AC Milan lost the big clash against Napoli by two goals to nil and although most players did okay, it was a lacklustre team performance. 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.
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Starting XI
Maignan (5.5): He couldn’t do much about the first goal, sold out by his defenders, but the feeling is that he should have done more on the second. Yes, it’s one of those shots that causes issues for any goalkeeper, but he just didn’t get down quick enough.
Emerson Royal (6): The Brazilian defended well for the most part and was also quite active when going forward. He couldn’t do much about either goal and at least entered the game with the right attitude.
Thiaw (6): He can be somewhat faulted for the first goal, but aside from that he defended well for most of the game and at least made life a little bit more difficult for Napoli when they did get through.
Pavlovic (5.5): He completely lost track of Lukaku on the first goal and that cost him dearly. His colleague also should have done better, as mentioned, but it was ultimately the Serbian who followed the striker to begin with. He improved after that bit the error made a big difference.
Terracciano (6): Playing out of position, he did okay and certainly took on a more central role in possession. He also directed his teammates a lot, which is something Fonseca also has pointed out before, and it was enough to get a pass here.
Musah (5.5): The maestro of ups and downs, with absolutely zero consistency tonight. He had a good effort on the edge of the box in the first half, as well as some good runs. However, he also missed a big chance (heavy touch) and was sloppy at times.
Fofana (5.5): He needed to do more on the second goal, failing to close down Kvara properly, and his passing also wasn’t that effective. Granted that he did well to win some duels tonight, he’s a player who must increase the tempo of the team more.
Chukwueze (6 – MOTM): He was probably the liveliest Milan player, often cutting inside and waiting for the right moment to play the pass. He got the assist for the goal that was disallowed with a really nice cross, and should have had an assist after great work to set up Pulisic (who sadly missed).
Loftus-Cheek (6): For once we got to see what he’s very good at, i.e. driving forward with pace. He nearly set up a goal by doing so and overall, he looked much better (compared to other games) in both phases of the game. Still, just decent.
Okafor (5.5): Perhaps a few good moments, but very little impact overall especially if you compare him with his opposite man. The substantiation for Leao could have come earlier, to be honest.
Morata (5.5): Another hard-working display, it goes without saying, and it included some good moments such as an acrobatic backheel that nearly assisted Musah. There was also a disallowed goal for offside, but the truth is that the Spaniard could have done better overall. Not to mention that he didn’t spend enough time in the box, which is where Milan want him.
Substitutes
Pulisic (5.5): He’s a bit excused given the flu/fever he suffered from, but he missed a big chance in the final minutes after Chukwueze did really well to set him up.
Leao (6): A couple of good moments, including a shot that was well saved by Meret towards the end. You could argue that it was similar to Okafor, but Leao entered the game in a very tough moment and certainly didn’t have the same space the Swiss international had at times.
Camarda (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
RLC. Maaan he is awful. Even Camarda took the ball away from the opponent more often and probably made more successful passes too. Milan are basically playing with 10 men when RLC is on the pitch.
He really is bad isn’t he?
I mean, you wanna like him but he just gives no reason to.
We got a lively proper AM in our under 23 but the fruad of a coach choose to set up this team with a red card every other match day.
I see some reason behind Fonseca comments about Milan playing with quality. We did not do bad, as we practically play with 10 man every time RLC in the team.
I also remain positive after the match. I mean, 4-5 usual starters was unavailable (Puli sick) and we dominated the game. We just lack lukakuesque strikers who can score and kvaradonas who are 99 % invisible but make it count when they do actually get a half-chance.
But all-in-all, we played well even with the b-team and if Morata hadn’t been offside and Pavlovic had been ready for Lukaku’s toughness we could scored points.
FINALLY somebody says it! He does absolutely nothing for the team, he is clumsy on the ball, and for a big man people bully him out of possession way too often! I can’t believe they rated him 6 and Morata 5.5
As the team benefits nothing from his presence, how about starting to think about the future and giving Liberali, Zeroli & Vos some minutes to get familiar with the league? To see whether they have what it takes – as clearly RLC isn’t the #10 we need and never will be.
Season is already finished in 10th round. Let’s hope Guardiola doesn’t extend his contract and sign with us (if Maldini and his “arab” friends buy us)
Peo is good certainly but He is not the best and Not The Only One In The World. At preseason, you have Conte, Flick or even Allegri. Most Of You Just Say No to Conte and Allegri. You Just want Only Pep which is quiet dream without a huse fund.
I think it woulda let Pulisic rest. He definitely was off his game due to being sick. Definitely shoulda buried that late one.
He wasn’t sick in his legs, stop making excuses!!!
Ever have the flu before?
The lack of people playing sports or even football for that matter in this forum is astounding
When Will this coach be sacked for the sake of God , coach is the only thing that happens to Napoli same as Barcelona, e reach Milan we employed oooozwo
What in the world made you guys rate RLC and Emerson anywhere higher than 4.5?
They were both reckless, not adding anything to the defensive phase, and very stale up front.
We are going to regret not extending Calabria… he used to put Kvaratskhelia to shame.
I understand you (and almost everyone in this site) don’t like Emerson but saying he was poor in this game is you being terribly dishonest. He played a good game in both phases and Kvara was invincible the whole game except on the goal he scored. On that goal, I was disappointed he didn’t show him outside (i.e to his weaker foot).
This was one of his better games.
Give credit when it is due.
Chuk was ok. RLC and Musah can’t even make a proper pass. Musah especialy has zero vision. I don’t know who scout this two and thought its a good idea to spend 40mil on them. The others were just average.
Yeah chuk coulda had 2 assists. Thought he played well. I’d go with him, Puli and Leao against Monza.
And regarding Musah… You say his passing is awful. Well, not compared to his shooting. His shot in the final minutes aimed at the highest row in the stadium. Such beauty, wasn’t it?
I thought Musah was quite decent. Maybe 6 or 6.5. He progressed the a ball well and was involved in Milan’s best chances in the first half, even if they didn’t come off. Much better than RLC.
That’s a nasty joke you made
You can’t pair Thiaw and Pavlovic. Not at all. Sluggish and Pavlovic too left-footed for a CB. Emerson can’t make a good cross to save his. What a waste of money.
RLC, don’t know what exactly he brings to the team.
Musah and Fofana were decent.
Okafor was mid prior to his substitution. Morays, wasn’t fed and could do little due to Napoli’ compact formation.
Chukweze was outstanding, making runs, and made some good crosses.
Sell Leao now.
I will excuse Pulisic today.
Agreed. Leao looks so lazy and defeated when he is off the ball. 0 work rate in tracking back. Would rather capitalize and have a player who plays with more heart into the game
So can this coach please please leave my team?????
I would rather have our youth players play than playing players out of position… Barthesaghi is a leftback, he can’t be worse than terraciano and please what position does Musah play again? Please we don’t need Krunic 2.0
Pavlovic might be more suited to a back 3 system. In this back 4 formation, he’s a liability.
A sick Pulisic did much better for 30 minutes compared to a fully fit RLC that had nearly 90 minutes play. That says a lot.
The coach is far from the ideal coach Milan needs at the point. There are players like RLC, Musa, Royal etc don’t have business being a Milan players.
A good coach with a clearer playing pattern would have integrate Bartesaghi, Jimenez, Libereli, Kelvin and Camada better to the team.
Milan scouting team are not doing a good job at all.
Cardineli should just sell and let real investors run the club.
The bitter truth is, the board are not ready to pay high wage to coach. Don’t you think they scouted good coaches but did not go for them because of the high wages. The went for Fonseca because he was the cheapest, $2.5m per year.
5 loses and it’s not even November. We can officially say hello to Banter Era 2.0. Even some of our players today resemble the ones we had back then.
Hahahaha
After the Udinese game, there were some morons here who angrily responded to my observation that Milan’s defense is a joke, and that in the attacking phase there is lots of sterile ball circulation. Milan can’t fight for trophies this season; the 3rd or 4th place in the Serie A will be a fair result. Unless a Serie A-proven coach is brought in and one or two high quality players, one can’t expect much.
In the meantime watching players like CDK and Maldini shine in other teams while we need to watch this talentles bunch here is just pathetic job from the management.
Who needs player ratings?
Milan lost, and that’s it!
Keeping Pulisic because we’re playing against Monza in the next match?
Or benching Leao so he can “learn”?
And look what happens?
Two years after changing ownership, instead of moving forward, it has gone backward.
Promising this and that, only from an economic aspect, but not building a team.
I hope they sell the team to someone with more money than them soon.
Bench Leao, see result, the only shot on target was from Leao
Its not about the money, we were as stingy as you get few years ago but we did have our pride as you do not find many Maldinis around (nor Theos, nor Leaos, nor Tonalis). The world is full of Garriy though ;).
More money? If you think money is the solution, you haven’t been paying attention. Over €200 million have been spent in 2 seasons, some of which was spent badly. Nor can wealthy owners come in and throw money around, they have to comply with UEFA’s financial sustainability rules. To spend more, Milan need to generate more and they can only generate more if they are successful on the pitch or sell players.
We definitely need an upgrade of Musah and RLC. We can’t depend on only Rejndiers and Fofana in the midfield.
Maignan couldn’t do much on the 1st goal?
Yeah, he actually could have, by not gifting the ball to Napoli with a dumb pass that led to the 1st goal.
That dumb pass and Lukaku bullying Pavlovic decided the game 5 minutes into the game. After that Napoli played park the bus and it was over with a great goal by Kvara, that Maignan also was poor on.
Milan worst players today Maignan and Pavlovic.
Milan positives today Chukwueze and Terracciano who actually looks better and better defensively as a fullback. When Theo comes back next game, Terracciano should play on his favorite right side as a RB.
Subs brought absolutely nothing. Milan played better before the subs.
Napoli isn’t that good of a team, they just don’t beat themselves. While Milan losses are mostly their own doing because of individual mistakes.
Morata, just like Giroud for most of the last 3 years, gets zero service. Apparently crossing into the box is forbidden in today’s football.
Sunshine, we started with Musah, RLC, Terra, Emerson, Pavlo and Thiaw… against a Conte team.
What did you think was going to happen?
