What an incredible ending to an otherwise sluggish game. After Christian Pulisic broke the deadlock, all hell broke lose as Olivier Giroud was forced to be the goalkeeper in the final minutes. Below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri.
Starting XI
Maignan (6): He made an absolutely stunning save in the second half after a shot was deflected by Tijjani Reijnders. However, the challenge that got him sent off was incredibly reckless and put Milan in a difficult spot. Note: his rating was upgraded from 5.5 after further consideration.
Florenzi (6): He did okay on the right flank and was certainly comfortable on the ball, offering a solution when the play was at a standstill at times. Also had a good cross for Leao, but the header was saved.
Thiaw (7): Another very very strong performance from the German as he not only won many duels but also did well on the ball. Sure, it wasn’t always the hardest passes but he had a couple of really good ones.
Tomori (7): He was everywhere, as always, and didn’t allow Gudmundsson to test Maignan that evening really. For a higher rating, and this goes for Thiaw too, he could have been even more bold in the build-up.
Hernandez (5.5): A very unnecessary yellow card which means he will miss the game against Juventus after the break. He wasn’t much of an outlet in attack either.
Musah (6): He was way too confident in the duels (most of which he lost) and was sloppy on the ball at times. However, he did an important job towards the end and also got the assist for the goal.
Adli (5.5): A couple of good passes, but nothing more than that. He didn’t have the same luck with the long balls and he showed his inexperience in certain situations, trying to play his way out rather than going down and winning a free-kick.
Reijnders (6): He was almost always involved and that’s why he gets a pass, ratings-wise, for me this evening. He at least tried to break the deadlock with his movements but he didn’t always get the ball.
Chukwueze (5): A bad night for him, despite the fact that Milan gave him every chance to shine. The Rossoneri did really well to create space on the right but the Nigerian just didn’t make the right decisions.
Jovic (5.5): He was very quiet in the first half but improved slightly in the second half, somewhat involved in the goal and also having a few efforts blocked.
Okafor (5): As opposed to his opposite man, he was barely involved in the game and the few times he did get the ball, he didn’t have any success.
Substitutes
Leao (5.5): A few good runs here and there, including in the build-up to the goal, but was not particularly accurate with his crosses.
Pulisic (7 – MOTM): You could give it to Tomori, but the American’s skill on that goal deserves the award. It was a great take-down of the ball and the finish was stunning, and with his weaker foot as well.
Giroud (7): He didn’t have much of an impact on the game as a striker, but as a goalkeeper (!) he had one crucial intervention where he claimed the ball. It takes some confidence to step up in that moment and put on the gloves. Thanks, Ollie! Note: his rating was upgraded from 6.5 after further consideration.
Calabria (6): An okay defensive display from the captain and was needed for the energy in the end.
Bartesaghi (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Give Oli a 10 lol.
I sense a big bias in this ratings.
You never mentioned the two chances Chukweze created that could have been converted.
Apart from the goal Pulisic scored, tell me what else he did in the match.
Could have given Mike the MOTM if not for the red card, and which was not his fault.
Tomori and Malick phenomenal.
I need RLC back, Musah is not yet there(was everywhere today though).
Maignan 5.5 should be like 6.5 and Chuk’s ratings should also be higher. Yes, it was a reckless chance but give credit to his effort. Very unlucky with the red card.
How else do you need Musa to be ? Should he fly before he can please you? The grounds the dude covered, the tackles made and the recoveries are second to none. Dude is there already.
When he starts producing and scoring goals which he will, because it’s evident he is the talent, he is going to be one hell of a midfield player
i thought the defender he was up againt was their player of the match. dont know if hes typically that good but physical and made stops. But the ball musah put in for the goal was beautiful and thats two games in a row covering the most ground on the team. RLC is likely better against a low block but musah has already played more 90 min games.
I think this author either hates Chukwueze or doesn’t understand football. I’m not saying the guy was great, but he was far better than anyone else on the pitch in the first half.
As much as I think Chuck has a long way to go, I’d agree, he played decent and created a few chances with his crossing. This is a good thing of progress since his first games were all about keeping his head down and dribbling until he lost the ball. However he could have done better on other occasions if he uses his RIGHT foot for once.
What game were you watching? Chukwueze was terrible, a complete wasted space. He did nothing with the ball other than lose it and is next to no help on D.
Yeah these ratings aren’t the best. Everyone played bad except Thiaw Tomori and Maignan. Maignans save with his left hand over his diving body to the right was incredible.
Pulisic absolutley wrecked a Genoa player in the middle third and sprung Leao who unfortunately cut back, used hisnright foot and floated an errant cross.
I can come up with more if you’d like.
Chuk tried 5x unsuccesful dribling atempt where he lost a ball all 5 times, and sending one ” to fast ball” for okafor which noone could catch,yes give him a 10 and MOTM !
”Too fast ball for Okafor” Do you even read what you write? Hahaha
Yes,eniglish is not my native language and i don’t know a correct phrase for a ball which is to fast for striker to catch it,but i think u know very well what i wanted to say,your problem is that you see that ball (which was to-fast) already as an assist. There is a difference from succesfull pass (assisst) and unsuccesful pass. At least u understood the part about his unsuccesful dribling atempts (all of them was unsuccesful).
Lmaooo,you can tell love about ur loving chuck ,but dont try to underestimate pulisic’s influence on this team… did you see how many times he came back to suport defence,did you see how he found leao,did you see that he played more of a RM than RW when we stayed with 2 CF,did you see that chuck lost about 5-6 balls and pulisic lost none,and dont tell me “apart from goal” cause thats the main problem for ur loving choking chuck,he cant score even 1on1 situation,after all pulisic already has 4 goals and 1 asisst,a stats which u can expect aprox. around 2025 from ur Chuck. His new name should be Chokewueze.
You are just a sorrowful human. You know how to give people new names. Your type won’t even be good in whatever it is that you do.
They should have employed you instead of Chuk or your Choke.
It’s not bias. It’s just the superficial nature of reviews.
The whole point of the game is to score, dumbass. And he scored the only goal.
A great win and a Fantastic goal from Pulisic.. I can tell you for free the composure he had to control and finish that ball, if that chance had fallen to any other player it won’t end up as a goal….
Pioli needs to chill out when using our supposed second eleven, I see absolutely no reason why he made those subs at half-time, end up wasting the available subs and it almost cost us.
The refere was so terrible and was largely unfair to us and especially Musa 70% of fouls committed again his were not blown for…
Overall good game for Musa dude works his socks off every game.
The red card for Mike was totally avoidable if Tomori wasn’t out of position. He is our fastest defender and we are 1-0 up I don’t know what he was doing up field. It easily could have ended badly.The article saying it was reckless didn’t consider Mike could have been stretched off instead if he didn’t shield himself. The ratings are sh*t.
Good win Forza Milan
Well the good news is we aren’t playing well, but are picking up points. I wouldn’t say anyone is playing particularly badly not particularly well, it just isn’t clicking. This could be down to all the new players or something else. Tactically we aren’t exciting!!
I want keen on Pulisic as I thought Chelsea had ruined him, but he’s been excellent, the difference maker.
Still Theo and Leao issues….
Giroud is my MAN (of the match)!
These ratings are crazy to me.
I’d really like to know what this person sees when he watches football. Are you seriously telling me Jovic was better than Chukwueze, who was the most lively player in the first half, especially out of the front three? ”Didn’t make the right decisions” WHAT? I just want a common sense answer. No mention of all the passes and crosses where he actually beat players and created chances? I’m convinced there is a bias here, or just a straight-up lack of understanding of football.
Youre right! Chuk wasnt that Bad.
Hah. I knew you would come right in defending Chuku after another performance where he does nothing. So delusional when it comes to him. What are you his brother or something? lol I guess he just needs more time right?
I don’t debate clowns with no understanding of football.
Why don’t you just enjoy the win?
I agree with the rating that Isak put, I don’t know which match did you see man?!
Chuk was a pain in the ass to watch, always struggles I just remember only one play that he did well after that all passes that doesn’t mean anything.
MOTM pulisic is the most accurate as he saved this awful match that no one did anything, we had one and we put it inside, period.
I watched Genoa-Milan, you clearly watched something else. I dunno, maybe on your phone or watching a soap opera perhaps? If you have any time, I suggest re-watching that first half and tell me, then, who the most lively player was…
Lively and successful are two wildly different things. Chukwueze was worthless. Get the ball with all kind os space, run at the defender, take it onto your left foot and lose the ball. Yeah I guess that is “lively”, but who cares if it turns into a turnover 100% of the time.
