AC Milan failed to clinch what would have been a big win away at Napoli on Sunday evening. Several players failed to impress 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.
Starting XI
Maignan (6): He could do absolutely nothing about the goals, with his colleagues leaving big gaps in defence. The passing was decent from the goalkeeper, so despite two goals conceded it’s certainly not on him.
Walker (4.5): The whole defence was poor, but he was certainly at fault on the second goal, following Buongiorno’s run fully – thus playing Lukaku onside – despite the fact that Milan had a high line at the time. A big mistake for a player with his experience. He had a couple of decent runs forward but then couldn’t get the crosses right.
Gabbia (5): In the battle with Lukaku, he didn’t look at all secure and lost duels against the striker as a result. There was nothing as far as passing goes either, which is becoming a problem for the Italian, especially today when Thiaw wasn’t on the pitch.
Pavlovic (4.5): Even though he was following Lukaku and not Politano, his positioning was still way off on the first goal and it’s what gave the winger so much space. He also misplaced a lot of passes in that first half, rushing things for no reason. He got a bit better in the second half and while he did have some good contributions in attack, that’s not where Milan need him above all.
Hernandez (6.5): He certainly could have done better on the first goal, realising the run too late, even if it was more in Pavlovic’s lane. That being said, he had several good runs forward and was decent overall in defence. He won the penalty after a one-two with Leao and then got the assist for Jovic after another one-two with the winger.
Bondo (5.5): He was subbed off after the first half but to be honest, he wasn’t the problem for Milan. In fact, he was okay in possession and also won some free-kicks. Of course, you could also make the argument that he didn’t really add much to the game, while Napoli found a lot of space in the Rossoneri’s midfield area in the first half.
Fofana (5.5): The first half was something to forget for the Frenchman, seeing as Milan failed to establish any sort of play in the middle of the pitch, but the second half was a lot better. Especially in the final 20 minutes or so, he did well in winning back balls and finding the right passes.
Pulisic (5): It was a tough game for all of the attackers, really, but the winger needed to do a lot more on his right flank. He never lacks the effort, of course, but he was more or less ice cold on the ball today and also didn’t get to take the penalty (why?).
Reijnders (5): Towards the end, as Milan pushed for an equaliser, we saw some good things from him but overall, he played below his standard. There were some poor touches in there tonight and he also failed to hit the target a couple of times, from good shooting positions.
Joao Felix (4.5): The master of adding nothing, or at least very little, to the game. We have seen it so many times before this season and tonight was no different.
Abraham (5): Some decent runs and headers won from him tonight, but ultimately he didn’t have the impact he wanted. Milan had some moments where dangerous chances could have been created but the striker’s hold-up play wasn’t good enough.
Substitutes
Leao (6.5): Everything changed when he came on. He immediately linked up with Theo, as we have seen so many times before, and it resulted in the penalty as well as Jovic’s goal. Yes, Rafa certainly could have been more composed in one, two or even three situations, but it’s equally true that he was involved in the dangerous chances. The decision to bench him was baffling.
Gimenez (4.5): First, he missed a good chance after a nice counter-attack by Milan and then, he squandered the penalty. The Rossoneri needed a goal then, even if they at least had the opportunity to push for an equaliser later on. The striker’s disappointing last few weeks thus continued.
Chukwueze (6): Compared to Pulisic, who really didn’t add much as said, the Nigerian was involved a lot and had some good contributions. Milan pushed forward at the time so the winger did see a lot of the ball, but you still have to do something good with it.
Jovic (7 – MOTM): A classic No.9 goal, finding the right position in the box and slotting it home. It looked easy, but it certainly isn’t. In addition to that, he dropped down on a few occasions and made the right decisions on the ball. He also had one shot just wide after the first goal.
Jimenez (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Anyone else stop watching the game in 35 min ? I do….and i fil like a winner now
I stopped at 23mins. Watching seemed like a punishment. When I realised I didn’t do wrong, I just left the match.
I stopped after the first minute. Came back and a minute later they scored again. Stopped watching until the 70th. Who knows, I’d like to think maybe I jinxed them but deep down I know that this team and this coach suck. Ever since conceicao has come it’s been bad first halfs waiting for a turnaround in the second and I’m over it. Season can’t end soon enough
I REALLY wanted to. Almost quit at half-time but decided to give them 5-10mins to show some improvement. I really don’t understand why I stayed until the end. Maybe I’m too much of a masochist.
