AC Milan came back from 2-0 behind and managed to get at least a point from their game against Lecce. Down below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri, as several players could have done better.
Starting XI
Tatarusanu (6): He wasn’t at fault for any of the goals and didn’t have any mistakes, making a couple of good saves.
Calabria (6): It wasn’t his best performance in the Milan shirt but he did get the crucial equaliser by pushing up from his right-back position. Therefore, he gets a pass.
Kalulu (4.5): He made a huge mistake on the first goal, more or less gifting it to Lecce, and was also at fault for the second one. He improved but those mistakes were fatal.
Tomori (6): He did well throughout and certainly did better than his partner in crime.
Hernandez (5): He was subbed off at half-time after what was a rather inconsistent display from him. The own goal was unlucky, without a doubt, but he also didn’t really do his job in defence.
Bennacer (6.5 – MOTM): Without a doubt Milan’s best player on the pitch tonight, giving hope to the game by fighting for every single ball out there. Almost had a brilliant assist for Messias at the end, but the winger was offside.
Pobega (6): He was rough around the edges, as per usual, and committed too many fouls. However, he set up both of Milan’s goals and that deserves highlighting.
Saelemaekers (5): Milan needed him to do more on the ball and space out the Lecce defence, but it didn’t happen. He was also subbed off at half-time.
Diaz (5): Just like Saelkemaekers, he needed to do a lot better on the ball and while he did have a few good actions, he didn’t have the strength to make something out of them.
Leao (6): It wasn’t his best display, truth be told, but he did well to score Milan’s first goal of the game with a smart finish. However, the Rossoneri need him to do more moving forward.
Giroud (5.5): Yes, he did get a fantastic assist for Calabria’s equaliser. However, it was also painfully clear that he lost the battle to Umtiti and this hurt Milan’s attacking play.
Substitutes
Dest (5.5): For a complete pass ratings-wise we would have had to see a bit more of him in attack. At least he played it simple this time, limiting the mistakes to zero, but he played it a little bit too simple.
Messias (5.5): Started well but faded as the game neared the end, which was exactly what Milan didn’t need. He was also offside after a great Bennacer run.
Origi (5): We simply didn’t see enough of him out there. A few good chest-downs here and there, but ultimately way too little participation for a player of his calibre.
Kjaer (N/A): He didn’t play enough to get a rating.
Vranckx (N/A): He didn’t play enough to get a rating.
Tatarusano is top 3 worst AC Milan goalkeeper of all time!Why pioli does not play the new keeper we sign some days ago the cant be worst then tata for the love of god pls no more of this guy in our goal!
I am amazed that you can still pick a MOTM tonight. The whole team deservedly lose and were lucky to get out with a point. No urgency, no energy and wayward defending all the way through. Did these guys forget that we are the defending champion? That same backline that carried us through series of clean sheet last season en route to Scudetto is a ghost of themselves. Every game, there will be an opponent who would be given a free header. Lecce’s second goalscorer (apologies that his name escapes me) didnt even have to jump…
Since he signed his contract extension Kalulu has been horrendous. This game should be the last he starts as a cb, unless it’s an emergency. Give mi Kjaer, Thiaw, Gabbia or even bring caldara back.
Theo was awful. He tried to flop and instead scored an own goal.
Pobega and Diaz were the only positives.
Bennacer was awful in the first half, got better in the 2nd but his forward passing is amateur level.
The moment I see a striker in his 20s play for Milan, it would feel like the 8th UCL.
Leao MIA and so so predictable.
But the worst of all I’d Paolo, what he has done to our squad over the last 2 years is criminal.
Are we still on the same pace as last season 🤔
“Bennacer was awful in the first half, got better in the 2nd but his forward passing is amateur level.”
He shouldn’t be allowed to go past the halfway-line as his passes and especially crosses are a abomination to watch in the attacking zone. The pass to Messias was a once in a million years type of exception.
Next time you watch Milan, put your glasses on. Bennacer was the best on the pitch. He was the one who kept the team together and led the fightback. He ran like a guard dog. He worked his arse off, trying to close down Lecce’s attacks, and moving the ball forward. If you can’t appreciate the efforts he made, then your comments can’t be taken seriously.
