AC Milan were held to yet another draw in the Champions League as their game against Borussia Dortmund finished 0-0. A few of the Rossoneri men did well despite the result and below are the player ratings.
Starting XI
Maignan (6.5): He made a couple of good saves tonight and was also very commanding in the penalty box. His distribution was good as well.
Calabria (5): He improved a bit in the second half, before he got subbed off, but that first half was incredibly rough. He looked so insecure in possession and made a couple of mistakes which Dortmund should have made more of.
Thiaw (6.5): No complaints can be made about him really in what was a tough game. He won many duels against Füllkrug and always made sure to follow his man when needed, except on one occasion when he lost Brandt (he recovered slightly).
Tomori (6.5): Another strong display from the Englishman at the back, showing once again why the Milan fans have been so pleased with him lately. He covers a lot of ground and always seems to be the critical interception.
Hernandez (6): He did make a few errors in possession tonight, it must be said, and that did hurt Milan on a few good counter-attacking opportunities. He also had a couple of chances but failed to hit the target on both. That being said, a crucial player.
Musah (6): He had a very good start to the game and continued to look good when in possession. He dropped off a little towards the end, probably due to fatigue, which is understandable.
Reijnders (6): A big opportunity for him at the end of the game, sending the effort just wide. It felt like he just needed to hit the target to score. He handled the No.6 role well overall and cannot be criticised too much, working tirelessly from start to finish.
Pobega (5): A shocking first half, passing-wise anyway, with so many misplaced passes it was almost comical. He did improve slightly in the second half, and offered good solutions with his runs, but that passing destroyed everything for him tonight.
Pulisic (5.5): He was a bit timid on the ball, at least in the first half, and couldn’t really get things done on the right flank. He also had one big opportunity where he went for goal, understandably so, but could have played an easy pass to Leao.
Giroud (5): Not a good night for him. One huge opportunity squandered in the first half, which ended up being costly, and he had a couple of other occasions when he just couldn’t get it right.
Leao (7 – MOTM): The best player for Milan tonight for sure. He did everything right most of the time but his teammates couldn’t convert the chances. Pioli wasn’t always happy with his defensive work, but in any case the winger was the hope for the Rossoneri tonight.
Substitutes
Adli (6): He came on and was comfortable on the ball, unlike Pobega, and actually dared to push forward in possession too. Milan had a period in which he was instrumental, but that faded a bit as Dortmund made their subs and got new energy on the pitch.
Chukwueze (4.5): Not good enough from the Nigerian. He missed what probably was the best chance of the game and didn’t have much luck apart from that either.
Okafor (5.5): He didn’t have much of an impact at the end of the day.
Florenzi (6): He looked better than Calabria and helped create a few chances at the end.
Same old Pioli, see the difference between a mediocre coach and a good coach, Newcastle who were getting battered by us won 4-1 against PSG. I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened if Tomori didn’t have such a monstrous performance.
Maybe psg just is that poor. They are 5th atm. In france. Where competition is non-existent for a club with such purchase power
Yes, and in their most recent league match, PSG only managed a 0-0 draw with Clermont Foot, who were in last place at the time (now in second to last place, thanks to the draw).
And, if you’ve never heard of Clermont Foot, you should look up the Youtube highlights of that match, with the most striking part being the camera angle showing as the backdrop of the match the empty wasteland half of Clermont’s half-stadium.
Jeez, how did such a poor team end up in Ligue Un?
PSG have a lot of talent, but are definitely very fragile mental midgets.
Dollaruma also had another substandard match, as the first Newcastle goal came when he punched a shot by Isak right to Almiron, the third goal by Longstaff he let slip under his arm, and the third goal he was out of position and not in the center of the defensive cone and he ended up letting in a near post goal into the top corner by Schar.
They are, but it’s the same with Newcastle, they also didn’t have a good start to the season. The difference is Newcastle have one of the best managers in the world meanwhile Luis Enrique who I would regard as the most overrated manager in the last decade or so.
Eddie Howe who in all his managerial glory managed to win a champions cup in 15 years of working as a coach is one of the best managers in the world?
Am i missing something here?
The way i see it is Newcastle got hella lucky last night and will not win a single match in this group again
Ohh, I forgot to write last season. He overachieved a lot last season, no one expected them to finish in the top 4 and yeah luck is also a part of the game but scoring 4 goals shouldn’t be called luck.
Newcastle actually very lucky not lost to us cuz of their GK superb performances or luck and how our player cannot seems to find the net the same with tonight match
Adli as an opportunity. Pobega as as care.
*Scare, very much of that.
Leao is a flop! How he stands out? Did we watch the same game?
I agree, a whole lot of movement but didn’t do anything with it. He had a few good moments but so did everyone else but it didn’t lead to anything just like everyone else, I don’t see MOTM with him, should have gone to magic Mike. Leao seems to almost move too fast all the time, holding down the gas pedal too much. Sometimes he just needs to slow down and get his feet under him before making a cross or pass. He doesn’t yet have that world class mentality of body awareness that De bruyne has.
🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 You are either blind or crazy. He only setup a bunch of chances that everyone wasted. I’m only sad he wasn’t selfish.
He give so many good assists to teamates and no one can convert it as goal. He indeed bad in defense but our prime machine in offense. Can’t blame him.
Make Florenzi a starter FFS
Make Okafor a starter FFS
Very good comment.
Giroud is too old and Okafor obviously can be CF. HE have huge potential.
Florenzi is so much better than Calabria this season.
I didnt see the game but im sure you are right. Pioli is not a genius coach. When the game is complicated he has no plan and always blame players. He cannot see his true gem at his hands. If leao was with some better coach he was the monster now and Adli too . I was happy to bring him but never got a chance to play last season. And also for charles. Pioli doesn’t know what is the rotational formation or what is strategy and how to change the formation in a good time. You cannot always play with one strategy for everyteam. I never give any credits to pioli for the games because he put everything on chance. It is clearly recognisable. Thats why we could have lose easily to Dortmund last night. Hope things get better.
Leao is absolute flop, how he MOTM? Did we watch the same game?
I’ve been Leao’s biggest defender, but he was awful tonight. So many turnovers and bad passes. And hanging his head like he didn’t want to be out there. That rating is shocking.
I do agree that Calabria was awful and Florenzi should be our starter from now on.
Pobega should not start for this team ever again. He’s terrible, and even when he gets himself into good positions he is so slow the defense catches him in a second.
Game opened up a bit when Adli came on and surprise, he made a number of good defensive plays. Should have been in there from the start.
Finally, Chukuweze is awful. I’d rather have Messias back. He’s another one of these one-footed players that it doesn’t matter if he gets by you to the outside because he is always going to cut it back inside to his left. Leao set him up for what should’ve been a one time shot for a goal. but of course he can’t shoot with his right foot so he had to cut it back to his left and can’t get the shot off. Enough with that guy already.
You’re smoking some drugs tonight, pal. I hate Leao’s attitude and some of his decision-making more than anyone, but he is the ONLY source of danger for our team. He was dangerous the entire night. Go watch cricket or something.
”Enough of that guy already” about a guy who hasn’t even had a full 90mins under his belt. You’re so thick, it’s hilarious.
Clever comment. you sound like 12 year old, and not a particularly smart one. And you’re the same fool that wants to bench Pulisic with 3 goals and an assist for a guy that has Zero, and does nothing every time he comes on the pitch except for wasting opportunities and dribbling down the outside and the cutting back to his left because he is a one-footed clown. Castijello version 2, without the heart.
Who said I wanted to bench Pulisic? Find where I said that. It’s a fact he was poor tonight, and he can’t perform every game. Plus, we need Chuk to be given game time to prove himself. I don’t interact with people who are clueless about the sport. Have a nice day. Clown.