Conceiceo must go!!!!
Any coach that fails to play two strikers with these crop of Milan players will surely failed.
The team source of creativity has been from the wings in the last 6 season. One strikers in the midst of the opponents centre defenders would be a difficult thing to handle. Giroud was able to handle it to some extent because of his experience.
Either 4 or 3 at the back, we must create a formation that will allow two strikers at the same time. Jovic can play behind Abraham or Geminez or Abraham can play behind Geminez as well. Allow Tijani to play as a deep line player maker and put either Musa or Fofana besides him after all, no different between Fofana, Musa and Bondo. They all can’t defend themselves not to talk of shielding the CB.
You have to wonder if our players we let leave actually don’t regret it at this point…
Calabria and Pobega play for a team who’s in the top 4, 5 spots above us and gonna play in Europe next year, Adlis above us in fiorentina, Okafor could possibly win the title with Napoli Maldini is gonna join another club playing in Europe. And then there’s us down in 9th…
Jovic deserves to go somewhere he’ll actually play. Makes a difference every appearance. Yet do we use him at all? Do we put him and Santi, 2 proven poachers in the box, up top from the syary and okay to their strengths by getting them service into the box…? No, no we dont…
Good for them. I’d add Nsiala and Simic are doing great playing 1st team football (not serie C!)
CDK is flying
Alexis is having a brilliant time.
Tonali is bossing the EPL
Benny flying high with Marseilles and will be in CL next year
Kalulu has been outstanding for JUve
Oh yes indeed, if you want success, leave MIlan
18 former AC Milan players are currrently playing for clubs above them in the table including:
– 5 x RBs: Darmian, Bellanova, Calabria, Kalulu and Saelemaekers
– 4 x Scudetto winning players: Calabria, Kalulu, Romagnoli and Saelemaekers
– 8 x former youth players: Darmian, Bellanova, Calabria, Locatelli, Cristante, Pobega, Brescianini and Maldini.
Darmian was the cautionary tale but this season alone Milan have handed 5 players to direct rivals (and, yes, the likes of Bologna and Fiorentina are ‘direct rivals’ given they’re above them in the table).
Most of these transfers went through with the support of the ‘fans’.
Probably the only player who ‘fans’ lament is the Turkish Scum playing for the Scum.
In fact to earn the respect of these ‘fans’ players need to behave like mercenaries.
Donnarumma, Kessie and Hakan have all earned these ‘fans’ respect who lament their departures, and side with the mercenary players and parasitic agents over the club.
Any players that show loyalty to the club are insulted.
There is no recovery until the whole club changes its mentality – from owners to fans and everyone in between.
The wailing wailers, should we still sell Leao and Hernamdez?
Yes we should, they have mentally checked out. And if you don’t know it’s because of Leao that a formation change hasn’t been possible because the team wants to play to the strength of thier supposed best player.
Don’t kid yourself
How delusional can you be, the team was without Leao and they played like kindergarten, do you notice how many player Leao drawn to himself so others can thrive, Your supposedly best player were no where in the first half until the MILAN’s real weapon came in.
Did we win the match?
How far has the hidden weapon taken us so far, yep 9th and for context we ain’t seeing Europe next season.
Did he play when the game was lost? No we actually won the half he played. Felix sucked, like the rest of Milan when we didn’t have Leao. If Leao leaves we will probably drop to 15th place next year.
😂😂😂😂😂
That is one of the funniest trash takes I have heard in a while LOLOLOLOLO
Every game these ratings seems off, like Isak has hus favourite. And it shows when the Gazzetta comes out with their ratings. Never gets old!
I only watched the first 40min. And I’m glad I did myself a favor!!!
For the first time I hoped Milan would win 3-0.
Sergio is an amateur. Plays Felix and Bondo, while benching Leao. Why was Sottil brought in January, if he is not useful for the coach?
Gimenez is a more expensive version of Jovic, i.e. good in the box, bad at everything else. They could have as well kept Jovic and invested Gimenez’ money somewhere else.
You make Lazio and Bologna look like Barcelona.