I’m not saying he wasn’t amongst the best or denying his working rate etc. but YOU put YOUR glasses on next time and observe his passing play in the last 1/4 of the pitch. He has zero creativity and his crosses are inaccurate as hell. If you cannot see or accept that then I don’t know what to say.
Tata a 6?!! For a keeper who never leaves that line if his life depended on it thats a pretty high. Calabria also had a horrible game despite the goal. Theo looks tired. Same as last season when a had a long strech of constant playing. Wrecking ball pobega in an advanced position is pioli nonsense. Defense exposed, it should have easily been 4-0 1st half. Well sloppy game all around from pioli and every player involved. No rhythm whatsoever. All we can do is pray for that 4th spot. Because truth is we’ve been like this for a while now, before world cup. Despite the points.
Kalulu gets a zero and honestly should be benched after that performance. He single handedly gave away two goals for Christ sake! Absolutely terrible. Sure Tata made no obvious errors but he has no business starting. He is of the lowest quality, he can’t move, his reflexes are so slow and he can’t keep the defense organized. From what we’ve seen from him this year he doesn’t add anything. The saves he does make are routine, and any professional keeper can do what he does. I’m becoming increasingly concerned Pioli is losing his tactical acumen. The teams tactics are the same every game and he continues to force players into his plans rather than adapt to the resources available. Pobega is the most obvious example. He has no business as part of a midfield tandem, and is without doubt more suited to a midfield 3. A midfield of Bennacer, Pobega and Vranckx would have been more useful and cohesive. Lastly what does everyone at Milan see in Diaz? He sucks! Might as well have CDK or Adli out there doing nothing instead of that useless hobbit.
Ffs, Kalulu is great, but, he simply does not have the height, get Thaiw that CB role now.
I don’t see where these ratings come from. Not one player should be over 5.5. Tatarasanu every save he makes is worrying cause he always spills it and has to follow up. The defence has been abysmal this year we can’t keep a clean sheet to save ourselves and in the air we get beat every single time. The attack is toothless. The more saelemaekers starts the worse he gets, keep him to a off the bench role cause he gets too confident in himself and turns into borini 2.0. We Diaz non existent, giroud with always a one touch pass instead of holding up the ball. Leao gets a goal but was horrible.
Were in a bad run of form but Maldini better act on the market. We’re in desperate need of an attacker/creator. A right winger is needed, cdk, adli and Diaz have shown nothing in a spot where we need the most.
This season looks lost already, I don’t have the confidence like I did last season. We won’t win no scudetto and we’ll be lucky to finish top 4
You guys should stop blaming Maldini or Pioli. Blame the new management. Juventus won d Serie for 9 consecutive times . How did they do it ? Juve kept on reinforcing the squad every transfer market… We won scudeto and two of our strong players left without replacement. The right wing has been left unattended to for years..Thank God Bennace signed . I pray Leao will not get frustrated
Sorry to say maldini has a lot to do with this season’s mess. Blew 50 mil on useless players. The biggest one with 0 speed, 0 technique. Napoli had a better transfer market for around same amount of money (i may be wrong). Pioli is a bit at fault too. For using pobega, krunic on top, players with 0 creativity and leaving a whole in the back. Been happening since the beginning of the season. Completely the opposite of last season, same players – a defensive midfielder who covered the back. I’m not calling for maldini’s and pioli’s head. But these are the facts.
Nope, you are absolutely 💯 right. Napoli spent the same amount of money over the summer
How is that not Maldini’s fault? Look at all the terrible signings that have added nothing to this team. Bakayoko, Origi, Thiaw, Vranckx, Dest, CDK, Adli, Ballo -Toure. 8 signings that have contributed absolutely nothing. If you took all that money and just signed 3 or 4 players that actually strengthen the team we would be in much better shape. Not to mention the starters that he let leave for free. It’s just objectively a bad job.
The complete board of Juventus has resigned after it has become clear that they kept their winning streak of the past decade because of massive financial cheating. Once more. They risk getting relegated to Serie B. I would never see Juventus as an example. They did invest a lot last year as well and got kicked out of the CL and just got trashed by Napoli this weekend. Even Juventus has to get it’s feet back on the ground some day.
Now juventus i guess already on the dark age…
I think you mean they lied cheated and stole, that is why the management is changed 7 point penalty and in the red!
