goofball Allegri on, ripping his clothes off on the touchline? Oh well, let’s wait for the replay to smash them 3-0.

    1. Please name one Pobega mistake that cost us goal not to say match! Remind you his goal that won us match? Stop that nonsense aleady

  11. First of all, the game was conditioned by firstly Florenzi’s inability to handle Weah and then the naivety of Thiaw..hope this is a learning experience for Malik. Secondly atrocious substitutions. I’d take off Reinjders instead of Puli as Puli was quite dangerous. But I can see if ppl would choose Puli for lack of defence. The next sub was absolutely terrible. We’re not as reliant on Krunic anymore. No need to sub off Adli who imo was absolutely brilliant this game. My biggest concern for Adli always his defence and positioning and in this high stakes game he had both. It seems that one last piece of the puzzle was solved and what does Pioli do? Take him off 🤦‍♂️. It clearly disrupted our whole game taking him off especially offensively. I get why Kalulu came on for his pace but there was absolutely not need to risk Krunic in this case as he isn’t fully match fit too Smh. And he’s the “safe” option . Not the guy to bring on when trialing. That he was the one that has the deflected og was merely coincidental and unlucky. Take away that and he still had a terrible game. Pioli didn’t seem to want to win. I fear that Adli will lose game time now that Krunic is back as Pioli has no real faith in Adli even though he’s better at initiating offense than Krunic and is now getting better at defending and positioning.

    Okafor was still on the bench in favour of the usual abysmal Jovic. Jovis has shown absolutely nothing to justify him coming on ahead of Okafor.
    Finally I have to say Florenzi also had a stin.ker of a game. Always got beaten by pace and out of position which also makes me question Pioli and why we don’t play an actual left back there..with better pace like Bartesaghi. Maybe that red card wouldn’t have happened. Thoroughly disappointed overall. I’m sure we could have won this game handily with 11v11. Btw Tomori beast as usual. Dude is having an insane season.

    1. Bartesaghi is 17 years old with lack experiences. So if you think Florenzi who got more experiences than Bartesaghi had a stinker then imagine players like Chiesa or Kean gonna do to kids like Bartesaghi.

      1. Sorry, what exactly did that experience help with? Florenzi was lost many times on the ball. Badly out of position. Can’t keep pace with his opponent. Caused his teammate to get a red card because had no pace to mark Weah and was caught upfield with zero pace. What experience exactly??? Put a left back where a left back should be. Be brave. His subs said he was a coward. Took off Adli for Krunic. Jovic somehow instead of Okafor

      1. @Dan that’s what I’m guessing too but if it were the other way around we wouldn’t see Adli coming on for Krunic in preparation for Wednesday’s game. It was just a poor sub. It took our offense out of the game and we struggled afterwards

        1. i think Wednesday was always going to be prioritized over that point so it was a calculated risk and hard to say it had an outcome on the game as the team wore down. I was a fairly lucky goal. For krunic to start wednesday, he was likely always a planned sub

        2. everyone wanted this win but there is a reason christian was pulled off and Okafor whose banged up didnt come in….people take it as bad management but i think he was managing for a different game.

          1. I see. That makes sense. But you do get that feeling though. We do have Romero too and even Pobega would have been worth a shot. The cars did condition the game

    2. I don’t know why u guy just can’t see the reason we are failing at get d 3 point out of every big match of this season it’s just pioli once pioli is out all his lovers will be out there’s no need to blame any player presently if there any player that is needed to be out of d squad or any player who’s supposed to get more playing time and he’s not getting it just sack pioli u will see ac Milan will balance well pioli is our problem pioli is our enemy the management just doesn’t know it yet.

      1. I don’t subscribe to firing Pioli but he just got this game and the subs especially totally wrong. It can happen during the course of a season. Now I’m wondering if it’s in big games he’s not ready for because we’ve played Inter and Juve and they both got us. Overall he’s a good coach though but this game really was terrible

    1. Ha, yes. I’m sliding from the neutral camp on Krunic to the haters. He probably still thinks that sh*tshow deserves a pay rise.

