AC Milan never got their miracle but at least managed to beat Newcastle by two goals to one at St. James’ Park, securing their spot in the Europa League. Below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri, with the substitutes shining.
Starting XI
Maignan (7): He made an incredible save at 1-1 and that ultimately helped Milan secure all three points in the end. On the first goal, there wasn’t much he could do and he was also solid when coming out tonight.
Calabria (6): It was a shaky start from the captain, we all saw that, and he was far from brilliant on the ball in the first half. However, he recovered slightly in the second half and actually ended up making some decisive 1v1 interventions.
Tomori (6.5): A solid game from the Englishman at the back, throughout the match really, but his rating is heavily affected by the missed chance at the end. You just need to score that. He did, however, make a crucial goal-line clearance at the very start.
Hernandez (6): It’s hard to blame any of the centre-backs on the first goal, but perhaps the Frenchman could have done better there. He recovered and did well in the second half, but he also had a big chance missed at the death.
Florenzi (5.5): He wasn’t good enough on the ball tonight and often found himself in rather strange positions. You could argue that he was decent in the second half, but we need to consider the entire game.
Musah (6): The American looked a bit lost in the first half, struggling to perform in both phases of the game. However, he was involved in the build-up to the first goal and had a few decent sequences. It cannot be considered more than average, though.
Reijnders (6): He’s clearly very comfortable on the ball and he had some wonderful moments on the pitch tonight, with smart movement. However, he also had a few rather poor actions in which he didn’t pass in time.
Pulisic (6.5): He got the goal, the crucial equaliser, but struggled quite a lot aside from that. Given just how important that strike was at that time, he gets a slightly bumped rating here. But it could have been a 6 for him too.
Loftus-Cheek (5): The Englishman won a few battles tonight, making his way forward with his trademark runs. However, the end product was severely lacking and you would expect a lot more from a player like him.
Leao (5.5): The winger did well to help create the first goal but he wasn’t all that convincing in the 1v1s tonight, and also missed a huge chance at 1-1. If we consider just how good and important he is for the team, the rating is justified.
Giroud (5.5): He managed to get an assist tonight, which was nice, but overall he struggled with the duels and didn’t really have an impact on the game either.
Substitutes
Pobega (6): It was pretty obvious what Pioli wanted from him and he got it. Lots of battling and a good amount of duels won tonight.
Jovic (6): He continued his good form, as he was comfortable on the ball and also pivotal in the build-up to the second goal. Nice to see, but he had a chance he maybe should have put away too.
Okafor (6.5): It was a lovely run to start the attack for the second goal and he made the right decision to lay it off to Chukwueze. That’s exactly what we want to see from him.
Chukwueze (7 – MOTM): What a finish! That was some way to respond to the recent criticism. He needs to continue like this, and the MOTM title is certainly justified after such a winner.
Bartesaghi (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
1. A great result considering our injuries. The players showed a lot of grit and sacrifice to come from behind. I know there were bad misses and bad moments but the difference makers showed up when needed and our subs finished the job. The defense were great throughout the match and Maignan came up big for us.
2. Credit to Pioli for managing the game well and keeping the players in it after going behind.
3. Our midfield was awful again (I strongly disagree with their ratings). Newcastle cut through them like a hot knife through butter. To make matters worse, in an open game, they couldn’t create chances through the middle until Jovic came on. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a double pivot of Krunic and Bennacer next game.
4. I’m celebrating the result and the attitude but let’s not forget, we’re out of the CL. From a semi-final to a first round exit. This is what we disrespected a club legend and successful manager for. This is what we sold a fan favorite and quality midfielder for. This is what we spent over 100 million for.
Loftus has never impressed in this Milan shirt except against PSG, only one Impressive match in over 15 games, thst guy is too lazy, he is poor technically, with pace, control, pass, real ball, and creativities…. honesty this guy should go by January…. Alexis should come back from bologna, I will prefer tijanni, krunic of adli ahead of him
I miss brahim diaz in that attacking midfield position
Tomori was MOTM and it’s not close. Give me a break on the miss at the end.
Agreed! Maginan second and Calabria third
And what is this with the ‘shaky start’???
Is this all part of Sempre Milan’s campaign to push Milan to sign another 3 RBs???
Yes, Tomori saved us on multiple occasions, as did Maignan. Happy for Chuku but MOTM? Come on.
100% he deserves an 8 AT LEAST. His job is to defend and he did so brilliantly.
100%. Chucky did the second goal, and the clearance in defense to Theo bad miss without GK
100% agree, was thinking the exact same thing with that rating. that clearance was just as good as a goal and his rating should be at least 7.5
Chuk gets it on technicality for actually winning the game. But yea Tomori is on a different planet tonight and all other nights tbh
In any other group Milan almost certainly be through to the group stage. Unfortunately they didn’t have the luck of the draw this season, but they showed a ton of heart getting the win and moving on to Europa.
I don’t buy that. Dortmund are tough and a constant presence in the CL but Newcastle and PSG aren’t all that. We were semi-finalists last year, beat Spurs who had two superstars in Kane and Son, beat Napoli who won Serie A and beat Liverpool and topped that group. Now after investing over 100 million, avoiding all of Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico, Man City, and Arsenal, we’re not good enough. We have to be critical of the transfer strategy.
I agree we should be critical of the transfer strategy but the fact that the team has done this despite the transfer strategy (and the general chaos imposed on the club this summer) is a result in itself.
And it was a tough group.
It was a tough group but not as tough as some people are making it out to be. We were favorites to qualify. Like I said earlier, I’m happy with the result and the players fighting and grinding out a win despite all the chaos. However, we can’t be happy going out of the CL. The whole justification for changing management and selling Tonali was taking the team to the next level this season. There will be positives to come out of this season but
anything less than a Scudetto this season is a failure.
Neymar, Messi, gone, Mbappe with a foot out the door. Dortmund still rebuilding having lost Haaland last year. Jude Bellingham too. Newcastle, rebuilding with a core that hasn’t been together much longer than ours either.
This was for the taking, a breeze if the management prepared this summer winder and had been decisive. 2 summers they fail to bring in a replacement for Ibra AND Giroud. We had at least one of them, goal wise, in our hands, FREE AGENT, let him go to OUR MAIN RIVALS TO SAVE CRUMBS. Even If he asked for 7 a year, 4 years, agent requesting 15 million signing bonus. He is valued at 40 milion euros. 28 plus 15. That is 43 million euros, taking a 3 million euro loss to cover a position we desperately needed to address is a no brainer. Now, if he keeps up the pace, even if we couldn’t afford that 7 million a year, plus that 15, as of this summer, he can sell for 50 55, now, and you turn a profit. or sell at 40, take a 3 million loss, to NOT loose 60 to 100 MILLION.
These Muricans are the worst
Americans saved Milan from the same fate as Palermo
Umm no.
If not for the Muricans the CCP would own AC Milan and our new stadium would be built using the belt and road initiative with tofu drag.
I disagree with your point that Milan was the main favorite to qualify. The same can be said about PSG, Dortmund, and Newcastle. All teams in that group were favorite; maybe the most favorite was PSG because they have Mbappe, but the other three had an equal opportunity. Dortmund has been playing constantly in champions for longer than AC Milan, and have arrived farther in the last 10 years. The fact that a team might not be doing well at its league. It doesn’t mean that they are not good in champions. Even Milan has been an example of that in 2007. They won Champions, but they were third or fourth in Serie A. I can’t recall now.
Chukwueze with MOTM for one action is crazy, especially given that Pulisic also scored but received a lower mark.
Tomori was easily MOTM.
100%
Not to mention all the other duds performances he has put on over the last several weeks. I don’t think anyone really questions Chukwueze’s shooting ability we question his decision making so until there is improvement there I don’t rate him very high. His goal would have been scored by any of our other forwards and Tomori almost did in a very similar shot.
