AC Milan were held to a draw once again, scoring a late equaliser against Fiorentina through Christopher Nkunku, and below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out how we decide the player ratings. From the scale to what affects the rating, we have compiled everything there.
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Starting XI
Maignan (6): He couldn’t do anything about the goal scored and in the dying moments of the game, he helped Milan avoid a defeat with a fantastic save on Kean. He had also made some good interventions before that, so a pass is deserved.
De Winter (6): All things considered, it was a solid display from the Belgian, setting the tone early with a great last-ditch block on Pongracic. He did well in most of the duels after that and wasn’t at fault for the goal.
Gabbia (6): There were a lot of blocks from him today, both on shots and crosses, so he deserved kudos for his positioning. Having said that, his rating could have been even better if he had been more composed in attack, as he had a very good heading chance but put it straight at De Gea.
Pavlovic (5.5): He did most things well, in fairness, and it feels harsh to give him a 5.5 after he had to leave the game after a serious head clash. However, he didn’t have a man on the goal and still managed to mistime the corner, so he could have done a lot better there.
Saelemaekers (5.5): You could argue he was crucial on the goal, winning the ball back to set things up, BUT he was way too sloppy in other situations in the final third. Allegri said it before the game as well, he needs to be way more composed and today he wasn’t that with his crosses.
Loftus-Cheek (5): It was rather difficult to understand his role in today’s game, especially at the start when Milan really struggled to create something. If he’s just there to get the ball with his back turned to goal, he barely adds anything to the game.
Ricci (5.5): He covered the most ground by any Milan player and was often involved in the play, which his role requires, but he needed to be sharper with his crosses and shots. At the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough from him.
Jashari (5): It was his first start this season in the league, and while many of us hoped for a good performance, it was subpar for sure. One good run to set up Estupinan, but that was pretty much it, and he squandered a good counter-attack in the build-up too.
Estupinan (5): There were moments when he made a good pass or two in possession, but ultimately he wasn’t particularly useful in attack, nor in defence. Parisi had a field day on the left flank for most of the game and the Ecuadorian also had a really bad giveaway in the first half.
Pulisic (4.5): It wouldn’t be wrong to say that his misses cost Milan the win today. For a player of his calibre, you at least have to score one of those 100%-chances. It’s just too poor and the fact he started the moves himself doesn’t excuse anything, even if it softens his rating here a little.
Fullkrug (6): If it hadn’t been for two or three poor giveaways when he dropped down to receive the ball, it would have been a higher rating for sure. He was great in the hold-up play in the final third, setting Pulisic up brilliantly for two 1v1s. Really promising from him, but again, he needs to avoid those giveaways.
Substitutes
Bartesaghi (5): Not to criticise the youngster too much, but he kept an eye on Comuzzo on that corner and didn’t do enough to stop the Fiorentina defender. It’s just really bad marking and ended up being costly for Milan. He also skied a good free-kick chance at the end.
Rabiot (6): It was pretty much what we expected from him with some calmness on the ball, but also a willingness to make something happen.
Leao (5): He really didn’t add much to the game, it has to be said, and perhaps Allegri should have kept on Fullkrug for a little longer.
Fofana (6.5): A poor free-kick given away there at the end, which prevented Milan from pushing forward, but it was a great no-look pass for Nkunku on the goal.
Nkunku (7 – MOTM): He came on after Pavlovic’s head injury, so it was definitely a roll of the dice by Allegri, and it paid off. It was truly a fantastic strike to bring Milan back into the game, rescuing a point. Even if that point doesn’t mean much, the Frenchman still deserves praise.
The manager
Allegri (5.5): Was it really necessary with that much rotation? I’m not so sure. It definitely affected the game and it felt like Fiorentina won the tactical battle pretty easily, playing much better for large parts of the game. The Nkunku decision was admittedly good, but it’s another two points wasted and ultimately, the overall performance had a lot to do with that.
well , i truly hate rlc. fofana has to be better than that guy, pavlovich bartesaghi and rlc killed this game. estupinan was also bad and that giveaway should of been a goal , god knows why our defence locked in . fantastic goal from nkunku with a nice pass from fofana- i think if it wasnt that technique the ball would of been cutout since there was 4 defenders around him. fulkrug great and puslic deserves a fail but not the worst in the pitch , the chances he had vs de gea were hard to score, his decision making was terrible and he also set it up . pulisic was 4th worst, also our defence is in terrible shape with no one availble except gabbia and de winter wow. sell RLC Now!
At least Pulisic played defense when others stood around watching the ball. Note how many Km Pulisic ran and. Compare it to n the others…especially defenders. I dont see Rafa getting 4.5 ratings when he misses multiple goals…and he provides zero defense…..Get a clue!
It’s unbelievable how some Pulisic apologists reasons is he a defender? Or a striker? What’s his primary objective? Did he succeed? He just cost us the match and don’t deserve a 3
What a crock? And you call yourself a soccer fan!
Pulisic could score every match and Olumighty would criticize him.
@Finn
Because Olumighty is a Leao knob gobbler who thinks praise of Pulisic is criticism of Leao.
Wow, one of the dumbest statements I’ve ever read. Did you even watch the game? Be careful what you ask for, he hasn’t renewed his contract yet. I think Pulisic was the least of our worries in that game. We had no midfield, at least I can’t remember winning any balls there and we lost more than I care to remember. Losing the ball in midfield is death. That’s the reason we lost this game, that and the lack of effort; however I do believe Pulisic logged the most miles. By the way, he is not a striker, hahaha! Please learn the positions before you comment. So much for your main objective theory.
you are entitle to your dumb opinion, A striker need to score, if he had score those 3 begging chances, we wont be at this cross road, yl I admit that the midfield was crap, now we all can see why Fofana is higher in the pecking order
Olumighty crawl back under your rock with which you came. Troll!
Milan’s biggest problems are the mentality with which they approach games and a slow predictable attack when in possession …
The team still has a lot of dead weight. Estupinan, Jashari, RLC, Fofana still don’t really offer much. Front 4 are hit&miss. And our CB’s are far from Top Talent …
Top 4 seems about right …
Unfortunately I think you’re right. Really disappointed in Ricci, Jashari, RLC and Estupinian today.. Yet another “bad day at the office”…
It’s also the lack of leadership off the field, the management( Gerry and his flock of seagull clowns, no vision in this club etc. Orang-utans could manage the club better
Today we’ve learned we don’t really have that good of depth in the midfield as we have hoped for. Also the backline is starting to play at its predicted level, and the Saladmaker of the start of the season is nowhere to be found
The biggest problem was Pulisic that failed to convert 3 clear chances even my 81yr old mother will convert at least 2
Why do you hate Pulisic so much? Genuinely curious. It’s like you are happy he had a bad game so you can criticize him even more than you normally do. You really can love Leao and like Pulisic at the same time. Try it out.
Ryan I don’t hate Pulisic, every player should be criticize, the same way when they fail and cost us pain, whether black or white, If Leao squanders a clear cut chances like that, the whole internet will be on fire by now? from the Italian presses, to Costarcuta, Albertini, Cassano everyone, even Sachi will join, but have you seen the papers today? those misses were down played, rather they went after Estupinan which I agree was very bad and just like Jashari, Ricci etc.
And what happen to the one that squanders the golden opportunity?
The difference between Estupian and Pulisic is that Pulisic has arguably been Milan’s best player the last 3 years and has saved Milan on many occasions. Estupian hasn’t done anything good for Milan yet and continues playing bad. Yes Pulisic was bad yesterday in the sense that he should bury at minimum one of those two golden opportunities and that’s fair criticism and he deserves a low score for yesterday but trashing him all the time makes people not take you seriously because of how good he has been over the past 3 seasons.
