AC Milan dropped points once again, this time all three, as Parma prevailed by the odd goal at San Siro. Several players struggled and below are the ratings for the Rossoneri.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out how we decide the player ratings. From the scale to what affects the rating, we have compiled everything there.
Starting XI
Maignan (5): He wasn’t really tested much this evening, but for me, he definitely didn’t do enough on the goal. I agree with the referee that the screening wasn’t unfair and thus the Frenchman shouldn’t have stopped playing. It actually looked like the header wasn’t out towards the side either, meaning it was saveable.
Tomori (5.5): You’d think that he would have learned after the goal against Pisa, but once again a ball over the top caught him completely off guard right after the game started. He improved a little after and had a nice ball for Leao, but he doesn’t feel secure at the back right now.
De Winter (6.5 – MOTM): There is no doubt that he’s the most solid Milan defender at the moment, with good positioning, strength in the duels and smart passes in the build-up. Today was another good game for him.
Bartesaghi (5): He had a really good cross for Rabiot in attack, but defensively, it was horrible from him on the goal. It looked like he bent over even before the Parma player jumped, once again proving he has major issues with crosses and aerial duels (seen in the first Como game too, for example).
Saelemaekers (5.5): Right ideas, but poor execution most of the time. You could argue that he helped open things up with his running, but that is what we see every game from him, so it’s the minimum we should expect. The end product has always been the main issue and I feel like he often made the wrong call, apart from a couple of passes.
Loftus-Cheek (N/A): Let’s hope it’s nothing too serious, but it looked like a nasty one as he more or less got knocked by the goalkeeper. He was subbed off after just eleven minutes.
Modric (6): He did his duties tonight and a little more, even running into the box two or three times to open things up for Milan. The defensive work was also very good, but overall it was nothing spectacular from him.
Rabiot (6): Nearly got an assist for Leao with a great cross, but the inside of the post stopped that from happening. He also had another good header to put Pulisic in a good position. Perhaps he shouldn’t have given the corner away (that Parma converted), but you can’t fault him for taking the safe way out there.
Estupinan (5.5): In fairness, he did an okay job most of the time, but toothless would definitely be a fair word to use for his attacking contributions. Crossing has sometimes been described as a strength of his but we saw nothing of that tonight.
Pulisic (5): He missed one good chance in the first half, as well as a couple of half-chances, but also showcased a good moment and ran a lot. Unfortunately, he squandered what probably was the best chance of the game for Milan in the second half, aiming at an open net but hitting the defender (even if said defender did well to block it). Still, too many chances missed for a world-class player.
Leao (5.5): Same old, same old. He struggled in the decisive moments and only really got going when he moved out properly to the left in the final minutes, sending some good crosses into the box. He was unlucky not to get a goal after a great volley effort that hit the inside of the post. Then again, he’s nowhere near effective enough in open play.
Substitutes
Jashari (6): A couple of half-chances for him in the first half, but I think his movement and ability on the ball in tight areas helped Milan a lot in trying to break down Parma, even if they weren’t successful in the end.
Pavlovic (5.5): Hard one to assess but he did win the ball back a few times and tried to make a difference in the box, causing some issues for Parma. In the end, though, it didn’t exactly lead to many concrete chances.
Fullkrug (5.5): I would have expected more impact from him to be honest, especially on the crosses, but ineffective would be the word. Not to mention he struggled with the ball at his feet on a couple of occasions.
Nkunku (N/A): I didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Athekame (N/A): I didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
The manager
Allegri (5.5): While he wasn’t on the bench, he still named the starting eleven and so much rotation felt a bit excessive. However, the biggest problem was that Milan seemingly didn’t have a plan for breaking down Parma, even though we expected that type of game.
Tu už ani nie je čo komentovať do riti !
Prehrať s Parmou doma ,to už nie je ani na top 4!!!
Hanba!
Hanba!! Exactly..
Wingers playing as CFs, what could go wrong? Allegri should have used 3 attackers vs these small teams who defend a lot – Leao and Pulisic on the wings. IMO this is what made the difference in the Scudetto race.
I completely’agree with you. This team plays to the level of their opponent which ends up causing results such as this.
I’m also not jumping on the Jashari bandwagon with everyone else. I think he has great potential but often makes the wrong run and pass and is more concerned with being where he’s supposed to be that he doesn’t play instinctual football at all. He kept bypassing Puli on the wing to recenter the ball and missing runs by the forwards. Frustrating day overall.
“Wingers playing as CFs, what could go wrong? Allegri should have used 3 attackers vs these small teams who defend a lot – Leao and Pulisic on the wings. IMO this is what made the difference in the Scudetto race.”
100% facts. Coming from the non-fan. So tired of this “let’s defend for an hour or so and maybe after then try to attack and score” tactic. I don’t see Inter (or anyone else) doing this BS. Congratz on the scudetto. You definitely deserved it more than Allegri(‘s tactics).
Absolutely right, that’s why I don’t like Allegri, very pessimist even against smaller teams.I just like Gasperini for his courage style of football
As I wrote before, but I will repeat: Allegri is a defensive genius. He has found a way to neutralize both Leão and Pulisic. I am going to ignore the ratings because there are so many I disagree with. The one I will give is Allegri gets a 4.5. Win by a nose, lose by a nose. Juve fans would be laughing at misery except they have so much of their own. Allegri has turned ACM into a small team.
Agree with you except Allegri gets a 2 as far as I’m concerned. Are these players so stupid and incompetent that they can’t switch systems depending on the opponent? It’s been clear for months that they can’t break down an opponent that sits in a block and they just continue to do the same idiotic sh!t over and over again. I think there’s a word for that.
The tell for me is that they didn’t switch anything until they went down a goal. Then they scramble to try to salvage a tie. What big club does that?
None. We have been playing as a midtable-team since Allegri took over. Apparently the most important thing is not to lose. And we failed miserably even at that. Fng embarrassing. And even more embarrassing will be the Allegri-fans who come to remind us that “we hadn’t lost for +20 matches!!!!!” when everyone knows that draw is closer to losing than winning and draws don’t win you trophies.
Lots of people don’t remember that when he came in first we had Zlatan, still Dinho, Pato and then Robinho and papers speculated how he was going to field them all. He obviously wasn’t going to…
Not a single time did someone on the wing beat his man. How tf are we supposed to win. At least when Leao played left he ran pst players and gave assists n sh*t this is just unwatchable boring sh*t. I’d rather loose some games and play more entertaining than this Allegri ball
I have said this for a long time 3-4-3!!!!!
“I’d rather loose some games and play more entertaining than this Allegri ball”
For sure. I can tolerate Allegri when we win but we don’t do that that often and when we lose (or draw) we do it in a fng ugly way. Not that our wins are that entertaining either… 🙄
Two things I wanna say
1. Bartesaghi…when the other team cross the ball in our penalty area or they have a corner just…JUMP !!! Do you hear me ? JUMP !!! That’s basic defense skill. Are we clear ? JUMP !!! JUMP !!!
2. Allegri…you are sooooooo….boooooooringgggg and sooooooo … stubborn. You and your team are unwatchable… death of passion.
That’s all .
Ratings ? 4 for all players. Be ashamed of yourself
Bart says: DUCK!
How about we make him defend corners OUTSIDE the box from now on?
😂 💯 – I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m actually excited for Gimenez to return… that’s how bad our attack is… feels like we played much better with him up front missing chance after chance..
With his return it gives Allegri formation options but we will see what he decides to do.