Sunshine contes midfield was BILLY GILMOUR , Scott McTominay and Anguisa please man this midfield is funny when you read it, and by any means it’s better than ours. This same team finished 10th last season. Apart from Buingiorno and Kvaratskhelia this team has no other player you can say is world class. So please don’t compare the teams cuz there no real difference between them from player point of view. The only difference was that Conte actually knows how he wants his teams to play and he implements it and our Fonsy Ponsy is pathetic
The difference is a good coach VS a mediocre coach. You answered your own question.
So you do admit that this ownership and management is in shambles and got it all wrong? Because the likes you just mention – Musah, RLC, Terra, Emerson, Pavlo are the ones who fall in 200 million “inwastement” made in last two summers under RedBird.
Oh man, it’s so nice to see even the most heated and fierced advocates of the RedBird, on their knees, coming to their senses. Slowly but surely. I don’t even have to say “told you so”. Man there still is hope for this community.
Hahaha 😂 😂 so true. When I came back from vacay I wanted to know what happened or if the community was playing a silly trick I me. Glad ppl are coming around tbh. We did try to forewarn but oh well better late than never. Last year’s “best transfer window in decades” was a huge joke
Well one sub you obviously hate had the only shot on target, bench Leao, sell Leao, we have seen the result
Milan had 5 shots on target.
What sub had the ONLY shot on target?
Are you talking about the Leao shot that was going straight at the Goalkeeper?
Meret wasn’t even trying to save that from going into the goal. He was just trying to not get in the face.
Napoli celebrates because their left winger scores goals.
Some Milan fans celebrate because Milan left winger actually puts the ball on target.
There are levels to this game.
BTW. I have no reason to hate Leao. I don’t know him, never met him, couldn’t care less about him.
Just because I don’t think he is anywhere near a top player isn’t hate, it’s just an opinion, that has been proven right over and over and over again for 6 years now.
If given a choice, I’d take Kvaratskhelia over Leao any day of the week and twice on Sundays and Wednesdays.
“Milan had 5 shots on target.
What sub had the ONLY shot on target?”
Leao-lovers love to move the goal posts and use #fakenews to lick his ar53. Next he’ll say Leao was marked by 6 napolitans.
“Are you talking about the Leao shot that was going straight at the Goalkeeper?”
And also… Leao took his shot straight at the keeper. Kvaradona aimed his in the far corner. The latter scored a goal. Coincidence?
Leao has clearly less imagination than Okafor. Has no reason to be in this team any longer.
Chuk had a shot on target in the first half. Stop saying Leao had the only shot on target.
The problem of this team is the coach. He those not know what he wants, so how do anyone expect the players to perform at top level. No clear ideas from the coach and he those not know how to bring the best out of the players. He will destroy this team, make us sell players that we will regret later if they don’t sack him in time.
Exactly. Unfortunately, with the managers and owners we have, he won’t be sacked in time. He will only be sacked once we miss the UCL (and we will miss it) because that affects the money. If bad results don’t affect the money, the private equity fund that owns us couldn’t care less, they will be fine with the yes man who doesn’t make waves and doesn’t require expensive investment. Remember, our owner said that winning is boring and that making the UCL is good enough.
Fofana 5.5 what game you watching the man runs his socks off. Ultimately we’re a bang average team and conte does what he does well and that’s getting everyone behind the ball. We need to hold our back line by 20-30 yards so we can use the length of the pitch. Playing from the half way line we’re constantly playing on the edge of the area and we just become predictable. 1 striker against 2 centre backs are numbers any managers happy to bet on. We weren’t bad, we just lacked composure in a few instances and Napoli aren’t great but the gulf in points is severe now and.
A couple of players ran more than Fofana not that its important. But he did take a bad angle on one of the goals…
Terracciano, Pavlovic, Mussah, Thiaw, cant build fast and direct all are confused and too static to build from back, not a single one deserve 5 among them.
Barca got Lamine yamal and other youngsters because they gave their youth players chance, we had Kerkez but opted to buy ballo toure, we would rather play RLC as a CAM than keep Maldini, we would rather play terraciano and florenzi as leftback than start Barthesaghi… no wonder our young players are leaving
Don’t forget Simic
Scudetto over. Playing for top 4 now. Uuuugh.
Mike …just shaky whole game..that cross/shot from DiLorenzo should have been dealt with much better than that.
Emerson Royal …a 6? Not at fault for any goal? Nah, that second goal is the exact difference between Calabria and him. That’s also an experience thing, you always cover Kvara’s right foot shot. But it you’re a noob you wouldn’t know.
That brings us to Pav…also an experience issue. He didn’t know what he was up against until that clash with Lukaku. But that’s what we get for young inexperienced center back that doesn’t know the league.
RLC was surprisingly lively in the first half.
Anyways this is the problem of chopping and changing each year. We lost experienced defenders at the back and midfield and paid for the inexperience. Pav to his credit learnt quickly how to deal with Lukaku but the early error was costly. We also didnt provide proper cover at RB. And we’re talking about not renewing Calabria? I’d renew him just to save us 6 points each year against Napoli. It’s probably worth it. All our mids are new and inexperienced. Musah is poor tactically and only recently got game time. RLC strays too much into support striker position so he leaves space in the midfield. Chuk/Okafor are both still relatively “new”.
You pay for what you get. Napoli invested in a proper league-tested CB who was everywhere tonight, a veritable striker which we dont want to pay but our accounts are great, and a coach who can extract the maximum from a team…also more expensive but we have good books.
Thinking kvara goal was on Emerson show how little you know about football.
Emerson had kvara in check all game long. On the goal Emerson has kvara and his right foot covered, that’s why kvara continues to move away from from the wing more central. At that point any full back, including Calabria, passes on the winger to another defender. It was Fofana that was late to cover Kvara right foot not Emerson.
Make sure you know what are you talking about before writing nonsense, as usual.
at least he was out this time…he typically is a step slow…when Adli scored, he was pushed inside, and Fofana did not react fast enough, this time he overshot it…if I’m playing this team, I’m putting a right footed player over there every time…
Thinking Emerson had zero fault on Kvara goal shows how little YOU know about football. That you can say Emerson “had Kvara right foot covered” shows further how very little you know about football, Serie A and defending for that matter. If he had the right foot covered there’s no way Kvara makes the move centrally so easily. And I’m not absolving Fofana/DM from blame (never did) but they both are part of the overall point I’m trying to make. And that is the lack of Serie A experience in the team due to chopping and changing (the actual point, but yet… here we are, sigh).
Pav has never experienced this level of striker (Lukaku) in the Austrian league and Emerson (and coach) didn’t do his homework on how to defend one of Serie A’s best RIGHT-FOOT DOMINANT Kvara. These guys don’t understand the level of opposition and how clinical they can be.
If you look at Emerson’s body positioning on the goal it’s actually way off *for the opponent he’s against*. Maybe it’s ok for an average or left footed winger but this is 77. He’s almost in neutral stance relative to a right foot dominant winger operating on the left. He should be in a biased stance toward the strong foot, heavily biased in fact due to the level of the opponent. He needed to show Kvara the Byline. Let him run there, cross with his left, shoot with his left even. Plus it gives your defence time to adjust or collapse downwards. But he over commits to Kvara’s left and Kvara said thank you very much for the space.
In contrast, if you take a look at Serie A seasoned Calabria when he plays Kvara he’s always almost shoulder to shoulder with him and always showing the byline unless he knows he has DM coverage. Kvara’s left foot is weak and his options are fewer down the byline than it is when he can push right. I want to say based on memory but you won’t believe so you can go search Calabria vs Kvara on YouTube. There’s a user name MrLucky which shows those encounters. You can almost draw a straight line between Calabria, Kvara and the touchline. That’s what Emerson needed to do. That’s how to defend 77. Cut the right foot option completely. Even if he goes right he has to go backwards to get where he needs to go giving time for the DM to come across. If he goes byline, perfect. Have him with fewer, less preferred options on his weaker foot. It’s a small difference in marking/defending but significant in the outcome of a game. But not all eyes see these things and it’s ok.
Make sure you know what are you talking about before writing your tripe to me, as usual.
Wow, what a lesson! And that’s the problem: we have a mediocre coach who doesn’t do his homework. What you just did here, is what Fonseca should know and should be telling his players, but likely, lazy Fonseca who has demonstrated over and over that he doesn’t watch film (I know, because Fonseca makes mistakes with his failed experiments, often trying stuff that has been tried before and hasn’t worked, showing his ignorance of Milan’s players’ characteristics, and opponents’ players, which he could mitigate if he watched film), likely didn’t even know Kvara well.
Emerson should have showed him to his left.
That’s basically how you defend against an inverted winger.
But Fofana should also have been there.
As usual under Fonseca our FBs are exposed.
LOLOLOLO….are you serious kid??
Another foolish comment by a babbling Redbird Loving baffoon. YOU know nothing about football kid – stick to Xbox
Gross
The other thing we’re missing without Calabria is leadership.
I know the common consensus (not including you in that) is that he’s the WORST CAPTAIN EVER AND WILL NEVER BE AS GOOD AS THE MUCH HERALDED AMBROSINI.
But this is the guy who pretty much has been the captain and leader of the side that dragged Milan from of the abyss back to relevance and a Scudetto.
Yes he was helped by the likes of Romagnoli, Kjaer, and Ibra, but he’s also been the consistent.
And you can see how lost so many players are now and the lack of discipline which included the mess with the penalties.
The team is leaderless and directionless.
There was no leadership under Calabria. Don’t fool yourself.
Tell us about the time you were on the pitch with him and won a Scudetto.
You think that was because of Calabria’s “leadership”??? hahaha
I’m sure it had nothing to do with Leao carrying the team, or the fact that Kessie was a solid wall, or Tonali’s actual leadership…
I won’t say leadership per se but he was symbolic. Youth player of the club, longest serving player and can actually play. Might not be the best just like Ambrosini who for some reason got elevated to a higher status as captain as time passed along, but was good enough.
I digress. They’re not fond of Milan symbols at the club. They’ve undermined him. If they wanted him to take a lesser role, they really needed to approach that better.
After the Udinese game, there were some mørøns who angrily responded to my observation that Milan’s defense is a joke, and that in the attacking phase there is lots of sterile ball circulation. It is quite obvious that Milan can’t fight for trophies this season; the 3rd or 4th place in the Serie A will be a fair result. Unless a Serie A-proven coach is brought in and one or two high quality players, one can’t expect much.
