AC Milan’s winning run came to an end this evening as Roma came out on top in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final. Several players failed to deliver, especially Olivier Giroud, and below are the player 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 (6): He couldn’t do anything about the goal and made a couple of good stops, while he was also good with his feet. Of course, it’s never nice for a goalkeeper to concede but the defeat isn’t on him.
Calabria (6): The captain got done once by Spinazzola, which could have been costly, but aside from that he actually played well in both phases of the game. His position in the second half at least helped Milan give it a go.
Thiaw (5.5): While he did have some good blocks, he struggled way too much with his positioning and above all staying close to his man. Granted that the defence was stretched a lot tonight, Gabbia did much better on this front and the German must do better.
Gabbia (6.5 – MOTM): He didn’t win every duel against Lukaku, but he won a lot of them. He used his physicality in a very smart way and wasn’t afraid to make interceptions high up the pitch. The fact that he got Lukaku upset as well says a lot about the impact.
Hernandez (5.5): Probably more so a Pioli problem, but we barely saw the Frenchman in the first half and even in the final 45, he struggled to find attacking paths. We saw a few trademark runs, but we need to see a lot more.
Bennacer (5.5): The Algerian had the right idea on several occasions but the execution was lacking, unfortunately yet again for him this season. He usually makes up for that with hard defensive work but that phase was questionable from him tonight as well.
Reijnders (6): He was the only Milan player who actually got into good positions in the first half, whilst constantly driving the team on. However, while the shots were not necessarily bad, they certainly could have been better.
Pulisic (6): Since Milan basically only played on the right flank, he had an important role and did have some good moments. But it’s nothing more than a pass here, especially considering what he’s capable of (just take the Lecce goal as an example).
Loftus-Cheek (5.5): He lost his man on the corner and while Theo had the zonal marking, the Englishman is the one to blame. He did help some in the attacking phase but it didn’t make up for the mistake.
Leao (5.5): Similarly to Theo, Pioli deserves half of the blame as Milan almost never put the winger in good positions. It was truly very strange to see even if you would expect the Rossoneri to attack on the right a lot too. In the second leg, he must be exploited a lot more.
Giroud (4.5): Strikers, and especially strikers like Olivier, have one job and that is to convert the big chances. Today, he missed an absolute sitter and truth be told, he was really poor before that as well. His mind was seemingly already in LA.
Substitutes
Adli (6): He added fresh energy and nice passing, which was exactly what Milan need at the stage of the game. After his performance against Lecce, he perhaps should have played from start as the Bennacer choice wasn’t exactly super successful.
Chukwueze (6.5): When you create such a chance, and in that manner as well, you deserve an assist. You even have the right to demand an assist. It’s moments like that which truly highlight the potential of this player, and what a game-changer he can be.
Okafor (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
The manager
Pioli (5.5): Milan were very poor in that first half and while the changes made in the second improved the situation, there are so many question marks still. Why was there always a gap in the midfield, and why did we never play on the left? Some of the stuff we saw today was mind-boggling.
Giroud!!!!!!! For me, Leaò was the bigger flop of the match.
LAZY LAZY LEAO !! I usually don t play defense and tonight I don t feel like playing offense either !! LAZY LAZY LAZY 4.5 for the super star
Well said.
Leao is lazy 9 match out of 10…I can’t stand watching that guy play. He should be benched and sold this summer transfer.
If any team in Italy can recover from a bad result, it’s Milan, I learned that this season, I saw 4-5 wins in the last 5-6 minutes of the game, I firmly believe that they can turn this around
OOOHHHH BOULDENNNNN,
Your Daddy just got humiliated by a manager who started coaching 2 years ago, after saying all that trash against many regulars here, this must have been embarrassing, no?
Will you still defend Pioli? Well, according you he is better than Pep…
De Rossi hasnt even coached for two years. It seems he was only a temporary/transition coach for Spal 2years ago. In reality he has like couple of months experience.
This is hardly a humiliation. A goal that should have been disallowed, that allowed Roma to sit back and play like turtles.
Great point.
Yep – Roma were lucky – and that’s with us playing off the boil for a good portion of the game. Dybala didn’t do much. Lukaku did his usual “reversing truck” moves. SES…. why some fans still want him back is a mystery to me.
Still I can’t see how we would be any better in the next leg.
Can you see us being worse though? Have you seen us better? Yes we have and should be. We are going to win next game I’m sure.
And just like that – we are brought back down to earth. Those Pioli supporters who were clamoring for him to stay on as coach because we “turned it around” and went 7 games unbeaten – continue to conveniently ignore that those 7 wins came against sub par opponents (including Napoli who are not good this year) and our record against top clubs is poor. Today showed that once again. Winless against Inter and Juve and Atalanta and now beaten at home vs a rejuvenated Roma. Bounced out of UCL – but oh ya I forgot we are in Europa (at least for now) and are in second place (14 points off 1st) and that is amazing so we should keep Pioli LOL. I like Pioli and thank him for all that he has done – but he cannot since that Scudetto season consistently win against top sides. That is a fact. Change is needed. Once again he was outcoached and his tactics neutralized by a rookie coach. I also question why it took him so long to sub Benny who was extremely poor and RLC – poor also and go with the Pulisic behind Giroud and Leao/Chuck (who played well again) together? And why would u leave the offensively limited Calabira in when down a goal?? Not good. Pls bring in Motta before we lose him (and Zirkee) to Juve
I fail to notice any mention of the injuries we had to deal with through the period referenced. Given that it was in much of our defense … blah blah blah.
All those words, but no balance.
Like many I am disappointed I took off 2 hours from work to watch 11 dudes take off 2 hours from work. Prolly would have less frustration watching the mirror.
That said, I support Milan. Milan is lead by Pioli. We have done well and this one-in-a-row is nothing but annoying.
