AC Milan clinched all three points after coming back from behind against Como on Thursday evening. Two players deserve more praise than the others 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.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
Starting XI
Maignan (9): Unreal performance from the keeper, making two highly advanced saves on Paz and a fantastic one on Da Cunha’s header. I don’t care that the header was more or less straight at him; from such close range, and with that power, it’s very hard to save – especially since he needed to keep out the ‘rebound’ as well. Really really good, and on another day, a certain MOTM.
Tomori (6): A mixed bag from him tonight, with some poor moments (especially in the 1v1s) but also some good interventions (mainly with interceptions). I think he did just about to get a pass here, even if Como did create a lot from his flank.
Gabbia (6.5): Yes, Como created a lot especially in the first half, but the academy product often helped clean up the mess at the last second. There were some good blocks and also late clearances, including a header on a really dangerous cross when he even managed to put it out for a throw-in, not a corner.
De Winter (6.5): One of his best performances with the red and black shirt, at least in my opinion, as he often did well in the duels. Just like Gabbia, he also had a few very good last-second interventions inside the box. Can he do better in possession still? Yes, but defensively it was very good.
Saelemaekers (6.5): He’s a bit of a strange one tonight. On the one hand, he didn’t really find his groove on that right flank, but on the other hand, he had two crucial passes before the first two goals. The first one for Rabiot who won the penalty, and the second for Leao (great cross-field ball). Maybe a 7?
Fofana (5.5): The midfielder did have some nice interceptions high up the pitch, but he was far from brilliant in possession and especially on the edge of the box. I also think that his advanced position (self-inflicted a lot of the time) made it difficult for him to defend properly, opening up a lot of space for Como.
Modric (6.5): After the first half, during which he was very quiet, it became clear that this game wasn’t going to be about his passing. So in the final 45 minutes, he focused a lot on marking the Como star Paz, and he did so successfully even if he broke loose a few times (as you would expect). Important dirty work.
Rabiot (9 – MOTM): I said it in the liveblog as well, but he keeps showing just how much he means to this team. After winning the penalty in the first half, he scored a brilliant goal to start the second – chesting it down nicely – and once again made use of his long-range skills to score a third. On top of that, he was brilliant overall, especially in possession.
Bartesaghi (5.5): I have watched the replays multiple times, and it’s (unfortunately) clear that he made a mistake on the goal. He even looked at Kempf just before the cross came in, yet he still decided to go for Como’s No.11 instead. Before he made that incorrect decision, the Rossoneri were set up well to deal with the cross.
Nkunku (6.5): Another goal, converting the penalty, but the reality is that he struggled to impose himself in the game. He never really found the right moment to drop down and even when Milan had advanced a little, his teammates struggled to find him. The penalty was a bit lucky too admittedly, but a goal is a goal.
Leao (6.5): Fantastic work on the counter from the No.10, setting up Rabiot with a nice little dink-esque pass. Aside from that, however, he struggled to get involved and also had a couple of other good opportunities that he didn’t make the most of.
Substitutes
Füllkrug (6.5): Brilliant substitution from Allegri as the German fought incredibly hard from the first second, helping run down the clock and also to frustrate the Como players. Perhaps should have had an assist with a nice flick for Ricci. He also helped get the ball to Rabiot for the third goal.
Ricci (6): He made the necessary runs at the end of the game to help run down the clock, but he could have got a goal tonight with a bit more persistence. It was when Füllkrug nearly put him through on goal, and he just seemed to hesitate a little bit.
Loftus-Cheek (N/A): I didn’t see enough from him to give a rating.
Athekame (N/A): I didn’t see enough from him to give a rating.
Jashari (N/A): I didn’t see enough from him to give a rating.
The manager
Allegri (6.5): The first half was rough, though that was almost expected given just how good Como are on the ball. However, he clearly made the right tactical changes at half-time, and the substitutions definitely helped Milan get closer to the win.
It was interesting to see Allegri brushing Leao aside.
Really? After Leão logged in still another goal contribution with a gorgeous assist for a second goal that changed the game? That, playing out of positon? He is much better from the left. Allegri has said that Leão hasn’t fully recovered yet from both his hamstring injury and his hip injury. No wonder Leão has been slower. Still, he keeps either scoring or assisting. What’s your point?
I think he’s referring to an altercation with the Como players and Leao was about to get involved but Allegri had to intervene. Leao had been subbed off then but players can still get carded from such situations so…
Ah OK, got it. I saw that too. But people criticize Rafa so much, that I thought that qqq was another one. My bad.
😂😂😂
Pathetic.
He rushed to defend his Rafa that he didn’t realize that the person wasn’t even criticizing Leao.
Thats just sad.
That was hilarious. It’s easy to forget Allegri is a big dude, even if he looks like a coat rack. It was like swatting away a fly lol.
Good win, but we got dominated all through the game. Good thing Alegri adapted to the game, but seriously Alegri should manage the players minutes especially modric, I don’t quite agree with the ratings for Tomori which should be lower cus of the many loose balls and childish falling.
Special shout out to the referee for no giving silly falls as free kicks, it made the game more entertaining and challaging, shame to Tomori who kept falling and hoping he’d get cheap free kicks, a goal or two could have come from those errors.
At this junction I don’t know why RLC keeps getting minutes, it’s a waste of space and other players valuable minutes, this dude isn’t a footballer anymore.
Forza Milan
agreeed!!!
Allegri must have a rabbit’s foot up his arse. He is the eptiome of “it’s better to be lucky than good.”
I’ve never seen anyone continue to get results while being completely outplayed. Outcoached from start to finish.
I can’t remember the last time Milan looked good and put in a top performance from start to finish. I said this is not sustainable but maybe Allegri is just that lucky.
Don’t look now, but that guy De Winter that everyone was convinced was terrible because he had a couple rough games was our best defend, yet again.
I hope to see Fullkrug and Pulisic starting on the weekend. Nkunku and Leao to the bench please.
Allegri has to have made a deal with a black sorcerer or some sh!t like that.
Spot on!
Unfortunately the result has made everyone not to see the bad performance, it’s no different from the Genoa and Fiorentina game. If Como were clinical enough and if not for Maignan, the game would have be over at first half.
But If we were clinical we would have won over Fiorentina… what is your point?
Its not a goal If you dont score it.
My point is the over defensive approach of Allegri. Making our opponents look like prime PSG almost all games.
But we are second at the table, unlike last year…
“But we are second at the table, unlike last year…”
Drawing team like Genoa & Viola don’t keep us in the TOP4 for long though.
*teams
Fabregas has clearly focussed on more ball possession for this game, knowing that Milan do the same, especially from the back. However, Allegri countered by asking Nkunku and Leao not to run forward to mark anymore, to avoid the spaces they left whenever they pushed forward. Maignan is paid to keep the ball away, and, he did that very well. They were better at passing the ball around, but, we were able to hold them, and score on the few chances we created. We’ve seen this happen in past games between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Man. Utd and Man. City, Italy and Spain, Stuttgart and Leverkusen, and so on. Milan were more determined not to lose the game despite what was thrown at them. Como deserve a lot of credit for their performance. They’ve beaten some big names in the league since they back to the top tier. Milan has a lot to learn from this game, but, ultimately, football is not all about fancy play and chances created, it’s about the result. Como could have gone on playing like this for another 90 minutes, and Milan would still win.
Yeah, sure. Bench the player (Rafa) who despite playing injured pretty much the entire season, and playing out of his preferred left winger position, is the team’s second biggest contributor in goals and assists. Bench the player who has rescued two points and three points a few times already, this season. Brilliant move! (Insert sarcasm here).
Have you noticed that Rafa has had 8 goals and 3 assists this season? That’s 11 goal contributions.
Yeah, bench him, and you’ll see how many fewer pints we’ve have had, without those 11 goal contributions (even though one of the 8 goals was in Coppa Italia; all other 7 goals and 3 assists, in Serie A, despite not having played too many minutes, missing several games due to injury).
Fortunately you are not Milan’s head coach.