I saw this on the highlight reels of Chukwueze even before we bought him that he isn’t a good player. He tries to dribble but all he can do is try to run straight through players and then if he’s lucky he gets the ball with him. Pioli actually makes a good call by not playing him very much. Let’s pray to Jesus that Pulisic stays fit and is able to keep playing. Cause it will be horrible if Chucky is our only RF.
You really have an issue with all of our youth products, and our club captain.
Supporting a football team is not actually supposed to be a rationale thing, and rationalism is a bit pointless when the game itself is so unpredictable.
I mean if you want to be really rational and watch all of your fav’ players you can actually just support a different team that has those players. No need to wait for the transfer market lottery to randomly deliver your current fav’.
You’re supposed to love your football team and by extension the players. Youth players should get a little extra love because of their closeness to the team.
The team captain (who is also our youth team player (and also one of our best performers over the past 5-6 years) and only player who has been at the club for that long)) should have a special place in your heart.
You shouldn’t be constantly looking to drop him when he puts in a not-quite-world-beating-but-we-didn’t-actually-concede-a-goal-and-had-Reijnders-or-Giroud-taken-either-of-their-chances-this-review-would-have-been-entirely-different-which-shows-how-fickle-the-media-and-therefore-some-fans-are.
if this is a trolling post, I give you 5/5 stars. If not, you are dumber than a pile of rocks
Hahahahahahaha. You are special.
Leao was a turnover machine, especially in the first half. More like a 6.5. Pulisic was better than a 5.5; part of the issue was the team going down the left all the time. He was the opposite to Leao’s being careless. Giroud like the Leao and Puli struggled. Lack of the ball hurt him and the team.
It will come for Chuck, he will improve,
Pobega is a joke, u don’t appreciate Adli enough until u see Pobega on the pitch,
Reijnders was great, Leao was great,
But it’s all about Pioli tactics, Milan could be much better than Dortmund.
Still, Draw against Dortmund in their home is good.
The worst thing happened today that makes things complicated is Newcastle win against PSG
He had a 50% passing accuracy 😭😭.
Absolute trash!!!
I really don’t see why we play him. It’s not like there’s a rule forcing us to do so
He just did not get in his form yet. Did u ever watch a villa real game? When Chuck is on his level no Defence can catch him. He will get there. Until then stop hating if u don’t know the players potential. Yeah you can critizise him for not scoring but at least he created one ‚em good chance by him self. Pulisic did not manage to do that today neither to score his good opportunity.
Oh! He is talking about Pobega not Chuk.
Lmao, “he will do better” as we have 15 more chances to play this CL match again… he had to finish that beautiful teamplay with eyes closed. He choked as always.Leao gave him a perfect assist that should even 10 year old kid finish as a goal.
For the love of god fire Pioli, he’s an incapable buffoon who can’t set up a team to save his life. We should’ve been sitting comfy on top of the group with six points.
What team should’ve started apart from Pobega not playing? Okafor from the start?
The team itself is not the problem, it is the way they are set up! They lack confidence, personality and direction. They seem nervous and timid. That is down to the manager! It is not isolated to just a few members of the team. It’s team full of quality that needs a real tactician!
As a reminder, 1 loss all season across all competitions. I can’t believe everyone keeps calling for him to be sacked! Not a die-hard supporter of his but common sense needs to prevail at some point? 2nd in the league (tied on points in first), undefeated in CL group of death, rotating the squad. Like him or hate him, the man is getting results so not sure how you can say he should be fired at this point in the season?!
Most of ppl in here expecting Milan to win every game and win all throphy lol, even draw is not acceptable result. Fans always support his team and cheers them in good or bad moment, but some forgot if this is real football not Playstation football.
best comment have seen here.i dont know why anyone will be calling for the sack of such a coach.if adli had started that game,when d dortmund midfielders were still fresh,it wud have been a disaster with his soft marking.pioli,s tactics has been creating for the team lots of chances,is it his fault giroud decided to chip a ball he could pass into the net of chuks doing rubbish with a ball at his favourite leg?we need to calm down with this sack calls.moreover which coach do they even want sef cos am sure de zerbi will flop with this team.he is not even doing amazing with a team that has far less expectations compared to milan
But we pretty much lost against the best team we’ve faced right ? Roma and Lazio only have 8 and 7pts respectively so far this seaon.
And with so many points already lost against BVB and Newcastle, I don’t think we can fancy our chances.
So I don’t think we can say Pioli is doing a great job.
Poor team play, Leao, Theo and Reijnders were just choosing to do it alone most of the time instead of to make a simple pass and it was so irritating to watch…
Pobega was so awful today he couldn’t make a simple pass to save his life, how bad can a player who trains everyday be? It begs the question again; what exactly do these players do in training ?
Take away from today…
Pioli should have made all the subs on the 60th minute mark,
Calabria is neither a good attacking defender or a good defender, awful decision making today,
Giroud should be starting on the bench,
Chukueze should get some starts, and let’s see how he finishes games.
I don’t want to blame Pioli for the starting midfield but starting Giroud and Pobega should be a crime in Italy.
Leão FLOP?? You must be kidding, there’s no other conclusion… the man created plenty of chances for practically all his attacking partners today. Oh well, maybe you are one of those weird doom & gloom dudes that became sad when he renewed with us.
People just got too used to Leao doing all the work. So if he dosen’t decide the win now everyone critisize him like he had a terrible game. The reality is he was still better than many of the other players on the pitch but Dortmund is not Bologna so you cant just beat them with one man. An Pioli tactic is just that, pass the ball to Leao and wait.
Adli’s distribution really affects opponents mentally. He causes opponents to drop back a little more. This is vital to limiting the opponent’s pressing. Regardless of his lack of experience and raw skills, he has more to offer than other options.
Yep good observation. Pobega gave the ball away about 5 times and Adli won it back about the same. Pobega can iron the team shirts if he wants but shouldn’t be let anywhere near the pitch imo.
Amen
Your disdain for your own player is noted.
What is the point?
Good question – what is the point of Pobega. Did you watch the game?
What is the point of supporting a team when you don’t respect the players in that team?
You had disdain for at least 1/11 starting players.
What is the point of you supporting that team?
The point of Pobega is an aggressive midfielder who can mix things up a bit and get forward.
Leao MOTM is not right. Tomorri or thiaw should be MOTM. They were flawless tonight. Leao has good to search for the ball more, open up, move without the ball, in order to become world class. He goes past defenders with so ease, good technique, just gotta pick up his work rate than he’ll be up with best. Slowpega deserves a 3, just 1 point above pioli that started him. Pioli again with his out of this world logic, that plays slow players in behind strikers. First krunic and slowpega. He’ll never learn.
Chukwueze, go back to Villarreal until you get your head sorted out. At Milan, we need players to deliver RESULTS right now and not 1 season later. Too much anxiety and BS/
I think he deserves some time to adjust but yes he has been awful every time he has played.
At 30m price tag -must do better
Almost impossible to rate Leao. He makes so many bad choices and impresice passes that I almost went bald during the match. At the same time, he creates almost every danger that we have. I would rate him 6,5. MOM for me is Tomori and/or Musah who both should be given a 7.
My rating:
Maignan: 7
Calabria: 5,5
Thiaw: 6,5
Tomori: 7
Theo: 6
Reijnders: 5,5
Musah: 7
Pobega: 5,5
Pulisic: 5,5
Giroud: 5,5
Leao: 6,5
Adli: 6
Chuku: 5,5
Calabria 5,5 ? Calabria same as Reinders?? Please boy stay silent and dont ever again,do not eeeeEVER rate players again.
They targeted Calabria and he wasn’t able to keep up
Reijnders was poor.
No better way to describe Leao. Everything dangerous Milan creates is from him.
But very frustrating to just watch him strolling from an offside position after a recovered a lost attacking play.
