AC Milan clinched a massive win against Napoli thanks to fighting spirit and individual brilliance. Some players did really well and below are the ratings for the Rossoneri.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out how we decide the player ratings. From the scale to what affects the rating, we have compiled everything there.
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Starting XI
Maignan (7): The goalkeeper made two good saves in the first half, and he managed to build on that in the second half with a few more. One shaky moment with his feet but other than that, a very good display with some good saves as the icing on the cake.
Tomori (6.5): He nearly caused a penalty with a slightly late challenge on McTominay, which showcased one of his main weaknesses, but the defending was good aside from that. He had to come off with an injury, but hopefully it’s nothing serious.
Gabbia (7): Good positioning was the key for him tonight as he was constantly close to whoever was in the No.9 role for Napoli. First Hojlund and then Lucca, which was nice to see, and he interchanged well with Pavlovic in the box when needed.
Pavlovic (7.5): Fighting spirit and grit from him tonight, along with some quality sequences. The run that set up the second goal is an example of that, while he also won many duels against the Napoli players towards the end. Allegri’s system suits him really well.
Saelemaekers (6.5): He started the game really well with the goal, making his way into the box with the right timing, but sadly he failed to build on that positive. He struggled in defence, leaving his man unmarked several times in the box, and he was also very sloppy in the build-up which could’ve been very costly for Milan. It was right to take him off.
Fofana (7): One can definitely see why Allegri insists on starting him, as the movement is world-class at times. Whether it’s the defensive or attacking phase, he consistently picks up good spaces and the assist for Pulisic showed that. If it hadn’t been for the miss, which I believe was big, then the rating would have been higher.
Modric (8): Good passing, work-rate, movement and so on. All the things we have become used to seeing from the Croatian at the start of this season. He also got a slight deflection on Neres’ shot at the end, which kept it from hitting the back of the net. I’m still so impressed by his work-rate, even late in the games.
Rabiot (7.5): We saw good things from him in possession, but it was mainly the work-rate and defensive efforts (particularly in the pressing) that made him stand out today. The blocked shot at the end was a great example of just how hard he works from start to finish.
Estupinan (4): He was decent before the red card, but it goes without saying I cannot give a good rating here. Everything happened very fast but the hard truth is that he lost his man at the back post and tried to take a shortcut. It proved to be very costly and put his teammates in a very difficult situation.
Pulisic (9 – MOTM): He continues to amaze us with his quality and determination. The run before the first goal was absolutely stunning, in every sense of the word, and the fact that he bagged a goal himself too shows just how good his form is right now. He can’t seem to do anything wrong. Pivotal for Milan.
Gimenez (6): The striker didn’t get any chances to score, basically, but he worked incredibly hard in the pressing phase. I would even go as far as to say that he was crucial for Milan in the period when they really put Napoli in difficulty. Still, we need to see more from him in possession.
Substitutes
Bartesaghi (6.5): It wasn’t an easy situation, given that Napoli pushed on immediately, but he did well and remained composed in the 1v1s.
Leao (6): He sort of did what he was brought on to do, i.e. keeping Milan from getting too low and forcing Napoli to preserve some defensive strength. However, he could’ve been better in possession and also in the defending at times.
Athekame (6): Not always brilliant on the ball, but he showed commitment and hard work by running up and down the flank.
De Winter (6.5): The Belgian got to make a couple of crucial clearances, including on one pretty dangerous cross, so it was a good performance off the bench.
Loftus-Cheek (6): He did what was required and almost a little more, but it’s hard to give higher than a 6 here.
Ultras (7), deafening
Its a bit harsh rating for Saelemakers for Saelemakers, I beg to disagree. The boy deserved a 7. Pulisic was certainly MotM, he’s amazing, a player with plenty of intelligence on the football pitch, which is so rare and important. Pavlovic and Modric also outstanding.
Nah even the commentator agreed Saele should do more everytime Politano do crossing because he is lost the players he is supposed to mark several times
You’re right.
Saelemaekers was rated 8 by flashscore.com easy..
Always a terrible rating here.
I’m confused on if ur defending the 6.5 or 8 rating but I think 6.5 is spot on. The first 20mins he was incredible I couldn’t believe what I was watching then he started struggling a bit after making that first defensive mistake – can’t say nothing bad about the man even if there where some silly mistakes today he leaves it all on the field & represents this club how every player should
His defensive display is not good enough. Lost Anguissa in the first half, and McTominay in the second when they got their penalty. 6 or 6,5 is where it should be.
With this display I think we are title contenders
Super víťazstvo konečne aj curva súd toto hráči potrebujú potom budú jazdiť a budú aj výsledky len musia mať aj atmosféru Modrič a Rabiot to je sila v zálohe a motivácia pre ostatných nech sa darí My sme Rosso Neri FORZA MILAN
I have high hopes. We will see in the next 5-6 games. The start of this campaign is so positive.
Athekame was horrible!
I think the that entire team deserves 7.5 and above, please review your rating. 10 men! Athekame helped also. The game was tensed
You need to take things into context. Athekame was tasked with facing Napoli’s best player, Anguissa.
He is still learning the league. Cut him some slack.
It seems that Tare got you the 2nd star in his first season.
I remember so many people here a few months ago laughing at Allegri.
Yep. The usual imbeciles complained about a supposedly terrible Mercato, the owners and the lack of a centre back.