If every player deserves to be criticized when they play like that where are your comments when Leao turns in another lazy putting where are you then? Your no where to be found maybe it’s cause your in your closest with your hand, some lotion and a picture of Leao. I do agree Pulisic had a terrible game but your biased opinion is a joke. Honestly I think your just racist and hate him because he’s American (which I get but let’s call a spade a spade shall we)
If your 81 year old grandmother could get in a position to score in a serie a game, someone should sign her up.
Rotation was necessary. There was zero rotation vs Genoa & they still managed to almost botch it at San Siro.
Jashari is a bigger bust than Nkunku at this stage of the season.
What do you expect from a guy who has missed most of the season with injuries and when he is finally back, his manager keeps him on the bench and has had little opportunity to prove himself. Just like Ricci, what is the point of getting these players when alegri has a selective few players that he keeps rotating in.
The three match which jashari have start lost 2 draw 1 which is today jashari is a waste of money Milan should stop doing business with club brugge
Jashari is crap, if this is the best in Belgium then am sorry
Prodajte upravu !!
This team is deteriorating compared to start of the season, its just as if they have forgotten how to play. And much of the blame goes to Allegri.
They don’t even have a game plan upfront, this team were doing better performance wise earlier this season.
No courage/determination from this team, no creativity or whatsoever.
Two weeks ago, it seems top 4 will be an easy achievement, with the look of things, it won’t seem so
That’s alegri ball for you. It happened the last time he was at Juve but it seems like people forget. Doesn’t matter the players we have, doesn’t matter the formation we list, it is going to be the same. The team doesn’t have an actual identity, it’s just a bunch of players defending and playing safe football
I truly don’t understand how you start your full squad vs Genoa and rotate heavily vs fiorentina. Especially the same weekend that napoli and inter are going to play each other.
It definitely doesn’t look like scudetto form tight now but allegris tactics vs the big teams work so well, but the fact that he keeps it vs the smaller teams hurts us so bad. There’s zero reason why we need defend and counter and play for a 1-0 win agsindt teams like this. Switch up the formation, or attack more. We can’t sit around and let the other team dictate the play.
Loftus has shown this season he offers nothing. Constant giveaways and he doesn’t even use his physical presence. Estupinan is a liability and jashari has shown much yet even though he can be excused for a lengthy injury and limited game time. Attack, I know leao is scoring goals but hes so limited in that position. Pulisic kind of lost us this game with all those missed chances. And you never know what your getting from the attack. Defence needs a player that has extra quality. They’re fine, but theyre missing that someone.
When we switch formations and bring nkunku, puli and leao in the game the attack seems different. Why not try a 4 3 3 against a relation team?
“There’s zero reason why we need defend and counter and play for a 1-0 win agsindt teams like this. Switch up the formation, or attack more. We can’t sit around and let the other team dictate the play.”
This! Honestly, it was embarrassing to watch Genoa keep the ball for the first 15 minutes at San Siro and now we were again being bullied by a team in relegation battle. Allegri’s obsession in winning all matches 1-0 has cost us 4 points in 4 days. And more to come the following 3-4 weeks if you look at fixtures. 2x Como, Bologna, Roma, Parma, Cremonese, etc. Lots of points to be collected before the Inter-match but I fear we’ll get more draws than wins until the derby.
We’re slow and predictable in possession. We beat the direct competitors on counters because that’s the only thing we’re good at.
Yep. Every single pass is sooooooooooooooooooo fkng slow (and inaccurate). I have the time to make coffee while waiting for their passes to find team mates.
And Allegri won’t change formation either. I’d stick Pulisic and Leao where they’re supposed to be in a 433 and put the German woodcutter down the middle. Other teams have us and our 352 sussed out…
Agree. 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 should be used against these teams.
The coach must be sacked, he is not doing well
One question though… Milan doesn’t play “man-to-man” marking on cornerkicks… Then why the f*** isn’t there a man standing next to the far post? That goal would have been easily prevented by putting the shortest man there.
I agree Mike – 6 but in hindsight he could’ve come out for the cross but he was equally let down by very poor defending. Good save at the end of the game and solid distribution. Pulisic was bound to have a bad game. Happy to see Nkunku starting to look like a striker. RLC is dead weight, has everything to be a top class midfielder but he just plays so slow. Joshari needs patience like Ricci (who seems to be coming along). The last couple games this team has lacked urgency and focus on the ball. Conceding 1 goal shouldn’t doom them to a dropped points.
Mike’s weakness is coming for crosses, whether from corners, set pieces or just a cross. He stays home for the most part. It’s just not his thing.
The overall mentality is the main problem. Obviously RLC, Fofana, and Jashari seem to be problems. Jashari still has some time and recovering from a broken leg isn’t easy. In the end, the mentality is what keeps these team from the top of the table. They’d be running away with it at the halfway point if they had scored 3 more goals in total across all those draws. 3 goals and they’re up on Inter by 4 points as it stands. The way they’re dropping points suggests that this can still be turned around. They didn’t lack creation today but finishing, which is odd by Pulisic’s standards. Averages say he’ll finish those more often than not. So the focus needs to be on finding another gear mentally. If they can turn it over, start beating bottom table teams and beat Inter in the next derby, it could be a repeat of 21-22. If not, I think 3rd place would be fair.
Well maybe not running away with it. They certainly could be up on Inter by 6 points given 4 of the 7 draws were bad errors and missed opportunities.
Got to start with 433 the next game..SURELY
Spent a long time writing my piece, it was swallowed and disappeared much like any hope we had for this team
For your piece, if you hit precedent you should be ok. Or copy it before posting, that’s what I do.
For this team, yes the scudetto is now over. Let’s hope at least they maintain the top 4 position.
The scudetto was never on when there is no vision and leadership. Every scudetto milan have won the core players we’re Italian
We should be top of the table by one point. Four points dropped over two very winnable games. We’re still in the mix, just barely, but given how we play against weak teams we’ll surely by out of it by the end of the month. The scary thing is Roma and Juventus are picking up steam. Even Como is threatening for top 4. Our upcoming matches against Como and Roma are fundamental, not for the title but for the CL.
Lol….
RCL has to be what I cannot explain, big frame with no effect, Fofana maybe terrible at shooting but certainly miles ahead of RCL in overall play.
I don’t know why the heavy rotation against Floretina, they may be in the bottom halve but are certainly not a bad team. The rotation shouldn’t remove balance from the team, the rotation was just too much.
Estupina has to be worse then Emerson at this point, I have seen enough to know he is a bad signing at this moment.
January is still open to do necessary business.
I was expecting a front 3, I didn’t expect Fullkrug would be subbed so early, he actually looked good.
It was a disappointing outing at large, big big miss from Pulisic.
RLC is big for nothing, he falls like a chicken at the simplest touch and for a man that size, its unbelievable
these ratings are a joke
100%
When you don’t take advantage of your chances you get punished.
It is inexcusable to miss 2 chances one on one with the goalkeeper by Pulisic from 2 great set ups by Fulkrug. Should’ve scored both, but even if he scored 1 its a totally different game.
I have an issue with the “Maignan (6): He couldn’t do anything about the goal scored”. For the umpteenth time Milan concedes a goal from a cross inside the 6 yard box because Maignan refuses to be a GK and come out to claim that ball or punch it out. Matter fact. If you watch the goal, Maignan actually stands in the spot from where Commuzo scores the goal before the corner is taken but he retreats to the goal line and stays rooted there while Commuzo scores the goal. He is at fault for the goal. He might be the worst GK when it comes to assessing crosses. Not to mention that he is the only player there allowed to use his hands and is protected by the ref.
When it comes to Allegri, his biggest mistake was putting Ricci in the middle and Jashari as a mezzala. Ricci has no vision or forward passing ability to be a regista. He is just a dirty work guy. Both of them were useless because they were played in the wrong positions.
Loftus Cheek is the embodiment of Looks like Tarzan plays like Jane. One little bump and he is on the ground. Ill do that Gatti swap in a heartbeat even though im not a fan of gatti.