Forza Milan.
LOL. Injuries are part of the game. Every team can cry over injuries – it’s just an EXCUSE. A good coach does exactly that – coaches through them. First fans complained we had no DEPTH. Then all these summer signings and those same complainers rejoiced that we now finally have DEPTH. Now the excuse is we are injured and still don’t have DEPTH and that is why Pioli cannot adjust his TACTICS?? LOLOLOLO. What do injuries have to do with tactics friend? ZERO. Same old story with Pioli which leads to the same old results. We win because we have some really talented players. BUT when we face a team with similar talent and/or a coach that is better tactically than Mr Pioli – we struggle. Facts don’t like. Blah, blah, blah….
For people like LOLOLOLO everything’s black and white. As soon as we lose they pop out the woodwork to drone on about sacking Pioli forgetting that there can be more than one cause for any given result.
Celebrating losses as usual lmao and exaggerting them
Inter fans are better than you
According to you DDL was a nobody no? Now you are saying I am celebrating a loss but I am just showing just how big of a idiot you and your daddy Pioli are.
Dumbf*ck boulden
Giroud!!!!!!! For me, Leaò was the biggest flop of the match.
How is Leao the biggest flop? not Pioli, or Giroud that couldn’t score a sitter?
For some people, when the team lose, it is always Leao’s fault.
@Inter fan, he was quiet throughout the game. We praise him when he does well and criticize him when he does badly! I expected a lot from him and Pulisic
There was always 2-3 players on Leao, he couldnt do much by himself.
Yeah, but he did not get any decent service tonight and also he has to shoulder the pressure of being looked at when the team does not get things right. Haaland was sleepy against MC and Mbappe against Barca, but other players stepped up and scored instead. Leao potence relies on his speed (and physical power), but for that he needs the team to play faster. If the team is slow and without ideas, fast players can’t do much as rivals cover them well. The team overall was bad, no need to single out Leao.
You praise him nothing, all you do is sit and wait for him to perform less then you come up with empty words from your gutter brain to criticise him.
Fool.
He was quiet without service, I saw him run into space twice without receiving the pass, Mr Pioli choose to attack from the right, rather Pulisic should have been replaced earlier. The moment Pioli took out Leao, I Knew he gave up about winning and he doesn’t want to loose him for the return leg, however tactically its zero for Pioli
How is is that Inter Fan has such an accurate evaluation of Leao vs. some of the other comments.
Leao did have a bad game today. A contributing factor was our observable slow play and timid movement of the ball.
Was Leao off individually. Yes. Could Puli, RLC, Giroud, Reinjders, Chuk or Ok4 have filled the gap. Yes … yes they _should_ have. Could Pioli have set us up to play the fast flowing style we used against Lecce? Yep.
💯💯💯. He gets double and tripled teamed.
Then when he leaves all those critics will cry
Exactly. He gets double and tripled teamed.
Then when he leaves all those critics will cry
Its not leao or Giroud
I think the flop are Bennacer
He failed to delivered the ball from back to front
That why Leao look so frustated when sub out coz he almost never get the ball
And Pioli are too late for subs him
You can see, when adli came in the flow change a lot
Yea Isma always brought back the ball backward and Tij only working the midfield alone since RLC is also quite. Isma isnt ready for starter this season
That’s what you all racists do.
How much do you appreciate him when he’s the biggest parformer of a match?
Clowns 🤡
You all wait for him to perform less then you start roasting him.
@Malda, you’ve got nothing upstairs! What has criticizing a player’s performance got to do with being a Racist… I’m black and proud…. You are lunatic!
Big fool.
All this time he has been performing what did you come up with your empty brain to say.
Father of a lunatic.
@Malda, I’ve got more of Leaò’s photos on my phone. He is one of my favorite players at the moment and will remain. It’s just obvious that u don’t understand the word RACIST. Someone needs to school u…. I’ll say u started it. Great-grandfather of Lunatics….
Thiaw and Bennacer have been such a disappointment since they got back. But we don’t have excuses today and Pioli has to go, end of the line.
Yeah! Why does not Milan consider a coach like Gasperini? I am just curious because I am really amazed at what he did today against Liverpool. Even though Liverpool is mainly focused on the PL. However, a loss is a loss, and Atalanta should have been the easiest opponent for Liverpool to beat. Out of the 8 teams remaining, Atalanta supposed to be one of the weakest ones!
Gasperini lost in the weekend to Genoa, dont wanna mention him when he does bad do you?
Why do all of you here have such selective memory, are you all like 12?
Gasperini has been consistent with his football identity and style of play over the years.
Milan right now, we do not need a coach who wins 7 straight matches in a row without playing well, we need a coach with a clear identity of play.
We have shown that we can win if we play well, we won the league when Pioli had not been discovered, but since he got discovered, it became practically game over.
I can assure you, if Milan can play as beautiful as Atalanta, we will win the league over Inter, I can confidently tell you that.
Exactly, we need a coach who knows what he is doing. Maybe Atalanta lost against Genoa. But a team cannot win all matches, but winning the crucial ones is important. I would love to have Gasperini at Milan. Just look at what he is doing with CDK. He even gave a great assist last night. Pioli is not that great with the young players. We need a coach who helps players to develop and has an identity as you said. Also Milan has great players who come from the youth team, and Milan does not use due to Pioli. I think we should replicate a little what Barcelona is doing. I am sure that Milan has great talents in his youth academy!
Thiaw just got back. That’s harsh. Bennacer hasn’t been in form much this season…
Adli seems a better pairing for Reijnders ATM. Which is sad because I thought Bennacer/Reijnders would be amazing together.
Yeaaahh, that’s why Pioli should have played Kjaer and Gabbia. They’re slow you say? Then hold a deeper line. I’d rather take a 1-0 or 0-0 to Rome than a 0-1.