Always with the injury excuse. If he is playing I don’t want to hear about injuries. Everyone has some sort of knock they are playing with. He created 1 chance in 90 minutes and was completely useless otherwise.
The numbers can be deceiving. Just look at the game itself today. If you just look at the score you would think Milan played better. Nothing could be further from the truth. Como were by far better if you actually look at performance. That’s Leao, one good moment and 89 minutes of ineffectiveness.
The team actually looked its best this season when Leao was out and Pulisic and Gimenez were the front 2.
Pay attention. Allegri himself confirmed yesterday in pre-game press conference that Leão hasn’t fully recovered from both his recent injuries, and would be playing although injured, in order to help the team, which he did (superb assist). And he did not play all 90 minutes because Allegri is trying to prevent the aggravation of his injuries so it doesn’t even look like you watched the game. He was subbed out at minute 70, so what are you talking about, when you say 90 minutes? Did you actually watch the game???
Still, this season Leão has scored 8 times with 3 assists. That’s 11 goal participations despite missing several games and having limited minutes.
This is only a tiny bit less than the total by Christian Pulisic. If I’m not mistaken, Puli has 10 goals and 2 assists, so, 12.
I couldn’t care less if Leão stays static for 89 minutes, as long as he makes a goal contribution (either a score or an assist). That’s what forwards are for.
Have you heard of a certain guy named Lionel Messi? Well, in multiple occasions, he was static for the entire game and then suddenly would burst into the box and score. A forward’s contribution is goals and assists, and that’s way more important than being perceived as more active.
Oh yeah, sure, Como did play significantly better than us in the first half. Not so much in the second half, though. We were more clinical and scored in our 3 big opportunities. That’s what wins game.
Possession and a larger number of fruitless attempts don’t win games. Goals do.
Still, in my longer Ratings post in this very thread, I did acknowledge that we played horribly in the first half, and didn’t even deserve our tying goal, which was against the run of play.
But in the second half we played much better and scored twice. Then, naturally, we focused more on defense and Como had to desperately try to chase back the result shooting more often, and still, they failed to chase it back; never scored again for 85 minutes. Big deal, they played better… and lost. Haha.
When you are ahead by two scores, you can just defend; you don’t need to crazily go up front. You start maintaining the result. That is partly responsible for Como having had more volume of attempts.
In one of our recent games, Genoa if I’m not mistaken, we shot 33 times. We dominated the whole game with enormous offensive volume. Still, only one of these shots went in (Leão’s, mind you) and we ended up tying 1-1.
Today we had fewer attempts, but we had 3 scores. I’d rather have that. Wouldn’t you?
The team can look as good as it did with Leão out… it doesn’t cancel his goals and assists, which were extremely instrumental for points. Pay attention.
We won games with Leão scoring 1-0… we tied games that we were losing, with Leão scoring the tying goal… that’s what counts, not how good we look.
“Possession and a larger number of fruitless attempts don’t win games. Goals do.”
Are you serious? Como dominated. If not for Maignan making other worldly saves we lose by multiple goals. You can’t possibly be defending this strategy. You think having your goalie bail you out multiple times a game while our side has to score on the very few chances they create is some kind of winning strategy?
When your keeper is your MOTM , which he has been multiple times this season, that is not a sign the team is performing well.
Luck only goes so far.
One good moment changed everything, he is now the highest contributor in terms of G/A on all competition, half fit Leao is more dangerous than any Milan player, kudos to Mike and Rabiot
No.
Puli has 12 G/A, Rafa has 11.
Puli has 2 goals in Coppa, 8 in Serie A, and 2 assists in Serie A.
Rafa has 1 goal in Coppa, 1 assist in Coppa, 7 goals in Serie A, and 2 assists in Serie A.
Olupikey strikes again.
“Bench the player (Rafa) who despite playing injured pretty much the entire season”
YES! Bench the injured player so he can get fit. He did one good thing during the whole match. One. And if Rabiot hadn’t scored there what would have been Leao’s contribution to the team? Big fat zero.
He’s not fit. He should be resting and healing his wounds. Just like Pulisic did last night. We need them healthy.
I wonder, they just can’t seem to stop with the injury excuse, it’s been over 5 months, he’s fit enough for twitch!
Leao for the past few seasons has only been consistent at having one good moment per game, they try to make it seem like that’s enough, its no coincidence that it’s easier for us to concede when he’s on the pitch, despite only being able to provide only good moment…
Check the numbers, goals conceded with leao on the pitch are astronomical
Leao is not a defender, never has been. He actually tries, but he’s not good at it. If he were a more complete player, he’d be playing for PSG, Real or ManCity, not for us. We wouldn’t be able to afford him. He is who he is, and in the entire history of AC Milan since 1899, he is one of only four players who have scored more than 50 goals and simultaneously provided more than 20 assists. The other 3 are Kaká, Seedorf and I forgot who the third one is (I do remember it was another huge club legend). Good company.
You don’t need to take my word for it regarding his injuries. Take Allegri who has confirmed it as recently as two days ago. Said he remains with hamstring and hip bothering him but is playing because the team needs him.
But sure, you know better than Allegri, champ.
Ah, in that sense I agree. But you know why Rafa hasn’t been given the rest he needs to fully heal: because of our incredibly short roster (the fault of the managers) and the fact that all five of our upfront players have been injured or injury-prone this season: Rafa with 3 injuries this season already, 2 of these injuries lingering according to Allegri, Santi recovering from surgery, Puli quite fragile, Nkunku and Fullkrug both having a history of being extremely injury-prone, and both having already collected injuries in their short Milan tenure (Fullkrug was the latest one who had to come in while injured).
Do I like it? Not at all. Again, it’s mostly the fault of the managers who trimmed the roster too much; shipped out Colombo, loaned Camarda, didn’t renew Abraham’s loan, didn’t renew Jovic’s contract.
It’s not for nothing that breaking news today suggests that they are talking with Lecce to abort Camarda’s loan and bring him back now. Mind you, he’s also injured (shoulder).
Because we are so thin upfront, Leao has had to play while not being 100%. It shows; it is obvious, and the head coach has confirmed it. Still, the Leao haters here say I’m making it up and call Rafa lazy.
Depending on how far you want you to go back (to the Big Bang it’s 99.99%, to your birth it’s 51%) determines most things in the universe.
But the bit that we do control – the 49% or whatever is absolutely crucial, and THAT determines outcomes especially in football and especially in Scudetto races.
What you’re seeing is Allegri controlling the things he controls, and, yes, relying on luck. And that’s why he has 6 x Scudetti.
Pioli was saved by Jovic and Okafor many many times.
Best timing he had with subs probably in a decade… got to give love to Nkunku as well. Only player who can deputize Pulisic and is not as terrible as people say. Him, Pulisic and Leao are actually delivering solid numbers as well..
It’s official – against top half of the table teams we’re Han Solo – against bottom half of the table we’re Ja Ja Binks… please fix, Max and we might be in with a shot of the Scudetto…
Next season.
Dude, you know Jar Jar Binks is actually a Sith Lord incognito, right?
That was very funny! Well done!
That’s actually spot on.
Tomori is not good enough anymore.a sub at best
Han Solo dies in the end…
From eighth place last season to challenging for the Scudetto. Modric and Rabiot really broke the trend of bad transfers. They are top quality. Fullkrug was also a smart signing. There are still some long-term issues to deal with (formation, returning loanees, Maignan renewal, competing in Europe) but we are looking good in the short-term. I know we “fumbled” some games but the team is in a great position. Three points off the top and only Serie A to focus on. It will take something special from Inter to keep us at bay.
Unbelievable. The way we played in the first half I could not have envisioned us winning this game much less by 3-1. Mike and Rabiot either one for MOTM. Mike kept us in the game. Without his saves we’d have surely gone down 3 or 4 and we def would not have pulled out from there. Rabiot though was the reason we scored the goals to get the points. Both excellent
Salad did alot of dirty work tonight. He may need a rest. Leao had an exquisite assist….. Out wide left where’s he’s the most dangerous… Hello Allegri wake up!.
Those were my guys for this one. Once again… UNBELIEVABLE!!
The pass to Leao. World class.