Barthesaghi says “ yes boss I will jump next time” …….it’s so embarrassing how a defender was “ducking” rather than contest….no wonder Italy doesn’t have a team that can really compete, what is been taught at the academy? SMH
Deserved loss.
Surprise, surprise, another goal conceded from a cross inside the 6 yard box, another goal conceded because Bartesaghi is being soft and gets beat in aerial duels. Both, Maignan and Bartesaghi gave up on the play.
Coaching was even worse. Horrendous game adjustments and subs, Playing cowardly.
RLC, who is a more attacking minded midfielder gets subbed (hopefully everything is ok with him) and Jashari who is more defensive gets subbed in. I like Jashari as a regista, but I said last game that he and Modric should not play together. Fofana should have been the player brought in, because he offers more dynamic play and another player getting into the box.
Then, after 60 minutes of creating nothing, instead of adjusting the formation and bringing another attacking player, they subbed out Pulisic for Fulkrug, still trying to play it safe, instead of keeping Pulisic in and taking one of the defenders out for another forward. Imagine trying to play it safe and still concede a goal and lose.
Saelemaekers was the only one trying to make something happen, but as usual he over dribbles. The rest were not good, especially the midfielders.
Also, fans needs to stop talking about Pulisic-Leao pairing. Of all the forward pairings this season, that one is the worst.
In 3 days instead of keeping pace with inter and separating themselves from the other teams, they gifted inter the scudetto and are still in the thick of things for the UCL spots with a bunch of games coming up vs those same teams fighting for UCL.
When a team lacks creativity as much as we do, a proper striker is needed. Already after 2-3 mins on the pitch Füllkrug made a chance for himself by turning and shooting outside the box. Plus he’s the only one attacking the crosses.
We cannot win trophies (or even midtable teams apparently) with two fake-strikers in a 3-5-2 formation. Either switch the formation or use actual striker(s). You cannot blame the players here. It’s 100% on the coach.
Proper striker was needed alongside Pulisic and Leao when you need to score a goal, not a proper striker subbed in for Pulisic.
What did Fulkrug do after those 2-3 minutes on the pitch without service that could have been provided by Pulisic or if he wasn’t fit for more than 60 minutes, Nkunku should have been put in the game alongside Fulkrug for a defensive player.
“Proper striker was needed alongside Pulisic and Leao when you need to score a goal, not a proper striker subbed in for Pulisic.”
Amen.
“What did Fulkrug do after those 2-3 minutes on the pitch without service that could have been provided by Pulisic”
Touché. Saelemaekers was probably the only one who was trying to create something and gave a few wonderful defense-opening passes but were wasted.
If Jashari is in and playing revista, then why not habeModric okay further up. We know he can do that from Real Madrid and Croatia. Not sure Jashari could do that at this point
Win big teams and loose to small clubs
Just give the scudetto to inter already.
With a coward coach like allegri milan will win nothing.
Game would have been a walk in the park if only allegri had the balls to play 4-3-3 from the start.
Amen. 💯
The one trend that has finally stopped is that we’re somehow great because we were on X games in a row without defeat (even though more than a third of them were draws…). I guess this is officially Inter’s 21th scudetto (or 20th depending on you view the 2006 one).
Parma has done to us what we did to other teams. They stayed tight, compact and took advantage of the few scoring chances they had.
Every since the beginning of the season, we complained that we’re sh!t at defending crosses and corners, and it seems that Allegri decided that this is no big issue. What is also not forgiveable is witnessing yet another first half and instead of switching to a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 for the remaining 30 minutes, we sub an attacker for another… We can complain about that Parma goal, but what did we do to win exactly ?
On the player selection, I still have yet to understand why Allegri is insisting on that Pulišić-Leão pairing while both players have only played well when paired with a true center forward.
Bartesaghi has stalled or gone backwards for a while now while Estupiñán seems to have decided that he is neither going to attempt a cross, a forward pass or a dribble. So I guess that this is a pick your poison for the left wingback.
Our centerbacks are proving time and time again that they only do well because we park the bus and that individually, they’re still average.
I did like Jashari, but I’m not sure he and Modrić can play together at the same time. I thought that Fofana should have been brought in.
I did like Füllkrug few games ago, but tonight (and last time), he wasn’t impactful in any meaningfull way.
Again, aside from september when our team was still unkown, we never managed to win in a consistent manner.
” We can complain about that Parma goal, but what did we do to win exactly ?”
We simply can’t. Unless you mean that Rabiot donated the corner with no reason and Mike & Bart decided to duck and run for cover instead of playing football. The call was 100% correct as there were no foul being committed.
I do agree with your but I saw complains here and there on other websites, so I wanted to make it clear that even assuming the call was incorrect (I believe it’s correct) we simply don’t deserve better.
Leão and Pulisic looked lively but the end product wasn’t there. Expect a summer revolution in the attacking department. MH is going to lose his mind.
They simply can’t function together in a front 2.
Both are natural wingers and this season they looked at their best when paired with a natural striker.
Unless/until we shift to a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3, don’t expect Pulišić & Leão to look good together.
Yeah, we all saw this coming when management hired Allegri. I think we might see a 433, when crazy to say, when Santi comes back because as of now only Füllkrug can operate as a lone 9 with no back up.
Allegri still won’t start real strikers when Santi is back. Mark my words.
A bit gutted that the run ended against Parma. We simply do not have an answer for lowblock teams. The frustration of this loss is enough to make Salad’s efforts look exceptional. He was the only lifewire in a lackluster performance, as much as he went nowhere almost everytime. All efforts should shift towards a top4 finish, i do not think we have the mental capacity to challenge Inter. As much as he started slowly I love the signals from Jash. And yes the glimpses from Leao in the last 5min were refreshing.
I didn’t really hear much about Leo this season,it’s like he is begining to fade or thereabout and most likely bound for sale come next summer unlike other previous seasons.or is it allegri with his tactics or something
At the moment the only player who is a pleasure to watch is Saelemaekers. Hard working, technically great, good ideas. Sometimes I think he is the only one that WANTS to win.
Füllkrug made a good first impression after his arrival but now I think he is more or less useless.
Agree – on both.. I was pretty vocal about Füllkrug being a huge waste of time and here we are.. This January “Let’s make do with a German tree trunk” market is looking more ridiculous by the day..
This is why we are not winning, when you think Saelameker is the only one playing, it’s not about hardworking, it’s about end result, salad is a mixed bag, hot and cold, end result very poor most times
Hey! We actually agree on something and it has nothing to do anything Pulisic or Leao!
Ha. That user name is gold
Are y’all not entertained yet ??? We’ve been managing to win few games after playing completely terrible game and it has finally come back to bite. lol.
I thought Allegri supporters said he was such a genius he intentionally made us lose Coppa Italia and any other competition we were involved in so the genius can focus on winning us the scudetto with passing the ball backwards and defending even when we’re down ?
I thought the Allegri supporters said all his lazy tactics needed was more rest for our players ? We rested for 10 days and still couldn’t win Como or Parma! Lmao.
Embarrassing is an understatement. This team is ugly to watch and I have been saying it from the beginning of the season but fans of Allegri ball said we were delusional. lol. Enjoy the nonsense you call tactical genius.
and big picture, he’s going to set us back 10 years. Especially if his tactics and training style force Leao & Pulisic out. He’d replace them with Goretska & Gatti.
I believe Pulisic just called his agent to find him a new club. Or ask Balotelli to loan him his classic “Why always me?” shirt because it’s insane how Pulisic is being treated.
