AC Milan struggled against a ten-man Slavia Praga at San Siro on Thursday evening, just about clinching a two-goal lead ahead of the second leg. There was no standout player for the Rossoneri and below are the player ratings.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out how we decide the player ratings. From the scale to what affects the rating, we have compiled everything there.
Starting XI
Maignan (6): Both of the goals conceded were absolute stunners, so he couldn’t do much about that, and he was decent with his distribution.
Florenzi (6.5): He might not always be brilliant in the defensive phase, picking up a yellow card early, but he got two assists in the end. The second was a great corner for Loftus-Cheek, but the first one also counts although it was a rather simple pass.
Kjaer (6): The Dane had a great block in the first half, and was okay for most of the game, but made a big mistake in the second half which Slavia Praha really should have capitalised on. It could have cost Milan a lot. But he did enough to get a pass here.
Gabbia (6): The centre-back was caught out of position on a few occasions, but improved as the game went on and had some positive moments before the substitution at the interval.
Hernandez (6): A couple of trademark runs, and some solid defending, but not much more from the Frenchman this evening. Perhaps we expected more when Slavia went down a man, but they also defended a lot on the left flank to be fair.
Adli (5.5): Not that effective with his movement and passing tonight, also taking rather big risks in the build-up (as always). He really must work on the latter, because it’s not sustainable.
Reijnders (6.5): Always on the move, with good passing as well, and today he crowned a decent performance with a rocket. Great one from outside the box, leaving the goalkeeper no chance to save it.
Pulisic (6.5): Just like we saw against Lazio, the American didn’t have much of an impact in possession for most of the game. Yet, he managed to get a man sent off (again) and also bagged a goal. Even the tap-ins count, but it would also be nice to see him do better in 1v1 situations.
Loftus-Cheek (6.5): He was often available and ended up getting the ball quite a lot, though perhaps not always that successful. The header to make it 3-1 was lovely, though, once again showing just how good he is in the box.
Leao (6.5): The winger ended the game with two assists. Similarly to Florenzi, however, one was great and the other wasn’t as impressive (a deflected shot in Leao’s case). Perhaps a shame that he didn’t get the goal but still a positive rating for him.
Giroud (6.5): Right place, right time, making the most of Leao’s deflected shot to open the scoring. You can demand more from him in the hold-up, perhaps, but it’s not like Milan played brilliant football tonight (see Pioli’s rating below).
Substitutes
Calabria (6): The captain got himself a tactical yellow card but was okay aside from that, just about doing enough to get a pass here.
Tomori (6): Solid off the bench without being spectacular by any means. It’s nice to see him back on the pitch regularly, but he needs more time to regain match fitness.
Jovic (6): He was involved in the fourth goal, which could turn out to be very important, and he must build on that action.
Okafor (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Bennacer (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
The manager
Pioli (4): Milan struggled from the start and for the umpteenth time, they didn’t have a proper plan for the numerical superiority. At this point, it’s almost an advantage for the opponents to get a red card, and this has been the case ever since Pioli took over the club. His tactical ability is embarrassing at times, and today only confirmed why the parties need to go their separate ways.
Even if we somehow win the EL AND the Scudetto I Milan should part ways with Pioli. There should be NO avenue to continue having him as a coach.
LOL
So if the facts change your opinion won’t.
Thanks for summarising the general attitude around here so concisely which includes the anger and misery after another win.
The only question I have is how many on here are actually just Inter fans?
To be fair to “the” inter fan who frequents this site he is generally at least not as harsh as some of the ac milan fans around here.
I think it was a bit disapointing result due to us being one man up since the 25 minute and our bad marking and lack of concentration that resulted in the goals scored against us but we at least got a fairly decent result that favor us beyond a one goal lead but i nevertheless agree with you here Maldinis Heir,
I think a great deal of supporters has been frequenting twitter too much with their simplification of things and if we even win the scudetto and the europa league wont soothen them then it tells a lot more about them than about pioli. I remeber some of those people even wanted to sack pioli in the scudetto season so it shouldnt really come as a great surprise either.
Buddy, if you’re satisfied with struggling against a 10 man Slavia, you’re not a real fan. You don’t just settle for a mountain of issues and bare bones results.
Well said.
Bless you, Ian, only a man who is in love would be jealous over his woman, quite different from envy.
For those feeling that others who complain bout the negative style of football are ‘inter fans’ or bad supporters, then it should be made known that *those who love this style are the ones who actually want to destroy Milan*, cos they sit back & applaud mediocrity
I am Milanista and I would like that Pioli leaves. What makes me angry is that some time ago, even when Milan did not play well, the reporters did not fault Pioli; now, that we know he is leaving, they talk like they know all.
There is a difference between AC milan fans and Pioli fans, buddy
Can’t separate the club from the manager or players….worts and all.
Now when the manager had the second highest win ratio of any Milan manager….
“Now when the manager had the second highest win ratio of any Milan manager….”
And that makes him the second best manager in the history of Milan ? Better than perhaps Capello, Ancelotti, Rocco ?
I don’t get the point of this pointless stat.
the win ratio is high because we play in a 38 games league era, the older guys play 34 games and 30 games so less games against sitting ducks.
@ Giga94 Well it’s one of those facts that make people’s opinions a little problematic.
But we’ve established opinions won’t change no matter what facts there are.
@Maldinis Heir: Not sure what you’re getting at or how did you even adress what I replied.
But I’ll state my opinion in another manner. These “record points in a single league”, “highest win ratio”, “most points since X years”,…. don’t mean anything. You either win titles or you don’t. Pioli happened to have won a scudetto, good for him and for us, but that’s it. I won’t rate him as high as Nereo Rocco or Capello who have won the UCL (back then the EC) because he has more wins against bottom tier wins.
Pioli is on par with Zaccheroni and below Allegri.
Pioli have a new tactic, namely Pulisic have to provoke a red card from the referee, after that hope for the best
lol
I think leao is the man of the match
Didn’t even had the courage and courtesy to shake hands with the opposing coach. Red card or his obvious farewell on his mind?
A little harsh on Pioli. Clearly this guy hates him.
Saying they didn’t have a proper plan for numerical superiority? They scored 4 goals .
The first goal for Slava was a wonderstrike volley from outside the box. I guess that’s Pioli’s fault as well.
Also he doesn’t like Pulisic much. I just wish he do more …other then score goals, assist, draw red cards, track back and defend. Other than that he should do alot more…
On the bright side we have 2 goal advantage now. And the Chelsea trash trifecta(Giroud, RLC and Pulisic) all scored.
You clown defending your Godfather Pioli since Ice Age lol
Then you get upset when people offend you and you try to find out who they are so you can find them and beat them up?
Its your attitude and comments like that, Mira. Give respect if you want respect.
@Inter1899 fu*k you too!
Now you want to be smartest guy in the room?
I know exactly who you are. Don’t pretend like a good dude.
You and your boyfriends @K and @Boulden probably work on this website. You have a task to keep Pioli’s image as good as possible.
Soon you all disappear when your God gets sacked
Someone forgot their meds again.
You simply prove my point, Mira.
Another very intelligent comment. Expect nothing less.
The narrative now is that Pioli needs to go.
When he does (because the media set the narrative and then the club and fans follow) it will generate lots of new content with endless speculation including about how we need to replace his replacement with a replacement of his replacement.
Sacking him without a proper coach will result in a revolving door of managers with massive roster turnover and we will look the joke of United and Chelsea.