The goal was 34% Saelemaekers, 33% Leao and 33% Rabiot. The pass from Ale was perfect.
Guys – 20 games and 43 points. There is no such level of luck. This is winning ugly 101 – IMHO. Similarly like in this book –> Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis—Lessons from a Master.
We are used to impressive displays and dominating wins – that’s Milan of early 2000s. I miss it as well. However, this is our reality – at the moment at least.
Ha ha, how the hell did Brad Gilbert jump out in an italian football forum…
My favourite tennis tactic book, btw.
Crazy game and a penalty moment to remember for everyone who thinks there’s a conspiracy against us… very lucky there.
Fair to say Rabiot owned that game but no idea how we managed to win that one. Mike magnificent again.
To be fair, this felt like a reverse of the sort of game where we dominate the whole game and somehow concede to the opponents’ only chances.
Hard to single out individuals for struggling, it was a collective team issue and there are also clearly a lot of tired and unfit legs out there for us too, probably should factor in to how harsh some reactions will be.
Paz is a glorious player, what a crazy bargain he has been for Como.
“Hard to single out individuals for struggling”
LOL. Nope. Easy. Tomori was bloody awful. Fofana did lots of really poor decisions. Nkunku was his usual self again losing the ball even before getting it. Got REALLY lucky to get that penalty in too.
Wow, what a match. Worst first half seen from us this season. It seems like Allegri didn’t do his homework; trying out a new formation against an offensive Como away. It looked like we were playing Real Madrid. And Nico Paz really is one of the best players currently in serie a. We were very lucky to make it out of the first half with a draw, mostly thanks to Mike.
Second half, and not for the first time, a completely different story when we went for our original formation. And, of course, Rabbiot with his amazing performance. He’s really stating his claim as the MVP of the entire season. Also kudos to Leao, who barely did anything except for that genius flick to Rabbiot. We need to see more from him.
Other than that, we need to improve our back three. The three CBs that played tonight should all be backup. I would give all of them a maximum of 5.5 in the scores. Modric was also very much off today. And Nkuku is no CF, obviously, despite his efforts and goals.
How the fu€k did win this game ? Especially if you look at the first half.
This is not a “boring”, “dull” game by us. We were besieged and beaten from pillar to post.
Maldini’s Heir team did everything better than us and looked like 2009-11 Barcelona for a while. They dominated, their passes were fluid, the combinations were smooth, they created many chances, but in the end their defense which looked sus and them missing so many chances lead them to concede 3 goals from 2 actual good chances from us.
Tonight we had only 3 good players on the pitch: Maignan, Rabiot and Saelemakers.
Leão deserves a little mention for that nice assist and to a very less degree Nkunku for converting a penalty. And that’s it.
Against Genoa and Fiorentina we stole 1 point from each game, against Como we stole 3 points.
But in the end, a win is a win.
Yes agreed, we were outplayed by every metric except goals.
We had 4 shots on target and 3 goals, that rarely happens.
Their goal keeper was poor and ours was miraculous
Rabiot was superb reminds me of Ibra.
Perhaps he can be our striker hee hee
In summer perhaps we can say thanks to Allegri for steadying the ship, bring in Fabregas and gift him Nico Paz (swap them Jashari and Nkunku)
Their defense is totally their weak point, and in the end it showed. Everything else you noted is 100% spot on. If Mike hadn’t been world class today we lose 3-1 or maybe 3-2. Como was in Serie B two seasons ago…
Como having been in Serie B has no impact whatsoever in who they are today. Don’t you know that they got purchased by a billionaire who then provided the money to hire good players and a good coach? This is not Serie B Como. This is Serie A Como, a team that is fighting for Europe. They are a very good team.
This thing of faulting teams for only having won because their goalkeeper was magical, is a bit misguided because a goalkeeper is indeed part of a team. Yes, we have a world-class one, and we won the game in great part thanks to him, and that’s just fine.
And we didn’t just win because of Mike. We had individual moments of brilliance from other players. Leão’s flick assist. Rabiot’s two golazos. Alexis’ stealing of the ball and perfect through pass for Rabiot.
The fact is, we do have some very decent players (and a few world class ones). We also had an injury crisis, aggravated by a few suspensions, putting strain on our very short roster (this part is the managers’ fault; they trimmed our roster too much).
Ultimately, if you are a young and speedy offense but you stop on a world class player, and then your defense falls apart given some moments of brilliance from the opponents, you ultimately deserve to lose the game, because what really counts is placing the ball into the net, and we did it three times while they did it once.
If, if, if…. I don’t care for the ifs. I care for scoring more goals than you concede. Well, Mike *is* world class, Rabiot *is* world class, and that’s why we won.
So how do you excuse dropping points to relegation battlers every other week?
It’s because we are playing poorly. Sometimes we get lucky and win and often we don’t
Exactly. And let’s face the facts, on paper we have a way stronger and better team than Genoa, Viola & Como. Yet all of them made US look like the team fighting against relegation and not scudetto.
We have won against almost all big clubs except Juve, with whom we drew at their home, after Pulisic atypically missed a PK (otherwise we’d have defeated all good teams).
Yes, we have a problem against the small teams that park the bus. We have trouble breaking them down. It’s known and needs to be fixed. But on the other hand, every time a big team tries to be aggressive against us, we end up beating them in counter-attacks. This is not luck. This is skill. It’s having several players capable of flashes of individual brilliance, especially when counter-attacking fast. Several of the goals we scored to win against the big clubs came out of some nice vertical counter-attacks.
43 points in 20 games is not so bad, and it’s why we are in second place.
We have a goal differential of +17, which is second only to Inter’s, and is 4 more than Napoli’s. There are only 3 teams that have conceded slightly fewer goals than we have.
“But on the other hand, every time a big team tries to be aggressive against us, we end up beating them in counter-attacks. This is not luck. This is skill.”
Roma, Viola & Como kept hammering us when we were at the ropes. Landing punches everywhere. Viola hit the crossbar, Como hit the crossbar, they all failed to convert their $1.000.000 chances. That is not skill. That was luck. Or was it the skills of our defenders that forced those opponents to miss the sitters (e.g. the Brescianini crossbar at point blank range)? I seriously doubt our players or team or anything else made it happen.
We were extremely lucky.
Luck doesn’t take you to second position in Serie A, and, keep you there. We had a struggling team last season, brought in new players in the summer, and are still trying to create a good team. So far, injuries have not allowed the coach to do that. I can only fault the coach for not wanting a bigger squad, but, I guess he has his reasons. We have played some good football this season, and received praises, but, we can’t expect that all the time. We have a lot of new players in the team, so, the coach needs time to bring out what he wants in them. It’s easier when they are all young, and have the energy to run around, like this Como team. Ours is a blend of different ages. We needed yesterday’s game, and we got the result, despite everything they threw at us. Both sides have a lot to learn from last night’s game.
They forgot to spend some of that money on defense apparently. And, uh, we had 32% possession. On another day we would have lost. Remember our game against Fiorentina and the chances missed? If the ball goes six inches to the left or right we’d have beat Fiorentina. That was Como today. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The first half was horrible; a real nightmare. But ultimately the end result counts. Maybe this is a sign of great team, a team that can somehow win after those first 45 minutes.
Maldini’s Heir team lol 😂🤣🤣
But yes spot on as usual Giga
Como needed Cutrone!
With him they would have won for sure.
Maybe they needed Rabiot
Milan lost 2 points vs Fiorentina because they didn’t take advantage of the many goal scoring chances but today it was the opposite. They converted every chance they had.
Another awful 1st half. The penalty changed the game. Great work by Saelemaekers to steal the ball and lead Rabiot with a pass.
The 2nd goal was a beauty. From Saelemaekers long ball to Leao touch and pass to Rabiot great finish.
Great game by Rabiot. He started the season great, but after the injury hasn’t been the same. He us back at his best.
Tomori was flopping and giving the ball away in dangerous situations in the 2nd half.
Another goal conceded from a cross and header inside the 6 yard box, but outside of that Maignan was great.
Como plays beautiful football and Paz is a great talent but they score very little.
