AC Milan clinched three huge points away at Hellas Verona thanks to a moment of brilliance by Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders. 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.
Starting XI
Maignan (6): He had a good save in the first half, and then one in the second right after the goal, but he wasn’t properly tested by the Verona attack this evening. Indeed, those were the only two shots on target.
Emerson Royal (6): He was poor at the back in the first half, and picked up a lazy yellow card as a result (although some would call it tactical). Having said that, he was useful in attack as he often pushed forward, sometimes even into the box, which was needed given Chukwueze’s struggles. He also improved defensively in the second.
Gabbia (6.5): Apart from a clearance that nearly ended up being a pass for Verona (at the death), it was yet another very solid display from the centre-back. The home side didn’t really threaten Milan that much but they were also inferior in the duels for a reason.
Thiaw (6.5): We saw a couple of really nice passes forward from him tonight, and sometimes even runs himself, but above all it was another game with rock-solid defending.
Jimenez (6.5): He started the game at left-back and moved to left-wing when Leao was subbed off, so he played most of the game in attack. Once again, he wasn’t afraid to drive forward with the ball and even had a shot that forced the keeper to a good stop. There were some moments in which he could have done better, but for his age – and also the position change – it was impressive again.
Fofana (7 – MOTM): The Frenchman took quite the beating out there, fouled so many times by the Verona players, and that was obviously a confirmation of him doing something good. The pass for Reijnders was just stunning and he played with confidence for the entire game. A true leader in midfield this evening.
Terracciano (6): As expected, he got the job done and Fonseca was certainly right in saying that the youngster knows how to play in the midfield position. It wasn’t spectacular by any means, if anything he took on the ‘dirty job’ and Milan needed that against a very physical side.
Chukwueze (5.5): He may have had the first shot on target, a rather tame one we should add, but this was another poor display from him. We saw a couple of really bad crosses and he wasn’t exactly impactful in the 1v1s, which was a shame as Milan often found a lot of space on the right.
Reijnders (7): Even before the goal, which was just a fantastic strike, he was involved in a lot but Verona made sure to keep him on close watch in the first half. For whatever reason, he found more space in the second and it showed, once again not just with the goal but also his other actions.
Leao (N/A): He was involved in most when Milan went forward, until he was forced to leave the pitch with an injury that is. He got just 31 minutes on the pitch, so he didn’t play enough for us to give a rating.
Abraham (5.5): It might sound harsh, but the Englishman could have done a lot better in the combination play. The feeling was always that he tried to go with the most difficult pass and naturally, few of them were successful.
Substitutes
Hernandez (6): It was a rather quiet display from him, truth be told, but he was called upon earlier than expected and at least had a few good moments. He lost his footing once, which was more bad luck than anything, but defended well otherwise.
Calabria (6): He came on to replace Chukwueze and played in a slightly more attacking-minded role compared to Emerson Royal. It was decent from start to finish.
Tomori (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Terracciano, the new Lord Krunić in making?
I devised a new system for my scores so that they become more objective. As I observe the game, I add a letter to a player’s name for each notable action, for anything out of the ordinary.
g=good
b=bad
vg=very good
vb=very bad
lp=little participation
/=end of first half, start of second half; won’t be added if a player is subbed out before the end of the first half or is subbed in after the start of the second half
nv=no vote due to a very late sub with no good or bad action
For a forward or attacking midfielder, g could be a good drible or good pass that did not result in a goal or assist, or a good attempt saved by the goalie, or b could be a misguided cross or a wasted offensive action, or an attempt grossly wide or high or weak and right on top of the goalie, while missing a sitter would be vb, and scoring a goal or making an assist for a goal, vg.
