AC Milan failed to channel the energy from their clash against Verona at the weekend this evening. After what was a very poor performance, they walked away with zero points as Porto scored the winner in the second half.
Starting XI
Tatarusanu (5.5): You can’t blame him on the goal and overall he was decent for the Rossoneri in terms of stopping shots and positioning. However, his distribution was still painfully shaky although he succeeded most of the time.
Calabria (5.5): We have seen the right-back do a lot better this season, that’s for sure, as he struggled tonight to get into the game. Porto’s high press didn’t do him any favours and pace-wise he had to fight.
Kjaer (6): Kept things together at the back with his leadership and he was visibly upset with his teammates. He instructed them a lot but ultimately didn’t get loads of help in most situations which was a shame.
Tomori (5.5): It was strange to see the Englishman this evening as he didn’t look at all like himself. The first half was extremely shaky, as evidenced by a clumsy yellow card, and his rating would’ve been worse if it wasn’t for one crucial block.
Ballo-Toure (5.5): It was better than the game against Verona but it’s still very clear that he’s struggling in Milan’s system. Much like his opposite man, he wasn’t helped by the high press and the Rossoneri sure do miss Theo.
Bennacer (6.5 – MOTM): He was the only big positive for Milan this evening as he was everywhere during the game. Covered loads of ground and his performance deserved a better fate tonight. He should’ve had a free-kick before Porto’s winner.
Tonali (6): Decent display from him in both phases of the game, actually, but it’s hard for him to shine when the players up front can’t make anything of the balls.
Saelemaekers (5): It just didn’t happen for him this evening. He ran a lot, worked hard for the team, but ultimately didn’t have much success in either phase of the game. He can do much better, we all know that.
Krunic (5): He had a few smart plays and you can see that he’s often comfortable on the ball. He severely lacked end product, though, and his rating is above all hurt by the lost balls which came from sloppiness.
Leao (5.5): He tried many times to beat his man and he also succeeded on a few occasions. Had a wonderful cross for Giroud in the first half but the Frenchman opted to pass instead of going for goal. But still, Leao can do better.
Giroud (5): He had the aforementioned wrong decision and he also wasn’t in the game that much really. Lost the balls quite a lot and his presence wasn’t felt that much, to be honest. He was subbed off early on as well.
Substitutes
Ibrahimovic (5): Much like Giroud, there wasn’t any positive outcome for the Rossoneri. He tried his luck with a free-kick but it was way over the bar.
Romagnoli (5.5): Decent but also not better than most of the defenders and he didn’t play enough to get a rating as high as Kjaer.
Kalulu (4.5): He really struggled on the left and it was a weird decision by Pioli to take Ballo-Toure off, in that sense. Kalulu’s positioning wasn’t good enough and to be frank, he could’ve had a penalty against him.
Bakayoko (N/A): He came on after 76 minutes but we didn’t really see enough of him on the ball to give him a rating.
Maldini (N/A): Didn’t play enough to get a rating.
READ MORE – Porto 1-0 AC Milan: Rossoneri suffer damaging defeat after lacklustre performance
Saelemaekers the headless chicken needs to be dropped. You can’t run around and do nothing every game
My friend you need to watch more games if you think Saelemaekers does nothing every game.
It looked like Ballo-Toure had a better game than Tonali and Tomori. Not saying he did great or even good but those two were big disappointments in my opinion. Calabria and Tomori looked tired and overall the lads didn’t seem sharp. Zlatan clearly is not ready to play don’t know why he was put in and I would have rated him a 4 or a 3. Too many changes in the lineup and fatigue perhaps explains the lack of energy but it was a deserved loss even with the shaky call. Time to regroup, treat the remaining CL games as training sessions and focus on the league.
Yeah the defense did look tired. Kjaer played well. Ballo-Toure just can’t play in a back 4. I don’t know what happened to Tonali tonight. He didn’t look sharp at all besides being rested for this game. Krunic looked like his old self again, being sloppy as usual. And I don’t want to mention the headless chickens name.
Yeah in hindsight maybe a back 3 with BT as a WB may have allowed him to play to his strengths more. Idk it’s hard for me to blame anyone too much as it was a bad performance by the whole team. Even Leao and Bennacer weren’t at their best and those are the guys (along with Tonali) that need to offer a spark in games like these.
On the flip side I thought Bakayoko looked alright. He’s clearly not in game form but he looked strong and was involved in breaking up Porto’s play. Hopefully he stays healthy and get more in sync with the system.