Sorry to say but even if we bought Halland he’d still struggle, it’s not so much of an individual issue but more of a team chemistry issue. Was he terrible before we signed him, No. The team chemistry is miles off and it’s robbing off on new players when seem lost. Everyone’s complaining about Fofana now but he wasn’t this terrible when we signed him, but look at him now m, a shadow of his former self.
Yes, there is the issue of overall team chemistry and mentality. But some of the players certainly are not Milan material tactically and technically, and the coach too is not good enough for Milan. There is no playing style, no patterns for the players to follow, and wrong choices in the lineup. For a club whose aim is to win trophies, one expects better than this.
fair points
Well, that was the end to whatever little hope was there to make a late run at top 4.
Another horrendous start and another awful first half by Milan.
Another game where Milan beat themselves. 5 of 9 from penalties on the season.
Looking at the ratings, Gabbia having higher rating than Pavlovic is criminal. He was marking no one, saw that Politano had Pavlovic and Theo beat and did nothing but watched Politano like the rest of us score a goal. At least Pavlovic was doing something going forward. Gabbia since the Dinamo mistake has been Milan worst defender. Time to dust off Tomori.
From the starters outside of Theo the rest were garbage.
The subs were good outside of Gimenez.
As Thierry Henry said, Pulisic is a very good player but he doesn’t have the personality to be a great player. Why is Gimenez shooting the penalty when Pulisic is the designated taker?
On the other side, anyone who keeps asking for Conte to be Milan’s new coach, another game where he proves that he shouldn’t be. Vs this discombobulated Milan his team was lucky to get a win and at the end of the game they were so scared they were kicking the ball straight for corner without being pressured.
Hopefully Conceicao can convince the players in the next game that they are down 2-0 from the start of the game and maybe they’ll come ready to play from the 1st minute.
An interesting point about the 5 of 9 PKs converted by Milan:
Pulisic, 4 of 5.
The rest of the squad, 1 of 4
There’s NO reason, under any circumstances, for anyone else to be attempting PKs, if Pulisic is on the field.
Pavlovic was to blame for both goals. So having 2 shots makes it good? You people are a joke, you keep justifying this clown Pavlovic. He is a clown.
No, you’re just bitter and don’t like blaming you’re favorite players when they screw up
Playing Pavlovic and not Thiaw is worst than playing Felix and not Leao. Pavlovic has proven multiple times to be unfit for this level, he is unable to read basic situations and he is a liability with the ball. Being big, fast and strong does not make a good defender.
Both goals are 90% his fault, not Theo and Walker. Thiaw has been by far our best CB this season. Another game thrown away for basic individual mistake.
Brain dead take
Yes Ian, because you’re a fanboy of Pavlovic. You keep justifying that clown. Both goals are his. Having 2 shots doesn’t make it right.
Yeah. Abstain from the blabbering please.
You can’t explain to clowns. Pavlovic is a joke of a player, he will always be. The sooner he is sold the better.
If you have played football you know. On open balls you run back to cover the depth. They teach you that when you are 14. it is the basic of zonal defense. Pavlovic can only defend man to man in duels. Maybe growing up in the red bull system did not help him.
Anyway Thiaw was not fit, so this is clearly a justification for Conceicao.
Dear Gerry,
Unfortunately your investment is imploding.
Good chance to cut and run before it gets expensive.
An important rule of finance is to invest in what you understand. Perhaps you missed that class.
Your idiocy and arrogance is only on par with a certain Mr. Trump.
That may work in America but in Europe we get educated and watch the news about other countries.
We won’t miss you when you are gone, we just hope it costs you a lot of money.
Ciao
👏👏👏
God bless Donald Trump 🇺🇸
Hush little kool-aid slurper🤡
Please take Furlani and Ibra with you
At least Trump can cash in on his arrogance checks, he won against all odds. Cardinale would choke his own mother in a puddle for a profit margin and has no accomplishments to cover for his arrogance
If you are so educated why do your countries all follow America? Why is anything worth a damn come from America? You are mad Trump is making you pay for your own defense which you won’t because your countries are full of Pussies to busy transing your kids and letting illegals groom and mistreat your children. Enjoy the Russian bear because he will come for weak European countries.
Well this escalated quickly
Russian bear? Yeah, currently getting destroyed in Ukraine lool. No one is scared of Russia.