For a defender or defensive midfielder, g would be clearing a dangerous ball or dispossessing a forward; b would be losing a ball or losing track of a marked player, resulting in a dangerous action for the opponents, but not resulting in a conceded goal; vb would be mistakes resulting in a goal for the opponents including a conceded PK even if the latter was then missed, while vg would be saving a certain goal for the opponents. For a goalkeeper, vg would be a great save that denies a certain goal, g a relatively difficult but not extraordinary save; b would be a mistake that didn’t result in a goal, and vb, a goal let in that could have been relatively easily saved. A goal let in that was almost impossible to save won’t result in any added letter.
No letter added, not particularly good, not particularly bad, just regular action (decent but not very noteworthy action will be the majority of what happens in any game and won’t generate a letter); if a player doesn’t have a letter associated with his name, he gets a pass (a score of 6) as long as it was not a disappearing act, in which case a player will get an lp added, which will lower the score; as many goods as bads will generally be a pass; a predominance of several goods or bads will raise or lower a score; very bad will lower a score by a lot while of course, very good will significantly raise a score.
A g or a b might be worth about 0.125 to 0.25 points up or down (depending on the magnitude of the action), from 6. A vg or vb will be worth at least 1 full point up or down from 6 (could be more than 1 if it’s the winning goal or conceding the losing goal). This, all to a certain degree not to get to extremely high or extremely low scores like a 10 or a 2. Say, if a player gets to 8 due to several good actions, that might just be the final score even if subsequent good actions happen. If a player fades significantly and starts not participating, a lp will be added even if previously the player collected some good actions.
A silly yellow will be a b, and a silly red a vb. A justified yellow, such as committing a calculated tactical foul that prevents a goal by the opponents, may either be no added letter or even a g
Maignan vg / g 7.25 A very essential stop in first half and another good one; a good stop in second half, no mistakes
Royal b / g b b subbed out at 87, injured 5.75 Rather decent but with a slight predominance of bad moments so a bit below a pass
Thiaw / g g Solid as usual, no mistakes, two good clearances 6.5
Gabbia b / g g 6.375 Similar to Thiaw but with one mistake in first half so slightly below his CB companion
Jimenez b g g g g / g g g g 8 another excellent showing, could have been co-MOTM but given that Fofana who was the other excellent player did produce a goal participation, Fofana leaps over Jimenez for MOTM but Jimenez wasn’t far behind. The only problem is that if he continues to do so well, likely Real Madrid will want to exercise the buy-back clause
Terracciano lp g / g 6.25 Discreet as CAM creating little especially in first half, but did have one very good attempt well saved by the goalkeeper, one good clearance, and made no mistakes; one of his best games for Milan although he didn’t fulfill very well the task of being a CAM; but as far as Terracciano goes, no mistakes is already a big positive
Fofana g / g g vg g 8.25 MOTM Just superb. Mostly only good moments (a few negligible missed passes but many good passes) and a fabulous assist that unlocked the game
Reijnders g / b vg g 8 Was a bit discreet but mostly good and scored so just a bit below Fofana and equal to Jimenez, as one of the three best players tonight
Chuk b b b b b g / lp subbed out at 70 minutes; Milan’s worst player 4.5
Abraham b g / lp 5.5 Mostly a disappearing act
Leão g g, subbed out at 30 minutes, injured. Two very good actions that showcased his talent but he got injured early which is concerning. 6.5
Theo subbed in at 30 minutes lp / g g b g Discreet in first half, improved in second half when he was mostly good but not enough to go above a pass; one good action offset by a bad one and two good actions offset by the little participation, so just a plain pass 6
Calabria subbed in at 70 minutes nothing good nothing bad so a pass 6
Tomori subbed in at 88 g Very little time but one good action so slightly above a pass 6.125
Fonseca – Correct decision of bringing in Theo and displacing Jimenez to the left wing when Leão got injured. However, Terracciano while decent wasn’t doing much so maybe he could have tried Zeroli or Liberali; also, I don’t know why he didn’t bring in Camarda for Abraham who was in a disappearing act. The team is banged up so there isn’t a lot that Fonseca could have done differently, but still, below a pass for two non-subs. 5.5
Wow, quite a complex system here.
