AC Milan claimed three very impressive points at Santiago Bernabeu, even if Real Madrid were not at their best, and several players showed their top qualities. Below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out how we decide the player ratings. From the scale to what affects the rating, we have compiled everything there.
Starting XI
Maignan (7): He made two very good saves on Mbappe in the first half and then denied Diaz with a reflex save in the second, even if it was pretty much at it. In addition to this, he had great distribution (for the most part anyway), though one can perhaps ask questions about the clearance before Real’s disallowed goal. Nevertheless, a strong display.
Emerson Royal (5.5): He will be the only player without a pass tonight, i.e. a 6, and that is because the foul on Vinicius was so clumsy. A stonewall penalty, without a doubt, and one can understand why Fonseca doubled up with Musah. He did have one good cross for Leao later on, but the mistake was just so poor.
Thiaw (7): The German responded to his recent struggles in style with a fantastic header to open the scoring. He almost scored an identical one shortly after, clearly making the most of his size. Defensively, he was astute and made life very difficult for Real in the aerial duels.
Tomori (6.5): He struggled a bit to keep up with Mbappe, as you would expect, but aside from that he actually did well and kept the home side at bay for the most part. One heading clearance comes to mind, which set Leao up for a counter.
Hernandez (7): Wearing the captain’s armband, he worked tirelessly on the left flank and it was a perfect game for him, as he was constantly allowed space. He had several great runs forward, including a fantastic cross RLC should have converted, but the missed opportunity from Reijnders’ pass lowers the rating slightly. Still, very good.
Fofana (7.5): The Frenchman was very calm in possession and this was absolutely crucial for Milan, as he often – or rather almost always – offered a way out. The passing was also very good and he made sure to find Leao out wide, and the same with Pulisic. Defensively, his importance cannot be overstated.
Reijnders (8): He could easily have been given the MOTM here, not just because of the wonderful goal, but his constant runs up and down the pitch. It’s one thing to do this for 45 minutes, perhaps 60, but he did it throughout the game and that’s also why he got the goal in the 73rd. The passing was very good too, and he found the right areas to work in to open space for his teammates. The goal was sublime, no words to fully describe it.
Musah (6.5): Fonseca gave him a clear task and all things considered, the American handled his duties well and even showcased some good skill in possession. It was pretty standard overall but given the opposition, he deserves praise, and just missed out on a 7 here. Note: The rating has been revised to a 7 in our documents, so it will apply when we calculate the average at the end of the season.
Pulisic (7): Captain American assisted the first goal with (another) great corner and was involved in the second as well. In the second half, he continued to pick up the ball in good areas and had a 2v1 with Leao as a result, but both could have done more on that occasion. Still, goal involvements as always for him, though a couple of poor giveaways in defence that could have been costly.
Leao (8 – MOTM): He gets the MOTM here for one very simple reason: everything revolved around him. We all yearned for the X-Factor tonight and he certainly brought it, winning the corner for the first goal, forcing the goalkeeper to let out a rebound on the second, and then on the third it was wonderful combination with Reijnders. He also came very close to scoring himself with a lovely header. Sure, there were times he could do better, but his importance was evident tonight.
Morata (7): He continued on the Monza path, that is dropping down and adding value for the team in the build-up, but he also managed to find the back of the net. This is all we asked from him after the weekend’s game and it was indeed great awareness to convert the rebound. But then again, his combination play is really good.
Substitutes
Loftus-Cheek (6): Just about gets a pass here as he did okay overall, but the missed chance really could have made it a 5.5. On the other hand, he did well to even get there and the goalkeeper made a fine save too.
Abraham (6): The striker was definitely heading for a 5.5, having been sloppy in possession, but then he had a few defensive interventions in the end (including blocking an Mbappe effort with his head).
Okafor (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Calabria (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Pavlovic (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
If one told me before this game that this is what was going to happen, I would have shrugged it off. Not only this is a great game by us, but pretty much as close to a perfect game that you can get. I won’t calculate for tonight, take the 3 points and celebrate the win. Great job everyone.
Fonseca: Somehow, he did this Pioli thing when every time he seems close to being fired, he somehow pulls a rabbit out of the hat. Except that his time it was in Madrid against the best team in the world.
Maignan: aside from that miss pass in the end, huge game by him, kept us in key moments.
Emerson: Gifted a penalty to Vinicius, but outside of that, he did a good job. Probably his best game with us.
Thiaw: Good game by him and good job on the goal. Was positionally very good although he did have a hard time with Mbappe at times.
Tomori: Lost Mbappe a couple of times, but overall good game as well by him.
Theo: Was more defensively responsible this time around. He did however misplay a good counter attack for us in the beginning of the second half.
Musah: Was actually good and very energetic today. He was everywhere and was a handful for Madrid players. This is by far his best game with us.
Fofana: Wasn’t very active offensively but was crucial in maintaining our defensive shape.
Reijnders: Perhaps his best game since he came with us. Many great passes, great runs but was also available for his teammates. He is finally living up to the hype.
Pulisic: Pure class, nothing much to add. Has an assist, but also very involved in the second goal. He definetly is better as a winger. Also, he is becoming a very good set piece taker.
Morata: Did a great job in the midfield as usual, but finally managed to score a goal, so good job.
Leao: was absent for most of the games and missed 2 sitters, but was heavily involved in 2 goals and this has to be overall considered to be a good game by him.
Abraham: Blew some good opportunities but helped defensively:
Loftus-Cheek: Didn’t give much when subbed in.
Most websites had us lined in a 4-3-3 but it looks like a 5-4-1 defensively with Musah dropping as a RWB and Emerson as a third CB. With the 4-4-2 this is the second time that Fonseca cooked something weird that ended up working although I think this one is more sustainable than a 4-4-2. The common point though is relying on counter attacks.
I told you all cause i know the best
bb
4 November 2024, 18:24 at 6:24 pm
We will not lose this , our players will be all horny on Real and will give their best,but after this they will lose vs cagliari 99% ,that is mentality of losers,i expect good old theo and leao vs real but after this they will convert to lazy snails again
did you all seen our captain calabria 😂😂😂what a clown as always ,he came in fresh in 85′ and tired vinicius made fool out of him twice in 3 minutes 🤣🤣🤣
You’ve never played sport in your life. Dude just came back from a long injury
@IKW ,you never watched calabria in your life,dude plays like that 90% of his games,and 40 days isn’t that looong injury
Again….HE JUST CAME BACK FROM INJURY. If you’ve ever come back from an injury to play a game against Joe schmoes you’d know much less play against the best players in the world ofc you’re going to look extra rusty.
Also I put this on the coach too. This is not the game to give him many minutes, the stakes were too high. Same thing he did the last time with Calabria who reaggravated the injury. His last meaningful minutes were Sep 17. A whole two months of not playing. That’s not a minor knock
“40 days isn’t that long long injury”
What?🤣
95′ *
I agree with your analysis more than the articles author. Musah showed up and along with Fofana, Reijnders & Pulisic did a great job moving the ball.
Leao had some good moments but wasn’t MOTM. I think we’re definitely better with him on the pitch and I’m glad he played more defense tonight but he also was dispossessed very easily at times. I’m glad the ball distribution is finally evening out instead of always going down the left because I think we want Pulisic involved with the play buildup.
I saw many 3-1 predictions before the game but none had us on the winning side. Enjoy this tonight.
Reijnders has to be MOTM, a calm, cultured and classy display in midfield, not many go to Madrid and run the show , his stock rose tonight, Leao played very well but even scoring one of his three chances makes it an easier night for us…
Totaly agree!A guys is incredible….he had 52 passes in game…all good ones…pass rate was 100%!!!Each attack he was in front,each defense he wa back,his game reading was perfect……he is incredible good.I truly hope ACM is going ot bind him for long.Most intelligent player at the moment at ACM by far
He was always a next level player but many here held the lack of goals against him. Well, now he’s doing both.