  12. People to blame:
    – Pioli: Played a high line against Juve who were always going to rely on counters. Then came the idiotic subs. Take off Pulisic? Bring on Krunic and Jovic??? Please get this guy out of our club!
    – Thiaw: got burnt and made a foolish mistake
    – Theo: several idiotic yellows lead to his suspension, which meant that Thiaw had to cover his position and we also suffered in attack.

  13. We all knew Pioli didn’t like Adli (mainly bc he is protecting his lover who lost us the game) and not it seems Okafor is getting the same treatment. Jovic is not that guy.

    Krunic is a donkey and a bum. Go to Turkey and rot. You can pass backwards there all day.

    Pioli has terrible substitutions and no adaptive tactics. Watch, he’ll start Krunic and Pobega against PSG. Hope all you fanboys are happy with this L.

          1. Who is happy? I’m expressing frustration at Piolis terrible decision making and Krunic’s horrible play. I think you may be happy with this result as you’re defending any sort of criticism and providing zero analysis. 95% of your posts are telling people that they’re not fans. Go back to sleep.

  14. Re: Adli. No, he can not do better. He is slow, soft and poor in defensive faze. Krunic was not good today as well and the goal was horrible amateur mistake. I were sure Pobega will come in place of Adli and the fact he did jot was clear Pioli mistake that cost us match.
    Romero was understandably non existent. Taking off Pulisic was mistake as well. It should have been Giroud to be replaced.
    Jovic — 0
    Calabria was very good today btw
    Thiaw need to mature.
    Bottom line — wrong line up by Pioli should’ve won that one quite easily in fact.
    Mirante – MOTM
    Rejngers very poor the man is bloody tired.

    1. Hah,Says Adli is too slow, and then wants to put in Pobega , the slowest player in professional sports in his place. Brilliant. Adli has actually been doing quite well in the defensive aspect lately.

      1. You clearly dont want to see the facts. Just please tell me how many times Adli shot on goal? Exactly. And you know why? Because “slow” Pobega somehow get it to the gate all the time while Adli just… doesn’t. He does nothing. How many misplaced passes today? What did he do whole game? Nada.

        1. Do you even know what you are talking about? First of all, they play different positions. Adli is playing DM, That’s not a role Pobega plays. Adli is not going to be shooting the ball often, that’s not his job. He’s a distributor, and if you are trying to argue that Pobega has the vision or passing ability that Adli does I’m afraid you don’t have a clue what you are talking about.
          Also, I don’t know if you actually watched the game or not but Milan was down a man for majority of the match and had to take off an attacking player for a defender, so it’s not like they were going to be getting a ton of chances going forward. Pobega is at the bottom of the depth chart for a reason

        2. Are you really comparing Pobega with Adli? Really

          Pobega is ATROCIOUS. Telle me something Pobega has to be at Milan. Speed, technique, skill, game reading, anticipation, passing. He is horrible in most of those aspects!

          Adli is not Messi, but he at least knows how to make a pass or run more than 2km/h speed

          1. He runs slower than 2 km/h when he does (he never does). His passes this game for instance were horrible. I don’t know what you guys are watching. May be sitting in the bar with beer does not help understanding what is going on on the pitch 😉

            Yes Adli is playing different position but having Reindgers in this position and Pobega on the right created more chances and were much better defensively when this… Adli is simply bad. He can not play against big opponents.

  15. Thiaw cost us the game. Reckless. Pioli and his horrid subs. Not sure why Pioli decided to take Adli off for Krunic when we were keeping Juve at bay. Bad decision and that deflection was unlucky but he was also not positioned properly. Was Okafor hurt? Is that why Jovic played? Otherwise he should never ever see the pitch. He is atrocious. Poor game management yet again by Pioli.