Generally agree, but I’d put Royal a little lower and Thiaw and Gabbia a little higher.
The game was that boring eh?
I fell asleep more than 10 times during the match. I can’t relate to this Milan and I hate Chukwueze even more than Royal.
Gerry and friends have built a circus with Zlatan as their main performer. What a mess.
I couldn’t agree more, the last few games I fell asleep and wanted to go to bed a few times during one match. Couldn’t believe this is a Milan not a small club..
Chukwueze is such a terrible player for elegant big club like Milan. Discomfort to watch him play..
Chukw is like a basketball player who can only dribble with his left hand. The dude can’t dribble right or shoot right. The entire stadium knows that he can only go to his left. He needs a local college coach to teach him how to shoot with his right foot.
Milan Fan: spot on.
Watching milan is like watching a snail moving on a cabbage leaf.
Hundreds of back passes; passing the ball from left to right and right to left aimlessly; maignan catching the ball and running like crazy in the box but then stopping and waiting; a totally stupid
system of building from the back; no attacking force with no real striker and goalgetter; excessive possession of the ball that leads nowhere; a lazy leao dsspite his recent “improvements”; a couple of unworthy players ( emerson royal and chuku); and a sloppy and indifferent approach to matches.
Thank god we have fofana and reijndeers and gabbia and maignan.
My greatest wish is to get rid immediately of fonseca, ibra, cardinale, moncada and furlani (a big bunch of crap) and get xavi hernandez as coach to bring about a total change in milan and make milan again a modern team and organization ….. but i dream!!!!!!
3 points. Defense is looking much more solid lately.
The offense is always going to struggle without Pulisic, then you take Leao out of the mix as well…
Fofana and Reijnders have been great and were again today.
Jiminez looks good. Hopefully he continues to play and hopefully we get Pulisic back soon.
Abe got totally locked out by verona.
This was the sort of game where that mythic 25+ goals a season ST (that people think we need) would also do Jack Sh*t.
Being locked out by the worst defense in the league is a massive failure. If that was a team known for defensive organization, like Empoli or Fiorentina, your argument would make more sense. But locked out by a defense line that conceded 40 goals in 16 games cannot be justified, whatsoever.
Pulisic, Leao, Okafor, Jovic, Morata, RLC all injured. Where did you think the goals were going to come from? We are lucky we managed to get one.
Chuku is not the guy. Seen enough to know that now. Maybe that’s a spot for Jiminez.
I agree, Chuck has had enough time to prove himself
and has not worked out for many reasons. We need a right winger that can make accurate passes into the box and doesn’t loose the ball so often. Also, the ability to shoot with both feet. This can be learned but requires a lot of hard work. He didn’t seem to improve since last year.
I’m not justifying anything. I’m just stating that in a game like that there isn’t a striker alive that would unlock a defense by himself and carry the team.
And you gotta give verona kudos. Whatever their record was before, they played a great game, with a bit more quality up front the result could’ve been much different.
Tho I saw they were vulnerable to through balls from like 5 min into the game.
Jimenez should be able to easily walk to our starting 11. Whether it’s for LB, RB, or RW.
It’s clear we need an actual defensive mid which would balance and get the best out of fofana and reijnders and a striker which we probably won’t be getting. But chukwueze I have given up hope for him. He’s An average player and no better than castillejo. And he was supposed to be the next big thing for us….
RW : Suso > Salad > Messias > Flo > Casti > Chuk
Nope. Suso did the same thing as Chuk, but at least he scored a few. Nevertheless, he was the same one-trick pony. My ranking is:
1. Messias (sad, I know)
2. Salad
3. Samu
4. Flo
5. Suso
6. Chuk
Dunno about that. The fact that Suso has many more goals and assists than everyone else in that list should allow him to be ranked higher. There were times between 2016 and 2019 where I felt that if he didn’t score, we won’t win.