I agree.UCL.is too good for our level.In fact I would suggest starting Maldini and Gabbia on the next game to give them experience at this level. We should use he last 3 games as tests for different systems and players…no need to waste effort in UCL when we are clearly not good enough.
this is what you get when using an average coach. Pioli only good in coaching young players. he depends heavily on his players. he doesn’t have enough knowledge about tactics and formation
Idk the game against Athletico Milan were tactically superior until the ref got involved. I do think his in game adjustments can improve but I’m not gonna bash the coach when he doesn’t even have enough available players to field a full squad. Milan are so depleted they only had 6 out of 7 subs.
LOL, here we go with the #Pioliout people. Nevermind we’re without a fit CF, starting LB, top CM, starting LW (yes it’s still Rebic), and starting (and only) AMC (big hole when you consider the system and lack of depth). Yes, we’re not Liverpool or Atletico, but we’re not nothing. We’re also off to our best start in the league in club history.
I really hate dumb fans like you who always quickly blame the coach when the team lost but didn’t praise the coach when the team won.
When you loose ur coach become and average coach but when you win he turns one of the best…injuries cost us a lot simple
I smell conspiracy against Milan in the champions leagues. I don’t know why we keep getting bad ref since the start of the group game,like tonight Porto’s goal should have been disallowed because there was foul on bennacer.
Give Pioli the right players and he will trophies. Simple
Maybe he could change the obsolete formation into the modern one following bigger match in the UCL.
Then how come he won zero trophies in his long Career? The Mediocre Pioli Coached Lazio, Inter, Florentina and Milan
So there is no excuse.
He is just not good enough. He is not a winner
Who is a winner coach without the players to back him up? Yesterday we had too many fundamental players missing to win. Conte? He is a winner but did nothing in the CL.. Klopp, Guardiola & Tuchel are great but backed with a star- studded team. Leave Pioli alone he has done a lot for our re-birth but the road is long.
I agree with you
Mate Pioli’s days are numbered
Watch this space!
Pioli is doing great, Milan simply had too many key players out and our depth is not good in some positions.
It was a decent game considering we had too many starters missing. We can’t fault Pioli for this loss in anyway at all. For all those saying we are not good enough for the ucl, we are actually very competitive. The boys only lack experience for now, as we could have managed all 3 games better, and come out with a point atleast in all matches, cause we lost by a goal margin from winning positions. Once again our signings let us down when we needed them, cause they were all injured or not fit enough. However, there is going to be a magical turnaround in the 2nd leg of these games. One thing i have learnt for the last 2 seasons about this new milan is that, we don’t lose to thesame team twice, in a two legged tie. It’s going to be bloody for all 3 teams in the next games, if we can manage to recover our full team.
Pretty sure
The whole team had a bad day in office but I think it is time we look for upgrade in right winger because Saelemaekers is just not it, just running all the field without meaningful impact and Krunic can’t be back up for Diaz, he was just lost throughout.
To mean Pioli has done fairly well, manager can make mistakes sometimes in formation and selection but generally he has done well with the players he has.
God of football has not been on our side in UCL, but in all Milan deserved to lose against Porto
I’m not surprised we lost and played poorly. Too many injuries too many games. Players looked tired. All were poor save for Bennacer. Krunic provided no playmaking, front line was lackluster. Even Tomori was poor which is shocking. This was a difficult game going in. Need to get healthy and recover. Put this game behind us and get a full squad back. We have a few games before the schedule gets difficult again. Have to hold on.
Do we still have a chance from this group ?
Yes, under some circumstances. Like if we win 3 games in a row and Liverpool win 2 games, and Porto win or draw Atletico.
Lack of squard dept made us loose this game and that’s what you get when you fail to fix key issues. Players look tired already. We are less then 10 matches into the season and our attack dept has suffer a combined 6 injuries, and we haven’t started league cup matches. I don’t just see this team doing a lot this season without reasonable dept, we need at least 3 good signings in the attack. It was frustrating to watch.
Completely shocked that Bennacer was given the MOM. Alright, he tried and tried, but he did not get anything right. He lost the ball all the time, and could not cope with the tempo of Portos game. Together with Calabria and Giroud, he was Milans worst player.
Why blaming Pioli, as good as Conte was, Inter did not make the second round last year. It’s not about Pioli, it’s about injuries, covid and irregular officiating from center referee and VAR officials. Pioli deserved praise and respect not blame.
Pioli is a coach,but I still maintain he lacks formation problems.
At the slightest change to his plan,he becomes disorganized.
Must you always insist on 4231,can’t he try the 352 or 442. Considering Salesamaker & leoa were abismal.
We all can now see the importance of Kessie.
Pioli understands Serie A but not Europe.
Krunic does have the sophistication in tight spaces to link up midfield and offense.
Credit to Porto who played well. But their goal was cheap, knocking our man off the ball.