  16. Pioli’s fault again,wtf are those changes? Instead of playing upfront with 2 rockets leao and okafor on counterattacks after red card,he choose to play with slow CF ,twice… Every sub he made ,made us more and more sleapy and more harmless

    1. Lmao this is dumb as fvck 🤣🤣🤣

      You want Pioli to play counter when Milan already down on 10 men and Juve was just sitting on their own box waiting for counter the whole game even when they on the lead.

  17. Thiaw didn’t need to sacrifice himself to the red due to the 1 v 1 because, one, Mirante was actually coming out and Kean was a bit off-balance, and there was another defender approaching (Tomori?). But even if Kean scored, better to be 0-1 with 11 men, with 59 more minutes to revert the result, and with a functioning RW (so that Puli would not have to be sacrificed) than 10 men for 59 freaking minutes (counting both stoppage times).

    Thiaw has now cost us two derbies.

    Jovic is terrible. Useless. Why not Okafor?

    Puli should have stayed. He can score.

    Reijnders is exhausted. His poor performance today is not due to any technical difficulties. It’s just that we’re asking too much of him.

    Mirante was great. He’d have saved that shot if Krunic hadn’t deflected it.

    Theo profoundly hurt this game by being out due to immaturity. When Rafa doesn’t have Theo to link up with him, he is not the same, and the whole defense was under pressure, contributing to Thiaw’s mistake.

    Still, all things considered, playing 1 man down for 59 minutes and only conceding on a deflection was actually a good defensive display. Sure, the offense didn’t deliver, but this has also to do with amputating the right wing and not having Theo to link up with Rafa.

    In normal circumstances we would have won. Multiple people were responsible for this loss. Pioli, Thiaw, Krunic, Theo being the biggest culprits.

    Calabria had one of his best games to date. Kalulu was very good for someone who’s been out for a while. Maybe it’s time to bench Thiaw a little in favor of Kalulu. Thiaw is good but he is young and needs to mature. He is basically playing well in regular games but is falling apart when it’s a big derby; maybe it’s in his head. A cooling-off period to reflect a bit might be beneficial.

    We really need Loftus-Cheek back so that Reijnders is not so overextended.

    This will be a tough week. PSG next than Napoli…

    1. I agree on most of your points.
      Unfortunate game but descent display afterwards.

      It’s true, Leao is better with Theo behind him, which shows his limitations.
      Of course he’s still a fantastic player.

      Maybe Pioli should have been braver, gamble and leave Pulisic play. Pulisic is more of fighter.
      Who knows.
      I would be still hesitant to judge Jovic.

      Hopefully this loss takes off pressure from the team in terms of not being allowed to lose.
      I can imagine them playing good games against PSG and Napoli. Let’s see.

  18. Wee really need more mature players,players that will keep Thier self fit for big matches imagine Milan players each time we have a big match we must lose an important player to card

  19. Watchin the game and seeing Kruninho coming in was a big “ouch” from my lips …Lord helps us but even the Lord cant help Kruninho…

    If you watched the game carefully,literally his first pass he had was at our 16m line and he casually passed it back to the opponent 3 meters in front of him which could have resolted in a goal for Juve but lucky it wasnt,he made sure with a block of a lifetime that Juve scored too.OMFG i have to watch Kruninho in a team that won the CL 7 times,why wasnt he sold for 10 m,if we get 5 mil by the time he scored more own goals or passes the ball to the opponent we can be happy…. He wouldnt play in Croatian league how bad he is…i guarantee you that…

  20. 2 big games this season and in both games Thiaw gets absolutely owned by physical and fast strikers. First Thuram then today Kean.
    The game was over after that red card.
    Plus Pioli made the wrong sub to take out Pulisic to bring in Kalulu. He literally made his team play 9 vs 11 by taking out Pulisic because the other winger opposite of him tries only on offense like he is an NFL player not a footballer. You can insult Sacchi amd Cassano as much as you want, they know what they see. Lazy L at his best today. The self proclaimed “leader” of Milan.
    Outside of Mirante, Tomori and Calabria the rest of the players did not play well.
    Lets see how it goes vs PSG next.
    Forza Milan.