Although you can argue that our team was so bad back then that even an average player can stand out and look good.
You might be right, but ultimately we got rid of him precisely because he was a one trick pony. And then as soon as he left, he just kept getting worse and now he’s anonymous. So I think the second part of your comment is correct, in such a poor team he stood out as an average player. Maybe we can bump him up to 3.
Another ugly game.
For most of the game they looked like 11 people that never played together before. Occupying the same spaces and in each other’s way.
Every team looks way more aggressive and energetic than Milan. Verona had 2,3 players around a Milan player with the ball at all times. Milan players were very sloppy, slow and eveb lazy on the ball.
Great pass and finish by Fofana and Reijnders on the goal.
Jimenez is getting wasted at fullback. He should play the RW when everyone is healthy with Pulisic at 10. He is way better than 1 leg Chuck.
Terracciano outside of falling and sitting on the ground did nothing positive.
Changes are desperately needed in January.
“He should play the RW when everyone is healthy with Pulisic at 10.”
Every since Pulisic became an AM, he barely had a goal contribution. He scored one goal against Slovan Bratislava and had 2 assists against Udinese and Empoli.
Pulisic better remains as a RW. Jimenez can be a sub and Chukwueze should be sold.
He barely had any goal contributions playing as a 10 because he had Chukwueze on the right who kills every attack by either holding on to the ball, sending every cross out of bounds or misplacing easy passes like the one to Abraham in the 1st half today.
Even when he plays as a RW, Pulisic is way more central and moves around way more than the other wingers on the team.
On most of his goal contributions he isn’t even on the right wing.
Chukwueze is like Saladmaker but with no defensive contribution.
Pulisic is more natural and more fluid when he is on the wings and drifts centrally rather than being central and drifts in either direction. He has an easier time beating his man on the wings and he likes to cut and shoot or cross. In most of his career he played in either wing.
Also, we’re more suited for a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-2-3-1 anyways, so we actually don’t need a CAM but need him as a RW.
We should purchase Frendrup and Ricci to have a better midfield.
This is a pretty dumb assessment😂puli should not be the 10, and you should not be sharing these brain devoid opinions
Team still looks as confused as ever. I struggle to define Fonseca Ball.
Get the ball to Emerson is our new style
Honestly they all do the same thing in on that wing: just pass it back to the CB. Doesn’t matter if it’s Chuk, Emerson or Calabria. What is the actual function in that position under Fonseca?
The only person that usually does something in that position is Puli.
It is SOOOOOOOO INFURIATING to watch the right flank pass the ball back to our own half to CBs every fng time they get the ball.
If the team is confused then our opposition would be confused.
If we don’t know what are we doing, then how the opposition is supposed to figure that out ?
All and all, good result, and a second consecutive clean sheet. We’ve gotten to that point of the season where half of the team is injured, and again the depth of our squad has brought into serious questions. For god knows how many times. So, 1-0 away without Leao and Pulisic, we can’t complain. Power Reijnders and Fofana were great, our backline was decent, and again it was our front line which was weak. Understandable with the absentees, but worrying nonetheless.
Awful to watch once again
💯💯💯💯💯💯
Perfectly said.
Far too high grades. Here is mine:
Maignan: 6,5
Emerson: 5,5
Gabbia: 5,5
Thiaw: 6,5
Theo: 4,5
Fofana: 6
Terracciano: 5,5
Jimenez: 6,5
Reijnders: 6
Leao: 5
Abraham 4,5
Leão 5 is utterly absurd. He was dangerous and with some great moves during the 30 minutes he played then he got injured. What exactly did he do or didn’t do to deserve a rating below a pass???
Reijnders just a 6? The man won the game for us. And Fofana just a 6? He also won the game for us with his fabulous assist. What game have you watched, exactly, that you didn’t even notice that Reijnders and Fofana got us 3 points? They only get a pass from you? In what way Thiaw was better than Fofana and Reijnders to be rated 0.5 above them?
