AC Milan clinched just one point in Reggio Emilia after a roller coaster 3-3 draw against Sassuolo at Mapei Stadium. While a few players did well, most of them didn’t and 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
Sportiello (6): He couldn’t do much about the goal scored, not exactly helped by his defensive teammates, and was okay aside from that. The home side simply had too much space to aim and shoot, which makes it easy to beat any goalkeeper.
Florenzi (5): The veteran had his moments when going forward but, and it’s a big but, he failed to impress at the back and was dreadful in the 1v1s with Lauriente. His positioning also allowed Sassuolo to threaten Milan on the counter time and time again.
Kjaer (4.5): An embarrassment. He had several inexplicable misplaced passes and the positioning was nothing short of dreadful, either rising too high or not connecting with his opponent at all. One can see why Milan want to part ways in the summer.
Thiaw (4.5): Just like his colleague, it was a perfect example of how not to defend. He got done completely on the first goal and failed to find any sort of structure for the remainder of the game, at least when he was still partnered up with Kjaer.
Hernandez (6): He looked like the only one with some energy towards and end. His ability to recover the ball also helped Milan keep some momentum.
Adli (5.5): In the first 20 minutes of the game or so, his position was really off and although he improved slightly, he lost a duel just before the third goal. His passing was good most of the time, though, salvaging his rating a bit.
Musah (5.5): Not a good game from him today, unfortunately. He usually does things well at the start and then lacks the final product. Or in most cases, he just doesn’t choose the right pass.
Chukwueze (6.5): When you score two goals like that, and are denied by two minor (almost non-existent) offsides, you are the unluckiest man on the planet. His second goal was such a great one as well and honestly, looking at the replays, it doesn’t look like offside even with the fancy graphic.
Loftus-Cheek (5): The Englishman made the wrong decision time and time again, often doing well to drive forward but then wasting all of his hard work with a poor pass or a blocked shot.
Leao (6.5 – MOTM): A fantastic goal to bring Milan back into the game and the ‘assist’ for Jovic was further proof of his importance. He looked very tired towards the end and this is bad news ahead of the Roma game.
Jovic (6.5): Right place, right time as he scored a very easy goal from close range. He played very well after that, actually, impressive with his hold-up play and passing.
Substitutes
Gabbia (6.5): He came on and reorganised the defence after 54 minutes and this truly helped Milan take control of the game. He also had a hand in the equaliser, ending up chesting it down for Okafor.
Reijnders (6): His passing helped Milan find some new routes through the Sassuolo defence and he also helped calm things down a bit in the defensive phase.
Giroud (5): Not a successful appearance even though he did add some weight in the box, which left some space for teammates. He had one good chance to score but the ball was slightly behind him. His passing was also really poor.
Pulisic (5): For a player of the American’s calibre, you simply need to tuck away the big chance he had from close range. It was a perfect pass from Adli and Pulisic just needed to get it to the side, but the effort was more or less straight at Consigli. Then, with Giroud and Jovic occupying great positions in the box, he completely failed with his cross. He created, but wasted what he created.
Okafor (6): A crucial goal for Milan, scoring just two minutes after coming on. However, he got a bit too static after that and didn’t add much for the Rossoneri.
The manager
Pioli (4): Shambles of a game, with questionable rotation to begin with. Sassuolo got the better of Milan early on and Pioli ended up having to throw on the stars anyway. Worst of all, the stars had to work very hard (above all Leao) and this was exactly what Milan didn’t want. He would have been better off starting the stars and then subbing them off.
omg De Zerbi and Motta would’ve won 10-0 what a fail
Yes. Klopp too, especially after he lost midweek at home. Total shambles.
He lost today to relegation team at HOME, i thought Klopp and every manager not named Pioli never faces any problems, what happened?!
Comparing Pioli with Klopp now, haha. Are you his illegitimate son or something? Never seen a more delusional soab in my life. Wait and see how Motta, De Zerbi will have a better trophy cabinet than your father
yeah? and if that doesnt happen you’ll just vanish anyway because in your mind you can say any crap online and face no rehash
Still remember your crap comments on how screwed Milan is without Maldini, how is that going huh?
What comments? I said our star players that have a very good relationship with Maldini won’t be happy with the change which is a reasonable thing to see which happens with many teams in the world. Unlike you who is always toxic to others just for the sake of it.
Last year you said the same thing about Alonso, Emery that they will fail and look what happened to them one is going to win the Bundesliga title while going undefeated whereas the other is overachieving in an injury driven team and might even win a European trophy this season. How do you know De Zerbi or Motta won’t turn out like them?
lol i like how you make up random stuff here and expect people to believe you
good job showing your age, one day you’ll grow up
for now suck it because Redbird isnt gonna go after De Zerbi because you love him
Who said I want him at Milan? His is release clause is high + he already made it clear he will stay at Brighton, I am a realist I know what our financial prowess are, the most realistic manager option we have is Lopetegui who we are linked with currently and Ernesto Valverde which are proven managers. I will say you words “Stop making stuff”, also you can check some articles in April/May, you were the one who said it on one of the comments I made regarding Xabi Alonso. I am grown up, probably got more degrees and merits than you (This one I can prove it).
I think there i many unfair comparison for pioli. Like when pioli lose, draw, making subs, its like he is wrong at everything. So why not compare a little like why klopp beaten 3-0 by atalanta to show every coach can make mistakes. 3-3 vs sasuolo and its like we get relegated. Look at the other team result this week and you will see many got draw result. Please Just look at the finish line not looking every small mistakes thats sometimes not even there to insult pioli.
Just wait until the end of season and management will decide for the best
Oh he did? Unbelievable.
Yet he won Bundesliga, EPL, UCL, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup. Your point?
With all due respect, if Pioli really is a prodigy level coach, why do we never heard him being linked with the likes of Liverpool, Barcelona, Munchen, or even Juventus? Something that 2 of the coaches (De Zerbi and Motta) you seem to always bring up here with all kinds of reasons have been linked with.
you are chronically online, stop taking every journalist bullsh*t rumor seriously
So why are you here online? In a forum that’s mostly filled with cross news from other online sources. And of course if I have to choose to hear words from a real life journalist or a random fan who doesn’t have any credential, I’ll take the first one any time.
Pioli is not the worst, nor he is the best. He is average and Milan has outgrown him. That’s it. He took us from a dark place to a scudetto, to a consistent team in the UCL. I will always be grateful for it but we have reached a ceiling with him and need a better coach.