You don’t get to struggle this hard against a 10 man minnow club, and then beg for understanding. We’ve been pitiful
Who looked lost playing against 10 men, that should tell you how a genius Pioli is
Honestly it was hard to watch this game and if we win the ropa league, it’s only gonna be because of a lucky draw but even at that we’re bound to meet one of the more serious teams at some point. Now to Adli whom I’m a big fan of, I don’t really know what he was supposed to to be doing exactly. What exactly was the plan from the coach that made him play the full 90 cuz I think his job was just to drag players away from the middle so they could get the ball to a fullback who in turn passes it back to the centre back and then Adli has to drag players away again. Good lord it was horrible to watch and why do players not come to demand for the ball? It’s like you get the ball but then there’s no one to pass to because of the SOS formation. Is it that Pioli asked them to do this or that the players aren’t responding to his tactics? Where’s the quick football we saw with Hakan and Ibra back then? Did Pioli’s tactics evolve? Can’t help but wonder the outcome if we played 11 against 11. I should try to sleep anyway. 🤦🏾♂️
Exactly what I have observed on this team, they don’t move around to get the ball, they just stand hoping for the ball to get to them from their team mate. They are too static, no level of fluidity. You would always expect Leao and pulisic to remain in wider position, they don’t drag inside creating space for the windback to roam the wider position often, thus making their game plan very predictable and rigid.
The truth is that when you watch other big or mid teams play, and you come to watch Milan plan, you get very frustrated about some things they should easily be doing.
Maybe some may prejudge me as an Inter fan when I say that Milan have no chance to win the UEL. Some players are rather lazy, the tactics are not well-organized and creative, and the game is quite predictable. I have lots of respect for Pioli, but he needs to go. With such performances one can’t win the Scudetto or the UEL. The team badly needs a decent DM. Jovic and Okafor need to get more play time so they can better integrate with the team. Leao and Pulisic need some competition so they don’t get the starting berth as guaranteed and lower their motivation to perform.
Prejudge you huh ?? Lol. Let’s pretend we don’t see that username
LOL You’re already prejudged. There is a sempreinter site. And beyond the Serie A, you don’t have much of a chance of winning anything either. We don’t need your suggestions.
I did not ask if you need my suggestion; I don’t care. This site is open to comments and I comment whenever I wish.
Don’t mind the haters. You do you, boo. Your criticism is well placed.
Agree 100% with ACM1899. Some people just can’t handle opposing views and react in childish ways. As long as you don’t come in with hate or trolling (enough of it already here) I personally welcome your point of view.
And your opinion in this case is on point, even though your life choices are questionable 😉
Why? Because criticism from an inter fan hurts you more?
I have no problems with Inter Fans here. The truth is the truth.
Pioli is skating on thin ice as this performance showed. And the holes have been there all season. No proper DM coverage and defensive instability, every game.
Totally agree with you man!! Told my friend Lazio got three sent off and he was like wow Milan must have won 5/6-0 I was like nope 1-0 in the 88th minute. And today again!! This team under this manager doesn’t know how to effectively play…I’m sick of it now. I defended pioli and am thankful for what he did but enough is enough. He says the same thing every time…we need to analyse our mistakes and why we concede then we condede the same way the next game…enough!!
We absolutely need a coaching upgrade in the summer. I don’t think anyone argues that.
In fact the one with the username “Inter fan” seems to hate Milan less than some of the “regulars” here. How about that. 🙂
GOKU, you are dumb as always….
Even an Inter fan wishes Milan has a better coach. He is probably bored of watching his team dominate Pioli coached Milan and wants better competition in the derbies
14 derbies under Pioli.
9 wins for inter, 2 draws only 3 wins for Milan.
29 to 12 goal difference.
Embarrassment product of the great work by Pioli!!!
Agreed. Inter have won the last 5 matches against Milan, scoring 12 goals and concedeing only one! If the team can’t get at least a draw in five matches, that’s for sure a bad look for Pioli’s tactics.
It’s embarrassing.
You must live an incredibly boring, uneventful life…
And let’s be real: once Inzaghi got his bearings, he started spanking Pioli every single time.
Well at least thanks for being honest enough to confirm your loyalties.
I think some of your fellow fans on here aren’t as open.
Inter are having a good run. Well done you.
But Inter did destroy Italian football with Calciopoli. So it doesn’t really matter what Inter does.
Calciopoli happened 18 years ago and the team that was severely punished and sent in serie B, since then has won 9 scudetti ,compared to Milan’s 2
What’s your excuse for defending Pioli?
You being satisfied with Milan current state under Pioli sounds more like an undercover Inter fan than the people you are accusing of hiding their loyalties.
Italian football has not recovered.
We were one of the top leagues in Europe before it (and won the World Cup) and the country has struggled ever since.
They broke Italian football. That’s not something we should ever forgive them for.
As for Pioli, Milan’s literal current state is we just won!
What am I supposed to do as a fan if my team has won?
Complain that they won???
This! You should know your history better 🔴⚫️. Inter was the cause of the demise of Italian football back then and it had major effects for many years after. It cause irreparable damage that we still feel today. We’re only now truly coming out of it when you think about it and even then I’d argue we haven’t really as we used to have the best names coming to us in their primes. That’s now all gone.
Remember Moggi was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing but by the time that happened around 2010s, the statue of limitations had expired though the judge still laid the (non binding ) blame on him which made no sense at all. They couldn’t convict for how long? 10 years, 5 in statute? And he still received a ban…make that make sense.
It was too late/ the legal system didn’t want the full facts to be presented in the case which is imo a slap in the face of real justice. It was shown that Inter was doing the exact same thing, matter of fact much worse, as all the other teams that were punished because of Calciopoli. The person that showed the wire taps in the first place didn’t reveal all the taps (the Inter portion) as he was associated with Inter (conflict of interest anyone?..btw Inter owned media telecoms at the time, Moretti sat on the board of the telecom company that made the wire taps). Gazzetta releases the wire taps illegally mind you by none other than their owner an Inter fan who also sat on the board of that company. The designator for the Calciopoli commission is a former Inter Director?? What ?? Bro. Come on. I’ll stop here as there’s too many details to be made aware of. This thing was orchestrated by Inter. How they came off clean from this I do not know til this day.
Evidence was manipulated and chopped and changed to suit Inter and had Juve/Moggi as the scapegoat. What Moggi was doing, ALL clubs were doing ie interacting with the ref designator (really that was it). Milan used to post on their website their interactions with the destinate because at the time there was a push for more interaction between clubs and the ref as long as it was transparent. (The fact we have them gifts though is a whole other issue and Gallianis fault but even that was transparent and sanctioned by figc. Anyws I digress). But to this day all people see is Moggi bad, Juve bad. I see it as Inter f*cking up the entire league for their own gain and scapegoating someone knowing very well the hypocrisy of the whole thing. This caused the league and the team which used to fly the flag in Europe (us) to grow weaker season after season for many years. Players didn’t want to come here no more. I’ll stop here as I’ll get an aneurysm.
These fans are too young to know @MaldinisHeir. Always and forever f**CK Inter and anyone associated with them. I know who my enemies are. They are the worst scumbags. I actually do not have a problem with Juve because of that nonsense that happened. They won on the pitch (as Gattuso said) that title awarded to Inter… their paper Scudetto. Btw, they awarded the 05-06 Scudetto to Inter but the wire taps were from 2 years prior???? Make that make sense. They shouldn’t even be on their 20th star right now. Matter of fact their next 4 titles in a row were as a result of that scandal. So how many titles do they REALLY have. Inter was just mad that they bought El Phenomeno, Recoba, Seedorf and a bunch of the best players and couldn’t win jack sh!t with them! They hadn’t done jack all since 88 until the scandal broke. Anyways 🤬……
Sorry for the rant but they boil my guts
They? As in Inter? All clubs where involved. The “they” included us. Inter wasn’t punished because of the statute of limitations. They were in on it too. If anything, the prosecutors botched it. All the clubs involved share the blame (with a little more to Juventus who seem to be cheaters par excellence).