Okey
All credit goes to Zlatan.
Seriously tho, at least they did us proud. I knew that draw in the first match against Newcastle where we completely dominated them would come back to bite us.
Have to give Pioli some credit. His substitutions all worked out great. And this team under him never gives up. Whenever their back is against the wall they come up with a good perfomance. Problem is its only when their back is against the wall that they fight like this. No consistency is the problem.
Milan looked shaky as hell in the first half but once Pulisic scored the game changed and Newcastle panicked a bit and left so much space for Milan. Maybe if we win Europa League Pioli can save his job.
How does Chukwueze (who I’m a supporter of by the way) get MOM…. take the emotion out of it. It was Mike and Tomori, rocks as usual.
Where is Maldini’s Heir to complain about those pesky new signings that just won us another game?
You mean the pesky little signings (and Pobega) that y’all were already blaming Pioli for putting on?
SJF:
Ffs Pioli, if you’re bringing on Jovic take off Giroud not Pulisic!!!!!
Vero:
LOL, Jovic for Pulisic not Giroud! Pioli’s on fire, a dumpster fire.
Daniel Mizrachi:
Horrible subs
We just got lucky, that was a sh1t show!!
Newcastle through it away, we could’nt make 2 passes for an hour. In the end it was just kamikaze stuff with players running end to end
Bro the decisions were still bad. We just happened to win. But we’d have been at the point where we were going to send crosses in the box. We needed height. Even I thought at the time taking off Puli was bad idea. But it worked out…so…he’s a genius?
Where’s you calling for Pioli to be sacked and anyone who has been at the club for more than 5 minutes sold?
As I have said above the side is generally doing better than I expected (3rd in the league and didn’t embarrass ourselves in a tough group).
You’re the one with completely unrealistic expectations who wants everyone fired!
Stfu
MaldiniHeir comment implies:
Yea keep Pioli for life!! Give him “till death” contract.
If everything goes wrong..it is because Cardinale,Cardinale,Cardinale..The owner should be changed,not Pioli
Sigh
Imagine how crucial Tonali was in the midfied for Milan last year when Milan reached Semis (imagine him dragging this team with half the depth and Krunic alongside), in Serie A too and winning the Scudetto.
You can upgrade the mid with more numbers: RLC, Reijnders and Musah, but Tonali could do the job of all 3 in one match. That’s much important and versatile he was to Milan. With him Newcastle would have surely gone on to qualify in the group stages.
But for some, he wasn’t even the 5th best player. (when one don’t understand the game, or don’t even know what’s happening)
What a completely delusional post. Our midfield was the weak point of the team last season. And he was our 3rd midfielder when we won the scudetto, behind Kessie and Bennacer. Not to mention he wouldn’t even be playing because he is suspended a year for being a degenerate gambler and betting on games he was playing in. This team would be in complete shambles right now if they didn’t sell him.
How did a team with weak midfield make the semi-finals?
Or do we ignore results and just, you know, give our opinions and stuff.
You are the biggest clown in sempremilan website you know. Lives constantly with the past.
The past being a few months ago……
Love to you see you at sales meetings.
Manager: Why are results down this year from last year?
You: Last year? Stop living in the past, man.
easier route. We avoided the PSG, City, Real and Bayern.
Inter reached final by playing Porto, Benfica and us
The defence. You’re welcome
Oh so teams can now reach semi-finals of the champions league with no midfield…
Got ya.
Why do fans constantly downplay their own club’s achievements?
TF you’re talking about?? He was 3rd mid?
Bennacer was injured for half of the season.
Tonali started 31 games (scored 5 goals)
Bennacer – 15 games (scored 2 goals)
Kessie – 25 games (scored 6 goals, most of which were PK)
How was he the 3rd mid?? He was the crucial player who made the team an attacking team (with Giroud, Messias and Salemakers playing)
The only strength of the team was the midfield. When Kessie left and Bennacer injured for most part, the mid was so weak.. He played alongside Krunic, Diaz and Vranckx and still made Milan reach semis and 4th in Serie A (after being in 2nd by winter break). Milan didn’t win either Serie A or CL because of how stupid Pioli was.
Champion League is a lot of luck of the draw. If we were in that same group this year we would’ve gone through. And we did finish 5th in Serie A last season. A midfield upgrade was needed. People want to nake Tonali out to be some great player. He’s not. If he wasn’t Italian all you guys would care less about him. He already lost his starting spot at Newcastle before his suspension. Come back to reality please.
Tell me you don’t know anything about football without telling me. If you think Tonali is not a great player, you have no clue what u talking about. A quality player is always the strength of a team upon which to build rather than sell, it doesn’t matter what nationality. Clowns like you also said Leao was shit and needed to be sold to West Ham for $20 as Hauge was a much better upgrade. Ppl like u should take a seat; as you have no clue about who is good/bad.
How are we in CL now if we finished last year 5th in Serie A? Do u have any idea about football in general, forget how good players are?? It shows!
Last year, we beat Tottenham (under Conte), Napoli (league winners) and lost to Inter both legs (because of Pioli’s stupid tactics and injuries).
A midfield upgrade was needed because Kessie (a snake) did not renew like Hakan and Dollarumma for money (and got benched at Barca the whole year). You talk about Kessie being the best. How was he 4th choice at Barca then? Now he’s playing in Saudi…LOL. Not to mention the loans of Diaz and Vranckx ended, and they were wanted by their parent club/not required by Milan. So Milan was left with only Bennacer (injured) and Krunic. Ofc, there was massive need to strengthen the mid.
Maldini’s plan was to buy Fratessi (or another maybe Tijani), RLC, and a proper DM, along with Thuram (much needed position) and Pulisic- RW. That would have strengthened the team. The mid this year is even weaker than last year with Tonali sold.
I already predicted this on Twitter at the start of the season after Tonali was sold, that Milan will go out in group stage and finish out of top 4 in Serie A . Half of that prediction already came ut true and the other half, you can come back in May to check!
Wow. @Sam This comment is so dumb I don’t know where to start. Yes, we finished 5th I’m points last season. We only got into Champions League because Juventus had points deducted. If you paid attention at all you would know that.
Second, never said a bad word about Leao, his talent was always evident for everyone to see. The fact that you would compare Leao and Tonali further shows how delusional you are.
Third, you think Maldini was going to but Fratesi, RLC, a proper DM, Thuram and Pulisic without selling Tonali shows again how clueless you are. Keep living in your fantasy world. This fantasy where Tonali is a world class player. Oh, and in this fantasy I suppose Tonali isn’t suspended a year for betting on games, right? So many clowns here.
You are the delusional one. Tonali was in the team of the season when we won the Scudetto, not Kessie or Bennacer. That’s how crucial he was. Looks like need your head checked bruh.
Also, he never bet on Milan games when he was playing, only when he was suspended or injured. I don’t know if that guy has killed your dog or what but this much hate is not normal.
Just tired of all the Tonali fanboys trying to make as if he was some great player , just because he’s Italian and a boyhood Milan fan.. Kessie carried that midfield and when he left the midfield went to trash. And if we didn’t sell Tonali and bring in 3 new midfielders , our starting midfield right now would be Pobega and Krunic and we would probably be getting relegated to Serie B. Thank God they sold him.
Kessie was in this Milan team from 2017. Where did Milan finish with him carrying the team??
Plus, at Barca he was 4th or 5th choice.
Pobega was his replacement when he left and Vrankx as cover for Benn.. You think it was an upgrade? And still with Pobega and Vrankx and Krunic, Tonali took this team to 4th in Serie A and Semis in CL.
You’re telling me that Kessie carried this team?? LOL… Kessie was great and with him leaving he weaked the team, and Tonali did twice the job for a 1/3rd of what Kessie was earning, yet Kessie wanted 7m to renew!
