AC Milan clinched their first three points of the season, beating Torino away from home, and it was a really good night for some of the players.
Torino away has often been a very difficult trip for Milan, but in tonight’s game, they quickly took control and were eventually rewarded for their efforts. Second-half goals from Alphadjo Cisse and Adrien Rabiot were enough, with the duo impressing in the season opener.
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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.
Short Version
🥇 Rabiot (7.5 – MOTM): Talk about impact off the bench! First, he managed to find Cisse in the box for the first goal, and then he doubled the lead himself. He did really well to pick up a position at the back post and from that range, he couldn’t miss. Clearly, he can be useful in the attacking midfield role.
👎 Loftus-Cheek (5.5): He was way too quiet in the first half, all things considered, especially since he wasted the few half-chances he had by not getting his feet right or losing the physical duel. His replacement, Rabiot, had a much better day at work. A bit disappointing seeing as this was his big chance.
👔 Amorim (7): It was a rather comfortable game for Milan and that is a rare statement for them when facing Torino away from home. In other words, the game plan was very good even if more could have been done in the first half, but that was more so the players’ fault and not his. Really good start.
Starting XI
Maignan (6): Che Adams’ fantastic strike in the final minute was actually Torino’s first shot on target, so it’s safe to say that the Frenchman wasn’t really tested that much. Of course, he couldn’t do much about that one, but it’s a shame that he didn’t get to keep a clean sheet.
Gila (6.5): He was the best centre-back for Milan tonight, at least in my view, as he dared to take a step up in the build-up and play the ball vertically. That said, I’m not sure what happened in the duel with Njie. He was far too rash and clearly sustained some sort of discomfort. A blemish that almost led to me giving him a 6 instead.
De Winter (6): Apart from a dodgy clearance at the start of the game, which could have been costly, there wasn’t really much to note from his performance. That’s a good thing, though, as he got the job done and kept Torino at bay.
Pavlovic (6): I actually think that he could have imposed himself more in some of the duels, while his possession play wasn’t always fantastic. That said, it was still a solid display from him and he certainly deserves a pass here.
Chukwueze (7): He could have been more effective in the first half, but at least he made things happen! I much prefer that rather than a player who hides. Besides, he got to ‘make up’ for some of the previous crosses with a fantastic one for Rabiot’s goal. There were also a couple of good tracking-back moments.
Musah (6.5): Many were worried about him starting, but he did more than fine. Not only did he put in a great shift, winning the ball back and covering spaces, but he also showed off with some good turns in possession as well as some nice passes to switch the play.
Jashari (6): All things considered, it was a decent one for the Swiss international as he was often available and used his ability to switch the play several times. One thing he can improve, however, is the control of the ball sometimes.
Estupinan (5.5): I don’t think he was particularly useful in attack, at least not in combination with Cisse, and he lost a few running duels with Pedersen on the flank. Maybe you could make the case for a 6 here (because it wasn’t that bad), but to me it was a pretty clear 5.5.
Loftus-Cheek (5.5): He was way too quiet in the first half, all things considered, especially since he wasted the few half-chances he had by not getting his feet right or losing the physical duel. His replacement, Rabiot, had a much better day at work. A bit disappointing seeing as this was his big chance.
Cisse (7): The first half was a bit so-so from the youngster as he missed two chances, even if they weren’t the easiest ones, while he also struggled on the ball a few times. However, the way he broke the deadlock deserves a lot of praise, not going hell for leather but instead placing it into the top-right corner. Really encouraging.
Ramos (6): We knew that Milan would get hard work from him, so the impact he had on that front didn’t really surprise me. In terms of other contributions, well, I wouldn’t say that it was a brilliant game for him. In fairness, he didn’t have loads to work with either, but definitely a solid display.
Substitutes
Modric (6): Amorim said he wasn’t ready for 90 minutes, but you would imagine that he will start against Venezia on Friday. I feel like he did a much better job than Jashari at controlling the midfield, but then again, almost no one does it as well as him.
Rabiot (7.5 – MOTM): Talk about impact off the bench! First, he managed to find Cisse in the box for the first goal, and then he doubled the lead himself. He did really well to pick up a position at the back post and from that range, he couldn’t miss. Clearly, he can be useful in the attacking midfield role.
Bartesaghi (N/A): He managed to get forward a few times and had a decent cross or so, but I can’t say that I saw enough to give him a rating here.
Saelemaekers (N/A): Same as Bartesaghi, really, as he didn’t get that many chances to shine on the ball in the dying phase of the game.
Gabbia (N/A): No rating for him either, but let’s hope that he’s ready to play from start next time out.
The manager
Amorim (7): It was a rather comfortable game for Milan and that is a rare statement for them when facing Torino away from home. In other words, the game plan was very good even if more could have been done in the first half, but that was more so the players’ fault and not his. Really good start.
De Winter played very well
I think RLC is deceiving, he plays well in pre-season because he only knows one speed of play, and his pre-season is his play for the entire season unfortunately. Everyone outside of him and Estupinan did well. Bartesaghi brought some stability and less brain farts on the left.
Typical RLC performance, lacking awareness, decisiveness and drive. FInds space, does nothing with it. Has no end product in creating plays or winning the ball back. I don’t think he should be with us.
Rabiot is a real player.
Milan should have sold Leao in summer 2023 when his value was highest.
Oh great – you’re back to state the bl**ding obvious…
unfortunately Leao will be back to hunt you guys
Estupinan was probably a 6. I think you are overly critical and low score him due to “forum sentiment” rather than actual performance. But hey it’s your opinion.
We get a first win of the season and your only comment is on defending Estupinan? 😂 (who was awful as always by the way)…
He loves run merchants and since his favorite player Fofana has been banished he’s on to the next best thing. I wouldn’t doubt if he also thinks Musah is a beast.
😂
He is not blessed with great speed or technical abilities no, but you’ve got to give him credit for putting his soul in it. That one challenge on the touchline where he cleared the ball laying down… that was really well done
Jashari was a solid 5. Milan immediately improved when he was subbed off.
Yes, but do you not think Modric benefitted from the work he’d done and coming into the game against a midfield that had been penned in by Jashari and Musah for an hour? Did you not notice both of them placing multiple long-distance passes perfectly on the feet of Chukwueze; at least three times in Jashari’s case?
He was fine – didn’t sparkle creatively but did absolutely deserve a ‘pass’ in executing his role IMO.
Indeed! He was quite nervous and the pressure almost toppled him few times but his long range ability is astounding and should be used more frequently. He’s best role would be Prilo like. Spider
Jashari at best 5.5, he is no Milan standard player, a 41yrs still better than him is such a shame
Well, yeah, but that was more due to Rabiot coming in than Modric. What did Modric do that was so much better?
Pacing, ball distribution, making the team more productive and less wasteful. Modric did make a difference. Rabiot indeed made even more of a difference but that doesn’t mean that Modric wasn’t also important.
Modric is faster than Jashari, 17 years older. That is what changed, reaction time.
I agree with you
At times the rating doses not tally with what we all watched
How? After he was subbed off Milan was pushed hard by Torino.