Even though Milan defense isn’t good, an Inter fan should not be talking about defense.
Inter allowed horrendous offensive team like Juventus to score 4 goals. That’s just about a third of the goals Juventus have scored this season in serie A.
It does not change the fact that Milan have the issues I raised above. That being said, I see Napoli as the Scudetto winners this season, as they have Conte and no European competition. Inter and maybe Juve, if TM sorts out Bremer’s absence, can fight for the Coppa Italia and Super Cup. Milan and Atalanta for a top 4 spot.
I dont understand these ratings. I think I watched a different game.
Our beloved Milan is in a sad state. The management has really been a joke. Other than Pulisic and possibly Reinders, who is good with the ball, every move they made for the last 2 years has been terrible. I miss the Legend Maldini.
Morata is no good, He does not score goals and crys to the ref all the time. I dont want to hear about his defense and commitment, he is a striker.
Ruben Soft & Weak brings 0 to the Table.
Chuckwuese is all left foot. Everyone knows this so he is only dangerous if the defence makes a mistake. One foot is not good enough in Serie A.
Pavlovic is a poor defender and even worse with the ball.
Royal is garbage and we ran Kalulu out of town for these 2 clowns.
Fofana is merely Mediocre. He is not a true destroyer or an Orchestrator. Just half of each.
Abraham is a joke.
Oakafor is a decent backup/sub.
Fonseca’s press produces nothing. It only wears our players out. His Zonal Marking leaves opponents’ players open all over our own box.
And lastly there is Ibra. Why is he even involved? He has always been a selfish Jerk but was excused because he had tremendous skill, scored many goals and assisted as well. In management these skills mean nothing, so he is around to just say stupid stuff and act like the clown he has always been.
It’s hard to fathom but we are far worse than last year with little hope of turning it around. When will the management wake up and take responsibility?
Never. They are Private equity and only care about Profit & Loss. Since Milan is making money, we will continue to be a bad team.
We will all be depressed for the rest of the season at least and quite possibly for longer. Forza Milan.
Morata is actually good but I think he is a better CAM than a striker. He may be playing out of position his entire career, kkkkk, which a player of his experience could have realized.
Fofana is not mediocre. He is good but he is surrounded by a bunch of mediocre players; he can’t compensate for everybody and at some point he also suffers from fatigue. Sometimes his passing is off, but anybody who has played the game knows that if you are tired, your pass precision suffers. See that today he didn’t have Reijnders with him, who isn’t exactly mediocre so Fofana had to try to do more. And if you look at our full backs, they are defensibly terrible so that puts a strain on Fofana too; he often needs to run all over the defensive end of the field and nobody can sustain this rhythm for 90 minutes. Fofana is the kind of player who would be doing very well if he were playing with better companions.
Royal v Kalulu is completely incomprehensible; you are right. Ibra indeed is a clown.
Chuk has actually been improving lately. I used to think of him as a bust but I guess he’s not really one. But see, we practically played without a striker tonight, given that Morata was far from the box, so what exactly can Chuk do? Wingers depend on strikers in position to send the ball in for created opportunities. Yes, he is one-footed but at times he does make some brilliant plays. Not very often but at times he does. He is not a total waste of space, or at least, hasn’t been in the last few games.
But yes, we have so many problems in so many areas, and in addition to several mediocre players, we also have a mediocre coach, and no proper Sporting Director. Scouting has been poor, too. Indeed the state of affairs is poor.
Did you see Kalulu vs Inter? Lol. It’s not that we should have kept Kalulu over Royal, it’s that we should have gotten someone much better than Royal.
I saw that Kalulu caused a silly PK against Inter. Every player even Messi can have a bad day. But he’s having more good games than bad games, unlike Emerson. But you are absolutely right that we should have reached for a RB upgrade instead of a downgrade. But I have little doubt that a healthy Kalulu is a better player than Emerson. So if we were not going for a solid, expensive RB, then it would have made more sense to keep Kalulu rather than shipping him out for 13M and signing a worse player for 15M.
Chuck? lively my a5s, do nothing but hold the ball waiting opponent to press him then back pass, MOTM? u mean MOre Time More mistakes
Isn’t clown Zlatan’s sentence about Milan not needing a manager and therefore Conte not fitting within the project, more telling about the ambitions of this ridiculous management than anything? Why even get angry at these loses? On what grounds do we require more from a team that’s being managed by THESE people? It’s only logical that the day-to-day basis at Milanello is like this – random and apathetic. I don’t even think Leao and Fonseca care enough for the situation in order for them to have an actual fight.
Terracciano was better than usual. Despite some failures, Musah was also better than usual but wasn’t clinical in the one chance he got. Morata was good but wasn’t playing inside the box so we actually had another midfielder but no striker. Chuk was our best player. He seems to be turning around the earlier impression that he was a bust. Poor Pulisic, people blamed him but he had the flu, including symptoms of fever and intestinal issues. He can’t do everything for this team when he is sick. Maignan was poor. Pavlovic allowed Lukaku to eat his lunch. The second goal developed from Emerson’s sector as usual. I thought that RLC was also better than his usual which doesn’t mean being great. Thiaw was decent. Fofana was good. Okafor, can Fonseca please explain to me what Okafor added to this team tonight? Like I said a few times, Okafor is very rarely good as a starter. The subs tried but failed to have an impact (Rafa and Puli could have scored; one was hindered by a good goalkeeper save, and the other one usually buries that, but he was sick therefore imprecise; Camarda had no time to make an impact).
I only give a pass to Chuk, Morata, Fofana, and Terracciano. A few got close to earning a pass: Thiaw, RLC, and Musah, but didn’t quite earn one.
Somehow, even if it’s still relatively early, this seems like the end of all hope to win the Scudetto.
Napoli and Inter will continue to accumulate points, and we will not. I wish we somehow manage to at least finish fourth and maybe with a lot of luck, earn a trophy from Coppa or Supercoppa although I think it is more likely that we will be trophyless again and may even fail to qualify for the next UCL.
At this point I think the only viable objective is to still finish 4th.
“Okafor, can Fonseca please explain to me what Okafor added to this team tonight? Like I said a few times, Okafor is very rarely good as a starter.”
He was arguably our best player between Udine and Brugge combined. Had a great first half in Serie A, but was subbed, because of the red card, and then came on and immediately assisted for Reijnders in CL. More than enough to warrant him a starting place over a disappointing Rafa who, again, proved useless tonight, despite being more involved than Okafor.
What I said is “very rarely good as a starter.” That’s not the same as “never good as a starter.” Yes, Okafor on occasion has had a good first half as a starter. Rarely. What Okafor is, is a good super-sub. He is a lot more effective when he comes in at about 60 to 70 minutes, and is rested, against tired defenders; not as good when the defenders are just as rested or just as tired as he is, that is, when he starts. So, no, he shouldn’t be tried as a starter even if on occasion (rarely) he does relatively well; the statistical odds are such that more likely than not, his game suffers when he starts. It’s a question of using a player the most effective way, and for Okafor, that way is coming in late in the game against tired defenders.
One lucky run Okafor had is what u call best player?
None of these players are anywhere good to start for Milan. The only three players that currently fit the bill from the team Fonseca fielded today were Leao, Puli, Fofana and maybe Chuk. That’s it …
Well, that’s a bit harsh. Mike was not good today but he often is good. Mike was just named 5th best goalkeeper in the world. Top 5 in the world in any profession is being world-class. Reijnders often has good games and lately it seems that his finishing, which is by far his weakest skill, is slowly improving, so I think he is also worth of starting for Milan. Morata is also a good, experienced player who is intelligent with and without the ball. I don’t think we can say that he is not good enough to start for Milan. The one thing with Morata is that he seems to be a better CAM than a striker and it’s hard to understand why he spent his entire career as a striker, but I don’t think we can say he is not a player who is good enough for us.
I forgot Mike. He’s obviously a starter. As for the rest I was referring to the players that started today. Against a Conte team. Not sure why Fonsy thought it was clever to start Leao and puli on the bench.
Puli was sick so that’s more understandable. But I agree with you on Rafa, especially since we didn’t have Puli in a good physical condition; with all the essential players we were already missing, sitting Rafa was nothing short of insane. If you listen to some people here, though, you will hear that Okafor is a better player than Rafa. Which, of course, he is not.
Is that so? What happened to immensely talented but still raw Musah? You must’ve accidently left it out right? Or can it be that you are changing your tune?
That’s it guys, even the most arrogant advocates of Gerry and the RedBirds and their bed time stories are coming to their senses. Don’t let your guards down now my fellow milanistas, we are on the right path here! Let’s go for the final push now!
When finding out Pulisic was put on the bench with the flu and already being without Théo and Reijnders everyone had to kind of know this was going to be tough to even get a draw. I don’t understand all the complaining about the Scudetto race being over already. It’s not. It’s just the end of October. Down 11 with a game in hand so potentially only down 8. Obviously things need to change but it’s not over yet.
You’re right, we were never in the scudetto race in the first place.
Probably not but too early to completely give up.
Are you new to the league????
Have you ever seen any team make up an 11point deficit on a Conte team?
No but is it impossible to make up the points? I’m not saying they will but I’ve seen a lot crazier things happen in sports. I don’t actually think Napoli is that amazing or anything.
Lets all thank Jerry,his superb management and his mfs yankees
Napoli maybe are not amazing or anything but they do have an amazing coach; it means that they are not likely to make a lot of mistakes. They played a rice-and-beans game today but devoid of any mistakes, and won comfortably. They are compact and uncomplicated. They defend well and counter well. Conte makes the best use of his players, unlike Fonseca. It will be VERY hard to trim down this advantage on points, when the team we need to catch is coached by Conte.
Maybe so but I just think it’s too early to say the scudetto race is 100% over. I didn’t think Milan would win it before the season started and obviously it’s worse now but it’s still not out of the realm of possibility that they can turn it around. Come Christmas(maybe earlier) I’ll be willing to admit it’s over but everyone keeps saying it’s 11 points but we have a game in hand so it could be 8 points. I can say it’s over with possibly being only down 8 points and it’s still October. It is very unlikely though.
Its not yet december and milan is out of the title race damn!!