Are we ready for an elite coach? probably not, we arent paying that kind of money, but a better coach, sure.
And if Thiaw had headed that ball in it would have been assist by Kjaer. Then he would have been a hero. He just came back from an injury, he played 34 minutes in his latest match and should have had playing time against Roma too to keep fit. One bad game and you’re going for him. How many games did he help Milan win lately since he came back from the other injury? Yes, it’s a lot.
Looking only at this game, Kjaer was disastrously bad and Thiaw only marginally better. They both looked lost and were largely responsible for the slow ball movement, abysmally bad defending, and lost posession. You can disagree when comparing their past work but I think we can all agree they were both bad today.
Someday, it’ll be so obvious even you will get it. The you’ll claim you’ve always said it.
It’s not just replacing Pioli. It’s about finding a manager with POSITIVE behaviors. So it at least feels like we are getting better and moving forward.
This team on paper should be the best team in the league.
YOU ARE ACTUALLY PIOLI’S SON OR WHO YOU ARE IN REAL LIFE???
YOU ARE READY TO FIGHT LITERALLY EVERYONE IN THE COMMENT SECTION TO DEFEND YOUR HUSBAND PIOLI. JEEEZ
ACCORDING TO YOUR LOGIC, WHOEVER DOESN’T HAVE ANY TROPHY IS A BAD REPLACEMENT FOR PIOLI, RIGHT?
DO YOU KNOW HOW EMBARRASSING YOU LOOK?
LITERALLY, WHO IS PIOLI TO YOU?
Because using all caps to get a point across to someone is the opposite of embarrassing? 🙂
He is big serious. He is still looking for that Boulden guy.
Pioli has a place for Kjaer and Thiaw but not for Simic.
Thiaw has been very poor recently but yes he’s in the first team rotation, I don’t blame Pioli for trying to play him back into form there was a period last year when he was considered our most valuable CB.
Kjaer is past it, this seems obvious in recent games. Simic seems the obvious permanent/cheap replacement for him next season as 5th choice CB.
Am hoping Tomori + Gabbia will start against Roma next week
Simic would be dumb to stay as a 5th option, while other teams are ready to help him develop and fulfill his potential.
Pioli has no confidence in the primavera players like Simic and co., or in Italy about bringing up young players like in Spain and other places. If you look at the timing of his subs is questionable as well. Pioli lacks technical debt on situations. He can easily be read on his formation and tactics. That’s how Derosi got him in that game.
100%. I thought Thiaw was going to turn into something, but I’m not convinced now. Tomori-Gabbia is the best combo at the moment, but we’ll need another good CB to rotate between them next season. Thiaw can be the no. 4 guy.
Point well made!! Kjaer priced today he’s way way past it now
Chukweze deserves every reason to stay in that match.
But, Pioli is Milan’ coach.
Pulisic looks very disorganized today.
I had no problems with Pioli bringing Pulisic on given the scoreline but Chukwueze just came off of two great opportunities created so wouldn’t it have made sense to bring Pulisic on for RLC earlier?
You would think. We saw how a Leao-Pulisic-Chukwueze front can look but lets wait until we are in an unfavorable formation to bring Pulisic into another position he hasn’t played much this season.
Pioli in action.
Naah, chuck was great in that game, but there is no cure for unlucky. And looking by the offside replay he have been very very unlucky. Replacing him at least turn the luck for Milan.
I’m worried how tired Leao looked, when 2bh as creditable it is to the boys for a comeback, the point here isn’t important towards the big picture.
Might be a bit controversial to say, but given we could even go to extra time against Roma, should we start Okafor and bring on Leao as an impact sub?
Presumably could play the other usual starting XI
Puli at the ten and Chuk at the rw is the way forward next season. Both are showing how they are too talented to be left on the bench and Rcl I believe is being misused. However for that to work we need to tighten up defensive wise. And WE NEED a dm
I really like the Leao-Puli-Chuck trio as well. But it will be difficult task for the management. Not only they need 2 solid DM (one for backup) to cover the trio, and they have to find another backup RW, and on top of it all, the elusive defender and striker to cover the departure of Giroud, Kjaer, maybe Kalulu and Jovic.
The back up rw could be Romero
Im not upset about the result. As we said this game didnt really mattered that much. Im upset that Pioli changed his mind and decided to bring all the starters who had to chase a result now and work really hard. So instead of being rested now they might be more tired for Roma cause Pioli didnt really knew what he wanted. Like if you wanted to throw the game away in order to rest for Roma than ok do that. Or if you wanted to 100% go for the win then start with your best players and change them later when you have the lead so they can still get some rest and you don’t find yourself in a high tempo game where you chase a result like now… I just hope he beats Roma and we go thru.
that is just the best way to rest players, play them from the start to secure early wins and sub them off early second half for them to get enough rest..
the risk with that approach is, losing the lead after our best 11 are changed, because he seems incapable of organizing our defense. We leak in goals at will
If Pioli had started the game with the first team players, and brought in Florenzi, Kjaer, Thiaw, we might end up losing. He had no choice. It’s obvious now that we only have two good center-backs, one right-back; this leaves the coach with little options. I liked the response from the subs. Aside Leao, the rest had so much energy to still go.
It’s a familiar pattern.
Too many rotations and then he’s forced to bring on the starters who have to work even harder.
The rotation at CB was the most inexplicable.
CBs do the least running and don’t need to be rotated that often especially a 24 year old who missed most of the season because we sent him on loan to Villarreal (where he only played 9 times in 6 months).
The rotation of Gabbia just seems to be about ensuring that he never is given the coach’s full confidence.
You know you’ve got keep sewing doubt in your players especially a youth product who is getting a little ahead of himself with these performances.
This was never the plan for Gabbia. He was supposed to be finished at Milan and the future lay with the CBs we signed who we would then sell to sign more CBs and so on and so forth.
It’ll be interesting to see if a new coach comes in what they do with Gabbia. His performances show that we’ve spaffed more money away on CBs over the years when we had a perfectly good one for free.
Will a new coach actually give Gabbia a chance or demand ‘improvements’. If it’s Conte it’ll be the latter.
I did not like the rotation of Gabbia coming out. It made no sense. Thiaw has looked out of sort since returning from injury. It might serve him best to play a back up role and find his fitness over the summer and comeback ready to compete for the starting job. Gabbia is out best defending CB and should play most matches given his form and the options on the bench.