Sorry but that is not what ACM want
Ac is in big problem. Cardinale want only money 💰 and they don’t care about result. We lost three players last year such as Romagnoli, Kessie and Hakan, and bring Vranckx, Thiaw who doesn’t even play and Origi. We still have positions which are fragile like right winger, attacking midfielder and striker. No mention that first three players are not adequately replaced by new signings. We need new owner !
he didnt even have a summer but yea winter, there should have been something done
“We need new owner !”
How about you buy the team and fund the players? 🙂
Yes. Just give me the money.
Mate u sound like a nine year old trying to win an argument. U sound like a clown. That is meant to be truth
Nice comment. I still wonder why Caldara has been abandoned by the management… It’s not like Tomori or Kalulu is all that better than him.
Our defense is awful.
Theo looks tired, imagine if he actually had anyone to give him a break, but we don’t need to sign another left back instead, Paolo signed a 5th right back at the end of the summer.
Imagine being the best defender of all time turned wannabe director and constructing defense WITHOUT A SINGLE LEFT FOOTED CB.
Imagine not bringing a midfielder to replace our best midfielder that left over the summer.
Imagine having 36 year old and 41 year old as your main strikers.
Imagine paying almost 10 mil to redeem Messias and 4 years later our best RW is Saelemakers who is actually a full back/wing back.
If Milan doesn’t make top 4 this year the first to go is Paolo Maldini.
Fire him, move him to another position where he can be just a mascot, don’t care, just give me a competent sporting director.
People said Hakan was trash, he is Rui Costa compared to the trash we have since he left,
People said we don’t need Kessie, he is Seedorf compared to what’s left.
Neither one was replaced.
Romagnoli wasn’t replaced, it would have been nice to have a taller CB to play next to Tomori.
And how about our GK situation, is Maignan ever coming back? We basically replaced Giggio with Tatarusanu.
Someone will have to pay at the end of the year, hopefully it isn’t Pioli who has actually been performing miracles and still winning besides his boss basically working against him. Losing his best players without replacing them.
No matter if Maldini had addressed all the points you made when Pioli wouldn’t use them.
You think it’s critical for a team to have a LEFT FOOTED CB? LOL. Like that’s a horrible, horrible thing. LOL. Come on. 😀
Kalulu has been bad all season. If Kjaer is healthy he should be starting. And where was Calabria playing? He was always in the center of the pitch and leaving the right side wide open which Lecce exploited numerous times. We’ve all seen this game. Score with Milan. You could tell within the first 2 mins how this game was going to go. Pioli is good with young players, gets the most out of them, has Milan pressing well, but he has no ideas offensively. This team can’t break anyone down. Their spacing is bad, the off the ball movement is bad and their passing is terrible. They can’t handle any kind of press. They make Lecce look like Liverpool. They just lob balls over the top to Giroud who can’t do anything with it, and even if he wins it there are no runners alongside of him. There is no ffensive game plan.
This team won the last 2 seasons because they were the best pressing team in Serie A and they bosses the midfield against almost every team they played. With Kessie gone their midfield is getting bossed by the likes of Lecce, Torino and Cremonese, and their press isn’t what it used to be. Now all the haters are starting to see how much Kessie did for this team. It’s on management for not resigning him or replacing him, but still Pioli is at fault for all the points Milan have dropped to the bottom teams since he’s been there.
Kalulu and Tomori as a duo dont work, they are a trio with Mike. With Tata, the whole concept falls apart. Mike is the one plugging a lot of holes left by the duo. Tata is too static and doesn’t play well with his legs.
This should be obvious to Pioli though and our defense should be set differently to compensate for Tata’s limited movement. But he insists on playing the same way over and over again, and apparently expecting different results.
Also, and this is a sad fact, we are too dependent on Isma and Tonali, Malik and Popega are not even close to their level.
I’m not even gonna try talking about how abysmal our attack is and how dependant we are on Leao having a good day.
Stop blaming everyone Tata. They were giving up goals all season, well before Maignan got hurt. He is not the problem
I’m blaming Pioli. I guess I didn’t make it obvious.
So it’s Tatarusanu fault that Kalulu passes the ball to the wrong team and can’t win his individual match-up?