This is nothing new for him, saw several of his games last year in Spain, same crap all the time. Pulisic is so much better, he scores, can actually use BOTH feet, and helps out on D. There is no debate.
I was not surprise Samu came off at the half, he should have been yanked before that. I would have gave if a 4, at best.
What are u talking about, chuk tried 6x unsuccesful dribling and lost 6x a ball,thats enough to give him 1. Pulisic delivers goals and assist,chuk delivers unsuccesful dribling atempts. The only crazy thing is that pioli never gives okafor chance to prove himself with leao and pulisic,they only get max 20 mins if they cant score when okafore starts from bench so he put him last 20 minutes.he avoid playing okafor together with leao which is crazy
Chuk beat his man 2 or 3 times and played several great balls over the top, especially early on in the match. He faded in the first half, but so did everyone else. Didn’t deserve to come off at half-time.
Why are u lying? He didnt beat his man even once ,why you talking fairy tails how he beat his man 2-3 times,i wanted to break my TV cause he cant make a single succesful dribling
The only one that should watch the game again is you dumbass @sane , if 20 people say one thing and u are the only 1 talking oposite u should reconcider ur football knowledge,go to sleep kiddo and dream ur lover chuck
You are right, chuck should have had atleast an assist this game. He was good @sanerossonero
CDK de ja vu.
Definetly, lets hope it doesn’t get to that point!
I’ll try …
I tracked Chuk from 5 to 15 min rather than the ball. I really want to like him.
Without the ball he clearly still doesn’t know where to be. I will say he was better than previous matches so improvement is happening. There was one point where Flo was yelling a gesticulating angrily to get him in position.
With the ball he did a better job of knowing where his mates would be and making the quick pass. But he still tries to dribble through defenders far too often.
That said he is coming from such a low place he has a long way to go. I suspect the staff will see this and work to get him more minutes against lesser opponents.
Pulisic was where his mates expected him. He tracked back to defend (Chuk does seem to be doing more of this and like other things it’s improving). Pulisic without the ball is more dangerous than Chuk with it right now.
I’m rooting for Chuk. We need him to hire to his potential.
All that said there was something wildly off in the first 30 min going forward. Musah was practically a second striker as was Reinjders. It almost looked like a 4-1-5 with the ball.
I’m not big on Adli yet, but I think he gets a 6.5. His defense came up another notch in this game. It was especially evident when he sometimes seemed alone in the middle of the park. He is calm on the ball and sprayed some nice passes.
I also think Okafur gets a higher score (6). We were clearly forcing the ball to get right and that was not his fault. Why he did get the ball he was in a good spot and knew where to find his mates.
While the author points out the spot Mike put us I during the game (Giroud for MOTM!), he didn’t mention the far worse loss of him for 3 games in the future. Thank goodness Sporty is here this year.
All in all with a midfield in chaos and a wholly new front 3 it didn’t look terrible and I’ll take that as progress towards a Scudetto this early in the season. Hope we see more of Chuk, Okay, Jovic and Adli when the schedule shifts to mid and bottom table teams.
Crazy game! Giroud deserves a 7 for making that play as keeper, when inexplicably Calabria let’s his man get behind him there. Same with the Maigan red card. Bertesaghi cannot let the man get behind him there. Poor defense.
Seen enough of Chuku already. Makes me wish we had Messias back. I’m sure Sassonero will still make excuses for him. Pulisic is so much better and always getting himself into dangerous positions.
Love Musah’s energy. he does make some mistakes but usually makes up for them, and he delivers really good crosses in from the right. I think the team does miss RLC tho, he’s been big for this team in the midfield.
Finally, Pioli needs to get the yellow cards under control on this team. They get way too many unnecessary cards. especially Theo. Have a talk with these guys.
Sometimes i couldnt watch the games when Messias and Saele played…
Saele ist substitute in is new team. Messias probably too.
Chuk had some good Passes today.
Well both are Scudetto winners….
So some respect for players that delivered you a Scudetto. If you don’t respect the players that deliver you success then what is the point?
It’s the same with Chuk.
You can’t just pick your favs and your whipping boys. They’re all part of the team you support and they all contribute in their own way.
Bro Urby Emanuelson and Rodney Strasser are also Scudetto winner..that do t automatically make them great or even good players
You measure Scudetto sides by those players.
Every Scudetto winning team has them.
Galacticos rarely win titles. Just ask PSG.
Lol I guess whoever wins a Scudetto is world-class, huh?
Whoever wins a Scudetto is by definition a Scudetto winner…..the rest is opinion and BS.
Being a scudetto winner automatically makes you a great player ? You can’t be on the bench because you once won a scudetto ?
I have a lot of respect for Messias and Saelemakers for their effort, but let’s be real, they are both very limited players. If anything the current right wing is clearly an upgrade from the previous one.
Their ability is a matter of opinion. Their Scudetto is a matter of fact. And I’m sure they prefer the facts to your very confident opinion.
Both are facts.
Yes, it is a fact that they won a scudetto.
It is also a fact that they are average players who are currently playing for mid-tier clubs.
“You measure Scudetto sides by those players” ummm no they don’t. We measure by who makes the biggest set of contributions and those were from Ibra, Silva, Nocerino, aseedorf etc. Strasser and Emanuelson could have been anyone else. Ibra could not have been anyone else. Does that make sense?
True about Chuks. I prefer Saladmaker to him with his current play.
And yes, the team is indiscipline when it comes to yellow cards, especially Theo. Sometimes he behaves like a spoilt teenager meanwhile he just turned 25.
Adli 5.5 come on! I’ve not been on this bandwagon if he must start, for me if he was good enough he would have been playing but today is the best I’ve seen him play. He showed a lot more maturity, was available everywhere, got stuck in defensively and barely lost a ball except a couple of occasions where he got more than tripled up on quickly. He was one of the best tonight. Pulisic moon…hardly. Scored a goal which ain’t all that hard to execute. Missed an even better chance moments before lacking composure and smacking it straight at the defender when he could have just passed it into a corner. Thiaw was very clumsy on gudmunsson at the beginning, but got much better at the end.
Adli got frustrated at the lack of movement and started forcing the ball. Thus leading to turnovers. He played pretty well for the other parts of his game but this wasn’t a very good game for him because of those passes.
That’s a good observation.
Adli got another horrible game. His defense is non existent, his moves are soooo painfully slow and his only supposed to be strong side — long passes… just no comments. For me the worst player of the mutch.
Thank you grand Oli for saving us from our captain again,calabria amateur player proved once again,what a reaction 🤦🤦
Giroud has got to be the MOTM after that goalie save. Bad news that pulisic goal was a hand ball, and the good news it gave us 3 points( ill take it) ref should get a 1 at best. Last min counter with leao he stopped the play to give their goalie the 2nd yellow. That would have been a sure goal. Tomori and thiaw superb again. After inter game they have been great. At the same time our midfield has been providing more cover to them. Again, that movement off the ball is so bad and is costing us. Except reinders that always looked for the ball the rest mostly stood there and wait for the ball to arrive. Jovic was hiding behind defense. Okafor and chuck didn’t drift much to the center to open play and space just stayed in their line. Pioli must work on that issue. Yes, its more physical demanding but it’s essential to our goals. Magic mike has been great so noone should come hard on him for that red ( my opinion). We got lucky tonight but ill take the 3 points.
So sad. You cried that he just needed to start. Now he’s had 2 starts and still nothing. Played in almost every game so far and still nothing to show for it. Meanwhile Pulisic has to come in and save the day again. But he sucks right? The guy with zero goals or assists is much better… Maybe in your video games kid.
But he didn’t even say anything about Pulisic. He compared Chuk’s game to Jovic. Chuk clearly had a better game than Okafor and Jovic, but the ratings do not justify this.
Yes, thank you. Finally, some common sense. This isn’t about fanboyism or favouritism. This is about everyone getting a fair shot for the benefit of the team and being objective when evaluating their performances. Not judging a guy after a couple of months despite him not playing consistently.
He is a good player who just needs to work on his decision-making and the final product. He will eventually get his moments, the season is long.
No. Sanrossenero always on here saying Chuku should be starting. Well, who do you think he would be replacing?? The guy that’s scoring all the goals.. Sorry, not if you have half a brain, which Sanerossenero clearly does not. He’s too big of a Chuku fanboy to be objective.