Pioli needs to go!!!
Agree 4 Pioli. He always save himself when everybody agree he has to go. A hiccup coach
Our team is stronger on paper but on the pitch its a mess because they never play together
And whose fault is that?
I bet some people say Cardinale – or Americans. 😀
Again, meaningless game. But I wanted to see a better Milan against a relegation side. The defending in the first half was just comical. (The offside calls were a joke)
Davide Massa, ref
Marco Guida & Danielle Chiffi VAR
what could you be expecting
How is it meaningless? if we won we secure the Champions League spot for next season. Lesser burden in this time of the season is quite have meaning.
We already secured CL for next reason. We are 15 pts clear of Roma. Do the math.
Nobody is talking about how the second Chuku goal was not offsides ??? I’ve not seen a single angle that shows any part of Him being offsides. And even the first one was questionable with maybe his elbow being off. Is this what they want the game to become? Taking away beautiful goals because some computer says a fraction of an inch was offsides. Way to ruin the game nerds.
As for the game, the only good thing to come out of it is that Pioli can’t play Thiaw against Inter.
And Giroud looks like he’s already left.
I’m completely lost how he was offside.
The Sassuolo defender on the right was so deep he was clearly playing him and everyone else onside.
Good old VAR.
Now it is, because we don’t lose against Sassuolo and Roma game have been suspended in 1-1. But before the game, it was important to secure the Champions League spot in this game. Pioli said it, the media said it, games commentary said it.
And you just said meaningless game just for the sake of excuse.
Meaningless game so we should have commited and assumed the rotation. I didn’t like keeping Leao till the end, bringing in Giroud,….
Keeping players fresh and ready for Roma and the derby come first in this case.
A missed chance to increase the gap between us and Juve. Tbh, we didn’t need a 1st team line up to come away with the points. At some point you need to blame the players for not raising their hands. Compared to last season this is a much better 2nd string team, but all it show is that without Le-Gi-Pu we are stuffed. The result does not inspire confidence, just too many inconsistencies in our game still…(florenzi, musah, adli,kjaer, thaw, all of them decided not to show up)
Yes without Giroud we would be relegated.. can’t argue just type Giroud better than Pele in YouTube. Nevertheless he wasn’t more than a super sub in most of his last 10 years football :/
This is exactly why pioli shouldn’t be here next year. Has he learned a thing!?
You make 8 subs and what do you expect? I have always said, start your strongest team, take a lead and then make the subs to give key players some rest. What top team changes a starting 11 that much? Then you go chasing a game and bring on key players to constantly sprint and do something which probably makes them more vulnerable to fatigue due to intensity. We’ve done this what like maybe 5 times this season and it hasn’t worked once?
What is with this inverted right back again? It didn’t work in the beginning of the season and it isn’t working now. Listen, it’s embarrassing that we lost to roma and could perhaps go out of europa in the quarters, but to play like this against another relegation team? It’s games like this why milan can never keep pace because we drop points to teams when we should ALWAYS Win.
The only good thing that came out of this game is that thiaw won’t be available for the derby. He has been horrible this year. It’s so true that we need another strong cb this year and kjaer time here is over. Him and thiaw have been really bad.
A little quicker movements and passing would change this team but they better change quick cause I can’t see us turning things around against roma looking like this which is so sad. A competition that looks like we can win especially after Liverpool ae pretty much out of it and milan look to go out to roma. So sad.
yeah so Motta and De Zerbi should be here managers who have never managed Champions league schedule in their lives, this is peak logic
Did I mention those names? But Ya I would probably take them over pioli. Milan need to finally invest in a top manager. We haven’t had one since allegri and at that time he wasn’t even considered one. So let’s keep pioli who continues to show that he slips up and costs the team dearly. That’s peak logic because people are scared to change.
Don’t worry about him just an year ago he was targeting Alonso and Emery when people were saying we should hire them as manager. Now that they have blown up he is targeting other names who will be far better than Pioli in a few years.
if you think Motta or De Zerbi are top managers you are drunk, wtf you on about
And you’re the guy who when people here raised concerns about a resurgent in form Roma in the Europa League made sarcastic comments around how On earth will we beat De Rossi positing to him being nothing. Well guess what son, De Rossi came to San Siro and totally out thought and bossed Pioli. Regardless of what happens next week, he totally owned Pioli..not bad for a novice
Yeah that means everything is over, players should just go home
oh and your fav De Rossi is losing atm to relegation Udinese, i thought he was a genius?
If he’s that bad, what should we call a manager that actually lost againts him? With your short span per match logic, we should hire Cioffi next season.
Dude…calm down. Are you mentally ill? I’ve never said De Rossi was my favourite. I said Pioli isn’t good enough to take us to the level we should be at.
You actually do make good points amongst the sarcasm. You are right, those who assume Motta and De Zerbi will save us are very naive. To go to the next level, we need a next level coach, be it Klopp, Conte, Zidane, Insert name..
The next manager decision is the most important session this club will have made in the last 20 years
Once again did I mention those names or did you?
And your comment about de Rossi not being a genius aged well didn’t it. He beat pioli again!! This guy is useless and time to leave. Enough. And nothing you say can redeem him as a manager.
there are exceptions: Arrigo had not coached in UCL before coaching milan and achieved quite alot, as our coach. he had a clear philosophy. Pioli seems to lack the creativity to coach a club like milan. his fondness for massive rotations are just a sign of inadequate rotation earlier in previous matches. i am not sure if we have won any of the matches where he has changed 6 or more starting players, the best we have gotten is a labored draw
Boulden, what is YOUR logic? Again, all your posts are to criticize the logic of others.
What is your input? Are you afraid to put forth an original thought?
Please don’t encourage original thought from Boulden lol 😂
It’s infuriating seeing him rotate players in this way and it’s not just this season.
This terrible rotation destroyed a lot players last season when they were thrown together in one go and then often hauled off at half time.
As for the inverted full backs it’s worked in some games and it hasn’t in others.
It’s clearly a thing that many coaches use to try and boost midfield numbers. It sorted of worked today. We would’ve won comfortably had Gabbia and Reijnders started ahead of Kjaer and Musah.