You are right. Leao was dangerous. He was a danger for Milan’s defense because he completed more passes and gave up more balls to Verona players than Milan’s.
Luigi is so in love with Leao he can’t ever see any fault in his performance. Let’s be honest, Leao deserved 4 or 5. Not a fraction more.
Just say you’re an imbecile. It’s a lot quicker
This was pathetic. I haven’t had any issues with Fonseca so far but this time wasting things is quite pathetic and pissed me off right now. I watched Chelsea trash their opponents 5-1 yesterday without even taking their legs off the gas pedal and with their 2nd team basically. We’re truly a sorry team. Smh
It is nice to get 3 points, sure, but we do need to realize that our across-town rivals scored 5 on Verona.
——–
As usual, the Verona supporters yelled racial insults at Mike. Despicable. I’d love to see Verona relegated.
It’s a tough game to judge with so many players out. Overall I’m happy to get a result missing so many of our best and then Leao going off at 30 mins.
We controlled most of the possession.
Chuk was a big disappointment. At a point that we really need him.
Abraham didn’t get much service.
I don’t like piling on Royal but he seems to offer only mistakes and low quality when he goes forward.
There were 7 defenders on at once. Against Verona.
LOL. This. I was shocked. Playing with tails between the legs. THIS is the danger sign, not the 1-0. We could play a proper game, TRYING to attack, TRYING to control and still just win 1-0 and I would say OK, 3 points and kudos to Verona. But we took off a winger for a defender and held on for dear life. BAD BAD BAD look. Not very inspiring and hopeful. This isn’t a coach navigating a turbulent moment, this is a coach fearing for his job.
Reminded me of classic “Pippo Inzaghi tactics” where he took out the strikers and starting “securing 3 points” 10 minutes before the final whistle just to drop 2 points every single time!!! 😀 😀 😀
Horrific game and performance against a very poor team.
No excuse the injuries, Pulisic was the only starter not available (morata/tammy are about as bad as each other).
Jimenez is a bright light in a very dark period.
I’ve never been a fan of 343 but if we want to get the best out of our better players it makes sense,
Play Theo LWB and Jimenez RWB
Emerson is the worst player I can remember and Chucky is a car crash too.
When Emerson kicked the ball out for a corner, when the ball was going wide, all you could do is laugh, is this for real?
Thats man is a joke that this management try not to lose their betting by playing him all the time. They dont care if he cost us points or losing competition.
It was to boring for me to continue watching after the first half. Mediocre football.
Prior to Leao going off we played a bad match against a team that had shipped 39 goals up to this point. 39 goals. Yes the subs conditioned the game but this was appalling. At least we got three points. MOTM Deers just because we were so poor that the little we created at least he reduced us. Nice finish. Let’s hope Leao isn’t seriously injured.
Btw I thought we had “depth” now? Lol 😂
Rescued not reduced
Only when this team’s players start spending as little time on the ball as possible will they maybe have a chance of producing something different to this goddamit slow predictable football. Why only Milan plays this way.
The players are too afraid of miss placing a pass ,so are slowing down the tempo (probably unconsciously) by taking extra touches of the ball like no urgency with the belief that the only time a player should make a quick pass is when already under pressure or when you see a teammate in good position to score.
A good team would start making quick passes right from the defenders and out of nowhere. All these Milan players do is taking all their time on the ball until it’s %100 clear that the pass is save before releasing it to a teammate and often backwards and many times to the goalkeeper. You can’t surprise the opponent with that and therefore hard to disorganize them.
It’s just frustrating that no Milan coach is able to fix this aspect of our game when you see small clubs with inferior players playing better.
This right here is just it 👍
You can’t disorganized your opponent with such play. Too slow, try to be safe, then making their play easily predictable.