I made my comment in relation to his comment in this article, don’t know in general what he thinks. But, Pulisic can’t play all games, he needs time to rest. They both are very different players. Chuk was a big investment, so he should be given regular playtime to ensure his fitness and confidence. We don’t want another CDK fiasco to take place.
Exactly. That was my only point. Pulisic can’t start every game. Even if Chuk is not a starter, but only a main substitute for the rest of the season, we all want him to be as good as possible for our team, so we need to give him minutes, not take him off at half-time or only give him 20 minutes at the end like we did with CDK, which ruined that guy. It’s no coincidence he has already scored 3 goals with Atalanta and has assists, too, whereas he did nothing with us.
To be precise, CDK has scored ONE goal in Serie A so far, with two assists.
His other goal for Atalanta was in Europa League, playing against mighty aRKS Raków (a.k.a. Ekstraklas).
His third goal was for his Belgian National Team, playing against that giant of European football, Estonia.
He’s not a locked in starter for Atalanta either, coming in as sub about half of the time
Yeah, players usually get taken off at halftime when they are playing well. lol happens all the time. You are so biased when it comes to him you can’t see the obvious. Again with CDK nonsense. He had plenty of opportunities here, it didn’t work out. He didn’t produce. Maybe in a different system he will do better, but you don’t change your system to fit one unproven player, you ignorant fool.
You’re a buffoon who doesn’t have an iota of understanding when it comes to this sport. So, you think Jovic actually had a better half than Chukwueze? Be honest. Go on, if you come off at half-time because you’re poor, why didn’t Jovic come off? Or Musah? Or Okafor? They were all weaker than Chuk.
Okafor came off at half, and who is replacing Musah? you are so biased its not even funny, chuk had a good 10-15 min but thats all and his positioning is terrible off the ball along with no right foot, he has potential but he needs to work on a lot right now
@sanerossonero it is better to stay quite than argue with someone that is IQ liberated, don’t waste your energy and time.
Don’t be too hard on chuk guys….. he had a great game than the other front starters today. If you rewatch that game , pioli requested he assist florenzi on defensive duties more often. He didn’t get much chances on the counter cause he did some good defensive duties. Florenzi had a yellow when chuk didn’t track back after Milan lost possession. At point in the match I noticed pioli yelling at chuk to track back even chuk wasn’t happy about those positions, he wants to be part of the game. Other than this, his game today was good. Created a couple of chances during the first half , although he lost some possessions, he had a good game defensively and attacking wise too. But he was better than Jovi and Okafor tonight. I don’t know why pioli left Jovic and played a 4-2-3-1 formation today. Pulisic plays the attacking midfielder role very well. He comes into box very well behind the striker and that’s what gives him the goals and assists more. just like today, he came into the box and got involved as usual… he would do great as the 10 behind the 9, . Unlike chuks who drifts wide alot. Pioli should have left chuk there and brought pulisic for Jovic when he wanted to switch up the play to 4-2-3-1.
Overall game play tonight was good ….. great team effort..everyone should be patient with the new guys. Some signings would always have a slow start. And coach pioli is doing well with the rotations…. I hope he keeps this up , so we don’t have much injuries . Pulisic is becoming my favorite player lately ….. I pray he doesn’t get injured , we need him alot, for he is so important for us fighting for the scudetto this season. Tijani should start practicing shooting very well. otherthan this, that guy is phenomenal. What a player he has been for Milan. Who noticed Tomori has gone back to our scudetto winning Tomori. I am so impressed with his games man and thaw is doing thesame .. this combo at the back is doing good . Adli is a better registra . So calm on the ball. My own take , he should start ahead of krunic even if he returns for now but I know not all game intensities are the same , so Mr pioli might want krunic for some more defensive responsibilities but sincerely Adli is better for me as a Registra, he has even improved his defensive works which is great to see. Musah’s workrate is topnotch. I see Gattuso in him. I just want him to improve some of his techniques that’s all. I love his energy, we need such hard working players in the team who could track back and add numbers for the defense. I wish he doesn’t get injured too cause he is giving alot and I think that body would demand rest with such kind of runs and play but for now he is my Gattuso and soon we would have benaccer too. Great rotation and selections to make from the team. I love my Milan, forza Milan!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pioli and rubbish sub,.. Milan dont have coach,pioli doesnt read game and he never learn from past mistakes, how can u remove okafor and leave jovic.. The last sub that would hav cost milan 3 points but eventually let mike get red. Pioli, a mediocre average lucky coach that was bless with young talented players
Rubbish sub when Pulisic came in and scored the winning goal.
Thank God you’re not the one who coach Milan in the past 4 years.
Admit it. You are Chuluweze. At least then it would make sense. Nobody else would come on here and so aggressively defend a player who has produced nothing for this team.
Calabria (6): An okay defensive display from the captain and was needed for the energy in the end.
Giroud (6.5): He didn’t have much of an impact on the game as a striker, but as a goalkeeper (!) he had one crucial intervention where he claimed the ball.
Ok,now go and watch again why Giroud had to make that crucial intervention,and tell us what did you see,who made a mistake?was it a captian with “ok defensive display” 🤣 he even managed to make us a problems when opponents didnt even trying to attack 😂😂😂
Exactly. Inexcusable for Calabria to lose his man there when we are down a man with no goalie.
First of all, was such a full and boring game I almost fell asleep 5 times before the final patch. Crossbars should get 10/10 for its heroics never mind Giroud haha 🤣.
Game was so weird, we moved but didn’t create at the same time 🤷♂️. I don’t know what to say or explain it. Mike’s red card in the end was a terrible call by var. Utterly ridiculous. He went to head the ball and jumped higher than the opponent with inadvertent contact. Then to top it off, we get a fast break with Genoa keeper out of his goal and the ref calls back the play when Leao could have scored to wrap up the game. Another utterly ridiculous call again. Why didn’t ref just wait for the play to develop and then call the play back if we didn’t have an advantage? Then we had to defend a couple of attacking plays from Genoa afterwards (if he called the play back at least whistle for the game to end) Two dubious, unfair calls at the end….sorry to say we’ll be battling the refs this season if this continues.
Anyway, good to see Adli progressing in his role. I see him starting to move better, knowing when to pass forward and back as needed and positioning himself when he’s not on the ball(really crucial for the role). I’d like to see Okafor play cf instead also
But all in all, Genoa has played all the top teams well and have taken points off of them. We got max 3 in a drab game and that’s all that matters here.
I originally agreed about the Magnian red, but after seeing the replays, I can understand it. He nearly decapited the guy with his knee, and the contact was before he won the ball. You can’t go through the player to win the ball. On the other hand I don’t clearly see a Pulisic handball like so many others do. From th replays I saw it looks like it bounced off his chest and the the upper part of the arm near the shoulder. Not a clear and obvious error.
I didn’t understand our gameplay, possession with no final product. I thought the first half was boring, but the second took the word “boring” to a whole new level. Before 85th minute everyone thought it would be a 0-0 draw. I watched the Mike red again and I feel the same. They really had to replay his header with all adjustments, slowing down the clip to meet their agenda, smh.
Bro I really wasn’t joking when in I said I fell asleep 😂 😂 😂 and that don’t often happen when I watch my beloved team
Gonna have to agree with you here, I don’t know what Pioli is doing, for a team like Genoa, it’s a bit odd to be under 1 xG. Not exactly a person who knows anything about tactics, but something is clearly not working
Utter nonsense. That was a blatant red.
So he jumped to head the ball, and his knee caught the opponent and that’s a red.. because one bro had hops.and the other didn’t 🤷♂️🤷♂️ Blatant? ..the amount of times I’ve seen something like that happen between keeper and opponent is uncountable..
What about ref calling back play to give Genoa keeper a card when Leao is 1v1 with a keeper-less goalie?
That was a red card, sorry to say. Can’t blame mike either as he had to make that save, just happens. But yes it was dangerous knee outside of the box.
Ok nah I saw it again. There’s way too many comments saying it was a red so I went and watched it back. Not sure how much you play or look at football. The way keepers jump is different to outfield players. Mike jumps like he’s about to take a chest height aerial catch but realizing he’s off his line he uses the jump to head the ball. It’s kinda like high jumping on a low bar you can clear at the hips, you’re basically riding the bar waist height (if that makes sense). The opponent was running full speed into him. Thats why it looked worse than it actually is. Mike’s jump was very vertical if you look at the offside camera so there’s no mal intent on his part. If you look at how Mike falls,.he falls forward meaning the person from under him takes out his legs from his jump 🤦♂️should have been called the other way tbh.