I disagree. I think Kjaer would not have been sufficient against Roma’s forwards. As it is, Lukaku had to be double teamed often.
Thiaw has to rediscover his form. He was visible not 100% yet. But optimally, him and Tomori make the best CB pairing.
Thiaw worries me…. I’m getting DIda vibes after he was hit by a flare in Scotland.
Terrible decision to play Bennacer !! Still slow and can t give a first time ball !!
The only blame for Piloli on Leao’s performance is the fact that he didn’t yank him sooner. He literally walked around for 80 minutes.
Leao needs to move and get himself into dangerous positions, not the manager. He had zero weak side presence in the box when dangerous crosses were played in. Didn’t stretch the field with runs in behind. Nothing.
It’s hard to move in a mosh pit. Trying to do that with a ball at your feet and everyone kicking at you while your team mates wait for you to DoSomething(tm) is even harder.
Leao had a off day. But he shares the blame, he is not the cause of it.
The 4231 system is a system that is reckless and pointless, you risk exposing your midfield, just look at the Roma midfield 3, why did Giroud play the full game..? The Coach should have made those changes sooner….we need a new coach and philosophy..,
Roma played smart. Didn’t leave any spaces to run into. Kept it tight. I’m guessing they will do the same in the return leg too because Pioli clearly didn’t have an answer for it.
Does Pioli EVER have an answer for IN GAME TACTICS????? LOL
NO SIR
No. He is definite a one plan coach for sure.
I think the mistake was not going to a 4-4-2 especially when Roma went ahead. Roma covered the wings and there really wasn’t anywhere for Leao or Pulisic to go. While Chuk had one good run, he lost the ball probably 5 times in 15 mins because there was nowhere to go. It was a very nice run. I would have put Pulisic, Reinjeeds, RLC and Bennacer as midfielders and put Chuk in as a winger in the second half..
I would have pulled RLC and put Puli in the 10, Chuk RW, Okafor at the 9 kept Rafi at LW. Same old crap from the Gaffer.
why is Calabria attacking more than the winger? and he couldn’t even do it right, I don’t understand how he played well in the attacking phase?
So embarrassing to see us getting humiliated by DDL who some people here treat like a fluke.
Questions for those who will blame that idiot ref and VAR for our poor display and loss:-
1. Why did Ruben who was the worst player on the field and Giroud player 90 minutes when we were losing 1-0 against a team we beat twice this season and are 14 points below us?
2. Why did he not start Chukweueze and Adli when just a week ago they both played one of their best games for us? Bennacer who is still not match fit and is not in sync with the new signings is getting more minutes than Adli.
3. Why is he giving Jovic and Okafor the CDK treatment when it’s clear they both are our future and Giroud will leave next season for the MLS.
Because hindsight is always 20/20. Pioli put the best team forward. Everybody decides to flop. But he definitely should have made those subs sooner.
The most worrying past for me is that Pioli couldn’t figure out how to counter DDR’s plan.
I think we will still go on to win it against them in the second leg (hopefully) but Pioli’s record against strong well managed opponents is concerning.
We have seen this so many times this season now. (about the late subs)
My biggest criticism of Pioli is that he gives so much game time to his favourites to turn the game around. Just won’t acknowledge it is going badly and make significant changes till almost the 80th minute. But when the sub players do get a start. He has no hesitation at yanking them at half time or 60th min at the latest.
I can understand why he went for most of the line-up today. But he just refuses to budge from his plan A.
Loftus Cheek(4.5) has never come better in a critical match. Go check our records.
He was so lost in the match, no duels won, he couldn’t even drive the ball forward and also misplaced so many passes.
Benecer(5) held on to the ball for too long and also misplaced so many passes, barring that he was good.
Gabbi(7.5) was a menace and stood his ground with Lukakku. Had to fill up for Thiaw when out of position. Good work rate from him
Thiaw(5) should be sent to Villarreal maybe he can upgrade just like Gabbia did. His positionings were terrible and made many short passes.
Theo(5) was not his night. Did his best. Leao was too static and didn’t allow him roam
Calabria(5.5) wasn’t really offensive but, did well defensively.
Reinders(5.5) could have done better with his decisions. Barring that, he was great tonight.
Leao(5) too static and looks disinterested on many occasions.
Giroud(4.5) what a miss, the same thing he did against Dortmund when Chukweze gave him an assist. It’s high time he sits on the bench.
Adli(6) could have came in earlier but, Pioli is Milan’ coach.
Chukweze(6) was determined and made effort
Pioli(5) many wrong choices. Loftus cheek was not meant to start the second half of the game and could have changed tactics and formation.
Good summary
Masterclass by De Rossi to be fair. His tactics were spot on. Ours weren’t. It was haphazard. BUT it’s only a 1 goal lead and we can easily take them in Rome.
💯
Yes exactly. BUT this is the recurring problem with Pioli – he cannot ADUST his IN-GAME TACTICS. And because of that we will never be an elite team.
Pioli isn’t the coach to elevate us to Elite. He was the coach to get us from the gutter to like a B/A- at best.
We will need to upgrade on him. And if we crash out against Roma, I think the ax will fall this summer.
Motta and De Zerbi never adjusts their ingame tactics either, do you actually watch their teams since you pine for those 2 so much and complain about the exact same issue
somethings wrong with you people
Honestly De Rossi did do his homework, he understood exactly what type of play will disturb ours and in the first half especially, we didn’t seem to have any plan to how to effectively attack.
I won’t comment too much because (and hopefully so) manage to win and get to the next round, all the current criticism will be for nothing. But with that said, it’s very worrying that we still don’t seem to have a solution to this type of style.
I know some here have criticized me for saying that, but selling injury-prone Kalulu and Thiaw to buy a decent defender (Scalvini or someone else) is a great idea.