Agree in spirit but the potential loss of Tomorri does show we are thin at CB.
That said Bartesaghi looked better that Estupinan by a margin and I believe him to be more suited to a LCB role.
We will learn more these next two weeks
Agreed on bartesaghi as a LCB! He had his first big game there (against Madrid in a friendly from memory?) and is good defensively but doesn’t offer a lot in attack. At the same time who else would you put there? Salaemakers would be okay but athekame looked average tbh.. hope it was just nerves but that opportunity to run at the defenders where he just got it all wrong and lost possession did not look good
2nd star after matchday 5? C’mon, you were smart.
Well, the title is now Milan’s to lose. 1st on the table and winning the rest of the matches means scudetto. 🙂
👍🏼
If you need something to complain about, it’s that we didn’t keep a clean sheet. Anyway, Pavlovic makes some really underrated runs into the opponent’s box. And I’m surprised Fofana made that little pass for Pulisic. Usually he’d send the ball to the stands but somehow he made a great assist. As for the red card, I know it’s the rules but what is Pervis supposed to do in that situation? Just watch the man shoot? In a contact sports? Penalty and a red card just seems like double jeopardy to me but a great win anyway. We probably would’ve caved in in the past but these guys seem willing to suffer to grind out a win. As for Leao, I didn’t think he was a necessity in this match knowing that he doesn’t like to track back and if we were going to be defending for the most part then Pulisic who likes to suffer for the team should have stayed on. Good win anyway. I’ve always known we have a great group but not a great coach. Things seem to be changing with Allegri.
You’re posting comments too quickly…. Will this ever be fixed?
He should not have fallen asleep. He was burned all match and if it comes down to it yes let the guy try his luck on Mike. He put himself in that situation and change the rest of the match and the one against Juve.
pavlovic a defensive liability
estupinan only hope for no red was if mctomnay was offside
pulisic was not well
leao right choice as his pace scares opposition
I dont think pavlovic is a defensive liability, allegri has helped him grow. He’s great in the air, 1v1’s, bullying players off the ball, and comunication with his defensive partners. Estupinian’s perfomabce was putting a lot of pressure on his side though which doesn’t help. Pulisic was playing very well goal and assist, relieving some pressure with his on the ball runs, and dropping back to help with the defense. Not really sure if you saw the game.
“Pulisic was not well?”
A goal, an assist and he put Fofana thru 1v1 to the goal keeper. What is “well” then?
Completely agree about Leao. He kept the pressure off just a bit because of his threat.
I think this may be a language issue. Not well means ill, which was known before the match.
Not a language issue. Not well actually means ill in English. Americans are just not good at speaking it.
yup, Allegri said that Pulisic was not feeling well before the match.
Pavlovic was the strongest defensive player in this entire team and has been since the start of the season. What are you even talking about?
Estupinian was always a step behind politano on the wing, and maybe should have pulled then pushed di lorenzo instead of just pulling to offbalance him. I really hope bart gets more starts after this match he was good on the 1v1. Putting leao on was good tactically as well, napoli had to put multiple players on him when he was on the ball and be conscious of the counter. Not to mention when leao went on a run 7 napoli players ran to close him down. After that they were a bit timid to completely comit the attack.
I have to believe this was just a single bad game from Estupinan. Politano should never beat him for pace.
If you think about how Emerson-like he was in the first game with all the pressure of a debut. I think the pressure got to him here.
Too bad we won’t be able to see if this is the case next week at Old Lady.
I think you are right that the pressure just got to him. I personally haven’t seen him play at Brighton so cant really say if he’s prone to it or just a one off. But maybe he’s one of those players that’s well against Mid table or lower teams then top table teams, and used better as a rotation option. I would really hope he isn’t but maybe it’s the chance for bartesaghi to get more minutes and maybe more permanent in the first team.
Normally I would agree that CP11 shouldn’t have been the sacrifice to the red card Gods, but he was apparently sick, yesterday, so pulling him at 60 minutes knowing that it was time to suffer defensively was probably the correct decision.
Best regards
I never caught on to the sickness.
Even so it made sense. Santi work rate and size was better suited for a bus parking.
Damn.. he should be sick more often if he gives us a goal and assist everytime haha 😅
All jokes aside, speedy recovery
Politano owned Estupinan the whole night. Nearly every danger came from there in the first half. Not sure what Isak saw when he says “He was decent before the red card, but …”?
Replay shows Estupinan dragged home down by the shirt. That is not “just a contact sport”.
I’ve been excited about Estupinan progress the last few games but today was a big set back.
The bright spot was Bartesaghi coming in and calming things down quite a bit on the left.
Who’s still doubting Allegri and our boys? The progress is clear for everyone to see. Proudly Milan. One super team down. Good job
Don’t get hyped too much. So far Modric is still fairly fresh in the season and there is a strange lack of Ricci getting a chance to settle. Remember that this is a coach that would play only on his own half with 10 defensive players if that created goals. So far for me the un-sung hero is actually Tare who managed to replace 80% of the team. If we had No 9 and not a random guy in Milan cosplay I would be more excited.
Bartesaghi needs to start moving forward. Pervis just doesn’t have the defensive chops for this role. He looks good going forward, that Modric to him over the top thing works a lot but against top attackers, he is helpless. I understand they paid money for Estupinan and Bartesaghi is homegrown so that’d hurt the accountants but my goodness. The rest of the team looks like they’re ready to make a serious run at the Scudetto, very exciting. Allegri looks like he’s ready to jump back on the pitch too, judging by that kick lol.