100%
Don’t forget they will come back and say the classic “Allegri has x scudetti and you have none so therefore Allegri is GOD and we should NEVER question his tactics or decisions!!!” 🤦♂️
Any Scudetto Allegri has won he’s had by far the strongest squad in the league. I firmly believe any scudetto Milan or Juve won was in spite of him
That scudetto Allegri won with Milan… That particular squad would have won the scudetto even without a coach.
We deserved that. You cant have that much of the ball and not score. We played well in the first half and didn’t score. You then have to come out and apply more! Move the ball quicker! Pull defenders out of the box. Don’t just keep prodding with the same stick over and over again.
The league is over, now we have to stop the rot and find some goals because we have a tough run-in and playing like this, fourth isn’t a guarantee.
The title clearly shows the hate Pulisic gets here. It wasn’t just Pulisic who missed. Leao missed too. Rabiot missed. Saelemaekers missed. Jashari missed. Just like everyone else. Fkg ridiculous to put this on Pulisic when this was 100% on Allegri’s “let’s wait until the 70 minute and only after then start playing” tactics.
I wouldn’t be suprised to see Pulisic with the classic “Why always me?” Balotelli-shirt on next week. Absolutely ridiculous that Leao can be the worst on the pitch (as he was until then) yet he can stay on for the whole 90 minutes while Pulisic is always the one to be subbed off. Every. Single. Time. But I’m not blaming Leao. We all know he has limitations. It’s not fair to expect him to score goals in two matches in a row.
Mike was awful in the goal situation and Bart has clearly taken defending lessons from Theo as his “DUCK!”-move was absolutely brilliant defending. But I’m not blaming them either. This defeat was 100% on Allegri. His “scared little girl” tactics I’ve been bashing for months now ruined the game. You simply cannot go out and wait for 60-70 minutes each week until you start trying to score. This is what happens. You sh1t your pants and the stink makes you play. Not a minute before. Pathetic. Mid-table team tactics.
We got 1 point from Parma this season. Wow. But hey, some fans here are superhappy for the fact that we didn’t lose both matches as they think like Allegri when it comes to draws & losses. Not losing is amazing and winning a match is just an added bonus, right? 🙄
when you read the rating commentary for Puli and Leao you would come away with Puli having the better game until you saw the actual rating assigned. Laughable.
Well that’s what happens when you don’t phone in yet another performance against literally ten walking banana skins… Milan’s play is so slow and predictable I think even the players were struggling to stay awake.. Breaking down a low block team shouldn’t be this complicated – it just takes a little creativity, pace, passion etc and Allegri to grow a pair and play 443 against these bott0m feeder clubs… Congrats to inter merde – the team of gentlemen…
*when you phone in
“Breaking down a low block team shouldn’t be this complicated”
To be fair breaking low blocks teams isn’t always easy, see Real Madrid this season, FC Barcelona, us in the past,…
Well… The way we’ve been trying to crack it is hasn’t worked once yet it’s still the only way we try to do it. Why not start with an actual striker against those team?
That square peg will go in that round hole soon goddamit!
True but do Bartha and Real stand around looking confused and just stroke the ball around among themselves? We look totally clueless…
Takes quick succession of passes. We’re clearly allergic to those.
Yeh and I have no idea why – we have all the possession why can’t we try and move the freaking ball quicker, take on a man..? So frustrating..
The game.
OK, so nobody can beat us, except… Cremonese and Parma. Great. Just great. Our wingers don’t cross, our forwards play out of position, our defenders and goalkeeper keep making mistakes that gift goals to weak opposition, our midfield although possessing some world-class players, can’t be decisive… This is definitely not going well, now. After a disastrous first game of the Serie A season we had a good and long stretch (although marred by too many draws) but now we seem to be regressing back to again having a disastrous result against a bottom-feeder. I’m generally optimistic but maybe this is the moment when I should turn into a pessimist. If things don’t change, we risk dropping out of the top 4 in the last 12 games. It is regrettable that a case can be made for a foul on Bartesaghi during the play that resulted in Parma’s goal, but that doesn’t excuse this team’s inability to break down a bus-parking small team.
Maignan – Jesus, you need to come out of the small box and interrupt those crosses, man!!! You stopped conceding near post goals but now you concede corner kick goals all over the place. Isn’t AC Milan supposed to have a good goalkeeping coach? Where is this guy to encourage Mike to be more incisive in corner kicks??? 4.
De Winter – One of the few who played well. 7. MOTM
Tomori – Mixed bag, some dangerous mistakes, some decent actions, but not sufficient. 5.5
Bartesaghi – Center back is definitely not his position. Together with Maignan, responsible for their goal. 4.
Estupiñan – Can’t dribble forward to save his life. Can’t cross well. Useless. 4.
Saelemaekers – Just effort and running all over the place without the end product doesn’t cut it; that’s what Musah used to do. Again with poor finishing, missed an attempt that could have been a score. Gone are the good performances of the earlier season. 4.5
Modric – Decent, but not brilliant as usual. Gets a pass. 6.
RLC – Fractured his eye sock, will need surgery. Poor guy. S/V
Rabiot – Very pale game. Imprecise, less energetic, only good thing was a pass to Leão but otherwise, very ineffective which is uncharacteristic of him. And he didn’t even collect a yellow to avoid the same happening against Cremonese and missing the Derby. 5.5
Leão – Decent game. Appeared more fit than in any of the previous games, while still slow to react in certain plays. However, tried hard, even tracked back, recovered some balls, and when displaced to his natural position as left winger, produced a few decent crosses. Unlucky that his excellent shot was stopped by the post. Gets a pass. 6
Pulisic – Missed some sitters. Tried hard but these misses have been the rule in the last several games that he was able to play (also, coming back from injury, but still, his precise finishing seems to be gone). 5.
Subs
Füllkrug – unlucky that his one good attempt was slightly deflected and still almost took some paint out of the post. This might save his score because with a tiny bit of more good luck, it would have been a goal, but otherwise, I still give him less than a pass because the good performances of his first few games have been consistently absent; he’s not really justifying his loan and the option to buy should not be exercised, in my opinion. 5.5 (would be less without that good shot).
Jashari – Tried hard, less precise than last game; likely it was the wrong sub because Jashari is better as a defender midfielder and we needed an attacking one. Even though I’m often harsh on Fofana, likely he’d have done more, this game, then what Jashari did. Or even Ricci. Still, I grant Jashari a pass for some good moments and effort. 6.
Pavlovic – Tried hard despite the very recent bad injury; likely was still having some pain from the nasty bone hematoma, but still tried to make things more dynamic; but not very effectively. Gets a pass. 6.
Nkunku – Not very visible; played for just a few minutes. S/V
Athekame – A few minutes, S/V
Coaching
Allegri represented by Paolucci – I’ve been a big defender of Allegri but losing to Parma while making wrong subs, and not daring to get a more attacking formation from the beginning, therefore granting to Inter their 21st Scudetto and even jeopardizing the top 4, risks to undo the good that he has done. This season is now in danger of ending in disaster. We are still 8 points ahead of 5th place but the other clubs fighting for the UCL won’t suddenly quit, and we seem to be in decline, so, who knows if we’ll actually make it? 3.
Oops, sorry. Landucci, not Paolucci.
Pulisic has sitters? Is Izak writing your comments now?