Pioli said that Milan are near the Man City and Real Madrid level. Maybe the team got some hype after beating Lecce.
Thiaw should go if we can get good money for him. Gabbia is better. For Kalulu if he keep geting injured like this year then yes he should go too and we should get that young RB from Real that we have on loan at the moment. Sometimes you need to sell at the right moment.
Bro just change your username..we know you’re not an Inter fan. U know more about Milan than “your own team”.
I have been an Inter fan since the age of 6. I know MC, Arsenal, RM, Barca and Bayern even better than Milan, but that does not mean I am their fan. I just watch and read much about football.
Wow what year you’ve been Inter fan. Do you like any team linked with Milan city, like Monza, or do you like to analyze postgame result. Anyway anyhow, u seem fitted to be football comentator 😀
@Inter fan, I hope Scalvini won’t be another gamble like Caldara
Without trying, you will never discover.
On the bright side we hit the bar 3 times while Roma hardly created anything and needed to rely on a dodgy goal to come away with the win. It was one of those nights…
Exactly right. Milan, dare I say, were the superior team tonight while playing poor by their recent standards. Aside from a dubious situation, they created far more than Roma. I have confidence in turning it around in the 2nd leg.
^^ this
We played terrible and lost by a goal that should not have happened. Roll up the sleeves adn get the work done next week.
And I’m actually more confident when we play away. The stadio isn’t an advantage for Roma at all.
I’m not worried about Roma. They played to expectation.
I’m worried about Milan not having shown up for this game. If Milan actually show up next leg then we can beat them. On down a single goal.
Yup – agree. All the hype about this new look Roma but they’re still nothing special. The problem is us. (and the refs….)
This milan is not built to play big games..they keep on loosing big games..we were clueless for a whole 90mins
I feel like Pioli can’t mentally prepare his players. To motivate them for big games.
He takes 1 step forward and 2 steps back. If we fail in this competition. We are back to square one “finish top 4 in Serie A”
I feel like it’s the reverse. Apart from last night we usually show up for the big games – the scudetto run, PSG, Newcastle, Napoli etc. It’s against the Lecce’s, Sassuolo’s and Udinese’s midway through the season we usually struggle to get going.
Playing like this Inter is gonna win the scudetto when they play us in the derby
Another Pioli “masterclass”. I think he proved again today that he not only deserves to stay next year but also to get an extension. It’s a different ball game when you have to play 11 v 11 instead of 11v10, 11v9 or even 11v8, like in most of the games Milan won in the last month or so.
Totally outsmarted by a rookie coach. No surprise there since Milan doesn’t really have a coach or a team concept of play. If the players don’t create anything in 1v1 there is no structured build up practiced or taught at milanello. The only chance Milan had was thanks to a solo run by Chukwueze.
For the umpteenth time in the last 5 years Milan concedes a goal from a corner, another thing not taught at milanello by the great Padre Pioli.
Roma was the better team and deserved to win.
From the players Gabbia, Calabria and Reijnders were the better ones. Bennacer, RLC, Giroud and leao were the worst.
Bennacer has no business being a starter, and let’s thank Zeki Chelik for allowing Leao to get out of his pocket so he can get subbed off early so he can go and tweet 🤡 emojis.
Meanwhile Gasperini goes to Anfield and shellacks the best team in EPL and the EL favorite 3-0. But Pioli supposedly is better coach than him.
If you want to win trophies instead of being satisfied with being Inter’s little brother, you need a different coach this summer.
5 years were 2 years too long for Pioli. I would even take bipolar Conte at this point.
Always Leao, he keep living rent free in your empty brain.
That’s what you moron do, sit and wait for the day he will perform less then you will come up with something to write against him from your empty brain.
How much appreciation does he get when he performs at his best? None.
Not surprised though 😆😆
You can go and worship your god Cassano for being the greatest of all time.
Splendid rant my brother!
Everyone is talking how our players were bad, but can everyone have a bad day ? It is more likely that Pioli got outsmarted so our players couldn’t do much cause of Roma good tactical approach. Leao was constantly sourounded by 2-3 Roma players. And they played 4-5-1 instead of 4-3-3 which was just a bait. Pioli didnt do anything to counter that and this is the result. Its not over tho we can still win next game if Pioli do his home work.
I agree Pioli caused this poor performance, but the likes of Leao with his level of ability should be able to affect the game
You can’t affect the game when the spaces aren’t there. Roma plugged everything up. Nowhere for Leao to run into. Same with Theo.
Pioli can’t break down deep lying teams.
I think thats why we went thru Pulisic more cause Leao was well guarded with extra players. Maybe Pioli should have taken Loftus out and put a more creative player there to draw some players of Leao in order to create space for him. However he decided to mainly just go thru Pulisic which didn’t really work.
we don’t have anyone else to play AM other than Puli. I would have tried it 60mns in.
Pioli waited too long on subs.
@Olumighty, guy forget… The players fault not Piolis’
Utterly disgraceful performance!
Pioli got the tactics horribly wrong.
Worse than that his team looked devoid of energy or effort!
There are LEVELS in this game, we thought maybe he should stay but the only 3 games of importance were 2 v Roma and the Derby. Well he failed test 1 of 3 miserably
The fact he can’t change things when we are being schooled from min 1 is alarming.
I think Thiaw did well all things considered.
Theo was quiet until the end
Bennacer is still way off pace, but he has the skills, just needs time.
Reijnders gave it a go
Leao – anonymus 175m player!
Pulisic – flopped against a better opponent again
Grioud – is just a waste of space at this stage
RLC – LEVELS – this guy can bully poor defenses but he should be no more than a squad player as he lacks any of the basic skills, like passing. At fault for the goal
Chucky and Adli at least showed the others what a bit of effort looks like ffs!!