      1. Excuses.
        Thiaw is 22 not 17.
        Also, he wasn’t getting beat by prime Benzema, Suarez or Lewandowski, he was getting destroyed by Thuram and Kean. Kean is BTW only a year older than Thiaw.

  21. The guys all played well but to me some guys need rest, they have been over stressed players like tomore, thiaw, TIJJANI.We have good players that can replace these guys, players like Pellegrino,he can come in for Thiaw, Kjaer for tomori.Pioli rest some of these players they need rest.Build confidence in this new players like Pellegrino Bargeshi .

  22. Milan held up well with 10 and lost to an unlucky deflection. Learning experience for Thiaw. I’m not worried. 11v11 Juve had no chance.

    1. They had a chance 11v11 which is why we went down to 10 men. Pioli chooses the style of play and a high line against a low block counter attack team is a dangerous gamble. In this case and in the case against Inter it failed.

      Juve were waiting and pounced and Thiaw made a bad decision. He’s young and panicked.

      In my opinion,, Pioli is going to learn a hard lesson this year.

  23. Pioli and krunic on the spotlight again. Im not even gonna try to pick on thiaw as he is young and talented. That kind of mistake happens when you play such a high line against a speedy opponent. Even that i blame pioli. He should’ve done his home work. He had 2 weeks to prepare. Speedy weah and kean caused us a lot of problems on that side. And he should’ve prepared on that. If juve had more quality. It would’ve been a replay of that distraus inter game. And then comes the 20 ballor winner krunic. What does pioli see on him that most of don’t? Gave the ball too easily 2 many times. Can’t pass, can’t track, and doesn’t provide cover for the defense. Adli does all that a lot better. Allthough. He has a funny body language and run, he provides a lot more coverage for the defense a lot more than krunic. Ha can actually pass. Never been a fan of adli because i haven’t seen him play until these recent games, but he definitely deserves that spot, definitely before krunic.

    1. They targeted Florenzi with great success. It was quite simple and obvious. RB as a LB and slow…. puts two days players on the right…easy

  24. First off let me just say that Juventus suck the life out of every game, against their opponents and the fans. They play very ugly.

    I did not like one thing about this game. Calabria with each passing game irritates me more and more. Hes constantly out of position and making bad clearances. Only tomori played well in the defence line. Adli defensively was actually fine and I did not like one single sub that came on, especially krunic. It’s not even for his own goal but he came on and barely moved. Now maybe thats pioli’s fault there for bringing him I tk a game like this after he just came back from injury but he really didn’t look good.

    It’s so true that when we play a team that sits back we have absolutely no idea how to break them down. We have no alternative to the game plan. It’s always side to side to back passing instead of someone trying to beat a man and drive through the middle or dribble past a player. Leao is so frustrating to watch and I truly think these last 3 seasons this is the most inconsistent he’s ever been. YA he’s getting goas/assists but for 70 minutes of the game he does nothing.. To lose to this Juventus hurts. I hope it’s not one of those months for us.

    1. Thiaw that was such an unnecessary red. Who knows if he had go to thst ball or even had scored. But what he did definitely killed the game. It’s a learning curve for him but even that high of a line from the team was bad. Can’t believe we lost to this anti-football football.

  25. Lots of new, shiny toys we got but none have made a difference in a big game.
    Pioli’s a numbskull and also a huge culprit in this loss.
    He Keeps playing the same formations and players. Never can change formations on the fly and Always trips over low blocks. He can never break thru teams that stay back.
    Of all the new players we did really well with Musah who could be the new Kessie.
    Reinjders is good but needs to find a higher gear for games like this. So far waste of cash.
    Pulisic does best in a TQ role but never plays there. When he starts at RW he always drifts to the middle.
    Chukweze was a waste of money. RLC is up in the air. So is Jovic and Romero. Okafor is good but needs playing time.
    Shades of Yonhong Lee here. NEW Management thought they knew better by getting a guy who has zero knowledge in football and was a money guy for previous owners.
    They gave a huge raise to a scout.
    They got a bunch of players but this particular team can’t beat anyone of quality so far.
    We were better last year.