And worse of all the original call from VAR was denial of goalscoring opportunity which then went to serious foul play. They didn’t even know exactly what they’re looking for. Mike’s second header was actually more aggressive but needed to be. Mike is simply jumping higher than the people around him.amd he’s strong.
You can admit you are wrong about something. It’s OK. He was not jumping straight up, not even close. He was sprinting forward towards the ball and jumped with his knee going straight into the players neck well before he gets the ball. It’s not a tough call.
Who talking to u? Lol go somewhere else for attention. Be gone 😂😂😂
The goalkeeper outside of the box is not a goalkeeper. You don’t play with your knee raised towards the opponent’s head.
Be gone.
The opponent ran into him. He jumped vertically
It doesnt matter how he move or how he jump. Hes knee is hitting the player before Mike hits the ball, so hes going through his opponent to ball. Second thing why he got red was that he was the last man and fould a clear scoring chance
Went through the opponent? Nah bro, go.look at it again..why is Miike falling over forwards if he ran through the opponent? The opponent ran into where he was..Mike jumped up to head the ball. That’s it . Opponent didn’t know where he was neither the ball
I know those ref calls were ridiculous!
I swore in front of my kids when he blew the whistle when Leao was on a break with no goalie!
They looked at me a little scared!
The small bit of Jovic actually impressed me, and i would like to see him start again.
I thought Adli really slowed the play down. He seems to pass just for the sake of passing, without the forward intent that Reijnders has in his passing.
Chukuwueze had a couple of good crosses but hes predictible and easy defended.
Jovic??? lol he did nothing
Jovic impressed you? The guy who didn’t touch the ball for 40 minutes?
The best part about Adli being in the game was that Pobega and his 48% passing accuracy were kept off the field.
Adli had a 83% pass accuracy.
Interesting changes in personnel, taking out Adli and Florenzi and putting in Giroud and Calabria.
You could call it either a 4-4-2, or a 4-2-3-1, but it felt more like a 2-3-3-2, with Milan going all out into attack.
That’s what caused all the excitement at the end.
Milan a bit short of midfielders for this match.
Why can’t you just enjoy the win without having a go at one of our own players who didn’t even play?
As a Milan fan I’m not having people slag off our players all of the time so just go and do one.
Hahahaha Adli… again 😂😂😂 horrible
All his successful passes were to the closest man. All his vertical passes were a miss. He did not create a single chance and slowed the play incredibly. I hope he never starts again.
I am not saying Pobega shouldve start that match, first he was tired, second he is better with stronger opponents on vertical play, unless defending. Low block better to play player like Adli — but NOT ADLI, apparently.
Take the 3 points, thank the ref and VAR for not canceling Pulisic goal and burn the tape from this game.
Theo with another brainless yellow card. This was one of those Mourinho telling Balotelli at 18 or 19 not to get a yellow and he goes and does everything to get the yellow.
Great goalkeeping by Giroud.
On to Juventus without Maignan and Theo.
The way Theo has been playing and behaving this season, thats actually advantage Milan.
5 yellow this season for either acting like a petulant child or unnecessary stupid fouls 70 meters away from his goal.
Italian papers give ratings to the coaches. Maybe sempre milan should start doing that.
Press-counter and no other ideas Pioli should also get rated.
Different midfielders different wingers same stale game vs teams that sit back. You can blame the players all you want but there is 1 common denominator, the coach.
Forza Milan
100% correct.
I was bashing Inter for only surviving Empoli thanks to a lucky deflection. My son said, “dad, it’s about grinding out a victory, and consistency.” OK so today we had our Empoli moment. We could have tied or even lost this game (what a save by Maignan in that deflection!) but we found a way to win it. Otherwise, I thought that this was our second worst performance to date, this season; only the Derby was even worse. But hey, we won. I’ll take the three points.
Adli, not good today. So many missed passes!
Chuk, he was actually good. Perfect assist for Okafor who wasted it. Some other good passes. He doesn’t deserve the low rating here. I thought it was one of his best games, actually. He wasn’t a ball hog today like he had been in other games.
Tomori great as usual. He is back to form and one of our best players. We wouldn’t have lost the Derby 5-1 if he were playing. Milan has conceded only 2 goals with him playing (a third one was after he was sent out).
Thiaw pretty good.
I thought Musah also had a good game. His rating here is too low.
Leão’s header almost resulted in a score. He wasn’t that bad either; took a while to get going then did show some lights.
Pulisic, what a goal! That was a thing of beauty! And no, it wasn’t a handball like some commentators on TV said. The ball hit his chest.
Giroud, gotta love this guy! How he collected a goalkeeping save to his name! For this alone he deserves a 10, LOL
Theo, I’m upset at him. Of the 5 yellows he collected and will miss Juve, 3 were for childish dissent and 1 (today’s) for a totally useless foul. Pioli needs to have a tough talk with him about damaging the team with his childish behavior. Great player but this MUST stop.
I thought Florenzi wasn’t that good today. Calabria actually did slightly better than him, after he came in, unlike what happened in the last few games.
Reijnders is allergic to the goal. Again, he missed a sitter. I wish he stopped trying because he’s just squandering offensive plays. He should do his midfielder stuff and let the forwards try to score. Or else he needs to practice finishing five hours per day. He is a rather perfect player in all other aspects but his finishing is atrocious and his one weak side.
Jovic was missing in action the entire first half. He was walking around slowly, doing nothing. He was a privileged spectator.
Okafor should have scored on Chuk’s assist. One of Okafor’s most forgettable games.
Bartesaghi, not enough playing time to get a rating. He’ll have his chance against Juve.
Maignan, he secured the victory with that deflection save, and also when he sacrificed himself in the play that resulted in his red card. 5.5? No. His sacrifice will hurt the team in the next one or two games but did earn us 3 points and the isolated top of the table today. Too bad that I believe that a straight red carries a 2-game suspension rather than one; he will likely miss both the Juve and the Napoli games. However I do feel like Sportiello can do a good job unlike Tata last season.
Mr. Pioli – I think he did well. His subs were correct. The only thing I might have done differently, I’d have brought in Leão for Jovic, not for Okafor, and would then play Leão on the left and leave Okafor up center. While we had Jovic there, especially in first half, it looked like we were playing with ten men. People complain when Pioli rotates too much, but they also complain when he doesn’t rotate and players get injured. It’s a long season with Lega Serie A, Coppa, and UCL. We have to rotate. It doesn’t always work out but we have to. However this time Pioli did notice that things were going wrong and he subbed early rather than waiting for the 70th minute (something I always feel upset at Pioli for), and we ended up prevailing. Good enough for me.
Forza Milan. Despite the humiliating loss at the Derby, we are now 2 points ahead of Inter!
Great analysis. Well said.
Nice comment! We watched the Same Game
Good analysis mate.
agree mostly except the part about Calabria. Another atrocious match from him, thank God Giroud was an hero in that play and the mistake ended in an anecdote…
I said Calabria was “slightly better” than a player I deemed not good today. That means Calabria wasn’t good either, just slightly better than a player who didn’t do so well, in my opinion.
Re-watching Giroud’s equalizing-stopping move, I realized that Calabria failed in that play. I hadn’t noticed it before, so wild the end of the game was. So, yes, we can take Calabria’s performance down an additional notch.
A good analysis.
I disagree about Pioli which I’ll deal with in a separate post but today showed the problem with “depth”. We should never have started against a giant killing Serie A team resting our front three.
The key is the 3 points which we sealed and we did that with his subs so he deserves credit for that.
Now it comes to me these nonsense yellow cards from Theo, i remember first 2 was for absolutely unnecessary complaints to the ref’s,and tonight this one also childish foul on opponent without a ball knowing u are up to suspension… i am so sad we gonna miss him vs juve,until now we played without RB, but playing without both RB and LB is to much…
Ok… am beginning to think they need to take a break and settle down for a few hours before they publish this ratings because it sounds too emotionally involved and not rational and are in a rush to publish it. Because some of the reasons for this ratings are ridiculous to put it.. and By the way, I don’t think the Theo yellow card unnecessary. I think it might have been talked about. If you have to take the Yellow card, take it now and miss the Juventus game and be back for Napoli. Which I think might be the right order. My only issue is getting it so early in the game. Camera didn’t pan to Pioli but didn’t look like he was fuss about it. just my take.
Yes but worse than today’s foul are the 3 yellows he collected for childish tantrums at the ref. Serie A refs are sensitive and narcissistic and they deal poorly with dissent. Theo as a professional footballer must realize that and stop collecting yellows for no reason. It hurts the team. Pioli should not accept that and should have a tough talk with Theo. I love Theo but this must stop.