It wasn’t the lack of goals but rather him playing in a bit of shy and passive way, like his passes were always accurate but didn’t bring much.
Yesterday he did everything you want a midfielder to do, he carried the team forward, playing dangerous long balls and had a big presence.
He’s been doing that for a while now, but if it doesn’t lead to a a goal creation or a scoring chance, people floss over it. Reijnders’ “calcio verticale” has always been the best/only one on this team.
Forza Milan
Fcuk yea fcuk yea fcuk yea
Yesssss. What did I say??
Don’t bring this loser mentality when playing top teams. That’s when your best should come out. Remember the 3-2 with Pirlo and Pato. Remember Alcocorn or however it’s spelt. We could beat them. I know we can. Belief is half of it. When that UCL anthem blares and you’re playing the best, that’s when you should be at YOUR BEST. Absolutely brilliant win. I’m so ecstatic!!. 10s all around I don’t care lol 😂.
You were so right, my friend! I’m glad that after the points you made in that other thread when I was all doom and gloom, I declared that I had changed my mind and would allow myself to hope. Forza Milan!
Great stuff bro!!!! I’m glad you changed tune. Sometimes the positivity puts one over. I don’t know what it was but I just had that feeling (also won $60 from a $10 bet lol 🤣 ). Before the game I even went to look at that 3-2 back in the day again…..super underdogs then, same now. Football is beautiful like that 😁
So happy for the team, so happy for the boys
What an amazing win tonight, Musa did his job well, Morata is a good hustler off the ball, I don’t think any other player would have been in that position to score.
At this point RCL shouldn’t be playing any matches, use an academy player or better still just let us play 10 against 11, cus the dude just manages to disappear always.
Forza Milan
Those are the kind of tap in rebounce Jovic and so sometimes Okafor had been scoring.. lol
Royal was great tonight yes he gives penalty but for penalty blame is on Theo too, you can’t pass like that…how Royal was good we saw when Calabria came in he was dribbled more time in 5 minutes thsn Royal in almost 90 minutes.
Lol Royal went against Viny once and he made a penalty. Thru the rest of the game Musah was doubling Viny.
Agree, Theo misplaced a pass that forced Emerson to face two Madrid players.
Sure he caused the Penalty, but if Theo hadn’t misplaced that pass, the situation wouldn’t have happened. That aside, Emerson actually played very well.
Buddy relax. He had 1 job to do and failed, and then kusah had to spend the entire game holding his hand. He’s easily the weakest link in the club
Leao motm? The fúck?
you are that pathetic leao hater . i remember you haha
I’m not pathetic
You are
NO U
He does nothing but complain regardless of the result. He will always find a negative. Just pathetic
What is really pathetic, is flyingturtle saying that he is not pathetic, LOL
Infinity stupid. Where am I complaining?
WHERE?
You stupid fúck. I hope you get cancer and drop dead
OooooooMG kid relax. Dayumn…
Wish yourself and loved ones well being and happiness instead.
I didn’t know you are THAT low
Lol this much hatred on a Milan win over RM? DAYUM son. Take yo meds.
Milan4lyf hating on a stupid commentator on this site is not the same as hating on my ac milan.
Get your ducks in a row you buffoon. Dumb fúck
When Paul talks against Peter we learn more about Paul than about Peter. Your incredibly low-brow comment against the “Unpopular Opinion” poster here doesn’t do you any favors. I pity you for looking even more pathetic when you do stuff like that. Not to forget the comments “I’m not pathetic” – “You are” “NO U” – what is this, recess time at the elementary school??? Grow up. When several posters start telling you “kid relax” “son, take your meds” you might have an interest in reviewing your general attitude here, assuming that you even have the capacity for this kind of introspection.
But hey, I understand how upset you must be, given Rafael Leão’s phenomenal performance and his high scores and MOTM mentions from several web sites and newspapers, and the comments about him by his teammates Alvaro and Theo, and from the official AC Milan website. So, bad day for you, huh?
Do you need us to contact the authorities where you live on your behalf, to provide for some sort of suicide watch? If you do, please send details and we’ll try to help. You know, trying to help, but feel free to lash at me too (I couldn’t care less) if that helps you handle your pain, today.
Huge win for this team. Great job by all the players, even Emerson. It was Theo’s terrible pass that put him in that position in the first place.
Where are all the haters that were calling Fonseca a clown ? And that we were going to get destroyed today? You know who you are. He just beat Real Madrid in the Champions League at the Bernabeu. Along with beating Inter already this season. Maybe it’s possible he knows more than you clowns?
Great performance Leao. Exactly what we need from you.
TWO assists. Constant threat … this is why he has to start games …
Two assists?
The shot at GK that Morata turned in is considered an assist according to rules. That and the assist to Reijnders.
Oh I didn’t know the shot was considered an assist. My bad.
Great, so Rafa by now has accumulated 7 or 8 goal participations, this season, all competitions – Serie A, UCL and Nations League (1 goal and 7 assists, I think; not certain, could be 6 assists) . Well deserved! Second only to Puli (despite Rafa’s fewer minutes) and I won’t be surprised if by season end, he catches up to Puli, especially if Fonseca stops the silly war against him and the unwise sitting of him on the bench.
And that’s the player the haters here keep saying that he doesn’t contribute, LOL.
Not that I’d mind if Puli remained ahead. The more, the better. It’s great for Milan to have BOTH Puli and Rafa producing lots of goal participations.
Emerson 6.5 he made a good macht
Forza Milannnnnn n
Whoever rated Mike 7 and Musah 6.5 is out if their god damn mind, doesn’t know what their talking about, or watched a different game. The players did so well, and you slap them with mediocre ratings. Shame!!! GTFO, apologize or never rate milan games again. CORRECT THE RATING
Agree!
AMEN
The sad thing is Calabria, he looked slower than Billy Costacurta at 41 at RB in our last Champions League winning season
Calabria is returning from as long lay off. Unfair.
It’s not unfair my friend. He didn’t look good last season either and i was a big voice for him over Di Lorenzo for us in the Euros. I’m afraid the injuries have caught up to him.
Yeah but the problem with Calabria is he doesn’t seem to understand the basics of help defense. Twice he had a defender helping him to the inside. So the idea should be to force the player inside, the one thing you can’t do is get beat to the outside there and he got beaten to the outside twice. I don’t get it. Use the help dude.
I think the help defence is correct but he hasn’t formed chemistry with the help player yet (you have to be in tandem with them/gain trust)….plus the rust as ACM suggested
Did I just watch Milan come together as a team in all phases of the game??? In a 433 that we have all been calling for? Sitting deep and countering???
Could Fonseca have finally discovered the winning formula? Was Leao instrumental today allowed to do what he’s good at?! Was Reijnders absolutely next level today? Did Musah finally find his calling?
Unbelievable! FORZA MILAN ⚫️🔴
Mussa block Vinicius.
This guys just extended fonseca stay… A splendid performance… Next match, we are back to our usual struggles against a team who sits back and let us have the ball. I wanna smoke whatever Sporting Lisbon had tonight 😇
Reijinders is sheer class, period. As I never tire of pointing out, a superiorly intelligent player can make all the difference, and this boy is gifted not only with fine technical skills, but also with a remarkable vision of the game. Besides that, he’s tactically aware too.
💯
True, he’s on of our best players by far. Explains why Barcelona and City wanted him
Probably the most mature Milan performance in a decade.
They didn’t steal a win from Real but they dominated them for about 80 of the 90 minutes. Outside of one moment of foolishness by both Theo and Emerson, Real did absolutely nothing all game long.
Great performance by everyone.
The introduction of Musah was a masterstroke by Fonseca. He was great in defense.
Very good game by Leao. He was more present in the penalty area which led to the 2nd goal and then had a great header but Lumin made great save. He also pressed, tracked back, and defended. When everyone defends Milan does very good defensively.