You rated Estupinan a 6 (he was decent imo) and think Jashari had a worse game than him.
Lmfao.
Ratings are obviously subjective, but to me Chukwueze was clear MotM there. Ran and ran all day, tired out Torino’s back line, wasn’t predictable in attacking play, got back defensively every time he needed to.
The goal moments are influencing these ratings way more than they should do. Rabiot made some daft mistakes near the end and didn’t hold the ball at all, if but the rating here is dependent on Torino’s execution rather than the Milan player’s contribution IMO.
Most important thing is that we played well as a team – they all deserve a good rating. New squad, never played against a low block, week one of a season… absolutely ran themselves into the ground and executed an ongoing pressing game that stopped Torino doing much at all until we tired at the end. Ramos, Musah, RLC, Cissé, Jashari… all contributed to Torino not being able to settle and only having about 10 mins total where they were on top in the game.
You said it very well! When you look at the lineup it’s a bit scary, but hey, if they click they click. You can see the mentality is there. Maybe it was a good thing to get rid of some players
Agreed completely! Chuk for MOTM easily. He was doing alot of work way before Rabiot came in. Good job by Rabiot though but like you said had some nearby moments too.
Good game, good pressing, good win.
At this point I hope we don’t integrate Leao into this team, cus he’d disrupt the pressing rhythm, Cisse is a fighter and a direct player, no unnecessary moves, same goes for Chukweze and I love it. I don’t know how big bodied RCL manages to be anonymous and bullied off the ball most time, alway beat my imagination.
Amori will cook and is cooking already, I like the system and player rotation.
Forza Milano
Hope you and Italian presses are not praising the young Cisse because you don’t want Milan to succeed, and just because of hatred for Leao, so anything but Leao, good or bad is better.
as for RLC he is just big for nothing because the way he falls like a chicken baffle me when been body checked by a smaller player
Lets take a minute to appreciate Musah, as everyone is always very quick to single him out when he plays a bad game. The dude was everywhere. His engine and muscles are really, really beneficial to Amorim’s system. Also, that turn before the 0-1… that was just beautiful
Totally agree
Our collective bargaining agreement on Musah is set pretty low. A game free of errors is already an accomplishment for him. He had a couple of nice drives and was shake on a few occasions. It’s his inconsistent performances in the past that leave little confidence in him, like RLC.
The question I always ask myself, can the current coach bring out the best in him and improve his decision making? And I still don’t have an answer.
Musah is a question. He’s athletic, fast, and pretty strong. Can drive past people but doesn’t have the skill for the final third. Having him back as more of a defensive mid works better. All that said, we always worry about when the bonehead play is going to happen
Completely agree.
Yeah I agree too, but I also think it is too easy to judge him purely on his work on the ball (i.e. his moments of brilliancy set off against his brainfarts), while this Amorim system relies very heavy on off the ball movements and work ethic. And in that respect, he deserves a lot of praise. Constantly bugging the opposition midfield. It’s very, very useful and might even forgive him that one lapse of concentration he has every game, no?
Yes! He could be brilliant under perfect circumstances. I still think that he’s way more useful when we are under the press than when defences are compact and patient, then he can be quite invisible and useless.
as for Musa, it’s just day one, and its Torino for crying out load, other team would have punished us, Njie was having a free day
Good game – was able to watch without a shotgun under my chin… Somehow we did it – even away against Torino with a dodgy refereeing decision and Musah Estupinan on the pitch.. Gimenez can’t score a goal all season and Rabiot comes on and does it in 10min… happy for Cisse and his first goal and Chuk…
#MMGA
Because there’s no need to single out Gimenez in this, I’m going to defend him.
This game from Ramos was very reminiscent of Gimenez at the start of last season before his injury; hard working, trying to bring others in, leading a press, creating space, being a nuisance.
Obviously I expect more of Ramos as the season goes by and don’t think Gimenez is right for the team, but scoring goals isn’t their only job and Ramos put that work in today.
Well said.
But Dejan did just put the shotgun down so he deserves some grace too.
“scoring goals isn’t their only job” – right.. but it’s their main one. Not sure why you’re arguing in defence of a striker who didn’t score one all season when we’ve just seen a midfielder saunter back from vacation and immediately put the ball in the back of the net…
What you said there applies only at the surface level. The world of difference is between two of them. The way Ramos comfortably plays with teammates and controls the tempo is opposite of uncomfortable and clunky Gimenez.
Not to mention the difference in their first touches …
He pressed well…whoopty wooooo…who cares. Serie B players can run around and chase defenders and pass a ball decently when teammates make supporting runs, it is a basic requirement for any professional attacker in a half decent league. Nothing ground breaking or to rave about..
You are demanded to be in a position to score or receive the ball to put yourself in one shortly after, being where you are supposed to …and the ball arrives, your teammates HAVE TO FIND YOU, YOUR JOB IS TO GET THAT SPACE, read the play, break the lines….then you have to put it in the back of the net. Strikers score goals FIRST on winning teams. This isn’t a middle table club or organization fighting for survival.
I could care less how well they press and get others involved when they don’t do the other things mentioned. GOALS FIRST..making excuses for players not doing the minimum in their job description is crazy work.
Holy 1990s Batman. If you haven’t noticed, we’re struggling to find buyers for Rafa Leao. Why? Because he doesn’t fit into the type of modern system that top teams apply with a coordinated press that starts with the front players.
Yes, a key part of the CFs job is to convert the chances that are made for them, but there are tonnes of other parts that teams look for in forwards in 2026.
Hold up the ball, bring AMs into the game, lead a press (which in turn creates them more chances), drop back to link up play, make runs to occupy defenders and create space… all the things Giroud was so good at whilst scoring ten a season.
Ramos looks like he can be a really good player for us and a proper finisher, but he can’t be judged solely on that alone, especially in games where the play doesn’t give him those chances.
All that doesn’t matter when you don’t score. Rafa is a winger, not a striker. He didn’t convert or create enough chances, which is why we missed out on the CL, because we didn’t score. Pressing, blah, blah blah, it isn’t a skill set, the most talentless numbskull can chase a ball and pressure a defender. Passing a ball and reading a play, understanding time and space is a BARE minimum requirement for a professional creative midfielder, winger or striker. The difference between a winning team, mediocre one or loosing one is whether or not they can convert chances that are created.
I won’t celebrate mediocrity or give participation medals for doing the minimum work.
You are up front, you habe to score when you have chances, that is the primary role. The rest is irrelevant when your team doesn’t score one more than your opponent. End of discussion.
The book is open on Ramos. Gimenez though, he had to do more. He missed his chances too often, so did Leao. That is why both are supposed to be on their way out and no one wants them. Mediocre players can do everything you said. It is part of baseline skillsets. What differentiates the top offensive players from the decent ones is goals.
Up front, all that stuff is done to be in a position to score a goal at the end of the line. It is absolutely useless if it doesn’t win you a game. That is the point, that is why scorers cost hundreds if millions, you can’t teach someone how to do that. The skillsets, mental capacities, psychological profiles and ability to do so consistently is one of the RAREST in the game. That is my point.