Yes. I love Pulisic; my favorite player, but truth needs to be told, lately his excellent finishing and ball placement when he finishes, is off. Against Parma, he got 1 v 1 in front of the goalie and shot at the goalie. Then later Rabiot set him up in front of an empty net and he shot wide left. Those are plays that normally, when he is in top form, he scores from. Those are sitters that he usually doesn’t miss, but lately he’s been missing these, and this game he missed twice, again. This season he even missed a PK against Juve, which is a very rare event in his career (I think it was only his second all-time miss). Puli is a bit off, this season. Still a great and highly intelligent player, still scoring many goals, but he’s not been in top form. It’s likely due to injury and/or fatigue, when you then become less accurate. Apparently the medical department has said that he has only 15-20 minutes in his legs. Whatever is causing that, is also causing Puli to be less accurate.
I can understand the reasons why, but that doesn’t mean I can magically increase the rating I give him. I do adapt it to some degree (I did mention he’s coming out of injury) but that’s up to a certain point; if you are rating a player, you need to rate what he actually does or doesn’t do rather than why he didn’t. I stand behind my rating, and what I said about him. It doesn’t mean I have an anti-Pulisic bias like some here do (like I said, he is actually my favorite player, and his number and name are on the back of my 2026 Milan Jersey). It just means that I’m trying to realistic provide a rating for the players. While of course I’m not perfect when I do that, my ratings are my honest opinion, right or wrong, so I stand behind them.
I generally agree with everything here, except that those chances for Puli weren’t “sitters.”
Beating his man at the top of the D and then firing a shot from the top of the box wasn’t a 1-1 chance, which implies a breakaway.
He should have done better on the header back by Rabiot, true, but it wasn’t an “empty net.” The keeper was there and a defender was just beside him.
I do agree that Pulisic’s finishing is not where it was in 2025, something is off. But we should be honest about the chances that he had or created for himself. And unless he’s injured (which we haven’t heard) he should have stayed on the field at least another 20 minutes.
OK, I’ll concede the point; maybe my word choice was a bit off and instead of sitters, I should have said that “he’s been missing opportunities he typically scores from” and sorry, but that’s a fact.
Puli did have injuries this season, and apparently he is not at top physical form. I did read an assessment by Milan’s medical doctors saying he didn’t have much more than 15-20 minutes in his legs. Again, I don’t know what is causing it, but Allegri has confirmed it in press interviews, including saying that Leão (whom Allegri also confirms that he’s been struggling with physical issues and isn’t at 100%) was at least more fit (or less unfit if you want) than Pulisic. So, yes, obviously Pulisic has some sort of physical issue, currently. People here complain that Allegri is not giving him enough minutes, but this may very well be because of the doctors’ recommendation, as I do not see Allegri as having an anti-Pulisic bias.
When a player who is notorious for being an excellent finisher, repeatedly misses attempts from which he typically scores, it’s got to be something physical, because a highly intelligent player like Pulisic who is still in his prime, doesn’t suddenly unlearn how to score goals. OK, it could be mental, but that I profoundly doubt. I do not believe that Pulisic is someone who is prone to mental breakdowns. He is resilient and is a fighter. If his shots are a bit off, in my opinion it MUST be a physical issue.
This is likely to be similar to what happened to Gimenez. He had a very prolific season with Feyenoord, scoring tons of goals. Then he came to us, had a first half-season in which he was still adapting to Serie A but still had some significant goal contributions. Then in the subsequent half season he completely crashed out and was utterly unable to control first touches, to turn and shoot, and when he did, the shots were either weak or inaccurate. People jumped into calling him useless. I actually never bought it. Again, he’s a young player who has done very well up to very recently, for club and country, so did he suddenly unlearn how to play football? It had to be physical (although in his case the mental part probably did play a role too, after Tare’s unfortunate words about him). Then, we learned that he had been carrying for weeks/months a serious ankle issue which apparently Milan doctors misdiagnosed, until a top Dutch surgeon that Gimenez decided to see, stepped in and said he absolutely needed surgery, which he then, had. People who have never played football often don’t understand what a chronic ankle issue can do to a player. Such an ailment can produce EXACTLY what Gimenez was struggling with: difficulties with first touch, difficulties with turning to shoot, weak shots, and inaccurate shots. I firmly believe that Gimenez is a far better player than what the fans and even Milan’s leadership acknowledge. I am very hopeful that once he fully recovers from his surgery and then finally plays with his ankle in top form, he will return to regularly scoring goals.
Similarly, I’m hopeful that Pulisic will recover his top form and will resume his high scoring and high passing contributions.
It is just unfortunate that in this essential season in which we need to go back to the UCL, and in which we did have a shot at competing with Inter, three of our best players got significantly impaired by physical ailments, such as Leão, Pulisic, and Gimenez. The market solutions that were hired to mitigate this crisis, that is, Nkunku and Füllkrug, sorry, are not as good as Leão, Pulisic, and even Gimenez. Sure, Nkunku and Füllkrug had been brilliant players earlier in their careers but I am rather convinced that unfortunately they will not go back to that level of proficiency, because of severe accumulation of injuries in the last few years.
There is a risk that Rafa and Puli (but maybe not Gimenez who had a more specific injury that according to his Dutch surgeon has been fully dealt with) will, like Nkunku and Füllkrug, never fully recover their previous form, given that athletes decline and when they become injury-prone, it takes a toll. But let’s hope not because both Rafa and Puli (as well as Gimenez) are still relatively young players, so maybe they will fully recover and will help us a lot more, next season, provided that they stay with Milan which is not a given, especially if in the last 12 games we fall apart and again don’t make the Champions League. Fingers crossed that these more catastrophic possibilities won’t happen and all three players stay and have a very productive 2026/27 season. For the 2025/26 current season, all three have been severely limited by physical ailments, and this is crystal clear. So, they don’t deserve the criticism that we see being uttered here against them, by different posters (there are the Leão haters, the Pulisic haters, and even some Gimenez haters). Me, I love all three.
Reading all these comments it sounds like people are coming around to what I’ve been saying. This team is underperforming with the players they have. Oh yeah, Pulisic misses an empty net- lol. Except there was a defender sliding in and meeting him at the same time he got to the LOOSE ball. Leão looked better when Pulisic was taken off because he’s not a 9. Play the darn 4-3-3 that best fits your team and not your out dated mind set. Do you hear that phone ringing? It’s Pulisic calling his agent.
I fully agree that this game against a low-block bottom feeder should have used the 4-3-3 formation from the beginning.
One problem with it, though, is that we tend to leak more goals when we play 4-3-3 against good attacking teams, it becomes dangerous. The other problem is that we’d need to use as starters 3 forwards out of the only 4 we have, two of whom are not ideally fit (Rafa, Puli), one of whom has been less effective than initially (Füllkrug) and one is prone to disappearing acts (Nkunku). The fifth one (Gimenez) is recovering from surgery. So, if we play 4-3-3 from the beginning against good teams, we risk having only one (and ineffective) forward sub when those 3 get tired. We simply don’t have the personnel (or at least, the fit personnel) for consistently adopting the 4-3-3 formation (how would we rotate, and deal with injuries and suspensions?); also, our center backs are not world class; they often need the help of two wing backs to lock things down a bit more, against good attacking teams.
Still, Allegri is absolutely at fault for not trying it from the beginning against the bottom feeders, which is precisely why we’ve dropped so many points to those, and have effectively gifted the Scudetto to Inter.
The bottom line is, we seem to be a decent team against good teams… and a horrible team against bad teams. This means that we can collect good results against the big teams, but it’s all spoiled by dropping numerous points to the small teams.