Typical AllegriBall win. Ugly but effective. UCL about to start again. Lets see if Milan can take advantage of inter and Napoli playing every 3 days.
Rabiot probably is the transfer of the summer in Serie A.
7M Euros.
Or as the Late Silvio puts it: “Peanuts”
Rabiot world class. Fofana Top flop.
Why the dig at one of your own players who has contributed to numerous goals and wins this season?
He contributed to many mistakes, that’s the real stat.
There’s no such real stat. Try again.
? My word, too many r word on this page
O’ really? Say that to this page then:
https:// http://www.kickest. it/en/serie-a/stats/players/errors-leading-to-goals
O’ really? Say that to this page then:
www kickest it/en/serie-a/stats/players/errors-leading-to-goals
when we have 0 control of midfield we have to start using Alonso’s Leverkusen tactics: 3-4-2-1
box midfield of Puli, Rabiot behind ST while 2 physical players in the CDM roles: Ricci/Fofana/Jashari all fit the bill
Modric needs to be CDM in 3 men midfield to have some space like Pirlo had with the help of Gatusso, I think double-pivot would be too much for Luka at this point in his career (but I have underestimated the maestro before when I never imagined him starting most games)
One of the worst looking wins I’ve seen in awhile. Rabiot and Maignan saved Milan today. Leao with another nice play but I would like to see more from him(although it’s hard to blame him when he isn’t playing his normal role, but at least he’s making a difference). Nkunku didn’t really do anything other than blast a PK in that should have been saved. I love Maignan but why doesn’t he ever come out to claim crosses? I feel like that’s the only part of his game lacking. I think I’d love to see a 4-3-3 with puli/Fulkrug/leao up top. Was puli unfit today?
Notice how Leao’s assist came from him being wide and in space? We need to stop with this Serie B bus parking nonsense and use a 4-3-3 with Leao wide left, Puli wide right and Fullkrug in between.
Milan played 451 for most of the game, with Leao playing on the left.
Milan cannot risk putting leao at the center of its game plan anymore, it has turned out very disastrous in the past and leao isn’t reliable even now…
Our formation should never be centered around leao, it makes us dead on arrival!
We needed player that will take their chances today and for others to learn , we lost 2point in Florence because we didn’t take our chances, Pulisic should learn
LOL. Pulisic-hater strikes again! 😂😂😂😂😂
Literally the only thing he ever says
At least he is consistent then… 🤷♂️
Hahaha, give it a break.
i think we need to play with leao, nkunku or fulkrug and pulisic and take out fofana. we need more offense. Today’s 3 is an aberration and all due to Rabiot but you cant count on it.
MOTM is Mike. If Mike doesn’t make those early saves we’d be 2-1 or 3-1 down and it’s unlikely we’d have the morale and energy to make the Rabiot goals happen. But clearly Rabiot had his game of the season so far.
He was insane, but let’s not forget that Rabiot scored 2 and got us the pen as a midfielder. (And he didn’t keep clean sheet, which doesn’t look good for keepers when giving out MOTM, even though it wasn’t Maignan’s fault at all)
It continues to boggle the mind how ricci and jashari aren’t given more opportunities to get gametime and gel with the team when fofana and Rlc are consistently the worst midfielders on the entire pitch…
He started Jashari and Ricci in the previous match, How did that work out? They were not good and Fofana came on and got the assist on the game tying goal. RIcci and Jashari are not better.
Because they’re not getting game time. Not being in Europe has removed the need to rotate from Allegri’s preferred 11, so when he has to the players are cold.
I’ve decided that Fofana is on there for comic relief. It’s Allegri trolling the other team, saying: Look, we’re going let you think you’re beating us, and then we’ll beat you with 10.5 guys.
This. I think there’s a note in Allegri’s contract that says he must have either Fofana or RLC on the pitch all times. We could be so much better team if Allegri realized those two are holding us back – a lot.
To be fair to him, the other mezzala Ricci isn’t much better either.
Modrić and Rabiot are carrying the midfield, the rest are average or below average players (although I’ll excuse Jashari for now).
Absolutely right. I’ve been saying it forever; Fofana decreases our offensive output by wasting attacks when he unreasonably tries to score despite being arguably the worst finisher in all of Serie A, and loses dangerous balls leading to counter attacks by the opponents, whom he helps much more consistently than he (rarely) helps Milan. Sometimes we improve just by subbing him out even if his replacement doesn’t do much, because we stop constantly wasting attacking plays. RLC is irregular and can have the occasional great game but also more often than not, he is dreadful.
——-
bb, one of your posts didn’t have a reply button. I meant to also make a point, in response to your argument that the opponents missed sitters, were stopped by our goalkeeper, and hit the woodwork so we were lucky, that we also missed sitters, missed a PK, got stopped by goalkeepers, and hit the woodwork in other games. Puli missed a PK against Juve that would have given us all 3 points. We shot 33 times at Genoa but could only get one in. Gabbia hit the crossbar, others hit the woodwork too, there was the infamous slipping fall by Fofana in front of an empty net, there was that incredible reflex save on a header by Rafa that was very similar to Mike’s save on Da Cunha, and so on and so forth. We could have dropped more points if opponents were luckier but could also have earned more points if we had been luckier in other games. These things tend to balance each other in a long season. Still, 42 points in 20 games can’t be just dismissed as luck. With the quality in Serie A, the second best club football league in the world, it takes skills to be second in the table, not just luck.
Ricci plays better as the left or right cm and jashari plays better in the middle as a backup for modric. Ricci has better movement and can do the dirty work and box to box running of fofana and rabiot. Jashari likes to be more stationary from the games hes been able to play, I’m not sure if it’s from the fracture and doesnt have complete confidence or its still a bit painful.
La Partita
I paid less attention to this game than to others. I watched from home on TV, not willing to make the (short) trip to Como, and was doing other things simultneously, so pardon me if I missed stuff that would have changed my ratings; I’m rating based on what I saw.
Terrible first half for Milan. The defense looked like a Swiss cheese full of holes. The offense was ineffective and getting no real help from the wingbacks and the midfield. The old story of a cross over the small box saw Mike not coming out of the goal line to interrupt it, and Fofana losing Kempf who easily headed it in. Then Mike made no fewer than 4 good saves (2 of them against Nico Paz), and he kept us in the game. Then Saelemaekers had a brilliant move, cleanly robbing the ball and sending a perfect through pass to Rabiot who earned a PK; Nkunku buried it; hit it powerfully and although not very well placed, the power was enough for the ball to go in despite the goalkeeper touching it. 1-1 against the run of play; Milan did not deserve to be tied at halftime.
Then in the second half, individual brilliance of some of our players did it. First, Mike kept denying Nico Paz with two additional saves, one of them brilliant (the third brilliant one by Mike). And Rabiot exploded. First, Rafa produced a spectacular assist and Rabiot controlled and finished even better, 2-1. Later Rabiot did it again with a powerful and well-placed long-distance shot, 3-1.
So, we continue to do very well against good teams, even when we don’t start the game well. The team came back more focused, changed tactically, and with individual brilliance, and then beat away from home a very good team that were previously undefeated in their home games; we kept one of the best attacking players in Serie A, Nico Paz, out of our net. We do poorly against the small teams… but we’ve been a force to reckon with, against the good teams.
I Calciatori
Maigan – despite some guilt for their goal (together with Fofana) which would have lowered his score by a bit, Mike then had no fewer than 6 good saves, three of them spectacular, and the other three pretty decent too; he completely owned Nico Paz; the latter’s only shot that woud have defeated Maignan, hit the crossbar. Paz must have been very frustrated… Mike also had two other saves, easier ones, for a total of 8 saves. The one on Da Cunha was at him but needed reflex and he even tapped it out to prevent the rebound for Da Cunha. Anyway, Mike despite their goal, was Magic Mike again and almost as instrumental in earning the 3 points as Rabiot, so, he deserves an 8 (would have been a 9 if he only came out of the goal line to cut that cross that resulted in their goal, but he more than redeemed himself).