  26. I have told many times that Pioli is the dullest coach in Italy
    And he is inter Agent
    Look that he is not Coach with intelegence and understanding,he Repalced Puslic instead of Groud ,Puslic is the most agility Palyer in the world and runs very fast .
    When Down to 10 becuse of Florenzi Cover up by Thiaw,
    Florenzi and Giroud are Minus 2

  27. Pioli’s high line and subs didn’t help but ultimately Thiaw let the team down last night. Before that, we controlled the game, albeit without creating many chances. Say what you want about inconsistency but the midfield of Diaz, Tonali, Bennacer was much better than what we have this season, keeping in mind they didn’t have Pulisic to help them. The switch to a 4-3-3 was supposed to protect the defense. Two more big tests for this new midfield. If they don’t pass, I see us signing one or two new midfielders in January to play with Bennacer.

  28. I can’t figure out Musah’s role in the game. He is all over the show with no real impact. There is some work to be done by the coach to get the best out of him. Teams have now figured out our weakness, and that’s where most of the attack comes from, the right back position. Calabria seriously drift out of position leaving the right-wing position totally exposed and teams are exploiting this problem. But they say that every loss gives clues to where we need to improve. Let’s just hope the coach gets the message.

    1. After the card, limit goal-scoring opportunities. The impact of consistently improving your positioning is not something that shows up anywhere on a stats sheet. Pioli is a positional guy and he is very good at positioning himself defensively based on the numbers advantage observed. they held up, but for a ridiculously unfortunate deflection.

  29. Milan was better until the red, and even for most of the time after but where is Reijnders? He wasn’t there against Inter, and wasn’t there against Juventus. What is the issue? Maybe too good opponents that pressure him and he has no time? Maybe. Ronaldinho vs Spezia, missing against top teams.

  30. One thing is certain – We need another left back. Florenzi was awful on the left, he can’t even run with his left leg and his delivery from set pieces was 5 a-side stuff (nothing over head height).
    I won’t mention the ‘game-changing’ substitutions as it has gone beyond a joke…
    If you are still sticking with Pioli – why?

  31. Now I believe Mr Pioli is a donkey that has no analysis skillset because if he did he would have adopted formation that would complement and not one that confuses them and get them out of positions.
    He should have revert back to 4231 already and should basically have his first eleven, their immediate substitute and makeshift replacement.
    Pellegrino is a left sided center back and should have been the replacement of Theo in last match or Bartesaghi at most and if he made mistakes I would see it as a learning curve better than playing players out of positions which culminated in Thiaw doing extra work and being in constant pressure and the eventual red card and lost of the game to a direct rival.
    The Dutchman in our team is really tired so there should be a permanent mechanism in place to allow our best eleven to rest in between games and not exhaustively use them till they worn out and unable to be effective in interpreting their roles on the pitch.
    I am now very sure that Mr Pioli is a donkey and find it really hard to be flexible with his tactical ideas because if could get my coaching badge in due time I would have done a better job than Mr Pioli.
    Thank you.

  32. This is the truth ac Milan is a big club there are some crab players and coach that we don’t need if we really want to succeed eg pioli and his lover krunic Pobega adli even this thiaw.

  33. If Pioli had brought on Okafor who already has 2 goals with the little minutes he has played, instead of Jovic, and allowed Adli who held the ball well and passed it well too to play the whole 90mins, instead of bringing in Krunic, Milan would have drawn or won the game.

  34. As a Juventus fan I have to say it was a terrible game, and the red card impacted it, I love Locatelli, delighted he scored, but even against ten men it was a struggle, I love Juve but watching them isn’t fun.

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