If Rafa scored 15 to 20 instead of 7 and we kept their defenses pinned with skilled play, we wouldn’t need to defend, nor would he or chase the ball arround. That is why they didn’t win in the second half of the season, because no one finished their chances.
The difference between our successful first half of the season last year to our abysmal second one wasn’t so much chance creation as it was missing big chances. Leao and Pulisic, who were effective in the first half of the year were both the worst in the second half of the season at converting big chances, that is why we tailspinned. Scoring matters more when you play to win
Firminho was the striker, both Mane and Salah scored more goals than him, but without a striker like him, the wingers would probably have scored half the goals they did.
Yesterday, the pressing by Ramos, Cisse and RLC allowed the wingbacks to be creative outlets more like the Liverpool team with Trent and Robertson, but Estupenian was always passing the ball backwards as against Chuck who was on the front foot.
Yes, a striker needs to score goals, but not everything is put on black and white.
Great comment John.
we are not struggling to find buyer for Leao, rather it’s what Leao wanted that matters, all the BS about pressing and link up play is nonsense for a striker, primary aim is to score goals period.
I fully agree, that was my exact impression as well! Ramos played exacly as Gimenez last season – lots of hard work and no result in scoring golas! He is not faster, stronger, better dribbler than Gimenez. I hope that we did not make a mistake in signing him espacially for such a high price. With this price he will have a huge chip on his shoulder.
Ramos played one serie A game ffs!!! Gimenez had 30+. How in the sound mind make that comparison…
My post you’re replying to isn’t criticising Ramos, I’m just saying Gimenez had similar performances last year to that.
I still expect Ramos to be well above when it comes to making chances but was just replying to the guy who decided Rabiot scoring within 10 minutes was somehow a reason to have a go at Gimenez.
Rabiot got in the right position for a great cross from Chukwueze. If Chukwueze messed up that one but put in a better cross in the first half, it would be someone else we’d be celebrating. “Rabiot is great he scored” is dependent on the rest of the team. Rabiot is great, but that moment isn’t the thing that proves it IMO.
IMO, we often overlook how much of a team game it is. Cissé scored after Rabiot messed up a cross. Cissé should have headed back from a cross earlier in the game, in which case we’d be praising Ramos or Estupinan if they had finished it.
Ok game no boring Alegri football, the last 20mins were bad tho. If Torino can press us so much what could a better team do? This was the problem in M United for Amorim as well, conceiving too many goals.
Milan should check Alieu Njie too, seems like a talent. He changed Torino game as soon as he came on.
Every middle table team has a stint against the top teams anywhere in the world of football. Especially at home, trailin by two ..
It is work in progress.
I believe it was a fitness issue as fatigue stepped in after years of playing slow style of football. The constant pressing was beautiful to watch and the fatigue was the price they had to pay for it.
I believe with passing time, the fitness levels will increase.
A very different Milan and so many of the same players. It strongly underscores just how much a coach, system and expectations of the role matter.
Mike – 6.5 – Nice near post save when the back post was the more likely shot from Njie. Decent ball distribution.
Pav – 6 – Took care of business. How do we know? His name was essentially never mentioned. As the system develops, I hope to see a few of those bombing runs from last year.
KDW – 5.5 – I like the player but he was a bit shaky. Clearances that didn’t fully clear. Positioning not yet inch perfect.
Gila – 6.5 – Aggression with a purpose. Played the ball from the back well when called to do so. Glad he as subbed and managed when he pulled up.
Pervis – 5.5 – Better than usual and clearly more comfortable in a system that plays at pace in both directions, but got beat in a foot race having been caught out of position. Passes were off by meters in some cases. Bummed he is stlll here but can see where he might grow into the system.
Musah – 6.5 – Drives the ball forward to Rabiot who gets the assist to Cisse. A couple of mistakes but clearly looking up now and picking a pass more.
Jashari – 6.5 – Yeah yeah yeah, hate me. This guy was running. He set tempo. If this is what we are building from with him, then that is a nice looking ceiling.
Chuk – 7 – Ran until he simply could not. Incredibly effective in the first half. Lovely cross for Rabiot. Different player than the one who left last year.
Cisse – 7 – MOTM – 19, debute, scores on the half volley. Raw and rough, but fearless. He and Pulisic offer something very different on the left and that will make us hard to prepare for as the season progresses.
RLC – 4.5 – FOTM (flop of the match) – It was hot and you could see it in all the players but he was utterly gassed by 25 min. Gave up on a nice thru-ball. Falls over far too easily for a professional athlete.
Ramos – 7 – Didn’t score. Was in great positions. Second goal was helped by him. Defender couldn’t decide who to cover. As his team mates learn to find him and put the ball on him, I am expecting quite a lot. He also was incredibly physical to the point of being on the edge. Something we need on that front line.
Amorin – 7 – Brave starting line up that said, “You may know the players but I know the players in _my_ system. Then made excellent subs and in game changes (e.g. moving Chuk to the left towards the end when Njie was abusing him). Now it’s a race, can the coaches in the league figure him out faster than he can evolve?
Subs –
Rabiot – 7 – Lovely assist and great position for a goal. Clearly a class above RLC.
Modric – 5.5 – Looked rusty and misplaced some passes. Amorin was clear he is not yet fit, so not a huge surprise. What I will say is I see Jashari improvement in Modric being present. Just doesn’t come for this games ratings.
Saelly – 6 – He looked sharp and made some nice plays but the game slowed down when the ball touched his feet. He was still playing more like last year than this year. Clearly a defensive upgrade though.
Bart – 6 – A clear upgrade both def and off.
Gabbia – N/A – On for Gila who took a knock. No drama.
Great ratings and descriptions as always!
Good start. Milan was robbed of a clear penalty today. Shameful from VAR. Great tactics from Amorim and great pressing. We still need a CB, CF and AM. Would be great if we could get Balde from Barcelona too. Then we would be ready for this season.
Nah. Hate when they give such penalties. The ball wasn’t going into the net, was it.
I’d rather see a proper goal, coming out of a combination, teamwork. If they cannot score without a penalty, they do not deserve a goal at all. Glad it wasn’t the case.
Agree
Agree with this. Hopefully it is a new directive to the referees not to give this sort of thing. It shouldn’t be deciding games.
Good showing by Milan under Amorim in his 1st game and a deserved win.
Milan dominated the game for about 75 minutes, but I didn’t like the last 15 minutes.
Outside of one bad decision to dribble in the 2nd half when he lost the ball, Musah didn’t put a foot wrong all game long. Promising.
Jashari was way too shaky, but got better as the game went on.
Cisse seems like a talented and very confident young player, physically strong for a 19 year old. Nice finish. He had some bad crosses and poor decisions but very good for a 1st game in serie A coming from serie .
Rabiot, a goal and assist. Playing further up the pitch might be good for him and Milan.
I don’t know how that clear hand ball wasn’t a penalty. Both the ref and VAR are useless in serie A.
Welcome to serie A Ignazio Abate. A lot of fans in here said that you will destroy Milan in the 1st game because you are mad that they fire you. BTW, did I see Lucas Biglia after the game or was i tripping? Is he part of Abate coaching staff?