De Winter – better game than Tomori’s and Gabbia’s, having avoided a certain goal by Como, dispossessing the attacker who was meters from Maignan and ready to shoot. He participated in the collective disaster that was our defense in the first half, but at least, a bit less bad than the other two center backs, and was not a guilty party in their goal. 6.5 for avoiding what would have been a disastrous second goal by Como. Also, he never helped the offense like Pavlovic did, as he is not Pavlovic, but tried his best to be attentive in defense.
Tomori – did miss several duels. Won some too, and did help the offense in a couple of occasions. Improved later in the game, when his ability to frustrate Como’s offense was evident in the fact that he suffered a violent foul. Despite a bad first half (which was the case for the whole defense except for Maignan), I still feel that he was more helpful than detrimental, overall, so a bit more than a pass. 6.5 (also, it needs to be understood that when Allegri changed to a 4-3-3, that’s tougher on Tomori who is no right back).
Gabbia – Good positioning in some plays when he interrupted promising Como attacks (like when he dove in for a header that got the ball out of our box) especially in the second half, but also had a poor first half. The better second half earns him a pass. 6.
Bartesaghi – Shaky in defense against Como’s speedy and organized offense in the first half, with some responsibility for opening up a space that Kempf exploited (although Fofana had a bigger share of the failure, there), then had to try harder because the whole offense was struggling, which means he abdicated from trying to help the offense which is his best asset (his crosses). Not a good game when I think of the complete absence of going forward to try a good cross. so he left Rafa and Nkunku unfed. 5.
Saelemaekers – Decent game. Not brilliant like in the beginning of the season (we haven’t seen that Alexis in a while; likely because the poor guy has to start every game). Very instrumental for the PK earned by Rabiot. Had a couple of other good plays including a hockey assist to Leão in Rabiot’s first goal. As usual, lots of effort, covering the second most kilometers after Rabiot. More disciplined, not losing his head and not collecting a yellow. Overall, more helpful than not. Just constructing a lot of the very essential first goal deserves a full point in plus, so, 7.
Modric – I didn’t see much from him. He was a bit discreet, struggling with Como’s speedy offense. Like his companions, better in the second half. A pass. 6. I guess it is understandable that when Milan faces a young and speedy team, Modric at age 40 struggles more.
Fofana – A disaster as usual. In great part responsible for Como’s goal. A bizzare moment when he recovered a ball but then sent it to a region of the pitch where there was virtually nobody; no Milan player and not even a Como player. Very poor attempt at finishing when he got a good pass inside the box, shot weakly and wide. Alexis and Tomori worked hard to make something happen in a certain offensive play in second half, then Alexis made the mistake of passing it to Fofana who immediately lost the ball, which actually spiked a dangerous counter by Como. Fofana was again much more helpful to the opponents than to Milan. 3.
Rabiot – Oh my God, what a PHENOMENAL performance!!! Scored 2 spectacular goals and earned the PK for the other goal. Defended well. Ran the most kilometers. 6 recoveries and 4 tackles. Absolutely perfect, and the man responsible for the three points (together with Mike Maignan). What else can we expect of any player? MOTM. Which of course, he won as well from the official award. Rabiot is already an extraordinary player, world class, and most games he is instrumental and super helpful, but tonight he did even more and played his best game for Milan so far, which is big competition against his own very good previous games. That’s a score of 10, no doubt.
Leão – Not very active (also, no service received from the companions); as we all know and Allegri has confirmed, he hasn’t recovered fully yet, according to Allegri, from both his hamstring concern, and his ankle concern. Still, he again managed to make a goal contribution with a quite spectacular assist to Rabiot. For this, he earns one additional point over the sufficiency, because that second goal changed the game. 7.
Nkunku – While I had moments when I wasn’t paying attention to the game so I don’t really know overall how well Nkunku did, I have to acknowledge that even though he didn’t place the ball very well, he shot the PK powerfuly preventing the goalkeeper’s touch from stopping the ball from going in, thus earning an essential goal in a moment when we were doing very poorly. That was an important goal, to calm everybody up during halftime, so that the team came back more focused in second half. That’s his 4th goal in 3 games and that can’t be overlooked; it does seem like Nkunku is becoming a habitual contributor, after such a poor stretch. So, if I gave to Rafa one point above sufficiency for his assist, I have to do the same for Nkunku for burying the PK. 7. (Besides, the two upfront players were getting no service in the entire first half so it’s hard to fault him for being less than active in the first 45 minutes).
I Subentrati
Ricci – Just by not being Fofana therefore not making the ton of mistakes that Fofana made, Ricci was helpful in his defensive midfielder task when we had to prevent Como from coming back to score a second; also tried to pin down Como back by trying some attempts at offense. Good game. 6.5
RLC – Some help in holding Como back, but nothing great. Had a good opportunity to head the ball in but sent it high. Not better than a pass. 6.
Füllkrug – Played with sacrifice despite a foot injury; I’m liking this guy, doing his best to recover to help the companions, and he did help with holding Como back; at times he looked more like a defender than like a forward tonight but that’s fine because we were ahead and we needed that; Como has a dangerous offense. And then, he participated in Rabiot’s second goal, and also could have had an assist in a good ball to Ricci, justiying also his forward position. He tried hard from the moment he stepped on the pitch. Deserves a 7 but I will add half a point more for trying his best to play while injured. 7.5
Jashari – Limited minutes, s/v
Athekame – Limited minutes, s/v
Il Direttore Tecnico
What’s with Allegri’s team that the first half is so dreadful? Still, he must be doing something right in his lecture to the players during halftime, because Milan often will play better in the second half, and that happened again, tonight. Also, I liked his subs and when he made them. It was correct to rest a still injured Rafa early, to not bring Puli in given that it didn’t seem necessary as we were doing well at that point, to remove Fofana who was a disaster (well, I will never understand why Allegri keeps starting him, but at least, he’s been removing him early), and to make the team more defensively solid by bringing in big and tall players like Füllkrug and RLC. Again Allegri’s team does very well against a good team (well, in the second half, I mean), and it’s impossible not to like that, although one would hope that the Mister had better tactics against the small teams; but I’m rating him on tonight’s game, so, 7 for spiking the second half improvement in a complicated game through his words, tactical changes and subs.
Fabulous summary as always. Appreciate your analysis
Forza Milan
Thanks
In reference to Leão I mistyped ankle concern. It’s a hip concern.
Milan scored 3 goals on 3 passes.
Saelemaekers to Rabiot = Penalty goal.
Saelemaekers to Leao to Rabiot= Goal.
No passing on the 3rd goal.
Meanwhile Como had about 1000 passes.
Milan is considered a defensive team while Como plays offensive football, but Milan have scored 33 goals, while Como have scored 28.
Nice win by Milan.
They keep beating the teams in the top half of the table but keep losing points to the teams in the bottom half, which will end up costing them the scudetto unless they change that trend.
Better win than play good football
Literally came here to rage that you didnt give both Rabiot and Maignan 9, and sure enough you did it lol. We played them like the top half table team they are. defense did enough, koni had some really good moments which was nice to see. Fullkrug is very Pipo coded which I love even if it’s not best for our current system. Please pay magic Mike whatever he wants🙏
Rabiot has been the best signing of the summer.
Lucky. You got to give credits to Como and Fabregas as they dominated and created more scoring opportunities. The result could have gone very differently. That Como squad value and salary is much lower than Milan.
That was the worst half of football Milan has played this year. Questionable penalty at the end of the half as I don’t think Rabiot would have gotten to the ball had there been no contact in the box.
Rabiot was magnificent. A crazy horse, as Allegri calls him.
Maignan’s otherwise fantastic game was slightly marred by not coming out to knock the corner kick away which Como scored on via a header.
If someone could explain what the 2nd half changes were prior to the Fullkrug and RLC substitutions (beyond our picking up our own pressing levels), that would be great. It wasn’t clear what adjustments were made after the half.
Questionable? The defender didn’t touch the ball but tripped (unintentionally but that’s not important for the rule) a player advancing towards the goal. That’s a PK by the rules, and anywhere in the world.