The few times bartesaghi played in the first team he played well at wing back, but he isn’t one of those players that will dribble his defender and cross, he’s more of a 1-2 pass to cross kind of player with is very different then we are used to. But he’s been very good at crossing, has some pace, good at 1v1, and fairly good desicion making. He will need to world on his heading or gain confidence to do it he always seems a little reluctant to do it.
I agree, he gives me panic attacks when he’s on the ball. Lets hope he can grow from this point on though
Milan defended the left wing with 10 men and Bartesaghi than with Estupido and 9 men. (Harsh, yes). I also thought Estupian could have benefitted by some coaching by Allegri to play wider and more man to man. Bartesaghi came in and immediately shut down Napoli’s wide attack on the right.
Sorry – Milan defended better with Bartesaghi and 10 men than with Estupido and 11 men.
the only one who is Estupido is you.
Bro, Pervis is buns and it showed tonight. He was burned all night, gave away a penalty and is now leaving us short handed against Juve. He had a terrible match even offensively he is caught offside almost as much as Santi. He is lucky Rabiot plays next to him otherwise he’d look more like he did tonight and against Cremonese.
Krunic, Milan has played six games…six…not one. And Pervis has been solid in all of them…Clearly you do not watch the games or you would reach the same conclusion as Allegri…that Pervis is THE player for the left side. You may think he’s buns, but Allegri does not. I’m with Allegri bro. He knows!
Savio, Pervis was on par with Emerson against Cremonese. He was the same tonight.
He did progress after Cremonese and we can hope tonight was just an one-off bad day at the office.
Why do you keep telling people they didn’t watch the match? Clearly you think you are the only one who watches but perhaps you missed the Cremonese match where your lover was pulled at half. What happened after that loss? we signed Rabiot who has made all the difference in covering the LW. Pervis plays because we are thin in the position and even a 19 yr old looked better. Who in the squad makes everyone uncomfortable when they are on the ball? It’s Pervis. Like you said it’s been six matches so you gassing him up is ridiculous. Call a player out when he doesn’t performance and hurts the team. Last season when Theo played poorly I call that out too. Admit it he got out played by a 32 year old that has no business beating him for pace. He’s actually lucky he’s suspended because Juve would expose him too.
“Immediately shut down Napoli’s wide attack on the right.” I saw Neres hit the post off of a Modric deflection and almost scoring another, and he is a right winger and the attacks came from the right wing.
Those posters did not watch the game…clearly.
Spot on. Bertesaghi looked good when he came on, but Neres made him look like the third string at the Milanelo. I think it was more about how good Neres was than anything Bartesaghi did wrong, but it was there on the screen for everyone to see.
Mike and Gabia deserve an 8. They did everything right and stopped some very hard shots and thru passes against a strong team. Also Sale 7, he scored and also almost scored once more after a good dribble. He came of cause of injury.
On the left i belive we miss Theo. In this setup he would do great as the old Theo and take us on another level.
In general everyone was good except maybe Leao who came from an injury and it seems wasn’t able to sprint.
Mike and Gabbi were great tonight for sure.
But Saelemakers (I’m a huge fan) looked like he took too much confidence from scoring. He was sloppy and even a bit lazy after the goal. It was strange to see.
A very well deserved win. Like I pointed out after the previous game, Rabiot is the difference in this team been fluid, I hope Alegri can manage his minutes cus he is ranking up serious milage and we need him for stability.
RCL isn’t doing it for me especially in the defending phase of our game, if Ricci wasn’t a DM I’d preferred him to RCL any day, he is just too shy defending for a big-bodied man.
Signing 2 right back could prove a genius move in the end.
Forza Milan
You’re right.
RLC is TERRIBLE at defense and only above average on offense
Well that was more stressful than I anticipated… I predicted 3-1 and a much easier win but the red card changed everything – although to be fair Allegri was happy to have us sit back and get them on the break anyway… he’s drilled this team within an inch of their lives – what a pitch perfect display of Allegri Ball 😅
Strange subs by Conte – apart from Hojlund who I forgot was on the pitch… never mind a bullet we dodged 10 min of sustained gunfire there.. Top of the league boys 🙌
I loved watching KDB rage at Conte. I remember him doing that Pep.
Hojlund is gonna be useless.
Good thing Lukaku is out until December.
And he might not be any good for a while coming back from a quadriceps tear
That Puli’s run was golden! Notice how Luka and Pavlo play close to each other and how Pavlo improved. It seems like cogs are clicking properly.
Ratings are probably fair. The Red card was harsh imo, but the team did well to manage the game with 10 on the pitch. Excellent game management by Allegri. Right subs at the right time.
Agree that Maignan and Gabbia were worthy of 8’s. Salemaekers should have gotten a 7 or 7.5. He was all over the pitch.
Frankly, Milan doesn’t miss Theo, although he would play better in a 3-5-2 than a 4-4-2 as he plays indifferent defense. He would haven’t done any better than Estupian. I think you’ll see more of Bartesaghi going forward.
Beautiful win.
Great performance by Milan 11v11 and great defensive performance 10v11.
If it wasn’t for the red card and the penalty Napoli wasn’t going to score a goal even if they played another 90 minutes.