@IKWYDLS agree with you on all, even the judge admits it was wrong decision to prosecute Moggi because the season is about to start so they made hasty decision. Juve really should have push for justice back then when they are peak of Serie A, I remember FIGC told Agnelli they prefer awarding Juve their title back rather than paying hefty fee for the wrong prosecution.
@Maldinis Heir @IKWYDLS – agree 100000%. I guess some fans are too young to know/remember just how corrupt Inter are. Even the Democrats go to Moratti for advice on how to steal elections. How that p.o.s club has any fans left is beyond me.
Moratti also want AC Milan demoted to serie B, fortunately Berlusconi was able to prevent it with his influence. We were able to win Champions League next season but Serie A was already dominated by Inter
@IKWYDLS: I’m actually interested in more details about that if you can forward me.
I had a friend who is a Juve fan who explained to me how crooked this whole 05-06 thing but he didn’t go in as much details as you did now.
And yes, I’m one of what you can call a “younger” fan who didn’t really understand this whole situation back then.
@giga. Check out the Calciopoli Wikipedia article. I looked it up at MH’s mention … Wow I thought cycling was aHot mess? It has nothing on SerieA!
@Vero Ros the summary by IKWYDLS didn’t make it obvious. Inters President owned the telecom company that produces the evidence and tampered with it to leave Inter out. (From my reading the Wikipedia article)
Someone please correct me if I have that wrong. I also saw a Forbes article for weeks ago about Juve dropping a charge from 2006. So the ripples apparently still continue.
Lol you guys are bringing up something that really, really really grinds my gears. When I tell u I hate, I truly hate in my heart of hearts, my very soul hates Inter. I just can’t stand them. Zero other clubs aggravate me this way.
@giga it’s ALOT to cover but goal back in the day did a decent job of it. Maybe you can try to google some of it but I think Sporting News bought them over. Not sure if their stuff are archived. But there are troves of info around still. I did recall going through the actual court docs translated back in the day. Much of the info is public. But this was me off the top of my head. If I really get into it, it might not be good for my mental health 😂. They really do irritate me and specifically Calciopoli. Don’t worry about being a younger head, I’m not saying these things to come down on anyone newer, just we sometimes need to make sure the “youngings” know their history lol 😂 hope that doesn’t sound bad. I’m very glad you’re a Milan fan. That matters most!
I think the Gazzetta owner was Boura (sp) who is a known Interisti and who sat on the board of TIM (the Telecom Italia company that did the taps as @MyKidPlayedSoccer alluded to) published the “wire taps” (btw later on apparently Moggi used Swiss sim cards so TIM could have never had transcripts..a whole other convo…when I tell u it’s a farce, believe me. That btw was supposed to be Calciopoli part 2). You can’t publish private conversation so that was illegal. Moratti also sat on TIM’s board. The guys who chaired the Calciopoli commission (Rossi) is a known Interisti, and he was a former Inter director. After the trial, guess what happened…he resigned as FIGC president in order to take a job and sat on the board of none other than… drumroll …..TIM. bro, trust me. The farce that whole thing was smh.
As @Xexy mentioned, we were going to be relegated but Berlusconi had way too much influence and in a way protected us from going down to Serie B with Juve. The Agnellis were more out of spotlight. But we got I think a 15 point deduction (Memory might be fuzzy on the exact number) in the league and had to start the prelim rounds for the UCL which we eventually won that year thanks to Kaka but thereafter we couldn’t compete because the league became poor, sponsors left and so on. Only Inter gained. Before that season had started the FIGC was under pressure from FIFA as they wanted to ban our league from all competitions including the UCL if we didn’t come to an outcome so the whole thing was rushed and Moggi/Juve was used as a scapegoat by the Interistas that orchestrated the whole thing as a show of face that they did something. 🤦♂️
The other thing to be aware of is the wiki article is actually not complete but it’s a good start. That’s another source that been iffy these days they didn’t include Moggi’s exoneration. There were also many cases including sporting fraud (which btw Inter was eventually charged for) that Moggi won that never saw daylight.
Btw when I tell you I’m just scratching the surface I really am. The older heads in here know but trust me, Inter is not a friend. I have Juve friends, I will never keep an Inter friend.
Sorry for the long post again
@IKWYDLS and @MyKidPlayedSoccer: thank you for answering my request, I’ll make sure to check the links and articles you mentionned.
I have no problems with someone stating his opinion is a respectable manner regardless of what I agree or not and regardless of what teams he supports. What you say isn’t less truthfull because you support Inter.
Now about what you say, I agree. many of us commented on the lack of a DM and that we have a big tactical problem. The race for the scudetto is essentially over and with an EL packed with teams like Liverpool and Leverkusen, it’s easy to conclude that our chances of winning that are slim.
I’d say the fact that a you a non-Milan fan, who doesn’t probably watch every game week in, week out and who doesn’t have biais for or against certains players or directors or coach, did reach those conclusions highlights their importance.
Why Inter Fan?
Why are you go on talking about Milan, because Inter have won the scudetto this season and are gods gift to Italian football?
To a True Milan Rosso Nero follower Inter talk is RUBBISH TALK!
My last words to Inter is FAIR PLAY will catch up with you soon, and we will talk then!
I’d rather our opponents don’t get a red card. Pioli’s tactics is based on man-for-man, and seem quite clueless when there’s an extra man, either for him or the opponent.
Wow, a 4-1 drubbing is still not good enough for this guy. Not every team is just going to rollover and let AC Milan win just because we’re great. Instead of always ripping our players and coach try to find some positive, quit complaining and enjoy the win for change.
There was literally nothing to enjoy in thag match as a milan fan. If the result is all you care about, just skip watching and look up the result in the morning
yeah should be like De Zerbi, either win 3-2 or lose 4-0 thats the type of manager you love
The team needs an DM to set the tempo and dictate play. A win is a win, I will enjoy it and look forward the next match. Facts Arrigo Sachi, Maldini, Boban, Nesta and Rui Costa are not walking through the door!
That has nothing to do with this. Haven’t i told you to go eat a bullet.. you chicken?
If nothing to enjoy then don’t watch…..
Guys like you who are satisfied with mediocrity
Criticism where criticism is due… and in this game it was very due.
Didn’t know what to do with the ball for 30mns. Started scoring after Slavia lost a man. Then fell asleep again.
A 10 man team should never score ANY goals against a team with 11, especially Milan. That was embarrassing.
Just feels like Pioli hasn’t been getting the best out of this team the last two important games.
In the return leg if we play like this, we’re DONE.
“A 10 man team should never score ANY goals against a team with 11”
It’s football where everything can happened.
I mean, we scored two goals against Monza when we down to 10 man although we don’t win. And iirc last season we also scored when we down to 10 man and win against Sampdoria or Roma.
So there’s no such a thing as “a 10 man team can’t scored against a team with 11” in football.
I didn’t say can’t. I said should never. Of course it can happen – we saw it tonight. And Monza is proof of that, because they aren’t that good of a team.
Not just once, but twice!