@K
If you think Tonali is not talented as Leao, you are clearly the one who is delusional. He won the Golden Boy award and was named Serie A team of the year in the Scudetto winning season. Before he signed with Milan, a number of clubs were interested in him, including City, Chelsea, Barcelona, and Chelsea. His signing was one of the hardest for Maldini to pull off, with clubs ready to offer twice as much.
Maldini was never given any budget to buy players. Remember, we were getting players on loan/5m max (Meite, Vranckx, Origi, Messias, Thiaw, Florenzi, Bakayoko) with the owners. Maldini wanted to buy better players (from the CL budget- but was told he won’t receive even 1/3rd of it). RedBird was not keen on spending anything more. So Maldini had to work with literally pennies in today’s market. He could get Fratessi on loan, RLC-20m, Thuram- free, DM- free/loan, Pulisic-15m. He could also sell fringe players like Pobega (20), Krunic (10), Messias (5), Salemakers (10), and could have strengthened the squad. But the owners fired him, saying they don’t want to spend any money for transfer (going back on their word) and instead preferred to sell their best players to fund transfer. Absolutely stupid decision!! Had Investocorp (Bahrain-owners) took over, we could have landed Mbappe, Haaland, and many more instead). Instead, the new guys (Furlani/Moncada) were given more than what was initially promised to Maldini.
Milan could have had Fratessi, Tonali, Bennacer, DM, and RLC/Tijani in mid, plus Thuram as a striker. Now, Milan can’t create any chances or score any goals. Well deserved for their stupidity!
By the way, why was Kessie (ur main midfielder guy), the 5th choice at Barca, now playing in Saudi, and he wasn’t able to win a Scudetto since 2017?? Wonder why? Have some sense and stop your delusions, dude!
I think we miss Tonali mainly for mental and physical intensity. But the problem is also that we don’t have a pure DM. Reinders cannot play there, he carries the ball too much and he is not good enough in positioning and physical duel. We have seen that in the goal and also in the Bruno shot saved by Maignan. I would rather try Musah, or Isma can take that role when he is fit.
It’s not about anything tangible.
It’s what he represented, and the stability we would’ve had had we not completely lost the plot and sacked our directors (including the revenue guy), and changed half the squad AFTER we reached the semi-finals….
The fact that the team is doing what it is doing despite that chaos is actually quite remarkable.
Yes and no on that one. However, it’s the coach that is mostly at fault for our midfield problems. He likes to play uncreative midfieldrs up front to disrupt opponent’s play. Remember last year he played krunic up front so many times, hell even pobega in a few games, while diaz warming the bench. Thats just his style. This season we don’t have an am at all.
Good individual display and a shitty team play. It could easily be a 1-4 or 1-5 score line but players fluf thier lines at each crucial point and this is what is holding this set of players down. And Pioli can’t address it for so long and the players are on a free fall on it. A win even though not a convincing one. We need to cash in on Leao next summer, any Leao fan can wail but it is what it is.
Yes let’s sell our one world class player because he had an average game after just coming off an injury. Makes perfect sense.
No Leao, no Scudetto and no UCL semi final last year. Never forget.
An absolute disgrace of a performance!
Newcastle should have been out of sight.
Milan played with no heart and no quality, embarrassing really.
Tomori the only man to come out with any respect of the starters.
Okafor really needs to be playing, he looks the best attacker we have.
We didn’t deserve it tonight or in the group, which was the group of 4 dead teams.
Enough of this sh1t!
Hey, I spotted the Newcastle fan.
Maybe look at the quality of the other team also. They played a good game. They have good quality players and played with great intensity and pace. Not an easy game to manege. I like how we mostly kept our cool in the beginning and let them tire themselves a bit snd then pounce in the end 🙂
Don’t bother.
I like how they want to be Madrid or Man City on a Brentford budget.
Even Bayern with all their dominance and years on the project and spending power did not go to Old Trafford (a team of less quality than Newcastle this season) to dominate.
They literally could not string 2 passes together for an hour. Yes Newcastle could easily have been out of sight.
That’s just poor.
One of the worst most cowardly performances I can remember from a Milan team
It’s not cowardly to come back from a deficit and win d match even with enough clear chances to make d win more convincing.i don’t think I understand d meaning of the word I are even using
Bayern was already through, no point to go to old trafford and break legs. Agreed, winning in england is not an easy thing. Don’t forget Newcastle had many injuries as well.
“Bayern already through…”
You say that as though that was why they didn’t dominate the whole match against Man U. I see it as the opposite.
If they had something to play for, if their survival depends on that result, they’ve have been more frantic, less calm, less risk taking (in the early stages). Not that that would be the team talk, but that’s how these things work. Maybe Man U would’ve scored an early goal because of all the tension, and who knows what would’ve happened from there.
My point is, y’all find every way to trivialise the team’s achievements.
How come Milan played with no heart when we made a comeback and won? Sure the first half was bad. But second half the team rectified their performance.
Not to mention Newcastle played really well too.
Seriously kid. Learn how to appreciate people works and less act like a moron and entitled kid.
Learn to appreciate people works and less acting like a spoiled and entitled 5 years old kid.
Spoiled, entitled kid? Why because he’s critical? He’s speaking truth. Our display last night was bad. They didn’t do jack sh*t until Pioli put on 424 formation with Leao, Okafor, Jovic and Chuk coming on. By then the opposition were already tired which is evident from counters we were able to build, their defense was nowhere. This win doesn’t mean a thing, our display is in complete shambles. Maybe after tonight they will pick themselves up and start playing the way they should.
He didn’t speak the truth. First half was bad but he didn’t admit that we played a lot better in the second half. If you only want to see a team plays perfect then go play video games.
And the win is a moral booster for the players and managers. But of course spoiled and entitled kids like you wouldn’t think about that.
Then I hope this moral booster keeps on giving. Cos whenever this team wins a match and boost confidence, they go right back to playing horribly as they have been before said win.
#pioli OUT 😠
You out you d*mbfvck
@forzamilan
U just stfu idiott
No you’re the idiottttts
You say I’m brainless and you tell someone to shut up after they tell you to shut up. Good come back bro. Maybe Pioli should hire you for social media and Maldinis Heir for marketing.
This Milan is stronger club than last year, but unfortunately, many bad results, injuries, and strong competition show lesser result.
These are bizarre ratings. Tomori was the best. To lower his score for that near miss is stupid. To even get there as a centre back deserves bonus points. He was a monster at the back and kept us in the game in many sequences. He has been our most consistent player this season. Such an upturn from last season when he was all over the place in his performances and made so many mistakes. Right now he is my favourite Milan player. Which maybe says more about the rest of the team right now :p
Tomori was immense! Bravo to him. He is the leader!
Totally agree.
Tomori was immense.
Save a certain goal in the first half. Being critical of a centre back for missing a shot in 90th min is ridiculous.
Especially when he is literally the only fit CB at the club and is playing every minute of every game.
Come on.
It was a great strike by Chuk but MOM for an 10 min cameo?
Hand in your swipe card. Whoever came up with that.
Hope newcastle wont sign him next year to partner botman. If it sadly happens, perhaps we can see what maldini had planned for milan after winning the scudetto
MOTM has to be Maignan or Tomori
Chuk only scored a goal, which he should have.
Proud of the players today.
Tough game vs Tough opponent, on the road in a tough atmosphere. They were under a lot of pressure in the 1st half, went down a goal but they didn’t lay down. They came in the 2nd half and took over the game.
The new players stepped up again. There has been a campaign against the new players from a certain section of the fan base, and we know why that is, because they are still bitter over what happened in the summer.
The new players are not the issue at Milan. They have all contributed so far.
Pulisic another goal, Chukwueze goal, Okafor assist, jovic hockey assist and could have had another 2 if Niang and Tomori can finish their chances.
Milan issues besides the injuries and the stubborn coach have been the poor play of their so called best players.