The rot started on June 5, 2023, when the owner foolishly sacked Maldini. Whatever his critics may say, Maldini was instrumental as technical director in guiding ACM to a Scudetto and a CL semi-final. He epitomized success. His martyrdom was one of the worst own goals in the club’s history.
In future, ACM’s steep decline in less than 2 years from a club on the rise in Europe to one mired in mid-table mediocrity in Serie A will be a case study taught in business schools everywhere on how to mismanage a valuable global sports brand and ruin it. That’s how Harvard, Oxford, and Goldman Sachs alumnus Cardinale and his underlings will forever be remembered.
Until Cardinale leaves and ACM is taken over by a new owner with truly deep pockets and genuine football nous, all talk of a ‘revolution’ at ACM will simply be hot air. Our once great club is doomed to suffer many more years of failure.
Two bad teams, one with the better end.
Both teams have maybe 2-4 good players, the rest are just bad. Leao, Theo,
Reijnders, Pulisic, and Maignan
are the only players I’d keep, maybe Walker and Tomori if he gets a chance to play. And having Jovic as a backup on the bench is always good, maybe even better in form than anything we have up front.
Well, Forza Milan, let’s hope for a good end to the season. It can hardly get any worse.
Conceição is probably not going to finish the season, so we can either sack him now or wait till Inter and Atalanta pummell us and then sack him…
For those who we looking at us being 6 points behind 4th place at the start of this game, what did we do against Como and Lecce that made you think that we can pull it ?
Outside of Jović no one deserves a good grade while both Gabbia and Pavlović are regressing.
And for those who say we should purchase Walker, you might want to reconsider.
We have two very good defenders on the bench (Tomori, Thiaw), and nobody is allowed to play. Can someone explain that to me? Especially since every player is better than Gabbia in defense.
So frustrating to watch.
Felix was anonymous.
Pulisic & Reijnders look spent.
I would like to have seen Abraham have more time with Leao on the pitch.
First half was really poor in attack and the guaranteed 2 goals given up were on display again. Major mistakes by the centre backs this time.
Cannot understand why Bondo was sacrificed at half time instead of just taking Felix off.
Our race for top 4 is fast becoming a race for Conference League place.
Only 25 comments so far. That shows how fed up milan fans (including myself) with this current milan and managment. Hope the day that red bird sells comes sooner rather than later.
Soon Pulisic and Tiji will be exhausted and performed below par..and Ciao Conceiciao..off u go along with stupid management.
Beloved Milan now only can aim for dignity for the rest of season..
A lot of people blaming the coach starting 11 are ignorant and have no sense of reasoning. If I was the coach, I will do the same. Why? Leao you all are requesting to start does absolutely nothing in a match while starting. What would Leao have done differently starting to Felix? Nothing. The game plan was to go in level or a goal deficit because this team has shown times without numbers that they can’t play 90 minutes with great quality. The coach strategy worked but the players let him down terribly. If Milan had gone in half time a goal down, Napoli had no hope with the quality coming off our bench. Penalty missed, Gimenez missed a counter, with our chances. Never blame the coach line up, blame the players not able to execute the game plan. Imagine we scored the penalty, maybe we would have drew the match or win because Napoli would have been flat.
The whole team was poor, in complete disarray, w/o any sort of cohesion. Napoli played like a team. We played like we couldn’t be bothered. Not sure what the point in the ratings is.
Same problems all season:
No midfield control
Poor Defending
Poor in transition
Lack of balance in the lineup
Did anyone actually anticipate beating Napoli? The only reason there was a push towards the end of the game is because they stopped playing. They did the same thing in the first game against a different coach.
Conte is who should have been in charge of this team from the start.
“Did anyone actually anticipate beating Napoli?”
I really hoped so. lol And I really expected Milan to get at least a point tonight. Napoli were quite shaky in recent months. They were drawing vs weak teams.
Take out Gabbia and Pavlovic and play Tomori and Thiaw. Any one notice how ineffective we’ve been in midfield and attack since….RLC got injured? Too bad his season looks to be over. Terrible result today.