You know after last season, we all agreed that we’d take at allegri at all costs even if it means winning ugly and playing for a 1-0 win. Well we got just that and we’re in the race for the scudetto and we’re still complaining? I get it. I’d like some tactical changes against the smaller teams because being dominated and looking like we’re going to lose can make doubters talk. But we’ve also in the third time in our history after 20 games have only lose once. Last time we have don’t this is in 2003/04 season.
Rabiot has looked amazing. Totally reborn here in milan. The midfield and defence are fine in my opinion. It’s the cb where we need a world class cb and in place for tomori. I’m sorry, he makes too many mistakes and is a liability at times but I love his passion for milan and always hope he can improve but hopefully as a rotational player. Get us one solid cb and if allegri can change his approach in games against smaller teams, than I think we can truly fight for the scudetto.
Tomori?
He’s been excellent this season.
If you’re looking for a CB or thing that doesn’t make any mistakes might I suggest AI?
The rating and description for Nkunku are aligned. Sounds more like a 5.5. If Isak was describing Pulisic with those words it would def be a 5.5
This. Nkunku socres a VERY lucky goal from a penalty and gets praised for it. LOL. Double-standards.
… while being completely MIA the whole match.
Honestly, I think the penalty by Nkunku was the only touch he had the entire match.
A goal is a goal. It happened in a crucial moment when we were being crushed, and it then improved the team’s morale for the second half. We didn’t have our main PK taker who had only missed twice in his entire career (Puli). So Nkunku tried, and even though he didn’t place the shot well, he shot powerfully and the ball went in. Yes, I will praise him for that. Why shouldn’t? It was a goal, and an important one. I also praised Rafa and Alexis for helping with Rabiot’s first goal, and Rabiot himself for both his goals. Normal. Goals win games and result in table points. Everything else (including being dominated by Como especially in first half; not as much in second half) is secondary to scoring more goals than you concede. Yes, all players who contribute to scoring more than you concede are to be praised. Yesterday, these were Maignan, Alexis, Nkunku, Rafa, and Rabiot, and all five deserve praise (even though the defense struggled, even Gabbia and De Winter also deserve praise for clearing two Como attacks that almost certainly would have resulted in goals for them if not for these defenders blocking and/or dispossessing the opponents).
It’s not rocket science. Score more goals than your opponents and you win games and all 3 points, and the players who made it happen deserve praise.
Scudetto winning performance.
Won a game that they shouldn’t.
Big performances by the difference makers.
The impact of those players shows the benefit of targeted, quality signings.
Leao’s still struggling but just getting in the odd assist or goal.
I wish Milan would settle on a penalty taker, and also they haven’t had a free kick taker since the Turkish scum (who rarely scored free kicks for Milan anyway).
Balotelli was probably the last consistent free kick scorer.
Onwards and upwards.
Too bad you were supporting Como
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Honestly, a 6 rating for both Leao and Nkunku is generous. Besides from the penalty luckily scored and the assist to Rabiot, both were ABYSMAL in this match. Defense struggled big time with crosses and even if Mike had a monster match, he needs to go for those crosses and not just look at them waiting for the opposition to score. Tomori was also horrible today, and Saelemakers justifies the 6.5 because the beauty previous to Rabiot penalty and that pass to Leao previous to the assist to Rabiot. This was a bad game, but Rabiot was everywhere and basically he himself trashed Como poor defense (go figure, a team managed by a Spanish guy sucking in defense, never saw that before lol)
Before today’s match, Como had less goals against than Milan. They’re now equal on 16 conceded. What’s that about a bad defence??
Information is important.
A few thoughts
1. My problem with Milan over the last several years is they have only a few players who move well without the ball, and only a few players who have the vision to find the players who are move creatively with the ball. Rabiot is on of the players who can do both
2. Rabiot’s determination changed the course of this game. Reminds me a lot of Pulisic against Torino.
3. This is Laeo. He will never be the guy who runs the most during the course of the game. And until he heals he has lost his ability to really drive at defenses. But he has moments of brilliance like today. And because of those moments I am glad he plays for Milan.
4. NNkunku to me is a different story. He is no where all game, he takes the ball out of Laeo’s hands on the penalty. he score again on a strong but terribly placed shot on goal, exactly where his other penalty shot was placed. Then he goes invisible again. This is not winning football.
5. Will we get the Sept/ Oct Modric back? I have my doubts
6. This game could easily have seen Milan go down 0-3. But it was nice to get some luck today.
7. TomorI is so good in a back 3
8. Seriously is Fullkrug’s toe broken? Did he really need to be played today?
9. Saelemaekers has to start getting yellow cards soon doesn’t he?
10. Don’t look now but Milan are still in the hunt…Forza!
About your thoughts (good post)
1. Agreed.
2. Agreed.
3. Agreed 100%. You seem to be one of the few posters here who get what Leão is and what he can and can’t accomplish. I’m also glad that he plays for Milan. By the way, if he were perfect and also defended and moved more, he’d be playing for PSG or Real or ManCity or Arsenal, not for Milan. So, we are blessed to have him.
4. True, I’m still not completely convinced by Nkunku despite four goals in 3 games. But one thing must be said to defend him a bit: today he two forward players, Rafa and Nkunku, were very rarely fed, especially in the first half. There were no Bartesaghi crosses. No midfielders sending them good through passes. Nothing. They were left completely isolated while Como dominated the actions and had Milan pined down in our defensive half of the field. It’s hard to do something when it’s like this. Still, Rafa produced a gorgeous assist, and Nkunku stepped up to take the PK in our natural PK taker’s absence (Pulisic) and scored. Those are two goal contributions, out of our three, and that’s not insignificant. That’s actually part of why we won.
5. Me too. He looks exhausted and less precise. But even tired, he is still a good player who organizes the midfield and distributes well the ball. He had a bad game today but Allegri did keep him longer, because he knew that Como’s offense is too strong, so we needed even a more handicapped Modric there, to hold things together.
6. Yes, we could have been down 0-3 in the first half… but I wouldn’t call it luck. I’d call it skill. The huge skills of a great goalkeeper. Maignan prevented that from happening, and people sometimes call it luck when a goalkeeper keeps the team in the game by making several important saves, but the thing is, football is played with 11 players on the pitch for each team, and the goalkeeper is one of the 11. There is merit and skill in making those saves, and they were very well timed and executed, so I wouldn’t call it luck. I would call it individual brilliance. We had several brilliant things happening today, individually (and that’s what Cesc Fabregas also said after the game). Mike’s saves. Alexis stealing the ball and feeding perfectly Rabiot for the PK. Nkunku being calm in an adverse environment and burying the PK. Leão making that fantastic flick assist to Rabiot. Rabiot scoring two golazos. So, that’s not luck; that’s skills that those players displayed, today. Also the subs did fairly well. Ricci and Füllkrug entered the game with resolve and focus. Other players did well here and there, like De Winter and Gabbia preventing two almost certain goals by Como. So, it was a team effort. Most players helped the effort more than they damaged it, except Fofana.
7. Yes, Tomori did well in the moments when we played with a back 3. When he was forced to play in a back four as the right back, that’s when he struggled.
8. Yes, his toe is jammed, and yes, we needed him. He did very well when he came in. Beating Como was hard and we needed everything we could muster.
9. Alexis has been collecting yellows in other games. Today fortunately he didn’t. I love Alexis’s fighting spirit and work ethics but he seriously need to become more disciplined, especially because if he’s suspended, we’re in trouble as we don’t have another right wingback as good as he’s been.
10. Yes, we are. Forza, sempre! Still, I’m concerned because we keep dropping points to the small teams, and we have a short roster, subject to injury crises, and with some injury-prone and older players. It’s tough. The top of Serie A this season is very crowded, and Inter are still 3 points ahead of us; we can’t allow them to escape.
Allegri made the decision that Nkunku takes the penalty. He said it himself.
Como thinking they are an EPL team, even the fans chant like they are in the prem 🤣🤣🤣 maybe they’ll take the ultimate Premier player in Pervis for 40 million quid.