On Chucky’s almost assist, I have to ask…. how did he do that all with his left foot? Even when he got to the end line he used his left!
It worked and it was skilful but it’s alarming.
Thoroughly unpleasant game. No tactics, effort, skill NOTHING
Not picking on @sjf specifically, but we had 22 shots with 5 on target. Tactics produce chances and we had plenty. Hell one of the 5 is not even Giroud sky ball.
I mean it took Lukaku blocking two goals with his head to keep the ball out on a single corner. We were dangerous on all our corners until Adli started taking them. So clearly our set peice prep was on as well.
Why are we talking about bad tactics when anything like a clinical finish puts us put 2 goals. Clinical is what our Puli, Giroud, Leao and RLC are expected to be. Not one had a shot on target tonight. This is Pioli? This is tactics?
C’mon y’all. The sky did not fall. I just checked.
Oh and … as a regular Chuk basher, I couldn’t agree more he was a real spark! As someone suspcious of Adli I was calling for him to come in (polite way of saying I was yelling at the TV) and he didn’t disappoint.
No bud the sky did not fall. Honestly, as long as we keep that second place and as a long time milan fan i don’t care where we end up in europa league. Dont get me wrong,i would like our milan to win every trophy that there is but pioli is very limited. Even, that second place feels somewhat undeserved when you look at our performances this season. Juve is just horrible this season, napoli, roma, lazio have gone through menagment changes due to bad performances and results . Pioli has gotta go if we wanna grow further. Eventually luck runs out. As long as the performances and spiirit is there the results will have a smaller impact on the FANS.
Stats are stats. I think anybody who watched the game saw we were horrible.
I posted after 15 mins of the game that we were being schooled.
You could see from the 1st few mins, we had no energy or urgency. Every time Milan struggle you can see it in the attitude in the 1st few mins.
This is the coaches responsibility, aside from tactics, which were poor.
Fair enough if you set things up and the other team counters you well, that happens, so change something!! He cannot adapt
Immediately after Chucky and Adli came on, we had some energy and desire, it changed the game, but far to late at 75 mins or whatever it was.
We have a fit squad with players in form. We were at home against a team we have beaten twice this season. We should have been going for the kill.
I can accept and be dissapointed when a result goes against us if we gave it a go, I cannot accept a performance like this.
Beating all those crap teams for 7 wins means nothing when you fail in the 1st important game against a “decent” team, not Real Madrid.
Also playing 2 zombies like RLC and Giroud leaves us with 9 men (if you count Leao)
Every game is important, but there is a game which more crucial than other like this quarter final uel game, or game who decided we through ucl group ucl or not such againts dortmund, game which make we eliminated in a competition or game with super pride againts inter, sadly on those game we always lose. Winning strike in serie a is testeless if we cant win this typical of game. Fortunately we get used to with false hope given by pioli, when the team looks good again and we praise him again but suddenly bam we cameback fall to the ground
Rough. Let’s see what happens next time.
Incredible how irregular Rubens Loftus-Cheek is. He can be the MOTM certain games, and the worst player on the pitch certain other games, and tonight it was one of the latter.
Mike, Gabbia, Adli, Calabria and Chuk get passes from me tonight. I find that everybody else did poorly and I find some of the ratings here a bit optimistic.
Pioli at best a 4. Should have subbed in Adli and Chuk much sooner. Got outcoached by a much younger coach.
Chuk has been consistently good the last four games and he deserves lots of assists but his teammates keep spoiling the great chances he provides, like Giroud missing the biggest sitter ever after Chuk dribbled three players to spoon-feed Olivier with honey. Damn, you HAVE to score that, Olivier!!! At least Giroud had a good header, saved by Lukaku on the line.
As disapointed as as i am and i am then this is far from over we had a bad day on the office we can still win this one but we really played shaky roday and even then we could have scored some goals. I expect more in rome though.
Given how well Leverkusen are playing, maybe Pioli has figured out Milan can’t win the UEL, and has decided to take the team out and focus on securing the second place in the Serie A. lol
oh shut up, milan can still win this tournament even if it looked bleak tonight.
I am sure Milan can’t win the UEL, but anyways time will tell.
Of course they can win this fixture and the tournament, does it seem likely right now ? not really but to disregard milan already is daft regardless of todays performance. Thjings shifts.
You are probably right and the bookies would agree with you.
However, with Liverpool being the massive, massive favorites to win this competition, with bookies giving them >50% of winning it (before this tie), Milan likely have statistically better chances of winning the cup after today’s results compared to yesterday.
Thats actuallly a pretty good point James. 0-1 isnt insurmountable, 0-3 with a match on enemy turf might be though.
0-1 😀
Somehow the site only allows me to reply to my own comment. lol
@Martin Bernhard, I was sure Inter could not win the UCL this season and many Inter fan disagreed. Then time prove me right. To win such tournaments a team needs not only quality but also a great mentality. Milan so far have not had it. Look at Leverkusen and how they prepare and handle things.
@James Hornby, indeed, Liverpool took it easy and almost certainly will be knocked out. Shame on them as on paper they have tje best team left. However, Leverkusen is still there, and so far this season they have been way better than Liverpool, Milan and the rest of teams still in the UEL. Many things can happen and Leverkusen’s win is far from guaranteed, but after Liverpool’s sinking I see them as the team who will win the tournament. The other teams are far behind by a large margin IMO.
@Martin Bernhard, yes, of course Milan can beat Roma next week. My point is about if Milan can beat Leverkusen though.
Inter fan – Ok. even though inter has been pretty excellent in serie a this season i would have been extremely surprised if inter had won cl but stranger things have happened but yeah i agree leverkusen probably is the favourite now but they will also have a difficult fixture against atalanta in next round if things doesnt change.