Did you know what can safe our season? Definitely if we finish out of top 4. Our club don’t receive a money what they want and we will be -120m€ and this is the only think what can open eyes everyone in our management…. in that moment they need to buy more quality players and there is possibility also for new coach… and also new , more experienced management 😄😄
But true is, this game we was definitely better then Napoli , but still they win 2:0 and are still 1. .. och where we going and how it finish…….
This is a makeshift Milan team that was missing pivotal figures and starting with subpar players. Back is shaky AF and mostly Toothless up front. I mean it says something if Musah has the best chances.
Hard to gauge Fonseca’s job here with so many key pieces missing. BUT Conte came in and showed us the ruthlessness and identity that he instills in his teams that this Milan sorely missing. While Fonseca keeps fiddling with players and fielding them out of position…
This Milan is nowhere near a Scudetto challenge yet. Top4 at best. Won’t get very far in Europe either. So the management will need to sit down at the end of an empty handed season (by the looks of it) and figure out what they achieved in hiring Fonseca…
They achieved not hiring someone who will have football ambitions and require more work from them. It has already been “figured out”. Firing Maldini didn’t provide enough clues for you?
Maldini was a mediocre sporting director. I had no problem with bringing in an experienced SD and moving Maldini to a different role. But his pride wouldn’t allow for it.
Sure, keep telling yourself that while you and RedBird attempt to solve the mystery of what has hiring Fonseca achieved.
Fonseca was a strange choice and I’ve always criticized RedBird for it. There were always better options available. Dumb hire, after a year of knowing we needed to upgrade the coach…
First of all.i didn’t realize you two ACM1899s were different lol 😂
Secondly Maldini moves may have looked mediocre but the results are an envy to most sporting directors. Matte of fact with this crop we have here I doubt they’ll better it. Bring on the mediocre SD so we can see a Scudetto or a UCl semi I say.
Thirdly I wouldn’t mind like u said if they brought in an SD but somewhere along the lines Gerry thought Maldini, specifically, was the problem and thought the current bunch (Moncada and Furlani) could do the job. And he’s been grossly wrong in that regard, yet no one had paid the price even though we’ve gotten worse
News to me as well!
Ah but you see Maldini could never reach the heights of the SD that is this ACM1899s’s head.
Reality will always struggle to keep up with people’s imaginations.
Do you understand what the word ‘mediocre’ means?
I’m pretty sure it doesn’t apply to someone who helped us finish 1st above 19 other teams.
Yes, he was Mediocre as a Sporting Director and we won that year DESPITE that. Did he get some things right? Yes. Did he make mistakes? Yes. Did he contribute to Scudetto? Sure.
BUT Maldini was mediocre AF as a SD. Inexperienced, for sure. Whether he would become better at his job in time is a moot point now. Yes he wanted what’s best for the club and it didn’t align with RedBird. I would have liked to keep him at the club but not as a SD – You need a Marotta-level appointment for that role.
Not dissapointed as didn’t expect us to get a result.
This was the B team in a lot of ways
I liked how the players husseled, I’m glad Fonseca is trying to bring that. Unfortunately we just didn’t have the quality.
We need quite a few players, again, to fix so many holes in the squad, where to start?
We need to start using our young players, there are several worthy of a shot
Take Napoli’s 4-5 starters out and see how they fair. Conte or not 😉 That’s why I think it’s tough to judge Fonseca given the absences.
Well said, mate. We had a good game, though, the scoreline didn’t show it. It’s harsh to condemn the players, or the coach, when 5 starters are missing. I’m glad we don’t have to depend on Gabbia/Tomori pairing for every game. Benching Leao, for me, was a good thing. We can’t have players feeling like royalty on the pitch. Okafor helped a lot defensively. We just need to improve our finishing. That’s our setback now. I was impressed with Musah, even though he had a few misplaced passes. The league is still open. I hope the team can work together to improve the results.
I never watched the game today(probably first time in years) but from what I read is that RLC was awful, same silly mistakes in defence and too many chances not converted.
Another awful season and scudetto is already gone, just hope to get in the top 4. Just goes to show you should have splashed the cash on someone like Conte who wanted to come here as his first choice btw and he’s in first place and we’re suffering. The joys of being a milan fan I guess
Actually, it was one of the few RLC sparks this season. Weird nuance overall, but it did happen. Some flashes from his PSG performance, but without the end product.
Why are you trolling? RLC did NOTHING for the team. Nothing. But if you arent’ trolling and honestly think he did well, then you’ve set the bar insanely low.
We went out and played with 5 of 10 outfield subs.
We created multiple chances and maintained possession for long stretches.
Every backup played as a better form of them self. Some slightly some quite noticably.
We are without Theo who got himself tossed for descent AFTER the game while wearing the armband.
We are without Reinjders who also got a card.
Out current best player in Puli was sick but still showed up (more than Theo could do)
Out current best defender in Gabbia is injured.
Our highest paid player is currently a liability (though he did show some signs of understanding the entire job description with some nice ball winning efforts today)
Yet the moaning here is about management?
Scudetto will be harder to win for sure. We have serious work to do in UCL to advance. Copa and Super Copa are still there for us.
Yet the group in the he field played more together. The ball movement in the first half cut Napoli open and created dangerous chances.
Those chances were often from our BACKUPs.
Yet 30 of 33 comments are doom and gloom.
To paraphrase Ghandi: “I like your Milan. I don’t not like your Milan Fans. They so do not like your Milan.”
I was with you until your criticism of Leao.
Leao is not in any way liability.
This is just more #Leao out trending stuff.
The Leao situation, and indeed the Tomori situation, the Calabria situation, the Theo situation, the Abraham situation, and all of the other situations point to a specific issue with the coach.
The reality is that so far he has less than 1/4 of the squad performing anywhere near their potential.
Lest we forget this squad, warts, Leao and all, have finished in the top 4 in the past 4 seasons, and in 3 of those seasons they finished in the top 2.
Fonseca rocked up and decided to undermine the club captain, local hero and longest serving player.
And guess what?
Morale collapsed.
Fonseca needs to go.
Starting a game against Napoli without Tomori and Leao (with the other injuries and struggles you mentioned) should be a sackable offence.
I want him gone.
I did not say Leao out.
He is a liability. If you cannot face that then it cannot improve.
He came on and again the field tilted towards a guy who stands still before he touches the ball a majority of the time.
Today, however not only was he in motion more but he tracked hard to win the ball back and rekindle the attack TWICE.
This is something he doesn’t do. Now he is.
Maybe – just maybe – there is a message from the Boss to the player? Maybe we saw a positive change we can hope for more?
You are calling for change as the guy who wants every player to stay and develop? New coach means more player churn? C’mon man at least maintain a facsimile of consistency.
We had a solid team concept today that suffered from our inability of finish. Chances were created from intentional ball movement.
So yeah let’s FonzyOut so we can bring in a guy whose gonna bring back our “pass left” attack.
I think I will _support_ the club. Warts, Leao, Fonseca and all.
#Leaoisaliability is part of a trend which leads to #Leaoout
It’s all part of this narrative.
In what world is Leao a liability when he consistently creates multiple chances each time he steps on the pitch?
It’s just more myth making.
Like #CalabriaIsAWashedUp27YearOld.
All of this #EndlessTransfers.
I am perfectly consistent. I support:
– the players;
– coach; and
– random suits,
in that order.
I will side with the players over the coach especially when this number are struggling.
A coach can make or break players. Fonseca is breaking most of them.
As for the churn, the men in suits are supposed to be the ones who put together a coherent squad based on a long term project, and then it makes it easier to hire and fire coaches if things aren’t working.
That is literally the entire point of a director of football (and Milan seem to have multiple directors).
It of course goes without saying that I want the management/men in suits gone.
Unpopular opinion…
But Leao has generally improved his defensive contribution since last season (a little before that actually). He tracks back, he wins balls. You make it seem like he’s responding to being benched and he is suddenly tracking back now. No.
I also don’t think Fonseca’s problem with him is his defensive contribution. It’s more of this ‘breaking the biggest player’ thing he’s doing.
That was a response to Luigi.
*Response to MKPS
@ VORe
It might not have been directed at me but I 100% agree.
Everybody is talking about our team our players blah blah .. did you see Napoli’s starting eleven and tell me besides buongiorno and Kvaratskhelia who’s a world class player? Billy Gilmore ? oliveira ? Rahmani? Scotty? Anguisa? Meret?
Calabria’s treatment is the cause of our predicament huh? Collapsed morale across the team and all… right on…
I know we are not allowed to compare football with real life, but in what world does a new manager rock up to an existing team and undermine the line manager?
I just did that back in May because I had too. Team is now performing at 210% of baseline since the change and reporting a huge morale boost.
It happens all the time when done right.
There was a moment where Leao was jogging back from somewhere and the commentators were incredulous that he was doing so given the gravity of the situation. Lol, anyway. Remember the one player you do hate on our squad? Reijnders. Apparently Barcelona and City are lining up for him. Guardiola seems to like crap players suddenly.
I’ve said elsewhere that I can see Reijnders becoming a superstar for those clubs.
I know around people love to take sides but I don’t actually hate Reijnders. I, heaven forbid, criticised him.
It’s probably not healthy having a player you refuse to criticise (whilst laying into several others).
Hmm …
I criticize Leao and then say I see him improving. You accuse me of being part of the LeaoOut cabal.
“It’s probably not healthy having a player you refuse to criticise”
Seriously, c’mon.
Leao … is … a … liability. He is showing signs of improving and the coach appears to be setting expectations and playing Leao as he meets them. You know … like a manager when someone is on a PIP?
Leao is a liability, no matter how much we love him. Pioli was weak, that’s why he tolerated him. Fonseca was not the fans’ choice, but, he is doing things differently. We had a good game against Napoli, despite being 4 to 5 regulars short. Now, I won’t have any fears watching Milan games without Tomori at the back. He has been my favourite, but, lately, I have seen some downsides. The team is working together, and getting better. We need our highest earners working the whole 90+ minutes, not strolling on the pitch. I can’t fault the coach for the actions he has taken against these guys. If they don’t want to stay, the door is open.
What about the games vs Torino, Parma, Lazio, Liverpool, Bayer04 and Fiorentina? They had nothing to do with the players and the manager who were all brought on by the management, right? Would you please point out what exactly has improved, compared to the Giampaolo-esqued first three games?