I have been saying this, a serious club like Milan needs a better coach than Pioli, how can you use to old, slow and decript defenders on one side, tKjear and Florenzi do not deserve to be on the field, what’s even more worse is the stupid tactic of playing Florenzi or making him tuck into the midfield, where he is useless, and thus exposing Kjear who is slow and mistake prone to attacks from the attackers, we are lucky it was Sassuluo, if it where a team in form, we would have been reaped to shreds.
Going forward Jovic should be the starter, he holds the ball well, and knows how to build up play, Giroud is finished, even today it showed, the 4231 system should be discarded it’s not balanced, our midfield needs 3 players , Lotus cheek should be brought into the center of midfield, with Bennacer on his left, and Aldi or Tijanni on the right, the team needs balance, Pioli needs to be sacked…
Unprepared, unmotivated, poorly set up team by Stefano Pioli.
How people still think that this guy should stay I do not know.
He plays 2 bums like Kjaer and Florenzi, instead of playing Terracciano and Simic.
Xavi plays Cubarsi, who turned 17 two months ago in UCL quarter finals, but Pioli doesn’t even call up Simic. Every time Simic played this season, he was solid, but Pioli plays Kjaer, who can’t defend a statue since he tore his ACL 3 years ago.
Terracciano makes 1 mistakes and he is ostracized so old a*s Florenzi can play.
You could have given up 3 goals with the young players too, but at least they’ll get playing time and experience.
The only positives from the starters were the front 3.
Leao had a good 60 minutes vs a relegation team, but he was dead after that.
Every time Jovic touched the ball something good happened, but the problem is he barely got the ball.
Chuk was very good but unlucky.
The rest were trash especially Kjaer, Florenzi, Adli and Musah. Theo and Thiaw weren’t much better.
Pulisic was active and played very well, but his final pass was awful. He should have scored a goal and have another 2 assists.
About the subs. Why was Leao still on the pitch, but Chuk taken out when it was obvious to everyone, except Pioli, that he is dead tired?
How is a 24-year in such a poor physical shape is a topic for another day.
Okafor starts and plays very well vs Verona and then 4 games in a row he barely plays. Padre Pioli well known rotations and man management 👏.
The run of cupcakes teams is over. Roma, inter and juve are next.
These next 6 weeks better be Pioli’s last at Milan.
Leao always living rent free in your dumb brain.
All the time it is always Leao in your empty head.
I hope you have something else to do or you can at least come and be the player to replace Leao when he’s gone let’s see how fit you’re physically.
Even when the kid is getting things right you’re upset, always criticising.
Sometimes criticise yourself for being so dumb and unappreciative.
I live rent-free in your fanboy brain, Malda. You are always under my comments.
You get triggered by the facts, just like Leao, and you always have an emotional response, just like Leao.
Truth hurts.
As a Leao fanboy, you should take this season off and come back next season with hope that he won’t be a flop again.
Have some self-respect, that is if it’s actually possible for a fanboy to have self-respect.
The perfect footballer, why are you not there replacing him instead.
He’s always a flop in your brain not in anyone else’s brain.
I wonder who your next target would be when he’s gone, imbecile.
Absolutely no good comments comes from your empty head, always criticising and never appreciating even when he get things done.
Only you want him to be a goalkeeper, a RB, a LB, an AMF a DMF, a SS, a CF, a LW, and a RW.
Because you yourself as a great footballer you’re, you can do it all.
You only sit to see him underperform so you come out from wherever you are to write rubbish as if you even wish him to perform greatly, it’s only his downfall that will give you joy but he will never fall.
@Z; 100% with you. Nothing wrong with Simic playing this game along with Chaka and camarda. After all, Yamin is playing too at Barcelona. Pioli lacks basic philosophy of motivation and confidence building in the future talents.
He should stay because we’re comfortably 2nd…..and have more points than the Scudetto season….and normal people don’t go around sacking managers whose results are improving.
I agree he’s made mistake (in fact the same mistake of too much rotation) but the performance wasn’t actually too bad and we could easily have won 5:3 if not for an arm being offside and a non-existent offside goal.
Try not to respond to every result in the same knee jerk reaction.
Bro Adli has no business being a 5.5. He was by far our best midfielder and passer in this team. His passes are so needed in this team and he should start that game against Roma cos we lost the first leg in the midfield and can see a difference when he came on. Musah was no where to be found on that 3rd goal and he was supposed to be the “destroyer” behind Adli. RLC should be a 3 rating in this game. Giroud had no business coming on and Chukwueze was oozing with confidence and had no business being subbed off but Pioli is our coach so no surprises. Jovic had a great game and even had to play in midfield when Pioli threw the whole kitchen sink at Sassuolo. The rotation was fine apart from Kjaer and Florenzi cos on a normal day, the people that started the game can start our games against anyone. The problem was and is ALWAYS Pioli’s tactics. We won’t get anywhere with it.
The fact that Bennacer didn’t play today makes me think Pioli will do the same thing again against Roma: Bennacer and Reijnders.
Which is wrong. That midfield was woeful and empty. No defense splitting passes or anything created by that midfield. Adli needs to start that game
This. Pioli will use the only tactic/weapon he knows: Give the ball to Leao and pray. Other coaches would focus on playing as a team but not this one…
I agree. Benny hasn’t been right all season. Adli has been inconsistent as well but seems to drive the ball forward better than Benny so far.
We should do neither. Adli offers zero defensively and physically and Bennacer is a shadow of a player right now. Roma is full of big physical players. We need to drop RCL to the pivot next to Reijnders, move Puli to the middle and play Chuk on the right.
Agree.
Adli was much better than the rating given.
Also agree with almost everything else you wrote. Rotation was needed after the flat Roma performance but Gabbia did not need a rest. I didn’t think Florenzi starting was a bad decision but he soundly beaten.
Chuk should not have come off. Okafor would have been a better extra forward at the time that Giroud.
Jovic played well all game.
I really was ok with Adli today and then he cost us the third goal with that pathetic attempt at winning the ball back which then confirmed to me why we need a new midfielder.
We need a DM alongside Reijnders and then there’s no space for Adli.
As an Inter fan I suggest you extend Pioli’s contract for a decade.
Hey, at least you are honest, because only inter fans and fans who are OK with Milan being Inter’s b!yatch still want Pioli to stay at Milan.
If you go onto Inter forums I am sure you’ll find plenty of people who can agree with you…
As an Inter fan I’m amazed you are not embarrassed at your club’s latest attempts to take our rivals through highly questionable OFF FIELD investigations.
You haven’t won 20 Scudetti on the pitch and the pitch is all that counts.