Inter on the other hand just plow ahead completely destroying the small teams, and that’s why they will be the Scudetto champions, this season. But we need to understand that they do have the personnel for it. Lautaro, Thuram, Bondo, Esposito… we have nowhere near this attacking power.
So, it’s surely, like you said, in GREAT part Allegri’s fault for not daring more against the small teams… but it is ALSO the fault of the managers who failed to scout and sign a number of good forwards to make the offense more potent and more able to break down the low-block bottom feeders that park the bus.
” But we need to understand that they do have the personnel for it. Lautaro, Thuram, Bondo, Esposito… we have nowhere near this attacking power.”
Even if we had all the Inter strikers in our squad, Allegri would field only one of them at a time. Unless his “0-0” tactic had failed and Milan were trailing (which happens a lot) and he needed goals in the last 15 minutes. MAYBE then he MIGHT bring in another striker. But only then.
Fng ridiculous and infuriating. Allegri is really killing all the joy from football with his “let’s play 0-0 until the last quarter” approach in EVERY SINGLE MATCH no matter the opponent. 🤦♂️
Not Bondo; I meant Bonny
💯
That “Pulisic misses an empty net” is probably the most biased comment I’ve read this year. I wonder what would have been the sentence if it were Leao in that same situation instead of Pulisic… 🙄
If it were to be Leao missing an empty net, the whole internet will be agog, the Italian presses will fed on it for months we won’t hear the last of it.
Shame to lose the streak, but it was good whisky it lasted. Not surprised it’s a narrow one but huge shame not to capitalise on June’s loss yesterday, a 13 gap to 3rd would have felt much more comfortable.
Also, Como now have a better goal difference than us.
Did feel like up against a low block and we had lots of short-pass players in the box but no realistic plan of how to break through without mistakes. Shooting was a bit off but we did dominate and on another day some of those shots go in. Today it wasn’t to be.
Cremonese game is big now – I don’t mind Inter as we’re not really competing with them this year but we can’t now go four games without a win or we’re going to get very nervous about 4th place very quickly indeed.
For this game, I liked Jashari but think RLC could have been the physical body we needed more. Saelemaekers huffed and puffed but was again playing fast and loose with a second yellow. Athakame’s crossing has looked effective and I thought he could have been a useful tool once we were really pressing at the end, but don’t really know what he was brought on to do.
Estupinian seems to be on instruction not to do overlapping runs in behind. It’s basically all I saw him do with Brighton but just looks bereft of any confidence at the moment.
Pulisic and Leao together, I can see merit in when a game is more open, but they really did need some additional help with this sort of packed defence.
Allegri dan kawan-kawan LEBIH BAIK mengundurkan diri dari sekarang. Karena kalian tidak di dukung oleh Management untuk finansial dan membeli pemain berkualitas. PEMILIK TIDAK SERIUS MEMIMPIN MILAN SEPERTI SILVIO BERLUSCONI UNTUK MENJADI MILAN JUARA CHAMPIONS, SCUDETTO DAN JUARA DUNIA ANTAR CLUB. SIAP-SIAP MILAN KELUAR DARI ZONA CHAMPION.
“Leao (5.5): Same old, same old..”
What does this mean? Weren’t there articles praising Leao on his production despite low game time? So what does same old same old mean ??
Anyways these ratings are all over the place. Too harsh on Tomori imo, too high on deWinter. I can’t see how Modric and Rabiot get passes. And Leao came the closest to actually scoring and rescuing a point once more 🤷♂️. Pulisic was indeed disappointing today even though he’s my boy.
Anyways, this is life Milan chose… with Allegri. Boring ball… Will get the job done re top 4 but nothing more. Inter has been playing with incredible efficiency. They’re on track for one of the highest points tally.. maybe in a different season we’d be close but this Inter needs like a Juve from Allegri first stint to compete. And we just don’t have that level of team. As of right now we’re doing the best we could with what we have. Remember the other 17 are dealing with worse than what we’re dealing with …. Just as a reminder. It doesn’t mean we can’t be privy to better football but bears a good reminder😊…
Only 2,5 years left of this non-winning sh1t. How amazing, right? We’ll probably reach UCL each year but won’t get into the playoffs and we’ll get zero trophies. But Allegri and his superhappy fans are ecstatic for all the matches we don’t lose. While playing the ugliest football on the planet. Without Leao & Pulisic as they surely don’t want to be part of this “ambitious” project of Milan’s anymore.
Leao always want to be part of Milan, when did you become their spokesman?
Lol I get the frustration but memory can be short. I’ve been vocal against his appointment so I’m not super fan of his but at least this is much better than tweedle dee and tweedle dum from last year, you got to admit. I’ll call it the “better” bad football.
The results are better but the game is boring as f…
I feel like Christian has lost what made him so effective, touch. He seems to be trying to blast in every shot lately instead of keeping his head up and focusing on the placement.
Agreed. I think both Puli and Leao are less effective this year simply due to where they’ve been deployed. For starters, pardon the pun, they are not striker or support strikers (they’re best suited on the wings). Sure they will play the roles, interpret it and still produce just because they are great players. But neither of them looks comfortable where they play and the things that made them effective during their time at Milan we don’t see anymore (more for Leao than Christian)
Different writer, opinion differs, one is very biased(the rater) and the other very objective, Leao was one of the only bright spot in our attack, was unlucky not to score, that was difficult and spectacular attempt with goalkeeper only save by the woodwork
Fair point
Agree – I never wanted Allegri in the first place but he had me fooled we were on track after the first few months – aside from Cremonese… Imagine if we were playing in Europe as well – and Napoli Juventus weren’t almost as bad as us… we’d be in panic mode again over 4th spot ..
I’m very much in agreement here. The one good thing is that we maintained pace when everyone at the top was going at that crazy pace. So I guess kudos for that. But yes I was fooled too. Thinking he’d turn a page in his coaching career. Now we’re back to his classic suck the life of our the game type football.
The big problem is that I don’t even trust management to hire properly so in some ways being stuck with this might be better than the alternative….. Sadly!
Agree – I never wanted Allegri in the first place but he had me fooled we were on track after the first few months – aside from Cremonese… Imagine if we were playing in Europe as well – and Napoli Juventus weren’t almost as bad as us… we’d be in panic mode again over 4th spot..
It is going to be very tough with these kind of results
This team not have mentality for wining against “smaller” clubs and that is. Thinking we win easy,costs us again drop points. If we not bring 7 or 8 players we will emberasing next year with this team.
We made positive steps this season. We are on course for a top four finish which was our target. It is frustrating because we were overachieving but a big part of that was down to Modric and Rabiot. Our summer market was mixed. We cleared a lot of deadweight and signed good players but with no clear system of play in mind. The 3-5-2 worked but at the expense of our forwards. Now, we have to move on. Leao has done well but he is not a striker, nor a second striker. With Fullkrug in the squad, we can play a front three with Leao, Pulisic, Saelemaekers as our wide options. I feel bad for Nkunku because he is a second striker playing as a nine or a winger. He is basically Okafor.
While there is still hope with Inter having a tough run of games, it is time to plan for the next two to three seasons. What formation will we play? Who will be our striker? Are Leao and Pulisic staying? Is Jashari good enough to take over for Modric? Do we need to invest in full-backs?
This was a season of quick-fixes. The summer strategy must have a long-term vision behind it.
” Are Leao and Pulisic staying? ”
No. No effing way.
Why not?