You act as tho tomori and Rlc would do anything. They’d legitimately just make it worse if anything. 10 brain cells between the 2 of them
Well, it does not take much to improve on this lot. Gabbia was terrible. and yes, Tomori and/or Thiaw would have been better against Lukaku. And RLC is 10x a better ball handler than Bondo and Fofana. Had it not been for his injury, he would have likely started.
I’m beginning to think we may just not be a good team :-/ let’s wait and see
Until we get some mids that can/will pass the ball, and until we can get some backs who do more that shoot from 40, we will always be mediocre. Too many want their name on the scoresheet regardless of the impact it has on the team. No coach, manager will solve this until some chains are jerked (hard).
TRASH OWNERSHIP and TRASH MANAGEMENT = TRASH team/results
Pretty simple. Everything starts at the TOP and rolls downhill. So until the top is fixed nothing will change
I don’t understand why Sottil doesn’t get to play and Fofana, the master of adding nothing continues to be fielded. Quite frankly, Milan played like they were 8 men on the pitch especially in the first half . They are sloppy. They lose balls and can’t return immediately (typical Leao). Milan needs to change this manager
As I watched the first half I saw so many missed pass opportunities. Bluntly, players are too selfish and don’t play as a team. Example, early in the game ACM had a bit of a break. Riejnders was on the 18 yard line with Napoli players in front of him took the shot that was of course blocked. Pulisic was 5 yards over on the right, wide open. Effing pass him the ball. He either shoots or passes the ball across goal. This team can not make basic passes, especially as they try to play out of the back. Next game try watching and paying attention to all the passes not made.
Agree, on paper this is a strong team, but playing badly. Until the defense is strengthened, this group of players may be better suited to a 3-5-2 formation. The coaching does not seem to be working.
We don’t have a man in team, a real man. The captain, the one who leads, and who all follow withou saying even against all odds. Mickey Mouse can’t be captain, Theo Hernandez as well. We have a group of instagram starlets and femminized who write books and record trap music in their free time. When you play football, you LIVE football, you can do that stuff when you are done with football career. That is just regarding players, i don’t wanna talk about clown ass satanist money grabber idiots in the management.
That summs it up well.
The Captain was forced out on the last day of the January transfer window after being frozen out for months.
And before you say – the person in your imagination would’ve done a better job, Calabria captained Milan:
– to the Scudetto (Romagnoli was dropped after January and Calabria captained the side in that crucial run in);
– to the semi-finals of the Champions League;
– to 2nd place last season (forced to play as an inverted FB to make up for the lack of midfield).
The minute the Captain was dropped and frozen out the team morale collapsed.
Maignan, Tomori, Theo, and Leao all struggled after Calabria was so disgracefully frozen out.
Even carrying injuries and returning to from Calabria was getting higher ratings than Walker.
Every single ‘fan’ who mocked and supported the freezing out of the club captain deserves everything they get.
And Calabria deserves a 5th year in the Champions League in a row.
Boohoo
Is the reaction most normal fans should have.
But keep imagining better and heading for 9th.
You are so myopic…. so dense…. always the same narrative…
Same narrative or same 18 mistakes playing in teams above Milan in the table?
Enjoy 9th.
Leao definitely needs to be sold. He has nothing to do in this mediocre team with Pavlovic and Fofana. We don’t need players that make a difference but the 11 that didn’t see Napolis goal in 1st half. This is the players we need.
Milan start poorly pretty much every game and have to come from behind due to extremely poor defending. Theo wasn’t even sprinting back on the first goal, but people will blame Pavlovic. Theo, one of the faster players on the fields, seems content to let his teammate take the fall and jog back, but when he’s attacking he has no problem sprinting. A defender who doesn’t defend, but many will label him one of the best players in the world because he can get an assist here and there. I don’t get it, it’s like everyone forgets that there are two sides to the game. What good is a goal or an assist when your poor defending cancels it out? Milan play so slow and predictable. Only Leao added some much needed energy and directness. Always the same story, too little too late. Why not show energy from the beginning instead of waiting until the 80th min to get some crosses and shots on goal? This coach is not the answer, but maybe we should ask the players to, idk, play with some heart/energy/aggression?!?! You don’t need to be a world class player to play with pride.
Why doesn’t this coach play Leao from start? So much difference when he’s on field. I don’t think Pavlovic did badly. How can you play cb with no lb? Theo really plays midfield.