Would you please provide a meaningful timeline for improvement?
Okay it is not really fair to answer a question with a question. So …
Unevenly but I each game we changed from the Pioli individual defense and individual offense with lateral and back passes to more forward passing, more off the ball motion, more covering the mistakes of others.
During that time we have seen individual players – usually out so called leaders – behavior counter to the good of the group. CoolingGate, penaltyGate, red card that accomplished nothing.
So we have improvement of the teamfootball in the face of all that resistance (there is much more but those are the obvious) culminating today in us putting up a great fight
With our many of the rebellious not contributing.
Message: You are not bigger than Milan. You are not bigger than the team.
I take Milan as it is. Not some ideal from a bygone era. I want that success for Milan. I know (because I looked it up) that it took years to get to that level of consistency before it happened.
You have to remember many here are Brits and they are professional moaners. If not management it would be something else. I know this would be un uphill battle after seeing the starting 11 and the match resulted in what we all thought would happen. At least Chukwueze is starting to cook so he gives us another option.
No kidding on Chuk. I was not a fan at all! Now he is playing Puli into the 10 spot. Kudos to Fonseca for doing what Pioli seemingly could not with Chuk.
Musah was observably better today and this is more of a trend. He and Fofana make a good pair.
Thanks for being The Other Heir 🙂
Wow, you are very optimistic. I commend you for that. I’m not. This team has too many issues, and a mediocre coach who not only can’t fix them, but also creates some of his own. Plus, clueless managers who do stuff like hiring Emerson and shipping out Kalulu. And now we’re 11 points behind a team coached by Conte. That’s not good.
I am already weary of Conte as Baba Yaga. Clearly Fonseca looks way more like John Wick 🙂
Seriously though it is not that I am optimistic. I am realistic.
Math says we are in it.
Napoli will slump as Conte’s act wears thin. They certainly looked quite vulnerable against our bench today.
A cup gets us the trophy every seems to feel we are entitled to.
Mgmt seem to realize this is a project (scope schedule and resources) and they have a plan beyond “win now so the moaning stops”
I see a bright future for this team. Since I plan to live past this year I am happy to see us grow with Fonseca and take the pain that will come with it.
—
Of note. I was peeved big time a few weeks back after PenaltyGate. I had lost faith until suddenly he decided he was th Boss. He is responsible. He sat Leao. He sat Tomorri. He is showing more trust to the bench.
To win the Scudetto while playing Europe, all of these are preconditions.
So he didn’t make problems, he is simply dealing with those left to him by the previous regime.
I really hope y’all put away the razors and avoid warm baths on game days. Jeebers.
Agreed. Gotta give Fonseca more time. And I’m someone who thought they should have kept Pioli. There are some positives, like beating Inter, Reijnders looks better, Pulisic somehow even better than last year, Fofana is playing pretty well, Chuk is starting to play well. If he can get Leao going then a front 4 of Leao, Puli, Chuk, and Morata could be formidable.
Let me understand this clearly.
You actually think with all these bad signings and clear mistakes that the management are making, are future based and will bring glory. Because they are not thinking of the now but the future??
Americans are truly a different cut of cloth. But I would leave you with this interesting POV you have.
Not sure if you can’t see it but our current ills are basically because of them. For the last two years they’ve made questionable choices many of us here have pointed out and warned about. And it’s comitto fruition. It’s not the players fault they all got assembled with no rhyme or reason, nor is it their fault that they got an average coach.
Look at the two goals conceded, from two players with no Serie A experience.
The second goal was Mike. Pretty sure he has experience in Serie A.
Pioli out
Good one.
And I assume the people who were calling for this won’t take responsibility for the consequences.
Everyone praised Fonseca after 2-1 win against Inter. But for me, Fonseca mediocre smell never gone and here we are.
Also, funny with people who think we are in the scudetto race. With Fonseca, it would be a miracle if at the end of this season we can get 3rd or 4th spot. Heck, i don’t think we can finish at 5th.
If RLC starts or plays – you can be sure Milan will lose or draw the game!
Even a below-average coach will know that RLC is the team’s biggest problem. I don’t fault Fonseca because RLC was not his purchase nor did he have any options on the bench as a replacement. So I will not blame Fonseca for that. If Milan doesn’t get rid of RLC and get a proper midfielder, Milan will lose more matches. Musah is poor, too, but it was Cardinale who wanted him and not the coaches. At least Musah makes an effort, which is non-existent in RLC’s case. If anyone can’t see that RLC is the problem and needs to be shipped in the immediate transfer window, I bet they are dumb or blind.
Guess what, RLC whom I agree is not great, wasn’t in any way the worst player tonight. No, he’s not Milan’s biggest problem. He is “a” problem but not “the” biggest problem.
For me, the biggest problem is Paulo Fonseca, and the whole management that hired him instead of getting someone like Motta or Conte.
There’s very little point rating players when it’s quite clear none are playing anywhere near their potential.
Even Pulisic, who seems to be one of the few players reaching his potential under Fonseca, struggled tonight with the flu/fever.
But the rest showed a general lack of clue as to what to do.
And that is not a criticism of any of the players. It is a criticism of the coach.
Not starting Tomori and Leao against Napoli should be a sackable offence.
Fonseca has alienated most of the few remaining Scudetto winners. He’s taken a squad that finished SECOND last season, and in the top FOUR in the past 4, and he’s alienated the core of that squad, and only a handful of players are playing anywhere near their potential.
He needs to go.
Your criteria for a starting place is “Scudetto winner 2022”? Not discipline, current form, development over the last two years? Against Fiorentina Tomori literally failed to clear a frickin’ goal kick which lead to their winner, I bet you were warm inside that at least he is a scudetto winner. That guy is more dangerous for Mike than he is to opponent’s strikers. Fonseca may be a mediocre coach, but refusing to change players who perform horribly, because of pasts events, is the most idiotic sounding argument I’ve ever read on this site.
Well, that’s Maldini’s Heir for ya. He thinks that Calabria is the second coming of Jesus, because he is the captain and a long-serving player who is a boyhood Milan fan, all very good things to be, but he’s currently nowhere near what we need from a RB. Only worse than Calabria as a RB is Emerson. And Tomori, oh my God, he has made so many mistakes lately. Gone are his Scudetto days.
But yes, he is right that this team is clueless under our mediocre coach who keeps experimenting with stuff, apparently never does his homework by watching tape of what has been tried and hasn’t worked, and keeps creating more controversies with players than solving them.
What do WE need from a RB?
Because I guarantee you the RB you think you need in your head is different to what someone else thinks in their head and you end up with Emerson Royal.
Same with Tomori. We now have Pavlovic.
But hey what did Einstein say was the definition of insanity.
We literally just finished 2nd.
Reijnders’ Critics:
Is the difference in our midfield with and without Reijnders palpable yet? Or are we still confused by what the Dutchman brings?
Not a huge difference .
Musah basically did the same job, and arguably we had more control of the midfield, albeit Napoli allowed that by setting up for the counter.
The issue, and in defence of Reijnders, is that the team generally lacks direction and none of the players, including Reijnders, are playing near their potential.
Musah did the same job as Reijnders? Is that what you’re trying to say? 🙂
Yes that is what I’m saying.
Try being less shocked in life.
I generally am, but then I read some of your comments, like the one above… or the one where you thought Milan has been lacking a leader on the pitch without Calabria… and you never cease to shock me some more… Agree to disagree I guess.
I just don’t jump on bandwagons, and I go for substance over the superficial.
All these people who so confidently declare Reijnders as being amazing despite Milan’s midfield basically collapsing since his arrival, and then in the same breath write off Calabria and other Scudetto winners.
Players actually have to win stuff to prove their ability. They don’t just get a pass (if you forgive the pun) because they show some nice touches.
lol
Reijnders is far from perfect, but he is the only guy in the roster who can play between the lines, dribble decently and eventually put a decent pass for the forwards. I like Musah but he is nowhere near in technique or football IQ
My main criticism of him has been in his inability to play between the lines!
But I will also give him the benefit of the doubt because few players are performing well under Fonseca.
It seems to me that Reijnders lacks consistency. With the Netherlands team as well. At some moments he does well, at others he is nowhere to be seen or makes bad decisions. He also needs to improve in the defensive part of the game, as today it is “all players defend, all players attack”. That it is better to play him rather than Musah or RLC is easily understandable, but he needs to fix his issues in order to take his game to the next level and become a high quality mildfielder. He can’t become a top player, but still there is a lot of room for growth. Whether he will do that or not is another matter.
Please don’t respond to my comments.
Not sure what are you trying to say. I did not make a response to you above.
Maybe just go comment on the scum forum?
@MH, I am already talking to a “scum” I guess.
That may well be the case, as he is far from a finished product. There’s a lot of improving to do. But also it helps when you play with a better cast around you.
Fonseca uses him at the 6 next to Fofana, when Reijnders is a box-to-box. Then he fields RLC in front of him, who occupies Dutchman’s spaces and does absolutely nothing with it, just getting in the way.
Also no 10 on this team, yet Fonseca insists on a 3-1 up front… I just don’t get it. Conte amplifies his talent. Fonseca so far is trying to reprogram everyone…
Maybe it is partly Fonseca’s fault who can’t get the best out of him. I get the vibe that he plays better for the Netherlands, so it might be the case. All in all I like Reijnders and his potential. If he becomes consistent in his performance, he will be fun to watch.
If Deer boy was there the scoreline or win for Napoli.does not change. That’s just delusional to think he’s that big of a difference maker. He might have played better than Musah but that’s about it
This team is buns from the management down to the players. What we need is Maldini backed by oil money.
Morata is not the guy.
I’m not disregarding his great career, but we another 9.
Don’t know how many times I can say it BUT when you hire a MEDIOC coach – guess what – you get MEDIOCRE results. Hate to say it but – The worst thing that happened (for the long term good of the club) is that we beat Inter as that saved Fonseca’s job when he should have been fired.
Aside from that win vs Inter – we have beaten Lecce, Udinese and Venezia and a 10-man Brugge. That is it. That is horrid. How he still has a job is beyond me. Amd he has managed to alienate Leao. Starts Oka and he bombs. Oh ya I forgot he’s cheap and doesn’t ask for players – that’s why. What an embarrassment. Great job Zlatan and co.