Pulisic had the best 55 minutes as a Milan player. He did whatever he wanted to Napoli defense. A goal, an assist and should have had another assist (Fofana) and yet in the 1st half He led all players in distance covered.
Rabiot and Modric, amazing. What Luka does at 40 is unreal. Rabiot doesn’t stop running.
Bartesaghi was very good when he cane on.
Estupiñán was the only negative.
Hopefully Saelemaekers and Tomori weren’t injured too bad.
1st on the table. Bring on Juventus.
“If it wasn’t for the red card and the penalty Napoli wasn’t going to score a goal even if they played another 90 minutes.”
Napoli’s player was going to easily score with an open net if Estupinian did not bring him down.
He didn’t score and Napoli didn’t score after.
Di Lorenzo was looking to flop the entire time. He wasn’t thinking about scoring.
Mike was right there recovering, I’ve seen easier misses like Fofana’s 1v1.
Mike could do nothing. I saw and replayed it on streamin.me just now, it would have been a easy goal without Estupinian’s foul. That being said, he should have chosen allowing the goal over leaving his team with a player less.
So you make ridiculous comments and then block replys??? Thats kinda cowardly don’t you think? Any way, Allegri knows very well who belongs in the team. I’m in agreement with him! You clearly disagree with Allegri’s choice. But Milan are winning and despite Cremonese Pervis has been strong so far. And he continues to be Allegri’s choice on the left. Seems your views on Pervis are contrary to his!? Where’s your namesake btw?
There was a similar foul in the Utd v Brentford game. Player got a yellow though. Although the post-game discussion was that it should also have been a red. You would expect most defenders would not allow a free run at goal. Pervis paid the price for it though.
This site is a joke . Get it together. Slow down posting too quickly…
Great win. Pulisic for ballon d’or.
Leao cam in late and gave less of an effort than Modric and Rabiot who are older and played the full 90. Not good enough.
“Leao cam in late and gave less of an effort than Modric and Rabiot who are older and played the full 90. Not good enough.”
This.
Milan played down 2 men when Leao came on. Grandpa Modric was running past Leao.
Allegri made a mistake taking out Pulisic and then another mistake putting Leao in. He should have put in Ricci.
Leao role was to stand at the center line and make two or three cover him.
He did this well.
He made a couple of runa to further keep them honest. This means less pressure on our defense.
As much as I favor a high work rate Leao executed is role very well.
Milan was pinned back, Rabiot and Modric were running for not 1 but 2 players, while Leao just walked around the pitch, pressing nobody. As I said, Modric was running past him. The one time Leao did press, he made a dumb ass foul that almost cost Milan.
He was keeping no one honest. Outside of that 1 run, he did nothing but walk around tye pitch while his teammates were throwing themselves on the ground.
Modric and Rabiot were doing that all game. It’s a pretty typical half press when down a man. Forces the opposition to play through the midfield and burns time
Pulisic is feeling it right now, pity he was withdrawn due to Pervis’s mistake. The subs came in and held it together. Modrić again is the masterclass behind this squad and we should all be lucky to remember these performances he gives us.
Ratings are spot on.
After the goal from Saelemaekers, this was definitely the worst games from our wingbacks. Saelemaekers was beaten at the back post and had lots of bad giveaways. Estupinan struggled all game.
Outside of the wingbacks, overall the rest of the starters were fantastic. 40 year old Modric sprinting in front of Leao and then sprinting back to defend was outstanding. I hope Leao learns to work off the ball as well as Gimenez.
I feel like I’ll never enjoy the feeling of watching a second half against a tough opponent while being relaxed.
Nevertheless, I don’t care about Napoli missing key players, defensive slopiness, so on and so forth, a win is a win. We’re at 4 in a row in serie A and 5 in a row overall (something neither coach during last season managed to achieve).
Maignan: For the first game where he was actually tested, he managed to be decisive. You can’t blame him for not stopping a penalty.
The defense was overall good, but sloppy at times and allowed way to many headers unmarked. I feel like it took the red card for the focus to come back. Now Pavlović has to get the highest ranking here, his offensive contribution was IMMENSE to say the least.
The 3 men system suits him well, because he can push forward without fear of leaving acres behind him.
Saelemakers did well overall with the goal, but defensively he was often times caught sleeping.
Estupiñán was bad. Not just because of the red card, but he overall allowed Politano way too much confort to cross.
Modrić is again the midfield MVP. High workrate and saved the win by progressing the ball forward then picking the best passes to retain possession.
Rabiot was also huge, he really felt like the missing piece in our puzzle.
Fofana got better since Rabiot came in and today is another confirmation with the assist as a cherry on top.
Pulišić might be one of the best second strikers in the world right now.
Giménez again with a dissapointing performance. No good chances, buildup, passing,…
Bartesaghi, Athekame soldier did well defensively IMO, considering we were a man down. Not so much defensively, but they were here to preserve the score.
Same with the winter soldier.
Leão didn’t create dangerous occasions, but again he was brought as the sole forward in a 10 men team, so we can’t judge him properly here.
We looked great in the first half and, for those who mocked our win against a 10 men Lecce, we managed to secure ours against the defending champions while being a man down.
So overall, good job everyone.
Another really solid team performance and Pulisic takes everyone’s efforts to the next level.
His play in that first goal was really impressive.