Hopefully after a win like this everyone can finally buy in and all can start pulling in the same direction.
Great win boys.. Excellent game of football
I don’t know how Theo’s game was perfect when he was looking at Brahim heading the ball all alone in front of Maignan. Terrible mistake by him and it could cost us dearly. He was not at the level of a 7. Emerson is punished with a 5.5 for a mistake when the rest of the game he was great and also put a perfect cross for Leao. More objectivity would be great here
This guy loves Theo. It’s always a great rating no matter what. He did let Brahim run right by him for a free header, and he did give the ball away that lead to Emerson’s penalty. Who cares give him a 7.
True, and that mistake was also awful. We were unbalanced and Emerson made that mistake. Theo was not that good today, other than the run for the RLC miss
Theo is always more dangerous attacking than reliable defending.
Yep I agree Theo gets too much benefit of the doubt, idk why Isak rates defenders solely on offensive output but Theo is one of our biggest liabilities on the back side. The guy just can’t mark to save his life, always ball watching. I know he pushes up often so will be behind they play sometimes but even when there’s time to get back he’s prone to allowing to much space and time
He improved in 1 vs 1 but the guy is lazy when he needs to cover spaces when balls come from the other side
Sooo. The same Reijnders that didn’t know how to score or hold the ball under Pioli is now doing wonders and someone here was trying to lecture us that Fonseca hasn’t improved most of these players right ? Y’all must be kidding me if you’re not seeing improvements under Fonseca. I continue to say it, LET THE MAN COOK! Great win! Great passing! Great tactics!
Musah (6.5): Fonseca gave him a clear task and all things considered, the American handled his duties well and even showcased some good skill in possession. It was pretty standard overall but given the opposition, he deserves praise.
Wow – did he see the game?
Musah marked out Vini Jr.
Did I mention Vini Jr?
He and Emerson were terrific on the right. I hope we see this 532/433 more in the coming weeks.
I would only want to see this setup more if we can get the right wing to 75% offensive as the left wing. I don’t want us going back to depending on a wing alone for a miracle every game while the other wing stays docile in attack but just there for defense. After few games, other teams would start responding with more defensive play on our left wing knowing that’s our focus as the right wing won’t trouble them.
Musah was fantastic? What were you watching?
Musah had a good game. Better than anything we’ve seen out of him thus far. This is a good position for him. 3 man middle.
Marking somebody out of the game is one of Musah’s greatest skills.
He had done that at the World Cup against Bellingham, when the USMNT played England, and people then marveled at how Musah had made Bellingham just disappear.
I’ve always thought Musah was at his best in a defensive mid role, because when he is in an offensive role is when things go haywire, because he doesn’t make good decisions on what to do with the ball and often just disappears .
If you give him a simple assignment – mark this X player out of the game, period, he has all the physical tools, the quickness, the ball skills, the tremendous physicality, to do that against the very best players in the world, and he doesn’t have to think too hard about what to do with the ball or where he should be on the field, so he can’t disappear or make too many bad decisions with the ball.
You hit the nail on the head. Much like how JS Park was told to mark pirlo against man u. I could give Musa a 10! He did 💯 of what the coach wanted him to do. Close down the right lane.
Same way Gattuso marked out Ronaldo fot Oddo at Old Trafford… with that kaka solo goal coliding Henze and Evra
ha, i didnt want to use the gattuso example. Gattuso is gattuso. had to use a lesser player. lol.
I was very very impressed with Musah in this game. the role suited his skill set
A great win today ! Leao, Reijnders & Maignan were the best but the whole team played very well and should have scored two more.
I think Musah & Thiaw deserve the plaudits after so many criticized them and said they were not even good substitute players. Well done boys.
Theo was very good today but nobody mentioned his horrible loose pass that Royal messed up later in trying to recover.
Forza Milan !,I still don’t know what to make of Fonseca .
If that was scored directly. Theo’s rating should be a 3. Only an idiot makes that kind of pass – and STANDS to watch the chaos he has unleashed. Defensively, Theo is a weak link. The matches we lost against inter during pioli’s time, showed both our flanks were porous. that poor pass allowed vini to put in his most significant run in the whole game.
Also, I think reijnders for me was definitely the MOTM before Leao, but even if Leao frustrate us sometimes, he was decisive. I disagree but it is a respectable decision
Reijnders and Miagnan were phenomenal.
Absolutely awe inspiring. Reijnders MOTM for me.
Brilliant win from the boys. Actually played Real. At a while I was afraid that sitting and countering would spell doom, because real found passes into the box effectively.
But Miagnan kept a cool head and the boys turned it around. Pulisic was great, leao woke up, musah worked his ass off, Theo held so strong real focused on Emerson’s side of the pitch more like he was the weak link.
This win was unbelievable. Just phenomenal.
P.s conspiracy theory here did Don Carlo deliberately sabotage his midfield by not playing camavinga and tchouameni and Valverde from the beginning to give them strength 🤣😅😂😁.
But Really FORZA ROSSONERI
FORZA DIAVOLO
FORZA 🔴⚫. MILAN FOREVER
Maybe it’s time to go fetch Tonali for his next gambling scandal, seeing that he is now a bench player. A midfield 3 with Reijnders-Tonali-Fofana is mouthwatering
I still haven’t forgiven him for dragging our countrys name through the mud though.
EPL CLubs, especially those with Billionaire/Gazillionaire owners, tend to buy players for 100M and then sell them on for 30M-40M!
Maybe we can get Gerry to loosen the purse strings just once?
Checkmate by Fonseca to Carlo no less! And with inter-esque tactics! Lol!
Amazing performance by the boys, especially until the 75 minute. Everyone in the starting lineup brought his a game, and we were the better team on the field overall. Against real f’ing madrid! Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!
Extra shoutout to Mussah who deserves a MOTM on his outstanding performance. And Power Reijnders? Amazing. But also everyone else, including Emerson. Bravo
We have a good record against Madrid, regardless of their stars. The coach deserves credit for the lineup, and the way they played. I was excited when I saw Musah in the probable lineup. He did a great job tonight, and deserves a higher rating. Mike, for me, is one of the best in the world. A lot depended on Leao tonight, and he delivered. Morata, Emerson, Theo, Pulisic, Tomori, Thiaw, Reijnders, Fofana, all did well. I hope we can continue from here, in the league. Forza Milan!!! What a night!
Much like the derby, it’s a great result with great performances all around. Credit to all the players and Fonseca. I would argue Mike and Pulisic deserve higher ratings but I want to focus on Leao. It was a great response after all the criticism (exaggerated in my opinion). He played with a lot of energy and showed better movement without the ball, drifting into the middle and getting on the end of moves. On to the next game. Forza Milan!
The penalty is Theo’s fault with a horrible pass. If Royal does not tackle Vinicius scores 90%.
more like 100%
Only the English commentators talk like that about Mike. See how quiet they went about the invisible Bellingham. They will always try to talk down Italian teams, because our coaches are the most successful in their league, we have more success in Europe and on the International stage. It’s nothing new, just don’t watch the game in English.
True! I agree!
The commenters said the Italian league standard has dropped at one point. So Italian teams doing well in Europe the past seasons isn’t enough for them. They talk a load of bollocks
Mbaps does have much fun against Milan does he? 😂 Real were poor but that’s taking nothing away from us. The desire and intensity was there which is half the battle. I don’t get why they’re so unmotivated and disjointed against the smaller teams so often when they have it in them to play like this. Just like Pioli’s Milan…. Anyway let’s enjoy the win and see what happens against Cagliari 😅 🖤❤️
Maybe it’s an issue of motivation? It’s puzzling. Another issue is that we always play better against teams that take the game to us, thus giving us space, as opposed to the bottom feeders who park the bus in a low block. But it is extremely frustrating to beat Inter and Real but then lose to Parma and struggle to beat Monza. Given that all games are worth the same 3 points, we definitely need to improve against the small teams, in order to aspire at winning some trophies.