Tatarusanu is not good we all know that but Kalulu and Tomori have been getting beat like a drum this year, not because Maignan isn’t there, Milan was conceding a lot of goals even when Maignan was healthy, it’s because they have been figured our by other teams. Coaches watch film, they know neither one of them is good at positioning and they are only good when they press forward. And both of them are the worst in Europe on high balls. Chelsea fans were always saying this about Tomori. Why do you think we have never heard one rumor about a team interested in Tomori, for the same reason they don’t call him up for the NT. He isn’t that good. He looks somewhat decent because he plays in the weakest of the top 5 leagues in Europe
Well… To be fair though… It didn’t look like Tata even tried in either of the goals. In the second one he seems to pull out his hand just when he was about to reach the ball.
But yeah, the bigger mistakes in both goals were made earlier. Tata just is incapable of making ANY game savers.
And Maldini wants to sign him, hmm really baffling, Maldini fans boys where are you now, Maldini is part to be blame, his signings are horrible, Pool I has no b^lulls and Red turd refuses to spend. milanisti brace yourself for long second half the season!!!
But when will Milan learn that young team do press high and they always target early goal from us.
Secondly, pioli should motivate the team because we are approaching the team to dull as if the opponents will allow us to score.
Kalulu need rest that’s all.
No game plan, giroud cannot hold play, too many useless flicks, poor positioning, uncoordinated backline, wrong personnel to fit a dead system. The errors keep on piling and I don’t know if the management is blind to these visible plights. At this point Pioli should be told to abandon his shit formation and adapt to the players at his disposal, Giroud should be on the bench cus WTF? He can’t hold play for his teammates to come, he does so much aimless flick🤮. This players ain’t playing as a team. Too much of individuals trying too much for senseless reasons. The coach has a lot to do or rather he has reached his depth as a coach.
It’s over. Aim for CL spot. Aim to go as far as we can in CL.
We had a miracle scudetto win last year.
We not only didn’t improve but we actually made our squad worse with the players leaving and wrong decisions made in the market.
Never say Never but the scudetto race is over this year.
Napoli is a superior squad and even if they slow down who says we can actually win when we can barely beat salernitana and we had to scrap a draw vs lecce, not to mention the games vs Empoli Spezia, Sampdoria, verona where we got saved in the last minute.
Hopefully things turn around and we can keep away the teams bellow us from passing us by
Also, vs Fiorentina got saved in the last minute by an own goal.
People can talk about having almost the same points as this time last season, but the performances aren’t up to the points we have . we actually have more points than we deserve based on the way we have played
Maignan sorely missed, Tatarstan waits too long on the counter attack to kick the ball. Mike got rid of it quick and had a couple of assists…Kjaer does not mess around in the back, after he came in ball was sent forward immediatly. Bennecer MOTM, no way.
This club is going down the toilet, fast. We will be back to 2016 levels in about 2-3 years. We don’t have money, we don’t have quality players (the ones we do have will eventually leave for bigger and better clubs), and we don’t have a good manager.
Milan need to work on and improve their passes. Their midfield is horrible. Whenever they get these things right then they’ll be back to the glorious days.
kalulu-tomori just not working right now. they are shadow to their past performances together. and there is also so many players playing below expectation lately. i wonder if it’s bad to try different approach to the game and utilize the whole team for that. to plan their attacking move and defense to concrete organized flow. not based on their instinct alone. and keep organized for the whole match.
also i’m unsure but it just… somehow milan always giving up so much space at some odd occasion that is not seems like the part of the plan. in other word, the team lose control over the space they give up and they control. ngl, watching that i feel insecure.
We lose this match bcuz of Pioli fault.
Why did you always leave Kjear in bench and put this useless Kalulu Eh? Then you never give De Katealere another chance and you put selfish man Diaz🤔
Everyone’s acting like the club is finished because of one draw? I understand the frustration of fans and it’s justified with todays display, but the club is fine, we are in a rebuilding phase.
And Those who are blaming Maldini, well.. I’d say get well soon.. but low IQ is incurable .. so .. Good luck I guess LMFAO.
Napoli is in the form of a century. They are playing outright superhumanly good.. They nuked freaking Liverpool with 4 goals. Every single one of their players are at the peak at the same time. Happens very rarely. Only club that can actually compete with Current Napoli is Man City and even then Napoli has better chances of coming on top. Without this Napoli form.. Milan would STILL be on top.