It was great to see Rafa come back but I actually think Nkunku could have played the long striker better when Gimenez came off.
It was a shame about the red card. One of those annoying rules. Surely a penatly & yellow card was punishment enough for loosing a 50:50 challenge in the box.
Understand the need for the rules to be like that but the punishment seems excessive.
Change the red card rule. If penalty is scored, yellow. If penalty stopped red.
Amazing result!
Outstanding assists by Pulisic and Fofana!
Thank u Tare and Allegri… I’m happy several weekends in a row because of them compared to the last few years. As always….
Forza Milan and FU Gerry!
Complaining about the owner whose strategy has us top, you’re special, Ted.
You are not a season ticket holder and traveling fan who spends money on tickets and shirts and Curva inflated drinks.
Your opinion doesn’t count Unerhulk. C’mon man … Read the room!
(Might be some sarcasm )
The owner has us at the top of the league?? What drugs are u taking? I wanna try that please.
As always Forza MIlan and FU Gerry and your fanboys!
You clearly do only have one brain cell. Who do you think hired Tare and Allegri? So when the team does poorly it’s all on the owner, not on the coach or the players . When the team is doing well , the owner gets no credit. Not how it works fool. If you get the blame when things are bad then you also get the credit when things are good.
And where are the guys claiming the Mercado was a nightmare and catastrophe now?
I will give credit to Allegri and admit I was wrong about him. He has done a great job so far. See, it’s not that hard to admit you were wrong about something. Unless you are just a stubborn fool.
The live blog and commentary is too Milan-centric. Anything happening on the other team is completely omitted, even subs. We need the full picture please.
Pavlovic deserves a 9 too. What a pillar.
Also if De Winter will fill in for Tomori, I think we are in good hands. He did look really good too.
Allegri need to substitute Estupinian after first half, because in the first half Politano’s each attempt end with good cross. Estu could not anything against Politano
Estupinan and Athekame are not quality players and not good enough for Milan. In January Milan need to sign 2 wingbacks and a center back.
I think the that entire team deserves 7.5 and above, please review your rating. 10 men!
Leao shouldn’t have been brought on for this match, not with a man down. Better to have either Pulisic or Gimenez on and then bring in Nkunku later on. That was 9 1/2 Vs 11
Can’t see Leao fitting into this new unit
Nonsense. He fits in just fine, upfront with Pulisic, instead of Gimenez. He is a far superior player to Gimenez. Today he was out of shape, after 42 days dealing with a muscle injury.
By the way, Allegri has said that Leão is central to his plans for Milan. Do you know better than Allegri???
Leao was excellent in pre season at centre forward. He is proven and, despite what people claim, consistent match winner. We’re top of Serie A without the most gifted player in the league contributing because of injury and Jashiri is yet to come. Hopefully the boys can deal with Juve next week.
“most gifted player in the league”
What does is this even mean??
He’s gifted because of pace??
Bringing Leao in was a masterpiece of Alegri. Conte had to send two man back to cover Leao all the time so the number of players on the pitch leveled. The fear of Leao was shown when 7 Napoli players was chasing sole Leao all the way down – a postcard image btw.
100% agree. Leao absorbs a lot of pressure immediately.
Yup, Leao wasnt fit enough to sprint but the fear of leaving him in 1vs1 situations was huge and made Napoli more reserved.
You don’t bring in somebody who is not fit to run when you’re 10 v 11. (If thats what you want to blame his poor effort on) He was a liability.
Yep totally agree. It forced them to keep an extra defender back. That 1v7 was hilarious. Wished he would have ran to the corner flag though to preserve the possession but was just a sight to see 😁
This game shows how much we’ve actually became a team. The sacrificing to get the win was incredible. The defence is so well organized and pavlovic is looking really really good now. Midfield is definitely the best in Italy right now, 11 v 11 they were out playing napolis.
Pulisic should be a guaranteed starter. What a player! He constantly performs and he works hard. Even gimenez today worked really hard.
Allegri showed he still means business. A team competent to play his game and hr can entertain too! This game shows we can definitely be in the challenge for the scudetto come end of season! FORZA MILAN!! Been too long since I’ve felt this comfortable with this team
A couple of thoughts
1. Maignon started shaky…not really controlling the box but my God when Milan needed him did he ever deliver
2. I absolutely love how Fofana, Rabiot, Modric, and Pavlovic make hard runs, and I love even more how the defensive shape behind them stays structured
3. So many warriors on this team. This is grinta, this is class, this is a team!
4. Morris is the difference. He is exactly what this team needed. Calm, gifted with both feet, a leader and so effing smart. I was amazed today when he chose to press how often it rattled Napoli
5. Estupian had a bad game not only because he didn’t defend well but because he offered nothing on offense which allowed politano and Di Lorenzo to attack without much worry
6. There is just something about the way Rafa jogs that touches a nerve with everyone. I really believed he was not that out of position but his stance and his movement looked so out of place with the intensity everyone else was bringing.
7. Pulisic is currently the best player in Serie A. The end. No one shows up for big games like he does. I am so glad he plays for my team. FYI his pass to Fofana to day was so insane. How many guys can make that pass?
8. I thought Santi did a lot of dirty work today.
9. Salaelemaekers needs to stop being thought of as a great hustle guy. He is so good!
10. Allegri!!! So good. He has created a team. Remember the water break incident? That was one year ago. This team is so far from that team.