Clearly milan isnt the favourite anylonger in this fixture but we are far from out of this tie or the tournament but things certainly doesnt look too good currently. We will see.
Novae – Lets hope so, im still pretty infuriated but we are far from out yet but deffinitely wont be easy task thats for sure.
Yeh buying refs has nothing to do with Inter being first (allegedly).
I had the same hope in 10th of May 2023. But on the 16th of May 2023 in the 74′ all hope disappeared.
Hopefully it’s a bad day in the office as you say
Oh man. We could be about to enter a mini-Pioliblackout. The players did not seem to sense the urgency in this game, unlike Roma. Is it because we’re comfortable in 2nd and “who cares about the EL”? Motivation is on the coach. So now we have to go to Sassuolo with this on our back, hoping to get a result, so that we don’t have to beat Inter to prevent them from celebrating in front of our fans in the derby, assuming we don’t get slapped in the derby. In between we will need to rescue the result against Roma. If we can’t overturn the EL result the players will be on the beach by April 22, which might be exactly where they want to be.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Around the 60th minute, would have loved to see Puli replace RLC at the 10, Okie come in at the 9, Chuk RW….but same old story from the boss…
Agreed. It was time for a change in offensive strategy, but Pioli just waited and waited.
This
Tonight was a reminder that, while the squad is deeper this season, the quality of our starting lineup isn’t better. We upgraded massively with Pulisic but downgraded in midfield. That being said, the team has really improved lately did have their fair share of chances tonight so I’m confident they’ll turn this around in the second leg.
The quality of our starting lineup isn’t better?
LOL!!! Compared to what? Krunic/Tonali/Bennacer? Or Messias/Salad on the wing? LMAO!!!
What a dense comment.
I think he’s taking RW out of it so the Salad and Messias is off the table.
The only difference if you take RW out of it is Brahim/Tonali vs Rjeindeers/RLC.
He might be right.
Sorry bud, gotta disagree with you there. We have much more quality than last season. All our “new comers” are a better. Puli-chuk is was batter than messias-saladmaker. Cheek-reijnders-musa are better than tonali-krunic (aside gambling problems) , okafor- jovic better than origi and ibra ( old ibra and injured). They just gotta get utilized better, given their characteristics l. And pioli definetly doesn’t know how to do that. Case and point ADLI (amongst others) has been warming up the bench for so long now and got minutes only when baldy literally had no othe options. Yes he played in a different position before but still. Musa can became a great dcm but pioli only uses him as a joker( rw, etc.) Cheek’s position, in my opinion, is totally wrong. Thats pioli’s MO, a midfilder who is physical but not technical play up front to disrupt play. Again that works sometimes but not all the time. And that leads to other players picking up the tab, that equals to unbalanced team. Long story short, we have much better players this season than last season, just gotta utilize them better.
What if you add Brahim in there?
RLC along with Leao were the worst players on the pitch. The sub was RLC for Chucky and put the USA player at the center. He was abysmal, like every single big match this season. Don’t get me wrong, the guy is good but not stellar and he disappears in the big stages. Giroud was poorly served but of course he had to slot home that Chucky assist. And Leao, excuse me, did he play? Seriously?
Pioli should go they playing ugly football….
Pioli out
A lot of fans are finding it hard to swallow this loss, but, it was a good game. Some players didn’t shine, but, it was because of Roma’s tactics. They pretended to play all-out play, but, later sat back. The coach(Pioli) made the right subs, and the play got better, but, we were unlucky to get the equalizer. It’s not all gloom. It’s the knockout stage, and Roma is doing all they can, to stay in. However, they will have to do better than this to go through. Thank God, no away goals. No hiding place for any team.
Go to love how the fans and press think Pioli is the way forward after 7 wins (with some via red cards) against garbage. If Juve get Motta, management are going to look like complete fools. Talk of Klopp and Guardiola in 2025 is fanciful. We’re not back to being one of the best teams in Europe, those two can take their pick of jobs and with a World Cup in 2028, maybe they’ll both coach their national teams.
people like you think Fraudiola will habe 500m/year to spend here and refuse to accept reality
One could argue that a single loss does not undo those 7 straight wins but is an outlier and not a trend. Who knows what the future holds though.
How was Milan playing before those 7 wins? Not good.
Those 7 wins were the best stretch over the last 2 years. Those 7 wins are the outlier, not the Roma loss.
Milan missed on every objective they had coming into the season. We keep lowering the bar just so we can find an excuse for Pioli.
Agree. Also those 7 wins were mostly with weaker teams. Fiorentina was the strongest of those 7 and they are midtable team.
I am on the fence with Pioli and can go either way, but 2nd in Serie A (if achieved) is a solid season result. We all want to see Milan win the Scudetto but the reality is only one club can do so in any given season and Inter are having an incredible run this year. The Champions League unfortunately had the injury catastrophe coincide with key matchups in a tough group. The Italian Cup is largely a tertiary target. What I am getting at is if we look at it objectively, the season has been a positive one. Letting our bias for Milan creep in, anything short of a Scudetto or CL championship is a failure. I don’t see it as lowering the bar so much as being a little more objective.
So wins “via red cards” count, but losses “via refs” don’t? Okay, got it.
Obvously scoreline is a lie, Milan lost 4-0 its all over
everyone should just pack up and go home so all the Inter fans in disguise here can be happy
Your friend Mirajol was practically rubbing his hands with glee at half time.
i wish i knew why its so negative here whenever there’s a slight setback
what sort of fan is this, they think Motta will come and will never ever face any issues and it’ll be like heaven
Best player on the field for me was gabbia and even thiaw. Not spectacular but they fought hard. Very physical battles with lukaku and dybala. Easy to pick up the flops on this game as leao, giroud and ben were very poor. Overall, it falls on baldy. While roma have done their homework right, by marking leao and puli close and double men mark, they also studied milan’s weaknesses, THE MIDFIELD. Baldy always leaves a whole in the middle by instructing 2 of the midfilders to play more on the wings. Stupid tactic that keeps failing agaisnt big teams. 2nd. He can’t change tactics if his life depended on it. Very one dimensional coach. Roma did a great job containing our 2 most dangerous players, puli and leao. Thats what coaches do, study the opponents and adjust accordingly, not by turning to dai… dai… dai…tactics. anyways still time to make it up next leg.