Like I said last game, Milan needs a better midfielder than Fofana next to Modric and Rabiot but Fofana is still the best option from what they have in the squad. Another goal involvement today.
4 points lost to relegation teams in 3 days.
Hopefully inter and Napoli draw, but I’ll take a Napoli win too.
Well… You aren’t wrong about that cornerkick being the keeper’s ball. It would have been an easy one for any keeper.
And also… Why not put someone standing next to the post if you’re not going to bother picking up the easy crosses?
Good remark about Maignan. He stands dead at corners, just hoping defence will clear …
Fair enough the only one that has called a spade a spade though conservatively, let me ask what if those chances were missed by the real game changer Leao?
You mean the *game changer” that stands around, never playing defense, and just waits for the ball to come to him before moving?
And the one that run around like headless chicken just cost us the match, is he defender or striker?
He’s whatever he needs to be at the time…it’s called knowing when to play defense (i.e., when the other team has the ball) and when to play offense….Duh! Transition…know the meaning of the word ?
I’m starting to think this account is run by Leao himself. Only him or a complete idiot would make comments like this
I guess the coach and I are right about one thing, strikers should score goals not running around and doing stupid things.
We can blame Magic mike for the corner kick goal but as one who has both played and been between the sticks, I’d say with all conviction that it’s easier than it looks, one mistake and it’s a howler 😂😂😂, corner kicks isn’t one way and a little mistake could be talked about for long.
All in all we are left with a lot of “if’s” from all of Pulisic misses, but one thing is clear, RLC is a waste of big frame and no way near Fofanas quality in terms of work-rate and movement, and painful that Floretina looked like prime Barcelona against us 😂😂😂
Milan igra katastrofalno loše !!! Nema kombinatorike, nema tempa, nema brzine , nema inteligencije, nema nogometnog vica i entuziazma , dodavaju uglavnom unatrag i to nesigurno !!! Nema šanse da se plasiraju među prva četri
Fullkrug deserved at least a 6.5 with the two passes to Pulisic. His presence demanded attention from Fiorentina’s back line. I like the look he gives us up front.
Estupinan is this year’s Emerson Royale. Surprised he hasn’t been mentioned as a mercato mover.
I’m sure Pulisic is the angriest player in the locker room – no one is harder on himself. He should have chipped the 2nd shot over de Gea who was sprawled on the ground, instead of unnecessarily slamming his shot low at goal.
Milan needs to come out against Como next Thursday breathing fire, play hard for the first 5-10 minutes, show a sense of urgency and set the tone. The team seems to play at half-speed until they fall behind. Fofana at least plays hard.
Let’s please put shots on frame instead of kicking field goals. Ricci missed the goal twice and Bartesaghi flew a promising free kick tap from Pulisic 5 yards over the crossbar. Ugh.
Our race to the scudetto (or the scudetto illusion should I say) is over. Just like 2022/23, 2023/24 & 2024/25 we will have to watch from the sidelines as Inter & Napoli swing at each other for it. The difference this time around, is that we lasted a bit longer. Let’s just hope that this is not another january 2023 collapse in the making.
We had a good run in september, following by some important wins against top teams, but with the rigidity of our tactics and the quality (or lack thereof) of our teams we could only go so far. Today’s starting lineup, with the performance they displayed, might not even be able to save a team from relegation or promote a team from serie B to serie A. This is not a diss at individual players per say, but with their performances, lack of chemistry, playing time,… this is the result.
Allegri should definetly shoulder a lot of the blame here. I thought that he overly rotated the team and put together players that barely played together. I understand the need to rest some players, but he should’ve tried to integrate one player at a time in an existing setup rather than literally make 6 changes. Aside from that, while I didn’t dislike some of what I saw from the first 20 minutes, as Fiorentina started picking up pace, Mr Allegri failed to take notice.
The subs were a bit sus IMO. Füllkrug was having a decent game a created danger from each pass that reached him while Pulišić faded after missing 3 chances. It should’ve been he, not Füllkrug, being subbed out. In addition to that, the subs should have been made at the half-time, not wait for Fiorentina to pummel us to then make them.
Maignan: the goal wasn’t really his fault, and he did save us from what looked from a deserved loss.
Gabbia & De Winter didn’t look to be honest. They held themselves despite a weak midfield, however they started losing focus at the end of the game and almost gave away another goal. I didn’t include Pavlović because he mistimed his jump which resulted in Comozzu’s goal.
Estupiñán is the just a slightly improved version of Emerson Royal. No need to say more.
Bartesaghi is also at blame for the goal and to be honest, should be forbidden from taking set pieces. Just focus on crosses, tap-ins and defending please.
Saelemakers was sloppy, but there were moments where he was the only player making something happen.
Ricci needs to take courses on how to shoot and pass the ball forward and quickly. Offensively we were at a disadvantage with him on the pitch.
Jashari: at times I forgot that he was actually playing.
Loftus-Cheek: I never saw such a big guy playing like he has no size or strength advantage. In 2024 he used to be good in the penalty box, what happened ?
Rabiot: even in a subpar game by him, he is still levels ahead of the above mentioned.
Fofana: while he is very mistake prone, he seems to be always able to be in good position and find that line-cutting pass that saves the day. If he stops worrying about shooting, maybe he can regain some calmness and justify his starting position.
Pulišić: a forward cannot miss that many chances in such a small amount of time. Furthemore after thoses misses, he fade away. He should have been subbed.
Füllkrug: I actually liked his link-up play with Pulišić and all of our big chances came from balls played to him.
Leão: Didn’t do anyting worth of note.
Nkunku: Well he saved us today, so kuddos and MOTM for the Milan side.
After reassessing the goal, Maignan is also at fault.
We play so slow until we start losing its embarassing. Estupinan needs to be dropped for bartesaghi straight away, when he is on the pitch he plays against us. Ricci even though ik he is a holding midfielder has 0 creativity,he doesnt make any kind of attacking play jus passes to the next guy. RLC is not capable of holding the ball whatsoever and does not defend much either. Pulisic had an unlucky game tbh, after the 2 easy missed chances, his confidence flattened completely. The subs were 100% needed, tbh i knew the Viola would be a hard fixture bc against the lowest teams we seem to lose our competence. Also Fulkrug showed some good play ( the 2 assists which could have occured) but also showed some flaws such as his pace and physicality when doing 1v1 with defenders (take ons & headers) but his hold up play was commendable. He is giving me Giroud esque vibes but definitely nowhere near him as of this moment but only time will tell. Allegri was easily outplayed today completely ,Fiorentina were so unlucky with their chances and it could have been an easy 3-1 if it wasnt for Magic Maignan.
Mike basically denied two goals (by closing his legs earlier on the second half and against Kean in the last minutes) and gets a 6? Not to mention he placed himself well in at least 4 potentially dangerous shots on target.
I wouldn’t worry so much about the individual ratings as I would about common themes that prevail this season …
Why is Bart taking all free kicks! Salemakers is flop easily.
Because he’s a good crosser of the ball
Probably the best in the team
It’s incredible how Pavlo (who was all in all immaculate in defence the whole mach) was blamed for the goal even though the ball fell 3m in fron of the center of the goal. If that’s not the keeper’s fault I don’t know…
Maignan MUST own that space.
Change the formation to accommodate Nkunku Leao and Pulisic for goodness sake. Sell Loftus cheek. Play Nkunku as a false 9. Not a striker. Be flexible for goodness sake. Allegri coming back with old tactics. We need Xavi or Fabrigas!
Couldn’t agree more, especially the firing Allegri part
“We need Xavi or Fabrigas!”
No, we don’t
Fabregas might still be able to play better than some of Milan’s midfielders.
Lol.
Nice one.
And I think I actually agree.
He’d easily push RLC off the ball every single time.
If we change to another front 3 we won’t have any one to rotate them. They’ll have to dip into the market or bring back players from loan. I see the front 2 as a shop gap until players are brought in or come back. Even though they pay roughly once a week they still need subs.