Milan always play down to the opposition. Even the great Milan of 2000’s… same story.
Musah deserves a higher rating. It sounds like a solid plan to me if we play 5-2-3 routinely with Musah and Theo as wingbacks. Fofana + Reindeer seems solid to me. With this squad, we won’t have to play Emerson and RLC, who are the weaker links. Thoughts?
Where to start? I think the ratings here are actually not very generous because this was the best Milan we’ve seen since the Scudetto. Almost everybody did very well, especially considering against whom we played, and where we played tonight.
Let’s start by the three best: co-MOTM for me were all three: Maignan, Reijnders, and Leão. I would give all three a score of 8.5. Maigan for at least 4 superb stops that kept us in the game and ultimately were as fundamental for this win as the goals scored by his companions. Reijnders for a golazo and an otherwise tremendous display in midfield, very creative. Leão for participation in all 3 goals and a 4th was denied to him by one of the best saves of the season, right at the corner between the crossbar and the post. Sure, Rafa also botched a couple of attacks that should have been scores but that’s OK when you participate in all 3 goals of a 3-1 victory. I hope that this performance convinces Fonseca that Leão is a MUCH better player than Okafor, and this silliness of sitting him to start Okafor ends right here, right now. It’s interesting to see that other sites are also giving to Rafa the MOTM. His excellent display tonight was a consensus among everybody who understands the game. We know, though, that certain posters here will pretend otherwise. Oh well, we don’t need to pay much attention to those posters.
Very close to these top 3, deserving of an 8, also excellent although slightly less impressive than the top 3, they were: Fofana who sucked up the ball every time it got any close to where he was, and had some clinical flicks. Tremendous; kept disrupting Madrid’s flow. Morata who scored clinically (finally, inside the box when he’s needed there!) and was otherwise running all over the place too, and getting a well-deserved revenge over the Madrid fans who kept booing him.
Now, the folks who had 7.5: Pulisic, great assist, helped in the second goal too, and was unselfish when he passed to Rafa who botched it; Puli could have scored himself as his finishing is generally better than Rafa’s. Thiaw, scored, and didn’t make a single mistake. Definitely he deserves a bit more than the 7 that the rater here gave him. You can’t ask much more of him after what he did tonight against Real’s world-class offense, and he even got a goal! This is a player who has by now recovered from some of his past gaffe-prone performances. Theo again was dynamic, defended, attacked, was generally very good; he’s getting back to form as he always does (the people who kept bashing him at season start when he was off match-form were a bit silly). Also, Theo seems to have, at least for now, stopped with the aggressive dissent that has earned him yellows and reds.
Then, with a 7: Tomori who did miss a couple of duels but otherwise hasn’t played this well since the Scudetto. Musah with one of his best displays ever for Milan, helping with defense and interrupting a number of efforts by Madrid. Not as effective in offense but against Madrid’s powerful offense, we needed him more to help Emerson than to help Puli, Rafa, and Morata. So, mission accomplished.
A 6 for Emerson. He could have had his best game for Milan if not for committing the PK. But then he did improve and with Musah’s help, he became more defensively effective, had more decent positioning than his usual, and produced a formidable cross for Rafa. So, I’d still give him a pass despite the PK.
RLC, 5, missed a sitter that you just can’t miss. This playing is failing and we should consider selling him. Okafor, 5.5, didn’t do anything. Calabria, 5, got smoked twice despite having played so few minutes which is impressive the other way around. Milan is right about not renewing Calabria’s contract. Pavlovic, s/v, I didn’t see enough of him to give him a rating.
No one in his right senses will argue against Leao being a more talented and pacy player than Okafor. However, does it take a player with a champion mentality to be benched to produce performnces like this? you conveniently gloss over the times he ran the ball into the corner flag and could not control a cross field pass from thiaw that would have started an amazing counter, then laugh it off and give a thumbs up? did you see any madrid player smiling after a misplaced control or pass? they took their jobs seriously.
We all hope and pray leao sustains his form and his defensive contributions like he did in this game. He was found excellently blocking passing lanes just outside or box during the game. which is what fonseca has been asking him to do all along.
For MOTM it should be Tijjani or Maignan. simple.
The blame for the penalty is squarely on theo, not anyone else. you dont make a lazy space into space in front of your box and stand idly by. Emerson was forced into that tackle, he is no Nesta but should not have been put into that situation in the first place.
Your rating for Loftus cheek is spot on, he offers no creative outlet and does not crave the ball like Tijjani does. he just fills the gaps and interrupts play.
So now Rafa is being bashed for playing with a smile again??? Sure, MOTM for Tijjani or Mike, I agree and I said that too, but Rafa is a very worthy co-MOTM as well (just look at how he was rated by professional journalists everywhere, like I listed in another post here, further down this thread), together with them, and his smile doesn’t take anything away from his excellent performance; yes, he botched a few balls like I said, but was also decisive when it mattered.
So, the Real players were not smiling, that means they are more professional? What kind of opinion is that??? They were angry and increasingly discombobulated, because Milan were dominating the game and leading at their home, in a moment when they were reeling from the Ballon D’Or fiasco and the defeat in El Clasico; they were eager to respond on the pitch but they were unable to bounce back and score, except on a PK. THAT’s why they weren’t smiling. Actually they were so increasingly angry, collecting late yellows, that they risked a red which might have happened if that ref were a bit less lenient. If you say I “conveniently glossed” over Rafa’s botched plays, then you are “conveniently glossing” over the numerous opportunities wasted by Real’s players.
You are right about Theo. Like I said in subsequent posts, when I posted this first one – this one you are responding to, with my ratings – I overlooked Theo’s responsibility for the PK, so I should have knocked down his rating a little; I have already acknowledged it. But do realize that other than that, Theo did do a good job in other moments of the game. And yes, Emerson is not to be exclusively blamed for the PK, but hey, he still committed it. However, I did give him a pass and I did say that if not for the PK, he would have had his best game for Milan.
Yes, RLC is failing and I think we should sell him. By now, I have very little hope that he will improve; that’s his ceiling and it’s not good, and one of the reasons I continue to be suspicious of Fonseca despite the great victories against Inter and Real, is Fonseca’s propensity to give a lot of minutes to RLC. That, definitely needs to change for me to start trusting Fonseca a bit more; it’s bad judgment from the head coach to start RLC. He needs to realize that RLC is just not as good as the other midfielders and should only play in the context of an injury crisis or exhausted players that need a sub. I wouldn’t start RLC in any game, and would sell him at the first opportunity, if another club is silly enough to want him.
Well I’m sorry to say I was on the side of the road with a busted gear box.
So I saw the last 25 mins or so live and highlights.
Oh how it cheered my weary soul to follow the score updates.
Great achievement by the team.
Real are clearly having a tricky time, so we won’t get carried away, but it’s a huge confidence builder.
I’m very glad Thiaw stayed with us and sorry Kalulu left, we had and still have some excellent young players who should not be discarded after injury/form issue.
Give time and faith to the youth and sprinkle in some magic, thats always the route to success.
I’m happy for the many passionate fans here, Forza Milan regazzi!!
I forgot to rate the coach.
Mister Fonseca: OK, this time he got everything right, both collective and individually. I think we should just switch permanently to 4-3-3 and/or 3-4-3 (at times we even defended with 5). This has been our best tactical game of the season, effectively dominating the best team in the world. This Milan can beat anybody, if we play like this.
However, the way we’ve been schizophrenic, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fonseca restarts some stupid thing of sitting Rafa against Cagliari, starting Okafor, starting RLC, and so forth, and we lose to Cagliari. I would even change my mind about Fonseca if he displayed some capacity to learn from both his mistakes and his strikes of genius. I have the impression that he is too up-and-down and goes from good ideas to terrible ideas without setting for something more consistent. As of now the jury remains out on Fonseca despite this excellent display tonight, because if he is able to pull this off against Ancelotti (and did it too against Inzaghi), he should be able to pull it off too against much weaker competition, and he just hasn’t done that yet. We don’t need to be losing to Parma, struggling to beat Monza, stuff like that. And he definitely needs to stop his silly war against Rafa.
