AC Milan ended their pre-season tour in Asia and Australia with a strong 9-0 win against Perth Glory. Several players impressed, even if the opponents weren’t great, 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. Note: As Milan fielded one XI for each half, I decided to name two MOTMs, i.e. one for each half.
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First half XI
Maignan (6.5): The captain was really only called into action once, when the home side put a dangerous cross into the box, but aside from that it was very quiet. So we have to go by his passing for a rating, and thankfully for the Frenchman, the passing was very good at times.
Terracciano (6): He put in a shift defensively, using his physicality to win a lot of duels, but it was a very average display. Yes, average despite opening the scoresheet, as he got lucky with the shot (the goalkeeper should have saved it), though his movement into the box was nice.
Gabbia (5.5): Perhaps the fact that he hasn’t played loads this pre-season made a difference, but he was unusually insecure in some moments. He didn’t always close down his man and the positioning was a bit all over the place.
Pavlovic (7 – MOTM): He saved Milan a couple of times at the start with some crucial interventions, making up for the chaos created by some of his teammates then. He continued to be very good in both phases even when things calmed down, showing why Allegri has played him a lot.
Estupinan (6): As expected, he was aggressive from start to finish and that resulted in some interceptions/balls won back. In attack, he added the overlap a few times and had some good passes in that sense. Decent indeed.
Loftus-Cheek (6.5): He was heavily involved from the start, always picking up good positions, and we saw this expecially on the third goal. By all accounts, he has found his role under Allegri and all parties are reaping the rewards.
Comotto (6): It wasn’t always brilliant in build-up due to some sloppy touches, while defending left a lot to be desired. However, he won a penalty and converted it himself with a dink. He’s still very young, so that’s why he gets a pass here.
Bondo (5.5): In my opinion, it was a very ‘meh’ performance from the midfielder. It felt like he didn’t fully understand his role on the left-hand side of the pitch, only getting into the ‘usual’ positions without being very incisive on the ball.
Chukwueze (6.5): The winger was lively and almost always caused issues for Perth. Getting on the scoresheet was just a matter of time and he did so with a great strike. However, he missed a huge chance (basically an open net) for waiting too long, which is something he cannot afford when the season gets underway. And it hurts his rating here.
Okafor (6.5): Two tap-ins from the Swiss international, or should we say Oka4? Three games, four goals, and some very good indications overall. His positioning was good and he combined well with his teammates today, even if he also missed a chance in front of goal.
Jimenez (6.5): It was a great, trademark, run to set up the second goal. Perth Glory defended pretty poorly, let’s be honest, but the Spaniard certainly exploited it. He also had a dangerous cross into the box that led to the third goal.
Second half XI
Terracciano (7): He saved the youngster Dutu with a fantastic 1v1 stop, keeping the clean sheet intact when, really, that should have been a goal for the home side. In other words, he showed once again that he’s a very capable backup.
Magni (6): The youngster wasn’t afraid to go forward and had some good one-twos in attack. It wasn’t anything special, though, but he did enough to get a pass for sure.
Tomori (6): Milan didn’t have much to do at the back in the second half, let’s be honest, but the Englishman at least got the job done when needed. He also had a more advanced position towards the end which he handled well, after the move to a three-man backline.
Thiaw (6): If my memory serves me right, he was the one who headed the ball towards Liberali for the first goal of the second half. Aside from that, though, it was a standard display from him with nice passing and duels won.
Bartesaghi (6.5): A much more mature display compared to the previous friendlies. He played it safe most of the time but always made sure he was available. With just five minutes to go, he showed off his qualities with a fantastic cross for Leao.
Musah (6.5): It was decent overall, playing on the right-hand side rather than in the middle. When you add the goal to the equation, which was a cheeky finish indeed, it only makes sense to give him slightly higher than a pass here.
Ricci (7 – MOTM): He just oozes elegance. The passing was brilliant yet again, with a 100% (!) passing accuracy per the stats companies, but his movement also stood out a lot. Oh, and what a strike it was to find the back of the net! It’s clear he will be crucial this season.
Fofana (5): That was… Rough. While he was unlucky not to score with a good shot on the edge of the box, he was responsible for some very questionable passing at times. He also lost the ball in an outrageous position (excuse the hyperbole), which should’ve resulted in a goal conceded. Considering the opponents, the fact that he struggled is worrying.
Saelemaekers (6): He wasn’t always super successful with his final touch, but you can’t deny that he constantly forced the opponents to work defensively. He twists and turns, creates space and combines well with his teammates, as seen with the assist for Ricci. But he needs to be a bit sharper.