Leso today should have had 2 goals if he can’t actually shoot the ball properly. One in the 1st half in a chance similar to the Chukwueze goal and the obvious Niang post.
Pioli bought himself another month.
Get the injured players back and try to reduce the distance with inter, especially now without midweek games.
Forza Milan
Well said. Except I don’t understand what you mean by Niang post.
We have most our injured players back now. Except our poor centre backs…
Google Barcelona vs. Milan Niang, and you’ll know what I’m talking about
Agreed – the new players are just fine. All the whining about Jovic and Chuk and now look… Even had to read some cr*p the other day from someone calling Musah and Reijnders useless (probably because they were signed by the evil new management.)
Loftus, reinders are somewhat 2 of the same, not bad players. The same can be said about musah, although he can become a good kessie replacement if not better just goota be utilized better. Chuck has some spark in him even when he was struggling at first, easy to see that he is a big improvement from messias. However, menagment should have imvested on a proper am since we can’t create anything in the middle, week in week out, and a forward. And yes our managment is somewhat evil. After years and years in the rot, one of the main figures that under strict uefa restrictions balanced our budget, won seria a, and brought us the semis in cl was fired.
We will judge the transfer campaign (not the players who are mere pawns) at the end of season.
So far compared to last season where we made the semi-finals, this season we didn’t get out of our group.
There are however extenuating circumstances including our completely chaotic summer and the tough group.
“We will judge the transfer campaign (not the players who are mere pawns) at the end of season.” And the management…. Trouble is hardly anyone wants to do that. If Jovic isn’t averaging a goal a game right off the bat he’s Origi and if management aren’t winning the league/CL they’re that demon in The Exorcist.
“Chelsea Rejects” comments on ice tonight 🤣 Every one wants plug & play.
Many new players. All need time. Especially Chuk. And Jovic needs continuity.
I have no issue with the former Chelsea players and actually have a theory that had we just signed RLC and Pulisic + a striker we’d be title contenders.
Signing those 2 players plus the others and all of the other changes probably means we’re not getting the most of these players or anyone else.
😂 “Chelsea’s rejects” has to be one of the most annoying phrases on this site. By that logic Giroud was a reject and he’s worked out okay I’d say.
Yes, the new signees are great for us and they bring sexy back. Just look, Pulisic hair much more sexy than Tonali.
Where is Maldini’s Heir to whine about all the bad new signings that just won us another game?
Ironically, he’s one of the few sensible ones in support of the new signings, asking that they should be given time.
You on the other hand will probably call for Chukwueze to be sold and a shiny new toy bought if he has a bad game next weekend.
Or…you’ll put it on Pioli, and not the balanced view that ups and downs are expected for young and new (and mostly foreign) players.
What are the odds Tonali slipped out the depressed Newcastle dressing room and did a little jig?
Sucks to go out on goal difference – same 8 points as PSG.. what came back to bite us in the a*s was not putting Newcastle to bed in the first leg.
Cause he won an extra $1000 by betting on his team?
Both Newcastle and Bologna were winnable games.
In the end, the draw against Newcastle at the first match hurt us. Not ruthless enough with the finishing.
Yeah the first 0-0 was bad but we also had chances against Dortmund in both legs (Giroud missing an early penalty for example)
You live and learn I suppose but at this level, given we don’t have the budget of Real or City, we have to be more clinical.
Fantastic result tonight after being somewhat outplayed in the first half. Hopefully Europa League isn’t a waste and we still finish top 4 in serie A and maybe even claim a European title that we haven’t won before
The current PSG team is one of the worst I have seen since the Arabs took over.
Newcastle is nowhere near as good as Milan.
Borrusia is good, but again, not as good as their previous years.
Milan should have qualified or even topped the group, but they did not even qualify from the group stage!
Totally agree. Group of death on paper yes but like u said psg and Newcastle not as good and inexperienced in europe. Even dortmund not as fast paced as previous years but more balanced though.
Totally agree, this group was the “group of death” only on paper. We could have (and should have) won all the games that ended in a draw (especially the first one against Newcastle).
Newcastle is currently on their third loss in a row and are 7th in the EPL (although only 11pts behind the leaders).
BVB blew hot and cold this season, and PSG is indeed one of the worst since a decade or so.
In the end, individual mistakes, bad tactics, lack of flexibility and of coaching and the absence of leadership did cost us this campaign.
We haven’t won in england in a long time. Therefore this is a great result. However, it wasnt a good performance. That midfield of ours is still chaotic. Can’t hold on to the ball, cant link up front, cant create anything. Heroics from tomorri (beast the entire season so far) and mike gave us the win, and not those 2 goals in the 2nd half when newcastle ran out of fuel. Baldy still gotta go now or the end of season. These player can do more than what they are showing, they gotta be utilized better and a better coach needed. These game could have gone horribly bad in the 1st half, luck, mike and tomorri gave us the win.
Important result for our pride and psychology. Not good performance (again) though, we didn’t deserve the win – we got what we deserved in the first game.
Overall I am not sure how to feel. EL will be a distraction, it feels high risk, low reward. We have way better chances to qualify to CL via the league.
Finally, the only positive thing in case of losing would have been the clarification of Pioli’s position. Now what? It’s not healthy for the team to have this situation of a coach who plays for his future every game.
You can’t make Chuck Motm. He played like 10 minutes. Florenzi was Motm..he did a lot of work, which, i don’t understand, is overlooked by people who supposedly watch these game.. musah was a total flop. Very poor tonight
LOL!!! Florenzi? Not Tomori or Mike?
Yup florenzi. He was tactically perfect last night
Tomori clearly the MOTM, had one of his best games of his career. His low rating here is criminal. Have we watched the same game??? Tomori single-handedly thwarted many attacks by Newcastle and avoided a goal. Had a post hit, I don’t blame him for that.
Florenzi also did better than what he was given credit for, in the ratings here.
Calabria again had to be rescued by Tomori when he lost an important 1v1.
Mike wasn’t responsible for their goal and had a couple of spectacular saves.
Pulisic did nothing right except for the goal. I mean, I do respect a player that does nothing else but then scores, because that’s a huge contribution. It’s what Leão does sometimes, and that’s fine.
Jovic continues to impress. At this point I believe we should renew his contract for another year, for depth. Maybe with more playing time he will improve even more. He is definitely contributing now, and he is cheap so there is no need to kick him out in June.
Loftus-Cheek was terrible tonight. Had a number of bad passes. Appropriately subbed out.
Leão had a big miss in the first half, and hit the post in the second half. He wasn’t at his best, coming out of injury, but was relatively decent.
Okafor, Jovic and Chuk were good subs. Pobega was OK. Pioli actually did well with the subs.
Theo, Musah, Reijnders, not good, not bad. Giroud, not his day today.
———-
Ultimately we almost qualified in the group of death. Any of the multiple opportunities in the first game against Newcastle, if in, would have seen us through. It’s a pity. Now it would be nice to win the Europa League: a chance at silverware, and the winner gets an automatic berth to the next UCL.
Calabria ‘again’?
Calabria is one of the best right backs in the world at 1v1s and he showed it again tonight.
That does not mean that he will never be beaten 1 v 1.
The whole basis of defending is to cover for each other otherwise teams could just play 235 or whatever you play in FIFA.
Lay off the captain. I am sick of these constant digs.
bruh, quit drugs. Calabria is one of the worst rbs in Serie A
Yes those drugs that apparently only I was taking when he marked Kvaratskhelia and multiple other wingers out of games???
Ok stop with this. Calabria was never assigned to do 1vs1. His terrific performances against Kvaratskhelia and Mbappe were possible because of the coverage and help the central midfield who was also assigned to mark these players.
Notice that they were never too far from Calabria and closed gaps that either forward could have used to dribble or pass and forced him to go in predictable paths.