Yeah, honestly I am still grateful for the win actually. 2 goals deficit won’t be easy to overcome for Slavia
Did you notice that both goals scored by Slavia were effortless? Imagine with home support and an intent to win… we will be definitely in trouble
And 11 players. Don’t forget those effortless goals were both scored with 10 men against 11.
Honestly the only time they pass the ball quickly is when it’s backwards. Other times they get the ball, look around, move a bit and then pass. Gotta speed shît up a gear or four..
Pioli embarrassing!!!! Yes sir.
2 games in a row Milan is getting dominated 11v11 and when playing with a man advantage the other team is still playing better than Pioli’s team.
For 30 min, until the red card, there was only 1 team on the pitch, just like vs Lazio, and it wasn’t Milan.
You give up 2 goals with man advantage vs a team from the Czech league at home. Both goals can’t be blamed on the lack of a DM, nope, it was from set pieces. Something that has been an issue for Milan for 5 years. Same time period Pioli has been a Milan coach.
Slavia with a man down pinned Milan back for most of the 2nd half. Their players were actually encouraging their fans to give them an extra boost to get a tie at least.
Remembering how Milan played vs Rennes, if Slavia manages to keep 11 players on the pitch, wouldn’t be surprised if they knock out Pioli’s team.
We can debate about who Milan’s new coach should be next season but don’t try to tell me you want the mediocrity under this incompetent lucky fraud to continue.
What was that sub RLC for Jovic with Giroud staying on the pitch? Why did Giroud have to stay on the pitch?
Giroud should go with him in the summer. How d fvck they’re relying on an old man about to retire from the game . Get a mobile forward that can connect passes with teammates.
So why was Giroud the problem?
We all know his quality, his playstyle, his advantages and disadvantages. And dare I say he is the best striker we had in more than a decade.
He give everything he have, he can’t win a sprint battle, playing as mobile forward, can’t be a pressing machine. That’s we all knew before he come – but he does give us plenty of goals.
It’s not his fault Milan don’t play with mobile forward – it’s management and Pioli.
That wasn’t an attack on Giroud but on Pioli’s substitution.
He took out a midfielder to put in a striker with Milan up by 2 and a man advantage.
Can’t be a pressing machine? Yet he is the one running and pressing the most of all the 4 most advanced players on the pitch. I bet he runs twice the mileage Leao does without the ball each match.
That performance was an embarrassment to the jersey!
The 2nd half score was 1-1.
That’s against a Czech team in San Siro, with them down to 10 men.
If we lose this tie Pioli is done
He is done. With our without the win.
Franco Ordine: “As for Pioli: I must say that today, in Pioli’s first non-response when asked ‘But if you were to win the Europa League, would you stay?’, He said he was unable to answer that question. For the first time, I sensed in his posture, more than in his words, the awareness that this is the last waltz at Milanello.”
Get De Zerbi and lose 4-0 to Roma
would be so much better
De Zerbi the saviour
If we played Roma now, we might get thumped 4-0 as well. They had the ability to be good. They just needed a different coach.
On the other equation, you can also say that with change of manager, it could do wonder. Even on the mid of the season. Roma under De Rossi: WWWWLDWWWW. And the lost was against Inter. And we all know how well we perform against Inter. Get it? Not everything should be one-sided as much as you want it to be.
I think we really need to be starting other defenders. It looked like we didn’t take this game seriously enough and were strolling around most of the time. We need to take this trophy seriously. There is a major financial incentive to do so.
No There is literally no major financial incentive to do so, stop lying,
the only incentive is UEFA rankings and sporting merit
I thought I read that winning was a total of about 40m euros. That’s Zirkzee. Seems legit?
He is a Pioli fan, Milan. He has been fighting with everyone to defend Pioli
Not sure I follow. I’m a Pioli supporter to a point myself. He’s got flaws like Conte, Mourinho etc but he’s dealt with the defensive crisis and seen us to a point of second and a win in the round of 16 today.
I’m curious why a Boulden is saying no financial incentives because I find his comments interesting and well informed. This, I doubt my memory and hope he will explain a bit more.
Round of 16: €1,200,000
Quarter-final: €1,800,000
Semi-final: €2,800,000
Runner-up: €4,600,000
Champion: €8,600,000
How is this 40m?
The gate for each home game is the difference IIRC. Tho come to think of it what do we get since we don’t own San Siro? Is that what I am missing? I cannot find the article that laid it out.
Thanks for the info Boulden.
dunno, with matchday revenue maybe 10m more, it wouldnt be that high
There’s a not a whole lot of money in it compared to CL. We just need a trophy to vie for since CL, CI and Scudetto are out of our hands.
But yes, it doesn’t help the Italian coefficient in Europe especially if we are to have 5 teams in CL next season.
Are they not getting money from all the ticket sales and concession sales for each home game they play as they advance? I’m sure it’s a good deal of money.
*it DOES help. Sorry.
The good things about winning the EL is:
– being a pot1 team in UCL next year so less risk of a group of death
– playing Supercup this summer.
Aside from that, it’s not a big trophy for us.
I thought I read that winning was a total of about 40m euros. That’s Zirkzee. Seems legit?
This is not a duplicate comment.
Or … Sigh … Maybe it was LOL.
There was indeed an article in regard of that but it might be with the ticket prizes included as K already suggested. Anyways every penny counts.
Indeed, a worthless piece of tin that was designed specifically for mid table clubs. Yes, there’s a reason why we never won it. And the prize money isn’t worth the tired legs it creates for serie a. I would personally use it to give our second team a go.
How can people watch this Milan and still defend Pioli is beyond me. We were given every opportunity to finish this now, just fill their goal to the brim and blissfully sleep through the game in Praha. It was a gift from heavens themselves and we took a huge dump on it.
Seriously, we have a 2 goal lead going into the next game. People act like they are facing high school players or something. These games are not going to be easy, they are professionals as well and well coached. Stop with the arrogance that Milan should easily be destroying all these teams. It’s underestimating the opponent and overestimating Milan.
Milan had 11 players against 10 Slavia Prague players and Slavia actually played better than Milan, scoring not 1 but 2 goals undermanned at San Siro.
What arrogance are you talking about?
No they didn’t play better. If they had, they would’ve won. They gave up 4 goals, down a man or not. they hit a lucky volley from outside the box and Theo fell asleep on the second goal. Again, give some credit to the other team, they are professionals as well.
As I told you before, you didn’t have this same energy last season after Milan wins for Tonali.
After every game under the ratings articles you had something negative to say about Tonali even after wins. This year you defend Pioli and attack everyone who criticize Pioli like it’s your job.
Keep that same energy.
We should. When we play against 10 man for almost 70 minutes. Against a club that’s not even in the 1st place in Czech, yes, Czech league (the current 1st was just thrashed by Liverpool on their own home). And when we play in our home turf.
This
Their whole team is worth like 50mil. Leao is double the price of their whole team.
What does that have to do with anything. What was PSG and Newcastle’s team worth? We beat them. And again ….we won by 2 goals. The sky is falling, the sky is falling.
It has to do with the difference in quality.
Because you defend or criticize Pioli based on 5 years. Not a single game. Does this not make any sense to you?
He is a limited tactician. But his tenure at Milan has overall been a successful one.
Because we won?
How can people be so unhappy about a win?
Nobody is making you watch these games. Go do something else.
Because we are fans of Milan, a big club, one of the greatest, not Salernitana, Pioli’s level team.
you rather be with De Zerbi who lost 4-0
I thought he was so much better and was gonna save Milan, what happened to that?