So, tonight an 8 but overall, season-long, still at best a 6 if not 5.5; Fonseca does need to improve to earn my trust. That he showed tonight that he CAN be tactically sound but often isn’t, is exasperating, and it needs to end.
———-
Two issues about refereeing: Vini Jr should have been shown a yellow for simulation when he tried to dive for a PK; disgusting behavior by Vini; and right in the first few minutes Real should have collected a straight red for a reckless foul on Morata, studs out, dangerously hitting him on his chin. That the ref completely ignored it and didn’t even show a yellow was a disgrace. He later showed a yellow to Fofana for a foul that was 10 times milder than that. I hate this inconsistency.
Relax. Fonseca will sort stuffs out in one way or the other. Doesn’t necessarily have to be with starting the star names in every match even when others are better motivated and also having good enough skills to do the job.
No one will have issues regularly seeing Leao if he would keep up tonights liveliness. Have even seen him a few times attentively talking instructions with his colleagues and looking happy working together in both phases.
Perhaps that’s the kind of involvement the coach’s been asking from him and not necessarily scoring goals. And maybe the treatment in the past weeks was the result of his fine performance tonight.
Agreed Vini was a disgrace but the refereeing was great. Non of those were red.
Relax man
And enjoy the victory!
Exactly, no one would dare bench Leao, if he played consistenly like this. Champions dont choose in which matches they want to play. they play well irrespective of who the opponent is. you dont play excellently against madrid and go back to your antics against low table teams.
has leao turned a new leaf? i sure hope so.
has Fonseca found his magic touch? I pray so everyday.
Theo 7 and Musah 6.5??? Seriously???? You must love Theo that much. If other player did that mistake leading to the penalty, you would had given him 5. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Theo, but please BE OBJECTIVE! Musah did very well tonight and should had gotten 1 (one, not half) point higher than Theo.
Forgot also to mention, Maignan got the same point as your beloved Theo??? Seriously, dude??? He conceeded only from penalty kick, which initiated by Theo’s fault. Please, please be objective. Again, I don’t hate any player in Milan (not Theo, not Leao, not anybody), but Maignan and Musah were beast tonight.
I know you are talking to the official rater here, not to me, but I must say that I also rated Theo highly in my rating post above, however I did forget about that mistake. Yes, his rating should go down a bit because of that mistake. On the other hand, I do feel that otherwise, he played well. And yes, Musah had one of his best games with Milan’s jersey and deserves a high rating (which I did give to him).
Yes, I am talking about this Isak guy, who cherry picking about rating, and slightly reducing my happiness tonight on how he doesn’t appreciate some of our players. Theo was good, but not that good. He led to the penalty, and also let Brahim nearly scored, which was saved tremendously by Maignan. Theo was good in attacking but often still shaky in defence, and he is a defender. The author pointed out about Maignan clearance to justify his lower rating, which actually didn’t cost us game, while Theo’s mistake make us conceeded. Not to mention, Maignan did multiple saves. And I see the author add “just missed a 7” afterward (not in initial released article) to Musah, again to justify whatever he thinks. The author doesn’t care Musah did a good job covering Royal in defence, and being so confodent by making several good runs.
About your rating, I rarely express my disagreement about rating by fans, because it is a comment from fans. But for this so-called author, I expected better judgement, he should be more objective, and not mislead the fans.
I agree 100% with everything you just said. Good post!
it is sad…and I don’t know why I haven’t found a different website to find more objective articles, but Musah could score 5 goals and he still wouldn’t get a higher than a 7 or wherever they place Fofana.
Agreed. It is probably simply due to Musah being American. Remember how the official rater here was always saying that Pulisic “should have done more” even in games when Puli was extremely decisive? Remember when people called Puli a “Chelsea reject” and said he was being signed just because the owner is American and wanted jersey sales in the United States? Well, Puli certainly made all these people shut up, and his formidable performances have earned him a lot of praise now, to the point that many people do see him now as AC Milan’s current best player and our best recent signing (such a bargain for 20M!!!). I think Puli now qualifies for being world-class.
Now poor Musah is collecting the anti-American hatred now that Puli just can’t be credibly blamed (“OK, we can’t bash one of the Americans; let’s bash the other one”), and Musah is being rated less well than he deserves.
In my opinion, what happened to Musah is that he was completely mismanaged by Pioli. He was played in six different positions by Pioli, and he is still very young; it was hard for him to learn the skills of ONE preferred position and grow into it, as he was constantly displaced to different positions.
In a way, Fonseca is still doing a bit of it to Musah… but definitely less than Pioli used to do. And let’s acknowledge it, Musah is indeed being less of a ball hog that doesn’t finish his plays and keeps dribbling until he loses the ball. Now he is passing sooner, and that’s something Fonseca has asked of him (I remember Fonseca mentioning it in one of the interviews a while ago). So, unsurprisingly, Musah is improving.
This role Fonseca asked of him this game – “go help Emerson with containing Vini Jr; go be a 5th defender” did work very well and like I said, Musah had his best game with the Milan jersey, and against such a world-class team like Real Madrid.
So, yes, Musah continues to have potential, which is another thing that Fonseca has declared about him, when people complained that Musah was a bust and should be sold: “no, he has enormous potential.” He does, and he is slowly improving like I’ve been saying in my ratings over the last several games, and yesterday night that was even clearer than before.
Go Musah!
This said, we don’t need to decrease Fofana’s rating in order to praise Musah. Fofana has been very good and very important to the team. Yesterday he shielded the defense a lot. Fofana’s work is not flashy and he is a quiet guy. But he is very effective and he has great games much more often than not, now that he is match-fit unlike at the very beginning of the season when he joined late without benefitting from a pre-season.
See, Fofana was put in the freezer by Monaco and wasn’t even practicing with the team while the long saga of his transfer played out. Then he changed league, team, and coach. Of course it would take a while for him to find his footing. He has done that now, and he is playing very well most games (like everybody, he is allowed a bad day here and there, but generally he has been very good).
Yes, I’m for increasing the rating that Musah deserves, but I’m not for lowering the rating that Fofana deserves. Not that this is what you are saying, but I just want to be clear about it. Forza Musah, but also, forza Fofana!
It’s purely out of trying to maintain balance…if Musah was caught up field or out of position giving Maldini three open shots on goal…he is called unintelligent and positionally poor, whereas Fofana gets the ‘grew into the game’ treatment and a solid rating. I like Fofana, but I don’t think hes had more good games than bad and I worry that his timing is just a step late and hasn’t improved for how he wants to play. We lose ball winning with him which is a big source of chances for Leao (at least it was last year)…so yes, he is solid, but I suppose the role he is playing (maybe the coaches fault more than him) keeps weaker teams in games that should be comfortably 2-3 goals up with more aggression and leave Reijnders a lot of work to do. I mostly agree with Fofana getting the benefit of the doubt except that it iced musah who had an assist in the first game and was playing his best ball. Musah had the same situation last season getting there very late and his first start was a 0-0 draw at Dortmund which should have been a win…he didn’t get those excuses. But as you said. He is “American” and despite growing up in Italy before academy in London and then Spain, he has to be perfect.
Sure, Fofana didn’t have a good game against Monza, but then, who did? Most of our players were very bad against Monza. I still feel that overall, if you take out the first 3 games before match fitness, Fofana has had more good games than bad games.
But yes, I’m liking Musah a lot too, these days, and I regret that he still collects a lot of hatred and people don’t acknowledge how much he’s improving.