Get Leao back on the left wing! He is no CF. Up front in the crowded middle he has little use of his acceleration and speed. Put Füllkrug in the middle to butt the big bad CB:s and let Leao elegantly pass his defenders on the left side, just as he did in the last scudetto 2022. Maybe they can establish a cooperation just like the former Leao – Giroud combination.
Exactly! Allegriball is no good. He is not maximizing the qualities of his best players. The team is playing 80% of the game in their own half which leads to chances and goals conceded.
I would agree. The problem with Leao’s stats was that we didn’t ever have a fox in the box to get on the end of those. So his assists weren’t jumping off the page.
Fullkrug isn’t R9 but I’m sure he can get on the end of some of those if Leao was to go back on the flank.
3-4-1-2.
Maignan
Tomori-Gabbia-Pavlovic
Saele-Modric-Rabiot-Leao
Pulisic
Nkunku-Fullkrug
Leao as a wingback?
Ok, buddy, put down the controller.
Do you think this is playstation or football manager?
You must be kidding for putting Leao in that position.
Our league position has hidden a lot of problems and so has deflected attention away from the grossly incompetent owners, directors and upper management. Out of about 20 signings , they’ve only got 3 or 4 right. Why didnt they bring back Thiago Silva till end of season? Why didn’t we keep Abraham or Jovic?
I’ve watched most matches and we play terrible football that’s so hard to watch. Slow, ponderous, backwards, lacking intensity, urgency and fluidity with few chances created and bad shooting (Fofana!)
RLC and Estupinan are so awful. In the first 8 mins, RLC gave the ball away all three times he got it and was shouldered off the ball by a player smaller than him. Please go to Juve and be their problem. Estupinan played a square pass ten yards outside our box and gave it away from which they almost scored. Both Jashari and Ricci looked weak but I’ll give them a pass due to lack of football.
I agree that top 4 is the best we can hope for.
Maignan
Tomori – Gabbia – Pavlo
Salaemakers – Modric – Rabiot – Bartesaghi
Pulisic – Fullkrug – Leao
Well, City can’t beat Brighton at home so it happens to the best of us… but it’s been happening too often to us recently. Remember when we came back from 2-0 down to beat Torino? Seems like a lifetime ago – it’s just been a steady downward slide ever since… Allegri’s starting to confirm all my worst fears why I didn’t want him in the first place. We progress the ball up field about as fast as the women’s team, he has no clue how to rotate, the 352 is clearly finished but he worships it almost as much as Vlahovic’s a$s cheeks… And now Nkunku’s one of our best players? Sheesh… we got a rocky road ahead if he carries on like this..
352 only works against the likes of Inter and napoli, where they pressure you high and you can hit on the counter. Against the teams we’ve dropped points too it should have always been 3 up front either in a 433 or 343 or whatever.
La partita
Dreadful first half where a newcomer to the league observing this game without knowing the players and the colors of the jerseys, would have trouble knowing which ones were Milan and which ones were Fiorentina, given that both teams were running around like headless chickens and being inaccurate in offense and shaky in defense. Then in the second half we did even worse as Fiorentina dominated the actions and deserved to win the game; we were saved by a goal by Nkunku but didn’t produce much despite bringing in the cavalry, and Fiorentina were unlucky with a crossbar hit and several good saves by Maignan who kept us in the game. This was by far Milan’s worst performance of the season after the Cremonese game. It is somewhat understandable because we played 60 hours after our last game while Fiorentina didn’t, but still, almost nobody had a good game, including players who had enough rest because they didn’t play in our last game.
Dropping 13 points to the bottom feeders is utterly unacceptable and makes me feel that any illusion of fighting for the Scudetto is gone, and it may very well be that we won’t make top 4 either. It is starting to look like we just aren’t a very good team, and the league has a number of teams that are looking more promising in the long run, so it will be tough to remain in the top four.
Also, I’ve been defending Allegri but despite the 60 hours of interval between two games, rotating six positions is never a good idea. It’s very hard to do well when you bring in six players who haven’t been playing together with the others. Sure, Tomori couldn’t play and Modric had to rest, so these two rotations were inevitable, but maybe Allegri shouldn’t have added 4 other rotations. For the last three seasons we have never played well after rotating 5-6 players in a single game; that’s what Pioli unwisely used to do and it was always a disaster. We had another sample today. Yes, we should blame the league for scheduling a game 60 hours after the last one, but the coach and the players have their share of responsibility too, for this dreadful performance.
I Calciatori
Maignan – One of the very few who did well. Several saves that kept us in the game. They weren’t hugely difficult saves but still, he did them, and interrupted several crosses too. A bit at fault in Caruzzo’s goal as he didn’t come out to cut it, but given the other saves especially one on Kean, I do feel like he avoided a loss, so that earns him a 7.
Estupiñan – Terrible. Kean ate him alive and Gabbia had to help. A liability. I almost didn’t see anything positve from him except for the odd and rare duel won. Our worst player by far. 3.
De Winter – Lost some duels but won some others especially a big one against Gudmudsson which avoided a score for Fiorentina, and overall had a very decent game, again far better than the disastrous performances he had earlier in the season. That’s his third decent game in a row so, that’s promising. 6.5
Gabbia – Did perform decently and way better than last game. Had a good header. Had to overdo because of Estupiñan’s failures. One of the few who were more helpful than detrimental. 6.5
Pavlovic – Tried hard, inaccurate in offense but attentive in defense except for some guilt for their goal which prevents him from earning a pass, then got injured. 5.5.
Saelemaekers – Bad game for Alexis. He is really struggling lately, not repeating the good performances earlier in the season. It probably does have to do with starting every game and being fatigued. Still, he failed a number of times including two very dangerous failures in the dying minutes of the game; saved by the crossbar once, and by Maignan once. Did recover the ball for the build up that resulted in our goal so that earns him a bit of good will, preventing an even lower rating (I was tempted to rate him a 4). 4.5
Jashari – Did he play? Mostly a ghost. One of our worst players today. That’s disappointing as I expected more from him, being one of the posters here asking for more opportunities for him. When he finally did get the opportunity, he didn’t deliver. 4.
Ricci – Tried hard to help the offense, gets kudos for the effort (was the player with the highest kilometers covered, both teams considered) but was very inaccurate, missed passes, and his attempts went off-target. It is interesting to notice that all three games when Modric didn’t play this season, we lost. Ricci is no Modric (to say the obvious) and the idea that he is a worthy deputy for Modric took a blow today. 5.
RLC – Another one who had a terrible game. Looked slow and uncreative and as usual fell down too often; didn’t carry the ball well which is his biggest asset; when he doesn’t do that, he isn’t helpful. 4.5
Pulisic – It’s hard to rate this one. He had 4 good opportunities in the first half and was by far our most dangerous player and maybe derseved a decent first half score for being practically our only dangerous player there, but then, his best asset which is being a great finisher, was completely absent today, every time. In his four opportunities, got there too late, took too long to shoot after dribbling the goalkeeper, shot at the goalkeeper when 1 v 1, shot off target (such have passed to a wide open Füllkrug there). Then he disappeared in the second half. Puli is a relatively fragile player, physically. He doesn’t sustain the intensity for 90 minutes. So, by failing to score in the several good opportunities in the first 25 minutes, he lost his chance to make an impact. I guess reluctantly I have to fail him too. He is our best player but today he wasn’t clinical. 5.
Füllkrug – One of the few who did well. Good passes to companions, looked dangerous; not in trying to score himself, but in placing the companions in position to score, which they unfortunately didn’t. He did have two first touch failures but overall did well and was again helpful, like in his two earlier cameos. I’m not sure if Allegri should have subbed him out unless it’s for still not being fit for 90 minutes (but he didn’t look fatigued or slow to me; I’d have kept him). 6.5
I subentrati
Bartesaghi – Nothing special today, and made two big mistakes losing Comuzzo in their goal and losing Brescianini in the crossbar hit. Also had an open shot in a free kick but kicked it too high. 5
Rabiot – Failed to make an impact but at least stabilized the midfield a little. Earns a pass. 6
Leão – Nothing good. Continues to look heavy and out of shape. 5.