Liberali (7): It’s a shame that he’s about to leave on a permanent basis, because that was a very good display. He was lively from the start, getting the assist for Leao with a nice little flick-on, and then he was also heavily involved in Ricci’s goal. He was unlucky not to get goal himself with two good efforts blocked.
Leao (7): The first goal was incredibly on-brand if you look at how he has played under Allegri so far. Just about onside, using his speed and then a calm finish in front of goal. He was involved in Ricci’s goal too, and never really stopped moving, which the header to make it 9-0 was a testament to.
Substitutes
Dutu (4.5): He will feel bad about that, undoubtedly, as one of his few involvements was losing the ball as the last man. Terracciano bailed him out on that one, that’s for sure.
Why Liberali not stay? We al know he is good, a very very good young player
I believe we are taking a pay from Real Madrid. Sell with a low repurchase fee + first right
He’s better playing for small club in Seria A while we hold a first option to buy back rather than dry loan so they can allow him to play knowing they lose nothing after his development.
That’s not what the deal is; he’s being sold in final terms to a Serie B team. Milan only advantage is that we retain 50% of the proceeds from any future resale.
The truth is that he is too small for Serie A. He is a short guy with not a lot of muscle. He is easily bumped even by the horrible Perth Glory defenders as shown in his going to the ground instead of scoring, and having blocked shots.
He is tiny like Brahim, except that Brahim is overall a better player.
I was excited for Liberali but he has not fulfilled his potential; it does seem like his professional future is in a Serie B or equivalent team rather than in a major club from Serie A.
seriously he is 17 years old!
He’s 18 and will turn 19 this season.
He’s just on the smaller side physically, which is not an advantage when playing Football.
He has one year left in his contract and hasn’t been willing to extend his contract, reportedly he wanted first team football. He and his entourage believes he can get first team football already next season, so it’s a bit delicate situation. It’s unfortunate that in italy players under 17 is not allowed to be signed for more than 3 years.
Please don’t undermine our youth academy by selling Liberalli, he has magic in his boots
Let’s keep Okafor, he is very useful and will backup Leao.
I’d imagine Jimenez will start as our LWB now that Theo has been sold (really dumb).
Estupian looks backup material, not good enough in offense to be a wing back
Our midfield misses Tiji already, he would have loved to play with Ricci behind him
No Fofana was the best by holding the balls and accurate passes
It’s a shame Fofana is playing every game and is tired plus he didn’t have a preseason with us guys! We must have patience as he is talented 😂
I know it’s only a preseason friendly against a (with all due respect) small club, but Ricci is already looking very promising. Looking forward seeing him in action this season.
Sure, Milan is in for another Barella and perhaps another Tonali.
Perth goalkeeper teriblle display.
In general we are lvls above a team like Perth Glory but still nice pre season display.
He’s better playing for small club in Seria A while we hold a first option to buy back rather than dry loan so they can allow him to play knowing they lose nothing after his development.
I won’t read much into pre-season but the wins are good for confidence. It’s nice to see Leao drifting centrally more often and scoring (he is a very underrated header of the ball). It is still unclear what formation Allegri will settle on and which players will stay. The futures of Gimenez, Okafor, Musah, Chuk, Liberali, Bondo and Fofana are still up in the air especially if we sign Vlahovic and/or Jashari.
I don’t think there’s much to draw from this, as Perth seems like they would loose to the futuro but it’s a good opportunity for the youngsters nice to see a bunch of them out there
These player ratings are really really negative. Everything on this forum has been negative recently. Logical of course, but still. Today was a very solid performance. In Pioli or Conceicao era, even against Perth, it would never have been 0-9. Let’s finally bring back some positivity going into the new season.
For example: “He just oozes elegance. The passing was brilliant yet again, with a 100% (!) passing accuracy per the stats companies, but his movement also stood out a lot. Oh, and what a strike it was to find the back of the net! It’s clear he will be crucial this season.” (Rating a 7/10 😂). What’s that system 😂
The highest ever was i think a 8.5. Maybe a even 9. Does anyone have a statistics from the mods?
It’s quite ad absurdum to have a rating sistem from 0 to 10 if the range is exclusively from 4 to 8?
Chuk was definitely the engine in that first half. He did the right thing by stopping the ball before shooting cos if he had shot immediately and missed we would still be asking why didn’t he stop the ball first. Damn if you do damn if you don’t. lol. Great display all around. We would be foolish to sell Okafor or even Bondo. They’re all getting used to playing with each other and that’s fantastic. Our second 11 should be built like a first eleven too. Jashari and a right back is good enough for us to move forward. We can reevaluate during January window if another striker is truly needed.