The last time I was in Italy, there was a joke going around to the effect of:
“Do you know the biggest difference between God and a referee? God knows he’s not a referee.”
I agree. They need to take some time
In the course of this match I saw a lot that Pioli himself should have seen and adjust or tweak the formation accordingly.
I don’t know probably if I am the only one seeing this but 433 with single pivot is really limiting the potential of this team as the formation variable is limiting R Leao, Theo, the Dutchman, and ditto for the right wing too, there’s too much clogs on the wings and that invariably curtails the potentiality of AC Milan at the moment.
How I wish the Dutchman can be more central and Musah and Adli should sit at the frontage of the defence and it will be a variant of 4231 formation with R Leao and Theo occupying the left wing and same for right too,then everyone would see how wonderful Chukwueze can be and this team will be less predictable and consistently dominate its opponents. As at right now,AC Milan rely on the wings too much that the central is becoming too light and thus there’s imbalance in the team.
Believe me if the middle is more central AC Milan will be unstoppable and I will conformably predict at least a quarter finals reach for the team in Champions League and second place finish in Serie A with Italian cup silver wear this season. Believe me am certain about this.
It’s obvious to everyone, well, except of course, ….you guessed right, ….Pioli ! Just like last season 4-3-3 was obvious to everyone,.. except for who again….,yep , Pioli!
Tbh, since he favoured the 4-2-3-1, I was thinking he was going to use the summer market to get the players that would fit that set up for him, and use the preseason to develop it.
Just imagine (using our fit midfielders atm) Adli using his vision and passing range with Musah’s energy beside him. And Reindjers ahead behind the striker, but with the license to roam(which Pioli won’t give any player , lol) utilising his abilities we’ve seen so far… Just imagine
you think we could start winning our league games with this change? if so, it sounds worth it. I’m tired of seeing this team lose.
The only people who are defending Chukwueze must be Nigerians. He was, again, awful. He shouldn’t have been signed, he put out some decent numbers in a weak championship (La Liga only has 3 good teams and a load of absolute garbage). He’s done nothing outside of La Liga, he’s mediocre at International level and a complete waste of money.
Seriously. It’s baffling these Chuku defenders. He just dribbles, holds the ball for too long, then cuts back in to his left because he can’t use his right to pass or shoot. Possibly a worse version of Castillejo.
It’s baffling that fans defend their own players?
It’s baffling why you bother supporting a team when you seem to hate a quarter of the players.
Go. And. Support. Someone. Else.
Nope. He shouldn’t go somewhere else.
Chuck has the ability to be great, but the first thing he and the coaches need to do is admit there is a huge are of opportunity. He needs to become comfortable or at minimum adequate with his right foot.
To deny this is to refuse reality. While we criticize, we also want to see him suceed.
People pointing this out isn’t a problem. It’s the reaction to it.
We want him to excel.
He’s only just arrived!
This is top level football here. Why people expect players to just rock up and play is beyond me.
It can take some players entire seasons. See Leao.
In the meantime can we try and break this cycle of demanding new signings and then turning on new signings?
Haha you people know nothing about football.
I’ve commented that, on current form, there is a good reason that Pulisic is playing 2/3 to 3/4 of the minutes, but you’re being harsh on Chuk. The talent and ability is there, but he needs to calm down and he REALLY has to use and improve his right foot.
At the same time, all the , “The other guy should have scored from his cross” is a bit of a weak defense, especially when all three of the “main three” attackers have seen multiple excellent crosses wasted.
Chuk has the tools to challenge Pulisic for the #1 RW label, but right now, Pulisic is killing Chuk. Pulisic can’t play the full 90 twice a week, and when he tries to, he typically gets injured, so Chuk will get his minutes, and it will be in the team’s best interest. He needs to start taking his chances, but the season is long.
Finally, when you have to insult, especially another person’s intelligence, to make your point, you usually do not have a valid point.
He didnt even had decent numbers in spain,his stats was the same as castillejo’s in spain,as time goes he will just become as castilejo ,he will become to scared to even try to drible since he cant succesfuly drible noone in italy,and when that time comes he will be totaly unusable cause dribling is the only thing he knows(or wants) to do
Chuk has talent but his non existent right foot makes him predictable and useless in certain situations, also his positioning is awkward at times when he doesnt have the ball.
One day i will produce a goal,just lik my idol castillejo.
Thiaw and Tomori were solid defensively, but poor with the ball, playing way too conservative. More than once there was a possibility to try a vertical pass cutting the lines and they never took a risk and were generally very slow.
My rating:
Maignan: 6
Florenzi: 6
Thiaw: 6,5
Tomori: 7,5
Theo: 5,5
Adli: 6
Musah: 7
Reijnders: 5,5
Chuku: 5,5
Jovic: 4
Okafor: 5
Leao: 5,5
Pulisic: 6
Musah 7?! Hahaham what game did you watch? What, just because he got the assist you get a 7? Ridiculous.
Man you are really dumb. Apparently you don’t watch any part of the game other than dribbling. You know how many tackles Musah made? How much ground he covered in this game offensively and defensively. Same with Pulisic. And yes, goals and assists are important. You see, the team with the most goals wins. That’s how that works. But keep being impressed by fancy dribbles that lead to nothing.
A little rough on Chuk there but overall as usual I agree. I think Okafor rating is suffering from being played in yet another position and trying to get used to it. Leao I think had dangerous attacking moments so I’ll probably say 6 while Musah,.like I’ve said before is rash and needs some HGH to grow.or something haha 6 for me. Giroud probably 9 or 10 as a goalie. Jovic didn’t really do anything imo too tbh
weird take on musah after covering the most ground on the team two games in a row. hes already played 90 min more times than RLC despite not being tall and put in a perfect ball for the goal. just because the defender he was going at was their motm doesnt make one rash. We have seen a few others lose their 1v1s. He and rt are true box to box, love to see it. Think 7 is reasonable, Giroud an 11.
tr
Hmmm 🤔
I was thinking how easy it is to shield.the ball from him. I think teams will pick up on that pretty soon just like how they picked up on Reinjders movements. Those occasions make me chuckle a bit but I am thankful for the assist. 6.5? 😁
Mike Maignan was the MOTM until that red. Even that red he took one for the team because if nit, it would have been an equalizer for Genoa. Mike deserved atleast a 6.5 min
🔝📊 Exciting Times at the Top of the League Table! 🥇⚽
I must say, I’m absolutely thrilled with our team’s performance, securing those crucial 3 points that have propelled us to the summit of the league just before the international break.
Now, let’s dive into today’s game. Kudos to Pioli for his strategic rotation and the starting lineup. His timely substitutions were spot on, a refreshing change from the usual late changes we’ve seen.
Here’s my take on the player performances:
1️⃣ Jovic redeemed himself with a strong second half, but he needs more playing time and motivation from Pioli and the coaching staff.
2️⃣ Okafor struggled on the right today; perhaps he’s better suited as a striker for his unique runs. Today, he seemed lost and made several questionable decisions.
3️⃣ Chukweze shone brightly today, showcasing his ball skills. However, he needs to work on his positioning, like Pulisic, who positions himself well in the final third.
4️⃣ Adli had a subpar game today.
5️⃣ Musah impressed but still has room for improvement.
6️⃣ Tijani remains our top midfielder but must work on his finishing.
7️⃣ Tomori was excellent.
8️⃣ Thiaw performed admirably.
9️⃣ Hernandez had an off day but remains our best left-back.
🔟 Florenzi was average; Calabria might be a better choice at right back.
Now, a look at the substitutes:
1️⃣ Leao had an average outing.
2️⃣ Giroud played a surprising role in goalkeeping today.
3️⃣ Despite the goal, Pulisic’s performance was below par; it’s understandable if Pioli trusts him over Chukweze for his goal-scoring and assists.
In summary, Pioli still needs to fine-tune his starting 11 selection, and perhaps we should explore different formations than the 4-3-3. Let’s not wait for a poor result to prompt changes; let’s evolve dynamically! 💪⚽ #TopOfTheTable #TeamAnalysis
No real intent from Milan. Either Players moved and the one on the ball didn’t pick them, or they didn’t move at all, or the ball was passed to the wrong area.
Little impact from Chukueze and Okafor. Chukueze needs at least a couple or three starts in a row. Didn’t get why Pioli decided to use a completely new attacking set anyway. What else did he expect. ?