Fofana – Collected an assist; did significantly better than RLC. Nothing really bad either (except for a poor free kick) as is often the case with him. Because of the assist, he earns an additional half point. 6.5
Nkunku – Scored our only goal. That’s 3 goals in the two last games he played in. I guess for saving our undefeated streak and rescuing a point, when almost all his companions did nothing productive, he deserves a 7 and the MOTM denomination. It is looking like after scoring 3 times in two games, the idea that he should be sold is fading. I guess I was wrong in proposing that; I should have listened to my own arguments that it is unwise to sell a player 5-6 months after he comes on board as players need time to adapt to Serie A. Let’s hope his good streak continues.
Il Direttore Tecnico
Mister Allegri – Sure, only 60 hours after the last game, had to rotate, but rotated too much. Also, I’d have removed Puli rather than Füllkrug. Puli was visibly fading and Fullkrug was having a good game. I think we became even less effective once Allegri removed Füllkrug. Estupiñan probably should have been removed earlier as he was terrible. Bartesaghi didn’t have much time to do much but he is young and athletic; maybe wouldn’t be so tired after 60 hours and could have either started or subbed in earlier. I often defend Allegri but today I really didn’t like what he did. Maybe it is time to realize that the 3-5-2 is no longer resulting in a lot of benefit, and a 4-3-3 would likely make us struggle less against the lesser teams, with Puli and Rafa being then able to play in their natural winger positions (However a 4-3-3 would only work in a sustained way if our players upfront remain healthy). 4.
Puli deserves a higher rating because he created the better chances. He was taking on one of the best
goalkeepers of the last decade. Florintina was able to surrond him wth several defenders. Puli does much better in front of the goal as a poacher. Puli is putting in too many minutes.
Pulisic deserve only 3, he is generous with a 5 for a striker that wasted 3good opportunities. Anyway I am not surprised, he only score tap in or steal other people’s hard work
Good ratings. The 2 worst players by far in my book are RLC and Estupian. I try not to criticize Jashari too much as he hasn’t played a lot and missed a big portion of the season so far. Think he needs time. Also on the bright side Napoli and Inter tied so at least Milan stays in 2nd only down 3. Don’t give up Hope yet!
I saw a team of 10 disjointed players…no plan, no passion, no chemistry with a goalkeeper to bail us out. Too many individual mistakes causing us games…we will be sitting on the edge of our seats for a top 4 finish. Not very comforting to say the least.
After last few games i gotta say, top 4 will be a miracle.
Game after game we play worse and worse, everyone read us like a 20 pages book. We are lucky to get those last minutes draws but that luck will also go away soon and then the drama, crisis talk will start and we will sink like a ship easy peasy….I hope i am wrong but the lazy milioners on the field are not proving me wrong….
At least i am happy for Nkunku as i was maybe one of the few who was happy when we bought him. Hopefully he can keep it up and show what a beast he was and still can be.
Enough with the “lazy” accusations. Our players tried hard. They just weren’t very good. No failures game out of laziness but rather out of a lack of skill, fatigue, and less than 100% fitness.
Yes, I think we were terrible today and it was our second worst performance of the season after the Cremonese game, but none of it was because of anybody being lazy.
Corrections: no failures “came”, not “game”.
5 for El Stupido Estupinian 🤡?
This piece of shіt should be banned from playing ⚽!!!
Estupiñan = Emerson Royal 2.0
We need to get rid of him and hire someone better. This is as clear as day.
I feel like Athekame did so well last time, that he might be a decent deputy for Saelemaekers who is getting worse and worse, out of the fatigue of starting every time. On the other side of the field, at one point I thought that Estupiñan would be a good deputy for Bartesaghi, but I guess not.
I forgot to mention Loftus Chick.
If you lost the desire to play football, get the hеll out
People here already at Allegri’s throat. It’s a long season, and this type of tight schedule will only repeat for our opponents. Yes, the rotation seemed awful today, and the midfield were simply bot controlling the game enough. As opposed to Genoa, were they only scored in a single chance that was due to Gabbia sleeping, here Fiorentina were the better team from minute 30 to minute 70 or so. But the season is long, keep your chins up. Inter and Napoli are going to drop a lot of points in the second round.
But we learned that our midfield subs have got a long way to go. Also, improvements to our back three would go a long way
“People here already at Allegri’s throat. ”
Why wouldn’t we be? Allegri’s not there for the style – that’s granted. So… When he fails to get more than 2 points from Genoa & Viola, what is there to praise him for? He’s the type of coach whose team plays ugly but as long as they win, people tolerate it. We didn’t win two easy matches. He deserves the critique.
Because winning a scudetto after how we looked last season is a huge order; despite the fact that Napoli happened to do it once throughout history. Allegri is basically the best thing to happen to us in the summer, together with Modric and Rabiot. That’s the difference between 8th place and 3-4th place. To be proper scudetto contenders we need someone we can argue is the best CB in the league to lead the back line. That and a few tweaks here and there, and we can argue that we have the best squad in the league
You can’t sack a coach that takes an 8th place team to 2nd place the next season with lower quality AND quantity of players.
You just can’t
Lower quality? We’ve upgraded from Theo to Bartesaghi, got rid of Emerson Royal and added Modric & Rabiot to the midfield and you say LOWER QUALITY?! 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
The problem when you look at our season is, aside from September, we never won more than 2 games in a row and we often failed to win 2 consecutive games.
By september we only played Cremonese and Rabiot wasn’t still there, so most teams didn’t know how to handle us. Now we’ve been figured out. We won most of our big games, but we don’t have guarantees that this will happen again this season.
And Allegri’s rigidity and stuborness coupled with our clear lack of quality (and quanity) isn’t helping us.
It’s not that bleak. This happens to be a week with a tight serie A schedule. We most likely won’t have to rotate this heavily again.
We didn’t rotate against Genoa and we barely got a draw….in San Siro.
We need to change our approach. What worked earlier this season is clearly not working anymore.
The reports before the match said it was Allegri’s “ideal starting-11” against Genoa. And boy, did it show?! 😀 😀 😀 😀
No European football
No Copa italia
Go knocked out early in super Copa
Yet the team plays so slow without any urgency and grit compared to teams that are still in 3 competitions.
It’s just so sad, it’s as if a draw was an achievement, going by the body language of the coach and the team.
You are right, its not about laziness, its just again the new players that we bought doesnt have the skill set to wear this Milan shirt.
We spend cca 65 mil on Ricci and Jashari, its a disgrace, bought of them are fighting with making 1 good pass, even Allegri has to protect Noobshari and say in an interview “he made 1 good pass to Estupian”…Pathetic, the 40 mil we payed for him its a such a disgrace, he and Ricci are not worth more then 10 mil, i can find you in Croatian league better players then those 2 “not lazy” milioners…
Thanks for acknowledging that. Yes, not laziness, but rather and unfortunately, lack of skills and other problems (injuries, lack of fitness). The issue with lack of skills is actually even worse than laziness, because laziness can be countered by an energetic and disciplinarian head coach, but lack of skills cannot (except in the case of very young players who are still learning). If a more veteran player lacks skills, that’s more of a managerial problem (scouts, sporting director, financial officials), caused by the people who need to hire better players, than a head coach problem. The coach can teach young players but cannot teach new tricks to an old horse if that old horse is unable to perform tricks. That’s on the people who hired the old horse.