When Calabria was the sole man marking players (again not his fault but a tactical mistake), he was often beaten (against BVB and Atalanta among examples). Calabria doesn’t have enough SPEED to man mark on his own.
Want another proof ? Remember how he criticized Pioli after the loss against PSG for creating situations where the defenders found themselves in 1vs1 against PSG forwards ?
Again nothing against Calabria, he is an overall good fullback, but don’t leave him in 1vs1.
Wholeheartedly Disagree with you. Calabria is hugely inconsistent and needs competition to try to stay in top shape. Not even Captain material to be honest. Has zero leadership or presence. Just a player who has been there the longest.
We need an upgrade.
Is he any worse than Gary Neville or any other of the numerous full backs with multiple titles who were never UPGRADED.
Pessotto?
Panucci?
Should we waste time, effort and money on signing an UPGRADE for a RB who marked the best player in the league last year out of 4 matches or do we focus on signing a 40 goal a season striker?
Because real life is actually about choices, and football is actually about something called LOYALTY.
If you can’t be loyal to the captain of the team you allegedly support – what is the point?
I’ve backed Calabria for years but don’t know how much longer I can keep it up. He’s two completely different players in one – Maldini one game and Roque Junior the next.
I’d say he is an overall good enough player for the team. He doesn’t have terrible weaknesses (like say Adli when defending), and from time to time can produce terrific performances, and this season, he is way better than Theo.
With that said, another fullback with a different profile can’t be too bad and sure can add depth to the team and allow to use different strategies against different teams.
I agree however that he is not a good captain.
Hah. Calabria is terrible 1v1. That’s why every time we face a good winger they have to designate at least one other player to help him out. And then fools like you say oh he shut down Kvava or Mbappe. No he had a lot of help. And when the team doesn’t give him help he gets beaten time and time again.
You clearly don’t support the team when you constantly downplay players’ achievements.
The simplest thing in life is to change football teams. You’re anonymous. Go support another team that gives you the joy that you feel you deserve.
Ok I wouldn’t say he’s ‘one of the best right backs in the world at 1v1s’ lol. His biggest problems is consistency and positioning. Against bigger teams he performs better because he plays more of a natural rb position of defending. Against smaller teams he thinks he can run up more to get involved and constantly gets caught out. I’ll never hate Calabria but I know that he’s not one of the best and one day we should upgrade that side.
Whereas the player in your imagination is perfect.
This is advertising 101.
Make people believe they need an upgrade regardless of whether or not they need one.
The grass is always greener, blah blah blah.
The FACT is that Calabria was a crucial part of our Scudetto winning side, a crucial part of the team that made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League, a crucial part of the team that beat PSG, a crucial part of this Milan side which is the most successful Milan side we have had in a DECADE.
So whatever about your imagination, the reality is very different.
I mean who’s imagining? Me who wants an upgrade on a player can’t even make the national team and hasn’t been consistent? Or the guy that said he’s one of the best in 1v1 situations?
My father Krunic is perfect. How come you stop supporting him? He brought you the Scudetto and semi-finals of CL. Typical fan stop supporting when players are rumored to leave.
@ Milanellofm I can confirm it’s you imagining because Calabria has a Scudetto and your imaginary player does not. In fact it’s hard to know if he even exists….
@Milanellofm: according to Maldinis heir, the 21/23 Milan squad is the perfect team and is so good that no one in their right mind should even dare question the performance of some of the players of those 2 seasons or, god forbid, suggest that this perfect “scudetto winning” team needs improvment in some positions !
Calabria one of the best RBs in the world? Not at all. He is very irregular. He can stop some of the best left wingers in the world in certain games, and be a huge defensive liability in other games. At times he is a complete disaster like in the second Dortmund game. At other times he is great like in the second PSG game. I wish he were more regular. Yes, we like him; he is Italian, a Milan fan, and the Captain, but he is NOT one of the best RBs in the world.
I didn’t say he was the best RBs in the world I said he was one of the best 1v1…..
But anyway nobody is regular because human beings by their nature are not robots (yet).
Maybe one day we can have an AI powered RB who will never make mistakes but until then can we just support our captain?
Ballo toure has a scudetto too. Is he one of the best?
Don’t forget Tatarasanu has a scudetto too so he is also one of the best.
Or…you’ll put it on Pioli, and not the balanced view that ups and downs are expected for young and new (and mostly foreign) players.
Dortmund couldn’t hold a lead for 10 minutes unreal
Doesn’t matter. PSG would have gotten another dubious PK to get back in it. Oil Money runs deep.
Bitcoin received!
“I think it is very mental, you have to be in it in these games. We know what intensity they will bring, we know we can have difficulties. The matches are long, they change, we have to be in it until the end.”
That was Pioli before the match.
In other words, be mentally ready to take on the pressure because they’ll come at you. But they sustain that the whole match, and when it’s time to hit, we’ll hit well.
Sensible expectation and approach considering the quality of the Newcastle team, and results of top teams there this season.
As a fan, if that was your expectation, this was a great result. You’d have been a bit disappointed at the goal conceded, but you’d have been impressed at how Pioli and the team stuck to the plan and did not crumble, and then finally found their way back.
If your expectation was that we’d go and dominate them at St. James Park (and I don’t know where that expectation would’ve came from considering all the above stated, and the injuries we’ve had), this was probably a sucky game for you.
Moral of the post: it’s not really the team disappointing you, it’s your ungrounded expectations.
Exactly this! First post that I’ve seen make sense lol. Its likemwhen we play the open style, forced press and attacking game people say we’re too open and we should park the bus and counter with our pace. Now that we actually parked the bus given Newcastle early pressure, at St James park and that out backline was makeshift,. people STILL have an issue with it. I thought while the overall plan was good, our gameplay itself was bad. For instance we should be doing better on the ball when we had it. But yea I agree that sometimes parking the bus is the way to go. And having them burn themselves out. The thing is we should have scored two more goals to get the better goal difference. That was a bit of a blunder.
Great result.
Terrible performance in the first half. Got better in the second. Great at the end.
Off the back of Atalanta, the pressure on Pioli, the pressure on the group, the injuries, going a goal down…..I think it’s fair to say that this is a remarkable achievement from the team.
As others have said Tomori was epic – deserved that goal at the end.
I think you work in Milan , right? You constantly try to make board and results look good. Everytime we lose a match, I see you in the comments, trying to consolidate fans and make them accept the defeat. Stop manipulating people
Is that why I want the board sacked for destroying the club this summer???
There’s no way Maldini Heir works for Milan lol 😂🤣🤣🤣. Everyone knows he disliked the summer transfer campaign and the management decision to make changes all the time
And the goals come from summer signings not players who have been here more than 5 minutes.
What’s your point (and what’s the point of your silly username??)
You hate new signings and they are the ones that score. You crap on them days and give no credit to them when they perform. What is the point to your name?
I don’t think he hates the new signings per se but more the strategy of constantly having new signings (not the individuals themselves). Can’t believe I’m even defending MH lol. I owe me one lol 😂
@IKWYDLS: As far as I’m concerned, MH does have defensible opinions sometimes, the idea of building on a team that had success is not wrong. But sometimes (oftentimes), I find myself disagreeing a lot with what he has to say about some specifics, particularly the evaluation of some players and some performances.
I still stand by saying goodbye to Pioli. There is no point on waiting for to fail. We achieved everything we could with Pioli, so enough is enough.
Makes zero sense. We are firmly in third. Why sack him now and destabilize the locker room? The objective each season for RedBird is Top4.
Makes perfect sense. We can’t win UCL that’s understandable but we can’t win Inter as well with Pioli. The plan is not just top 4 finishing! We are not spurs of Italy. Top 4 by sacrificing UCL can be achieved with almost any average coach. We need a title in Italy
Who cares about beating inter?
We won the Scudetto and they didn’t.
They can have their stupid wins (and defeats in the champions league).