Your club is a disgrace.
shut up
Leao is scoring and co-managing the team.
which leads tp today’s result.
Didn’t watch the game but good thing he rested a bunch of players for the Return Leg against Roma. We still clinching 2nd place anyways
Almost meaningless game. However, how about that defense?!! Big dan is past his prime. Gotta start simic and other youngsters in these kind of games. If we can make a profit on thiaw i wouldn’t mind. Up to the goal jovic was invisible. Hope we win in rome this week and for the love of god lets put up a good performance against shinter, a win woild be even better. Upgarde in coaching department needed.
Hey Isak I know you like Chukwueze but seriously a.6.5?? He wasted two or three good attacks shooting into the stands from range when they were better options and while I agree the offsides were harsh, at the end of the day he didn’t score a goal. Easily one our worst attackers in the first half. Also Musah and to lesser extent Adli was terrible. Our midfield was dominated until Reijnders came on.
Unpopular opinion: swap positions between RLC and Adli. I mean the physicality RLC is supposed to be bringing is almost nonexistence so why not just use a traditional playmaker for the role. Adli is seriously wasting as a dm and this is not to say he’s world class but we’ve seen what happens when even an inexperienced coach comes into a team and plays players in their real position. RLC for me has no business in the 10 role. Forget the goals, I feel RLC will enjoy his football if played as a cm. Also what’s wrong with Okafor as the CF? A mobile striker to take defenders out of position and open up space for his teammates. As for the defence, I love Kjaer but I hate to admit that his time here is up. Guy was so good with his long balls but right now he seems to have lost that. Malick hasn’t grown as expected but he’s still young so hopefully he improves. A guy pointed out that a certain coach played a 17 year old cb and if Pioli is sacked that guy is one of my choices. How do you end up being linked with teenagers from other teams that cost as much as £20m? Well those teenagers are given a run in the first team. There’s pressure to win in Milan but there’s also that pressure in Barcalona yet we see the teens having first team roles.
Anyway, I don’t even think it’s the player selection rather I think it’s the tactics. Why do the SOS amd have 5 players standing and waiting for the ball? In this team you don’t see players coming to demand for the ball and anyone who watched the roma game could see that when they had the ball, there was always a teammate closeby wanting to receive the ball. Pioli needs to work on that. You don’t just pass to a teammate and run to the final third waiting for the ball. That’s wasting a player who could be moving around and pulling defenders out or position.
The way I see this squad, we can achieve greater things than we’ve been able to achieve butbwe just need a man who’s gonna come in and play real football. There’s a kind of fast aggressive football Pioli played when he bagan his tenure but that is nowhere to be found now. I like the man but sometimes he shoots himself in the foot.
I totally agree. irrespective of who plays #10, RLC should not be playing there. buying him because he can carry the ball and has a big physique only works in midfield. he has no defense-splitting passes and loves to arrive the box late. why not play Tijjani or Adli in his postion before they are crucified for not being defensive enough.
that was how Allegri sold Pirlo for not providing defensive cover, and brought in mark van bommel. sure we won a trophy in that season but guess what? Pirlo went ahead to win serie A player of the year for 3 years in a row! he was played next to Arturo Vidal who provided defensive cover and then Pogba. Pioli keeps trying to re-invent the wheel. if your scouting job was good, then you will know the best position to play a player so that he spends the least time acclimatizing to his role and delivering his best.
whenever i think Piloi has leaned his lessons, he springs another surprise!!
I disagree. RLC does use his physicality and speed well to drive forward. He makes good late runs into the box and 10 goals to his name is not bad, considering last season we didn’t have an AM with those numbers.
Where he gets it wrong is that final pass.
RLC has brought a huge amount of physicality and this has been crucial to hold up especially given Giroud’s weakness in this area.
And yes his goals and his runs are important.
Adli simply isn’t good enough full stop.
I admired some of his passing today but it’s nothing special. And his lack of hunger in trying to win the ball back for the third goal (in what would’ve been an attacking midfield position) shows he’s not a winner.
We need a world class DM who will control matches and sweep up everything between CB and midfield, and we simply don’t have room for Adli, or the time or resources to fix the other elements of our midfield which we only replaced last summer.
Adli isn’t a DM no matter how hard he tries to play as one. It’s clear to see his strength is driving forward…
I wouldn’t use the verb ‘driving’ with Adli….
He doesn’t really have any strengths.
His passing is ok. It’s nothing special.
If we are going to have a No 10 type player he needs to be the greatest player on the pitch (who can also score a few free kicks!).
I’d prioritise a DM and a CF and if we have the cash a AM to replace RLC.
Forget Adli, at least for Roma. Drop RLC to mid next to Reijnders, move Pulisic to the AM sport and start Chuk on the right.
Milan fans on this page are a literal joke. Playing in a meaningless game trying to rest our stars for the match against Roma and you’re criticizing that we should have played our starters today. Stars can’t play every match and you have to pick your battles. No team will go unbeaten, ever. Especially not this Milan team but in your heads it’s always the manager and he should be sacked after every match. Idiots
“Leao and Theo want to play, the more they play the better they are.”
Pioli.
And they both started today. What’s your point?
A reply from this sentence;
Stars can’t play every match.
Anyone saying two matches in a week is too much for an athlete that does sport for a living while earning millions, clearly never played any kind of competitive sport in their whole life.
Some people would say the stars of ManCity are playing week in, week out. With smaller squads too. I guess they’re not big enough stars then… Or it must be the slow tempo of EPL, right? 🙂
I did. Your wrong.
Do a search on periodization.
Fans here are sad whenever Milan wins, its the losses and draws that fuel them and the results they want
the more setbacks the more they can complain online and likely farm likes on twitter, wouldnt be surprised if majority here run random fan accounts lmao
Pioli is not to blame as much as fans believe but it’s pretty clear we have reached a point of stagnation in our approach regarding important games.
We cannot move on without having a chance to win at least one derby a year or tough teams in cup matches. I hope we manage to beat Roma somehow but at the moment chances are very thin with this attitude.
Let’s be honest, shall we? We wouldn’t be even in second place in A if Juve didn’t have this dreadful performances lately. And Lazio, Mou Roma, Atalanta, Napoli same thing…we could do so much more and this is the reason why fans are so unnecessary mad in my opinion. I’m pissed as well, I’m watching all these games you know?