Hope the management get past the euphoria of the “weak team” winning streak and get a better coach.
I think the issue with what we saw in the game and Pioli, was that when the other team changes tactics during the game that you weren’t prepared for, then you should intervene right away. Pioli was asked if Roma surprised him, and he said no, just the same!! Except that DDR put El Shaarawy in the left to double on Leao and prevent Theo from driving forward.. He should have doubled up the left side of the mid when in possession to overload and counter that block, and give Leao and Theo a chance to cut in. But no, he just changes one player for another hoping for individual brilliance to break the deadlock. Pulsic, should have replaced RLC, and Chuckweiz on the left, and instead of Giroud put Okafor or Jovic, and not take out Leao when you’re chasing a goal, even though I admit he was terrible, but then again, a good manager will try to change shape to see how the player will react to the switch. It’s not all on DDR’s masterstroke, but on Pioli’s limitation to change during the game. He comes up with these great ideas when it’s time to prepare for the next match, and never during. We should have won this game at home, and play with caution in Rome to conserve energy, for the Derby with Inter, but Mister Pioli always surprises us with mediocrity. 🙄
The coach DDR just outsmart Piolol today. And Atalanta did it again against big team like Sporting Lisbon with Viktor Gyokeres and now Liverpool with Salah and Darwin Nunez. Maybe we should sign Scamacca, he seems more dangerous in the Europa League. Anyway anyhow, we must win second game in Stadio Olimpico 😀
Atalanta also lost to Genoa in the weekend, did you suffer brain damage during that?
Did you lose the score sheet or delusional? Atalanta won over Genoa couple times.
Well, it’s good we don’t meet Atalanta. Look how they played and smashed Liverpool 3-0.
Maybe next season better we have Gasperini as coach. Maybe he can bring Milan come strong and solid playing again, and title will come
For me the biggest issue with this game was Calabria playing inverted wing back.
I was never really sold on it but I have sort of admired how it mixes things up a bit and stops bottle necks forming on the flanks.
However in this game that’s exactly where the bottle necks were.
The thing about full backs is, in their traditional roles, they offer a guaranteed outlet on the wings which then allows for the overall play to move quickly.
Our midfield, in particular Adli when he came on, didn’t actually do too badly in that they moved the ball quick-er. However, once it got into the final third it just slowed down terribly.
A good old fashioned winger coming inside and full back overlap might have broken the bottleneck.
Instead Calabria was in field getting in the way of the actual midfielders.
That to me is why we didn’t perform.
But despite that we should’ve won:
– Roma’s goal should never have been;
– he hit the post – twice?
So we were unlucky in the end but I don’t think the tactics helped.
Luck and bad calls do happen. Sometimes in favor and sometimes against us.. i agree with you with the fullback part, case and point pioli. But to say that we should have won is not correct in my opinion. Crossbar is a crossbar and a goal is a goal. If roma didn’t drop deep, they would’ve caused more damage with their setup and discipline. They clogged up that midfield ( our Achille’s heel) and and double and triple man marked puli and leao. It hurts to say but they did deserve to win. Up until okafor,chuk and adli got in we didn’t create much. Reinders had 2 good shots but not much.
Managers make calls and sometimes they get them right and sometimes they get them wrong.
The inverted full back thing has been effective in some games. Tonight it wasn’t.
It’s our first defeat in a long time. It happens.
And luck played a huge part.
Lukaku was clearly offside before Roma won the corner.
And then for Milan there were also the balls cleared off the line.
Giroud hits that shot from 4 yards out and 9/10 it goes in. That was extraordinary misfortune.
It was a tight game against a good side with renewed confidence and it came down to moments as these matches do.
A case can always be made about “this” and “that” happening, or maybe the other goes in.
Reality is Roma were much better, deserved to win and could have scored more. 0-1 flatters us based on the performance.
Even the commentators kept remarking on how poor Milan were and how easy they made it for Roma
It blows my mind how much criticism Leao got, yet how little of it was actually OBJECTIVE.
Same people coming here week in and week out to comment on games presumably having watched them, yet so many people still don’t seem to understand Leao’s movements and stregnths.
Leao’s strength is his speed and dribbling running at defenders. Leao can not do that if the spaces aren’t there – he doesn’t have that skillset. He can’t dribble through a wall of players. Same with Theo – he can make overlapping runs into space and cross.
Roma piled bodies behind the ball leaving no room for us to run into and attack. So it’s not that both Leao and Theo didn’t show up. It’s simply because DDR understood where our danger comes from and tried to plug it up, successfully.
Blows my mind how many people here don’t understand basic strengths and movements of players.
Chukwueze had no problem dribbling thru players. He did more in 10 minutes than Leao did in 80.
And your description of Leao’s quality and limitations is very similar to what Cassano said the other day about Leao:
“the problem is that he thinks he is a phenomenon and there is a lot of people who believe in it. He’s a good player who has great physical strength, stop.”
Why were people attacking Cassano if he was telling the truth?
Honestly Chukwueze did come as a late sub and was fresh against defenders who were getting tired.
It will obviously be better for us and for him as well if Leao learns to dribble in tight spaces (and also to be more lethal in front of goals for that matters), but i reality there is not so many players today or even historically than defend dribble past defenders parked behind.
It is normal if a player/team does well they get praise, when poor the opposite, that’s ok.