Given that their owners are worth 40 billion dollars and they are willing to spend money hiring players, I’m afraid Como might indeed raise its quality closer to the level of an EPL team. I hope not, because the top of Serie A is already over-crowded for only 4 UCL spots (let’s hope, 5 if Italy earns another one, but that’s not a given, with England, German, and Spain also being competitive for those two 5th spots; England should win one of the two, so it’s rather three nations fighting for one spot). So I don’t want Como to become an EPL-like team, but it is not excluded that they will, due to the wealth of their new owners.
True, I was thinking during the match that in 5-10 years Como could become a consistent threat for the Scudetto.
There is an important point that many are not making, here.
Yes, overall Como played better with more volume in terms of possession and shots attempted (but we were more clinical, more individually brilliant, and scored more, which is what counts).
But people who are criticizing our team are forgetting a very important aspect (I will use caps for emphasis, not that I’m shouting):
NOBODY. HAD. BEATEN. COMO. IN. COMO. YET. THIS. SEASON.
Let that sink in. They were undefeated at home, until tonight. They are a very good team, with a young, organized, and relentless offense.
Still, we kept them down to one goal thanks to our brilliant goalkeeper, and we scored 3 goals on them, thanks to brilliant individual moves by Alexis, Rafa, and Rabiot. Yes, those opportunities were few, but our players made them count. I much prefer that, then shooting 33 times against Genoa like we did, but scoring only once and tying the game, dropping two points. Today we were less flashy, but more efficient, and earned all 3 points.
Let’s stop complaining because that was not easy, not small potatoes. Nobody else this season was able to do what we did tonight, that is, beat Como 1907 in the city of Como.
Congratulations, AC Milan!
We weren’t more clinical. We had the better keeper. That’s all it was. If Maignan doesn’t make several all-world saves we lose. If you think that is some kind of a better gameplan, to let other teams dominate you and outshoot you , rely on your keeper to bail you out multiple times while your players need to finish every one of their few chances created in order to win, you maybe shouldn’t be coaching.
I am not saying that this was some kind of better game plan. I’m just saying that we have some individually brilliant players that secured the win, such as world-class Maignan and world-class Rabiot. It wasn’t just having the better keeper. It was also having a world-class midfielder in Rabiot who was possessed yesterday in his best game of the season – obviously Como didn’t have the same; arguably their only world class player is Nico Paz (but his case is still to be proven; the sport’s hell is paved with one-season wonders), and we had more moments of brilliance (Mike’s huge saves, Alexis stealing the ball and feeding Rabiot perfectly, Alexis passing vertically to Rafa who flicked it brilliantly to Rabiot, and even Gabbia and De Winter stopping two almost certain goals for Como, and so forth).
See, our keeper was fantastic yesterday, but he is known to also let in near post goals and to be tentative about coming out of the goal line to interrupt crosses (that was in part what caused Como’s goal). Even a world-class player like Mike has his shortcomings; he has brilliant games and not so good games.
You all talk about luck, but in order to benefit from luck you need to also have skills; luck alone won’t take you to 42 points in 20 games in the second toughest club football league in the world.
Yes, this game, we relied on our keeper and our brilliant midfielder. In other games it was the other way around, like Genoa surviving our 33 attempts and their goalkeeper making some 5 uncanny saves and our ball hitting the crossbar; these things tend to even out in a season; sometimes you are lucky, sometimes your opponents are lucky, but after the entire first half of the season, being second with 42 points and therefore above 18 other clubs, is not just luck.
Pulisic was unlucky and atypically a bit uncalibrated when he missed 4 incredible opportunities last time. Yesterday, Nico Paz was the one who was unlucky and a bit uncalibrated, and he missed all of his shots (sometimes by little like his crossbar hit, but even that counts as a miss). It happens to the best people. Even the best players to ever play the game, such as Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Pelé, Maradona and the likes had the occasional bad game. This sport is played by human beings, not by robots. Nobody is perfect.
Look, we dominated and outshot Genoa to a HUGE degree but still dropped two points. Yesterday we were dominated and outshot but still earned three points. It’s the nature of the sport. You win some, you lose some, you have good games and bad games, but to be consistently at or near the top in the second best league in the world, it’s not just luck.
It’s not like our game plan is “let’s allow them to crush us at will and score whatever the formation we employ, and then we’ll chase back the result, out of our good keeper and some brilliant players.” No, the game plan is to win, whatever it takes. Sometimes we achieve it with some flair. Sometimes we achieve it in an ugly and lucky manner. Sometimes we fail to achieve it. The same happens to our opponents, over the entire season. At season end, what matters is how many points you earned.
It’s false to say we have no game plan. The coach tries to influence the game by changing formation, bringing in subs, as the game develops (such as starting with a 3-5-2, moving to a 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 or 4-5-1 according to how the game is going, and according to what personnel is available). Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
The same is true for other teams and other coaches. Take the great Conte. Do you think he is happy that his star-studded team dropped two points to Parma this round, while having 8 times Parma’s xG and holding possession 69% of the time? Even having a great coach and a great roster, doesn’t always ensure results, even when you are otherwise dominant. Napoli have just had their third draw in a row, and they fell 3 points below us and 6 below Inter. Like us, they are having injury problems. Is anybody accusing Conte of not having a game plan???
We are a strange bunch, and very up-and-down in terms of quality, age, and experience. We have a few world class and experienced players with high football IQ (think Maignan, Pulisic, Rabiot, Modric). We also have some incredibly mediocre players (think Fofana, RLC, Estupiñan), to a certain degree Ricci and Tomori can be mediocre at times; jury still out on Jashari due to his horrific injury from which it takes time to fully recover). We have some good but irregular players (think Rafa, Pavlovic, Bartesaghi, Saelemaekers). We have a short roster (the shortest one in Serie A), a very old player (Modric), some young and inexperienced ones (Athekame, Odogu, De Winter, Bartesaghi), and several injury-prone players (Nkunku, Pulisic, Rafa, Füllkrug, Gimenez).
In these circumstances, we are actually doing better than expected. Try to enjoy it a little. It will be good for you, instead of complaining non-stop.
I never said we had no gameplan, I said we have a bad gameplan. Always on the backfoot. Approaching every match as if we are the underdog. Never trying to assert our superiority over weaker teams. Sitting back , ceding possession to the other team. Next thing you know they send a cross in, it connects and we are behind. Then and only then do we try to attack. How many times must we see this same movie.
You keep bringing up the Genoa match as if we dominated. We did not. Go watch the first half again. You wouldn’t know which side was the better team. Only in the second half after falling behind did we get most of our shots.
This was not the first time Maignan had to bail us out. The Inter match, The Roma match. You keep bringing up the Pulisic PK vs Juventus, but don’t mention the Chalhanoglu miss, the Dybala miss, the Fiorentina miss.
Happy to be in second right now but to be honest we have been more lucky than good at this point. Sooner or later the results are going to reflect the performances, which haven’t been great.
Como literary wiped the floor with us. Unbelievable how we get run over by every team in the league. We got the 3 points and it was needed but we cannot allow ourselves to be dominated by all and sundry. Fofana and Tomori have stopped adding value…we cannot overlook these weak links anymore. Yes we manage to salvage a point here and there but for us to be serious contenders for top4 Milan need to up the tempo…vertical passes are non existent…and the list goes on. If nothing else Como taught us a good lesson in football 101…keep it plain and simple…
Oh yeah, they wiped the floor with us while conceding three goals and scoring only one. LOL.
So we get run over by every team in the league and collect a point here and there… so, if what you are saying is true, that means we are in the relegation zone, right?
Oh wait, actually we are second, 3 points behind the leaders (still at striking distance since we still play them, and we beat them the first time) and 3 points above the fabled Champions of Italy coached by the great Conte.
Not so bad, huh?
Fofana is a liability, true. I’ve been advocating for Allegri to bench him, and for managers to sell him, for several weeks. Tomori though, is irregular but also does have great games from time to time.
Vertical passes are non-existing? Did you miss the one by Alexis to Leão who flicked it to Rabiot? Did you miss Alexis pass to Rabiot that allowed him to earn a PK?