Or just casually walking back while the left side is under siege from opponents .
At least cover a bit more ground off the ball
I’ll have to disagree with your a couple of your ratings this time Animax. I had Musah as being poor. He gave the ball away twice which led to a dangerous chance for Dortmund. Thiaw probably also a 7. Him and Tomori cleaned up especially Tomori who is in prime form. Either him MOTM or Leao though frustrating created big chance which should have been put away. Otherwise yes agreed with the res tof the ratings..our midfield was terrible
Thiaw lost Brandt and went ballwatching on his overhead kick. That could have been a goal. Minus 0,5 for that one. The rest was really good from him.
Ok I’ll rewatch that moment but I think I know which move you are talking about. But I do think Tomori is on his prime from right now so I could see why he’s the best of the pickings. Btw Brandt also gave alot of problems to Reinjders. Reinjders also slotted too deep between the CBs on a few occasions leaving space in midfield which Musah had to clear up. It was weird movements from deers yesterday
Milan desperately needs a striker who can hold on to the ball for more than q millisecond and has the ability to use his weak foot. Love what Giroud has done for Milan but he can’t do anything with the ball and that is hurting Milan. Every time the ball gets to him, he tries to get rid of it with 1 touch, and that 1 touch usually is poor. Also, his inability to use his right foot is so frustrating to watch. That first-half chance should have been a goal if he could use his right foot. What do you do every day for 30 years of training football that you couldn’t work on your weak foot?
Fair result.
Leao had a good game.
Defense was solid. Midfield not so much. Adli should have started the game.
Milan should get thru this group. The other 3 teams are not as good as advertised.
FC Mbappe next
I knew Pobega was going to be a bad decision. He is so slow at everything he does and can’t even pass like wtf did pioli think to start him over Adli. I don’t get it. And giroud is done right now. Let’s okafor and jovic start and bring giroud as joker if needed. Besides that. We should have scored one of our chances. We are not clinical enough right now. Rly other teams have less good chances but they score 3 goals of it.
I’m not sure where you are coming from @Isak that Leao “did everything right most of the time”. He made more mistakes than Pobega. Granted he had the ball more often but he’s a world class player almost everything he did fizzled.
He did well once in a while to break their line and gain a yard past the back line but that was few and far between.
Leao did not make more mistakes than Pobega bro. Pobega had a 48% pass accuracy as a mid in a possession-based team and position… Literally and statistically half of what he did was wrong. Don’t get me started on errors
And Leao’s passing accuracy was 67.5% which was the 4th worst on the pitch (for Milan). That kind of nullifies the whole “did almost everything right” comment completely.
Pobega is a mid. Leao as a winger is expected to have those sorts of pass percentages. But under 59% for a mid who supposed to be there for his defence is poor. The front line usually have low pass percentages because of the inherent risk of their play. Similarly you’ll find full backs having lower % than their CB counterparts. It’s all relative. I judge based on his position
Congrats to our captain for being the worst player on the field once again. A true leader.
It is completely absurd that he still has his startign spot. He’s been awful and Florenzi has been good. Kalulu when healthy should be starting over Calabria as well.
How on earth can you call Chukwueze a flop when he barely had 20 minutes and in those 20 mins did more than Pulisic did the whole match? He had a great effort from outside the box, too. Yes, he should’ve scored that chance but how do you expect him to be ready when he barely plays at all under Pioli? These ratings are nonsense.
Because they rate what is shown on the field,they dont rate how many minutes he played during the season.25 mins on the field is more than enough to be rated. You got it?
Stop making excuses for this guy. He has produced nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. You want to give him credit for almost getting a shot on target. He was setup beautifully for a goal, but because he can’t use his right foot for anything he had to stop and switch to his left and couldn’t even get a decent shot off.
Stop it already. When he produces something, anything, let me know.
The guy doesn’t play at all, what do you expect? Where is his form supposed to come from. It’s another CDK situation with our clueless coach. What have the others produced tonight? Also nothing. Chukwueze did more in 15 minutes than Pulisic did all night. You’re a fool, and you watch football like one.
The clueless coach who delivered the Scudetto…..
Milan delivered the Scudetto, not Pioli. The guy is a clown. With a better coach, we’d be challenging for the Champions League right now.
I tend to agree.
When I saw him play and his highlights, he always looks so 1 footed, that’s a problem at this level.
He deserves time to settle, but he needs to start showing something
Messias had scored 100% first touch top left corner.
Oh watch out another has fallen out of favour. And so soon after arriving. My god you get through players fast.
(I know you take yourself very seriously and are very serious about Milan returning to being this great side (that turnover more staff than your local McDonald’s)).
As a fan I am concerned that after about 12 weeks with the team training daily that Chuk is playing a different game than the other 10 on the field.
I don’t need him to score. I don’t need him to assist. I just need him to be in the right place. I just need him to make the pass he is supposed to. From there we can build.
I certainly hope Chuk figures it out and soon. Only then will his talent shine.
I’d truly hoped he’d turned a corner last week as he was much better off the ball. But this was a regression.
I am passionate about the team. Therefore I am growing frustrated at this individual who is not living up to their price and potential and limiting the team.
Different players/people take different amounts of time to adapt and some never do.
In fact most transfers don’t work out – as in the player doesn’t perform at the same or greater level than at their previous club.
The fact that so many of our many new signings seem to have settled in quite well is really a testament to the manager and the players.
It’s true that players need some playing time to show off. But the situation is that Pulisic is just a superior quality player – mind that it took him few minutes to score, he started performing immediately. Reijders and RLC also started performing immediately. More important, Okafar and Musah, with the same playing chances have been arguably way better. He really needs to start performing, he is falling behind every other transfer.
Good thing for us is that as long as Pulisic is healthy, he will be the starter. A possible failure of Chuk will not harm us too much.
Facts
Milan need to win both PSG games and against Dortmund home – then we should be good – EASY!
Like your positivism.
Thank you.
I said it before and I repeat it. Pobegas passing is Serie B level. His technic is so bad its comical. He would have been gone long ago if he was not an Italian and an academy player. I want to see homegrown players but they should at least show potential of being good enough for this shirt. He has shown nothing and that rugby tackle on Emre Can summaries him. Clumsy and terrible
You just know once Zeroli and co come through, that could be it for him here
In a couple of years or so, we should have some very good primavera players ( knock on wood). The last 2 years our primavera has been on fire.
Chukwu came for the same money as Castillejo,he came with the same stats form Villareal,he has the same name as Samu Castilejo,and i swear he play the same way as Castilejo.
Haa haaa, nice spot
Let’s hope he’s Samu 2.0, better
“Adli nicks the ball…” the amount of times the commentator said that. What a difference when he came on. Really struggling to see what Pioli was thinking starting Pobega over him who surprise surprise was the worst player on the pitch. And that loon Tjoke or whatever his name is will throw a hissy fit if you say a bad word against him.
Adli did really well when he came on.
I really don’t understand the hate for Pobeba (well I do, he’s a youth player and not some shiny new signing) but in actual fact he made some great runs, he put in some nice passes including with his link up play down the left hand side, and, yes he gave the ball away, but SO DID EVERYONE INCLUDING ALL THE SHINY NEW SIGNINGS.
And frankly I am going to go with a Scudetto winning coach over a bunch of people who seem to have less loyalty than a double agent.
Come on man. I don’t agree on some of the extreme criticism directed at our players such as leao, giroud etc. But Pobega, come on. In one hand it’s on pioli’s crazy logic of playing a slow physical, can’t create space, nor run, or make that final pass, behind the strikers. Second, if you got to play him, play him agaisnt a slower team in seria a. Yes he mad 2 passes on the left with leao, but that was it. Too slow to chase the ball around or put some pressure on their build up. 0 creativity. Criticism where it’s due. Nothing personal.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being slow and for being such a slow player he was the main one to break the line!