The only thing that matters are trophies.
That might change this season but I reckon Inzaghi’s a choker.
Since you are salesman, then i will just analogy as salesman/
Manager called you because your sales in the last 3 years is miserable eventhough you won a lot of salesman of the year awards before.
On the other hand a new colleague perform better, he never win awards.
Your argument: who cares if this newbie perfeom betger than me in the las 3 years. I won 10 times sales of the years. It is the important thing!!!
Manager: thank you for your service, pack you things and that is the door
Yes, you are right plus you can not sack someone who clearly does not have one.
Clown
One of the major problems with Milan is no proper attacking midfield player, how on earth Loftus -cheek is your best-attacking midfielder 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🥺🥺🥺🥺. I think attacking midfield should be got best passer and creatives player in the team… Now I’m confused.
Can someone please tell me why Florenzi is always been rated low is it that he doesn’t perform at all mainwhile next year CL how is the group stage like please a good explanation I think it will be differnt from this year own will top4 take us automatically to group stage
Whoever was talking shizzz about “Chelsea Rejects” take not. Chukwueze also impressive off the bench. He is a player that needs time. Stop criticizing new players and give them time. This isn’t plug and play.
Overall, listen, whatever Pioli told the team at half time clearly worked because it was a much better performance. So like it or not, Pioli still has a way with this team however inconsistent it may be. We will rue our missed chances in the first two games as we could have had this group. But ultimately we aren’t deep enough and have some gaps that need to be addressed.
Qualification through the group was highly improbable here but Milan did what they set out to do – beat Newcastle away, a feat that PSG could achieve.
EL is unfortunate as I am afraid it might jeopardize the league at home and finishing top 4. But it is what it is.
If anything, I hope this win is a catalyst for these players to start playing as a team again and not like a group of disjointed body parts.
I can’t with these ratings 🤦♂️. Even though Calabria rebounded he gets a 5 plain and simple. Tomori was clutch, Mike was Mike. Chuck did great but his 20 mins of great does not our way Tomori’s 90 minutes of great. Really harsh on Pulisic too. He was involved in more duels than Pobega. I only saw Pobega involved in one action otherwise he was anonymous
Yea Pobega only had 2 duels won out of 3 total duels according to fotmob. Not sure how that was a good amount. Puli had 7.
If we are serious in europa league and top 4th place finish, then in January transfer, we need to strengthen the squad especially in the back!
Seen enough of Florenzi, the left position needs serious change. Our captain too needs a decent backup to challenge him whenever he plays dumb. He is so inconsistent
Tomori needs a decent partner and hernandez is not long term solution, for sure
Chukwueze MOTM with one touch which he had no business missing…
As others have mentioned, Tomori was MOTM. His job is to defend which he did brilliantly. And he hit the post on a chance he created himself.
This was another tactically weak performance though. We only won it because Newcastle got desperate towards the end and attacked with numbers. I don’t know what Pioli does in training but it certainly doesn’t look like he’s been in charge of the team for almost 4 years now.
I didn’t write anything because I needed to calm down a bit, specially after the week we’ve had. I’ve been angry at everyone especially pioli because i know we could and we must do better. It was a horrible first half. The passing was dreadful. Much better second. I think that saved pioli’s job but I still think he should be on thin ice.
At least winning that game brought some determination from us. It hurts so much to be eliminated but I’d much rather be in europa than to finish last. Europa if we can make it far and possibly win will help us retrieve some money and most importantly would put us in pot 1 for next year’s champions league so it should not be taken lightly. Liverpool aside, we are stronger than any team there so must go for it.
Pioli needs to find consistency in his play once and for all. He needs to stop playing loftus attacking and stop playing reijnders defensive. Give more chances to Jovic and especially okafor.
Serie a is it to late to dream about a scudetto? No, but it looks unlikely. So to finish top 4 Nd try to win europa looks like the play. If we keep performing poorly maybe it’s time to make a change but I’m so mad because I know this is a great group of players and we’re 100% under performing. This team can do much much better and it’s time for everyone to wake up. Hurts so much to go out especially to psg who definitely don’t deserve to be in
Who should Pioli play at defending in the midfield?
Bennacer and RLC with Musah off the bench at 60-70 to change the pace of the game. Pobega for weaker teams, injuries and to lock down close wins late.
Attacking mid – Reinjders. With Adli spelling him at 60-70 most games.
It’s not just who starts, it’s getting them off the field and rested often. This keeps starters fresh and subs sharp.
You must not say such things Pioli may read the comments and take note.
Problem is, RLC and Reijnders are neither attacking midfielders nor defensive ones. They are central midfielders and that’s that.
They were signed for 4-3-3. We’ll see what Pioli can do with a Bennacer at full fitness playing as regista but if it doesn’t work he’s in serious trouble because we can’t go back to playing 4-2-3-1 effectively with these players.
Big Mike was the MOTM if not him then Tomori. Mike is a quality goalie and commands the box. We need to pay him if we want to be a considered a serious team going forward.
Back line held up well given the defense in front of them. Theo’s very long range shot was boned headed to say the least. Calabria was okay got turned around a few times so I get where the criticism is coming from but until someone clearly better arrives I support him. Tomori was great in defense and a bit unlucky with the shot but fantastic outing.
The midfield was a wreck again, especially early on. I don’t know if its Piloi’s tactics but we struggle. We let Gordon dribble right up to the box and gave him an easy pass that set up the goal. We were worse going the other way, our “mezzalas” all looked scared to progress the ball forward and settled with passing the ball to Leao or Pulisic who were instantly put under pressure.
The front line was a mix bag tonight. Leao looked dangerous but lacked the final product. Hopefully its rust but he should have scored or at least ran after the ball once it bounced off the post. Giroud not so good tonight, he occupied the CBs but that’s not enough. His awareness of Pulisic on the goal was good so credit to him for that. Pulisic had a meh.. game until the goal came. He knows how to get into dangerous positions and is ready when the ball comes. His goal also deflated NU’s energy and we gained momentum.
The subs came on and did their part to get the win against a tired deflated side. Encouraging to see Jovic string a few good performances in a row.
And on to our main man Pioli. I say good tonight for subbing at the right time. He put guys on full of energy against a tired NU side and no one played out of position. The midfield tactic is still a bit off-putting but I hope as players return from injury we can finish the season strong.
Excellent post, AM Milan Fan! One of the best I’ve ever read here. Congrats. You’re spot on.
Even though im on the same side as maldini’s heir that support the team, coach and players despite all the results, but when he post calabria is the best RB for 1v1 i really think he is drunk and just say the performance of milan blindly…
From what ive seen so far as that i remembered:
– calabria i think is really mediocre. Theo i think is not extraordinary on defending but at least his offensive is great.
– pioli, with the injuries and unluckyness especially like first leg vs newcastle, i think its hard too for him to get the best result. Not to mention he got pretty much majority of midfield new, so its really need adaptation honestly. Of course there are many piolis flaw, for me especially constant hard pressing against inter when its proved 5-6 match we lose with that strat against inter. For the subs that many are complaint i think its still logical and just the result is bad.
– chukwueze, i have said in other post he got the talent but must improve on decision making. And this last 2atch his decision wether to shoot or pass is good.
– adli, not that great as some people Think. He make beautiful play!! Yesss and of course i prefer adli over any midfield if i want to see great pass. But this is not a charity fun match. Its 100x better if we lost posession and shot on target but still win 1-0 because our defense not making any mistake.
There is other player that of course im not satisfy with his performance even though i support the team as a whole except the management who cannot even provide 100mil without selling tonali despite we get more money for getting UCL qualifications in the league and reach semifinal UCL.
First of all let me say
Well done AC Milan faboulus result .
Not easy to come to a place like Newcastle and get a result .The win was fully deserved.
Yes big mike was superb,and made some immense saves ..Tomori what a performance from him ,,,he made some vital tackles ,and indeed got forward several times and almost scored which would have been a amazing game .