Speaking of Torino, Diego Laxalt long lost brother Fitz-Jim is a very good midfielder. Njie also was destroying Milan’s right side until Amorim switched Saelemaekers on the right and Chukwueze on the left. Alexis shut that sh!t down.
Estupiñán gives me anxiety.
Good start. On to Venezia.
Isak Möller: sorry bud but you truly s*** at this. I honestly believe that you have some beef with RLC (amongst others) or god knows what exactly, but your take on him? I don’t know what game it is that you were watching, but it definitely wasn’t Torino vs AC Milan. Talking and analysing the way you did about him only shows your lack of understanding positioning, on or off the ball or formation tactics. Nah.
Ok so what’s your take on RLC, Jimi? Lay some thick wisdom here, pal.
I leave the wisdom to you instead, pal. Either you watched the match or you didn’t. But at least one thing is true: your inner Bon Jovi channeling, prayer living and whatnot, seems to have worked.
C’mon man you criticize isak without taking a stance and offering your own analysis. Were you on Allegri’s staff last year? (Hint: coward)
Right at the beginning he was at a different pace from everyone; tore through the midfield within the minute to set up Cissè with a chance to take the lead (which he did not) to only again burst forward and create an opportunity for Ramos, who had his shot blocked. Teed up Chukwueze for a shot after combining perfectly with his teammate.
He started the second half well, but the yellow card he received, perhaps changed his game a bit which made him more cautious I suppose.
His passing? 100% accurate, in both halves of the pitch; pressing the opposition, finding spaces and moving well off the ball. Had 3 key passes (only Chukwueze had more, 4)
But to say he was the worst? Come on now, get real. Either you watched the match or you didn’t.
(Hint: if “coward” is what you succumb to using, it says a lot about you. Well done, highly argumentative.)
Same old story, Loftus cheek and Estupinan failed to impress
@Jimi without defending Isak, I think RLC and Estupinan were poor in this match, the way a big man like RLC falls like chicken baffles me, he shouldn’t be starting, he has succeeded in fooling Amorim during pre-season not us
Hard to judge Milan as Amorim clearly doesn’t know his optimal 11 yet.
I think there’s a player in Cisse but he needs time to play and improve. He does one thing right then one thing wrong in perpetual cycles. Growing pains expected.
Estupinan, Musah and RLC did not change my opinion of them. Chuky seems almost like a new player even if he still doesn’t defend as well. Defense is still shaky and could use another competent CB.
Ramos will need better service to make a difference. Rabiot instantly makes a difference, extra vacation or not. Milan played mostly a B string today and didn’t implode. Amorim has yet to figure out his starting 11.
Musah was very good today. Probably his best game in a Milan jersey
Cisse was okay but also frustrating in the first half but he’s only a kid – glad Amorim kept him on in the end 😅 there’s definitely a player there.. looking forward to seeing who completes the starting 11 before the mercato closes…
The kid was already better than Gimenez all of last season. 😂🤣
Yep – but somehow we’re not supposed to criticize the mighty Santiago 😂
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Was that Milan legend Lucas Biglia shaking hands with players at the end of the game? Is he part of Abate’s staff?
Biglia, Milan legend? In what era? He was a Lazio legend at best. Came to Milan during that Chinese guy era. Played well, got injured a lot. Definitely wasn’t around when Pioli won the scudetto. Even Messias Jr and Ballo-Toure were more Milan legend than Biglia.
Well, that was encouraging as we always do poorly away at Torino and Amorim ball looked definitely better than Allegri ball (likely this is setting a low bar as I’m still angry at Allegri for the missed qualification for the UCL, but still). Too early in the season, of course, but yes, it was encouraging as the team did show signs of life, although it wasn’t always pretty.
Maignan – Didn’t have to work today, and the one time when a ball came into the goal frame, it was a thoroughly impossible one to stop, so, with no opportunities to shine, he gets by default a 6. He did have one near post good save but it was an offside anyway so it shouldn’t add to his score.
De Winter – Dangerous mistake in first half but he did recover from it. Overall quite decent or even a bit better than that as he did rescue Estupiñán once and had some other good defensive actions. 6.25
Gila – Good game. Not sure why he should be penalized by the official rater here, for getting injured. It’s clear how the defense got less stable as he left injured. He also supported the offense. 6.5
Pavlovic – He won’t shine as much under this coach as under Allegri’s defensive focus so let’s not expect the occasional MOTM he had last season. Still, he was decent today, without major contributions but without major mistakes either, despite being beaten a couple of times. As compared to how disastrous his pre-season is, that’s progress. 6.
Estupiñán – while he wasn’t his usual disastrous self, I disagree that he deserves a pass as I counted at least 3 defensive errors. I don’t think it is just a forum reflex to rate him lower; even when he does not make a huge costly mistake (which he does quite often), he is still the weaker defender in the team. 5.5 His sector should improve once Moreira is game-fit so Estupiñán will be just a rotation sub for depth, but it can’t be denied that he is a liability.
Chukweaze – as much as Rabiot deserves almost as much praise, I still think that Chuk was the MOTM. He was always active, always bothering Torino, always dynamic, tried a good shot on target saved by their goalie, and actually got some good crosses that were wasted by his companions in first half, when he already deserved an assist, which he got when he target a superior player like Rabiot. 7.5
Jashari – I thought that he was very decent. Not as good as in the ManU friendly, and he did have a couple of mistakes, but mostly his participation was very positive. This is a player who got a bad reputation with the fan base but it needs to be understood that his previous season was marred by severe injury. I’m confident that he will do better this season. So the official rater here blames him… for not being Modric??? Who is??? Yes, Jashari is not Modric but is still a good player that will likely be helpful to Milan this season. 6.5
RLC – That’s what can be expected from him; a good game, followed by several games when he doesn’t perform as well. He is one of the most irregular players I’ve ever seen. Not a disaster today but not good either. Not enough for a pass. 5.5
Musah – I’m shocked, we can’t really deny that in this particular game, Musah, one of Milan’s weakest players, did well. He did waste one cross that was sent to him but otherwise had no major failures, and did do some vertical passing, participating in the buildup for the essential first goal. 6.5
Ramos – He is being undervalued by the official rater here. He was not as successful inside the box but was very instrumental for the pressing, and recovered several balls, which is something he does very well. I’m content with his performance. Not always a player in his position will score or assist but as long as he is very useful when the team is not in possession, he fulfils an important role. 6.5
Cissé – The kid was very visibly nervous in the first half, being at 19 years old, his first start with the senior team of a club of Milan’s importance. So, the shortcomings he showed, like being impulsive and imprecise in crosses and finishing, are exactly what a nervous young player usually does. Still, he kept fighting and had a much better second half, and was rewarded with a good goal. Still I won’t give him a 7 but rather a 6.75 due to the weak first half, but that doesn’t mean I doesn’t value him or trust him that he will learn fast and be very helpful to Milan this season. For one thing, while he is not comparable to Leão when Leão was at his peak (which hasn’t been the case in a while), he does put in a lot more effort, and he did his best to help the defense, including holding the ball well in the defensive and transition phases.