If there was a “like button”, and especially against teams like Verona and Genoa. It is just hopeless
Best comment I’ve seen here. This is so true. Remnants of the Pioli era and I thought Fonseca would change this but we’re back to it again. I hate how often we pass the ball back. I hate how often our players run forward to create a space for themselves and the ball holder holds onto the ball for too long and then pass backwards. I hate how often Maignan holds onto the ball waiting for the other team to organize themselves before he releases the ball. We’re too slow when in possession it blows my mind. Smh
Every other club in Europe knows how to pass the ball quicker and make passing combinations. Milan can’t. I can’t remember them making 3 or 4 consecutive one touch passes after Ronaldinho etc left.
It’s like every new Milan player is taken aside and brainwashed to unlearn everything they knew about passing.
I didn’t see all of the game but it seems like more of the same. Without Puli the offense stinks. Leao is trying but he’s trying to hard sometimes and doesn’t make a pass when he should. Leao needs Puli to open space up for him. Anyways there are 7 players on this team that can be built around. Puli, Leao, Reinjders, Fofana, Gabbia, Thiaw, Mike. Jimenez is proving himself too so I’d add him.
Chukwueze and Royal are seriously Primavera-level players. They don’t belong on a team that should be a European power.
Primavera-players have hope though. They might have potential. Those two are just deadwood with zero hope of getting any better. Ever.
Why don’t we try a 3-4-3? Theo and Jimenez as wingbacks and Pavlovic at LCB. I know he’s not the best but he’s comfortable at that position as he plays it with the Serbian national team. Or we can get a reinforcement in January.
I just really don’t want to see Emerson ever play again, he’s horrible.
I’d like to see that formation/ combination too.
I’m in for the 3-4-3 too. Would be worth trying for sure.
Good to get the three points and a fabulous pass and finish by our midfield.
Other than that, not easy to watch.
Royal and Chuk shouldn’t start for us.
I’d prefer the four wide players to be: Leao, Puli, Theo, and Jimenez.
Keep Tiji at the 10
Fofana and Musah as dual 6’s.
We can still be a good team this year if we put the right players in and play a bit quicker in transition.
Sorry meant to be a response to you below.
That is a squad that can beat most teams in the world even with the most basic tactics. A right back that can move the ball keep pulisic in the game on that side where he plays much better than centrally unless he gets cut off by RLC in the middle. Musah can provide back up if Theo wants to roam. Etc
You gave almost everyone 6 or more for this game? LOL hahahahahahaha. Are you serious? Did you even watch it? Only Reijnders and Jimenez get a pass in this game.
It’s so hard being a coach, with so many injuries, and having the likes of Chukwueze, Emerson Royal, Abraham, as your starters. Emerson is improving, but, not Milan standard. It’s punishing to see what Chukwueze does on the pitch – his game is sub-par. Bringing Abraham was like limiting our options, especially, with a not-so-good Jovic. Now, with Morata injured, it’s like we don’t have a striker. Fonseca should deal with that, because he asked for him. Fonseca did well with the way he set up the players available. Jimenez really impressed; Fofana had great judgment, especially, being one card away from missing a game. He and Reijnders have changed our midfield. Adding Terraciano to the mix helped balance the middle. We needed to calm the game down, and they did it well, without giving away too much. Serie A minnows have a way of countering us when we move the ball too fast. We lose the ball a lot each time we try to do that. The defense has improved a lot. I hope Tomori stays, and fights for his place. A lot of players were complacent under Pioli, and didn’t realize how low their games had dropped.
Fonseca is a literal joke. He will be out of Milan soon and he won’t manage a top club ever again. Game over for him, he can go back to France and take mid clubs and that is his level.
Emerson’s “tactical” foul??? The opponent was approaching the halfwayline all by himself with zero help and was facing 5-6 Milan players and Emerson thought “Holy sh*t this man has to be stopped now!!!!”??? That was the most idiotic yellow card I’ve seen this season.
Emerson so sloppy last night… Hehe.. hes more like a rapper than footballer.. hahaha…
He doesn’t even look like a footballer. At all.