AC Milan just played Borussia Dortmund away in the Champions League, and the match ended 0:0.
Now you don’t get to go toe to toe with any team, let alone Borussia Dortmund away in the Champions League, playing with 9-10 or whatever number you want to discount men.
The fact that Pobega has played a significant role against Borussia Dortmund away in the Champions League, as evidenced by the fact that the game ended 0:0, is itself a sign that he is at a level of Borussia Dortmund away in the Champions League.
The rest is just speculation and likes. There is so much more to football than the highlight reels. There is positioning, there is communication, there is covering, there is stuff you will never see.
So just take it as given that a Scudetto winning coach knows something you don’t and…..SUPPORT THE TEAM.
Have you ever heard me criticise Krunic? Calabria? Giroud? Chuk? Pioli? No – so leave me alone and let me criticise the worst player in the squad! 😆
Thank you 🙏. The guy barely knows what a football is let alone what to do with it and we’re supposed to stick with him just because he’s a youth project…
Good on you for not criticising the others so I’ll give you a pass.
But just so we’re on the same page – do you accept that Pobega currently plays for Milan in Serie A and the Champions League?
(Just want to make sure we’re sharing the same reality because that’s pretty strong evidence that he’s better than what some randomers think).
Thank you for your comment. Why suddenly are some of you supposed fans ,,giving criticism to both leao and Giroud ….They have both been very good ,,,suddenly you are saying negative things about them …Yes Olivier Giroud missed a chance that he should definitely have scored…But don’t start blaming him or Leao for the result against Dortmund…in fact Giroud worked really hard especially in the first half ,,and his physical presence was important .. when Olivier starts a match we seldom lose .
We are doing rather well at the moment ,,and are still in the champions leauge …I honestly believe we will win the scuddeto this season ,,,with the help of both Rafeo leao and Olivier Giroud….just be appreciative of our team ,and our manager in pioli .
@Maldinis Heir. This has nothing to do with Pobega being a youth product. I can’t see how those two things are attached. Dude is terrible simple as that. He could be from La Masia for all I care , hes still terrible. He had a 50% pass accuracy in a possession-based team. Half of what he did tonight was wrong..come on bro
He lacks any real pace which could have come in useful on that break away which old man Hummels got back in time…. HUMMELS!!!! Shameful
They’re attached because being a youth player he should automatically be given the same benefit of the doubt and bias. More so than any new signing or blow ins.
This whole “telling it like it is” business (which isn’t actually telling anything like anything given an actual Scudetto winning coach disagrees) is not something you’d expect from an actual fan.
Pobega is not a one off. There is general disdain for anyone who hasn’t arrived on a transfer and that disdain grows the longer they’re at the club.
And this completely dysfunctional relationship between fans and the club is not conducive to building long term success. Long term success requires substance. It requires unwavering support.
But when everything is this superficial then everything becomes flaky and short term. We end up in a position with endless player turnover. We do not have a Hummels or Ruis . We have nothing. We are 10 years behind the teams we think we should be competing with because we keep pressing the restart button .
You’re basically reading into this as an overarching issue you believe in terms of youth products not giving the benefit of the doubt. We’re talking about the game yesterday where he was pretty much garbage. And not only this game but other games too. The dude made Hummels look like Usian Bolt for crying out loud. Couldn’t pass properly. Let’s talk about this game and his performance which was abysmal. Once we get agreement on that we can probably have a true discussion.
That other issue is for a different time and space. I think Calabria is fine as an RB and can be great against certain players who are short and agile. But not against tall fast players as I’ve mentioned last year. He’s our youth product. He can used to his strengths.
And tbh there’s not much coming though our youth system..there never has been in probably the last 30 years except maybe Aubameyang and even then who was he supposed to replace? A prime Sheva or a prime Pippo? Our system may have worked way back in the day like during Baresi, Maldini, Albertini and co days but we haven’t really produced anything of note since then. We’re simply not that club. The shirt is too heavy for growth and the expectations of the club weighs too much on these kids. In our 00s UCL winning squad, only Maldini was from our youth system and he’s a once in a lifetime generational talent….an exception not the rule. Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Pippo and the protagonist Italian core you like so much are all from other youth systems, not ours.
For the first half we did not have a midfield, collectively. Musah, who continues to impress was good individually, but Reijnders was missing and Pobega was useless.
MOTM for me was definitely Tomori, who kept the back locked down. Thiaw played well too. Defensively we did what we had to do.
Giroud was anonymous. I think father time has finally caught up with him. Priority 1 in the transfer market is a starting striker. Priority 2 is another CM. We need a Mark van Bommel type. Someone with tackling and passing. We’re definitely missing Tonali (and to rip off the scab once again, Kessie).
Does Chukwueze have a right foot or two left feet?
Yeah a DM is vital. Don’t know what they were thinking.
I said during the summer we should sign a striker and keep Colombo, Giroud should be 3rd choice. I stand by that
And yes surprise surprise, Chukwu is completly 1 footed, always has been. No surprise there, I guess they think he is Robben
Very well said – all of it. Tomori by far the best tonight, we tend to be a bit too generous with Reijders.
Everyone sees the ST issue but DM is also much needed. I really hoped Musah would be this player but he seems to have slightly different qualities (quite needed).
Chuk is kind of worrying. Yes it’s early but everyone else does already better.
He literally has not had any time to play. Everyone else has been given minutes, not him.
Calabria, Pobega are Serie B level players, neither should be a 3rd choice vs relegation fodder teams in the league. Giro is due for retirement, enough is enough. We are playing with 10 players whenever he is on the pitch, that is if he is not actively helping the opponent.
Also, the bald person that keeps playing them needs to be fired, asap.
I don’t understand under which kind of logic is 37 year old Giroud always a starter when we have Okafor and Jovic in this position. And why not start Florenzi instead of Calabria? It’s not just the mediocre tactics of Pioli but also his irrational choices that make him also a mediocre coach.
Giroud was a flop. Except for Rafa, the whole attack was a flop. The defence held on well.The experienced ones today couldn’t help, Giroud and Pulisic. They were the flops. How can Chukwueze be aflop. Is it because of his missed chance. Stop being bias.
Pioli should grow some balls and drop players that aren’t performing. Leao Theo off the ball is abysmal.
This was a very winnable game. We should’ve played with a lot more intensity, that was the issue, intensity. Watching Feyenoord play Atletico was a true showing of high intensity football, watching us afterwards just made me shake my head.
Chukwueze. This should be your last game for AC Milan, I’m so furious with this guy. He couldn’t even make one dribble. Please bring back Messias. We better play PSG on time before they sort thier domestic issues
You are the epitome of a clueless fan.
Sad little Chukuweze fanbiy getting upset because everyone else can see what you don’t. He’s terrible.
Go jump off a cliff, K. That way no one can be infected by your horrendous football knowledge (or lack thereof)
Most of the ratings and comments are accurate; Pobega and Calabria were very bad; Giroud squandered opportunities, Chukweeze missed a sitter. I don’t fully agree with Leao MOTM but also I’m not as harsh on him as some of the commentators here were; for example, he gave to Chuk the perfect assist for him to score but Chuk squandered it. Adli was way better than Pobega. Should have started. Florenzi better than Calabria, should have started. Tomori classy as he’s been for a while. Thiaw good. Maignan good.
The issue is, by now we’ve outplayed both Newcastle and Dortmund but our forwards were not clinical; we should have won both matches but didn’t and therefore have nothing to show for our superior performances. It will be hard to survive this Group of Death if our forwards can’t shoot on target and find the back of the net.
It’s very frustrating to play in this tough group, play better than both opponents, and have only two points instead of six.
Thank you for writing my exact feelings on this game.
So bloody frustrating!
2 games with pobega as a starter ended up in the same result.
