AC Milan were held to a 1-1 draw against Leeds United in Dublin on Saturday afternoon. A few players stood out and below are the ratings for the Rossoneri.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out how we decide the player ratings. From the scale to what affects the rating, we have compiled everything there.
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Starting XI
Terracciano (4.5): Sadly, the howler on the goal ruined what otherwise was a decent performance. We can talk all we like about there being many bodies ahead of him, but you simply have to save that cross/shot. It’s not like he made the dive last minute either, he just didn’t stretch.
Magni (6): Lively from the get-go, as evidenced by the fact that he was basically in a striker’s position on the goal. The runs forward were indeed his main strength today but at the back, he would benefit from better physicality and positional awareness. It wasn’t bad defending, just sometimes the inexperience shines through.
Gabbia (6): Wearing the captain’s armband, he always made sure to talk to his teammates and direct the play (you could hear it even on TV). That being said, while he ultimately did enough to get a pass here, Leeds did find ways through a few times too many.
Pavlovic (5.5): He was a bit too sloppy with his passing for my liking, resulting in dangerous chances conceded a couple of times, and Leeds also found quite a lot of space behind him. The Serbian also had some good interventions, so I shouldn’t be too negative.
Estupinan (6): He was a bit shaky in possession at the start of the first half, but he improved as the game went on and was especially important on the overlap. Still, he can be a bit more composed, let’s say, in the defence phase.
Musah (6): Out of possession, he played more like a right-back as Allegri opted for a defensive approach. The American did well in that role and showcased some good feet a couple of times, but it was very standard overall.
Sala (7 – MOTM): At the age of 17, he certainly showed great personality. It was really encouraging if you ask me, as the midfielder covered lots of space and showcased good passing. He wasn’t afraid to get stuck in either. Should have had an assist too, but Gimenez missed the shot.
Jashari (6.5): All things considered, it was a promising debut for the Swiss international thanks to smart movement, some good passing and a good work rate. A couple of his passes were really nice, actually, so hopefully we can see more of that.
Chukwueze (6.5): The winger was heavily involved in the goal, moving from one side to the other with an overlapping run, and you could say he got the assist (even if Magni got a touch). I liked that he was quite fluid with his movement as that opened up a lot of space for Milan sometimes.
Gimenez (7): Great to have him back! While he did miss a pretty big chance early on, slipping just as he was about to shoot, the goal showed what he’s about with proper striker’s instincts. You would imagine it’s a nice confidence boost for him as well.
Okafor (6.5): Once again, he showed that a departure isn’t an obvious next step for him. While he did squander a decent counter-attacking chance, he also showcased great control in possession and was also involved in the goal. There was one moment where he brought the ball down beautifully with his chest whilst running at full pace.
Substitutes
Coubis (6): Strong and good defending from him, taking no risks in the process. He also has quite nice pace, which certainly helps, and could have had an assist in the end with a nice cross for Sia.
Sia (5.5): He hit the bar with a header that the goalkeeper fumbled, but then he missed a pretty big chance to win the game for Milan. Getting it on target was the minimum requirement.
Eletu (N/A): I didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Torriani (N/A): I didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Thiaw (N/A): I didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Ricci (N/A): I didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Saelemaekers (N/A): I didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Terracciano (N/A): I didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Overall, two mediocre looking teams going at it. Hard to take much from this game.
Agree, At least Allegri will have had a good look at what he has to work with and everyone has had a fair amount of opportunities to convince, or not.
Musah, Sala, Chuk and Okafor won’t be in the starting 11 all at once when real matches start.
Instead Ricci, Modric, Leao and Pulisic will be there so we will most probably be much better than this.
The interesting thing is our counter attacks now have runs going forward from more than one player.
The problem to solve is against “lesser” teams that park the bus in Serie A.
Musah is horrible haha “yeah but Conte likes him”
I’ll give Saladmaker a rating of 7.5. Instant impact.
@DP, yes. Saelemaekers… Should deserves more respect. He’s really mature
My take on some of the players.
Sala very good for a 17year old. Maybe he should be a back up for the first team?
Musah terrible as awlays. If someone offers 20 mil sell, the guy hasnt learned to pass in two years and has no sense of what he needs to do in the game, where to pass etc.
Jashari very good passing and range also combative, reminds of Ricci. Good first game.
Our RB was bad we need upgrade.