Dude why do you keep repeating De Zerbi? He’s not the only one we’re looking at. FFS.
Because people like you worship De Zerbi and think he is SO MUCH BETTER
Fans want their teams to win.
When their team wins fans are happy.
It’s that simple.
“When their team wins fans are happy. It’s that simple.”
Man, I wish it was that simple for me. I actually want progress, maybe even a sort of return to greatness. Instead, we’ve had complete stagnation/regression for 2 years without any hope of challenging for titles. Why? It’s not because of the owners, or Maldini & Tonali leaving. Nope. It’s our mediocre coach. He’s lucky to have incredible talent like Theo, Leao, Mike, Pulisic etc. and yet he struggles all the time against teams that sit back and defend decently. Why? Because he has no attacking strategy. Have you noticed the insane amount of sideways and back-passes, often all the way back to the goalie? All we have is Leao/Theo/Pulisic sometimes making a run and hoping they create something. No real system.
@ Gary we’re not gong to return to greatness with fans like you because you lack the winning mentality, commitment and loyalty required to win.
If fans lack these things then how can we expect the club or players to.
You are an absolute clown, pal. Defending Pioli here as if you life depends on it. I swear, Milan fans like you are the worst people out there because they’re satisfied with mediocrity.
We can’t return to being a big club with small club fans like you.
Big clubs only care about winning.
Now take your ‘feelings’ and ‘opinions’ and go support a small club.
Big club fans care about titles. This season the likelyhood of winning any title is very slim.
All the games win, loss or draw should be taken into the greater picture of titles.
Should we be happy with wins, sure why not ? but it’s also within the fans right to worry about what is coming next, and this game despite being a 4-2 for us, is definetly not reassuring.
Perhaps, I hope it was just a fluke, another case of big teams not taking small ones very seriously, but with what’ve seen this season, it’s not reassuring.
And if we go through again to the next round will you still complain??? Absolutely.
Yes I would complain. Not unless I didn’t get the memo that this is how we’ll play and win our matches on a regular bases than I’ll stop
Well, they have been winning haven’t they. Same people that complained all the way through the Rennes ties will complain all the way through this one and the next won. They’ll probably be complaining while we are raising the trophy.
I am one of those people. Leave me with my complaining. I’ll stop complaining on Wednesday 22 May at Dublin Arena. I’m even complaining about the Empoil match which hasn’t been played yet 🤣.
But on a serious note. Should we (and we will definitely do) get a stronger team we will struggle a lot.
We won the match because that’s what football is about but the performance on the pitch are foretelling a dysmal future.
Let it go, K. I hope by now you realize that you won’t change a lot of opinions on these threads.
You either find like minded individuals to agree with. Or you keep bashing your head against opinions that you don’t agree with, which won’t change.
Some are objective here and some just aren’t no matter how hard you try to explain things to that bunch.
You do you.
Yep, just like last season, until you run into a team that will embarrass you in the quarter or semi-final.
Barely winning vs mid table Uber eats league team or a team from a farmers league, screams Milan raising the trophy.
Well if that happens then your complaints might be justified. But complaining while they are winning about what you think may happen when they play someone else just shows you as someone that likes to complain. And is not really happy when the team wins.
Dude, you will never wake up these deluded fools. Don’t bother. This is why I rarely come here anymore. We win a few games against crappy teams, and they think we are about to win trophies. They don’t understand that when we do win it’s because our squad is way stronger than the opposition. Once we run into decent teams, we struggle, and proper teams like Inter wipe the floor with us. Even some relegation teams take points off of us regularly which is not exactly a hallmark of champions. We finished 5th last season, and this time we will end up a distant 3rd, 20+ points behind Inter. Then these fools will still think it was a good season. But we are Milan and we have a good squad. We should be challenging for the Scudetto and going far in the CL, not struggling in the EL.
For starters a bit harsh on adli as he was the only midfielder that tried to do something. Leao’s skills saved baldy from another embarrassent.
Very static on the buildup. Game in game out, our cb pass the ball between them without any menace and risk of loosing the ball.
Pioli tactics call for cheek and the other midfielder( in this case reinders) to crowd 16 yard box in the build up, but without any of them make real movement off the ball to create spaces. We are literally hopimg that lrao or puli would create something.
Frankly begs the quastion, what the hell are they doimg in training? One moves so space opens up for another player, for almost the entire game most of them just watch and stand there waiting for the ball to come to them even when spaces are tight. Baldy has 3 midfielders and should use all 3 to create not just crowd the box.
Finally, the boys gotta concentrate more on defense. Both goals (beautiful) came from loss of concentration. Big dan had a bad game. Respect what he has done in the past, what a leader he had been but age eventually caught up to him. In the end the bald genius decides to keep him on and take gabbia off. That almost backfired with another goal. 1 more game to the end of the season and hopefully top 4, and new coach for next season.
I watched this dazzling Milan performance with one eye open, but from what I could make out Florenzi didn’t deserve that yellow and was unlucky to be subbed off. Probably my man of the match, although there wasn’t much competition. If Slavia knock us out in a week’s time (which wouldn’t surprise me) I want them to go on and win the whole goddamn thing. They played like lions out there tonight while we spent most the game playing like sheep…almost like we were channeling the spirit of CDK or something. I don’t think I’ve ever been this disheartened after winning a match 4:2.
Completely agree. This is one of the very few times a 4-2 victory left A LOT to be desired…
A lot of credit to the Czechs. Played well tonight. We’ll probably still go through based on individual talent but against a better team, playing like this we’re done.
The hard part to swallow is the fact that we play to our opposition. Tonight was awful. But against PSG we were next level. So you know the team has it in them. But just not executing.
Inconsistencies plagued us often under Pioli.
Well let’s wait and see which Milan takes the field in Prague 🙏. I honestly don’t know what determines whether we play like lions or sheep when it’s practically the exact same players.
Thought experiment …
We win this weekend 4-2. There are no injuries. Are we satisfied?
Against Empoli? Yeh for sure. The problem with this win tonight is we haven’t won anything.
Apparently not….
Depending on the performance. I could be satisfied with a draw or even a defeat. Just play proper football. Thing is if Milan play football there will be very little chance of not beating Empoli. But sadly Pioli’s team can’t play football. With due respect to Slavia, Milan should comfortably win with a man advantage. Don’t know why some guys finding it hard to understand the disappointment
I get that Milan didn’t play brilliantly , but up 2 goals going into the next fixture is pretty comfortable, is it not? By the reactions on here you would think the game ended in a draw. Some perspective please.
The issue is more with the performance, at least for me , as I aften don’t care much about the scores (bearing in mind that your chances of winning are much higher with playing well), I prioritize playing well. I agree a 2 goal lead is generally comfortable , tho having a man advantage at home to Slavia I don’t think people can be fault for expecting more.
It’s that winning mentality that is so critical to success!
‘Proper football’ is not really a very objective thing, it’s more like fashion – I like those shoes.
It’s also a bizarre thing for a follower of Italian football to say.
Not to stereotype but Italian football has never been the most exciting or beautiful. If you like ‘proper football’ you’re better off following the premier league (now) or La Liga.
Again nobody is making you watch. Go do something else.
That’s the problem. When you say play well first, people think you are not interested in winning. It’s a process which will eventually lead you to winning. Scraping wins without playing well is difficult to keep for the long run. Football have changed and all the winning teams play good football. Italy have won the euros with that style.. No amount of being determined and just wanting to win would have brought that trophy. So even Italians know that football have changed. You don’t necessarily have to play like Pep. The current Inter and Contes Italy play fantastic football. You have to dominate your opponents.