The American thing: Musah was even accused here of being an NFL running back rather than a football player! That betrays the prejudice, like he was an American football player other than a football (soccer, calcio) player. Yes, Musah used to run a lot and accomplish little, but this has been clearly changing, and the haters haven’t acknowledged it yet. Yes, his childhood/teen training is European and he speaks very good Italian but he still collects prejudice as an American.
Some people just can’t come up with the realization that the United States does produce some fine football players from time to time, several of them being starters or at least frequent subs for many European teams.
One of these days, someone here said that Pulisic is only good at football because he is Croatian, not American. LOL, Pulisic’s paternal grandfather was Croatian, but his paternal grandmother wasn’t (she was actually Italian-American), and both his maternal grandfather and grandmother weren’t (his mother’s entire side of the family has been in America for generations). Puli’s father and mother were both born and raised in America, and Puli was also born and raised in America, a country where many genuine Americans have European roots. Having one out of four grandparents being Croatian doesn’t make of Puli any less of an American. Sure, on paper Puli does have dual citizenship American and Croatian, but he applied for that more to be able to be considered an European Union player rather than extra-communitarian which makes players less eligible for certain trades and lists. His Croatian citizenship on paper doesn’t make of him not American.
Me, that doesn’t bother me at all, and I appreciate our two American players.
Honestly it doesn’t even matter to me whether the US is producing talent. Musah was born in the US but lived in Italy and trained at Arsenal. Bennacer was in their academy for a short time as well. He runs for positioning…you simply don’t go through that academy without being a very good scanner and a very good pressure defender…its just not flashy because eventually guys give up trying to dribble around him because its more or less impossible…maybe the other players should run more…Reijnders is the only player that can cover a similar amount of ground…
Fofana, I thought the first 5 games were pretty brutal, Venezia and Liverpool in particular. I thought he was good in the Inter, Leverkusen and Napoli games.
If we’re gonna play with wingbacks ish I’d want to give Alex Jimmiz a shot. Also just Curious did Leao defend well today I’ve heard mixed things
no one played wingbacks, Milan had 2 different shapes, 1 out of possession 1 in possession
The way we setup defensively, Pulisic and Morata dropped back, most of the time, and Leao remained higher up the pitch to provide an outlet for the counter, which worked well, but in fairness to Leao, the few times that an attack went up the right side and Real was able to stop it and counter, Leao DID get back, and I actually saw him get back and at least try to help, four or five times, which was about four or five times more than usual.
He didn’t make any interceptions I can remember, but he did recover a loose ball just outside OUR penalty box and he did slow down a few breaks down our left side.
His walking around was also at a minimum, and given that he made a number of lung buster runs, trying to launch counterattacks, a few of them were understandable.
I wouldn’t nominate him for defensive player of the game, but given what he gives on offense, even with a number of mistakes, his defensive effort was more than enough.
That’s what I saw, anyway. Best,
Appreciate it. What to you think about Giving Jimmiz a shot regardless
I completely agree about Leao. He worked hard getting back, and was a revelation and an outlet on offense. If he plays this way all season he’ll be MVP again. The open question is whether it was Madrid or Fonseca who motivated him to play this way.
exactly, even if he does not intercept a ball, just crowding out box cuts out at least one passing option. one less possible move for the opponent. one less chance at our goal.
Disagree with Theo having a perfect game. His errant pass across the box was def at fault for the penalty
Yeah, at first I also thought the author was saying Theo had a perfect game. Then I read it again.
“…he worked tirelessly on the left flank and it was a perfect game for him, as he was constantly allowed space.” It’s ambiguous, but I’m pretty sure the author meant that this game was the perfect context for Theo to shine.
FORZA MILAN!!! Nothing would’ve convinced me of the result today but I love eating crow when it’s my team feeding me, amazing performances all around, we just need to somehow make this consistent.
eating crow LOL
Where’s that from?
Strange season, sometime we play like Prime Milan era, another time we play like Banter Era. But well, maybe this is just the beginning of Fonseca’s tactical evolution to be good.
Reijnders has always been a good player, and he’s improving. This was already visible in his excellent Euro performances. And then, he finally seems to have found his finishing, something that he sorely missed. He is turning into a major asset for us.
Musah is also improving, no doubt. And Thiaw. So this is encouraging.
This game was magnificent. One of the best games I’ve seen milan play in years and as happy as I am I’m also upset because we have the potential but for some reason we can’t implement each game. Fonseca, tactically has beat inzaghi and ancelotti. Two teams that are top 10 in the world at the moment. We need to carry on like this!
Maybe we need to seriously start considering going to a 4 3 3. Reijnders is finally showing what a player he is. He can become one of the best if he keeps it up like this he’s unbelievable so congrats tk him. But also fofana, he doesn’t look as pretty but he’s doing all the dirty work for reijnders to shine. Bringing musah into the lineup was also brilliant because it relived so many players, specifically emerson, fofana and leao.
Leao finally had the space to play his game and he took advantage of it. Just like milan, we know the potential is there for leao and he needs to gegrt that consistency. What a game from him and the front 3!
Please please please milan I hope this is a wake up call tk show that you guys an play amongst the best in the world. Show your true potential! I’m happy for the team today and all of us. And to top it off i made my first sports bet in two years for milan to win 3-1!!!!! FORZA MILAN
We should permanently change to 4-3-3. That can get to 4-4-2 or even 5-4-1 when we need to defend a result. I hope that Fonseca not only shows a capacity to learn from his mistakes, but also from his successes. I hope Fonseca doesn’t go back to silly ideas like 5-2-3-1 while sitting Rafa for Okafor, starting RLC, and stupid stuff like that.
Great match up I think it was a great game so happy for Milan to get a good game after a slow start to the season in the Sere A but pretty good game, vini Jr thought his penalty was going to save them.
A BIG SHOUT OUT TO THE ENTIRE TEAM ! Great ball movement and DESIRE tonight ! Reijnders MOTM ! ( good thing Abrams on loan) FANTASTIC WIN !!!!!!!
One thing about Real is that they leave the midfield ivery open. ACM was able to exploit this. In Seria A, the teams are more compact so I’m not sure against these lower teams a 4-3-3 works as well. Players have to be able to make passes thru tighter spaces.
Team spirit and hard work won. There were some errors to be avoided, but overall it was a solid display. The key player of the game was Leao; all the three goal involved him and when he attacked RM’s defense lost its shape. I like Reijnders; if the coach builds tactics to make us of his runs with the ball and without the ball, he can provide a lot. Btw, Emerson’s foul was dumb, but as dumb as it was Theo’s passing error that gave the ball away in a dangrous area.
Interista on a Milan page congratulating the Rossoneri on a win… What’s this world coming to…
all 2 goals involve Pulisic too, till he was subbed before the 3rd goal. lol
“key” player when all the others also bossed the field is a bit over stretched. who messed up the finishing on Tijjani’s lung bursting run from our box? its all the hype that makes it more glaring when leao chooses to maintain the standard he displayed tonight. this was game was not about leao showing the world he can run and dribble, this was about leao being part of a TEAM!
Milan with 3 men in the midfield is just a different beast. They looked so well organized and really committed to the plan. That allowed Leao and Puli do to what they do, and they showed up. It’s simple to say but very hard to put out on the pitch. They showed great determination and commitment to the team today (every single player I mean). This is the Milan I know, it was like seeing an old friend and it being awkward at first and then one of you say something that reminds you ahh yes you! This is the Milan DNA, and if they can replicate this consistently, anything is possible.
We’ve been calling ever since the Pioli days to just play a 433 counterattacking game plan. This roster is Taylor made for that. Luckily Fonseca is flexible to allow for this plan.
My only hope is he carries this forward.
Exactly. Leao, Theo, and Pulisic are all excellent on the counterattack, whether it’s sprung off the dribble from Milan’s box, or whether it’s a Route One long ball from Maignan. All three have the ball carrying ability from Milan’s box, and the deft first touch to receive a long ball at full stretch. And Maignan is excellent at springing his runners and feeding them surprisingly accurate long balls.