“We wouldn’t be even in second place in A if Juve didn’t have this dreadful performances lately. And Lazio, Mou Roma, Atalanta, Napoli same thing…”
Exactly. Juve (ie. Allegri) did this. We should be thanking him for giving us the chance. But… Losing the next 2 Serie A matches will mean we’re third again. And that will be thanks to Pioli.
Lol I forgot that after Inter we’ll face Juve. Great, just great.
AC3-Truth teller. My points- Let’s be honest, the mistakes made by several defenders today is not the manager’s fault. This is why you have a larger squad. And, giving players a run out of 30 mins is not going to effect them if they start on Thursday.
funny how before the game pioli said they must not think about thursday yet his line ups said otherwise.
this squad is the best squad milan had in last 10 years, imagine if milan actually had a decent coach.
but to some idiots here, he’s a scudetto winning coach who can’t do no wrong.
The best squad in 10 years???
Erm….apart from the lack of Ibrahimovic, Kessie, Tonali, and younger Kjaer???
The only defence Pioli has is that relegation threatened teams will fight to the death of they have any credibility. Put that aside, Pioli set his troops up to fail. Certain players are now carrying Mr Pioli. This American ownership model needs to wake up and realise what football club they are responsible for and what badge they represent.
It’s the midfield. It’s just awful. No organisation, no delegated roles. Nothing. It’s badly leaking. What’s Musah role again? He just runs whether it’s with the ball or after it. But no end product or outcome. An awful buy. 20 millions wasted.
Pioli should at least change RLC and Reijnders positions and play Reijnders in trequartista role while RLC with his physique can cover. What’s he got to lose now.
Unfortunately, Pioli doesn’t read this page! he will continue with his methods, come hell or high water!!
It’s interesting, we sold 1 good midfielder for 60m and bought 3 for 60m, 1 of whom is good.
Moneyball baby it’s fantastic!
The problem is not the players but the organization. RLC and Reijnders were brought as mezzalas for a 4-3-3, Reijnders somehow adapted to being a DM in a 4-2-3-1 but RLC can’t play as an AM. The fact that he scores quite often makes him look good, but it’s not a position for him.
“RLC can’t play as an AM. The fact that he scores quite often makes him look good, but it’s not a position for him”
This! Exactly this!. People conflate him happening to score to him doing well in the role. By output (goals/assists) sure, otherwise he’s not a CAM. Sorry. Imo he’s really been a Support Striker but truly he’s better off deeper in midfield where his physicality can be used
Musah is awful.
He’s constantly trying to dribble and turn and getting himself and the team in trouble.
Adli did better today moving the ball quicker but then lost that crucial 50:50 duel.
The only way to fix this midfield is to prioritise a DM General, hope Reijnders and and RLC (or another AM, if we have the money after we sign a DM and CF), can keep improving.
Musah over carries the ball. He carries when he doesn’t need to. That’s his biggest weakness. Plus he’s not positionally or tactically great. He’s suited to be a roaming destroyer if the people around him are better than him in a technically gifted sense. The Kante comparison doesn’t help. He’s not even close to Kante’s level
What the hell is a ‘roaming destroyer!’
Football Manager is getting more and more ridiculous with its positions!
Football is a simple game. You hit the first pass you see. You keep the ball moving because the ball can move quicker than the players. Every time the ball moves the defence has to readjust. A player that doesn’t understand this and this level has no place being anywhere near the pitch.
Whoever they destroy!
“What the hell is a ‘roaming destroyer!’”
Google is your friend.
There are defensive midfielders/destroyers who roam across the field, sort of stalking the opposition. Kind of like Kanté in a way.
Other defensive midfielders more or less hold their ground, stay in the position assigned to them and target whoever player who enters their zone.
Bro Gattuso used to roam and destroy he followed wherever the ball was and was extra aggressive in his tackles. Gattuso’s position on paper was a RM but we all know he didn’t stick to one side of the field. Just like Kaka was a roaming attacker…he didn’t stick to playing in the hole in the 4312 or a LF or RF in the Christmas tree.
Roamers take the positional intelligence out of the game (unlike a true 6 which absolutely requires).
Your write about about football. You hit the first pass you see?? Really now?
So when someone criticize a Milan player you like, (Calabria or Pioli) , you tell those people to go and root for another club or watch another sport, but it’s OK for you to call Musah and Adli awful?
Hypocrisy at his best.
Here you go.
Pioli should be fired because he is an awful coach and Calabria should be stripped of the captains armband and be at best bench player at Milan.
I am aware of my hypocrisy here and, agree, that I’ve probably gone beyond offering constructive criticism, but I have given very specific reasons about very specific players – neither of whom were part of the Scudetto winning squad.
Musah and Adli have won nothing (yet) with Milan but have cost in some matches.
Pioli is the Scudetto winning coach and the man who turned the club around after a decade in the wilderness. Therefore he is evidently not an ‘awful coach’ because an ‘awful coach’ would not have ACHIEVED those things.
Calabria has been an essential part of that project and has rarely makes mistakes, let alone ones at the level that Adli and Calabria continue to make.
You’ll notice that when Calabria moves into midfield he moves the ball quicker than both of them…..
Musah is young and a raw talent. Needs to develop. And in case you haven’t noticed, hasn’t been getting many minutes to improve…
There’s a lot of potential in that kid.
There’s no potential in a professional football player who won’t pass the ball!
With minutes he has played already with Valencia, Milan and USA he’s should’ve figure it out by now. He’s not improving at all.
🎵Pioli is on fire🔥 🎵
I’m trying to figure out why we cared about this game so much. It doesn’t matter if it’s to prevent Inter from getting the Scudetto next weekend… they’ll eventually get it and even if they don’t next round, they’ll still rub it on our faces or media is going to reword the narrative going into that game anyways. It’s just frustrating that we took this game so seriously when we have bigger fish to fry mid week. Roma is the bigger game, just rest the important players. Why play Theo,.who’s at risk for a suspension, for an entire 90min + as well as Leao. Both worked so hard, just for a draw smh 🤦♂️. Let Okafor and crew take of that sh!t. That’s what they’re there for omg 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️. We just love to shoot ourselves in our own feet. I really don’t care for this game and it’s outcome, the team shouldn’t as well. We’re not going to lose second place.
Shout out to RLC though for a terrible game, as it can only mean one thing…. he’s due for a good game either vs Roma or Inter given his usual trend..
Why has RLC had his 10 bad games already?