Subs
Rabiot – Quality is quality. He did transform the game. I was saying to my son at one point “we’ve had a lot of offensive volume but ultimately unproductive; we need Rabiot.” He came in, and rapidly produced an assist and a score. I grant him 7.5 just like Chuk but still give MOTM to Chuk who played 93 minutes and tried his best for the team for the entire time.
Modric – Haha, well, obviously, yes, he is better than Jashari; who doesn’t know that? Modric is world-class and one of the best midfielders who ever played the game. At his age he doesn’t have 90 minutes in him, but when he comes in, if he isn’t very tired, he will always show his class. He helped with stabilizing and moving forward a team that was starting to struggle. The game was starting to look dangerous, but then as usual Modric took control of the midfield. 7. And no, that’s not grade inflation. Whoever disagrees needs to look harder at the impact Modric has on the whole pacing and ball distribution. He makes things more productive and less wasteful and it does make a huge difference. It’s not a coincidence that the best moments of the game for Milan happened when Modric was subbed in.
Bartesaghi – Nothing exceptional but no big mistakes either. One good cross attempt, and relatively decent defensively. Gets a pass, 6.
Saelemaekers – I think the wild miss in his attempt at goal does detract a bit from his score and prevents me from giving him a pass; we all know Alexis; he has greatwork ethic and tries hard but he is often unproductive and finishes poorly. 5.75.
Gabbia – he was cold and struggled a bit when coming in for a good Gila and the defense did suffer a little although it is hard to attribute it to Gabbia as the team seemed tired at that point and Torino had to surge as they were behind on the scoreboard. He did rapidly stabilize and made a couple of good defensive interventions. Gets a pass. 6.
Mister Amorim – I was blaming him in pre-game discussions for starting Musah but the latter was actually decent this time. The team is far from 100% physically, is still missing Moreira’s start, is missing another centerback and a very creative trequartista but it is clear that this team has a playing style now, and that’s an aggressive one with high pressing, good possession, and vertical passes. Like I said, this is very encouraging for the Amorim era as opposed to the failed Allegri era. I hope Cardinale gives him the couple of pieces that he still needs, but it can’t be denied that this team is already looking better than the one from last season, thanks to two good signings that he requested (and a third one likely just as good who hasn’t started yet) and to a more daring tactical plan. See, Abate is the one who didn’t get such a good start as his Torino couldn’t get much accomplished against Amorim’s game plan. Amorim also brought in Modric and Rabiot at the exact moment when the game started to derail and they were needed, which shows good reading of what was going on. This is still a limited group of players with some holes, but that’s not the coach’s fault, and it can’t be denied that this was a very good start for the head coach, especially away at Torino, a situation that we’ve always struggled with. 7.5
I had Modric at a 5.5. I felt he slowed the pace and misplaced a few passes.
Interestingly I think we view the role he was sent on to fill differently.
I wanted the third goal and was watching the game from looking for the forward pass.
I infer you were watching the game looking for control and taking the air out of the ball (not a bad thing just different)
When I think about Modric I can absolutely see your perspective. That’s what makes the comments fun.
Yes, Modric hasn’t been the fast vertical attacking midfielder; that’s not him. He is more like Pirlo. Pace, control, distribution; frustating the opponents, keeping possession, calming down the agitated youngsters so that mistakes are not committed that give away the victory.
He is very important to Milan and we visibly play worse when he is not present; at least that’s what happened last season. Part of the collapse that prevented us from qualifying for the UCL by one miserable point (just one additional draw instead of a loss would have us through, tied with Como but with the tiebreakers favoring us), was because Modric got injured in the final streatch of games. Obviously not the only factor but I’m fully convinced that if Modric was playing (and then came back but not in top shape) we would have had that extra point we needed. As in, not allowing Cagliari to score a second.
Maybe Modric will be less instrumental in Amorim’s team because Amorim wants more speed and more verticality. And also, at his age, there is a huge difference in performance when Modric is physically well, and when he is tired and out of top shape, which is one of the reasons why we performed way worse in the second half of the season when the accumulation of minutes takes a toll for a player his age.
Amorim did say that for this game against Torino, Modric wasn’t in good physical shape. Still, Amorim found that it was necessary to bring him in, and even if when less physically able he tends to make more mistakes, like I said his world-class quality still shines. Things just get more consistent and organized when he is playing.
When he subbed in, the team improved immediately (and not just because Rabiot also came in at the same time). The pace wasn’t as frenetic but the team took control of the midfield which is already half the task; you prevent counters and you favor your team’s offense when the midfield is yours.
But then, as the team was tiring more and more, as Modric wasn’t in top shape so tired even more even with a few minutes, the last ten minutes Torino was more dangerous.
But that’s natural. We ran a lot for 75 minutes. We were leading 2-0. So it’s natural for the opponents to sub in some attackers, and lost by two is the same as lost by 1,000 so they surged ahead. Even scored one. But it washn’t sufficient for them to tie the game, and in part, that’s because Modric contributed to stopping a derailing train when he came in, which quickly became again a dominant performance for Milan, with two fast goals.
So, while I see your point, my take is yes, that Modric’s importance can’t be underestimated, and almost by default, due to his class, he performs at least at a pass level (therefore a 6) and very frequently, more than that and sometimes way more than that.
Very good ratings as per usual. Though not really sure I agree on the Jashari & Modric part. It’s a matter of framing: because Modric is a ballon d’or level player, it’s different when he misplaces a few passes. But he did, and it could have been ugly. Also did not quite control the midfield like Jashari did for 60 minutes, in terms of pressing and covering spaces. I think MilanMatters’ comment makes a lot of sense, and actually I am a bit afraid if Modric is really suited for the high intensity style of the first 60 minutes. I don’t think it’s a coincidence either that our intensity dropped towards the end, when we saw more of the experienced players who, in Amorim’s eyes, are not accustomed to his demanding physical style yet. From that perspective, it only makes a lot of sense for Amorim to stick with the pre-season players who had more time to adapt to his style. As rightfully pointed out by FootballKush, that is exactly where Fonseca went wrong after all.
Great team performance.
I don’t think anyone should be called out for a poor performance. RLC was still solid
Well, for game 1 of a brand new system I’m very happy to be honest.
The back three, honestly looked rock solid. If there was a weak point tonight it was Pavlovic but he still played well.
Chuk – what can you say, he was up and down the wing all game for 80 mins and had nothing left with 10 to go – more on that later. Brilliant going forward, deserved the official MOTM. He can’t defend (there is a difference between tracking back and defending) and we need to sort out who his cover is, but thats for another day.
You can’t fault Musah today. If that is how Amorim has asked him to play and he can do it consistently then there is a role for him. It’s not as a starter – better teams will find him out, but he carried the ball out of danger 4 or 5 times and his passing was ok.