Club will be fine. What you guys are deliberately choosing to ignore is we are going through a rebuilding phase. We have to build the squad, as well as improve finances so we can build the new stadium. Otherwise, we return back to the gutter.
All of you are bashing Kalulu because he had a bad game. I remember this same bunch of ‘fans’ claiming Kalulu Tomori is the best pair last season. The CB pair is still the same.
What changed is We lack a player like Kessie who also played as a third defender in defensive phase. You know what the fun part is? Players as influential in midfield as Kessie is hard to find. Which is why Real bought Tchouameni and Camavinga for over 100 mil each considering they are only 19 and 20 y/o.
Maldini wanted to plug the holes in defense and midfield with Botman and Renato. If Maldini had his way, we would probably still be at the top of the table. The owner situation F’ed all of our transfer plans up. So our realistic goal this season is to stay in top 4 and try to do well in UCL.
But then again, like I said.. Low IQ is incurable.
Best wishes to Maldini haters. If you are a Maldini hater and have the balls which you definitely dont have but ey one can wish yeah? lets see what your ideas are to reinforce the squad with a 50 mil budget to replace your beloved Hakan, Dollarumma and Kessie.
NOW. About the game today..
Pioli has zero attacking strategy. It’s one of his massive weakness and it has been the SAME since he took charge. We have no attacking gameplan. We don’t have any strategy on how to create space, how to switch play, or how to create chances to score. Our gameplan basically is give the ball to Leao and Godspeed. The rest of the players don’t have even the basic ability to put a semi-decent shot on target. By that I don’t just mean shots on goal, it includes crosses, key passes etc. They NEVER Land in the right place and ALWAYS miss their mark by a freaking Mile everytime and it’s outright pathetic and Cringe to watch. Even blind people would put better passes just by the sound of the surroundings.
The ONLY Player who can actually put pinpoint passes are Bennacer and CDK, and of course Leao. You can see it in our gameplay, the players just don’t know what to do when in attacking phase, indecisive, confused, takes hours to make a decision whether to pass or shoot.
on the other hand.. While in defensive phase they know exactly what to do and where to move to retrieve the ball nearly instantly. That’s literally why we are at 2nd. Otherwise, we would be fighting relegation by now.
Milan will be fine. But we are definitely going to struggle till we build our own new stadium. And Pioli needs to improve his attacking gameplan massively.
Forza Milan.
Maldini has done great since he got on board. He brought in magic mike for pennies and he became one of the best, brought kalulu for pennies and his value skyrocketed, etc etc. However, can’t say the same for past transfer window. Spent the money on the wrong players. I cant tell u who he shouldve gotten because im no expert, but we are all witnessesing those mistakes. Just facts. I dont think anyone is in denial that we are rebuilding, but a transfer window so poor in quality is a bit alarming. Yes the days of splashing millions without income are gone, unless there is a corrupt arab like psg owner. And yes kalulu and tomori shouldnt get all the blame since they’ve been exposed whole season. Pioli is at fault for that since he hasnt addressed that issue and he keeps playing wrecking balls up front instead covering defense a bit more. Summer signings have been horrible period.
@Crazymilanfan. Of course a pathetic transfer window as the one we had is alarming. More alarming is we aren’t planning to do anything this winter either. Us fans have every right to be concerned about it and we are.
All I am saying is, the way some are bashing Maldini, is unfair.
Everyone seems to have ignored that we had a ownership change that ruined both our transfer windows this season. If Maldini had his way, we surely wouldn’t have been this pathetic as a team. A sporting director cant do ANYTHING if the owner doesn’t spend money. By the time Maldini had the Budget available was at the mid of august.. but by then we already had no choice but to pick players who are just leftovers.
As for our performance, ownership situation is directly responsible for it. And the fact that Pioli is godawful at developing young players. It took Pioli 3 years to launch Leao who has natural abilities. By the time a player like Krava would shine under Pioli, Krava’s grandkids would probably be present in the stadium to watch Krava play his last match before death lol Which is one of the reasons the team ain’t going anywhere. Pioli has his strengths.. but the problem is, Pioli’s weaknesses are growing stronger day by day and affecting the team badly.