Of course I agree Leao is better when he has space to run into, as is the case for any pacey winger. The difference being, he is not just a pacey winger, he has skill in tight areas, good passing and crossing, able to shoot well from distance etc.
These skills are what separate him from regular fast wingers. Like Mbappe and Vini Jr he is better than that.
Every player can have an off day, but he should at least try harder
Problem is the slow build up play and the disorganized press or lack of it until after conceding the goal. Understandably Roma were going to stay a little deeper but when they were holding possession and attacking, Milan have had no answers. Doesn’t matter for how long you play better than your opponent, but during when both sides were needing to play well. Sometimes the other team are less interested in pushing forward. First 15 minutes of the match was unacceptable. Being favorite at least, you don’t need a gameplan of slowing down with aimless possession coupled with refusing to properly press just because the score was nil nil. Atalanta started right away pressing Liverpool into their on half with numbers. That’s how you play in Europe even tho Roma are more familiar domestically. Like I’ve always said I like a few things about Pioli but his slow build up football which annoys me to death and lack of good press can only work at certain levels. And his overly reliance on a fixed set of players especially Giroud is worrying. This is how good players like Okafor are sometimes force to flop.
Excellent comment
It kills me watching our former players playing for our rivals.
We’re running around desperately trying to find a DM and there’s Cristante playing for our rivals and Italy.
And Locatelli for Juve and Italy.
And then there’s El Shaaraway. I can never stay mad at that guy even if he’s playing for the enemy.
He never suffered injuries the same way after he left Milan.
And look how many wingers we’ve signed in the interim.
Is it 20? 30? 3 last summer alone.
How much spent?
Easily a few hundred million.
The thing I used to love about El Shaaraway (apart from the memories of that 13/14 campaign) was how quickly he did everything. It was all one and two touch play. And we saw it on display tonight. And those lovely crosses especially the one where Gabbia was on the other end!
So can we not make the same mistake with Gabbia?
Can we not sign a CB and freeze him out just because he came from our youth set up?
PLEASE.
No way does rafa get a 5.5 and Giroud a 4.5. Giroud was a 6 solid.. did way more during 90min. Missed a sitter? Meh, people just want a scapegoat
Most fans here won’t accept that our weaknesses are easily exploited by solid teams.
1. Disrupt the play on the left, and Milan struggles big time. Giroud turns to haaland, no supply no action. Then we have puli also, he is no where to be found when we play big teams. He has been a superb signing of the season but I must say, aside positioning (outside the box to fire home a goal or in the box to tap in) he has not created anything on that right wing, no solo run, no beating the opp lb just pass to the nearest teammate you can find. I stand to be corrected.
2. Stefano in game management is still poor, we have a long way to go. Once Plan A goes puff, forget it we have hit the great wall of China with a piece of paper, no solutions comes out.
3. Mentality: we can’t have all players mentally strong in a game, but at least let’s have most of the players have a strong desire to want to win, most especially when we are down or bottled up a lead. It’s been hard to comeback when oops are leading us, some games it takes the subs to save us.
4. RLC is no AMF, know this and know peace. Benny at this point looks washed up.
In all, DDR came with a good game plan, low block (which Stef always can’t beat) then counter
Good points!
I would however give time to Benny. He had a serious injury and his body is relearning to do what his brain is saying. He has been a shadow of himself, but I would give him time to rediscover his form, he was too good to write off so easily
Pioli was out-coached no doubt. Forced us to play narrow when our obvious strengths are out wide. Good one DDR. What worries me is that big gap in the middle. Against a better side, we’d be absolutely smashed (Inter up soon lol).
Leao? *sighs* What worries me about him is the body language. Felt like he’d rather be elsewhere yesterday night doing something fun. If he wants to play, Oh boy! he’s a wrecking ball. I understand the double marking, even triple marking sometimes but the “no bother” vibe I don’t like. There’s a saying “Keep knocking and someone might open the door.” Dude didn’t even approach the door.
BTW, Gabbia should be at least a 7.5. MOTM for sure.
Also, the performance in the big games is worrying. Though I believe we can turn it around in Rome.
Forza Milan.
If these kind of players are played 90 mins by the coach, then you can say goodbye to every big tournaments, strong teams, and trophies.
1) Giroud – Can’t do anything unless the wingers puts the ball right into his head or scores off penalty kicks
2) Calabria – Runs like a headless chicken anywhere an everywhere without any clear idea or purpose
3) RLC – Don’t know how to pass or create openings and is playing as the attacking mid
4) Pioli – Still trusts mediocre players to perform in big games (now that Krunic, Messias, Tatarusanu, Meite, Pobega are no longer available, Pioli is forced to play the talented players).
Very disappointing game ,,,but still believe we will win on the return leg …yes we should have had a penalty,,
but no excuses we were poor ..
What a sub par performance from Rafeol leao ,,lost the ball almost every time …he looked tired and lethargic..He can and will do better next game .
I am a huge fan of Olivier Giroud,,,but should never have missed the goal from six yards out .
Chukweze did look very good when he came on .
We are still doing well …we can win the return leg .
Who would have believed ATALANTA would win against Liverpool..football can be a strange game .
I still think poili must stay next season .
This is my opinion..
Also anytime there are many articles on RLC leading up to a big game, he flops. Or how European we are lol smh.
On the ratings, once Puli and Leao left Theo was the main force or attack so it’s unfair to say he didn’t show up in the second half. Gabbia I agree with MOTM, he had a stellar game. But man that Chuk dribble on the byline really needed a better finish by G. The tactics not the players got us undone in this one. Once we reverted to the regular 4231 in the second half with Leao further back (not SS) then we played better. Leao requires the build up speed to be effective.
for RLC the thing is: he can’t create. So when he doesn’t score or bully the opponent, he doesn’t look good.