They want to win trophies, not settle for “UCL qualification”. Allegri will never try to win anything, he’s paid to get Milan into UCL and that is all he’ll be doing. He’s not obligated to win any trophies. So the next 2,5 years will be like this: Every match will be approached with the “let’s not lose this one” attitude no matter the opponent.
Well that’s management goals aren’t they? Scaroni always wanted top 4 so that we get UCL money and our books look good. Winning a trophy is a spillover effect for these guys
This game is the perfect example of everything that is currently wrong in Serie A in general. Everyone seems to prefer to stand still, passing back and forth with zero ambition. Play for a 0-0 or 1-1 draw. This is excruciatingly boring and painful to watch. This keeps the casual fan (of both the sport and the league) away which keeps the $$$ away. It also keeps the truly world class players from coming in their primes. Top players are COMPETITORS and do not want to sit back and hope someone else does something. Until this old thinking finally goes away, old Italians will be happy because it’s what they know but the league will still fall well behind EPL and other leagues with more exciting football and much better broadcast rights to bring in better talent. This isn’t (just) a Milan problem but a symptom of the larger issue overall.
Totally agreed. Teams need to come out of their shell. Even the commentators need to sell the game better. They all have a part to play.
Great way to end your 35 year birthday, at least you brought out the party clothes.
Well Parma did a Milan on us, LOL.
There is nothing surprising or even maddening about this result as it has been largely due to luck that we have not lost more games like this
We play horrible ineffective football and struggle against terrible teams, and now of course we pay the price.
The most important thing for me as a Milan fan is to see some evolution of the team, that ray of light that we may be building something. This will never happen under Allegri.
I hope more than anything he is gone in summer because I will be ashamed of our once great team playing like this in Europe.
Leao was a different player back on the wing at the end. Pulisic has lost his confidence.
Jashari is getting hyped like he is Zidane, so far he looks like a 20m player from Serie A.
Alexis is reverting to type, over playing and no end product.
Stop selling our best players and bring in a proper f-cking manager
When you start a rating with “In fairness”…That tells me your starting position is negative rather than neutral. In other words…unfair!!
This is a milan fan blog mate, we not gonna be neutral
Jashari is coming off the bench for a reason…we saw that again…Bartesaghi’s last 4-5 games have been rated a solid 5. Send Fulkrug back. Pulisic is off form. Where’s Ricci? Just lock down a CL spot and re-group for next season.
Does re-grouping mean playing the same style of ball? Good luck with that.
Regroup definition: To change the structure of an organization or a group of people to make it more successful, especially when there have been problems: Hope that helps you???
Probably not!
Same old same old. I believe ACM have players to do better.
Sorry not sure what this has to do with what I stated.
My point is the players are already there to do better. I am not saying they should win the scudetto, I don’t think they are good enough for that. But they should have more wins and compete. Crashing and burning out of the cup games to me says this team is setup only to place, not to win.
This 3 5 2 has to go against the weaker teams. I understand being compact against the stronger teams but against a team like this you can easily go 4 3 3 and put leao and pulisic on the wings and get a striker in. Just officially handed the scudetto to inter who have no competition.
Bartesaghi can’t defend. If that was any other player Isak would have given him a 4.
343, control the midfield against smaller teams, push the attack Lao right, Puli left and the big German in the middle.
You should mean Leão left and Puli right. Leão is a left winger. Puli is best when he plays right winger.
Yes, Leao left, Pulisic right.. Allergic has such fear in his play now. If you want to play that way against PSG, City, Inter… Ok. But they will pound you for goals. I would rather be the pounder and not the pounder.
The performance was befitting of a team who looked they were running around in a pair of red satin pyjamas all game. Looked half asleep and with little ideas going forward.
The performance that kit deserved. Can’t we just wear red & black stripes at home FFS!
I never want to see that stupid kit again.. I’m surprised they weren’t wearing slippers with it..
At least now they don’t play Fofana but I Can’t understand the obsession with playing Tomori and Leao. Trash players that I hope Will leave Milan soon.
Isn’t it ironic that you got your wish?…no Fofana…and then no points!! What does that tell you…probably nothing.
No Fofana, No Party.
One of these days folks will realize that Modric and Rabiot can be at their best with Fofana ON the pitch. Ricci and Jashari don’t do all of the dirty work that Fofana does. Milan missed his pressing and defensive energy tonight.
LOL 😂 we had nearly 70% possession. Press what? What we needed was to finish the chances we had and we didn’t do that. Do you think Fofana would have hit the back of the net? 😂😂😂
70% of possession and Milan 0 Parma 1! Clueless as usual…What we do know is, that the players you prefer to be on the pitch instead of Fofana failed miserably. But your opinion of a good midfielder is Krunic, so that tells me all I need to know about your judgement.
The point is we did not need to press last night because we had most of the possession. We did not miss out on anything from Fofana’s ability to press.
Bro, the handle is a troll at Maldinis Heir. You have no idea what you are talking about, must be your first season on the site 😂😂😂
What chances we had that needed to be finished?
The only chances Milan had were when Rabiot head the ball back to Pulisic in the 1st half and the cross that Leao volleyed of the post. Thats it.
Pointless possession of the ball without getting in the Parma’s box.
Rabiot-Modric- Fofana is the best midfield trio Milan can offer.
Yes, two shots that on most nights would have gone in and we would have won 2-0 and you would be singing Allegri’s praise. We had 25 shots and 6 on target. My mention of possession was to fortify why Fofana didn’t need to play since he is the press master according to Savio. Bro even Allegri has moved on from Fofana and he still thinks Leão and Pulisic is a good idea, get a clue 😂😂😂
Allegri actually played an ultra aggressive formation tonight. It was like a 2 6 2. They were extremely aggressive but equally as slow. Most didn’t execute well otherwise they would have had multiple goals. The players look tired, most have had or are fighting major injuries. Teams have figured out leao has ZERO back to goal skills. Teams are leaving him alone 1v1 now where as before he’d demand 2-3. The 2 up top has been found out with leao as the 9. I agree that a formation change is needed but allegri def didn’t play defensive tonight. They should have had 3 goals at least (1 for puli, fullkrug, and leao). 2 out of 3 finish and we’re not here complaining. And yea, freaking wear your red and black stripes at home, they don’t work for Santa.
We can even play 0 8 2 if you like. The problem is having two up front with Leao as the number 9. Sizing up your midfield will improve possession (we had 70%) but it does very little to breaking a low block and surprising opponents in the final third as you only have two up front and both have been figured out the the rest of the league.
This.
I agree, that’s what I’m saying. 2 up front has been figured out by the rest of the league. They need to start fullkrug and either put pulisic behind him with two wingers or something dif. Leao def needs to be out wide against non top 4 teams at least.
I don’t think ACM created any high quality chances in this game.
O ok so you didn’t watch the game, got it. Maybe define high quality chance? Any shot in the box that goes toward the target is high quality. The 3 I mentioned would be goals if they were on frame but none of them were. Fullkrug on target that’s a goal and leao obviously on target that’s a goal and we win the match. Not sure what you’re talking about.
He’s doing a Dinho/Pirlo on Puli. I would be stupid to be expecting anything other than this sort of set up and approach of play for as much as frustrating for me. He’s always been good at winning unconvincingly so I was confident of winning the game even after going the goal down until around the 90 mins mark. But in fact it’s ok losing this game as I’m not a big fan of his desperate wins or say late come back draws.
💯
The usual overreaction from some ‘fans’.
Pulisic has been crap in the new year, his last goal was in December.