Yea, me too
This is why I keep saying you never know in sports. Milan has beaten Inter and Real this season. Instead of constantly complaining, we need to get behind this team. They have enough talent and hopefully they can make a run in all competitions. Again I’m not saying they will but it’s definitely within the realm of being possible.
Where are all the prophets of doom ??? I was hoping to see hundreds of comments here but nothing of such. All the fake prophets have gone hiding in shame. I said in my last comment that this is the kind of game Leao plays well and he didn’t disappoint. I also made comment that Real Madrid is beatable. I am happy the boys belief in themselves.
Haven’t seen such great performance in a long time. Moving the ball faster and with more purpose. Never playing slow needless passing at the back.
Also the midfield covered back when defending, even during counters.
Hopefully they can continue like this from now on.
Where are the Fonseca haters?
Fonseca is a limited coach and tactically on par with Pioli. HOWEVER, tonight he has shown himself to be tactically flexible and that’s commendable. Will he adjust or go back to his flat system?
That’s what we’ll see.
Is Emerson Royal a football player? We don’t need him!!!! Noooo.
Well must give credit where credit is due: finally Fonseca gets his tactics correct. Well done and an excellent win in Madrid. Now just stick with a 4-3-3 and don’t change anything.
Leao showed why you must play him, even if he has lapses – he proved once again that we need him as he commands double and triple teams which frees up everyone else to score like Reindjers and Morata did today. Thiaw – splendid. Many wanted to give up on this kid and screamed to sell him (along with Leao) but he is starting to look like he did a few seasons ago – and that is money on the bank. Reindjers and Fofana get better each game.
Let’s hope we can keep this momentum going over the next few games and build on this solid display.
I can’t believe Reijndeers only earned 1.7 million a season. Such an underpaid player
He’s about to start making 4mil if Milan is smart.
thats still a really good price, if milan are smart, they get the deal done asap before 2x that is floated by teams…
The weakest links in the team are still
RLC
Tammy Abraham
Calabria
RLC – because he offers NOTHING to the team. He has no clue what to do with the ball or without the ball. He has only a physique but does nothing with it either. By far the worst $20m spent. The moment he came on the pitch, Real Madrid could have scored 3 goals and drawn the match. Zero effort, zero idea or clue what to do. It’s best to get rid of him in the immediate transfer window and make a profit. Sell him for $25m to any EPL clubs, because his value will only decrease by the day and no one would want him after seeing his non-existant displays.
Tammy – He’s not bad, he’s not good either. He can be a 3rd choice striker and can score or be useful against lower-table clubs. But like RLC, is very bad with the ball (100% better than RLC, but still not good vs better mid-table or top-table teams. If Milan can get a proper striker (who can play alongside with Morata), then I’d keep Tammy as 3rd choice striker. Morata is a poacher (like Inzaghi) – a type of striker Milan might have missed for many many years. But you need a backup young top-quality striker, in case Morata gets injured or can’t play. Tammy is just NOT that backup. He can be 3rd choice.
Calabria – He is the captain, but absolutely not a captain material. He can defend well against slow-paced players (like Napoli’s Kvara), but then he is only useful in such matches. All other teams wingers/FBs are much faster and can beat him with pace so damn easily. Since he is Italian, I don’t mind keeping him on the bench as a backup. His experience is a average too, but if Milan can get a better/quicker Italian RB, then I’d let Calabria go. He can stay otherwise if he’s fine sitting on the bench. For me, it’s time to start play Alex Jimenez. He is an absolute talent (same like Maignan, Reijnders, Theo or Leao), who can actually even play as a winger on either flanks (if I am not wrong).
The 3 players apart from the above ones whom I am not still convinced are:
Emerson Royal
Musah
Sportiello
Emerson – can give away penalties, like he did yesterday by making cardinal/basic errors. On occasions, he can get beaten but he makes up for it. He’s good going up front and making good crosses when up the pitch (like his cross to Leao, which was really great). He just needs to be a bit more solid in defense and not make basic errors. If he can improve on that, he’d be much more solid
Musah – he is a really good worker (I give him all credit for that, unlike RLC who is like the opposite – a sloth). Musah is tirelessly working, running, giving his best. He was great as a RB. That’s the position I see him excel at, rather than in midfield. He is versatile, which is another plus. But the problem is when he goes up the pitch. It is like he has entered some unknown territory. He does all the tough bit (that RLC will fail in the first attempt), but then in the final third, he freezes or has no idea what to do. He gives away the ball by making wrong passes or options, and this puts the team vulnerable to counter attacks. (At the moment, there are only 3 individuals in the team who are bad in the final third – RLC, Tammy and Musah). Real Madrid didn’t take advantage in most of those occasions. Any other attacking teams like City or Inter or Liverpool would have killed Milan with such misplaced passes. So this is one danger. I’d keep him in the defense, because he is good there and works/gives 100% each time. Fofana is Immense for Milan. I’d say even better than Kessie. Fofana literally saved Milan from mistakes that were made by RLC, Tammy and Musah most of the times. But what if Fofana is not playing? Milan will be punished for such rookie mistakes
Sportiello – I don’t have any issues with him at all. But is he good enough as a backup to Maignan? I haven’t seen enough of Sportiello. But is he as good as Lunin? If Maignan gets injured, I just feel Milan need a better backup GK. I don’t mind Sportiello as 3rd choice (just like Tammy). Maignan saves Milan in most matches like Fofana too. But if these 2 immense players (Maignan and Fofana) can’t play, is there a suitable backup? I don’t feel so.
The one thing I like about Fonseca is that he is brave, unlike Pioli. He made all the correct decisions on the players or starting XI. The only mistake he did was starting RLC (all matches which he ended up losing/drawing). But i dont blame him for that because Milan don’t have a proper midfield replacement (with Bennacer out injured). So I cannot fault Fonseca for that. And Fonseca within months in charge, figured out that Reijnders is a no. 10 player and can excel there, which Pioli couldn’t figure out for years. Pioli thought RLC, Krunic, Kessie were the right options. How dumb was that? Fonseca outshines Pioli just in selecting the right players (except RLC and Calabria/Emerson/Musah at times). But I can’t blame him as he can only work with who is available. The owners need to buy better players who can replace the weakest links. I can then see the team doing better than they are now in both Serie A and CL.
I’ve never seen RLC Krunic and Kessie played together
Musah did not need Fofana or any special defender, against PSG, Dortmund and Newcastle – they went 2-1-1 and gave up 0 goals at Dortmund…Fofana gets lost upfield less than a week ago and gave 3 sitters to Maldini. No player is perfect. In series A, when it is 1 or 2 goals…against bad teams, musah takes a lot of pressure off Reijnders to be the only one moving the ball through the middle of the field…
Sportiello did have some good performances before he got injured. And don’t forget that Torriani is still very young but seems to be a really good goalkeeper. No, neither one is prepared to replace the great Mike Maignan if Mike gets injured again, at least, not replace him at the same world-class level, and unfortunately Mike is indeed injure-prone. Yes, we’d be in trouble if Mike got injured; no team would fail to be in some trouble by temporarily losing a world-class player. But we’d be in less trouble than we were when the backup was the horrible Tatarusanu. So we did upgrade our goalkeeping backup but yes, it would be even better if we had someone closer to Mike’s skills than Sportiello. Let’s hope that Torriani can grow into that.
I love Fofana but I don’t think he is better than Kessie. I hope he continues to improve; he is improving most games (not good against Monza but everybody is allowed a bad day). But Kessie was a phenomenon and a huge component of why we won the Scudetto. Having lost him, and not having properly replaced him for years (let’s hope Fofana does evolve into a worthy replacement) was arguably Milan’s management’s biggest blunder.
Yunus deserves more credit.
