Player Ratings: AC Milan 0-3 Atalanta – Midfield duo suffers as no one stands out

By Ahmed Bdair -

The Rossoneri suffered a crushing 3-0 defeat at the hands of rivals Atalanta, but maintain top spot at the turn of the season calendar with Inter failing to capitalize against Udinese.

Starting XI

Donnarumma (6): Made quite a few good saves and generally commanded his area very well, could do nothing about either Atalanta goal.

Calabria (4.5): Was under a lot of pressure from the Atalanta press and their high wingback play. His passing and defending suffered badly as a result.

Kjaer (6): One of the better performances in the game but still below the high bar he’s set this season.

Kalulu (5.5): Lost his man on a setpiece for the first goal, having had a rather bright start to the game. Unfortunately, he had to be carried off the pitch after what seemed to be a hip injury in the middle of the second half.

Theo (4.5): Poor defensively as Atalanta overloaded the wings and wasn’t able to provide the spark he usually brings to the attack.

Tonali (4): Dear in headlights performance from the young Italian, understandable coming up against one of the league’s most strenuous pressing midfields. He definitely couldn’t handle the pressure on the ball while also taking up some terrible angles defensively that let to easy takeons.

Kessie (5): Was overwhelmed in midfield with Tonali and Meite going completely MIA. Also gave away an unfortunate penalty for Atalanta’s second with a sloppy elbow to Ilicic’s face.

Castillejo (5): Not much the attack could do really with very little service and no foothold in midfield.

Meite (4): A rare tactical mishap from manager Stefano Pioli who inserted the new signing for his first start both out of position and clearly unprepared for the challenge ahead, he was subsequently hooked at halftime.

Leao (5.5): Had a couple of positive flashes early on in the game but then faded as the team relinquished more and more possession.

Ibrahimovic (5): Poorly missed an excellent set-piece opportunity a mere couple yards from goal and generally dilly-dallied on the ball far too much, losing it right as Milan needed to maintain possession.

Substitutes

Brahim (6): Largely ineffective after coming on at halftime for Meite despite having a couple of nice moments with his dribbling.

Musacchio (5): Came on for the injured Kalulu and showcased exactly why he was dropped from the team almost a year ago now, with poor decision making both on and off the ball.

Mandzukic (N/A)

Rebic (N/A)

READ MORE: Massara thinks Milan’s mercato is closed as he reveals he won ‘fight’ with Chelsea over Tomori

Tags AC Milan Atalanta Serie A

11 Comments

    1. Agree. The very low ratings should be not for individual players but for the approach to the game . The match commentator called our attack ‘troppo macchinoso’ (too complicated) and “prive di idee” (without ideas).

  1. Kajer and this stupid Spanish were motm for milan? Sempermilan you ratings are funny. He played for a half time and didnt see anything any impact on Milan’s play. I start to believe you protect him so much but I dont know the reason. No more than 5 for diaz

    1. And 3 for pioli. I really like him but today he was sleeping on the bench. Use mandzukic and rebic earlier not only for 15 minutes. Maybe nothing would change but when you see something is wrong you immediately try to fix it

  2. We were terrible today but I blame Pioli above all. Reminds me of the old Pioli, not the one who has guided us for the past 10 months to one of the best records in Europe. First starting a defensive mid in Miete who had only played 10min with us out of position at ACM instead of Diaz was a disaster. What was he thinking? He was rightly substituted at half but the damage was already done. Then he puts in Mussachio? Why? He’s gone in June. Play Timori. I know he just arrived (so did Mandzukic but he played) but we had nothing go to lose IMO and he certainly would not have done any worse than Mussachio and his speed could have helped Kajer deal with Zapata who bullied Kajer all over the pitch. I Don’t understand Pioli today. Second, the Game was lost on the mid – we were completely overrun. Poor Kessie he was all by himself. Tonali will be great in time, but we really miss Benacer and the way he dictates the game and spreads the ball around – especially to the forwards. Tonali did nothing of that. He’s not ready yet and today it was obvious he couldn’t handle Atalanta’s press. Third, Maldini needs to teach Theo how to defend. His runs are fantastic but he clearly needs to work on defending. It’s one game I know but It’s the way we lost and played that is concerning. While there is no need to panic just yet – we do def need a good showing next game.

    1. I concur with @Juro on Thor’s defending calling for a lesson from Maldini.

      Milan misses Bennacer.. We need to buy a good alternative to Hakan.
      Silver lining is that we now have a formidable alternative to Zlatan.

  3. And did Pioli really need to leave Ibra in for a full 96min when we were down 3-0 and have to play Inter in a few days?? Again Pioli was a disaster today

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