And Hernandez, didn’t get why Pioli risked him too, but it was as if he wanted to be yellow carded.
Bar a few wrong choices here and there (which is expected) Adli’s game seems to be improving all in all. But I still don’t think Pioli trusts him enough and I think he knows he doesn’t have the confidence of the coach, it clearly affects him when he’s playing, one can easily see it. I do believe his best role would be as a mezzela once Krunic and then Benny are fit.
Maignan’s red was unfortunate.
Big thumbs up to Pulisic and Giroud.
My biggest worry has and always is Pioli…I believe he’s given all that he has to offer.
For your last point about Pioli, this man is the center of the project. I think you’re wrong because this year we changed the system to 4 3 3 and we play differently and efficiently
Exactly! It’s worrying that he is the centre
Giroud before the game:
“It helps me every day, it gives me strength. I read the Bible every day. When you don’t score you are disappointed, but for me the most important thing is to be ready, and resilient. Faith helps me to always believe in it. I want to thank dad and mom for my physique. It’s important to eat well and lots of it, drink water. My physique allows me to continue to dream today, to be competitive. My body is my friend and I’m careful about it.”
Source: https://sempremilan.com/giroud-impressive-physique-faith-read-bible#comment-232530
Giroud is so clunky. He’s the last person I would have chosen for goalie!! He pulled it off though. Great game.
I have an observation about Theo Hernandez which I don’t no if other Milan Fans noticed,if his a card away from important matches in the league he will commit unnecessary foul to get a card and miss the crucial match.
Did he switch wing with Chukueze because I don’t no why he came to commit such foul there we’re not under threat,I think we need to evacuate a better option that is position because his not reliable.
Well ,u are not that much wrong, i remember he missed many derby matches vs juve,inter,napoli due to suspensions
I have to say first great win. Ugly but a win is a win.
I’m so disappointed in the performances of Theo. IMO ever since the World Cup he has been average at best. The first half wearing the captains armband he was nowhere to be found and to pick up that needless yellow card on a body check when he was cautioned on a similar play before is just reckless. To me he has regressed in form since the WC. Now he misses the crucial Juve game. You cannot do that as a captain and leader of this team. He seems more interested in being a tough guy then playing football. Haven’t seen him make a Breakthrough run in a long time. Theo often escapes criticism that others (like a Leao) constantly face. He wants be to our captain he has to earn it. Now we have to play Juve with Calabria one one side and Florenzi likely on the left – Chiesa could have a field day.
There is a reason nobody wanted Jovic and it showed today. At best he was a 2/10. absolute trash. He did NOTHING. I have said it over and over again – NOT getting a number #9 was a huge EFF-up by management. This could be our downfall. Better get someone in January no matter what. Why Pioli kept Jovic in instead of moving Okafor to CF is beyond me. Just terrible.
Pioli – risked rotating when we have a 2 week break and it almost backfired. Taking off Chukuweze was pointless. We need to see if this kid can play or not. So far he looks like a bust but in his defense he needs to play full games to make that determination. But just as he was showing some positive signs then boom Pioli yanks him at the half but leaves Jovic in. Crazy.
Happy for the win but it came at a huge cost.
Jovic spent most of the first half playing off the shoulder of his man, waiting for a through ball or a cross that never came.
I kept waiting for him to drop back deep to pick up the ball and be more useful to his team, but that never happened.
In the second half, especially after Milan got more aggressive, Jovic had some chances in his position planted in front of goal, but there were just too many Genoa bodies and his shots got blocked.
Not sure if he was instructed to stay at the defensive backline or if Pioli had more useful instructions for him, because in his only other previous match, he did move around more.
In this one, though he disappeared, mainly because no passes went his way. It would have taken a very precise pass to hit him however, as Genoa were sitting in a low and mid block most of the game.
All in all, Milan played like it was tired, which it had every right to be
As for Pioli yanking Chuk and Okafor in favor of Pulisic and Leao, er…. there was a very specific reason he did that, Pioli put in the two guys on his team with the most goals scored from the field into the match, a match that he obviously did not want to end up in a tie after Inter had dropped two points against Bologna.
I’d have subbed in Leao for Jovic then displaced Leao to the left and Okafor to center. Other than that I thought that Pioli’s subs were good. We have to realize that Pioli was taking out yellow-carded players, smarting out from the Tomori disaster which I’m convinced cost us the Derby as Thiaw was lost without Tomori.
Yes, what people who harshly criticized Milan today failed to realize is that the team was exhausted after the very difficult Dortmund game only 3 days ago. If Pioli hadn’t rotated we’d have lost today. Even if the B starters weren’t great today, rotating was still needed. It’s not like we needed to rest players before the international break; it’s rather that we couldn’t afford playing exhausted players from the beginning. Some of our best players were able to play decently in second half precisely because they didn’t play in first half.
Jovic looked like a bust. Missing in action for most of the game. I wish we had a better striker to relieve Giroud. I hope we’ll address it in January, not July. Yes, not getting a decent striker was the one failure of the summer mercato.
Now, something not in answer to your post.
GIROUD: I won’t accept any criticism of the God named Olivier Giroud until the end of the season! Not even my own criticism, which mistakenly I have issued. The man is a class act, a true Rossonero, with a golden attitude. Giroud is a WC Champion and the most prolific scorer for the French National Team all time. He is a legend. And now he is also a Milan legend after stepping up to play goalkeeper tonight (and making a great stop). We love you, Oli! Eternal gratitude!
What are you even talking about? “Taking off Chukuweze was pointless.”
I hate to break it to you, but the guy who replaced him won the game for us. So I wouldn’t say pointless, I would day that decision was worth 3 points.
Chukuweze is looking less and less like the balance we opted for on the right wing. But I wish we could see hiim play 2-3 full games. If he doesnt perform, at a club like Milan. There is no other way. As for Theo, I still see him being a critical defender. However, with fast CBs like Tomori and Thiaw, I think he needs to push more – his attacking presence for me is second to none. The way he explodes into the final third is 10x better than Chukuweze.
I believe Isak watch the different match… hahaha
Adli did what he had to do. Your comment is very disgusting and rude. Chukwueze was the best player in the first half and his substitution was a bad decision because we became inoffensive after the entrance of Pulisic. In fact, he scored but unless the goal he didn’t propose nothing. Pulisic will become the backup of Chukueze. We got penalized by bunching the Nigerian. He is more creative, dangerous and he provokes a lot.
The flop is far away Calabria, who made things very difficult to Giroud in the final action.
No, Adli did not do what he was supposed to do. Watch a replay, get pen and paper and write down all the missed passes by Adli today, and how his few accurate passes were playing it back rather than vertically helping the offense. Of his recent performances, some very good, today was the weakest. People are allowed to have bad games. Today wasn’t Aldi’s day.
Uh what? Pulisic was useless??? Bringing him in was a mistake??? Have you realized that he won the game for us with a golazo? What else did you want? If a player is quiet for the entire half he plays, but then scores the winner in a 1-0 game, it is hardly a mistake to bring him in. And actually the goal was not Pulisic’s only good moment.
Yes, I also liked Chuk’s first half but he had a yellow. The game was locked and Pioli brought in the two players who have scored most from open play this season, Leao and Pulisic. That’s hardly a coaching mistake. Leao almost scored with that header, and Pulisic scored. It worked.
Yes, I am concerned with Calabria. He fails way too frequently. And given that Florenzi is old and injury-prone, we need another RB. At least we have Kalulu, can’t wait for him to be back.
Actually I was mistaken; Chuk did not have a yellow
Jovic is completely useless. He might be slightly less useless if we can actually create something going forward. Today Pazza Inter showed up, and when we get Pazza Inter we sometimes get Brutta Milan. We had no ideas. We’re in first, but it’s clear we have a problem. In the CL, against better clubs, we’re not getting the lucky goal. Again, Pioli fails against the low block. We have zero style or substance. I am 100% for rotation, but mix it up man! Why change all three forwards at the same time? Why not start Leao, Okafor and Chuk and then gradually bring in Giroud, Pulisic and Jovic, for example? Then he changes both wingers at the half. Why not start Bartesaghi??? Now no Theo for Juventus. Of course, he won’t have the balls to start Bartesaghi against, Juventus and will play Calabria or Florenzi out of position. And how poor from Theo to just gratuitously collect yellows in the first 8 games of the season? Now we have a real problem v. Juventus.