Au contraire!
Your imagined ‘proper football’ is not conducive to success because what’s in your imagination can never be achieved.
And because it can never be achieved it means that there will be this constant turnover of managers and players as you pursue your misguided idea of ‘proper football’.
This is what Milan did for 10 years before Pioli came along. It’s what Chelsea do. It’s what every team that things they’re great does.
Great teams, winning teams, are only interested in winning. If we finish second then Pioli would’ve finished 1st or 2nd in nearly every season he’s been at the club.
But that’s not ‘proper football’ in your imagination.
Have you wondered why once great coaches like Mourinho Simeone Allegri (tho personally never seen Max as good) to some extent Conte with the typical mindset of “only winning matters’, currently are struggling for success? Because now you must play better than your opponent to win and win trophies. Thanks
It seems you are forgetting the great Milan teams.
Under Sachi we played attacking football. We had great quality under Capello and Ancelotti also.
Napoli were beautiful last year and Inter are playing great football this year.
Sure negative teams will win here and there but playing well against a minnow club with 10 men is basic. Struggling against a side who will never have played in such an atmosphere is very poor.
Milan fans want the team to improve and evolve, not be content with struggling against small teams and then falling a part against better teams.
Defending a performance like that is ridiculous
Pioli has a higher win percentage than those managers and they (I hope we can all agree) had better teams (note I said ‘teams’ not ‘players’)!
And we struggled against teams back then. Sacchi’s Milan lost the title to Sampdoria! Capello was horrible in 1994/1995 and 1998/1999.
And again in these rose tinted memories we elevate the players to mythical levels. And then nobody can reach that level so we see this never ending churn.
As for last night’s game, show some respect for the opponents. Fans like you constantly underestimating our manager, players and opponents doesn’t help return the team to greatness because you’re never satisfied and are easily exploited by the media.
So you buy the narrative of constant turnover which prevents us from actually building a team like the past.
It’d be better for the club if fans with fake expectations moved on. You lack the seriousness and commitment that a top team needs.
@Maldinis Heir
You as usual are putting words in peoples mouths.
I never mentioned Pioli nor do I want to see massive turnover, as I have posted many times here.
You’re stuck in your own echo chamber.
I don’t buy the media narrative when we play well or badly, I use my eyes.
As usual you choose to insult people with a different opinion because you are stuck.
I have been a Milan fan for 35 years and been to San Siro many times, so no I won’t move on!
Like most reasonable fans I want to see our team perform to their ability and hopefully improve.
When we see a performance like last night it deserves criticism.
Interesting how the Manager, several senior players, the Italian press and most fans all said we should have done much better.
But hey you know better than all those
Thank you my friend for building off the positive instead of tear down with the negative.
Okay now given what folks have said, of Pioli starts Theo at CB with Kjaer and then uses Calabria and Flo for a back line.
We win 4-2 are we satisfied.
(See where I am going?)
I am on the fence with Pioli and was yelling at my TV cowering in the corner like some Valencia Ultra. But ultimately it’s job done and we have a 2 point head start and weeks to reintegrate the lines of Tomorri, Kalulu, Thiaw, etc.
Let’s see if it’s really tactical ineptitude or if it’s necessity. We are committed for the remainder of the season anyway.
It’s not a knockout competition and we’ve got a cushion to 4th.
Not the people on here. It’s all how can we give up 2 goals to Empoli!! If that was Inter they would’ve scored 5 on us! Pioli sucks! He has no tactics! Why didn’t he play this guy! Why did he rest this guy! Blah blah blah. If Maldini were still here… And so on, and so on.
If you notice, these same people are always more angry after a win which shows you their true intentions. They are rooting for Milan to fail.
Couple of Pioli fans fighting their life off against whole comment section is wild 💀💀💀
So far you have had ZERO input of you own, Mirja. Just clowning on what others say… seems like you’re afraid to state something original.
I could be wrong.
Mirjalol has no input. He can’t analyze anything or even defend his position, which from what I can tell is that everybody is terrible. He hates Pioli, hates management, hates ownership. He’s just an unstable man or boy full of hate.
Leao was man of the match. I think the rater has a very simplistic view of the game. One issue is how slow our two pivots and CMs are in playing passes. How many times do you view an open pass with the player looking at the open player and it’s 3 seconds before the pass is made? Pulisic, for the most part is isolated on the right side and if he beats a player down the sideline there aren’t many player in the box. So he cuts in across the field and gets the ball out to the side and then you have the overload in the box as he cuts into the box, Giroud and RLC are often there in the box. Leao doesn’t like to go into the box in traffic. I see the main issue as the lack of speed of play.
When we play like this I see the main issue as players standing around instead of trying to make something happen- You have it. No you have it. No you have it. Okay I’ll have it….and pass it back to you.
I don’t see very much penetration. A lot of passing around the periphery. But the problem with that is when the back line pushes up so far forward, there’s month room for forwards to use so it becomes contested to a point where you couldn’t penetrate forward even if you wanted to.
Against Rennes in the first game we pushed the ball forward with triangles.
This game was like watch Barca after they’d been paying with Rashford at an Irish pub. Back and forth across the back line. Up to mid field back to the back line back and forth and Kjaer with the long ball.
It had to be programmed by Pioli but I don’t get why we’d play such provincial tactics when the last 10 minutes of the first half clearly showed we could move the ball and dominate.
100% correct. Not reinders nor cheek asks for the ball when game stalls like that. 0 movement. Just wait for leao or puli create something out of nothing. I don’t think it’s the players, but those are pioli tactics.
Every time people talk about us winning the Europa league I can’t believe that they’re actually thinking that’s possible. Liverpool and/or Leverkusen would tear us apart time and time again. It would be too embarrassing
Now People will attack you for being realistic instead of delusional
You aren’t wrong. Both Liverpool and Bayern are currently playing A LOT better than us and if faced against them, I don’t think we win.
But we are capable of winning. Not sure why we aren’t playing like it.
Pioli
Leverkusen barely drew against carrier bag, are you blind as well as dumb now? lmao
Leverkusen I share your skepticism. They have the Bundesligue sealed.
Liverpool is timing because they’d choose to rest and win Premier League over UEL I’d think.
So I’d argue we have a chance. Not a great one but it’s non-zero
Liverpool fair enough, although anything can happen even against them. But Leverkuzen haven’t done anything yet. Yes, they are the darlings of Europe, but so were Napoli last season and we all remember what happened then.
Also, winning this mid table cup is no big honor, not for us nor for Milan. But for Neverkuzen maybe it is?
I disagree. It would be a nice honor and we ought to be playing to win every competition we’re in, otherwise play the primavera. Most importantly, winning the EL gets us into the CL in the first pot. We want to avoid being in the group of death for the third time in four years next season.
Pioli 4 ok…if he had lost? I guess the same…
I think the End of pulisics time in italy started vs lazio, Everyone was looking for an excuse to hate him. And he “Stole a Goal” “Shame”, “Chuck must Start”. That Leao goal was going Wide anyways, But noone will say that. These are the terms that are now going to be used against pulisic.
What are you even talking about?? How is this even relevant to anything? Are you Lazio fan?
Pulisic plays hard until the whistle or the goal is scored. What would people say if he did not make that run on goal and Leao’s shot just went right of the post? Pulisic always makes those late runs just rewatch several of our goals and you’ll see Pulisic right there in the center of the box. You should just say you want Chukwueze to play because you want to see what he can do. Other than that there is no reason not to play Pulisic.