We have had vertical passes that resulted in goals in other games by many players, including Modric, Rabiot, Alexis, and even Fofana, and others that should have resulted in goals for example by Füllkrug and Ricci.
Actually sometimes we play very vertical passes. We are a predominantly counter-attacking team.
So Como taught us a good lesson in football 101? Since when football 101 includes scoring only one goal and conceding three? Their offense was stopped by our goalkeeper, and their defense was porous. This team that taught us so much according to you, is 9 points behind us, and not in the UCL zone like we are.
Milan “fans” who post here are complaining too much. Sure, we have problems. But we are also above 18 other Serie A clubs including the defending champions (whom we beat), and only behind the cross-town rivals, whom we’ve defeated repeatedly over the last year and a half (we are actually undefeated against them for this long).
“Oh yeah, they wiped the floor with us while conceding three goals and scoring only one. LOL.”
Actually, they did. We were EXTREMELY lucky to win the match. If you can’t see how Como was better at everything but scoring you are either blind or a crazy cult-member. Wiping the floor and being 100x better doesn’t mean sh1t though when only the goals count.
The difference yesterday was that Rabiot converted his chances while Como didn’t. The worse team with worse performance won.
3 points is 3 points buddy
Who says I didn’t acknowledge it? Read my rating post. I STARTED it by saying how Como dominated us and we didn’t deserve the score at the end of the first half. As for the second half, they deflated a little (not just according to me; according to Allegri too in post-game conference); we then had individual brilliance and won, and that counts too, like Cesc Fabregas himself acknowledged post-game. Maybe you should listen to the freaking losing head coach who said that despite their dominance and volume, we have brilliant players who made the difference which is why, he said, it’s very difficult to beat Milan?
I’m not disputing that Como dominated the game. But I’d dispute that they have the better team. They are nine points below us. They were playing at home where they are used to their pitch’s weird dimension (it is at the very limit of what FIFA allows in width and they exploit that to construct more wing play; no wonder they were undefeated at home – until we beat them there – and not as brilliant away). Our goalkeeper being better than theirs counts too. Goalkeepers are part of the 11 players. Having a world class player like Rabiot counts too. And so on.
Amazing what can happen when you play the lads in their natural roles. Leao should play on the wing. Rabiot’s goal came after he drew Como defenders onto himself creating a space for Rabiot’s run in.
At this point I think KDW deserves to start over Tomori. Unpopular opinion?
Naah, a simple fact. Tomori was lucky not to gift them a few goals.
To have a great goalkeeper is essential, remember how many times incredible Curtois has saved Real Madrid in CL. However, last year, with the same goalkeeper, Milan finished 8th in serie A. The real difference between last year and this year are Modric and Rabbiot, especially Modric who was not so visible in Real because he was only one of the incredible group of players that Real had at the time. He was playing upfront, having Kroos and Casemiro behind him, and he was circulating the ball in the offensive, feeding assists to Ronaldo, Benzema, Vinicius, Rodrygo… Milan does not have players like that in the field, I don`t belive any of the current Milan players could even sit on the bench in Real Madrid. Now Modric is playing in the role he never played before, in Milan he plays way back like Kroos and Casemiro did in Real, and there is no Modric in front of him that can be the connection between the defensive and offensive part of the team. That`s why there`s a huge gap in the Milan midfield, the forwards do not receive enough quality balls, and the defense is suffering even against weaker teams, Modric running from left to right instead from the midfield to the oponents goal. Allegri probably knows why is Modric now sacrified in the centre of the difense, if you ask me someone else, maybe Fofana could play his current position, and he should be moved upfront towards the oponents goal. Something he played all his life, both in Real and in the Croatian national team.
I just hate this team, I can’t help it. It reminds me of the worst Juve & Inter teams of the last 20 years. Milan should never play this way.
Say what you will about our total points and position in the table, but the way Milan are playing is not sustainable. We still rely on individual brilliance to win games. As everyone correctly pointed out, Rabiot and Mike won us this game. In previous games, again it was mostly individual efforts. There’s not much actual team play or creativity, especially against the lesser teams with a low block – we just don’t have the personnel to break them down. Como’s defensive shortcomings worked in our favor. Genoa and Fiore’s didn’t.
Watching the game I would have sworn Como was Milan of the ’00’s and we were relegation fighting Verona against them. Como showed amazing team play. One has to wonder what Milan’s version of that sort of team interplay would look like… But under Max we will never know, because he’s an old-school pragmatic and Fabregas is the new progressive mind. However unfortunately for Cesc he does not yet have the quality in his team to really showcase his ideas.
So that’s basically how this season will play out. Looking at the standings, it seems it will be enough for a Top4 finish. As for next year, with CL God only knows what Max’s plan is – but usually it’s not a very good one. But then again, this management doesn’t care about winning – just participating in CL is good enough. Perfect for Max’s resume.
Don’t get me wrong, given what this club became after the last Scudetto, Max is a great stabilizer, but only for so long. This season is clearly transitional but if the next season is copy & paste of what we’ve seen from this Milan, many fans will turn on Max.
So the real question will be, what is the management up to? What’s their plan?
That is all correct. But for now, by far the most important thing is to make the UCL or else we will melt down and lose important players like Pulisic, Rabiot, Mike, and Rafa; welcome Banter Years 2.0. (We’ll probably end up losing promising youngsters like Bartesaghi, Camarda and Torriani too). Our best players won’t want to stay and waste their careers with a team that can’t make the UCL, and Modric is not getting any younger and may not even return. Not to forget, the 100 M Euro we’ll fail to earn will require more big sales of essential players like we lost Reijnders, voted the best Serie A midfielder, when we missed Europe last season, placing 8th.
So for now I’m with Allegri. Sure, he’s not the young and hungry Cesc Fabregas but he is way better than Fonseca and Conceicao and we are not seeing the discipline and disunity issues we saw last season. We needed Allegri to float the ship again, and he’s doing that, with an injury-plagued short roster, and this is not short of a miracle. We are 3 points ahead of the star-studded Conte’s team. Whoa. Who would have predicted that, looking at how they did last season, and how we did?
We need the UCL to make money, keep our more talented players, and attract others; otherwise it will be a downward spiral. I think that Milan fans need to understand that and acknowledge that even though he is an inflexible dinosaur, Allegri has indeed been helping us, and our situation although still complicated with many weaknesses, is at least a lot better than the disastrous one we had last season.
Forza Allegri, and Forza Milan.
Frankly, if (yes, big if, but still) we eventually win our 20th Scudetto and second star, it’s guaranteed that certain posters here will still scream:
“Fire Allegri (or whoever the head coach will be there when it happens)! How dare him to win the Scudetto while playing boring football and having no game plan whatsoever??? We were just lucky that our goalkeeper Mike Maignan saved lots of shots, that the lazy bum Rafael Leão did absolutely nothing except for his 20 goals and 10 assists, and that the mediocre American, Christian Pulisic, was lucky by just be at the right place at the right time for his easy 20 goals that were just tap-ins and his easy 10 assists! I can no longer support this horrible team; I’m switching to Como or Monza!”(Or, substitute these player names by whoever players will be in our roster when we win, in case this generation doesn’t do it).
Do you think I’m exaggerating? Mark my words. There WILL be posters who will say stuff like that.
Hell, even if we win our 8th UEFA Champions League, there will be posters who will say stuff like that.
And that’s the same ones who call us, lifelong Milan fans, pathetic fanboys. Yeah, right.
Me instead, being a real Milan fan, I’m able to enjoy it when we beat 3-1 a good team right there at their stadium, even if technically they dominated the game and outshot us, and I will certainly enjoy it when we eventually win our 20th Scudetto and our 8th Champions League, without complaining non-stop of the head coach and the players.
I’m so confused in regard to the metrics used by this site for rating players. Does anyone actually watch the games. Hahaha, these are extremely high scores for a defense that was literally Swiss cheese in the entire first half and pretty terrible for the first quarter of the second, Milan could have lost this game by at least three goals. A few good efforts and a 3-1 result doesn’t equate to a good game by the players or coaches as your ratings would suggest. Milan needs to show effort from start to finish or they can kiss goodbye to their champions league hopes.