Jashari still has the excuse that he is recovering from a broken leg and long absence, and he got so few minutes after he came back from his horrific injury, that it is hard for him to recover game fitness. Maybe at some point he will be 100% fit and will become a contributor. He has a reputation for being a good player, and maybe it’s just the circumstances. We will see. Certainly, however, today he was pretty bad.
Ricci however is a bigger disappointment. At one point he was playing for the Italian National Team and was doing well in the league and looked like a good player to sign. However he’s been rather mediocre, and also lost his position with the National Team. So it seems like it was more promise and more hype than reality.
Estupiñan is a bigger hiring blunder than those two. He is truly horrible and it is not at all likely that he will improve. That’s a prime example of an old horse who can’t perform tricks. He qualifies now as our worst player and looks like Emerson Royal 2.0.
The one good part is that we spent 38 million on Nkunku and at a certain point it seemed pretty clear that he was a flop. Lately, in the last two games, he is showing strong signs of not being a flop, and only having needed more time to adapt to Serie A and to recover better fitness. In the last two games, he scored 3 times. Let’s hope he will be one who will justify the large fee paid to hire him.
Also, Füllkrug so far looks like a good signing (and he was cheap). He appeared 3 times, with limited minutes the first two times, and more minutes today (but still, subbed out too soon) and in all three occasions he was helpful to the team especially with his good passes to companions and aerial duels. It does look like Füllkrug (if he remains healthy; he is supposed to be very injury-prone) will be a good asset for the team.
It looks like I was wrong about Füllkrug. I was against his signing but he is looking good, at least so far.
Nkunku will justify his price until the end of the season,100% and i hope we will be in top 4 too, but Ricci and Jashari will be still where they are now. 65 mil wasted cash, give it to some talented scouts and managers and you will see what beasts they will buy for us,not Tare trying to make his fellew country men a milioner….
I follow every game of Milan since long time and i havent seen such a bad and 25+ mil worth players wearing our jersey for a long long time. Andrea Bertolacci comes in my mind because we spend 20 mil on him instead going for Modrić when he was in Dinamo Zagreb. I saw Ricci trying to do long diagonal ball to switch sides few times, every time it didnt even reach the other side nor it was precise, 25 mil for that pieace of _hit, he is not doing it anymore, Allegri probably told him not to embaress him self even further, and again i tell you i will find you better midfielders in croatian league then those 2 noobs, its a such who can wear this Milan shirt
The problem was Pulisic and not Allegri though others (RLC,Jashari,Ricci, Sal’s, estupid) didn’t show up too but if he had converted the 3 begging chances we won’t be at this cross road
“Estupiñan is a bigger hiring blunder than those two. He is truly horrible and it is not at all likely that he will improve. That’s a prime example of an old horse who can’t perform tricks. He qualifies now as our worst player and looks like Emerson Royal 2.0.”
Let’s be honest… He makes Emerson Royal look like prime Cafu!
Allegri changed the whole midfield to 3 players that have not played together. He should have started with Rabiot Ricci and Jashari. Saelemaekers gave away the ball 2 times in the dying minutes that killed of counter attacks. The 5-3-2 against smaller teams is killing us and Allegri haven’t understand that yet. Milan have to sell RLC and Fofana and bring Ederson. Sell De Winter and Athekame and bring Scalvini.
A few thoughts
1. The blame on both goals is on Pulisic, especially the second. He got cute assuming De Gea would protect the near post, when in fact De Gea had given up. And sat in the middle of the goal. Blast that in on the near side.
2. I know from De Winter that you need some extended playing time to get back into form, but if Jashari and Ricci play like this they will not get that time.
3. People who move well without the ball. Pulisic, Fofana, Saelemaekers, Rabiot, Modric. Here are people who definitely do not move well without the ball…RLC, Ricci, Estupinan. It drives me absolutely crazy when either Pulisic or Laeo have the ball on their feet and no one effing moves! I guess Fullkrug gets a pass on this because he seems to be a good target guy…but what is everyone else’s excuse?
4. When Pulisic is dropping back to receive the ball between the CBs it tells you something. Our midfielders were complete garbage.
5. If we had played a completely attacking team we would have been murdered by all the wasteful passes. Estupian, Ricci, Saelemaekers…ughhh
6. Maignon is the man of the match…hands down
7. I thought our defenders (Specifically Pavlovic and De Winter played well today)
8. It didn’t work today but that give and go with Pulisic and Fullkrug could be devastating going forward.
9. I know everyone hates him, but Fofana is definitely better that Jashari , Ricci, and RLC. He just sucks as a scorer.
10. The three best mercato adds to this team Rabiot, Modric and Saelemaekers. Cost what? 10MM total. Estipian, Jashari, Ricci, and Nnkunku cost over 125 MM.
11. I will not give up on this team as they are still positioned well
Agree with everything you said
1. Salemaekers needs a week off. Athekame?
2. Leao needs to get into shape, and fast. Nkunku until Leao in shape.
3. Fullkrug is a beast. Love his impact on the defense.
4. Nkunku showing life!
5. Time for either
-4-3-2-1 with Leao/Pulisic below Fullkrug, or
-4-3-1-2 with Puli as CAM and Nkunku/Fullkrug up top).
6. Please resign Maignan
7. Please sign Rudiger as a CB – huge impact player
Forget about scudetto dream. It will not happen this year. The team isn’t good enough. So predictable and slow play. Really boring. They should have approached this the game differently since inter and Napoli playing each other.
If RLC has a 5 rating, lazy Leao should have a 0
Utterly disgraceful performance from our beloved lazy sloth, useless as always
Go away, troll.
Hatter!! Dumb comment from a numskull
I’m a huge Pulisic fan and he actually played really well but he deserves a low score because of missing two huge chances that he buries 95% of the time. I’m sure he would say the same. Also RLC and Estupinan really don’t offer anything. I’d take Fofana over RLC any day. Here’s hoping to a Napoli win!
Actually Puli missed 4 chances, not 2. He just wasn’t clinical today, unlike his usual self. Even very good players like Pulisic can have a bad day, and today he forgot to bring to the field his biggest asset, that of being a great finisher; he left that asset back in the locker room.
Saying Pulisic missed four clear chances is a bit of a stretch. Two YES. The other two were not clear chances, but he still made something happen. One was a shot that went wide, and the second he out-hustled a defender and ran at goal, and De Gea made a good GK move and came out to defend well. Both give-and-gos with Fulkrug were key misses for sure.
OK, but Puli did get there a bit too late in that occasion when De Gea came out.
Also, in that other one when Puli dribbled De Gea, he did take too long to shoot and then lost the angle.
OK, getting there a bit too late maybe wasn’t his fault… but I think the missed angle to shoot is something that usually Puli doesn’t do. He usually reacts fast and buries it.
I think Puli could have scored three times today if he were operating while fully displaying his best asset, that of being a great and clinical finisher. Today, that skill was just off.
This is not to criticize Pulisic. He is my favorite Milan player, and I believe firmly that he is currently Milan’s best player, and a truly world-class player.
But nobody is/was good every single game; not Messi, not Cristiano Ronaldo, not Maradona, not Pelé, nobody. And today, unfortunately Pulisic wasn’t good.
He was actually good overall minus his finishing. Which was very bad and very unlike him. I’m sure he would be the first to say it.
should a striker miss at least 3 glaring chances?
Thanks for been factual without been biased, but most commenters here are just hypocrites with double standard
“most commenters here are just hypocrites with double standard”
Hint: Mirror. 😉
Here are the facts. He’s not a striker dipsh!t, and despite not being a striker, guess who is 2nd on the goalscoring charts between two proper strikers? A little more color:
Pulisic: 84 appearances in Serie A, 31 goals. That’s .37 goals per appearance. 5,899 minutes played, 190 minutes per goal. 22 assists, so .27 assists per appearance.
Leao: 62 goals in 211 Serie A appearances, .29 goals per appearance. 14,083 minutes played, 227 minutes per goal. 48 assists for .23 assists per appearance.