Milan have a habit if they can score a fast goal in first half, they usually able to score more goals easier.
That wouldn’t be the case with pobega as a starter.
Pioli again with the mid table team mentality who just play not to lose.
Is he scared because milan is in a tough group?
Evidently so.
In second half after adli and okafor came in, milan actually looked really dangerous on the counter attack.
But just like against newcastle, some selfish plays ruined their chance to score and win the game.
Those wasted chances from chuku and reinjders costed milan the points.
And there’s no way leao got a 7 and motm.
He was poor in first half, even though that was mostly due to pobega, but still, he was 6 at best.
Leao definitely over estimate himself far too often.
He could have just simply out run the opponents but he tried to outsmart them with the tricky passes.
Tomori is the motm for sure.
Btw what’s with this website, my comment wasn’t posted yet it said it’s a duplicate, and then it’s too quick to post, what the hell
Watching the match we should of won, we had the clearest chances with Giroud and chuk. Leao was frustrating today he gave away the ball quite a bit and at the same time he was still our most dangerous player but I still say we are a better team with him in our starting line up. Chuk was disappointing and it’s not even the miss he also gave away the ball 90 percent of the time he dribbled. I feel their will be a few twists and turns in this group and we will still qualify we have just got to be more ruthless in front of goal in future games
Pulisic should have laid it off for Leao instead of shooting. Chuk should shave finished that attempt.
I am the biggest Leao fan, but his body language is so poor
Pobega is so bad like I said. Where are all his “physicality” fanboys now? Embarrassing
Adli needs to play as the regista, not Musah. What is Pioli doing?
Leao was the brightest player today. I don’t know what body language you were observing.
” I don’t know what body language you were observing.”
You didn’t probably watch the game then? The cocky walking/strolling around is actually pretty hard to miss.
It’s surprising how people criticize Chukz here. Dude just joined this club for goodness sake, why can’t people be patience with players? Chuks needs playing time to gain confidence. Let’s not forget how Leao started, today he is our best player.
Leao was a kid then, Chukwu is a mature experienced player we payed 30m for, he needs to do a lot better. Yes he deserves time but this is not good enough
Again, we struggled in the final third. The play was also very disjointed and a lot of it is down to the personnel in midfield. They can run and they work hard but technically and tactically, they are still a step down from Bennacer and Tonali. They also don’t seems to have stable roles which really hurts players but that’s for Pioli to fix. Ultimately, things will improve with time but without Bennacer and at least one big midfield signing, we’ll continue to struggle against big teams.
Tonali in his first year with the club or tonali now?
Poili is deluded. His dislike for Adli will cost this team. A 37 year old Giroud over Okafor. Pobega over Adli. Pioli is shot on ideas, and he will continue to derail this team’s supposed growth.
Again, this one is on Pioli got his tactics all wrong. Pobega was terrible. I understand the need to want to have an alternative option to Adli as registra in Krunics absence BUT testing Reinjders in a new position in a fkn UCL game on the ROAD in a notoriously difficult stadium to play in is NOT the time to do it. What was he thinking? Does he think he’s Pep?? Lol. This is something you do in a league game against a lower team. Unreal. Chukuweze is starting to look like a 30M bust. It’s still early in the season but so far he has showed little. He HAS to score that goal. Period. Calabria should not be starting and I still cannot believe Pioli didn’t want to take Singo when we had the chance. I blame this one on coaching. It’s not a Terrible BUT in light of Newcastles win over PSG that next game just got a lot harder as PSG will be out for blood. Pioli 2/10
Adli did’nt have the expeience to start this game, that was a fair call. I think Calabria should have played DM
lol what? When has Calabria played regista? Adli came in, Pioli didn’t play him as a regista and he still did well
He has played there several times and did very well.
Not to mention playing as an inverted winger this season
“testing Reinjders in a new position in a fkn UCL game on the ROAD in a notoriously difficult stadium to play in is NOT the time to do it. ” literally said this when I saw the lineups announced. It didn’t make sense to not start Adli who has finally gelled with his teammates
Reinjders had theeast touches of all outfield players this game and he played DM where all the plays go through
I think Pioli was trying to absorb the pressure well into the second half and start pushing with 20-30 minutes to go. Pobega while limited, absorbed pressure better than Adli would. Then you bring Adli in and push REIJNDERS forward. Almost worked too as we got close to scoring.
Pioli out.leao and Theo needs competition,esp theo.both feels comfy in their positions.calabria,out.chukweze,disappoints again,not withstanding.giroud,never really got good service but,better,he comes off the bench.the whole team is just doing what pioli set them out to do.i don t see players that are smart and intelligent.they don t play with their brains.they play reactive football,not anticipatory football.i keep saying it,pioli has done his best,this Milan should be topping this group,based on players and pedigree.newcastle,should at the minimum collect four points from each team.like English teams,they have heart.i see them qualifying from this group based on the result they v garnered so far.i want to believe that cardinals is planning for a new coach.pioli has given his all.this Milan is truly and thoroughly mediocre.its well.
Honestly I think this rating is Awful & I don’t think whoever made it watched the game!
MOTM tonight is Tomori not Leao
Flop of the match & the last few games is Giroud who is waiting for the next penalty before he can score again.
Calabria wasn’t great but he doesn’t deserve so much criticism, he’s a defender, he did his job defensively and we didn’t concede & even though he put millions of crosses into the Box, Giroud will never get there on time to head 😂😂
Pobega proved again that he isn’t a starting player.
Pulisic didn’t get past his marker through out the game, he played over 60mins even when Milan had possession but fans with misplaced anger & disappointment are laying the blame on Chuks who played 20mins for a missed chance when Pulisic & Giroud wasted chances too.
Pioli has barely given Chuks a chance to play from start & to see many fans critizing a player who hasn’t played much is sad.
This team has quality to win against any team if Pioli does his job & knows when to start a player & when not.
You can’t continue starting the same players even when they are out of form like Giroud & Pulisic since the international break!!!
Doesn’t Pulisic have a goal and an assist since the international break? Is that out of form?
It’s funny because before the game started I would of taken a point, but how the game played out it was definitely points dropped. Defensively we was good, Midfield done ok, I agree with some of the comments about Giroud he can’t buy a goal at the moment I don’t know if it is confidence or age has finally caught up to him but I think his time is up as Milan main striker. Leao is Leao you will get the brilliance and you will get the times where you will swear at the tv when he loses the ball. The subs that come on Adlii was good on the ball, Okafor who didn’t get much service worked hard, Florenzi put in a good performance, Chukwueze is funny one and I want him to do well but what I have seen of him so far this season has been nowhere near good enough but I will still give him time before judging him properly
Positives: good attitude, solid defense, plenty of chances
Negative: terrible finishing
Takeaways: If Thiaw and Tomori can stay consistent, we will have one of the best defenses in the world. The new signings have breathed life into our attack but we still need a deadly, younger striker.
It’s just so predictable.
Basically the game came down to Reijnders and Giroud’s missing basically open goals.
Had either of them scored, we would’ve won 1:0 which is actually quite an impressive result in Dortmund.
The review would’ve been different and therefore the fans would’ve had a different view. It would’ve all been positive, positive, positive (except for anything resembling a player with a connection to the team who would’ve been the subject of 2 Minutes Hate (look up the reference).
There is absolute disdain for Calabria and Pobega (after a match that ended 0:0, away, in the Champions League).
Anything good they did (Calabria did well on a few occasions in defence and Pobega made some nice runs and combined well down the left) is entirely dismissed and any mistakes are homed on with the joy of some rival fan.
Dortmund had the likes of Hummels and Reus out there. Hummels is on his second stint there having played for 8 seasons between 2008-2016 before returning in 2019. Reus has been at the club since 2012 (11 years).