The guy is a complete donkey, I just hope some Saudi or EPL team wants to give us our money back
Lol 😂 I was being nice so the RLC lovers dont come after me. It’s like this when he underperforms but soon as he score a goal we get the ‘oh you guys in the summer said he wasnt good’ blah blah blah nonsense. They’re never there keeping it a buck when he underperforms.
As Giga said above, he just happens to score in a SS position, it doesn’t mean he’s actually doing well. He had one or maybe two decent games this season. Other times he scores but generally he doesn’t influence the play. That’s usually Leao, Puli and Reijnders. He’s a benefactor of those people’s game
Agree with your first paragraph.
Not sure why RLC deserved a shout out. I thought he did ok – held up play, made runs, used his strength and technique. He didn’t get a break but he was trying the right things (and Leao is at fault for the cross field pass that was intercepted because he didn’t come to the ball).
For me the shout outs have to be for Kjaer (and even based on what you’re saying Gabbia should’ve started to provide a base that would’ve allowed rotation elsewhere), Musah and, unfortunately, Adli for losing that duel.
It was a bit of sarcasm lol. Dude just shows up every 5 games but somehow is a crazy good signing apparently. Sorry I’m not impressed by someone who scores zero goals against real competition in the UCL and then scores 4 against mighty Slavia and Rennes and think he’s somehow great.
Oh btw I completely agree with your assessment of Gabbia here and in other comments. I kinda left that story on its own because I hate to toot my own horn once more. When people here were saying the coach was resting Gabbia when Tomori and co were coming back from injury I knew exactly that was it for Gabbia’s game time. Gabbia has been our best defender in 2024 and he’s been on the bench lately. Make that make sense. It’s grinds my gears.
Maybe I’m biased because I was supportive of his signing.
And the main reason I supported his signing was because we needed a player with those characteristics i.e. similar to Kessie.
I think he’s done ok – he’s made some great runs, held up the play well, his physicality is great, and he has scored quite a few goals.
I wouldn’t be against replacing him with a proper AM but we do need a DM and CF first.
Yea he’s ok. He’s not terrible. But he’s not great either. One can only hope he improves next season. In some ways, it’s a pretty decent first season for RLC
I missed the game but from what I saw on the highlights the score was kept at 3-2 for an extra half an hour thanks to a thread on Chukweuze’s jersey being offside. “But refs have no influence on results…….” Okay, cool.
It was an utter joke mate. The first one was his elbow and the second one was literally a thread on his shirt….surely the referee point should be their core body, being offside due to an arm or elbow is a joke
From memory of your posts I think you’ve been a fan since the glory days, remember USA 94 when the new guidelines were ‘decide in favour of the attacker’ to encourage more goals
Yeh man- now it’s “decide in the favor of insanity to encourage less goals.” I mean this is April Fools Day every game we play now with these refs. Just waiting for Lukaku to score the winner with his hand on Thursday…
😂
It’s a farce.
I think they’ve just forgotten why we even have offside.
It’s to stop goal hangers like when we played in the school yard.
It’s not to stop threads of jerseys blowing in the breeze….
The one thing they could at least do with VAR is require the entire body to be offside as:
a) that actually is what offside was invented for; and
b) it will speed up reviews since it will be much more clear cut.
Agree. A complete separation of players to constitute offside.
Why pioli love disappointing the fans ,he love given negative result to club who as no better player pls let pioli go
Either our passing was terrible or the grass was not mowed properly as the ball was moving at what seemed slow motion.
Pioli is the master of rotation. Another reason he has to go. I wish Okafor would get a chance ahead of Giroud. Games like this are why Arsenal and Chelsea let him go. He has many games like this.
Where is Maldini heir ? Every day comment ACM dont need new CB and suggest using kjaer, thiaw,kalulu . Not renew kjaer contract are best solution , kalulu injury prone , thiaw incosistent ( serie B quality) . Im surprise at summer thiaw agent offered his client to Real Madrid , thats will make management RM laugh so hard for this mediocre player that not even deserve sit on RM bench . Giroud mind not in ACM anymore, it is crazy pioli still depend on him , why not using okafor or jovic for last remaining match ? Or better give camarda chance on serie A
You must be delighted with the result…
Gabbia should’ve started, and we can’t just write off (how many players are you writing off – 3-4?).
We have Tomori and Gabbia so CBs sorted.
We need to keep them fit and we need them to play 50 plus games next season like the other great CB pairings.
Kalulu has shown himself to be a Scudetto winning defender as evidenced by the Scudetto he was central to winning.
Thiaw has shown potential which we should build on.
Kjaer offers leadership off the pitch especially with Giroud leaving (although I’d keep him).
The fact is we need a DM and we need to spend whatever we have on that one position.
And if we have some spare cash we need a 40 Goal A Season Striker.
And we need an AM.
So we have OTHER PRIORITIES.
But you keep enjoying when Milan drop points so you can fantasise about how we can go off and replace all the players and manager.
I mean that’s true joy of football, right?
Hoping the team you’re watching fails so you can sign a new team…..
Kjaer offers leadership off the bench which we’ll lose with Giroud retiring.
Kalulu has
Gabbia should have started! End of story really. The most in form CB in the bench. He needs to maintain sharpnes. Now if I see him start the next two games, I’ll take this back but…..I have my doubts
I had to leave the first place I trained and worked in because I was never really given the same respect as outside hires.
And then arrived at other places as an outside hire and could see the difference.
The situation is made even worse in football because those ‘outside hires’ are how the club thinks it’s going to make money – by wheelin’ and dealin’.
Therefore youth players are at a huge disadvantage.
This is what Gabbia is up against. He cannot shake off the fact that Pioli and the directors didn’t want him there. They wanted [some signing] to be the hero so that they could get credit for another “Great Bit of Business”.
Gabbia is just the most obvious example of the blatant discrimination which has permeated the club and Italian football for the best part of 15 years.
“This is what Gabbia is up against. He cannot shake off the fact that Pioli and the directors didn’t want him there.”
I wholeheartedly agree with this!
Stop write your mind games or your delusion maldini heir , i never comment about coach or changing whole squad. We need one CB to replace kjaer ( starting quality ) and simic replace pelegrino . Gabbia good but he and yomori need competition in CB position. Kalulu injury prone even he win scudetto but useless if not available for teams, thiaw ? I dont know which potential you see inside this kid . This sassoulo match maybe not important for ACM due to ACM already secure CL spot but important to see which player still good for next season , you can keep thiaw but he is not starting material only 4 or 5th choice CB below gabbia and tomori . But if you still insist same CB comp for next season , then good luck see how many goal ACM conceded just like this season 37 goals in serie A
Why would you use a disappointing result to try and ‘win’ some online debate?