I agree with most of your opinions but Bennacer isn’t that good with passes and crosses… Leao isn’t even good at passing, he just finds angles that makes those crosses alot easier. So basically, Tonali and CDK are probably our only creative source.
And even Tonali’s and CDK’s have been non-existing in the attacking zone. So in other words: we’re screwed. We lack creativity. And even basic level passing. Impossible to build scoring chances if the basic level of passing skills is inadequate.
@Jon. Well, I think we disagree on bennacer’s ability. I would say he is a natural at passing and playmaking mate.
If you watched his Algeria games you would be surprised how insanely good he is. There is a reason Both Klopp and Arteta wants him. In fact, if you watch Tonali in Brescia, you would see his long passes are insanely accurate. But for some reason, which is why clubs all over teh world wanted him.. but none of that happens here in Milan.
The problem is, Pioli doesn’t use our CDMs as playmakers.. Their only purpose is breaking opponents play and retrieving balls.
Wow, what asinine comment.
Anyone would jump at the idea to get paid millions to be Milan’s sporting director and be given”ONLY” 50 millions to play with in the transfer market
Maybe you are just projecting that you don’t have the balls or the IQ to reinforce the squad with someone else’s 50 millions.
But instead, let’s hire you to be the coach since you know better than Pioli how to construct a game plan with this below average squad provided to him by Paolo.
What’s incurable is your hypocrisy attacking people that criticize Maldini because supposedly they think they know better than Maldini but then turns to tell us how he knows better than the coach.
Also BTW it’s not after one draw but after 2 draws and a loss with man advantage that people are complaining.
And Kalulu has played awful all season,not just after 1 bad game. He was at fault for both goals today and got burned on Torino goal on Wednesday
Forza Milan
Do you think Atalanta has better attacking players than us..? I suggest you watch a few Atalanta games and see how Gasperini plays his team. You don’t need to be a coach to understand something that basic.. But you need common sense to realize if you need to be a coach or not to see what the weakness of a team is which.. well.. by your comment, you REALLY don’t have lol
~Anyone would jump at the idea to get paid millions to be Milan’s sporting director and be given”ONLY” 50 millions to play with in the transfer market~
According to you, because of Maldini’s salary we have only 50 million budget? LMFAO Otherwise we would have a billion yeah? Dude.. I admit .. I was wrong. you don’t even have ONE braincell lol
Since you are so b_utthurt by my comment, Clearly a Maldini hater detected. Lmfao I have no issue with Criticizing Maldini. Maldini has his flaws and we all know that. His business dealings needs major improvement. But I have issues with r3tarded reasonless Maldini haters like you.
On another note.. Supporting Inter isn’t a crime lol Just wanted to let you know lol
BTW… I am still waiting to know what should’ve been done with the 50 mil budget according to the.. ‘wise’… Opinion of a Maldini hater.
First of all, it’s not one draw you moron. Have you watched them play this season? They just just lost to Torino 11 vs 10. Blew a 2-0 lead against Roma. They drew with Cremonese as well. They’ve played poorly pretty much the entire season with the exception of maybe 3 games. You keep saying rebuilding but the team is getting weaker the last 2 seasons. They’ve made terrible signings and have let their best players leave for free. They’re best striker is 41 years old and their second best is 36. The team has no depth at any position, so if they are rebuilding they are doing a terrible job. Think of the money spent on players who can’t even get on the pitch or if they do add absolutely nothing to the team. Bakayoko, Ballo-Toure, Adli, CDK, Origi, Thiaw, Dest, Vranckx. Getting zero out of any of them. But keep making excuses for them.
Oh yeah.. Mignan, Tomori, bennacer, Tonali, Kjaer, Theo, Kalulu.. All are terrible signings.
Are you under the impression that players start adding to the team from day one Under Pioli? Do you even watch Milan bro?
Of course We are going through a bad patch of form. It happened EVERY year. Remember the year Inter won? We were on top but after January we lost the lead to Inter by 9 points.
Instead of anything constructive, brainless Maldini haters go right into personal attacks and have zero positive input. Okay bruh. Maldini is the worst thing that happened to Milan. Lets fire Maldini. But Then? what would any other ‘good’ SD do for Milan with 50 mil? I know I am expecting answers in vein from someone without basic ability to think but one can wish.