Calabria is our longest serving (and therefore one of our most hated) players who has been at the club since 2015. The rest are mostly blow ins. They’ll be gone soon enough. Either fallen out of favour or sold to fund another revolution.
Speaking of which, if we don’t get out of this group we’ll have gone from the semi-finals last season to the Group stage this (and a 5:1 defeat to Inter). Now I’ll be the first to admit that these things come down to moments, incidents, but BIG PICTURE. The management with all their shiny new signings have taken us BACKWARDS.
But this new shiny player took a nice touch and this new shiny new player made a nice run.
Did they score?
Did we win?
That is all that matters (especially if you’re going hate players who you deem as failures). Except these so called failures are some of the only ones with silverware.
What are you even talking about. Your just talking to say I told you so. Reus has been there for 11 years because he’s a great player.
Calabria is not a great player and has started this season awfully. It’s no coincidence he never gets called up to the italy squad.
Last seasons group compared to this seasons is night and day. A lot more challenging and had we had the team last year we probably would have lost both games.
Guess you don’t like being in first place and your so connected to saelemaekers who can’t even start at bologna.
You’re right Calabria is a terrible player. You’d never win a Scudetto with him, or get to the semi-finals of Champions League with him, and he’d never be able to handle Serie A’s best player from last season on 4 separate occasions or any of things that actually happened in real life.
No. Your OPINON of him and whether you rate him as HOT or NOT is far more important than what actually happened in real life.
Lots of players don’t get called up to the National team that play for their club team. Panucci didn’t get called up to the 94 World Cup despite being first choice ahead of Tassotti after a season that we only conceded 16 goals.
And many players cannot produce the same form for the National team or other clubs such as Immobile or Barzagli or any number of players who randomly found a sweet spot at ONE club.
Messi didn’t perform at PSG.
We will never have a Reus because we will either rate them as HOT and sell them to fund more HOT players, or we will rate them as NOT and give them away for free.
I consider florenzi more of a captain than Calabria is. Calabria you’d think he isn’t the most talented but he’d make up for it in leadership. He doesn’t. I don’t see him out there vocal, protecting his players, I just see him constantly getting beat, making bad passes and being a liability out there. Florenzi instantly comes on he makes a great block he’s cheering with the rest of the defence to push on and applauds everything his teammates do. That’s something to admire when the talent is lacking. I don’t hate Calabria but it’s time he sits a little on the bench because the start to this season has been his worst by far.
Oh so the heck up you saint wannabe.
Pobega is just down right bad.
Nothing to do with his nationality or youth academy.
Calabaria is just calabria, consistency is one thing he never have.
He’s not even a captain material, he’s just there because he’s italian and he’s right now the longest player in the squad, he’s there not because he’s one of the best in the league.
No wonder he’s never been called to NT again.
And mind you, I don’t mind even if milan fielding 11 international players if that means quality, because right now calabria and pobega aren’t that.
Italy have not been producing great talents recently, their regeneration sucks, they deserve not be in a world cup twice.
Even if they have talents, they are always over rated and over priced.
If Calabria and Pobega (and all the rest of the Milan players that you have disdain for) get selected again are you going to insist that your OPINION is worth more than a Scudetto winning coach?
Is there no end to your arrogance?
My God you are so pathetic. The same sentimental drivel every time. New signings are bad, old players are good. “He was a youth player…” who gives a sh*t. He’s terrible, he’s hurting the team. Pobega is a bad player.
Calabria is a bad defender, I don’t care how long he’s been with the team. You think it’s a coincidence that every team attacks us down our right side, or do you think they know that’s our weakness? The new signings have been carrying this team (except for Chuku), now we just need to get a RB in there in the winter.
Shock horror.
I support players who play for my team.
How exactly are they ‘hurting’ the team and was the team not ‘hurt’ when Reijnders and Giroud’s missed open goals?
Tell me K, with your high standards, who exactly is responsible for Milan failing to score in a game that ended 1:0 i.e. that cost the 3 points?:
Is it Pobega who didn’t miss an open goal or is it Reijnders and Giroud who did?
If missing an open goal is not the measure of success and failure, what exactly is?
Keeping a clean sheet away from home in the Champions League?
Pobega gave the ball away 5 or 6 times in the first half. Did that help or hurt the team?
No. See the score.
Lmaoo so when reijnders creates 5 chances and misses 1 it’s his fault we tied but when Calabria does nothing but mistakes that thiaw had to cover for he’s good because we didn’t concede? Get a grip pal. That’s why a statement already came out the in January milan will be looking for a new right back because pioli sees that Calabria has been very poor this season. Florenzi has played a quarter of the minutes and has done more with them. Once kalulu comes back I’d put him and florenzi over Calabria any day
Reijnder shouldn’t play upper anymore like this mezzala position. His finishing is terrible. He looked so so also as a regista. He should stay playing as box to box in duo midfielders 4231 like Tonali’s. In 433 he can play as BtB only if the center midfielder’s role is a tradisional regista like Adli did.
What a clueless comment…. Do you understand his function? Do you see his passing and forward runs?
He hasn’t scored, so what, he isn’t a good player? 🤣🤣🤣
Lol so many angry RETAR*S who wants Pioli out and claim his tactics doesn’t work when his tactics actually worked. If Pioli tactics doesn’t work then Milan wouldn’t even get one chance to score.
The stats showed Milan made 2 shoots on target, 7 shoot off target, and 7 counter attack.
The notable missed big chances such as Giroud in front of the goal but i don’t know why he decided to chip the ball when he should just tap in. Theo diving header. And Chukwueze and Reijnders also in front of the goal.
Can’t blame the coach if his tactics worked and provided chances to score for his players.
Exactly.
And had any or all of those chances gone in the game would’ve ended between 1-4:0.
Away. Against Dortmund. In the Champions League.
And the reviews would’ve been completely different.
And this why it’s so problematic when people try and act all rational and serious and moneyball about football.
Football is completely random. It’s one of the most random sports there is. A team can win one week against some top tier side and lose the next week against some bottom tier side and it all comes down to moments. An offside. A shot that is hit with TOO MUCH accuracy. A split second decision.
This is why REVOLUTIONS are generally a terrible idea. Because nobody actually knows the variables that make up a successful side. Players play well for one team but not another, in one system but not another, and then they hit the post.
But it’s also why LOYALTY and SUPPORT are so important in football. Because really that is the only guarantee you have in the sport. That is why football is the most popular sport in the world and why fans support teams and players of all levels.
And the more football forgets that the more it loses its soul and, eventually, its appeal as a mass media product.
Felt like Pioli wanted to absorb as much pressure as he could for an hour then start pushing forward more. Last 30mns were end to end even though Milan had chances in both halves.
I saw an awesome performance.
Pioli is the best coach in Italy who does a lot with little. Our players are very good, but not great bar 3.
We dominated a team level in points with Bayern in Germany now which barely lost last year’s title. We are playing great (except derby) and goals will come.
I agree, despite the missing goals we played well against both NUFC & BVB. Just need to be more clinical and improve over time. A stay way up from last season.
Managing this game with a side whose whole plan is to wear you down with 4 available midfielders and getting the better chances and a clean sheet…the missed opportunities are frustrating but that was the best team in the bundesliga last season….
1. Pulisic is playing too often. Chukwueze needs to play more to improve. So seems like an easy adjustment to make.
2. REIJNDERS is not a 6 even if he can do it. His runs forward were missed until Adli came in. Always start with REIJNDERS pushing forward.
3. Not sure what utility Pobega provides anymore… bring him in at 70’ mark to bruise opponents because other than that he’s useless.
4. Musah did well but RLC’s physicality is needed.
A draw away to BVB is a GOOD result. Sure it sucks that we didn’t get a win against NUFC but this group is WIDE open and anyone can progress. Home results needed against BVB and PSG. A draw away in Paris. NUFC away will be critical.