Sorry my dumb English spell corrector corrected Modric to Morris
Ha. Morris did have me puzzled.
Your #6 point: Come on! Rafa was out for 42 days! Of course he was only jogging. You didn’t see him in pre-season and against Bari before the injury? He was all but jogging. Give the man a discount. What player comes back from a muscle injury after 42 days out, and then hits the ground running and runs like crazy? Rafa is not Superman! It is absolutely normal for a player coming back from a month and a half of forced absence, to be still out of physical shape and out of game fitness.
Just watch him; he’ll improve more and more, and will resume scoring goals, making assists, and terrifying the opponents so that the opponents can’t pin us down as low as Napoli did tonight.
Why is Rafa always judged with the harshest standards??? He is a very good player, and is, with Pulisic, the guy who scored and assisted the most over the last several years. People who call him lazy just don’t understand what he does and what’s his style.
Otherwise, I agree with your other points.
Actually 45 days
“Come on! Rafa was out for 42 days! Of course he was only jogging.”
If he’s not ready he should stay on the bench. Playing with 10 men means EVERYBODY needs to run. Leao didn’t. Nkunku would have.
Leão was probably brought as some sort of a decoy.
With 10 men and Napoli pressing, we needed some players who can retain possession for as long as possible.
Pulišić was already out and Giménez is sh!t when it come to holding the ball, defenders,…
The sequence with Leão running and 7 Napoli players behind him summarize this plan pretty well.
Gimenez should have come off instead of Puli but I guess the “Pulisic not 100%” was the deciding factor. And like I said, Nkunku would have done what Leao did with more running. But it worked well as we didn’t concede so no need to beat a dead horse here. 3p is all that matters.
“7. Pulisic is currently the best player in Serie A. The end. No one shows up for big games like he does. I am so glad he plays for my team. FYI his pass to Fofana to day was so insane. How many guys can make that pass?”
Morris can also make that pass 😉
Morris is insane!!! Such a joy watching his (almost) every pass. Imagine him joining us a few years ago. Inter would still be at 1 star and we’d have two.
This win wasn’t pretty. But good teams that have team spirit and grinta find ways to win even when it isn’t pretty. Today we were devastating in offense in the first half, and heroic in defense in the second half, a man down. Some of our players in my opinion performed less well than usual but as a team, we did very well.
Maignan – across the rating sites, his score was too modest in my opinion. He did great. This was his best game in… forever. The only thing he couldn’t do, was save the PK which has never been a specialty of his. Still, one can hardly blame a goalkeeper for being scored on from the PK mark. I will grant to Mike a score of 8 today; we wouldn’t have won without him. Second best player tonight, in my opinion, only behind Pulisic.
Tomori – he did commit a harsh foul and he was lucky to avoid a card there, and later he almost committed a PK. I’ve seen refs who hate Milan calling that a PK. So, it was risky. Otherwise he did well but for these two blunders, I do think I can’t give him a pass. 5.5
Gabbia – Good positioning. Completely cancelled that guy who didn’t want Milan, Hojlund. For that alone, Gabbia deserves a 7.
Pavlovic – One of the best tonight, not only defending well but being very instrumental for the offense, including participating in the winning goal. 7.5
Saelemaekers – Not one of his best games. Yes, he scored, and that increases his rating, but he also had moments of dangerously losing the ball or losing his man, and was less effective in offense than his usual, other than in his goal score. 6.5
Estupinan – He seems to be irregular. He has had superb games, but today he almost cancelled all the good work done by his companions. In the foul that was a clear Denial of Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity which by rule was correctly punished with a PK and a red card, the smart thing to do actually was to concede the goal which was inevitable. At least we’d have conceded a goal – which we ended up conceding anyway through the PK – but would have kept 11 men on the field. He also made other mistakes. He deserves to be failed in his rating for this subpar game. We almost lost because of him. 4
Fofana – He was actually very helpful, pressed and recovered several balls, and generally was positive but he should have passed to a wide-open Gimenez instead of trying to score; ultimately his shot was decent, only missing by a little, therefore one can say it was a valid attempt, but we really would have had another score and another boost of confidence for Gimenez, had he passed. Still, right after, he did participate in a goal which kind of cancels that. Overall I’ll give him a 6.5.
Rabiot – for the blocked shot alone towards game end, he deserves a high score because he preserved the win. He was also heroic in second half defense although his first half was a bit below his standard. 7
Modric – Actually this was one of his least good games, which most people won’t want to acknowledge given the enormous respect we all deservedly have for him. Modric was a bit sloppy in first half, a bit impulsive, and actually missed several passes which is atypical of him. He did improve in the heroic second half effort which saves his rating. Still, I won’t give him a rating as high as he has been deservedly getting in other games. 6.5
Gimenez – He was poorly served today. He should have had a score if only Fofana had served him. He worked hard as usual. He gets a pass. 6
Pulisic – MOTM without a doubt; only Maignan was just as instrumental for the win. Great assist, great goal, great work rate as usual, smart as usual. Even with sacred monsters like Modric and Rabiot in the squad, Pulisic is currently Milan’s best player. 8.5
Subs
Bartesaghi – The kid again did well, while being given the enormous responsibility of holding the torch in a unfavorable situation of the LB starter having been expelled. Struggled a bit which is understandable, against arguably the best offense of the league, but overall gets more than a pass. 6.5
Akhetame – This very young player also had a difficult task tonight but did well. 6.5 too.