Biggest let down for me was the midfield.loftus cheek very disappointing as was reindeers .
I thought Rafeo leao was always a threat , yes should have scored a goal . Giroud worked hard throughout without causes many chances ;but the assist for pulisic goal was class.
The substitutions were tactical ingenious,and this is what resulted in the win
What a pass to chukweeze ,what a goal
So therefore my man of the match goes to our manager PIOLI .This man is a the man to keep confidence in .
So coming back to the performance.first half very poor no chances created.second half so much better.indeed scored two .it could have been four .
Yes we have not qualified for the champions league not our rounds , but fans please don’t forget the group was probably the toughest one to have been drawn in .sadly we should have one the first encounter with Newcastle.
On the positive we are still in Europe , and the revenue we collect will be useful
It still also a competition worth winning
We are a good side we proved that last night
The best is yet to come ? Maybe!
This man is legend with his analysis.
@ AM Milan fan, you are spot on.
The midfield in last few games seems to be the weakest department. defensively they were poor and they find it difficult to progress with the ball and in few occasions when they did, they don’t seem to have the skill set to make the right attacking passes. TIJANI always kill attacking momentum with is dealing darling on the ball.
We always rely on the wingers to create chances or to progress the ball and this makes Milan too predictable. Something need to change.
Thursday football and serie A combined make it work overload with Milan injuries pattern in recent years.
All the best. Forza Milan.
They won but that doesn’t hide the fact their performances are really bad. Can’t string 2 simple passes together, let alone build a proper attacking action. For matches now they look lost. Our midfield is non existent and easily overtaken. Backline overlaping to wings all the time or waiting for someone like Theo to drive it forward for, again, our wings. Last night they were completely lost until Pioli decided to gamble and out on 424 with Leao, Okafor, Jovic and Chuk and it paid off. At that time Reijnders and Pobega were holding the midfield so what does that tell about our midfield newcomers? Just be realistic of our displays not just last night but for weeks now. No plan, no organisation, no system just a bunch without a head or tail. They cannot continue this way. Again,I am glad they won. For the sake of their mental state. Maybe they can pick themselves up now and start showing some potential that’s expected. Also, Tomori is MOTM easily with Maignan next to him.
Milan players don’t know what they should do once they get the ball. The lack of ANY SORT OF TACTICS is so apparent. Kind of feel sad for the players.
It would be nice if there was more genuine discussion in these comments.
You can disagree with each other without constant personal attacks.
But that’s not how the internet works though. You just got to be the biggest d*ck you possibly can. That’s how you win, right?
Facts don’t matter. Only insults do. That’s the name of the game.
I thought the name of the game was soccer?
In some parts of the world yes. But online it’s “Only insults do”.
I disagree with your point that Milan was the main favorite to qualify. The same can be said about PSG, Dortmund, and Newcastle. All teams in that group were favorite; maybe the most favorite was PSG because they have Mbappe, but the other three had an equal opportunity. Dortmund has been playing constantly in champions for longer than AC Milan, and have arrived farther in the last 10 years. The fact that a team might not be doing well at its league. It doesn’t mean that they are not good in champions. Even Milan has been an example of that in 2007. They won Champions, but they were third or fourth in Serie A. I can’t recall now.
I will always be relieved when Milan win.
But my we were very fortunate last night!
The first 60 mins or so is some of the worst football I have ever seen this team (not) play.
Couldn’t string 2 passes together vs a very depleated Newcastle team, who fought really hard.
In the end Newcastle committed themselves too much to get the winning goal and our fresh subs took advantage.
Mike – great save but he started to lose his head and that is not good enough for one of our senior players
Tomori – was sensational!! MOTM
Calabria is struggling, hope Kalulu gets back soon to take some pressure off that position.
Midfield was terrible.
RLC had a few good games at the start of the season and 1 Great game vs PSG, he has been very poor since his more recent injury. Simply put we cannot rely on him
Reijnders needs a rest, it’s unfair to judge him currently.
Musah shows great heart and has talent, he needs time.
We just need Bennacer and a proper DM (Amrabat) so we can have some control in midfield and stop playing like it’s basketball.
Both the dortmund and newcastle coaches were amazed how frantic our games were, and those are attacking sides!
Leao was very off pace and rusty and lazy. Poor
Pulisic is just way too inconsistent, disappears in these big games
Giroud can’t keep up in a game like that and offers little.
We were much more of a threat with Okafor (who looks a serious talent and future Leao replacement.
Jovic who to everyone’s amazement has found his feet, he should be starting over Giroud and perhaps we should hold off signing a striker until summer.
Chucky , well the open space at games end suited him, good finish.
Pioli – He really does deserve to be under pressure now. We have been awful, even in the games we won recently
“The first 60 mins or so is some of the worst football I have ever seen this team (not) play.”
Florenzi & Calabria both looked like scared little girls for the 1st hour with their panic button “passes” straight out of play. Constantly. Awful. The captain is supposed to give example and lead but he was nervous as F***.
Once again the biggest issue was highlighted well: midfield and lack of any creativity and attacking tactics. No one knew how we’re supposed to create chances. Yes, we got a few chances EVENTUALLY when Newcastle was getting desperate and – most of all – really tired. Before their legs ran out Milan couldn’t really attack at all.
What a bizarre comment about Pulisic. He’s probably been Milan’s most consistent player this season other than Tomori. Has scored a bunch of big goals, and scored the goal in this game that changed the entire game. I wish everyone was that inconsistent.
He was invisible last night apart from scoring the tap in, just as he was invisible v Atalanta and many other big games. He is a nice player to have in the squad but he struggles badly against the big teams
You know he had an assist against Atalanta , right? Must have been an invisible assist. Guy has 6 goals and 3 assists already this season, better than anyone except Giroud. Plus his pressing and defensive work has been very good. Nobody is decisive every game.
Curious as to who you would think has been more consistently good this season other than Tomori?
Maybe he thinks Chukwueze is better. Pulisic has three goal contributions in three games, that’s pretty consistent. He got an assist against Napoli before the injury where the team presided to fall apart, that was a pretty big game.
Try judging individual performances based on the teams overall first. In big games our midfield gets bossed around the pitch making it harder for any of our forwards even Leao to excel.
There is no point in looking at everything through red and black tinted glasses.
We were very poor and lucky that Newcastle through away a game they had complete control of.
Pulisic did nothing, couldn’t keep the ball, same as v Atalanta.
Just because someone gets a goal or an assist does not cover up the performance, unless you don’t watch the game just read stats.
He has played some great games this season for sure, but it’s these tough games where you see the true level.
Any Chelsea fan will tell you he has good moments but is just way to inconsistent.
Good squad player just not an elite player.
Chucky had a good impact in his CL appearances because he is fast and can shoot. He doesn’t get that room in Serie A.
Pulisic does well in Serie A because of his technical ability, he’s not fast/strong enough in CL.
Okafor is the one who has the power, pace and technical ability to be a top player
LOL this guy is so smart. He wants Okafor and Chukwueze in the line up over Leao and Pulisic. He fell in love with the one trick pony. Think about way teams give Chukwueze space….. and don’t blame it on Serie A tight defense, please. You could say that about the Dutch league but not top 5 leagues.
I’m late to the party as I only watched the game this morning after avoiding socials. Well well well, what can I say? We live to see another day. I recall someone after the PSG game retorted to a comment I made about Adli giving up that goal to make it 3-0. Basically it was long the lines of the “game was over already” and it didn’t make a difference. And I said it could come back to haunt us because we don’t know in the end if we’ll need it for goal difference to progress. Now that we’ve bowed out of the UCL based exactly on goal diff I just want to point out to fans who’ve seen fewer games in their lifetime to sometimes just hear out the vets. We may have seen a few things in our lifetime. Granted it wasn’t a direct decider but that one goal less and Leao, Theo and Tomori’s goals seal our qualification to the UCL.