Cisse was fantastic, I won’t hear the negativity! It was his debut at 19 for Milan, and he scored, not many have done that. He was constantly looking for the ball, he was pressing, he held the ball up well – he’s strong, he’s getting in on goal, he’s helping the defence. Everything he got wrong is simply down to experience, plus he had zero help from Estupinan who was terrible. When we are fully fit, Cisse probably won’t start, but he’s in the picture and thats wonderful.
Apart from the win biggest takeaway here is fitness. No one is anywhere the level they need to be to press that hard for 90 mins and let’s be honest, the last 15 mins was nervy as hell! We should beat Venezia with our eyes closed (they look really poor), but then it’s two massive away games then a European game – the levels have to improve!
Forza Milan!
I’m not sure if Cissé will not start, especially if he learns and improves rapidly in terms of precision passing and crossing. Amorim has already declared that he is a big fan of Cissé, and if we get Puli on the left side and Chuk on the right side, we know that Puli is a fragile player who can’t handle a lot of athletic play without picking up an injury and who needs to be rotated out or subbed out quite frequently, so with Leão being sold, there will be space for Cissé in this team, either starting and then Puli coming in, or on the bench subbing in for Puli. And it still remains to be seen how Puli will be in the the 2026-27 season as he was extremely bad in the second half of last season. With accumulation of injury, it is not impossible that Puli will not recover his form entirely, which increases the space for both Chuk when Puli plays from the right, or Cissé when Puli plays from the left (he can do both; we know that Chuk can too, I’m not sure how comfortable Cissé is on the right but we know he can be effective on the left).
Well I hope you’re right because I’m a big fan of the kid, and it’s a fair point that Pulisic is only ever one over-exertion away from a month out.
I think starter or otherwise, he’ll get plenty of minutes this season and I hope we get to see him continue to grow all year!
The difference between Pulisic quiet work the whole game and pop up in the right place and Cisse flat out raw aggression is exciting to me.
You talk about when one or the other starts and that is already a headache for the opposition prep.
Then the other is available as a sub. Further headache in prep.
The idea that Saelemakers, Rabiot etc each bring something different as well while all a be a high work rate for the non-stay glue work is something I am watching Amorin carefully for.
If he goes Pioli/Allegri and plays the same 11 every game it will be a bad sign. If he tweaks the tactics to specific personnel shifts it will be hard for other clubs to dial in a game plan.
Exactly. And unfortunately, Amorim does have a reputation for tactical rigidity. So if he sticks too much with one game plan as one size fits all, other coaches will figure him out and adapt. Another reason for our poorer performance last season in the second half of the season is that other coaches fiured out Allegri ball. So let’s hope that Amorim can evolve from his reputation of rigidity.
I am encouraged by what I saw in the last two games, when he entirely outcoached Manchester United, and today he reacted efficiently to what was going on, and even switched Chuk to the left. That disorganized Torino’s defense again and we scored two rapid goals, and bringing in Alexis helped when Chuk was getting very tired. This is one of the reasons why I rated the mister so highly today.
But the important thing like you said is consistency. This is just the first game, he was facing a coach that was also debuting in Serie A, and a team that let’s be honest, isn’t that great (Torino). Venezia should be an easy win but when the competition really gets tougher, we will need to see if Amorim will outcoach and surprise his opponent coach with some creativity, or if he will be rigid, use always the same players and the same formation, resulting in injuries and predictability. While I’m encouraged, the juri is still out.
It was just his first official game in Italy. There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge. But another thing I’m encouraged about, is that his press conferences have been very wise and he is clearly not throwing his players under the bus like Fonseca used to do, which is good for team spirit and morale.
Good start, Mister Amorim, but keep it up and do know how to adapt to different opponents, please.
I don’t think Leao will be sold, if not sold, he will be a game changer as usual and Ramos can score goals with Leao on the field.
Cisse didnt struggle.on the ball.
I must say I’m mightily impressed. Not because we won but even when we were drawing I saw it as glass half full. It’s so refreshing to finally see proper attacking football. Wow what a change
I just hope Amorim has his pieces. The only concern I have is ofc the defense and how closed Seire A teams can be. Crossed fingers though that it goes well.
On to the player ratings. As per usual, Mr. Preseason GOAT Loftus Cheeks doing Loftus things. Both him and Estu leaves alot to be desired, the latter moreso. Musashi did ok but I’m hoping he’ll soon sit for better players who were in the bench today. Jashari didn’t also get into the game but we fair.
Cisse did brilliantly and I’m super happy for him and his goal. Rabiot did well off the bench.
The backline was fine but I’ll leave judgement on Gila. I don’t see how he gets 6.5 and the rest 6 when he was the worse of the 3. Getting skinned twice and having your teammates bail you out has got to reduce that rating a few notches. That was not impressive at all given his alleged advantage is his pace. But we’ll see the next few games, injuries not withstanding.
And finally, Chucky my boy I might have to do a 180.on you. Seems like this setup is ripe for him. He gets tons of space out wide, uses his skillset wisely and still tracks back on defence quite well. I think this could well be his season. But early goings so far. Game for the 3 points. Hopefully we get fitter with time. Do t mind how this is shaping up at all 😁
Agree with most of what you said but didn’t you notice how the defense got suddenly weaker once Gila left? Torino also practiced high press and fast counterattacking so of course not every time the defenders would contain the attackers but Gila had a very good game and we had a clean sheet while he was playing.
Yea I’ll wait until a few more games to make a proper evaluation. I don’t think it was that bad after he left. I think the problem is both Gabbia and De Winter likes to play in the center of the 3. I think also that it may be due to tiredness as we’re not full match sharp moreso than Gila leaving but let’s see. I do feel cautiously optimistic
My pronlem with Milan high press is that, when they play a good team that can beat the presses at fast paced, Milan will be in trouble, they would be leaking goals a lot, i don’t seems to see a tactical approach/defensive options to when the high press is beaten
Two interesting things:
1) Phew, Gila just had cramps and fatigue. He is not injured; he is fine.
2) Cissé is the youngest player to score in Serie A for Milan since 2017 when Cutrone did against Cagliari, while being slightly younger than what Cissé is now.
Like someone here said, coming to the first team at 19 and scoring is not the rule, so Cissé does deserve a lot of praise.
“It was not just the goal, but the quality that Cisse showed during the game. In the first half, he acted like the most experienced player in our team, with the way he took the game forward.”
“I think we saw one team for the first 75 minutes, then another at the end, we struggled physically. To press the way we want to for 90 minutes, we’d have needed more games in pre-season.”
Amorim on Cisse and fitness levels
Have you guys noticed? When gila is out amorim put salad into rwb position. It seems he still didnt trust chuck with the defense job. And honestly after thar chuck seems lost and cant play his best as an am. Hes definitely an rw or rwb. It also means we didnt have a proper backup for gila when amorim worried hes out. Hopefully the knocked is not serious for gila. One more thing. The first 10 minutes play evennthough we dont have a goal is the most satisfying to watch comapate to any of last season match. At least we have a joy to watch our team.