De Winter – I will say the same. All three young defensive subs did what was needed. 6.5
RLC – Added a bit of muscle to the midfield when we had to disrupt Napoli’s desperate pressure. Nothing special, though, so only gets a pass. 6
Leão – obviously not game-fit yet after 42 days out injured. Did help with Napoli being less comfortable with pinning us down low and pressing us high, which was visible when he carried the ball forward and had more than half of Napoli’s squad surrounding him. Still, he couldn’t complete his runs due to being out of shape. I’m certain that as he recovers game fitness, our offense will improve because he is a superior player to Gimenez and he will help with keeping defenses honest. Today, just a pass. Objectively speaking he should have had a bit less of a pass but due to 42 days out, I give him a discount. 6
Mister Allegri – by now it is clear that his Milan is WAY better than the previous versions in the last couple of years. This Milan not only plays as a team, and not only displays union, admiration and respect for the head coach, but can also be devastating in offense, and heroic in defense. We just beat the best team in the league; we are sitting pretty in first place which hasn’t happened in… feels like forever… and that’s in great part thanks to Allegri. He also gets subs well and reads the game well, just like, when we were too bold, too over-enthusiastic, resulting in being a bit impulsive and sloppy, the camera showed Allegri yelling to the players “Calma! Calma!” This man knows what he is doing. His Milan is the opposite of boring. It is creative and compact. Previous versions of Milan would have lost 5-2 tonight. Allegri’s, though, won 2-1. Bravo, Mister Allegri!!! 8.5
I rate your ratings a 9 for this turn of phrase alone, “Today we were devastating in offense in the first half, and heroic in defense in the second half, a man down. ”
We said. Feels good to expect this again.
Forza Milan!
I am very pleasantly surprised with what I’m seeing. This was a big win. I wasn’t happy with transfer market chaos but signing Rabiot at the end made a huge difference. Modric is world class and Pulisic has been superb so far but Rabiot seems to be the key to Allegri’s style of play. It’s good to see Leao back. Now the competition gets fierce upfront.
Yep! Rabiot really is critical to the way we function
Is rabiot similar to kessie, tiji, tonali, or mix of gattuso/seedorf back then?
He’s a bit of everyone tbh but I do see him in the mould of a combo of Pirlo, Modric and Ambro… Can tackle but is also agile, has great passing and knows how to position himself on the field / drop into pockets. I think he can carve out his own path 😁
Brilliant win!
Can’t complain at all about the effort. The boys really put in a shift, especially so after the red. Salad should be rated higher though, plus he got the assist.
The only complaint is probably the ref who I think got it won’t again. I don’t think that’s dogso if Gabia can effectively clear the ball. He was in front of the line of the other defenders. Also, isn’t this double jeopardy as well or that doesn’t apply in Serie A? (Red plus pen). But anyways, I’m just glad for the win. Would have hated if that was the game decider.
In many ways I actually was not as worried as I would have been in the past because of the way the team is playing.
It feels like February of the season when we last won the Scudetto. Where you start to wonder “if it’s possible”. And I think it might be 😁
The way we’re defending I must say has been a breath of fresh air. I don’t have that constant worrying feeling the entire game about the other teams scoring
I would like to see a regular rotation up front giving players 60-70 mins. Fresh players of high caliber are always more dangerous against tired legs.
You will, especially against lesser teams. Ricci will play, Jashiri will play and the new defenders will get time. This and the Juve game are crucial. After that, we’ll see rotation.
Gave Saelemaekers 6.5 while flashscore.com gave him 8…
Always a crazy rating here.
Saelemakers, besides the goal, was abysmal. He deserved a 6 honestly only for the goal. He gave away the ball at least three times in dangerous positions and he was beaten a lot in his flank
Yes, give him credit for the goal, even tho it was 90 % Pulisic on that goal but Saleamakers was in the right place and finished it.
Aside from that he was pretty brutal. Gave the ball away deep in his own end multiple times. Maignan bailed him out a couple times. Flubbed a clearance for a Napoli corner and failed to mark his man on multiple crosses. Saleamakers is the darling of so many here but if that were anyone else they would be getting killed on here.
Anyone doubting Pavlovic needs to go an eye doctor. A liability? Dude was huge throughout.
They judged him by seeing national team performance against England weeks ago
Love what I am seeing so far this season but Serie A is such a weird league I’ll make a judgement in a few months – still too early to say anything besides the fact that Allegri has the players working for the shirt, loved the enthusiasm we saw from the team & stadium felt like that proper milan energy has returned after being gone since the Scudetto year
The red card, while unfortunate but deserved, was actually a great indicator of this team’s discipline and ability to stay together and suffer under the circumstances.
I was very impressed at how mentally calm and organized the players remained after the red. Allegri has worked defensive miracles into this team… Pick any year outside of the Scudetto season and 11v11 we would have melted like a snowflake in the sun. Nevermind 10V11. Remember how we crashed out of CL when Theo was sent off, against a weaker opposition.
I am not worried about this team offensively as even without Leao, these guys are playing as a team and staying solid. But I am amazed at how far they have come along defensively. Impressive.
Nerd Alert …
Assume there are 5 “big teams”: Milan, Inter, Juve, Napoli and Roma (generous yeah but you’ll see)
That leaves 15 teams we should beat and a total of 90 points on offer. 90 points or more is a Scudetto 5 of the last 7 years. Point is that if we just won the games we were supposed to we’d have a strong shot.