Anyways to the game, on a performance level two players distinctly stood out to me: Reinjders and Tomori. Reinjders needs to do better at ball retention. The amount of times he gave it away not only for Newcastle to counter but also to not get back on defence seeing he was playing the 6 (I noticed a 433 at the start). It’s ridiculous. Its probably why other people are preferred in that role over him.
Tomori is on an extremely high level of defending right now. Amongst the top top set of defenders and maybe even the best. Dude played for two people tonight. Made absolutely crucial interceptions more than once. Absolutely a pillar. Should get a 9 imo, never mind that “missed” goal, he isn’t an attacked after all. Leao however…..
The next item is game management. Sure we won..but that doesn’t mean the decisions made were great. Pioli yakes off Puli brings on Pobega ?? I didn’t get that. Puli at least was trying to create. Late on in a match where crosses may be going into the box, he takes off Giroud and brings on shorter players ??? Puts Bartesaghi on left wing, not even in defence ??? Sorry those decisions were just very very odd.
In summary, our shots off the posts sums up our campaign…which is basically just falling short of the mark, not being clinical enough and missing out by details.
Btw Theo what the fck were u doing? No keeper, 2v1 and u wanted to shoot from 60 yard out even though you have the pace to go all the way???? Its things like these that make me feel we should bow out of Europe altogether
You might as well have not commented at all if this is what you are bringing to the table. Bringing up an Adli mistake to talk about goal differential. As if that would’ve made the difference. Take that away, they still would’ve had to win this game by 4 goals. LOL. It was the draw in the first match against Newcastle where Milan dominated the game. That’s the reason they are out.
“hear out the vets”. Jesus, you are self important douche.
Then goes on to criticize the substitutions which clearly worked and won the game for them.
Brilliant stuff. Keep it coming.
Funny how all these “It’s always Adli’s fault”-guys are the ones who are always there to protect Krunic. 😀
Don’t be joining ignoramus up there now bb 😂 you’re better than that. For all I know it was probably him that said goals late.on don’t count smh
Wait a minute!!. I just checked the files …seems it was you bb who said this. Well well well, from now on I’ll have to call you junior or children 🤣🤣🤣
28 October and I quote
BB: “..The match was over way before Adli’s sloppy defending”
To which I responded “.. and to say you’re ok making a mistake at 2-0 is reckless. We don’t know how the group will turn out or if that can affect goal difference down the line”
I rest my case. No wonder why you were quick to jump in. You probably knew it was you that said these amateurish statements.
🎤
Let me just quote Vero Rossonero here:
“Technically you’re still wrong. It’s head to head results, followed by head to head GD. So both PSG and Milan had one win each, and then the head to head GD was 4-2 in PSG’s favor. If we’d only lost 2-0 it would still be 3-2 in their favor.”
Technically you’re still wrong. It’s head to head results, followed by head to head GD. So both PSG and Milan had one win each, and then the head to head GD was 4-2 in PSG’s favor. If we’d only lost 2-0 it would still be 3-2 in their favor. If head to head GD was tied, then overall GD would be the next tiebreaker, and we would have lost there too, as we lost 3-1 to Dortmund (with another Adli defensive error leading up to a goal I believe).
Well…..yes and no Vero. I was pointing to a comment sometime back (I can’t recall who) who said that at the point Adli made his mistake vs PSG the game was over. Well it wasn’t and we shouldn’t be treating matches like it’s over because we’re thinking we’re getting pummeled because in the long run, we don’t know how things can turn out. But I did say it back then.
In terms of mistakes on goals you never know was the main point, the names are less important. You take “pull up socks” Musah and Adli’s error,….us and PSG will now be on same exact goal difference h2h (with exactly the same number of goals scored). So the first three UEFA tiebreaker criteria are out the window (points, goal diff and head to head goals). They removed the away goals rule being an advantage a few years back. (But you are right in saying if it was 2-0, then yes PSG would go through even if we had a superior overal gd). The next criteria is goal difference in all group matches, meaning we would have had a legitimate shot if we beat Newcastle by two or more goals. Does this clarify?
Well, not “wrong” really, just that losing 2-0 to PSG vs 3-0 wouldn’t have made a difference in the end given the overall picture.
Great result for the team, but, still a lot of work to be done. The midfield is our weak link despite all the investment. The team still needs a strong DM, and the rest of the midfield need to improve their marking, and link-up play. We could have gotten many goals, but, most times the midfielders didn’t know what to do with the ball going forward, and, also left the defenders exposed a couple of times. That’s why our results are off and on in the league.
MoM clearly Tomori, as everyone here has said. Did you notice that 9 out of 10 of their attacks came down the right side (there’s always a free man because of Leao’s lack of defense). The best decision on the field was the ball Jovic played to Chuck on his right rather than Leao on his left. As to Pulisic disappearing in big games, his play for Chelsea was the deciding factor against Madrid in their semifinal win to take the Champion’s League title in ’21.
Jovic …
He came in late and injured. Until the last three games he didn’t move right.
He didn’t press intelligently or intensely
He didn’t run with or without the ball
He often avoided contact.
When he had the ball he didn’t seem to know where to find the next man or the goal
In the last three games he has moved noticably better. This game he carried the ball at pace for the second goal and made a movie off the ball that could have seen him with the assist.
This game he pressed intelligently and intensely, tho still not quite at the pace of Giroud.
To me it is clear he was working through a physical recovery while learning the new team at the same time.
I have high hopes to see him continue to improve fitness, form and tactical understanding.
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Leao
Just wow. Dude’s out three weeks with a serious injury. Comes right back to the starting line up and out fear into Newcastle.
On three occasions I saw him sprint back to play defense. On two where he did not he was clearly gassed. Not sure if that was come back fitness or, in one case, the huge effort he made to square a ball that any three of his mates should have latches on to
Really not sure why he is being criticized.
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Tomori MOTM. That tackle should be on the Golazo Show.
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I am beginning to believe 4231 should be our shape. RLC doesn’t seem to have “of it” when attacking. Musah is raw. start RLC and Bennacer in the double pivot. Ask RLC to make late runs in the box and exploit is size. We could use his height on defense as well.
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Pulisic … There is a reason he is often in the right place. He reads the game well. He hussles. He moves aggressively off the ball. He did all these things while we fed the ball left to Rafa.
Last year we didn’t have this. When the ball came right the defenses took time to reset because we didn’t have a big threat. This year they don’t adapt quickly enough and Puli has the quality to exploit it.
I hope Chuk can do more than he has so far. Fingers crossed he continues to adapt.
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Mike. Our keeper saves like De Gea and distributes like Mordric. What an incredible luxury I am only just beginning to fully appreciate.
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We play frustrated rather than joyfully. I believe our players don’t know where to be or why they are supposed to be there. All the inverting and overlapping Theo outside and back passing, etc.
I’d like to see more fluid movement through the center of the park. We go to the wings far too often where we get trapped an d have to pass back.
We almost seem to politely wait for the opponent to marshall all ten behind the ball before we crank up the pressure.
It is a mystery to me why we walk a thoroughbred?
Some feel Leao should have scored on the shot he hit the post and reacted emotionally. Just imagine what the paper would say if it was Pulisic or Chukwueze that hit the post and we didn’t end up winning.
I think our midfield is caught between a rock and a hard place. Pioli wants them to get forward and play attractive football but at the same time they probably feel the need to stay home and protect the back line given the injuries. Ultimately, they become indecisive and fail going forward and shaky at the back. That’s what I’m thinking but only the players know.
It’s a good point. With such a weakened defense we should see a more defensive posture from the midfield.
The lack of organization there half way through the season further supports your observation.
Great take on the events
That last part especially. We don’t take advantage of the other team’s transition to defensive..we just build slowly