My god get a grip nobody is saying any of that stuff. Your comment embarrasses me as an American.
…not brilliant, not even toy a 10 men slavia praha, not showing any creativity, didnt know how to find a gap in the defense, lack of skill in dead ball situation (defense and offense)… We just play a too simple child game, i will shocking to dead if we can reach final
Yep not a great match. Yes Pioli’s tactics don’t seem to take advantage well of the extra man. Only 4th goal was really a result of stretching the defence.
Anyway. I will enjoy the win. Especially seeing Reijnders get a nice strike on target. Hopefully he has turned a corner on those pressure moments in front of goal.
And we got goals out of corner kicks. Twice. That is rare for us.
If being up by a man automatically means winning by 5 goals, the ref woulda blown full time the moment they got the red.
The issue I have with y’all has been the same since the start of the season: unexamined unrealistic expectations.
They were not outplaying us at any point in time (even though the same could be said of us), it’s just annoying anytime they string a couple of passes together because “we should be bossing this small unknown team”. And that feeling only became worse after the red. “We should be winning 5-0 with 100-0 possession.”
We didn’t have a good game, penetration wise; but this is not the ‘evidence’ you’ve been so desperately looking for.
And I agree that the media is pushing hard for a change of coach. And that’s affecting the fans’ perspective too. And maybe vice versa.
They’d prefer a controversial coach like Conte. That would generate so much content (Hell it’s already generating so much content).
Pioli is apparently too boring and uncontroversial. Just goes about his job, even when insulted. Agrees with owners, no ego clashes with Ibra. Just work.
At this point anything he says, anything the owners says, any result that we get (short of winning by 5 goals with 80-20 possession) will be used as ‘evidence’.
The funny thing is these ‘fans’ are just pawns being manipulated.
But carry on…
Very well said VORe
The media darling managers Motta and De Zerbi arent that good, I dunno why people are so obsseseed with them
and Conte is a walking disaster, no one wants to deal with his crap anymore thats why you keep hearing news about him from his PR team.
Agreed – although I don’t think many fans are calling for Conte. If he came I’d support him but he definitely wouldn’t be my first choice.
I think the rater was too rash on many players. First of all, we weren’t that terrible. Sure, we sleepwalked for the first 30 minutes, and sure, we got a man advantage (by the way, unfair; that foul was not for a straight red) but we entirely caught fire and scored 3 goals in 15 minutes and should have had a fourth one by Gabbia; it wasn’t a goal just because of one of the most spectacular goalkeeper saves I’ve seen all year.
Yes, man advantage helps, but those 3 goals and the goalkeeper miracle that avoided the 4th one, still need to be scored/attempted.
Their first goal was just a strike of genius, a shot impossible to stop or defend from. I don’t blame anybody at Milan for their first goal (including, I don’t blame Mike who almost saved it despite the fulminating shot).
For me, Gabbia was great, defended well as usual, and supported the offense, almost scoring. For me, Rubens Loftus-Cheek was on his way to a MOTM performance (he is so irregular; certain games he is the MOTM, certain others, the worst player on the pitch).
Then Pioli goes and subs out Gabbia and L-C. Both were wrong moves. He should have removed Kjer and left Gabbia with Tomori – maybe we wouldn’t have suffered the second goal in that case. And L-C was vertical, threatening, and disorganizing their defense; our offense fell flat as soon as he was subbed out. I think Pioli should have kept both for another 20 minutes or so, and we’d have scored two more. Pity that Florenzi also had to go; with a yellow and with the ref showing that he was willing to send out a player for a relatively minor offense, keeping Florenzi might have been too risky. But Gabbia and L-C, why in the hell did they need to come out so early???
I thought that Adli did well but I can’t agree with a comment above, that he was the only one trying, among the midfielders. Yeah, right, except for Reijnders scoring a goal and L-C scoring a goal. Not trying, huh???
Pulisic was brilliant, but could have done more? Like what, besides scoring, sending one of their guys out, defending well, moving the ball a lot on offense?
Rafa had the merit for Puli’s goal, and it was a brilliant move. I think the ball was going in anyway, but still, Puli tapped it in to be on the safe side and there is merit in that, too.
We shot 9 balls on target. We made 20 attempts. We had 503 accurate passes. We won 45 duels. We got unlucky a few times. This game could have ended 6-1, with a bit more luck and without unreasonable subs. We clearly weren’t as bad as people are saying here.
And lets stop underestimating the opponents. They won 7 of their last 8 games, unbeaten in 13 of their last 14 games. They fought like lions. They scored two golazos. Oh, they are from the Czech league? Well, they are professionals too, and they have a lot of fighting spirit. They have reached the round of 16 with merit.
Sure, I was also unhappy that despite the man advantage, we won by only 2 goals, but I don’t think we were as horrible as people are saying here.
Maignan, not at fault for the first goal. Maybe, big maybe, could have saved the second one but that was also a very good shot. I give him a 6.
Florenzi, very good, two assists. Unfortunate yellow. 7
Kjaer, bad. 5.5
Gabbia, very good, 6.5
Theo, not impactful tonight. Failed in their second goal. 5.5
Adli, rather good too, I don’t understand his low rating, and I’m not a big Adli fan. 7
Reijnders, what a goal. 7
Pulisic, spectacular. 8
Loftus-Cheek, excellent, 7.5
Rafa, what a phenomenal play that resulted in the fourth goal! 7.5
Giroud, not great except for the goal which does give him a pass or more, so 6.5
Calabria, nothing special. 6
Tomori, correct. 6.5
Jovic, nothing special but almost scored. 6
Bennacer and Okafor, discreet. 5.5 each.
Pioli, 4; I profoundly disliked his subs and I think we didn’t win by a lot more because of his subs.
Lol.im the total opposite as I think it probably the anger that the way things played out. I thought we could and should have done much better but I won’t knock you on the analysis though. Maybe in a day or two I’ll change my mind. But Indo agree…Leao life saver there with that crucial goal. Have a feeling hats the goal that puts us through next round
Thanks for that. Agree with most of that although harsh on Kjaer.
On Gabbia it seems inevitable to me that he’ll be frozen out as soon as the players we signed are back from injury..
His performances don’t matter. He had the stigma of a youth player. It’s the same with the captain. It’s taken Florenzi 2 years to get fit but now he is it’s time for the captain to step aside.
It’s not a Pioli thing. It’s a modern football thing. And it’s a particularly bad thing in Italy.
Starting to think you must not like Pulisic. MOM fotmob rating of 8.4. Goal, constantly draws fouls this time drawing another red card. And you criticize his 1v1 when fotmob has him winning 6 of 6 ground duels. Beyond which he is constantly not given credit for the amount of defense he plays especially compared to how Leao never plays defense. Pulisic 5 recoveries and 2/2 on tackles won. Yet only a 6.5?
Brilliant performance. The defence was in tune with the attack. The attackers kept finding spaces and the midfield including the CBs who moved into midfield were spraying through balls throughout the game. Plays on the wings were mixed together with narrow interchanges. And defensively the team was tactically brilliant. My bad, that was the review of the Roma game ofc. We were trash. Leao and Puli at least tried to make moves down the wings but other than that the build up play was abysmal. Atrocious! I don’t even think anyone else can get a pass tbh..esp Mike who was sus on the first goal. These ratings are far too generous but it’s because I think we could have done waaay waaay better.
It’s one of those games where we won but it still felt like a loss. Playing against 10men for more than 2/3 of the game and we struggled to carve out clear chances and dominate properly against what was supposed to be a weaker team than us. Slow passing, slow build up, no penetration in goal.