And to think we COULD have had Conte LOL, and Lukaku etc…. LOL. Amazing management we have! Musah??? Hahahahaha the kid is a hard worker but and that is it no sense of the game. Pavlovic needs to sit and learn positioning. Emerson what a gem! Lol. Terraciano – another superstar 🤣.
Changes need to be made that’s enough with Fonseca
While I agree with what you are saying, I have zero hope that we will get rid of Fonseca, and now 10 rounds in and 11 points behind, it’s probably too late anyway (might be even worse to change everything again, and what decent coach would want to walk into this mess?).
To fire Fonseca we’d need managers willing to acknowledge that they made a very bad mistake, and those people will never do that. So we’re stuck with Fonseca at least for this entire season. Then if we fail to qualify for the UCL by not making top 4 (or top 5 if Serie A earns another spot again) then and only then we can hope for Fonseca to be gone, because that affects the money to be earned, and that’s what count for the owner and his managers.
Remember, we have an owner who said that winning is boring and said that finishing top 4 is good enough.
The reason we need to get rid of Fonseca is more to keep the squad from falling apart.
He’s pretty much alienated all of our Scudetto winners except for Maignan, and there’s only about 3-4 players who are performing under him (Maignan, Gabbia, Fofana (kind of), and Pulisic).
Sure, but we won’t get rid of him. Management will not do it. Management will be content if we just make the UCL without winning any trophies. Like I said, only if we miss 100M Euro (or more) by not qualifying for the UCL, management will consider firing Fonseca.
“Winning is boring, making the UCL is good enough,” who cares about trophies as long as Milan’s account shows a positive balance?
See, we are owned by a private equity fund. They don’t really care about titles and trophies. They care about the bottom line on the financial account. So, a yes man who doesn’t make any waves and is cheap, is very convenient for this management (as long as he makes the UCL).
My prediction is that Milan will NOT make the UCL, and then management will finally fire Fonseca. The problem, though, is that then, they are likely to hire another cheap, mediocre yes-man.
See, they wanted Lopetegui, who is doing terribly with West Ham and their fans are asking for his head. The Milan fans revolted so strongly when his name surfaced, that they gave up on Lopetegui… but then hired Fonseca, by which point the fans were fatigued and didn’t even react (which I thought was weird; Lopetegui actually has a better resumé than Fonseca). Meanwhile there were five or six great coaches available, but they went for the WORST possible option, Paulo Fonseca (and cheapest, of course).
RLC 6? This site is becoming a joke. RLC was ABYSMAL
Has been every game this season… Yet Fonsy fields him a the 10 still…
Try and get off the bandwagon.
RLC was not that bad. He made dangerous run into the box and put in a cross that could easily have lead to a goal.
The main thing he struggled with was moving between AM and CF, but it seemed he and Morata were generally confused along with most of the team.
There’s zero point honing in on individual players when there’s a clear lack of direction.
One good cross doesn’t undo 10 miserable passes and non-existing defensive work.
It’s like arguing with a wall, i swear…..
Lets agree to disagree.
We chose Fonseca over Conte and this is where it stands
When Napoli crash and burn next season, come back and tell us about Conte. Conte has success in his first season, if his team don’t have European football, after that he annoys everyone and leaves. He’s also sent Osimhen packing and if you’d rather have Lukaku over Osimhen, your judgment is impaired.
The plan was to sell Osimhen for 120-130 mln, and to use that money to rebuild the squad. I predict Napoli will win the Scudetto this season, though I agree with you that on a longer term outlook beyond this season it is hard to see Napoli win trophies on a sustained rate, be it with Conte or another one.
So what is your point. You would rather not have Conte and missing out on UCL vs having Conte (aid only for a season or 2) and wining another Scudetto?? What an idiotic comment. Shocking lol
Conte would have had this team first place easily – but we passed on Conte because to get him you have to pay a real coaches salary and you have to spend $80-100M on transfers – which Redbird is too cheap to do.
Go back to bed kid
Dude, what is this thing I often read in this forum that Conte didn’t want Osimhen. Osimhen had burnt the bridge with Napoli long before Conte even recruited. Even their president had also stated that Osimhen would leave from January. Conte simply did what the club had decided (sounds surprising?).
Napoli crash and burn next season? You mean after winning the Scudetto this season? I’d take that. Second star too? Heck yea!
I’ll say this once again.
The best coaches, the best teams…
They find a way to get the best out of their most talented players. You don’t try to break the personality out of your top players, you give them confidence, trust, while earning theirs.
Remove the personality out of your team, and you’re left with a bunch of averagely talented schoolboys, worker bees. They’ll win against Leece and Club Brugge but ultimately won’t have any tangible thing to show at the end ofnthe season. They certainly won’t excite.
But go on, Leao’s music career is probably the problem.
I’m thinking of all the quality managers that were available this summer…..and we choose this bum who came in what 4th in the French league. Great job Redbird, you suck.
And Lille seems to do better without Fonseca. Lol.
Bye bye Fonseca. Benching Leao in a game where so many key players are missing? A match this important?! He still thinks he’s the star of the show, that fans buy tickets to see him.
And can we get one game with no 2-3 dangerous chances for the opponent in the opening minutes? Fonseca himself said his first and foremost objective was to improve our defensive game. Well, has he?
On other topic, are we ready to acknowledge that Mike has average to mediocre shot stopping skills?
Agreed on Fonseca (although I have zero hope that this management will fire him) but Mike has been great again for the last several games including his excellent Euro with France. Mike had one bad game, tonight’s. Let’s not crucify him yet.
Mike is a top GK, among the best in the world, so surprising to see such comments about him.
Are. you. high?
Mike is average??? Pretty sure at the Ballon D’Or they considered him #5 in the W O R L D … Pretty sure that’s a spaceship ride from “average”…
There you go. We found something to agree on.
Statistics says otherwise. 11 goals & 22 saves so far. 11th among other Serie A goalkeepers. That is below average.
That’s because Mike keeps being bombarded from short range by the opponents’ forwards, thanks to the failures of our full backs, center backs, and midfielders. No goalkeeper can prevent goals in this kind of situation, when our defense allows the opponents to shoot at will in front of him, like if they were taking PKs.
He kept us in several games with his saves.
Only tonight he did poorly. The other goals we suffered in other games were hardly his fault.
If a goalkeeper plays with a horrible defense in front of him, even the best goalkeeper in the world will fail. Look at the Euro, when he played with a good defense protecting him. He did very well.
Pay attention to the games themselves rather than to stats like the ones you quoted. This is not the FIFA videogame. This is real life football.
Mike is world-class, period, even if your videogame-like stats suggest otherwise.
Did he play well tonight? No, he didn’t, and yes, he made a mistake in their first goal, and didn’t jump well to stop their second. It happens. Every good player can have a bad day. It doesn’t mean that he is not world-class.
Look at the cast in front of him…. Thiaw? Pavlo? one DM?
Lol, do you guys watch games?
Have you watched football for more than a year?
How many goals do you think, say, Buffon allowed to go in because of clear mistake on his part. Maybe 1-2 a season? Maybe. Dollaruma same thing. And our dear GK?
He’s good with the ball, great even. But as a shot stopper average or below. Thanks for the stats qqw, but really all you have to do is watch the games with open eyes.
Maybe they’ll award something to Fonseca and ACM1899 (whose been following the team since 2023) will also praise him as one of our greatest.
“On other topic, are we ready to acknowledge that Mike has average to mediocre shot stopping skills?”
I’ve been preaching this for a while. I wouldn’t go as far as to say mediocre but I don’t understand how he’s this world class keeper everyone is talking about when I’d prefer at least 10 shot stoppers if penalties were to decide the game. Keepers are shot stoppers first, footwork is a “nice to have”. Even on the first goal he was culpable and that DiLorenzo cross/shot….what was that from Mikey???
I can remember Somebodies here said “I Don’t Want conte Because he IS and Old School coach” . Now This Is What you want to see, right?
How Maignan “couldn’t do much about the first goal”? He was the reason for the first goal, as he gave the ball away just a moment before.
And you blame Pavlovic. This goals is solely on Maignan.
Agree. Maignan should have stopped one of the goals especially the last one.
Forget the scudetto . With this coach & play style,finish rank 2 to 5 already lucky for ACM . The only realistic trophy this season for ACM are coppa italia & super coppa . Get rid Kalulu for bring Emerson are big mistake. Again experience are important in football,choose in experience pavlovic rather than buy experience CB in serie A ( bungiorno) cost ACM dearly. 20m euro for yunus musah seems overprice for ACM . The coach also look similar with 10 hag ( poor tactic, bad decision starting player,poor result) . Better get Sarri next season . For this season just let it flow like the wind
The way Milan play with constantly engaging Maignan is never going to produce the winning results. Slow start to every game has become too boring to watch and one would think that some changes will take place to fix the issues. Lack of shots on target is becoming the norm and continuous attacking from the wings is hardly working. Stop blaming the players for bad results if the experts in management aren’t demanding better service from coaches and players.. Fonseca might mean well but his style of play is not going to produce any glory soon. Forget Champions League this year and I sincerely hope the team will prove me wrong. Forza Milan.
Have you all noticed that we are now in 8th place, tied in points with Torino in 9th (only ahead of them thanks to goal differential), and 6 of the 7 teams ahead of us as of today (and Torino as well) still have played only 9 games like we did (the only exception being Napoli), so our 8th place is actually real, and not just a consequence of a game-in-hand?
We are officially a mid-table team. Let this sink in: We. Are. A. Mid. Table. Team. We, AC Milan, the club that was formerly among the greatest of all clubs on Earth, are now a mid-table team, under this clueless management and this mediocre coach.
And it’s not just growing pains, because a full fourth of the season has happened already, and things are shaping up for the other teams.
If this continues (and it probably will continue) we won’t even make the Conference League, much less the UEFA Champions League. Even if Serie A earns again an additional UCL spot, only the top 7 teams will qualify for European-wide tournaments. We will miss Europe entirely if we don’t seriously improve.
That’s what you get when you hire a mediocre coach. A good coach makes the players improve. I have the impression that under Fonseca, our players, with very few exceptions, are getting worse.
Let’s look at the exceptions.