2 goals on him, he didn’t do badly. 😂😂😂😂
you are right!
Pulisic not taking the penalty is absurd to me. Down 2 goals and you can get back in the game with a converted penalty. Pulisic is 4 of 5 this year while the rest of the team is 1 of 4. If they were up 2-0 then maybe try to get Santi a goal to get his confidence up but should NEVER do it down 2-0. Oh well.
Why doesn’t Leao ever take penalty’s?
AC are trying to fix the issues with the same personnel in management who got AC in this mess to start with. It’s not going to happen and Milan are not top 4 quality. It’s pointless looking for excuses and miracles. Clean the personnel who has ruined this season and replace them with Italians like Maldini. There is no one player that has been consistent through the entire season yet the play every game regardless. With proper proven management personnel thing can change next season otherwise same disaster is in the waiting. Money doesnt always buy the perfect solution in sports but proven personnel can make a huge difference.
20 Million Pavlovic is a waste. better sell him in the summer for 10-15 Million, and buy Jay Idzes from Venezia for 10 Million
💩💩💩
Nobody want to sing songs for the Chelsea bench warmer the most overhyped overrated avarage player Milan has ever had pulisic? Where is the songs for Gabbia ? We will sit here for days to describe the real problems of Milan. But to sum it up this is exactly what should happen when you fire Paulo Maldini and hire a clown to run a football club !!!! americans running a football club like Milan is like a pig running a cleaning center. they gotta go!!!!!
Start Rafa and let Pulisic take the penalty and we win that game.
It’s sad to see what has happened the last two seasons after Milan were back on their feet. The writing was on the wall after Maldini and Massara were disrespectfully let go. Players were publicly posting their shock. The Tonali sale was the nail in the coffin. Everything since, was not surprising; the random transfers, the loyalty to new players over old, the way Fonseca was sacked, the management hiding when we lose but front and center when we win. I know it’s repetitive but I don’t want to have a go at individual players. The change needs to start at the top.
Pavlovic gets 8.5 just if he doesn’t make a mistake. I am really surprised he didn’t get a 7 for this game from what I am reading in the comments. I mean he shot twice, right? Who cares about defending like a serie C player…😂
Of course I don’t agree with Pavlovic rating. He was the best on the field. I keep singing of Jovic. What is the wood of a person(Abraham) still doing in our bench? Even Origi is better that Abraham. Jovic should be Milan’s first choice, Camarda second and Geminez third. Abraham should not be on our bench at all. Joao Felix should be on exile. If Leoa is not playing at all it should be Sottil. Even Leoa and Sottil can play on the Left and Right. Pulisic on the middle as playmaker and Reijnders as pairs to Fofana.
Pavlovic was poor in defending. He has physicality and stamina but lacks IQ. Simple.
We were doomed as soon as Felix’s name was in the starting eleven. He can’t play left wing (not sure where he can play tbh).
Leao is better from the bench even though he manages to beat himself 9 times out of 10. Sottil would be the logical choice. Used to playing down the left and brought in for that reason. He would have given us balance and certainly cut off that long ball feed that was successful for the first goal.
The decision to bring off Bondo instead of Felix was laughable (if predictable).
Reijnders carries the ball for too long. He thinks he is the only person in the team that can affect the game.
As soon as Gimenez stepped up, you knew he wasn’t going to score. Never change your main penalty taker.
Gabbia and Pavlovic are perhaps the worst Cb pairing in Serie A – Napolis high press in the first half had Maignan booting the ball aimlessly upfield to Abraham, who at nearly two metres, cannot win a header, or hold the ball up.
And I’ll be the first to say it; When Emerson is fit he should replace Walker too..
I agree. Walker wants 4.5M net into his 37th year. I wouldn’t take him for free. His “leadership”…what? He has who*es around him, not leadership. He should go back and kiss the feet of Guardiola, that made him a player.
At this point, there is no point watching Milan games anymore. What’s worse, at the end of the season, things will be so bad that they would be starting from scratch: the club will lose money, key players will move to bigger club that have clear ideas and to win trophies, need for a new coach and a new project to be supported by a comptetent management which we clearly lack… it’s just sad.
How can a project be completely destroyed in less than a year? Pathetic!
RedBird please sell the club. Milan need new owners