I also like how Allegri has tried the players in different formations this early on and during preseason so the can get used to the in game changes if needed. Something Pioli never learned.
Overall good display from everyone. Waiting for that game against Chelsea and Leeds. lol.
I’m not impressed by Fofana not being in top shape. It’s the pre-season. Fofana will recover and will be helpful during the season. The same applies to Estupiñan who just joined; he needs time to gel.
Jimenez was phenomenal. As long as his duty is to support the offense and not to defend, he will be fine. Thankfully that’s exactly what Allegri said about him. Trying to improvise Jimenez as a full back doesn’t work as he is not a good defender. In offense though, the kid can be spectacular. The two-edged sword is that if Jimenez does very well this season, Real Madrid will exercise their buy-back option.
I disagree with giving Bartesaghi a pass. Sure, there was a very nice assist but otherwise he lost multiple balls and duels; pretty much the only good thing he did was that assist which for me was the exception rather than the rule.
I think Bartesaghi unfortunately is a very mediocre player and I’m not sure if it is fully explained by his youth. People think that just because someone is young, he has the potential to grow. Not all young players have that potential. Much the opposite; everywhere in worldwide youth soccer, thousands and thousands fail and only a handful become helpful players for senior teams in the main leagues. Bartesaghi may simply have a low ceiling and won’t really succeed. I hope I’m wrong but I’m afraid that I’m right.
Camarda and Torriani clearly have what it takes to succeed in the senior level for major clubs; as far as Bartesaghi goes, I doubt that he is as skillful as these two.
Bondo wasn’t nearly as bad as this rater here believes. He deserved more than 5.5. I’m hopeful that if he has an injury-free season and as he gets more playing time, he will pay off as a good midfielder for us. Last season he was injured for so long, that he couldn’t show his skills. It will take some time for him to get solid again after long injuries, but he does look helpful.
I thought that Magni and Dutu were very disappointing. They may also be young players who won’t pay off. Still, they haven’t had as many opportunities as Bartesaghi, so, we’ll see. It’s clearer that the latter has struggled despite many opportunities; these two, they did struggle in this pre-season friendly but it’s too early to pass judgment on them.
I’m glad that Musah, Chuk and Okafor did well; maybe they will find suitors in this summer window; we need to trim down the squad and I think all three aren’t very good; they can shine in friendlies but it’s another matter when they face tough competition in Serie A. Maybe their place in their career resides elsewhere.
It’s really encouraging how Ricci has played in this pre-season.
Rafa who usually has poor finishing, today finished very well in both goals he scored. I think Rafa is clearly more energized by Allegri’s trust. This could be a breakthrough season for Rafa, similar to how he did in the Scudetto season when Pioli trusted him. Rafa is not a very mature individual; he tends to do poorly when the coach doesn’t trust him (like Fonseca and Conceição didn’t). Rafa deals poorly with criticism and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when his performance drops in occasions when he is under criticism pressure. Instead, when he enjoys the trust of the head coach, he blossoms. Sure, that’s not very professional, but players are human beings and not all of them are psychologically stable and mature. Rafa seems to be someone who needs to be treated with white gloves for him to do well. That’s unfortunate but is the reality. The simple fact that Allegri has said that Rafa is central do his project and vision for Milan, resulted in Rafa playing much better and even helping the defense more efficiently.
Allegri is a much better coach than Fonseca and Conceição, so I’m moderately optimistic.
Leao’s central psychological issue was well analyzed here.
Starts some efootbal match untill we be sell Musah Ladies and Gentlemens thank you
Modric is coming soon😏 … If we get Jashari , Milan can fight for every cup
I’m glad we bought Ricci so Fofana can join the bench.
I see our new Pirlo in Comotto❤🖤
Gabbia (5.5): Perhaps the fact that he hasn’t played loads this pre-season made a difference, but he was unusually insecure in some moments. He didn’t always close down his man and the positioning was a bit all over the place. –
Why are you making excuses for him already? If he played bad, then just say so. not playing much in pre-season doesn’t make a player forget to close down his man and mess up his positioning.
There’s no need to make up excuses beforehand. If he did bad, then he did bad. Be objective here. He was the worst of the four CBs, that’s all.
Fofana will never be good. Him and Musah should be sold ASAP. Still time to get a proper Kessie replacement.