This is just so typical of so many people around here. They revel in bad results because they think it somehow proves their grand theories.
For the reasons I have said we neither have the time nor the money to sign a CB.
We don’t need competition (and rotation) at CB – they need to be guaranteed starters.
The ‘competition’ for Juve’s BBC defence consisted of mostly Cáceres, for the Maldini/Nesta defence it consisted mostly of Martin Laursen.
It’s the last place we want competition.
As for players getting injured, there are wider questions there. Not much point signing another CB who will get injured.
Striker 40 goals / season in top 5 league europe ?? You want ACM signed that type striker ??? If there is striker like that , he will play for RM , manc city or PSG that can offer huge salary . Wow CB dont need competition , then how if gabbia or tomori get injured for long time ? ACM depend on kjaer – thiaw again ? You think all your starter healthy forever ? Champion club not depend on starter player but also the depth squad. You cannot winning anything just deoend on 11 player,. Lucky next derby kjaer and thiaw cannot play anymore if not easy goal for IM like sassoulo get in just first 10 min
@ Reccaman So you’re saying we can’t afford a metaphorical ’40 Goal A Season’ but we can afford to make unnecessary additions to an area of the squad that we’re already covered about 6 deep?
And, like I said, we don’t need DEPTH, we need two CBs that will play over 200 games together in the next 5 seasons like the other great CB pairings.
DEPTH just leads to more rotation like we saw against Sassuolo and Monza and Lecce and all of the other games that have cost us the title this season.
Wow two CB pairing play 200 games . And then you think they are imune from injury ??? They never get tired and no need to rest ??? They are not robot . You name which striker can guarantee 40 goals / season and price below 50m euro ,
I think the rating on Adli is a little harsh. He had some great moments and passes in the game.
The ratings on Kjaer, Thiaw & Florenzi are all very generous. All 3 committed bad mistakes that cost goals.
Our attack was decent today. But our defence was awful.
Giroud too deserved a lower mark. Missed a sitter that could have won the game for us again. Just like his chance to equalise with Roma. He looks out of form at the wrong time. I didn’t see him offer much other than being a decoy and that miss.
Chuk deserved a higher mark. Played well and created plenty. Was unlucky with the first offside being just off. The second offside call is just plain wrong and a scandal.
I’m not suggesting bias but something has gone very wrong to rule out a goal like that when.
a) it was not called on field
b) it at worst level and not even offside.
In the situation I think Pioli should have left Chuk on and brought Pulisic on as a midfielder when we were chasing the game.
That lost duel in midfield was unforgiveable and is very Adli.
Matches come down to inches (or in fact sleeves in this instance) and we simply can’t have players in midfield who are slow in their decision making and weak in their tackles.
I wonder how many goals SAS would have scored if Calabria played. Maybe he isn’t as washed as people think.
pulisic a 5? really. You thought he was the worse attacker on the field rly. Why dont you write a piece for an agruement that He should leave or be sent on loan. Show some cherry picked statistics. Whatev. Pulisic is wasting his talent at milan anyways.
Kjaer is at the end of the road with us unfortunately. MLS time for him. Nesta did well there. I can see him help the sport grow.
Truly, this game was a win if just one goal from Chuk counted, at least one should have.
Giroud also keeps dropping the ball at crucial moments. Half a stride quicker, he would be close to leading the league in goals scored. We created lots of chances in the last two years, scored important ones, he also failed at important moments too often. He needs to go this summer. Players with quicker feet and reaction times would have bagged upwards of 20 easily this year. We ahould have pulled the trigger on another summer last summer.
It cost us revenue from the CL and a league title. That amounts to more lost than saved by playing it safe for FFP.
on another striker last summer*
people saying we didn’t have money then, we sure as hell will have even less now. You can average out FFP over a few seasons.
I have dotted my comments above but in summary:
– stupid rotations especially rotating Gabbia , a 24 year old CB who has only played less than a few months of regular football and has been our best CB by a country mile;
– ridiculous offside goals;
– Adli did ok in that his decision making was quicker today but his lack of fight in midfield is unforgivable;
– Musah is a total liability who tries to dribble like he’s in some playground;
– we still should probably have won.
Not a lot else to say. It looks like we’ll be finishing 2nd which should probably keep Pioli in the job.
If anyone isn’t happen with that they can always take up some other entirely voluntary activity.
When Pioli gets fired in few weeks , if you aren’t happy with that decision you can always follow him to whatever mid to bottom table team he goes
I’ll be extremely disappointed for the man who helped deliver such joy and then, as per the past 15 years, will have to adjust to a new reality that might even involve supporting a team managed by Conte.
Will you be sticking around if Pioli sticks around or will you do something else with your time?
I support the club, not individuals.
The players, the coaches, and the directors are just club employees, and every employee is replaceable.
Every employee.
Especially a mediocre coach who lucked in the only trophy he will ever win in his career.
What is the club without the individuals who CURRENTLY make up the club?
You don’t support the ‘club’, you support the ‘brand’ or even the ‘idea of the brand’.
It’s just pointless.
Just as I thought it was a brilliant rotation made by Pioli…an excellent recipe for a master-class tactic. This proven how competent he is as our manager 👍….Adios next year ….
The fact is that our problem is Geroud the coach should sell him he is old so we need N.okafor as striker to lead Acmilan attacked he is a focus player ready to give is all then jovic should be is deputy now this were we need to buy player Acmilan should sign leao deputy (lauriente Armand of Sassuolo) then we need pulisic to shift as an attacking midfield then we sign chukwueze deputy and another attacking midfield incase of long time injury of either pulisic or Loftus cheek then sell tomori,thiaw, and Kjaer sign their replacement then let’s maintain our 4-2-3-1 if Acmilan management can do this we can win the champions league and also compete with teams like Madrid,man city and any other teams in Europe that are stronger is just the truth
Pioli did the right thing with the selection he made. You can’t risk your big players against Sassuolo, with a must-win game against Roma ahead. If the players played badly, that’s their fault, not the coach’s. The response was good, and now they are showing their stand against the smaller teams, when they need a result. We look forward to a great match on Thursday night.