Finally, what poor officiating. The Pulisic goal was a handball. Sorry, it’s just a fact. The red card on Mike wasn’t even a foul. Then the ref stops a counter that SURELY would have resulted in a goal to red card the Genoa GK, instead of playing the advantage. Absolute trash, but hey, he/VAR gave us the win, so there is that.
The red card on Maignan was 100% a foul. Before he headed the ball Maignan put his knee in Genoa players’ throat.
When 2 players are engaged in an areal duel and one of the players unintentionally elbows the other , the ref calls a foul and more often than not gives a yellow. Same principle applies here.
Maignan was outside of his box, so he doesn’t have the protection he gets as a GK inside the box. Before he got to the ball he kneed the Genoa player. Clear foul and a justifiable red card on Maignan.
The goal could have went either way. There wasn’t a clear and obvious frame that showed Pulisic handling the ball and since the ref didn’t call handball on the pitch they didn’t want to overturn a goal.
The counter attack was absolutely unnecessary stoppage by the ref
I didnt perceive it to be an arial duel but Maignon going for the ball while the attacker went for Maignon…Its an interesting situation but didnt think their player knew where the ball was…
The Genoa player was looking at the ball while it was in the air.
Maignan jumped in the air with his knee extended. His knee made contact with the players neck before Maignan head made contact with the ball. It’s a foul clear as day.
Outside of the box the GK is a regular player. Can an outfield player jump in the air with his knee at an opposing player? No.
The knee was the problem.
If Maignan jumped in the air straight, even if he made a contact with the player it wouldn’t have been a foul.
Goalkeepers are used to do that in the penalty area where they are protected.
Outside of the penalty he cannot do that.
thats fair, i didnt see too many replays, it was definitely less intentional ans dangerous than the left hook musah took to the back of the head but…i get that only certain players are evaluated by VAR. Good thing we have Giroud for the Juve game….I expect another clean sheet for him. 🙂
Everybody wins including Pioli. The only loser (and a sore one) is the person who gave these ratings. There are two options: 1. A normal human being 2. A sore loser. Number 2 was picked. We all have options, pick them wisely. Peace out.
Why would you rate chuck highly after this game. Yes he had two nice passes but he lost the ball several times. Also he has not produced a goal or assist in several matches. He cannot start unless we are playing a bottom table club. Pulisic has a goal scorers instinct. Chuck does not. He needs to learn this. Has a good left foot but prefers his left too much.
Can anyone (not named K) tell me why at the 102 minute mark that the ref stopped the game for the foul from the Genoa goalie on Musah? Leao had positioning on his man, the ball lands kindly for him, he’s not offside, there’s no one in the Genoa goal and any touch left or right and Leao beats him for pace and easy to goal. Why stop that goal scoring chance??
That was ridiculous, even the pundits postgame brought it up. This ref was awful, like English Premier League awful.
Bro this season the refs been off their game all around Europe. It’s been terrible to watch
That’s literally the game wrapped up. Instead we had to have our number 9 pulling off goalkeeping heroics smh 🤦♂️
To say that Calabria had a decent defensive display is to insult the intelligence of those who watch and understand at least something about football. The guy was abysmal in the play that made Giroud the night’s hero… give me a f-break!
In January we need to go for a decent RB, a number 9 and another midfielder if possible
We’ve just watched three matches!
The first half which was reminiscent of last season when Pioli rotated too many players and we struggled against other SERIE A (yes SERIE A) sides.
The second half was a little more like this season after the subs.
Injury time was a blast!
By half time I thought I’d write a told-you-so but in the end I can’t really be bothered as I’d just prefer to enjoy the win and the madness.
But there’s that inner voice…..and this forum allows that inner voice to become an outer voice so….,
Right this is what I’ve been saying about ‘depth’.
The reality is there’s no such thing as ‘depth’ because if players aren’t playing regularly then they will always struggle playing against top, top, top sides like, yes, Genoa.
In Serie A anyone can beat anyone. Genoa have beaten, not just anyone, Lazio and Roma anyone (and a draw with Napoli). These are no mugs. You need to put out your best side against them.
There are so many myths that permeate modern football that is mostly driven by the transfer market, celebrity and the media.
One is that there’s this great divide between players. That top players
playing in top leagues albeit in smaller teams are somehow not more than capable of doing some serious damage or of making it very hard to break down. This drives a lot of transfers where everyone believes sides need to constantly ‘improve’ by constantly signing new players rather than improving by having existing players play together longer. There’s no notion of a team. And even managers believe they can just rotate players against other top sides and these new players can come in and somehow outperform fellow top level professionals with very little match sharpness.
Related to the above is the notion that players need constant resting.
Other sports like rugby or basketball don’t rotate nearly as much as modern football teams, and the teams that don’t rotate tend to do the best like any Guardiola or Klopp side. Sure these managers rotate but not 4-5 players!
Third is the notion of that a squad needs two players for every position. A squad needs to be a tight unit of 17-18 regulars with the rest made up experience and youth to cover for injuries. But there’s no point catering for injuries because if a team gets too many it’s going to struggle anyway.
A good squad will tend to have players who can cover across multiple positions. One FB covering both. One CB covering both or three. One CM covering across midfield. One or two attackers to mix it up.
A classic case in point is having Okafor AND Jovic AND Chukwueze. Had we just signed ONE of these then that one player would’ve got more minutes alongside established players. Instead because we have all three Pioli decided to start an entirely new attack against a top, top, top team. Of course it didn’t work. And there’s zero point in judging the players.
This is supposed to be top level football. The best of the best. Where a split second makes all of the difference. On what planet does anyone think you can just randomly change your front three?
Imagine going to work tomorrow and your boss declaring he’s decided to reshuffle the finance team and bring in a new finance team. There’d be chaos. That’s finance. Bookwork. This is supposed to be elite sport.
This is why all this talk about ‘depth’ last season was so misguided. The issue wasn’t the ‘depth’. It was Pioli’s tendency to rotate most of the first team regulars against some of the best teams on the planet (any team in Serie A is one of the best teams on the planet). This isn’t amateur hour.
Other than the massive turnover this summer, the giant-bigger-than-Man-City-squad was my biggest concern especially with Pioli’s tendency to underutilise and then over-rotate.
We simply can’t rest our front three again or entire sections of any part of our team. Pioli must identify the key squad players who he’ll rely on even if it means the others never get games.
For me Okafor can cover the front three. He’ll get a lot more game time and build familiarity with the front three.
I fear if Pioli rotates again like this we won’t be so lucky.
But for now let’s just enjoy the win and go easy on the players who only played 45 mins. Even they showed some good stuff. But there just isn’t the space.
Given how many tough games the team has been playing. i think it was a calulated risk that this would be the game to give new guys an opportunity. They need time but not against juve and napoli so there arent many options or risk them being way out of form the next chance they get. Pulisic has had injuries in the past. having smoeone who knows how to play with the team if he misses games makes sense. they werent able to do it with the midfield but fortunately they have stepped up to the challenge.
It’s not a calculated risk resting that number of players.
And I really don’t see the big deal asking an elite athlete to play every few days. The players in the great Barca side with Messi used to play 50 plus games a season. Haaland managed that last season.
I also follow European rugby which is far more physical and there isn’t nearly as much rotation (or obsession over individual players in a team sport).
i wasnt thinking of it as resting players as much as seeing what certain players were capable of against this type of side. Krunic will be back after international break right?
Well that’s my point.
The idea that Genoa is so much worse than Milan that you can try that.
The title will not come down to the head to heads. It’ll come down to picking up the most points against the rest. That was the key to Ferguson’s success and the success of most top teams. It’s how Juve won back to back titles. It’s also where Milan have struggled the most in the years were uncompetitive. We dropped over 20 points to relegation threatened sides last season. That could’ve put us second.
And all of this is predicated on the notion that this or that player is better than another. It’s not about individual players.
It’s about the team. And a team needs cohesion. The ability to fight for each other and know each others every move so that it can make those split second decisions that are the difference in these games.
Elite athlete …
What is the most important training tool of any elite athlete? Sleep. Second most? Rest.
Keep in mind that even though it is Genoa there were elite athletes on that side too.
The difference in performances comes from who can recover from the previous game better as we get to mid season. More recovery from the likes of Genoa not playing Euro means they have an individual edge in athleticism. Now we are left with skill, quality and tactics. Musch to fait a contest.
So the risk taken is to spread the load across more athletes and those increase recovery time for key players _2 months from now_.
My hope is the tape shows the staff how to get more out of Chuk, Okay, Adli, Musah and Jovic. More, I hope there will be more tape of them and Barty, Romero, Pellegrino etc.