Troilo climbed all over Bart on the goal, I’m not sure how that wasn’t a foul.
And for the tools complaining about Allegri, look at Conte and Spalletti.
We should have won, we didn’t. We need a center forward.
We will all experience it together in the end. Keep your hopes high with Max !
“We should have won, we didn’t.”
Even assuming Parma’s goal was a foul, at best we should have drawn ( a measle 1point).
At no point we looked like we were going to score.
This 100%
Since the beginning I was worried that Max may not value Puli as much. I think the player was being protected by his scoring form earlier on and even during that period you could see Max always subbing him off like after scoring a brace.. often with around 20 mins to go. Never lets the guy get a hatrick! Some People claimed Puli was getting rested after long travels, not yet match fit etc but the signs for me was that Max at least doesn’t see him as a sure starter, especially with the coach hyping Leao as a good striker all summer and knowing in his head that he’ll be playing with just 2 forwards.. well everyone knew the No 10 and 11 won’t be the ideal combo and Max was never looking like dropping the No 10 instead. As things stand, will lose Puli and probably no players to his level joining the attack. How Milan went through those difficult years after Maxs work with treating the few that was available
Pulisic is injury prone, that’s why he’s subbed off. His first two years at Milan were an anomaly. This year is his career in a nutshell. Yes, he’s very talented, he can be a match winner, but he cannot be relied on to stay fit.
IF everyone is fit, we’d have pace on the flanks and a centre forward to finish the chances. A number 9 is missing. Everything falls apart without one. We had more chances than Parma, we should have won. That’s football.
If you look across Europe, only a handful of teams are playing good football. Defences are not coming out on top. Arsenal most weeks are crap to watch and are a set piece team. Liverpool are also terrible to watch as are Real Madrid, Chelsea and even Man City. Juve and Inter are the only teams in the league that have scored more goals than us. Allegri doesn’t play for draws, despite what some IDIOTS here claim, he plays to win and yes, he sets his teams out to be difficult to play against – as he should.
Defences are now coming out on top.
“IF everyone is fit, we’d have pace on the flanks and a centre forward to finish the chances“ – Would we? I don’t think Allegri is only playing 352 because of injuries..
💯
100%
I think Puli is lacking some confidence in front of goal at the moment but he will get it back. Doesn’t help when he gets subbed out first all the time. Not like any other attacker is playing great. Why he got subbed out at 60 minutes is idiotic. Do they not want to win? Can they not transition to a 4-3-3 and go for the win?? Frustrating to watch. If Allegri can’t change formations and is content with draws then maybe it was smart Pulisic didn’t sign yet.
I will agree with changing formation to 4-3-3, then Pulisic can stay and play more, but on 3-5-2, the chances created are limited, so if such opportunity fell on you, you just have to score, Pulisic at the moment don’t guarantee such, other attacker seems to. The coach need to save his head, he need someone decisive, Fulcrug doesn’t guarantee it too, so is Nkunku, but Leao most times is decisive and always dangerous whether 25% fit or 50%
A few thoughts
1. This game fell apart because Gabbia was a scratch right before the game and RLC left within the first few moments. Forcing Koni and Jashari into the match when neither was part of the game plan. We looked disjointed from the jump,
…but that is why.
2. Here is the problem with Milan. Here’s who is built for a 3-5-2. Modric, TomorI, Gabbia, Saelemaekers. Here’s who’s built for a 4-3-3 Laeo, Pulisic, Jashari, Ricci, Barthesaghi. Whatever formation we choose, half the starters are not going to be playing well.
3. I did not hate Pulisic and Laeo. They put a bunch of shots on goal…we know that both are lethal…if they keep doing this the results will come. Let’s be honest, Fullkrug, NNunku, Santi, RLC, are not the answer. If we are going to make the 3-5-2 work it has to be Pulisic and Laeo.
4. I assume the Pulisic sub was because he was on a minutes restriction. As soon as he left our movement fell apart.
5. I am alone on this take…and I know it is unpopular but I do not think Modric is playing all that well, and I think next year it won’t be better. He can make some unworldly passes. But when is the last time he dispossessed anyone? And how many assists does he have this year? 3 in all competitions. Look the man is a legend, but I just don’t see it.
6. If we are going to play counter attacking football then our midfielders need to run. Every fast break Milan had at most 3 guys running. Rabiot, Jashari, Modric, Estupian? Where were you?
7. I want someone different taking corners.
8. If we play a 4-3-3. Who are the center backs? Koni and Pav? Gabbia and Pav? I truthfully don’t like any pairing. Which means in the Summer this should be the big splash signing. We have no versatility if our center backs can’t play with 2 in the back.
9. Guys I want to see more of…Koni, Bart, Jashari, Pulisic, Saelemaekers, Rabiot….guys I want to see less of Tomori, Modric, Estupian, Nnukunku, RLC.
10. Forza
I think Modric and Saelemaeker would do fine in a 4-3-3. Modric may not be able to play ever game to the end, but I think if he is paired with a defensive mid he would be fine. I also think that Rabiot would be OK to. I do agree that Modric has not been as good lately but I think he suffers from the lack of attacking options availabe in the 3-5-2.
Agreed @Gdog. Except maybe the Tomori past who I think isn’t doing too badly. He just works better with Gabbia. Also I agree on the Modric part and have been saying as much… Ie a 40 yr old can’t be relied upon to be your star player in middle..and even with the goal last time out he didn’t play very well otherwise. Jashari does look good though.
100%
To Allegri’s supporters not losing is a win, and actually winning is an uninvited bonus. Play to not lose, play for a draw, every-single-match.
He’s won 7 league titles. Your claims are nonsense. Understand the difference between having a solid defence and playing to defend a lead.
Allegri starts the game as if he’s defending a lead. Yes, he won seven league titles but Serie A is different now. Ask any Juve fan and they were glad to see him go after his last time with the club. Here’s my concern- I don’t see think this team has improved over the course of the season. Yes the defense has been better then last year but at the cost of not being able to score.
He does not start games as if he’s defending a lead. His teams generally have more possession and create the best scoring chances.
Juve fans? Sure, and where are Juve now?
The defence is better at the cost of not being able to score? Only Juve and Inter have scored more goals, and they have strikers, we do not. In fact, Juve have Openda and David, strikers some fans (but not me of course) wanted us to sign. They have 9 goals between them.
We also had the third best attack last year. The defence has improved, the attack is functioning as it did last season and we’re currently 6 places higher. That is a huge improvement.
I said anything less than second place this season would be a dissapointment. It’s the first year under Allegri and a new sporting director. There has been progress. Projects take time.
100%
This. 💯 accurate.
Its a mistake to expect a win from this toothless team. They failed to create real opportunities to say the least.
I think with Allegri needs to put Leao and Pulisic back in their position. Bring top striker and sell all the remaining BS in the team. Saelemaekers is a failure player, he cannot score nor assist. I never seen him cross one good ball.
The same for Estopenian.
He also need to training them to score against defensive teams. Its not impossible to score against defensive team because Inter, Roma, etc. all score against these teams.
Maybe he needs to add Moderic to the management team next year to be in charge of leading the attacks.
The frustrating part is not the lose but losing against trams we are reasonably expected to win. Milan have been struggling against the lowblock, and a good coach should have figured this out by now. If we want to stay in the running for a top4 finish and ‘remotely’ challenge Inter then you do not lose against these teams at home. I lament the fact that our game is so slow and that we have lost our ability to press, allowing every god given team to pass the ball at will around us and threatenour goal. There’s a number of things to fix, and I fear us just trying to make up the UCL numbers if our approach to games is not addressed urgently. I dont know if a different coach is the answer but you sure as hell expect Allegri to come up with the answers…or change the personnel for god sake…boy do I miss Giroud!!!