Source: Transfermarkt
Pulisic is literally better in every metric. Pray to Olu that you check your facts before talking.
And those stats don’t even mention some other metrics where Pulisic “absolutely destroys” Leao. The ones that measure player’s work rate and willingness to defend etc. 😀 😀 😀
Too much rotation.
Yet there was valid argument for every decision.
1) De Winter replaced a disqualified Tomori;
2) Jashari replaced a psychologically scarred Fofana;
3) Ricci replaced 40-year old Modric;
4) Estupinan replaced a young kid who two days ago conceded a penalty in the 96-th minute;
5) Fullkrug replaced Leao who obviously still has an unsolved physical issue.
1) De Winter didn’t really do wrong here, so that was ok.
2 & 3) It’s generally Loftus-Cheek who replaces Fofana, Jashari here replaced Rabiot. Modrić needed to rest, but starting both Ricci and Jashari, both of whom barely played together and didn’t play a lot is su!c!de.
4) Conceding a penalty doesn’t mean you’re out. Also, the idea isn’t wrong but Estupiñán starts looking like Royal 2.0
5) Füllkrug looked good.
Rabiot also had a physical issue, it was reported this morning that he probably won’t be able to start.
As for Barte – knowing when NOT to play a talented young player is also part of the growing process. The fact that Genoa missed the penalty has nothing to do with Barte’s initial wrongdoing. Pervis being so poor all the time is the real issue since Davide can’t play all the time at just 20 year of age and having only played in Lega Pro until a few months ago. Maybe it’s time to test Athekame on the left to reduce damage whenever that position requires a refreshing.
To be fair the Genoa penalty was not a Penalty. Davide did nothing wrong there.
But the failure to mark Commuzo this match and the Brescianinni shot at the end that cannoned off the bar might be bad for his psyche.
Of course watching Estupinan being your rotation would probably give you a sense of ease, since there’s literally no competition.
That said, Como coming up on Thursday, I would rather all the players who were rested start against Fabregas’ team anyway.
Rabiot didn’t need to be replaced.
It’s hard to say that an experienced player like Fofana should be so psychologically scarred for having slipped in a clearly slippery field where several other players also slipped. Maybe the fault was of whoever made a big deal of Fofana’s slip. There were people even saying he did it on purpose and was likely involved in illegal betting against Milan. That, when he was only one of at least 4 players I see slipping. The field was likely too wet.
That young kid, even when he makes mistakes, is still way better than the dreadful Estupiñan. And his big mistake of conceding a penalty didn’t even result in a goal for the opponents. At the very least, once it was clear that Estupiñan was sinking Milan, that experiment should have ended much sooner, and Bartesaghi should have been brought in immediately.
Tomori and Modric, sure. Füllkrug for Leão also made sense.
But Jashari, Estupiñan, and RLC playing, all 3 doing very poorly, in retrospect doesn’t look like the best decisions.
Look, the issue is, one shouldn’t make 6 rotations the same game. Had Allegri thought of the calendar earlier, he might have rotated some players against Genoa, and some others against Fiorentina. No need to make no rotations for Genoa, and six for Fiorentina.
It’s never a good idea to rotate 6 players in the same game. It often leads to disaster, and today we had another demonstration of that.
It is also true that this is not entirely Allegri’s fault, because Milan has the shortest roster in all of Serie A. The managers did need to trim the squad because it was too bloated. But they went too far and trimmed it too much, so now it is harder for Allegri to rotate. If we have injured and suspended players, then it becomes even more difficult.
I wonder why we always seem to get everything wrong, in terms of managerial decisions, hiring, loaning, and so on. (Well, of course, part of it is because we’ve been managed by people who have no football knowledge and worry more about the finances than about sporting success).
I look enviously to our rivals Inter, who seem to do just fine season after season, with the right mix of a stable core of players and some good and younger additions.
I was hoping that Inter would finally fail due to their core of players getting older… but they acquired some good youngsters (like Esposito) and they are sitting pretty in first place. Also, we have had a chronic striker problem, with only Giroud paying off, out of years of failed attempts to fix that position, while Inter sit pretty with Lautaro and Thuram.
Pulisic was wasteful and should have put the match away early. Too much rotation when most weeks there is none. When Modrić isn’t on the pitch we should try different formations because no one looked comfortable playing his role.
Good point. We lost all three games that Modric didn’t play in, and the midfield was dreadful in all three.
Too bad that Modric’s age doesn’t allow him to play every time, because we are a different (as in, much worse) team without him.
The sad thing is that it looked like we had enough depth in the midfield department, but the reality is that only Modric and Rabiot are very good and are almost always (that is, consistently) good. Because the other four are all being disappointing.
RLC is highly irregular. He has good games at times but horrible games at other times (like today), and I’m afraid the latter are more numerous than the former.
Fofana can be incredibly detrimental to the team, by wasting multiple offensive plays by trying to shoot, when he is an atrocious finisher. However he does deliver the occasional assist and the occasional good pass in through balls. He can be vertical and fast in those moments; it’s when he tries to carry the ball himself and shoot, that he is a complete failure.
Ricci has alternated between being too shy, and being bold but too inaccurate. Big disappointment.
Jashari maybe can be excused given the recent horrific injury but certainly so far he has shown very little. One wonders if he will actually recover his promising days, because sometimes, a badly broken leg, even after it heals, makes a player never be as good as he was before the injury, as it can permanently damage proprioception. Fingers crossed that it is not the case for Jashari, and that he eventually improves and becomes a contributor. However, it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon, and it then becomes a vicious circle: he needs more minutes to recover game fitness, but if he is playing very poorly and being a factor in the team dropping points, it’s hard to grant him those minutes, so that delays even more his recovery.
So of the six midfielders, we have a very good one but old who can not play game after game; a very good one that is very consistent (and whenever these two are absent or having a rare bad game, the entire team suffers), and four others who have often been more detrimental than helpful.
That’s not enough for a sustained campaign, even if we’re playing in only one competition, now. It doesn’t help to have 6 midfielders if only 2 are consistently good (one of which, too old to play too often).
Ricci and Jashari would play better if they had more opportunities to gel but Rabiot and Modrić have been good so I don’t fault Allegri.
Fofana is a very good midfielder in the center of the pitch, he can win the ball and start counters so I do like him in the team but he isn’t the best in either final third. I don’t need to mention his shooting we all know but in the defensive final third he is prone to falling asleep or failing to see the danger. Take the Genoa goal last week, yes Gabbia was responsible for guarding Colombo but if watch the replay you’ll see Fofana holding an area not occupied by a Genoa player and in my opinion he should have seen the danger and slide down to cover the cross. To judge whether I was to harsh with that thought I looked for it against La viola in particular with how Ricci handle those situations and on several occasions Ricci did slide into the back line to cut out potential crosses.
Next match I’d like to see Leão and Füllkrug from the start and the fact that didn’t happen today leads me to think Leão isn’t 100% but to be fair Pulisic isn’t either. Pulisic starts seasons on fire and at the international break he gets a knock or injured, it’s happen all three seasons he’s been at Milan. Leão is a season half of the season player so I want him to step up and take control of this team and secure championship league.
Anyway it’s frustrating to drop points these last two matches so a top four hope is what a realistic goal is now.