Keep in mind that with Kalulu, RLC and Kjaer coming back such opportunity for these new/less-played folks will shrink.
Tactics is what happens in a game. Strategy is managing the entire season.
Probably one of the more salient points. You don’t rotate all at once. It’s a player every game. Give them a 70 to 90 min run and then sub.
Pioli wants his top to play together. That can’t happen as much as he wants.
No, when you have a schedule this busy with tough, tough games every 3 days, including UCL games, of course you do need to rotate! Don’t, and you collect injuries or you have exhausted players who lose games. Yes, of course we need depth. We need the B players to be able to replace the A players without too much quality dip. Because we didn’t have that last season, we dropped points that we shouldn’t have dropped. This time we haven’t been dropping them; we only lost the Derby (to, let’s face it, a great team) and we won all other league games. Yes, Serie A is very difficult. Yes, Genoa is good. But we can’t just start players who are exhausted from playing freaking Dortmund, the Bundesliga runner-ups, at their wild 80,000 seat stadium, 3 days ago. The same Rafa and the same Pulisic who made the second half a winning one as opposed to the 0-0 in first half, maybe wouldn’t have done it if they had played, quite exhausted, from the start. Don’t rotate and you collect muscle injuries. It’s as simple as that. That’s why we lost Krunic to injury; he was playing all games. It’s very hard to do well in the league and the UCL simultaneously. Only teams with extraordinary depth can do it. And yes, Pioli has been using almost all the new signings. Yes, they need playing time. They need to gel. And it is not easy to integrate 9 new players but despite that, we’ve been winning. Pioli is not as clueless as many fans here think. He has his shortcomings and I do criticize him for it, the biggest one being stubbornness. But I think he is actually coaching better this season than last season, after he was empowered by the new management. He’s tried new things and he’s been less afraid of using new and young players. And this game, he subbed early. Often he takes too long to sub when the game is hard to change. This time he didn’t, and we ended up winning. It wasn’t a beautiful win. It was a dirty one. But like Pioli said in an interview today, winning dirty games is growth. It’s not something we were able to do last season. Have faith and enjoy the fact that we have 21 points, more than all other 19 teams. We have more victories than all other 19 teams. It counts. Forza Milan!
Why are modern footballers with modern fitness regimes not able to play as many games as in the olden days?
How come the great Barca side with Messi at all was able to play in 5-6 competitions without constant rotation?
How come other sports don’t need squads this big even when they play multiple games in a week?
And the players who were rested still ended up playing over 50 mins! If they’d started then we wouldn’t have needed all the drama and then they could’ve rested their precious little legs.
I don’t know the answer to that. Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with modern trainining and medical departments. The number of muscle injuries we’ve been plagued with (especially last season) is uncanny. I don’t know why it changed; it didn’t seem to be a major concern in the past but nowadays it is; just look at all the muscle injuries. Maybe the modern training methods are requesting too much of players. I’m not a trainer, I’m not a sports medicine physician, so I don’t know what causes it. But it’s a fact. The injuries that pile up are a fact. When we have depth and a larger squad and we rotate, we are more able to avoid them. There was some talk that Milan was about to replace the whole trainer and medical department due to the huge number of muscle injuries. I think some people did get replaced this season. But yes, we don’t want a squad that is too large. That’s why Milan unloaded many players too, this latest mercato. Pioli himself said he wanted a smaller squad. Not to forget, too many players equals too large a payroll. We were able to post a profit this season which is remarkable, it hadn’t happened since 2004 or something like this. Look, Milan is on the right track. We got a talented group of new players who joined a talented group of veterans. We are about to get our own stadium. We have balanced books and a profit. We are sitting pretty as the league’s leaders. Still, we see so many negativity here.
Did you read the people saying that taking Chukweeze out and bringing in Pulisic was a wrong and useless move? When I read something like this I have to shake my head. Yes, it was the wrong move… for Inter. It was the right move for Milan given that Pulisic won the game for us. And still, people come up with these absurd statements, always criticizing. Are they really Milanisti, or Interisti? It’s mind bogling that someone criticizes Pioli for bringing in the guy who scored the golazo that got us the three points.
Again, Pioli is far from being the clueless manager that many fans here depict. He is an experienced manager and while like I said he has his shortcomings, he has his assets too (like every other human being). He is doing a good job this season (minus the Derby where he did get outcoached).
Have you seen how much criticism was thrown at the management for getting rid of De Ketalaere, a guy who had one miserable assist for us for an entire season? Every time he scores for Atalanta they go berserk and criticize our management. I say, good riddance. He wasn’t adapted to our system and I was glad to see him gone.
Oh, he scored today. He just scored a goal in the Lazio-Atalanta game that is happening right now. Oh wait. Too bad it was an own goal. LOL
The answer is massive squads justify massive transfers.
In football, unlike any other sport, the transfer market dictates everything. This summer (like most summers in fact) we went out and signed numerous players in the pursuit of endless ‘depth’ and ‘quality’. All we brought was instability.
If you go back Pulisic has been directly or indirectly involved in almost all of our goals starting from the first pre season game. He has been a great signing so far and anyone saying otherwise should man up and get behind him. There were so many Pulisic haters to start and for some reason to some people he can never satisfy. That’s why I understand how some people can be overly protective of him knowing how often he is the scapegoat for any and all issues.
That being said we need to do the same for Chuk. He has a lot of talent but his lack of a right foot is really a major issue. Pulisic is doing all this damage on his weak side as well. Chuk had a decent first half but having played in college and semi pro sport myself, you know when you’re second in line that means you need to make things happen and numbers do all the talking.
Back the badge because all that matters are the colors black and Red! Long Season and the only way we battle and do well on all fronts is if both Chuk and Puli do well. They will both get chances and I can also dream of a 4-2-3-1 where they can both be on the field at the same time.
I dont understand why they always give Florenzi less than what he deserve. I think he is much better than Calabria defensively, he makes better crosses and shots on target.
He is also faster than Calabria even though he is older.
Add to the above, he gets called up to represent the national team while Calabria doesnt.
We didn’t do anything for 60 minutes, then things got crazy. Puli’s goal was a handball, Mike deserved the red but earlier made one of the best saves I’ve ever seen. Giroud didn’t do much all game but then made a great save as goalie. We also got saved by the crossbar. In the end we probably deserved the win because Genoa didn’t do much and the ref stopped play when Leao would have scored a certain goal.
Giroud didn’t do much all game? He didn’t play all game. He came in as a late sub.
Puli’s goal was not a handball. This has been debunked already thanks to new images. Look it up. By the way, there was a rule change last year (look it up). For a handball, the entire ball must hit below the armpit. Image shows clearly that the ball hits at armpit level, not below it (and it is predominantly on the chest). New consensus is that Puli’s goal was legitimate, and it was. VAR looked at it and correctly let the goal stand.
On the other hand you are right about the ref stopping play when Leao would have scored against an empty net. Anyway, we got the win and the 3 points and it is all that matters.
How can you deduce where his armpit is??
Bro that ball hit dudes bicep. It is what it is, we got 3 points. I guess in some ways the terrible call for when Leao and Puli were through on goal makes up for it.
Here is the armpit rule:
https://en.as.com/soccer/the-handball-rule-in-soccer-explained-why-is-it-only-sometimes-a-foul-n/#:~:text=The%20arm%20commences%20from%20the,rules%20in%20soccer%20in%20general.
So, the arm starts below the armpit, that’s where the whole ball needs to be for a handball.
This is the worst rating I’ve seen in year’s. Very bias
Have no fear Giroud is here .
What an attitude that guy has …with him we have a proven winner ..never thought I would ever see him play in goal ..🙃🙃🙃🙃.seriously though we need him in the coming games. …pulisic a great signing ,just as I said Olivier was when we signed him ..Can’t wait for Loftus cheek to be back …desperately need him .
What amazing form tomori is in ..Outstanding defender .. I thought jovic was very poor indeed,as was okafor. The match itself was very poor ,but we ground out the result …this type of win is needed sometimes ..
Pioli never the less had to make changes as so many games to play in such short period of time .
We have a great squad ,great manager.
We will win the scuddeto this season .
Man of the Match …three of them pulisic / Tomori / and of course Olivier Giroud..You all knew that was coming..keep smiling 🙂 😊😊😊😊..all you fans we are top of the league.
Excellent post, man! Agreed, 100%. Finally someone who gets it!
Giroud had his best game of the season, how can you give a higher rating to Pulisic?
Come on guys be grateful these people trashed Roma 4 – 1