Fair enough on some of your points. But Modric largely holds things together…I dont see Rabiot doing that, he moves around too much. Jash looks like he can grow into Modric’s role but he is not there yet. I fear an even more clueless team without Modric to direct things. Yes he is in his 40’s but the way this team plays it makes him look like our star. Even Salad looks like a star as frustrating as his end product is. But yes we need to ship out quite a few deadwood in the summer mercato (Estu, Fulkrug, Nkunku, Tomori, Fofana)…the last 3 you can keep as subs if you want depth but definitely not as first choice players.
My last comment is in response to Gdog
Pulisic is always the first to be subbed off,
He’s being managed for injury, but leao hasn’t been fit all season but he’s playing 90mins as soon as he’s fit evert time…
With just a 100 minutes allowed to pulisic since the whole of 2026 it’s safe to say, we’re losing him for sure, so allegri can fit a 6th DM in the lineup to pair the sole striker
It would be a pain to lose pulisic, but what power do the fans have? Leao seems to be not as effective or athletic or even talented, but he has the size that the manager loves, now that pulisic hasn’t had the opportunity for continuity as much as leao, and that’s not conicidental!
Have you been watching football for 2 years? Leao is the only Balon D’or level player in the team. He was MVP when we won the league. He carried us to the UCL SFs. He is on another level compared to Pulisic. Even when half fit, as he has been this season, Leao has the same numbers as Pulisic – 8 goals and 2 assists. This is the limit at which Pulisic operates, Leao’s injury has robbed him of his main weapon, his pace and athleticism. We expect the real Leao next season. Pulisic can go.
What “real Leão” ? The 2023/24 Leão ? The 2024/25 Leão ? He was fit these 2 seasons and Pulišić was far better so what was his excuse ?
You say Leão has the same goals and assists in serie A as Pulišić but has played 300 more minutes (1263 vs 963), that sure has to count right ? Plus Leão has scored 2 penalties which “pad” his stats a little bit.
And finally Leão was never a Ballon d’or level (and neither is Pulišić) and never will be. His best ranking was 14th with 2 points and 0,13 % of the total votes and that was 3 seasons ago and we never reached that level again.
24/25 we had mediocre coaches fighting our star player, a decisive one, even at that how many times has he saved the team from defeat?
While I wouldn’t want to compare Pulisic and Leao, Pulisic is a fantastic addition to the team, but Leao is exceptional, the one that can single handedly assure us victory on a good day, even half fit, not Pulisic.
On the Penalties, wasn’t Pulisic the designated Penalty taker? until when he started faltering.
“Leao is the only Balon D’or level player in the team. He was MVP when we won the league. ”
LOL!!! He’s not even in the top-50. And him being the MVP was 5 years ago. He hasn’t developed one bit and is regressing.
Even if Leao is not top 50 which i doubt, understand the statement, he is the only Balon d’or level player, note the word level.
we have seen him destroy star studded PSG Mbappe inclusive, guess who was the MOTM….yours truly Rafael Leao Mr decisive
Against star studded Real Madrid in the 2024 , (Vini Jr, Mbappe )champions league, gues the player that made the difference Leao…..that is world class
That was ages ago. He’s not the player he was back then.
“He is on another level compared to Pulisic. Even when half fit, as he has been this season, Leao has the same numbers as Pulisic”
Fng m0ron “conveniently forgot” that Pulisic has been injured about as much as Leao. Look at the minutes played.
That’s funny, I seem to recall some guy named Modric actually winning one
Touché!!! 😀 😀 😀
“Leao’s injury has robbed him of his main weapon, his pace and athleticism.”
His ONLY weapon.
This.
Right, which is why he has 8 goals and 2 assists, despite not being able to run. Try making good posts.
“Try making good posts.”
LOL. Coming from you… PRICELESS! 😂😂😂😂🤦♂️
Everyone, as disappointing as this result is, and as disappointing as it is for many to finally realize what has been evident forna couple of weeks now, that this scudetto is Inter’s barring an epic collapse, we need to keep our feet on the ground. We finished 8th last season, went through two coaches, had a completely unbalanced squad and still do in some ways, had no and still have no no. 9. We were never good enough for the title. Inter is well ahead in their project, and I daresay that if Napoli hadn’t suffered a rash of injuries that they would probably have been ahead of us in the standings too. Our goal was, and should be CL qualification, and we’re currently well on course for that. This summer market is going to be where we’re really going to see what this club’s intentions are. If they can bring more balance to the attack, bring in a CB that allows us to play with a back 4, and bring in another CM in the vein of Rabiot to start in the RLC/Fofana (I ultimately see Jashari as the Modric replacement) then I think we can raise the bar for next season and talk about the title earnestly.
Allegri critics pretending not to see Leao has physical issues and can’t run whenever he goes towards the wing, are simply hilarious. How do you deploy a 4-3-3 with unfit Leao and Pulisic, one of whom can barely walk. He is playing simply because he has the qualities to produce a magic touch from time to time, like against Como, while Nkuku and Fullkrug are at best second half options. It’s been a frustrating season for our attack, beginning from last summer, with all the mercato misfortunes, then Santi injuring a teammate and losing confidence and finally Leao and Pulisic becoming injury prone for the whole season. Allegri is not a magician, like some bots here expecting him to be. In terms of quality we have the third or fourth squad in Serie A at best and that only concerns the rare cases when all of the players are match fit.
Alegri is not playing good style of football,why is he forcing leao to play a difficult role, let him play from the left wing and see beautiful leao, also play pulisic on the right wing and play fulkcruk in no 9, u have good midfield, I don’t know how you want a player to improve on the bench, u keep benching players just bcuz they’re not improving, will they improve on the bench,???? The last time I’ve enjoyed Milan playing was Milan under pioli, after that Milan stopped playing good football, the solution is to call back pioli, the coach really try for Milan, he return Milan back to European competition and take us to semi final in champions league what a good coach, when last has Milan reach semi final in champions League, pioli is the man that can take Milan to the top level
His last year Piloi finished second to an Inter team that was on fire. Yes, they gave up more goals, but they scored more. That said, I don’t think he was the long-term solution. When he left the team to me was unmanageable the next year. Revolution. Leão did not like being called out for not running and Theo was just crap. Mike was so bad people wanted him gone. I am not saying either of the managers were right for the job, but that the team as constructed should have finished in the top 4. I do wonder how much Giroud’s leadership was missed. Allegri will get the team in the top, but that’s it. As the season has progressed has the team improved? I don’t think so. Welcome to Serie B(oring).
Pulisic is not a world class player
Maybe not, but he’s objectively the best we’ve got. This team generally poses no threat when he’s not on the pitch. No energy, no vision, no will.
Did you all really think we can win the scudetto with this average squad?
Rating Leao over Pulisic is some nasty work. Leao routinely made awful passes, was slow to the ball all day, and blew his share of chances. Pulisic’s “best chance” as you call it: he had a defender directly in front of him AND defenders closing down on both his left and right. The level of difficulty of making such a shot is squarely in “absolute miracle” territory. It should be noted that everything truly went to shit after #11 was taken off the pitch. I swear it’s as if you routinely charge a 1 point deduction against him if he does anything short of being MOTM.