Far too many passes going forward taking forever to surprise the opposing team. It’s boring and counter-productive. The last four coaches have adopted this trend and none have got success with Milan. Pressuring non stop the opposing team quickly should get better results. Until then the fans suffer the frustration!!
spot on Krunic’s heir
I hope this season doesn’t turn like allegri’s last 2 seasons at juve. Nothing but draws… some of the rotations today were justified since rabiot picked up a knock yesterday and modric at 40 years old has been playing every game. However, fofana should have started instead of RLC. Im not a big fan of fofana. But at least he has a bit more physical presence in that midfield and RLC, never understood what he brings to the team. Allegri is very rigid. When it comes to formations. Every team typically learn how to switch formations when needed, but not Allegri. A lot of people here are saying that we don’t have quality depth in that midfield (maybe right). However, with the change of formation these “new midfielders” may offer more quality. Maybe play either Richie or jashari in more advanced role and either one of them in a deep midfielder role accompanied by a more muscle one like fofana. Im sure either one of them will deliver more killer passes than RLC who lowers his head and tries to plow through. Also, no need for Bart to be dropped today. He is young and can handle 1 game a week. Especially, in a game where the are a lot of changes already. We’ll I hope we get back in form and reach top 4. It sucks because we could have gone for the scudetto since we only play once a week. But again with our super slow build up, we are lucky to be here. Remember we used to smash diaz that actually created some. Now we rely on RLC.
If there’s one positive this season, it’s the three central defenders. Aside from the odd mistake, like Gabbia’s slip in front of Colombo, they’ve been performing decent on a consistent basis. Even De Winter seems to be gradually entering the mix and Tomori’s absence today wasn’t felt at all.
Worse than Puli’s wastefulness (he saved us on numerous occasions in the last three seasons, so a game like this was always going to arrive at some point) was the horrible midfield. If this is what we wasted over 60 mil. on, color me unimpressed. Ricci seems to be scared of going vertical and is kind of weak in the defensive phase, so what exactly is good at? Shooting from distance? Couldn’t even find the frame from 2 attempts today. Jashari deserve more time and patience with all things considering, but today he was even worse than Ricci, very passive and prone to silly mistakes. Then we lave RLC who is no starting 11 material and we’ve known that for quite some time. Tall and physical on paper, weak and unintelligent in reality. To this day I can’t figure out what his role is. For a box-to-box midfielder he is incredibly slow and barely runs deep to receive the ball behind the defence. If he is some sort of AM/quasi-winger, leaning towards the right flank and exchanging positions with Alexis, he should be able to beat his mat at least from time to time. Horrible performance. You know it’s bad when Fofana’s entrance change things for the better. The team is simply dependent on Puli having a day and Modirc-Rabiot being on the pitch. Whatever tactic Allegri opts for, it’s a simple fact these three don’t have proper alternatives, not even close. Yet we wasted so much money for exactly that in the summer.
100% right. Good post.
“Ricci seems to be scared of going vertical and is kind of weak in the defensive phase, so what exactly is good at”
When I mentioned this prior to us getting him…. I was of course a hater lol
One of my write ups in the summer
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IKWYDLS
30 June 2025, 19:04 at 7:04 pm
I’ve seen Ricci play a few times now. A few times against us and then I caught a few other games against lesser quality opponents.just to see what the hype was about. In all cases I was never impressed. From the eye test he’s a mezzala, not a DM ..so there’s that. And we have alot of those. Also I don’t see him head and shoulders above the rest of the players around him. When looking at his stats, he’s poor defensively against other mids in Europe and many other categories leave lots to be desired. 🤷♂️.I don’t understand the hype around this one”
The guys seemed to be playing with the brakes on. Playing slow passes cause they didn’t want to run into space. Even Alexis with his 3 lungs has hit reserve tank. Ricci ran himself aground just trying to be useful, maybe in the second half he played some forward passes. But all in all there seemed to be no pattern to our play.
Our wins against our direct rivals has lulled us into a sense of false security and given false hopes. I mean why would the workrate of all 11 players drop so bad that relegation teams outplay us and we have to pray to score last minute goals to salvage a point?
Is it a individual player mentality or something the team resonates from the vibes they get from the coach?
Guys please help me out here, Emerson royal or Estupinian who is better???
Yes Puli should do better, but that anti-Puli bias showing in the rating again. 4.5? Others missed even more clear chances and still got a pass. If it were Leao he’d still get a 5.5 or 6 with comments like Leao should better but really showed how dangerous he can be. 4.5? How about our players having clear chances and skying it over goal. At least Puli gets shots on frame…
DITTO. 4.5…Seriously?
Nah kiddo, Pulisic had 4 chances to help the team today and fluffed every single one. Hes one of our best, but he was shockingly bad today
“At least Puli gets shots on frame…”
That’s exactly what he should’ve done in his first chance, but decided to be flashy and DIDN’T shoot on frame. It was one of his top 3 worst performances for Milan. I like him big time, I find him to be more complex and efficient than Rafa. However, we should be objective.
We need to sell Estupinan. He was by far the worst player today. He gave away the ball dangerously on multiple occations. Jashari was poor too, and so was Ricci. Yes Pulisic should have scored at least one goal, but he did combine nicely with Fullkrug. I feel we are dangerous when we move to a 3-4-3 with Fullkrug in the middle. As for the middle of the field it was wrong to start with Jashari, Ricci and RCL. Ricci was right if you have to rest Modric or Jashari in that position, but not both of them. They are combined far to light. Rabiot should have started or maybe even fofana and RCL. Management by Allegri was not top today.
Season midpoint, 19 games for most except that Roma have 20 (and Juve wil have their 20th tomorrow).
We finished the first half in second place, 3 points behind Inter and 1 above Napoli (they drew 2-2 tonight). We are 1 point above Roma but with a game in hand, and 4 above Juve.
Decent table position given that we had injury and suspension issues and we have a short roster.
However we must stop drawing with the small teams. We dropped a whooping 13 points to the bottom teams. This is starting to look suspiciously like Allegri’s multiple draws in his last season with Juve.
“Decent” is an understatement, it’s basically the most one could realistically hope for with this short and unbalanced squad, constantly plagued by injuries of literally ALL the attacking players. People are mad, because we overperformed against the direct rivals and underperformed against the so called “small” teams, but what difference does it make, in the end it evens out. A little bit of luck against Genoa and today, we end up with 6 points. Then again, Dybala and the traitor score the penalties and we draw (potentially lose) against Roma and Inter.
Seeing fans criticize Allegri for everything that happens, including Pulisic’s misses and the constant bad refereeing, is refreshing. It means last season (when we arguably had better team on paper) and the 8th position was simply a fluke. Seven months later we require from then new coach to go for the first place with a worse squad, otherwise he is labeled a failure.
And look at where Juve are now. Onto their third coach since the start of last season.
Projects take time to build. We’ve seen improvement over last season, but there’s still a long way to go and the injuries haven’t helped.
“This is starting to look suspiciously like Allegri’s multiple draws in his last season with Juve.”
.
.
“And look at where Juve are now.”
Yeah. Juve are currently 3rd. Back there fighting for the scudetto. Again. Returned into the winning ways instead of playing for “not to lose”.
You do realize that “losing one and winning one match” will get you more points than “two draws”? I would have gladly took a defeat from either Genoa or Viola if that would have given us 3 points from the other match. 3 is better than 2 when we’re not playing against direct competitors.
*took=taken…
He’s whatever he needs to be at the time…it’s called knowing when to play defense (i.e., when the other team has the ball) and when to play offense….Duh! Transition…know the meaning of the word ?
We should sign comuzzo, he jumped way higher than bartesaghi and pavlovic. Gatti’s also fine but comuzzo has higher ceiling fot coming years.
4.5? All the chances he initiated. Without him we would be passing it backwards
Lessons: the rotations was necessary to build a squad, not just a starting 11.
Also, this game shows Allegri over reliance on Modric. If he wants to build a team for the next 2 3 seasons he needs to allow the other midfielders bring in their own dynamics and in exchange gain experience. Modric may not be available next season.
If I see Allegri playing this 3-5-2 one more time, I’m loosing my crap! His tactics is the worst I’ve ever seen and he refuses to evolve. This team needs to take a bold move and build with a fresh coach with fresh ideas and give them time to build this team into a winning team. We’re so ugly to watch.
Estupiñan is not a bad player! Fofana, Jashari, Ricci, Nkunku, De Winter, Athekame are all not bad players! They’re just playing in a terrible system.