But then again, I must repeat.
BTW… I am still waiting to know what should’ve been done with the 50 mil budget according to the.. ‘wise’… Opinion of a Maldini hater.
For those that screamed that Maldini didn’t know what he was doing going after Botman perhaps he knew something most didn’t – that Kalulu is more of a RB and not a CB. Pure and simple. Been saying it all along – play Kajer w Tomori and Kalulu at RB. For those donkeys that are calling our Bennacer – LOL. Yes he didn’t have a great game but look who he was paired with?? The clueless Poegba. He was half way up the pitch most of the time leaving Benny all by himself. Why Pioli left him in for 85 min is astounding. He offers little. Play Aster. Sell Poegba to Tori o or swap him for Singo. Again zero service to Giroud and Leao. RW non-existent. Same old story. Tata trash. Summer signings have zero contribution. Pioli failed to integrates them. This is what happens a when you go for youth. Have to deal w players not being ready. I’m afraid this will be more common rest of season. We can kiss a repeat goodbye unless Europes purchases are made this market – as we are last years team minus Mike and Kessie and and older Giroud – but we all know that won’t happen.
Okay, Maldini knew that Milan needed to sign a defender with the Botman characteristics , great he isn’t clueless. He misses on Botman because he was too expensive or whatever. Is Botman the only defender out there.? After he missed on his 1st option for the defense why didn’t he sign someone else more affordable? Instead he signed someone in totally different department for almost the same money.
Botman to Newcastle for 37 mil, CDK to Milan for 35.
I mean at some point people will have to question his decisions
Giroud never deserve a 6. He was awful defensively, in both halves. Our worst defender by far. Not better than a 5 for me.
Correction. Not Giroud, but Calabria…
The first half of the game was horrible. In my opinion, Tomori is not the excellent CB that most people think he is. Under pressure, the defence panics and there is no coordination whatsoever. The attack is missing and is Leao dependant! The team cannot rely on Giroud, Ibra & Rebic and cannot be competitive. The team plays without a striker and consequently finds scoring extremely difficult.
Dest was probably instructed to focus on defense. He’s a defended and he defended well.
Origi’s time is up. This isn’t working out and never will.
Magnan missing is also hurting us. He played the ball very well and commanded the defence, claimed lots of balls in tge box too. Made our defense look better. So did Kessie
Our individual players are not the same minus thowe two.
So after watching this game I’m on board with the Kalulu criticism. He hasn’t been great all season, and both Lecce goals were his fault, first the hospital pass to Calabria; and then being a.) mis-timing his jump and b.) being a midget for a CB on, the second goal. He would be better served to be battling it out for RB with Calabria. Kjaer needs to start next to Tomori. I would be happy to see Thiaw given a good run too to see what he can do.
Otherwise, the squad is just in a poor mental state. Not winning these last three games (Roma, Torino, Lecce) comes down to mentality. Something is not clicking at the moment and it’s on Pioli to figure it out. The quality is there, as we dominated Roma for 85 mins, we played the B squad vs. Torino and used an alien formation, and drew with Lecce because of mistakes at the back and lack of clinical finishing (also mental), not because Lecce is a better team.
For those that continue to whine about the players, or the coach, or the management, or the owner, I just don’t know what else there is to say. We’re second in the league, ahead of the other two clubs that are historically and practically considered to be the top three Italian clubs (Juventus, Milan, Inter). Napoli is having an extraordinary season. They’re 9pts of 2nd place (MILAN) at the halfway mark of the season. THIS HAS BEEN EQUALED ONLY TWICE in the last twenty seasons……2006/07, the year after Calciopoli when Juventus was in Serie B, and Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina all docked points to start the season, the only rival to Inter being Roma, and…..2005/06, the year of Calciopoli itself, with Juventus (I wonder how) having run out to a 10 point lead after 19 games. To be clear they had a record of 17-1-1(!). This shows you how extraordinary this is, because the other two times this occurred it was as a result of shenanigans and their aftermath. People need to calm down.
Struggle to see how people on here can call themselves fans when they’re constantly criticising the players (even when they do nothing wrong like Tătăruşanu), and the managers and management who have turned around the club and delivered a title.