Hmmm yeah I noticed but I don’t think it was a lack of ability at that point. Chuk was just exhausted and would have been subbed for Moreira of Gila wouldn’t have gotten cramps. I don’t think it’s a shame that Chuk does not have 90 mins in his legs yet in this demanding position. Amorim opting for Saelemaekers as a RWB at that point, if anything, shows me tactical awareness and practicality from Amorim that we didn’t see at ManU. During the course of the season I think it will happen way more often that Chuk is replaced +- 70th minute and given rest in Europa League. The RWB in Amorim-ball is just soooo demanding and Chuk is not built for it
Amorim’s flexibility is a huge improvement, let’s hope he can keep that up. And the fact that we have players like RLC, Saele, Chuk, Musah and Moreira that can occupy different positions, gives me very good hope for the season. Only natural that the less flexible players like Fofana and Leao should make way.
*compare
Did anyone really think we would play well starting Estuphian, Musah and RLC??? Yikes. Game turned when the subs finally came in. Hope Almiron realizes never to pay those 3 again, at the very least not as starters. Spot players and back ups at best. All 3 should be sold if possible. Need another CB and an attacking player – esp if we are losing Nkunku, Leao and Gimenez….Let’s hope we can bring in a few more players before the window closes. Nice to see Cisse score.
The first goal was literally created by Musah.
Milan was dominating the game prior to the subs and had a clear penalty not awarded.
Watch the game, don’t just write nonsense based on few minutes of highlights you saw.
100
Yeah dude, but clearly Modric and Rabiot are still ramping up from summer and Moreira is acclimatizing. So at some point soon it will be Moreira instead of Estupinan, Modric for Musah and Rabiot for RLC in the starting lineup. And we won, despite these “subs” starting the match. So you’re just complaining for complaining’s sake, which you do almost exclusively.
Without further incoming transfers, our starting lineup will probably be:
Maignan
Gila-De Winter?-Pavlovic
Chukwueze-Jashari-Modric-Moreira
Rabiot-Pulisic
Ramos
I thought Amorim is going to get Milan relegated and everyone sucks without the great Maldini, what happened?
It was just the first game of the season. It’s way too early to judge anyone. Always hated the allegri ball, amorim is at least more of an attacking coach than allegri. Since you brought maldini, if maldini had this budget when he asked, we would have been amongst the greats in CL.
Estupinan’s low intelligence is a liability. He just chases the ball.
Starting 11 – 11 different nations
Great start of the season.
Seems like most people here have specific players they always wanna complain about no matter what. Estupinan wasn’t bad at all in this game. If Estupinan was the one that fell like Gila did, everyone will be calling for his head but still Gila still getting better rating than him. Jashari also did great but ratings are saying Modric did better than him. lol
The ratings will make you believe Torino scored when Estupinan and Jashari were playing. Smh.
They had 10 shots in the first half with 74% possession. Had a penalty not called which could have had them up. But everyone forgot that cos their golden old man Modric came on. Smh
ALL the players played well today and that’s it. On to the next game.
Finally someone who actually watched the game. If anything, Torino started controlling the midfield when Jashari was subbed for Modric. They are not similar players. Jashari covers a LOT more space and Modric is pretty much a regista when he enters the field. Also misplaced some passes. IMO Jashari was more reliable
What a breath of fresh air compared with allegri’s defensive tactics. Estupian, RLC, (I’ll exclude musah for now because of ok showing yesterday) should leave. happy for cisse, hope he grows into a champion. 1st game of the season always important. Hope Ramos gets some good service this season. Armorim has to find a way to feed our forward. That hasn’t been happening in Milan for a few seasons now.
Great to get off to a winning start, good for morale and allowing the coach to settle in…some positives and maybe areas for improvement but difficult to call out anyone for being an obvious flop (and i am saying this guardedly vis a vis Estu). Milan could greatly improve from a few players playing at higher levels for 90mins…and the emphasis is 90mins…good work from Cisse, Chukwueze, Musah…If these players can keep concentration for 90mins it will give us more options and not rely on certain players only. And I want to throw in RLC and Jashari in that same line of thinking, with these 4 players growing in confidence it will help with squad rotation and depth without having to fret about a Modric and Rabiot coming off the bench. Milan need to learn to operate with more players being useful and not create over dependencies…one more observation is that Rabiot looked a bit unnatural in that RAM position…hope he will grow into it, he drifted on occasion into the LAM position making one wonders if he was more comfortable operating on the left then the right. This is not distracting from his contributions because he changed things for us but just an observation where he might take time to grow into it. Rabiot is a drifter and he goes where the action is and maybe that RAM position might be too defined and restrictive to his natural instincts. Forza Milan.
First game of season, with a lot of questionable players starting and to play away to Torino, all I can say was it was a good first match.
For 70 minutes I enjoyed milans play more than I did all of last season (barring a couple of games). The high press and winning the ball back in their end is very hard to implement and for their first game they did it well. At the end of the game you can tell we were clearly gassed but fitness will come with games.
I dont know why people are so negative towards the team because last year we had the players but had a horrible coach. Amorim has brought attacking fluent play and if they follow his ideas we can be much better.
Defense was solid as apart from the last 10 minutes they didnt have a shot on goal. Gila is miles better than tomori but injuries are starting to already worry me that we may need another defender. Estupinan wasnt as bad as I thought he would be but bartesaghi should still be starting over him. Musah was surprising actually and he had a very good game.
Loftus slowed down too much for my liking. If he wants that position he needs to be a lot quicker in his decisions and not look to pass back
What can you say about cisse. The kids 19 and his first game for milan so obviously theres raweness and nerves but its refreshing to have a coach who believes in the qualities and it paid off. He works so hard and was good at holding off his player and dribbling. Some wrong choices but thats all apart of growing. That goal was absolutely beautiful, to control and get it out of his feet so quick that was amazing.
Ramos didnt get too many chances today but he works hard. Had he started perhaps with rabiot it could have been different.
I still think a defender and attacking mid are a must. Especially a quality attacking mid if leao is leaving. If one goes out injured were running thin.
Amorim impressed me today too. I like how the team was playing the high press and attacking and keeping possession with a team like Torino who we often struggle with. Happy too that he saw thay chuk was gassed and put saelemakers on the flank. He did well with the subs too!.
Please sell Leo and bring a grown up Man, I don’t think Leo will grow
What kind of comment is that??? Leão didn’t even play today. He is injured. So now everything is Rafa’s fault even when he doesn’t play and someone needs to come here and bash him? That’s one of the reason why he wants out: the fan base has always been very ungrateful to him.
If he goes to a rival like Roma (there is talk that this could happen) then at one point we will regret that he went there. Mark my words.
Absolutely spot on
grown up man like you? cut the guy some slacks
Some things that need addressing:
– Modric does not provide the same off the ball work as Jashari. He just is not as intense and good at pressing. Also, I don’t understand why people sh*t on Jashari for yesterday. Modric actually misplaced quite a lot yesterday and with him in midfield, we were overrun by Torino.
– Chuk RWB is an awesome resource against low blocks, but at 0-2, when the job is done and the opponent starts attacking, he should always be subbed. He was exhausted at the end.
– Gabbia just not enough to replace Gila, especially when Chuk is fatigued. Just too slow to cover the pockets.