LB Estupian not bad but it seems he struggles with controll and passing. Downgrade to Theo.
What is sad is Sala won’t play again despite winning the motm. Jashari would play regularly due to his price tag. I know only one match but youngsters need to have opportunities to improve and prove themselves. If Jashari was in Italy, he would still be in U23 team or Serie B,C, let alone to have this expensive transfer.
Thats why i say promote Sala in the first team. I don’t expect him to be some top player but someone who can give Ricci a rest from time to time and get some minutes to grow. I don’t see what more will Adli or Musah bring as subs in that position honestly. So nothing to loose for Milan by promoting him really.
It’s still preseason so not much complaints for the players.
Though we had some stand out players. Let’s see them again against Chelsea which is obviously a stronger team then we know how much improvement is required.
We only have one game to go til the season starts. This game is closer to our true level at this point minus minor conditioning issues.
Sadly, this may be true. The Chelsea game, at least the first half should be telling. Chelsea sounds like they’ll only play their starters for the first half. Wake me up when Allegri ball is over.
Agreed!
Musah is like a more inconsistent version of Seedorf without any end product
Do not put Musah and Seedorf in the same sentence again please
Musah is not far from Seerdorf’s level.
Buddy, you just lost youre speaking rights… dont type again. That was genuinely painful to read. Seedorf with 1 leg would offer more
If you put Seedorf and Musharraf at the same level, you don’t know anything about football.
Watching tjis game was disaster.I not see anything good exept Jashari and Gimenez. Totaly disaster. New kids not was bad at all,maybe better then old players.
Kids at this club is better then oldest that is funny,and we never gave them chaince 😂😂
Bartesaghi is genius for this Estupinan.
Estupinan is another emerson royal
Yea I had thought seeing Magni at the youth level could have made the step up but I take that all back lol. He just doesn’t seem to have it: lack of pace, positionally suspect and just doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing. Hate to rag on a youth player like this but performances like these probably would do him more harm than good.
Estupinan isn’t looking good at this point but I hope ppl aren’t expecting him to be better than Theo in the offensive phase. That being said, I’d like to see him better defensively.
Gabbia good and cleaned up alot of mistakes of others. Sometimes I wonder how he gets overlooked.
Couldn’t really rate Coubis as no action really went his way but he did what was needed I suppose.
Sala was good and a good surprise at that as he can be that CM we might be missing. But my MOTM was Okafor. He was dangerous throughout, very lively and cause huge issues for Leeds.
Chuck was ok and Jashari i’ll need to see more but he had some suspect moments in our box.
Overall, this is classic Allegri ball. Yes we’ll have a few surprisingly good performances and we may win even against teams like we played today but most times, it’s pragmatic, boring. At least we’re compact. But imo overly so that it hurts the offense. Plus we don’t really have a system of play except we hit them on the counter attack or we make most of their defensive mistakes. This scoreline to me is flattering. Leeds were by farrr the better team and by a stretch. We got dominated but in true Allegri fashion manage to scrape something. This will be our season in a nutshell
Spot on.
These ratings seem fair. But this starting 11 was full of players unlikely to feature much this season, except he defense, which looked a little vulnerable.
It’s hard to get excited over Sala because Liberali looked good last preseason and look where he ended up now… Who’s to say Sala doesn’t end up the same way?
Would love to see him get more minutes this season …
I completely agree with you individual player notes.
But our team play was far better in my view. We often had many kids lined up against some of their best. They held their own.
As soon as our next wave of common starters came on at around 80 minutes, you could see us pick up again. Although at that point we were playing against a lot of their kids.
All in all the team play looked good, especially the goal. And as you note, our compactness and consistency in the back only improves.
Was supposed to be for IKWYDLS
Agreed here as well. Yes we do look more compact and are able to defend better. First that’s what a proper coach would be able to do. Allegri is that. Last year the two coaches we had were atrocious. But also with Allegri we’re not going to venture out much out of a defensive comfort zone. Leeds to me had a better system of play in the offensive phase than we do, were the more dangerous team and dominated the play. Our system, if we had one should overcome this even with the personnel we had today. But this is Allegri ball ..pragmatic, no clear style or build. Remember he can well play 3 defensive mids in a game. Anyways looking to see what we do vs Chelsea, the test for the what’s likely to be closer to the first team players
Sala should start. Ricci should be a sub
Ardon reminds me of Tonali, anybody?