The worst goal conceded for me was the one right after the break to make it 3-2. It just says all about our ability to hold it together defensively. And then Leao again had to “bail” us out from embarrassment. That’s not just my opinion, apparently 70k at the stadium also thought so. Those boots were loud and deserved. We could and should have easily kil.led the tonight. I’m sure some i.diots won’t read the entire post and get thrown off by the first few sentences lol
Despite the 4-2 win, there are a lot of issues left to be desired. The way Milan play is risky and prone to counters.
Why are so many players staying upfront along the defensive line when no one is going to thread the through ball?
Even with 2 so called ball playing midfielders in a double pivot, Milan cannot dominate the midfield when in possession. I still feel that only one of Adli and Reijnders should start, along with a runner like Bennacer or Musah.
Many players like Maignan and Kjaer are no longer performing like what we know they can produce. Even RLC is not dominating with his physique and sudden burst of pace often enough.
And yet, often the rating articles picked on Pulisic, complaining him of not doing enough. I thought yesterday he beat his marker more times than usual. His diligence is always overlooked. We can’t have 2 Leao style on both sides of the wing.
Indeed.
Pulisic: “Even the tap-ins count, but it would also be nice to see him do better in 1v1 situations.”
Do better? Did he lose the ball once on those 1vs1s? I can’t recall. He was almost unstoppable.
Yeah, this guy really doesn’t like Pulisic. Pulisic scores goals, assists, draws red cards, tracks back on defense, always making dangerous runs, makes himself available to teammates and this guy is ” I wish he would do more”… Really? WHo on this team does more than him?
We won but that’s the bright spot. I think the low feeling stems from being a man up but we still could hardly create and allowed two goals. Pioli should just go ahead and play a 4222 because it seems like he wants two up top. Our wingers get squeezed out on the side line where they easily get covered and if they beat their man another is waiting. Not sure why we don’t attempt to create going central.
We will take carefully management decision for the club.
So, we haven’t created anything… except for 4 goals. FOUR!!! And with a bit of luck we could have easily scored at least a couple more. That save on a Gabbia attempt was unreal; one of the most miraculous goalkeeping saves all year, all competitions. So just then and there we’ve created enough for five goals. There were a couple of other attempts that didn’t go in by a hair, like a player arriving a fraction of a second late after a good cross, with their goalie beaten. Say, the Slavia goalie was slightly less good and didn’t stop Gabbia, 5 goals. A tiny bit of luck and a couple more attempts could have succeeded, 7 goals. Would people still be saying we haven’t created anything? Remember the first Newcastle game? We had a ton of opportunities but couldn’t score. This time we did score four. Oh Slavia Praha is from the Czech league, boohoo! Oh we had a man advantage, boohoo! I’ve rarely seen so many complaints and even boos, when we scored 4 goals. Sure, we let in 2 but those were gorgeous, unexpected shots that were very hard to defend from; they were Praha’s merit more than our fault, especially the first one. In summary this game was 4-2 but could have been just as easily something like 6-1 and then nobody would be putting down the team like they are, now. Forza Milan. Let’s be more positive! The second leg will be tough but we do go in with an advantage; we can do it. O
This said, I’m fully aware that actually winning the Europa League will be very difficult, almost impossible, due to the presence of Liverpool, arguably at least top 3 currently, in all of European club soccer. Regardless of how well we might do if we keep advancing, we won’t beat Liverpool, period. That’s too much to ask. Not happening.
But this game? We had ups and downs but still scored 4 times so I find the boos and the extreme criticism a bit misguided. I’d rather have a mixed performance like this one that ends 4-2 for us than the utter dominance in the first Newcastle game that ended 0-0.
Even the players said they need to do better. You can celebrate all you want and I am happy for you.
The players reacted to the boos and they know that the politically correct thing to say is to accept blame and display self-criticism. But they objectively did better than people are giving them credit for.
I agree! The negativity right now is getting out of hand.
I agree with you on the last paragraph.
I also rather play the ugliest football ever and still win rather than drawing and losing but still tap myself on the shoulder for playing “beautifully”.
With all said and done, we at least have an advantage we capitulate on for the return.
The last two games, Lazio and Slavia Praha, we produced two ugly wins. I’ll take it. Beats the alternatives (drawing or losing).
So who did better this round, we, or the much lauded Bayern Leverkusen, the one leading the Bundesliga? We won 4-2. They drew 2-2 with freaking Qarabag!!!
Come on, people; be less negative!
Not to be a gramma nazi here but ive seen other people comment on leverkusen as bayern leverkusen, they are actually called bayer wheras bayern is a deep south german state and bayer leverkusen is actually from a diferent state in the mid western part of germany 😉 hope it is ok i corrected it as it wasnt meant badly 😀
You are right, of course. Yes, Bayer in the case of Leverkusen stems from the pharmaceutical company, not from Bavaria like it is the case for Bayern Munich (Munchen minus the diacritic mark that my keyboard doesn’t do).
yeah exactly
Missed the game due to work, but my first thought after reading this was.. we won, scored 4, opponents down to 10. And Pioli got a 4 here.
That’s interesting, now I’ve got to watch the match.
BTW, if somehow we won this EL, that should be an -automatic- pass for Pioli to finish his term. That’s earned alright, considering we had NEVER won this thing lol.
If I read somewhere else in the media that we can win the UEFA Cup… I’m going to puke 🤮 !!!
well the uefa cup was disbanded many moons ago so you can bet all your money on that we wont win it thats for sure, as long as we are in the europa league though we might win that one but definitely not the uefa cup 😛
Thanks for the update, but I don’t think what the european competition is called today is so important ! I think everyone understands what I meant.
Oh i was just kidding around a bit as i was pretty drunk at that point, my bad 😀
When I watched the game, I wondered if this squad had even trained at all. Misplaced passes, holding possession and not having a single meaningful attack for long spells.
This is on Pioli. He gets nervous and passes that nervousness to the players.
They were lacking in mentality today.
Even with numerical superiority they looked lost.
It was just pass it to Leao and hope for the best.
It is incredible how many here are trying to defend that “performance”, if that kind of showing doesn’t make you mad then you either don’t care or don’t understand.
Even the manager and senior players came out afterwards and said they were disappointed and should have done better – why? Because it was a terrible performance!!
All any right minded fan can ask is that the team gives it’s best and gradually shows the natural improvement a group of young players together for some time should make.
We are showing no improvement in either technical, tactical or mental proficiency .
Lazy, disinterested, unmotivated, uninspired.
Modern soccer is about winning seasons, not games. That means mastering the art of doing just enough to get the job done, when you have to play two games a week like Milan are having to almost every week right now.
I watched the game. It wasn’t Pioli’s fault that they didn’t play at their best. The players weren’t playing at 100% effort. Theo, for example, was playing at about 60%. He was going through the motions.
I think that’s fine, btw. I’ll take a 4-2 win with Theo playing at 60%, over a 6-0 win with Theo hurt or injured because he’s overworked.
Agreed . Theo was actually very bad in this game to the point where I was wondering if he had an injury or something. He didn’t seem up to speed and he made careless turnovers and completely abandoned his man on the second goal. But nobody ever wants put any blame on the players, it’s always the coach.
” I think that’s fine, btw. I’ll take a 4-2 win with Theo playing at 60%, over a 6-0 win with Theo hurt or injured because he’s overworked.”
You are forgetting there is a 2nd leg. So 6-0 would mean we can rest everybody, therefore avoiding injuries