Why support a team you hate? Go support a team you like like that FIFA All Stars team you made on the computer game that has all your favs.
Back to football. The team has come through a really difficult week. The fight back was huge tonight and we’ve got basically the same number of points as last season. The difference this season is Napoli are unbelievable.
My worry with this team – like any team- the gap between success and failure is so fine. There is the team that lost 5:0 to Atalanta and then turned it around to go on an unbeaten run where over a period of 2 years they were the best team in Serie A (they picked up more points in that 2 year period than any other team). We can easily go back to the team that lost 5:0 to Atalanta if we let things slip.
Lecce showed again that the gap between the top and bottom teams is so small so as to be virtually invisible. Hunger and sharpness can make a huge difference.
Last season we had a dip around this time including that cursed game against Spezia a year ago. We managed to turn it around. And scraping back the 2:0 shows that we can do it again. But we do need to pull ourselves out of this dip soon because Napoli seem unstoppable at the moment (the gap for them is equally as fine so it’ll be interesting to see how they cope if they do hit a dip in form).
I don’t know what they like about that Kalalu
He is too short for defending
I really never liked him , and i will never will
What do you expect. He’s cheap and quick keyword cheapskate 😀
The most worrying thing is Milan current form. Since the WC break started, they’ve been awful. And here’s the best part… Look at the schedule: Inter (Super Coppa though but the loss will lower the morale even more), Lazio, Sassuolo, Inter, Torino, Monza, Atalanta, Fiorentina. And couple of UCL matches against the Spurs.
How many point do you honestly think Milan can take from those opponents? I count 3 against Monza and perhaps Viola. Then there rest? Even 1 each would be a miracle.
I dont see anyone mentioning that Pioli didnt let the players go sleep home after the pathetic lose against Torino .
This could maybe have worked 20 years ago when Papi Silvio was in charge,but the todays youth and the whole mentality is different and imo Piolis dicision to not let them go sleep home backfired badly and will cost him his job soon.I hope i am wrong …
Theo couldnt come home to his wife and newborn child,he scored an own goal,i didnt watch the match but i can only guess by the comments that it was a very bad perfomance.
It’s hilarious to hear from some ppl on this forum that those that criticize M&M or ownership are not real fans LOL. Wake up and stop being so naive. Nobody is perfect that includes M&M and while it’s impossible for them to hit on every transfer there were obvious mistakes made – like not replacing Kessie (although they tried w Sanches), missing out on Botman then going after a inexperienced player in Thiaw, not having a real backup keeper or not finally signing a starting RW. Striker they tried and currently failed w Origi who like Rebic cannot stay healthy). So absolutely they have made mistakes. However, it is difficult to get the players you know you need on a limited budget provided by ownership. Someone said we went for Botman and instead ended up with CDK and that was wrong. That wasn’t wrong we just should have had the budget to buy BOTH (as that is who Maldini wanted as he knew Kalulu is best as a RB). Same with Kolo Muani and Origi – should have signed BOTH. But With the meager budget Redbird has provided us we had to chose. One experienced player or a few young ones. We went young and it hasn’t worked out (not that surprising). What sucks is that players like Diaz can’t hold the fort until a player like CDK is ready. Now all that CAN be remedied with the addition of a few players in January – players like an Aouar, Ziyech, Sportiello, etc…BUT with no winter budget (again) and a coach who refuses to demand signings (as he should as all the big coaches do) we are stuck. So the only hope we have is to pray Origi Mike and Rebic stays healthy and contribute and/or Ibra suddenly rolls back the clock and plays like he’s 30 and not 40 (lol) and the young kids like CDK Aster Thiaw Aldi etc…develop and contribute. All wishful thinking. BUT to call ppl who critique management “ as “not real fans” is delusional. We expect and demand better from this prestigious club and so should you if you are a true fan and know the true history of our club that is. Demand greatness and you will achieve it demand mediocrity and you will get it my friends.
I came to the comments section the laughs and road rage 😃
And there are those on this chat that questioned Maldini’s insistence on Botman and screamed we didn’t need him because we had a player like Gabbia waiting in the wings LOLOLOLO…. He knew Kalulu was a more natural RB – but nobody wanted to listen.
Maldini knows what he is doing. The rest of us do not. Good night