If it wasn’t for him, Emerson Royal would’ve caused a disaster for the history books.
guess no pablo until the 9th. and if we win that it gonna stay in its hole even longer
Copied my comment from other post:
Get a freaking #6 so we can play these lads in their roles!
Tijj/Zeroli – #6 – Fofana/Musah
And you have your midfield without wasting any more money on it!
What a great performance and a pleasant surprise to us all. The team really put their maximum effort, finally helping each other – not just the already highlighted Musah-Royal doubling of Vini Jr. , but also Pulisic and Morata basically dropping back to help Fofana and free TJ & Rafa to start counters. Having the midfield be as solid behind the ball and as productive in the transition phase bring a whole new dimension to our game.
Mike, Rafa and TJ and Fofana were the four best peforming players overall, closely followed by Morata and Musah whose hard work was exceptional. Not to take anything away from Puli who was also active, he just didn’t have that “Captain America” moment we’ve been perhaps spoiled to witness more often than not.
Also credit to the central defenders. Had trouble with Mbappe’s accelaration in the first minutes, but gradually grew as the game went on, with Thiaw also scoring one of the goals. How it is that Tomori plays like a world beater against some of the best players (remember how good he was against Tottenham and Napoli in 2023?) only to look almost foolish in random Serie A games, is simply beyond me, but then again, that could be said about the whole team in general.
I disagree with Emerson’s low rating. If it wasn’t for Theo’s initial mistake, the penalty wouldn’t have happened. The challenge was far from perfect, but Royal was doubled and if you look closely at the situation, you’ll notice that without it, Real would’ve created a dangerous opportunity anyway, because there was no one to support Emerson. Actually, it was exactly Theo that was somewhat below the standard of the match. This mistake, along with sleepwalking into the Brahim chance at the end, could’ve been potentially costly and have been in the past when the team hasn’t performed as well to compensate. He needs to get his act together defensively, maybe instruct him to be more mindful of that aspect for a few games with TJ helping Rafa in the build-up, it may prove useful.
Mike was great, the slight blunder is excusable all things considered, it’s an offisde and it is what provoked him to go for the ball in the first place.
Can’t say I was impressed by our reserves, none of which kept the previous quality. Calabria was nerve-wrecking in the last minutes, Loftus missed a sitter and Tammy failed to hold a single ball which was weird, considering he had fresh legs. It is what it is, these guys will probably contribute in the long run against smaller opposition, our main figures did produce.
And finally Fonseca – a tactical masterpiece by him, neutralising Real’s most dangerous weapon without making the formation ultra-defensive, on the contrary, one could argue we were actually outplaying them for the most part, including after Morata’s goal. There’s apparently a motivational issue when it comes to Serie A games and that needs to be sorted out ASAP if we don’t want to miss on a top 4 finish. I applaud his great work last night, though. We played like a real team.
As I said yesterday we will win this now prove me wrong build some consistency and go beat Cagliari act as if they are inter or Real and let’s go go go Forza Milano!!!
Madrid is not on the same level as our Serie A opponents, so our players brought out the best in them to match them, as they did against Inter. The coach is not our problem; you can see what he tries to do in different games. We are slowly getting to the point where we don’t depend on certain players all the time. The players have to be ready to work for the team. If we relax against the league’s smaller teams, we will get beaten, regardless of what we do in Europe. This coach isn’t sticking to any formation; the opponent determines how he plays. Leao has to improve his defending, and also make good use of a lot of attacking balls; Theo has to stop sleeping at the back, sometimes; Fofana and Reijnders have to keep their game at high standards. Don’t understand what is happening to RLC. Abraham is not showing signs of improvement, as an attacker. He presses a lot, helps with defending, but, doesn’t know what to do with the ball, at the front. Emerson is slowly getting better, but, there’s always this fear about what might happen next. I guess we should be looking for a backup in January, since we are not renewing Calabria’s contract.
The official acmilan dot com website has confirmed that the registered fans (like me; I have the tessera, the Cuoro Rossonero card) in Italy and worldwide have voted Rafael Leão as MVP of the Real Madrid match, going above the other four nominees, Mike Maignan, and the scorers Alvaro Morata, Malick Thiaw and Tijjani Reijnders. However Mike won the Panini MOTM.
I considered in my rating post here, that were three co-winners of my personal MOTM assessment: Rafa, Mike, and Tijjani, and I also praised Thiaw and Morata. I think all five are credible winners or nominees and I find that it’s OK to prefer one over the other four, as long as it is recognized that all five did very well.
Rafa earned the corner kick that resulted in Puli’s assist + Thiaw’s goal, made the shot that resulted in Morata’s rebound goal, and made the assist for Reijnders’ goal. So, he participated in all three goals (a bit of the first one, and a lot of the other two), which in a 3-1 victory of course in itself qualifies him for the award as without at least the second and third goals we’d have tied the game, not won it. So he deserves enormous praise, even if like I said he did botch a couple of opportunities – it happens, but the important thing is that he did not botch the ones that led to the scores (and it was only thanks to a huge save by Real’s goalie that Rafa’s excellent header wasn’t a 4th goal for Milan). Also, there is no doubt that Rafa did make a defensive effort.
Mike is also a worthy winner of the Panini MOTM award, because his four big saves contributed as much to the victory as the three goals scored by his companions, and he’d have kept a clean sheet against the best team in the world, if not for the penalty kick (of course conceding a PK goal is no shame for a goalkeeper) so I’m perfectly fine with the Panini MOTM decision. Again, praising Mike doesn’t need to be done by bashing Rafa (which is why I considered both to be co-MOTM for me, together with Tijjani).
I also remind the Leão haters that a large number of websites and operations that provide an ac milan discussion forum or publish print prestigious newspapers also picked Rafael Leão as the MOTM or voted him very highly, like sempremilan dot it, sempremilan dot com, pianeta milan, and milannews dot it. The main journalistic operations also granted to Leão high scores:
TMW – 7.5
Gazzetta dello Sport – 8
Corriere dello Sport – 8
TuttoSport – 7.5
Corriere della Sera – 7.5
La Repubblica – 8
MN – 8.5
Alvaro Morata in post-game declarations said that Rafa is “the strongest among us” and Theo said we saw “the real Leão.”
And haters here still go out of their way to deny it… pathetic. At this point, people like flyingturtle aggressively denying it, sounds more like trolling to me than a real objective assessment of Leão’s performance, because even someone so often misguided in his evaluations like flyingturtle should be able to see that Rafael Leão was instrumental for this victory – nothing short of the biggest victory of the season and arguably the biggest one since the Scudetto, given against whom we played, and where the game was played – and would affirm otherwise more to stir trouble (like a troll) or at the very least, to pathetically try to save face.
I wonder if the people who scream “sell, sell, sell” have egg on their face. Of course some will say that Rafa is irregular and won’t do as well in other games, and there is some truth to that, but the thing is, Leão actually has been doing well for several games now, even when being subbed in late, and he has been creating opportunities and by now has accumulated six goal participations (and frankly, he deserves it to be counted as seven because his shot that caused a rebound for Alvaro’s goal technically is not an assist because the ball went to the goalkeeper first, but for all practical purposes was as good as an assist) and this is second only to Pulisic, although Leão had fewer minutes.
I don’t mind at all Puli being ahead of Leão in goal participations… I love Puli who is my favorite Milan player, whose name and number are on my Milan jersey. But praising one doesn’t need to be done by bashing the other; the more the better; both are great for Milan. Puli doesn’t need defending because he is now a wide consensus and that’s why I post less often about him, while Leão keeps collecting hatred and scapegoating, so it is worth highlighting how good a player he is.
Yes, at least this season, Pulisic is the best AC Milan player and that’s great. But Rafael is the second best (in Alvaro Morata’s opinion he is the best, and Alvaro knows a thing or two about football) and selling him would be a tragedy for Milan.