– What do we do against teams with brilliant, fast wingers? When Njie entered the field, we were absolutely destroyed in the pockets.
– When the last 20 minutes, energy is so low, there is no point in wanting to play a high defensive line. Amorim is stubborn, I know, but we were just overrun. Play 20 minutes of Allegri ball and we should be fine. It’s also better suited for Gabbia’s talents coming of the bench.
The point of the game is for your team to score more goals. Everything else is irrelevant. Modric and Rabiot come on, 2 goals in 10 minutes.
No, we did defend more at the end; we weren’t exactly playing Amorim ball any longer from the 80th minute on. And why can’t people understand that if the squadi is not yet in top shape (first official game of the season) and they run like crazy for 75 minutes, the last 15 will be tough? The drop in performance was much more linked to the guys being exhausted, than to individual failures like you think.
No that was exactly my point, Luigi. I don’t think we should always press (for 90 minutes straight). I just hope Amorim – other than at ManU – will accept this and be pragmatic when needed. There is no shaming in defending well with a low line when your players are depleted.
I wondered if having to sub out Gila for injury/cramps meant that they couldn’t sub for Chuk to get fresher legs on.
Jashari too slow, takes too much time to make that pass. When a 41 year old comes on to speed up ball movement it can’t be more evident
Modric wasn’t brought in to speed things up but rather to organize them. And yes, of course, Modric is better than Jashari. What else is new? What midfielders in the entire history of the sport are equal to or better than Modric? At most a handful. He is world class and even at 41 he shows his class. That doesn’t mean that Jashari is bad. He had a rather good game yesterday.
Why are some posters taling on and on about Torino supposedly overwhelming us for the last 10-15 minutes? They were behind 0-2. They had to attack more. We were tired. We had to defend more. Still, with all this supposed Torino late game dominance and overruning us, do you all know what the stats show? Torino had ONE shot on target the entire game. Their ONLY shot on target was the goal their scored from outside the box with a gorgeous shot to the top angle of the goal frame, a shot nobody could have stopped and was nobody’s fault.
Otherwise they couldn’t produce any other shot on target despite all their late game movement. Is that really what overruning and overwhelming a team means???
No, even with our extreme fatigue in the last 15 minutes, we still kept it up sufficiently for not conceding a draw, and we won the game. Not so bad for a team supposedly getting overrun, huh?
And I repeat, Torino only did something out of a rather lucky and indefensible shot from a distance, literally 20 seconds before the last whistle. Big deal. If not for that, it would have been a clean sheet.
So let’s stop pretending that Torino did something extraordinary at the end. They just tried to desperately go forward, and couldn’t draw the game. They lost. We won.
Gee. Some people are never happy.
Uhmmm are we just going to deny that Torino hit the post and missed an open goal?
A post hit is still an off-target miss, and in every game usually both teams miss sitters. You also have to factor in the clear penalty not called. If you think they had to bag in their sitter then we should also have been granted a PK; that would still have been a 3-2 victory for us. Post hits don’t count in football; only balls sent to the back of the net. A team that only produces their first and only shot on target literally 20 seconds before the final whistle has NOT shown any useful dominance regardless of what else they did. Again, with us very tired and them having to try all they could because they were losing 0-2 at home, of course they finished the game attacking more; that is the natural sequence of a game and not any structural weakness from us. You need to understand that you can’t have your intact eggs and the omelette. If you want high pressing and lots of vertical runs for 75 minutes you will also get tired for the last 15. Especially when it’s the first official game and many players are still far from top physical form.
People are being too harsh on Milan simply because our players tried too hard for 75 minutes then got tired. Amorim saw it perfectly in his post-game interviews and said that fitness was the major factor for our drop in production (it was!) and it will improve as the season goes on.
Even with the gas tank empty our boys still secured the win and people should not criticize them so harshly for being tired. It’s interesting how this forum is harsh on the team. If they show lackluster effort people revolt and call them lazy and ask for more intensity. Then when they are intense, people blame them for naturally tiring up. I’m left with the impression that many forum participants here are never content even when we win at the home of an adversary that has always been a problem for us.
Gee, last season we started by losing at home to a relegation-level team. This time we beat a tough mid-table team at their home. Can’t people just say “congrats, boys, you got naturally tired but still pulled off the win; great 3 points!”? Gee.
To much foreign player starting lineups this is not Acmilan DNA. Sadddd
I wouldn’t be too optimistic with players from a nation that failed to qualify for a world cup
I have noticed that this fans is a racism. look at what you said about Chukwueze (7): He could have been more effective. But he won the MOTM. But for you he didn’t deserve it, Why you hate black players.
So, my “concern” after one game is actually defense. I’m not sure why Amorim reportedly asked for another AM when Cardinale reportedly said he could have one more big signing. Even if Leao and Nkunku are sold, we still have Rabiot, Pulisic, Cisse and RLC for the position. I get he wants a left footed player at AM, but I think Amorim may be underestimating our defensive frailty. He’s got a converted winger playing as RWB, then CB (as opposed to LCB and RCB) is a weak point. Unless De Winter takes a big step forward or Gabbia suddenly becomes a couple of paces quicker, I don’t think we have what we need in the middle of defense. So add to that a potentially weak right side defensively, and we might be shipping lots of goals. Will our offense be able to compensate? We’re going to find out.
Exactly. I’m very worried about that. Amorim even said in a press conference that our defense is complete. No, it obviously isn’t and it is a much weaker and bigger concern than the midfield and the offense so the priority should absolutely be another senior high quality center back rather than an attacking midfielder. We know that Amorim is offense-focused and fine, that’s beautiful to see and now we do have more scoring opportunities but if the offense scores two beautiful goals but the defense concedes three, we still lose. I question the head coach’s judgement if he can’t correctly see what the priority should be. Even in Allegri’s defensive-minded focus, we conceded too many goals in the second half of the season and failed to reach the CL in great part because of that (not only that obviously but that was a major factor too). Since Kjaer retired and even sooner, since Kessie left and stopped shielding the defense, we’ve struggled in that sector and a lot of our several poor seasons were directly caused by that.
Yep, and good point re Kessie. We still haven’t replaced him with a true DM type. So I’d also add that to the list of priorities over AM. CB, then a DM, and then maybe AM. This is where having a player like Modric actually becomes an issue. No coach wants to be the one to bench Modric, and we need to start getting something out of 37M Jashari, but this leaves us exposed. Maybe we can manage it for one season and finish top 4, but if we’re going to seriously compete I think we’ll need a proper DM next summer to step into the position that Modric will vacate upon retirement in 2027.
Yes, hopefully if we struggle defensively in the first half or the season Amorim will wake up to it and say to Cardinale in the winter mercato; “oops, if we want to save the season and make the 100+ million Euros UEFA Champions League, we urgently need two more signings: another senior CB and a true DM; they will pay for themselves when we qualify for the UCL and we will need to replace Modric anyway when he retires; better do it now that we can still make the UCL than later after we fail to qualify again which will make money shorter.” Gerry seems to be willing to spend, but he must complete the job otherwise all the effort and the already made investment will be for nothing.