Let’s assume a more realistic 80% win rate against the small teams (roughly what we have now). That is 72 points. Of the remaining 6 games we draw 3.
75 points we _should_ earn.
For the other 8 games if we get 15 points it is a likely a championship.
We just got three of the 15 we need.
If you are wondering if we are in a Scudetto race; we are in a Scudetto race.
Every year, from the moment we started thinking about Scudetto, we lost the tempo, rhythm, concentration and everything, we pretty much lost the control and sinked to the middle of the table.
Let’s kill this type of parasitic thinking of Scudetto from fooking matchday 5 and think about only one game at a time.
It’s just beginning of the season, no need for such stupid analysis and hypothesis. We are again getting ahead of ourselves. Usually, our ‘problems’ start from November.
We are not in any kind of ‘Scudetto race’ now.
Next game is against Juve, let’s focus on that, and that’s fooking all we should care about.
We are top of the table after beating the team that was on the top of the table. We are winning the games we are supposed to win (including the Coppa). We are winning these games like we should win them. We share the best goal differential in the league.
Parasitic, stupid …
What about this team is akin to the teams that started to crumble in November? What sort of of analysis is that?
With Tomorri out we will learn how well we are constructed for a full season (I’ll grant you this).
But parasitic, stupid. Get a hug mate.
Yes, it’s too early, we’ll see the progress of santi and the club until winter mercato shall we.
where is inter fan now? Looks like sempreinter is too quiet at the moment.
I have to admit I was wrong about Rabiot. I was against him and I didn’t want him to be transferred to our team. Now I have to eat my words. He proved to those who doubted him, to those like me, that I was wrong and that he is a class player. I am glad that I was wrong in the way I evaluated him.
Our defence looks really good till now, Tomori is regenerated , our no1 defender now and Pavlovic is changed now and looks better alongside Gabbia . We still need another central defender at the same level of De Winter, just De Winter in noy enough for the whole season in this type of formation.
The only doubt I still have is Estupinan, he’s the only player under the level of this team but he makes small progresses , maybe more adaptation period is needed in his case. Bartesaghi is almost a fully developed player for a Serie A team so it’s good we are covered in that position. I hope for a win next game in Juventus house, Juve will come exhausted from an intense game with Sporting in CL and it’s always hard to have the best level in Serie A after a CL game in few days. We must exploit at max this period when we have a full week to prepare a game and we don’t play in Europe.
Napoli are playing Sporting and Juve are playing away at Villarreal (Gabbia’s old loan ground).
Other than that, I agree with what you said. Juve will be exhausted by the travel and we have players capable of taking advantage of them.
We liked rabiot much since he was in Juve, he’s one of their key player back then beside pirlo. He’s also very good at marseile last year.
Hey brother….I appreciate the way you own up. Some people in this situation would keep and pretended as if they didn’t make those statements.
We all make mistakes in our judgement sometimes.
Forza Milan !
If nothing else I like how Pavlo and Fofana’s game have improved. We need to get Estu and Athekame ( in all fairness he needs game time) up to speed, most of Napoli’s attacks came from the wings. Modric’s performances are simply jaw dropping, he ran for 90min. Love the fact that both him and Rabiot would cover in defense when Pavlo forages forward ( reminiscent of the Kessie/Tonali job during there time). The team has grown defensively and as a collective. The Modric influence on calm, collectiveness is showing on their play as well. Good teamwork, happy to take the 3 points. Ps, got a bit worried when Puli was sacrificed, just so we can sustain some pressure on the counter, but makes sense if he wasnt feeling well. Forza Milan
You gotta feel good about what you’re seeing. As long as the key players don’t pick up big injuries this team will fight for the Scudetto. They have a huge advantage of not playing in Europe this season. Pulisic has been awesome the last two years but he’s arguably the best player in Serie A right now. Modric and Rabiot have been outstanding and have changed the dynamic of the team. And all the players from last year who looked bad (Fofana, RLC, everyone on defense) are playing great this year. Crazy what a good coach and a few added players can do.
Indeed. For me it’s simple. We have a real coach now. It was never an individual issue. The skill was always there. The mentality wasn’t. Allegri seems to have changed that.
The disrespect on Tomori.
He didn’t cause a penalty, VAR confirmed that he pulled back on the challenge last second. You lot just don’t like him for no reason. Fikayo has been our best defender all season, you lot just refuse to admit it. CAZZO.
A beautiful team display against reigning champions of Italy. A stubborn and resilient team Allegri is building. On to the next one!
Estupinan 4 and Gimenez 6…
Gimenez was a ghost on the pitch, he touched the ball maybe 4 times.
He deserves a 0 rating in my opionion, useless
Leao was poor when he came on. Sure he needed minutes to get himself ready for his next start. But, he doesn’t have a good work rate. Late in the game, when the team needed to work hard, he’s just strolling back into position. That lack of urgency can be infectious. Estupinian was unlucky about the red card. Not that it wasn’t warranted, but that he had played really well up until that point. Theo who?
I’d give Maignan a bit higher score. dealing with a shooting gallery in the 2nd half and making some nice saves in the 1st. He was the captain we needed especially in the 2nd half, and I’m one who usually prefers a field player w the armband.