Pulisic is doing better. Is that Fonseca’s merit, or Puli’s merit? I’d say, its the latter, because Puli does well for the USMNT too, where there is no Fonseca, and last year he already had the, then, best season of his career, before Fonseca was hired. So he’s just continuing his growing trajectory.
Gabbia is doing well, but he was already doing well after he came back from his Spanish loan, last season. Is it the merit of Fonseca? No, it’s the merit of whatever the Spaniards taught him.
Fofana is doing well, but he’s always been a talented player; on the other hand, Fofana is killing himself by being overextended, trying to cover for the defensive failures of his companions. At times, poor Fofana looks exhausted, and so does Pulisic who also tries to compensate for other players (especially for Emerson – and do remember that Fonseca was the one who wanted Emerson).
Mike is doing well (except for tonight, a rare bad game for Mike) but goalkeepers have a life of their own and depend a lot less on the head coach.
Chuk is actually improving under Fonseca more than under Pioli. He may be the one true exception as Fonseca has declared that he is working with him so that Chuk will release the ball sooner and won’t try still another dribble until the loses the ball. That is apparently working.
Everybody else looks lost. That’s the hallmark of a bad coach, when the players don’t have a plan and don’t know what they’re supposed to do, then they keep running into each other’s space and they move around like headless chickens.
A good coach makes the sum be greater than the parts (like Conte does). A bad coach does the opposite, and while on paper we have a number of talented players, they seem to perform poorly under Fonseca, who seems to subtract rather than to add.
And I think that Fonseca is destroying Rafael Leão, who will likely have his worst season ever with Milan, and will ask to leave by the end of this season (or even sooner; I wouldn’t be surprised if Rafa calls it quits by the winter window); Rafa is troubled, unmotivated, and clearly underperforming his natural talent, under Fonseca who seems to be fighting a silly war against Rafa.
I mean, what can we expect? To replace the guy who finished 2nd in Europe’s second best league (our UEFA coefficient was actually second best last season considering the last 4 seasons, and the very best considering just the last season, which is why we earned a 5th UCL spot), we hired the guy who finished 4th in Europe’s 5th best league.
So was Fonseca an upgrade over Pioli? As disastrous as Pioli’s last several months of his tenure were, no, Fonseca was a downgrade.
Pioli won a Scudetto, reached a UCL quarter final, and finished second in two other Serie A seasons. He was also beloved by the players.
What will Fonseca accomplish? In my opinion and prediction, a big round zero. Or rather, a minus ten.
Agree with you on most of the stuff, but what differently would you’ve done in regards to Rafa? He was basically the same last season, so Fonseca found him like that and is not the original reason for his behavior. Isn’t benching him at least an attempt to shake things up? It has worked at times, like with Allegri and Vlahovic for example. He gave him confidence and even the captain armband AFTER the water break debacle, so you can’t fault him for not trying the friendly “you’re the star, prove it” approach. What else is left in the coach’s situation? Rafa seems to become his own worst enemy by refusing to improve and having too many non-football stuff on his mind to actually concentrate on every game with the right mentality. There’s only so much a coach can do with a player. Back in the day Balotelli was equally, if not more talentend player. He had better coaches than Fonseca coaching him (Jose, Mancini, Allegri), but did it prove fruitful in the long run? Nah, his mentality got in the way and his career went downhill.
What I’d do differently? I’d leave Rafa alone and would allow him to do his thing. I’ll explain in further detail, since you asked. I actually have been wary of taking up these points again given the backlash from those who don’t like Rafa, but you asked, so I’ll provide. I said in another thread I wouldn’t insist on this any longer, UNLESS someone directly asked me. So be it. It will be long; I know I’m verbose, and I’m not forcing you to read me; you can say TLDR if you want. But again, since you asked, here I go.
———–
Up to a certain point it seemed like Fonseca might be successful in managing Rafa, but then it became excessive.
What was the justification for benching Rafa against Napoli, including in the face of so many other absences and Puli with the flu/fever??? That Okafor made ONE good pass to Reijnders who scored, last game? Rafa that same game had 3 such identical passes; just, his companions didn’t convert them into goals, which is hardly Rafa’s fault.
Benching Rafa for this game and starting Okafor instead, was nothing short of insane.
Okafor has consistently showed poor performances when he starts (again, if Fonseca doesn’t know that, he is not doing his homework and is not watching tape). Okafor is a super-sub, not a starter, and does well when he comes in late in the game and the defenders are tired.
Predictably, like I said several times, by starting Okafor, Fonseca passed on Okafor’s best characteristic, that of being an impactful super-sub. It is only VERY occasionally that Okafor does well when he starts (sometimes he does, but it’s rare). MUCH more often he is pale and not a factor when he starts, like yesterday against Napoli, predictably. If I’m not mistaken (if memory serves me right), all the goals Okafor scored last season happened when he was a late sub, and in all games he started, he was a non-factor.
This season, Okafor has scored one goal and made one assist, both as a super-sub, late. Rafa on the other hand, has scored 1 goal and has made 4 assists, despite being benched for large segments of games and sitting out entirely in one game.
Rafa is not a mature individual. He deals poorly with criticism, then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more he is criticized, the worse he plays.
Rafa is visibly frustrated. He has tried to provide more defense as requested by Fonseca but it’s just not who he is. Rafa is a player with a strange set of skills AND shortcomings, but he does best when he is left free to roam, not when he is asked to be a system player who attacks and defends in block together with the entire team.
Sure, maybe that’s what modern football requires, but unfortunately, Rafa is not good for this system. On the other hand, when he is allowed to do his thing, he consistently adds 28 to 30 goals + assists per season (he did that in all three of the three past seasons), which this season he will likely not do, because the more he tries to get involved in the defensive phase, the less he achieves in the offensive phase.
The issue with Rafa is not laziness like his detractors think. He is simply not good at defending and tracking back, and he usually saves energy for his bursts of speed cutting through the defensive line. Is this ideal? No, it would be nice if Rafa could defend and track back; but that’s not who he is. If Rafa were a complete winger like Vini Jr who can do that, he wouldn’t be playing for Milan; he’d have been snatched by ManCity or Bayern or PSG or Real.
We need to accept Rafa for who he is, warts and all, and be content that when left alone to do his thing, he adds lots of goals and assists.
As for the eternal complaint we hear that Rafa is distracted by his interest in fashion and music, it remains to be demonstrated that Rafa has missed any training session or has left Milanello at any point when he was not allowed to, to engage in these non-football pursuits. Rafa does this stuff in his free time, not in his Milan duties time. Nobody in the club (that is, club officials, not just fans) has ever indicated in the slightest way that Rafa has neglected his duties for the sake of fashion or music.
Enough with this, already. Either you find hard rock evidence of neglect, or you let go of this claim. It’s a stereotypical fantasy based on no evidence. Rafa is a young man who likes fashion and music like many young men his age. I see no reason to criticize Rafa for that.
When Rafa had a stellar season in the Scudetto year, being officially voted the League MVP, he already liked fashion and music. Did it hinder in any way his spectacular season? That’s NOT what is hindering Rafa.
The comparison with Balotelli is unfair to Rafa. Yes, Rafa is immature and tends to sulk when criticized, but he does not have Balotelli’s self-destructing personality. Rafa is actually a happy kid with a big smile… except when he is treated unfairly like a segment of the fan base likes to do. Balotelli on the other hand is a tortured soul.
The exaggerated criticism and scapegoating is abolishing Rafa’s smile, and is destroying his game. There are people here and elsewhere who would want nothing less than a firing squad to take down Rafa. They all want Rafa sold. They just don’t seem to understand what kind of person and player he is, and I think that Fonseca doesn’t get it either.
Hiring Fonseca was the end of Rafa’s tenure with Milan. Fonseca will manage to push Rafa out of Milan. Mark my words.
Then, contrary to what Rafa detractors think, Milan will be worse off without Rafa, because our cheap management will never hire another replacement left winger able to contribute with 28 to 30 goals + assists per season. Players who can do that typically cost way more than the unofficial cap of 20 to 25 M Euro that our cheap management is willing to spend on a player.
So, beware of what you all want. I think that letting Rafa go will be as bad for Milan as letting Kessié go, a failure that has damaged us ever since it happened, and it has not been patched yet, years later.
—————-
If you did read me until the end, thanks for listening. Maybe you disagree, but believe me, what I think of Rafa comes out of my love for this club; I don’t want us to become even worse than we are, right now. We are in the brink of going back to the banter years, and getting rid of Rafa will plunge us there, even faster.
Nice write up. Read all. Agreed with most of it. Rafa remains an enigma. It’s either we build around him and support him or we part ways and develop systemic playing style.
This was said last season by a pundit, but many folks here were annoyed and said second on the table, winning matches, bla bla and more bla. But even back then MILAN ARE NOW A MID TABLE TEAM.
It’s not an insult, but just the truth. The players, the way games are approached, the manner of transfers approached. Milan does behave like a mid table team.
What is this question “what would you do differently?” It’s the coach job to get the best of his players, and surely not go against them. There’s a whole spectrum between benching and humiliating someone and doing nothing.
The standings Luigi mentions are not the issue. The problem is our coach is not suited for managing a team of players at this level. The interview with the zoro mask should have gave us a clear indication about who this clown is
The standings I mentioned are just one of the multiple symptoms (I thought that it was worth mentioning this particular symptom), of the real problem you and I agree upon: our main issue is the clown we have for head coach who is unsuited to manage a club like Milan (he finished 4th in France and now Lille is doing better without him), doesn’t improve his players, actually goes against the players, can’t use them to the best of their abilities, doesn’t do his homework, and this huge problem derives directly from the root cause of it: the stupid and clueless managers who hired him, and the owner who doesn’t care for trophies, thinks that winning is boring, and is only concerned about the bottom line on the financial account.
Fonseca and this management/ownership are destroying our beloved AC Milan, and whoever doesn’t see it needs a visit to a good ophthalmologist for a prescription of good glasses.