FORZA MILAN ⚫️🔴
Agree except for Pobega who is being castigated here after what you said is a…..GOOD result.
What Pobega provides are:
a) forward runs – far more effective than Reijnders or Musah or any of the other favs in that he actually nearly got through on actual goal!
b) aggression – which seemingly was good enough for Gattuso and Ambrosini (sorry, I know, these players are from a different ERA, the Great Python Era where the stars were aligned and Italy produced supreme beings that all randomly started to go to pot around the time that transfer market exploded and players changed jobs more often than some out of work actor);
c) passing (yes, passing) – he keeps it simple;
d) combination (with Theo and Leao); and
e) defensive positioning (see the 0:0).
Pobeg didn’t complete one pass and couldn’t get a shot off. He’s slow at everything: reading the game, make decisions, running, the time it takes him to get his shot off is so slow it allows the defender to recover. What’s the point of making a forward run if he can’t even get the shot off or play the right pass! Then he’s way out of position. Notice how after every forward run he made bvb had a counter. The only player more lethargic out there was Giroud. The only reason why Pobega is on the team is because Italian bias. Everyone sees it but a few stubborn Italian tacticians (cough cough Pioli). Adli did everything Pobega is supposed to be good at better and Adli wasn’t even that amazing. The fact this guy starts a cl game is a joke
Italian bias?
We’re an Italian team! And some of us are actually Italian and want the national team to do well.
Of course there’s bias. When you support a team you’re biased towards that team.
That’s called being a fan.
If speed is the key the no doubt you’ll be castigating Adli any second now!
The fact is Pobega just helped Milan to a 0:0 draw away to Dortmund in the champions league which puts in the top 0.01% of footballers on the planet.
Dude just stop, Pobega was awful plain and simple. Are you in love or something?
Am I in love with a player in a team I love?
Of course I am.
Otherwise I’m just in love with a brand.
Pobega is and was not good. No need to cover for him. You cannot have a 48% pass accuracy rating, miss tackles and give balls away and say he played well. That is a fact. I don’t care what nationality he is – that is simply not good enough to be a Milan player nor start in UCL game. At best he is a league player who can come off the bench to defend a lead. That is it. He should not be starting at all and we should have sold him to Torino (or at the very least swapped him with Singo) when his value was inflated – now he’s not worth much of anything. That was Pioli’s decision to keep him – and that was a mistake
@ Juro
The only stat that actually matters is the result and he contributed to a 0:0 draw that could’ve ended 1 or 2 or even more v 0 had any one of the players who aren’t be castigated actually scored open goals or 1 v 1s.
Do you not realise how ridiculous it is to say that a person who is a Milan player and has literally just played a Champions League game (that ended 0:0) is not ‘good enough’ to be the thing that they literally just were?
You’ve invented an entirely alternative reality where your opinion is given more weight than what really happened.
You think you know more than a Scudetto winning coach.
And not only you. Most people on here. Me and Pioli (the Scudetto winning coach) are the minority…..
4. if RLC needed to cover 12km and play all 90 with no backups…the game is lost.
Now it should be clear to all that:
1. Calabria is really bad
2. Adli is so soft he cant defend at all. If he would start we would be trailing by 3 goals. He only was OK in some unimportant distribution and only when Dortmund was really tired. Fresh Dortmund would eat him for lunch.
3. We miss Krunic for a reason and same people who wanted him sold must eat their hats today. Playing Rainjders as regista is a waist of talant.
4. Giroud should have been playing may be 20 min in the end not start!
5. Leao was not bad he still was the most creative player before the gate
The game was quite OK actually and we should ve been scoring… 2 or 3z but it is simply impossible to miss so many freacking chances. Really! Cmon?
Can fans ever agree!
I actually thought Adli did well this evening (after being very worried about his two previous displays!).
100% though you can see what Krunic brings and why he was so crucial in helping us get to the SEMI-FINALS of the actual CHAMPIONS LEAGUE last season!
Agree with the rest. Okafor needs to start. I quite like him actually (even though, as people may have gathered, I take a while to warm up to new signings!).
PS I also disagree on Calabria who is, primarily, a defender and just kept a clean sheet.
That is not accurate about Adli. If you watched the match you will see he won more balls back and broke up more plays than Pobega did. Stop defending Pobega just because he is Italian. It shouldn’t matter his nationality. And you don’t need to attempt to put Adli down to prop up Pobega. Anyone can see Pobega is not UCL quality. Be honest brother
if adli had given up the clean sheet after musah and reindeers both put in a 12km shift. I dont think we would see him again.
And he was very near that in the end stupidly loosing ball in front of the penalty area
i don’t want to be too harsh, its a physicality issue that can be worked on.
Yes it is clear, in order to lift up Pobega you are trying to downtalk Adli. That Serie B level player could not pass a ball and got outrun by a aged Mats Hummels.
I dont need to lift up anyone I am not his agent but it is clear why Pioli put Pobega in the starting and not Adli. But of course you know better, mister 🤣
Hahaha Are you really defending Pobegas awful display??? His technic has never been good but yesterday was just awful. Could you enlighten me with what exactly Pobega brings to the table.
1st early chance when pobega got the ball he should have backheel to giroud. He was in a better position.
Leao had some misplaced pass but he also create a lot of chances.
Pulisic had a chance to set up leao but he take a shot instead. He was better than chuk ngl.
Chuk miss 2 good chances, he should have at least score once tonight. So far chuk hasn’t really impress me given the amount of hype people made when we signed him. With time maybe he will be better.
Pobega created many chances by passing and running to empty spaces. His pass to Giroud in front of the ball after great run should have been converted. Yes he could do better but he is not the attacker naturally, yet he created more chances when Pulisic for the whole game just remind you. He also shoot the ball actually (was blocked twice)
Before checking the ratings and read what ppl have here I’ll give my notes lol
The most glairng thing was the misses. Holllyyy. Giroud missed sitters. The whole team was wasteful in promising positions. Okafor really should have started.
With us ceding possession you would think we would have done better on the counters but we’re so poor in counter attacks it cost us the game.
Beginning of second half sloppy. Reinjders risked a red by getting an early yellow..he let old man Reus not 2017 Reus, 2023 Reus best him for pace and then to make matters worse, he didn’t have to make the tackle smh. He didn’t have a great gonat DM today. I really didn’t know why we had to make this change.
Musah carrying is great until it is not great. In some cases he lost the ball trying to carry and that’s always going to be a risk with his style of play which I call wild (overly aggressive), what I mean is he needs better composure 😁. Overall we played too much near our own goal. Only reason why I’m critical is because I love the dude and think he can become really good. The other problem he might have is his height..in some occasions you can tell the extra inches could have helped out especially when he gets backed into as he has no option but leave his position lol
When Adli came on initially we looked better and I’m pretty sure it was because of familiarity…until the other new guys came and it was pretty much game over as we looked disjointed. He also got outmuscled twice with one which Dortmund should have scored if the pass was laid off . And this is I guess why Pioli doesn’t play him. It’s why players with zero errors in front of defence are preferred as much as it’s not sexy cough cough.
Overall though all the three mids played around way too much in front of defence. Sometimes a clearance or a smart pass might do or god forbid on this site where ppl have not actually played any football in their life…a back pass to the keeper might just do the trick instead of forcing a progressive carry.
On Pobega as much as I dont like his style, I must say dude has a knack for showing up in attacking areas. Maybe he’s Pippo’s relative or something. But again his slow pace cost us on one of the counters we should have scored smh.
In the plus side, I’m surprised at how much we quieted that stadium.
But another game we really should have won in a tough group and points which we’ll regret later on not taking.
if aldi had given up the clean sheet after musah and RT put in 12km with no backup. it likely would have been his last chance.
adli
Very likely. So while Adli did get some tackles right, the thing is he got some wrong. It’s great to get things right when things are right. Same goes for Musah, progressing and carrying are fantastic things to have in the skillset but you lose the ball on a carry and you’re in front of defence that’s major problems. If I can recall maybe look around the 85th minute…that’s dangerous to do. Dortmund could have easily scored and we were lucky. I do believe though in our current form that Dorts would be afraid of us at the San Siro and we’d win. I’m optimistic about getting full points either vs PSG or Newcastle
Very good analysis, but I would like to highlight one thing. It was Leao’s fault that Reijnders had to concede a yellow. He lost possession, which lead to Reijnders tackling Reus.
Hmmm 🤔 I’ll watch the game back for sure. But Reus is old lol. It’s not 2017 Reus. I noticed Reinjders Was below the pace this game. Maybe it’s conditioning or something. But I do recall writing about his pace not being anything to write home about as it’s the Eredivisie after all. Also, his positioning was bad on the foul. If I recall Reus ran into a central spot. But I’ll check it again. Thanks
Pioli failed again end of story. And some of you content with a draw in a game we should have won, losers.
The left side of the field had a rough night. So much needless possession lost between Theo, Pobega, and Leao. Pulisic spent a lot of time dropping so deep to help Calabria with Malen.
The team just couldn’t get a rhythm going at all the first half with the bad passing, but some promising chances in the second half. Just felt like 45 minutes wasted though and a goal could’ve came with more time.
First and Foremost, Milan’s Played Ok, let’s dive into the current state of Milan. From my perspective, the 4-3-3 formation doesn’t seem to be the ideal choice for Milan, considering our player lineup. Often, we don’t field our best 11, and I have to put some of the blame on Pioli, our coach.
Secondly, Giroud’s Role: It’s clear to me that Giroud shouldn’t be starting any more games this season. Instead, players like Jovic or Okafor should take on that role. Pulisic, unfortunately, didn’t make much of an impact during his 70 minutes on the pitch, missing a clear chance in front of goal. Here, I’d also criticize Pioli for not making timely substitutions, as Pulisic and Giroud should’ve been replaced around the 55-minute mark.
Rafa Leao: Undoubtedly, Rafa Leao stands out as one of Milan’s best players. But like any other player, he needs to improve defensively, in my opinion. Tomori, Thiaw, and Hernandez had decent games today.
Chukweuze’s Playing Time: Pioli deserves some criticism for not giving Chukweuze enough playing time to boost his morale and confidence. Chukweuze has potential, and although he missed a clear chance from Leao’s pass, it’s worth noting that Pulisic and Giroud also missed similar opportunities. Chukweuze is a talented player who needs regular playing time.
Worst Performers Today: In my view, the worst performers today were Pobega, Calabria, Pulisic, and Giroud.
Tactical Suggestions: Personally, I believe Pioli should consider deploying a 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-1-2 formation. With these formations, I believe Milan could become a formidable force in the league.
In conclusion, Milan fans have a lot to discuss and reflect upon regarding the team’s performance and tactical choices. It’s clear that there are areas for improvement, and I hope the coaching staff takes these insights into consideration as we move forward in the season.
Hard for me to see the team have better chances and have the stats confirm it and argue with the tactics. If you are putting the team in position to score more goals. why would you change how you play. I agree on Chuk in general but the opportunity in the 85th min is tough to defend…even if he hadn’t played all season.
Bro we bought players specifically for the 433, we didn’t get double pivot players. We’ll be sticking square pegs in round hole if we went back to 4231 🤷♂️
Don’t let that distract you from the obvious fact your life is worth nothing if you don’t read your Bible and pray every day that God will bless you. If you were to die tomorrow, and stood before the throne of the Creator of the Universe, would you be worthy of eternal life according to His law?
Pobega. Shocking..
If Pioli keeps relying on a 37years old Giroud as a starter , we will definitely bow out of the Champions league. In the CF role, Okafor can stretch any defense with his pace as long as they play the ball to him. If Pioli wants Milan to qualify for the knockout stages Okafor needs to start. Milan is the only team in this season’s champions league relying on a 37years old striker.
It’s surprising how people criticize Chukz. These player needs time to adjust, also needs playing time to gain confidence. When your team is underperforming, you encourage them to well next time. Let’s not forget how Leao started, but today, he is our best player. Chukz needs little and game time.
its hard to see the image of that chuk opportunity in the 85th min and conceive of a way not to score. Ill back him for being rusty on the ball but that has to be a goal. Even if you haven’t kicked the ball in years.
Watching trio of Pobega-Reijnders-Musah reminded me of Bertolacci-Montolivo-Poli trio. Lots of running, no distribution. Once Adli stepped in, midfield operated totally different, more vertical and attacking.
As much as I like him, Giroud is done. Time for Okafor or Jovic.
Chuk was total waste of money that could be spend to get either a proper DM or proper ST. Romero showed more in his 15 minute match than Chuk in his last 3 games.
Pulisic tends to disappear in big games. Lots of talent, no balls.
Lol please don’t give me PTSD with that trio 😂😂😂
I think Chuk is a streaky player and needs games to figure out the new system and league. But to me he hasn’t really gotten full chances.
I did say this about Okafor too…ie he’ll be coming on as a sub most times and it’s always hard to perform like that
Leao?? The CB’S were the best at the match. We played poorly on the front and didn’t score again. We brought so many players and we still can’t score and take the chances. We’re also short in the defence so I don’t expect much from our European campaign
First and Foremost, Milan’s Plan:
Ok, let’s dive into the current state of Milan. From my perspective, the 4-3-3 formation doesn’t seem to be the ideal choice for Milan, considering our player lineup. Often, we don’t field our best 11, and I have to put some of the blame on Pioli, our coach.
Secondly, Giroud’s Role: It’s clear to me that Giroud shouldn’t be starting any more games this season. Instead, players like Jovic or Okafor should take on that role. Pulisic, unfortunately, didn’t make much of an impact during his 70 minutes on the pitch, missing a clear chance in front of goal. Here, I’d also criticize Pioli for not making timely substitutions, as Pulisic and Giroud should’ve been replaced around the 55-minute mark.
Rafa Leao: Undoubtedly, Rafa Leao stands out as one of Milan’s best players. But like any other player, he needs to improve defensively, in my opinion. Tomori, Thiaw, and Hernandez had decent games today.
Chukweuze’s Playing Time: Pioli deserves some criticism for not giving Chukweuze enough playing time to boost his morale and confidence. Chukweuze has potential, and although he missed a clear chance from Leao’s pass, it’s worth noting that Pulisic and Giroud also missed similar opportunities. Chukweuze is a talented player who needs regular playing time.
Worst Performers Today: In my view, the worst performers today were Pobega, Calabria, Pulisic, and Giroud.
Tactical Suggestions: Personally, I believe Pioli should consider deploying a 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-1-2 formation. With these formations, I believe Milan could become a formidable force in the league.
In conclusion, Milan fans have a lot to discuss and reflect upon regarding the team’s performance and tactical choices. It’s clear that there are areas for improvement, and I hope the coaching staff takes these insights into consideration as we move forward in the season.
I don’t agree with giving attackers credit when no goals were scored. They failed. Even if only one goal is scored, everyone contributes to that one goal in some way and deserves some credit. With no goals scored, the forwards 100% failed.
Chukwueze broke my heart.
To be fair we have a good base to build a great team but we still don’t have a team we need at least 6 players 3 average or subs like right and left backs and a midfielder while kajr giroud florenzi etc should leave and simic and bartesaghi promoted then we get 3 world class players a striker a defender and a no.8 midfielder and we need to spend some money on these players if we did that we can have an amazing CL winning team in a couple of years and I think we should build in the young team we have because it’s the first time in a decade that we can have hope to return to our past glory and we can’t afford to pass this opportunity because it might not come again for another decade