People here, even good posters, are still excusing Fonseca for example, by saying that if Napoli didn’t have 5 or 6 of their starters, they wouldn’t have won. Probably true but it still doesn’t excuse Fonseca, who prepared this game poorly, didn’t instruct his defenders on how to defend against Kvara and Lukaku, and didn’t get the most ideal lineup under the circumstances (I think that sitting Leão when we were missing so many other starters including having our best forward this season, Pulisic, down with a fever and intestinal problems, was nothing short of insane; all in the name of a stupid little war our “genius” of a coach is fighting against Rafael Leão, apparently just to show that he’s got balls – yeah, he does, at least as far as Leão is concerned, but they lead him to wrong decisions, and they don’t seem to apply to his relationship with his bosses, in which case, no balls, he’s just a yes man who doesn’t require investment).
Maybe people (hopefully, including the managers) will wake up once we finished 8th or lower, at season end. That’s where we’re headed.
Just to clarify to those who still find excuses like Fonzy:
1. We have 7 points less than last season at this stage although last season was hardcore transitional considering all new players coming in.
2. We have the worse start in last 10 years to a season. And in last 10 years we had coaches like Pippo Inzaghi, Brocchi, Montella, Giampaolo. Let that sink in.
3. You’re saying we lost because we were missing key figures but at the same time the ones who were fielded fall into 200 million “inwastement” that was suppose to lift the quality of the team and take us back to where we belong. We’re Pulisic reliant now. You bash our “senators” Leao and Theo while Gabbia was, according to many of you here, just not Milan material player. But suddenly, these are three key figures we’re missing right? We had our most expensive signing on the field, Chuk. We had the new Stam on the field, Pavlovic. What? You don’t like them anymore? Musah last night did exactly what Reijnders is doing. Mostly nothing for 70% of every match. The only difference between Musah and Reijnders is, the latter looks more elegant on the ball. But the final execution is the same.
Yes this is solely on the ownership and management. You reap what you sow.
Mediocre team + mediocre coach = mediocre results.
Get used to it.
Nah Ted ma dude, according to some here the ownership and by extension their managers are playing the long game and not looking at immediate results which are short sighted.
That makes me laugh with scorn. Because even the now is part of the future, whatever we do now also adds to history and so Milan been poor now, there is no guarantee that with this present power structure Milan would get better.
But once that Redbird philosophy gets a good quick hold on Ya, one can just get it 📴
Yeah I totally forgot we’re not in it for the trophies and winning but participating. For that, this team is more than enough.
Agreed with most of your points, but we have a squad that’s enough for a proper challenge on the scudetto. Not the least because our direct competition isn’t that great either
💯💯💯💯💯
I particularly liked “You’re saying we lost because we were missing key figures but at the same time the ones who were fielded fall into 200 million “inwastement” that was suppose to lift the quality of the team and take us back to where we belong.”
“Inwastement” I love it 😂😂
And ppl will say we’re “objectively” better than you know who’s time? Pffft.
I’ll ask this question again – what is RedBird’s endgame? They seem to be trashing money for awful transfer deals, the team is achieving worst results with each passing month, the fans all over the world would like to rip their eyes off, there’s zero development with the mythical new stadium, non-describer fans are slowly starting to lose interest in the home games and the attendance, albeit marginally, is decreasing. We are 4 mil. on the plus side for the year, is not the big goal? Seriously? I fail to understand what these morons are attempting. By now we all know it’s not football results, but what is it? The club started achieving financial stability already under Gazidis, so it’s not groundbreaking news that we have escaped the possibility of financial restrictions and possible bankrupt. Have RedBird added anything to it that I’m missing?
I am not a financial expert but I will try to answer what I think is going on, and maybe I’m totally off because, again, I’m no expert, but for what it’s worth, here is what I think regarding your question:
Most likely what they want is to get the financial account under control (step one, and they have already achieved it), pay off the vendor’s loan they contracted (that’s next and they haven’t done it yet), develop and then in the relatively near future abruptly sell some players for more than they costed – which explains their interest in funding Milan Futuro – thus increasing the club’s financial valuation (although not the clubs athletic prouesses), and then sell the club to other investors for a massive profit. By which point they will probably have some big plans for the mythical new stadium in a more advanced stage but still before major investment, in order to wave that in front of the nose of potential buyers, saying, “here, this club will explode once the new stadium is built; jump on it now while you ca; buy the club from us and you will end up generating big profits in a few years.”
The sad part is that this strategy maybe will indeed pay off, and it DOESN’T include winning any trophies; that part is irrelevant to them.
That’s predictable: they are a private equity fund. Their thing is the money, not the trophies. They do not have any passion for the sport of football and for a historical club like AC Milan. They see it as an investment/profit opportunity for their owner and their shareholders, like all equity funds do.
A sovereign fund like the Saudi one, is rich enough to not even care for the profits; they invest for pride and boasting rights and to increase their country’s international profile, so they do care for trophies which increases pride: “see how great we are? Our club has won the domestic league and the Champions League!” A private fund? No trophies are necessary.
Most likely our only way out of this mess, is if RedBird successfully sells the club to Arab sovereign funds, and then, the new owners invest heavily on hiring a top level coach and some top level players, and they do finish up the construction of a new stadium.
Until then, we won’t get any trophies.
Average team will get you an average result.
I’m trying not to be negative considering we had 5 staters who were absent or subbed late (Pulisic, Reijnders, Leao, Theo, Gabbia and you might include Tomori) but we went from 3 points behind the leader after the derby to already 11 points behind the leader (albeit with a missing game) and we’ve yet to play Juventus and Atalanta. Forget scudetto, we might not even make it to top 4, as for the UCL, considering how the Brugge game looked like, we might be eliminated straight up.
Most of those who played yesterday night are subs, but we’ve paid on average 20M€ for those subs. As for Fonseca, so far aside from having the cohones to bench Leao from time to time, he has shown NOTHING. He might need time, but we’ve already sacked Giampaolo at this point. I might be harsh but if we’re out of the title race by december, we should sack Fonseca, and instruct the new coach to build a team for next season (again !).
Maignan: He is a world-class goalkeeper, but yesterday was a fault for the 2 goals.
Emerson: Somehow always more or less involved in at least one of the goals we conceide each game…
Pavlovic: Actually managed to be the worst defender in a lineup with Thiaw, Emerson and Terracciano, that’s quite the achievement ! I understand now how we got him for 18M€, we were basically scammed. Salzburg must be laughing now.
Thiaw: Not too bad, but not enough to be good.
Terracciano: Not too bad, not terrific either.
Fofana: That’s what happens when you try to make a carrier into a defensive midfielder instead of getting a defensive midfielder from the get-go. Moncada should be sacked at the end of the season. He was actually the worst midfielder in a comp that had RLC and Musah !!
Loftus-Cheek: what does the coach need to see more to understand that Ruben is not a starting material.
Musah: Moves a lot and has a lot of energy. That’s where the good thing ends. The man can’t shoot, can’t pass, but don’t worry, he has pOtEnTiAllllll
Chukwueze: Best player yesterday, which is quite sad since he wasn’t terrific either.
Morata: I do like his midfield contribution and spirit, but we need a striker… Although I give him a pass, he aimed correctly the only ball he received inside the box.
Okafor: I think people should understand that he will never be more than a sub or an occasional starter. We blame Leao for his shooting and my man shoots one straight to the moon.
Leao: Got us a corner from a shot, which is already more than Okafor and already more than his last 2 to 3 games….
Pulisic: I’ll give him a pass, since he has the flu.
Overall, don’t fool yourselves with the sequences we dominated, that’s a Conte thing. Also, while they didn’t had 4 or 5 absentees, Napoli was missing Lobotka and their transfer window was supposedly inferior to ours.
Excellent post
Correct. Aimless merkato. They say italian players are overpriced. Sure as hell can’t be more overpriced than what we spent on cheek, royal etc. Simply put we don’t have a challenging team. Top 4 is overachievment with this squad and coach.
“Pavlovic: Actually managed to be the worst defender in a lineup with Thiaw, Emerson and Terracciano, that’s quite the achievement” LMAO 🤣🤣🤣🤣 funny but sad and true.
Also “don’t fool yourselves with the sequences we dominated, that’s a Conte thing.” is a smart observation. Napoli never look uncomfortable bar a vew few moments and was when Leao came on. They just kept their positions comfortably.
How is maignan the 5th best goalkeeper in the world is something that should be checked. The whole players sucks.selling simic for pav was not right.see how kalulu has improved in Juve.our problem started when we failed to sign dybala a good attacking midfielder just because his wages is high, forgetting that we were to get him for free.then we started buying mediocres,including the coach. Milan sucks right now
Mike “couldn’t do much about the first goal”????
Yes, after Napoli got the ball, he couldn’t do much. But you do realize its his terrible pass down the middle that gave Napoli the ball in the first place, right?
All in all, it’s the management that has let us down. Yes fonseca is average at best, but moncada, furlani, ibra don’t have the vision nor the experience to build a team. While redbird has spent the money, HAVE NOT BEEN CHEAP LIKE MOST OF US THOUGHT WOULD BE, our management spent that money on players that frankly didn’t bring much. Management should have a vision, not just buy players and see what sticks, like Chelsea did. When we played leverkusen, some people said their project is ahead of us. And thats not true. We had a solid squad when we won the scudetto and we should have been building on that. Precise merkato. Buy players for the area that needs reinforcements, not just buy for sheer numbers. Sell some and bring some without interrupting scuads chemistry too much, keep the identity. When we reached the semis and the scuddeto win, in half of the season (more or less) we were playing some great football. Awesome to watch, and we should have build on that not dismember it. Napoli loss, is not a suprise at this point. Some new players still adjusting and some simply not good enough. Average at best coach and with very distant menagment. Hope we make it to top 4 this year, it will be extremely hard. Redbird better bring experienced and proven menagment next year, otherwise that positive income on the books will turn red pretty quick as some of these newcomers’ price will drop quickly and no cl football.
I mostly agree but not on RedBird not being cheap. I think hiring Fonseca is being cheap, and having the unofficial (but oh so true) cap on 20 to 25M per player is being cheap. They may have used the funds unwisely because they are clueless about football but they did not show ambition with their strategy. They went for free transfers, lowballed purchases, either older or younger players not on their primes (that is, cheap). The strategy overall is not one of “let’s get the best possible coach even if he is expensive and even if he requires heavy investment in top players, and let’s get some top players even if they are expensive.” That’s being cheap. Read my post above about what I think is going on financially. I may be wrong but I have the nagging feeling that unfortunately I am right.