AC Milan clinched all three points after a rather scrappy game away at Venezia, with Christian Pulisic and Santiago Gimenez on the scoresheet. 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.
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Starting XI
Maignan (6): Venezia had some dangerous chances but only managed two shots on target, with the Milan goalkeeper not tested that much. He was good with his feet today and did most things right, with a clean sheet in the end as well.
Tomori (6): The Englishman was heavily involved in the build-up for Milan, especially in the first half, and had a decent game overall. A couple of interventions could have been timed better, that much is true, but at the same time he had some good moments.
Gabbia (6): Just like Tomori, there were a couple of situations that could have been handled better, but the academy product had some crucial interventions especially at the end. Nothing spectacular, but good enough for a 6 here.
Pavlovic (5.5): It was a rough first half for the Serbian as he lost every single 1v1 aside from one at the end, with Yeboah having the clear upper hand. In fairness to the centre-back, it was much better in the second half, but not enough to get a pass here.
Jimenez (6): It certainly wasn’t as electric as the derby performance, with some lost balls as well, but he was heavily involved in the build-up for most of the game (when he was still on). He’s not afraid to pass with his left foot either which helps a lot. He was also the one who won the ball back before Pulisic’s goal.
Fofana (6): He started the game with a very nice assist for Pulisic, waiting until just the right moment to play the pass, and he continued to be important with his interceptions, runs forward and combinations. However, he also had some very poor passes today and unfortunately, it overshadows a lot of the positives. Still, definitely enough for a pass, but it could have been even better.
Reijnders (6.5): With his ability to drive forward with the ball, and find spaces in between, he remains a very important player. However, with several of the attackers struggling, Milan didn’t take advantage of his quality that much. Up until the 96th minute, I mean, as the Dutchman picked out Gimenez with a fantastic pass. It was going to be a 6, but that assist sealed the boost.
Hernandez (5.5): He lost multiple defensive duels in the first half and looked very sluggish when going forward, almost as if he was about to stumble the entire time. We saw better actions from him in the second half but overall, it was well below his best.
Pulisic (7 – MOTM): The winger finally found the back of the net again and it was a lovely goal, making a good run into the box before slotting it home. After that, he did well on the ball and was one of the few in Milan’s attack who actually had some success.
Abraham (5.5): He wasn’t meant to start but did so after a late change, with Jovic clearly feeling some discomfort in the warm-up. Unfortunately for the Englishman, he didn’t take the opportunity despite being somewhat involved in the first goal, deflecting the pass that Jimenez then intercepted.
In the second half, he had a great chance to double Milan’s lead but decided to take the shot early, skying his effort. You could also argue that he should have passed to Leao, who would have been 1on1 with the keeper.
Leao (5): It was certainly a game to forget for the Milan star, who failed with all of his attacking attempts in the first half, while seemingly lacking the crucial determination and desire. The second half was slightly better with one or two good moves, but Conceicao took him off after 70 minutes and rightly so.
Substitutes
Gimenez (6): It was a tough watch initially as he tried to bulldoze his way through every chance he got, with little success. However, the dink right at the end should help boost his confidence, as it was indeed a nice finish.
Walker (6): The veteran did well off the bench, not only intercepting a lot of passes at the back but also finding space in attack. He will surely be looking to make his way back into the starting XI.
Loftus-Cheek (5.5): He started with a really good cross for Gimenez but a few minutes later, he missed a huge chance, skying his effort like Abraham. Milan had a 4v2 so he should have passed instead.
Joao Felix (6): In the little we saw from him, it was actually good as he made use of his technique to frustrate Venezia’s defence.
Terracciano (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him rating.
fofana deserves more than 6
It was a tough one, I liked him a lot but some of those passes…
time and time again GDS makes look the SM ratings childish. Fofana was at least a 7 like GDS stated. A 6? 1 point over an awful Leao? Come on…. he was by far the best player in the field
Agreed, that counter when he could have played it left to Leao or Right to Pulisic, he plays it down the middle, where the defenders were at. If Pulisic hadn’t gotten to the ball after Leao got physically pushed away from the centre, it would have been a wasted chance.
He covered a lot of the pitch defensively, but some of those key passes into the final third really could have been better.
Gól ktorý prišiel veľmi skoro nám uskodil mysleli sme že už sme vyhrali ale potom sme hrali ľahostajné že vyhráme domáci zistili že už vyhráme ale domáci kukali našťastie sme dali druhý gól a hotovo ale výkon slabučky tak ako aj Leao takéto zápasy by sme mali vyhrať 3 0 ale už do polčasu a potom môžme dohravat
Tam mohla byt aj unava po zapase s Interom lebo nie je mozne aby proti Interu odorhali taky zápas a teraz tak zle.. aj ked túto sezónu je vsetko možné
agree. I thought Fofana was one of the best on field.
6.5 for Fofana. He was a constant maurader on offense and made some good physical takeaways.
I don’t no what game this guy was watching but they were worth between 3and 4 we were lucky to win it.
As for fofana I’m still out on him he gives the ball away to
much puts the team under pressure once he loses the ball.
Another undeserved rating for Fofana. Even the commentator said he’s impressive and single handedly holding the Milan’s midfield. And with that assist? A 6 is just nonsense.
I’d give him a 7 just for passing up the chance to shoot when he has the opportunity!!
Hear hear!!! 😀
Pulisic should have had 2 goals but Ruben was selfish. Was wide open for an easy finish.
To many ball hogs on this squad!
Truth spoken!
agree. so many good chances wasted by someone taking a shot on the run at the edge of the box instead of playing in a team mate. It happens so much in our games.
Yeh, feels like everyone’s been watching Felix too much in training..
exactly, Milan could’ve had two more goals if Abraham and Loftus didn’t let their ego get in their way. I mean I wouldn’t be as mad if they at least hit the target, but that wasn’t the case, Abraham skyrocketed his and Loftus even miss-kicked the ball.
Jimenez did the same in first half shortly after the goal. He had similar chance as Fofana to slid a ball between the defenders to pulisic. Instead he put his head down and dribbles – lost the ball of course.
Zerociano deserved bad rating. He again played for opponents. What is wrong him though. Every time he loses 1v1, he pulls shirts, hold the players… Little girl mentality.
I still can’t forgot his 2 free gifts on Napoli game. He still have the same weak mentality.
For what reason we bought him? I can’t understand. Not a seria A worthy player
Fofana was a beast today.
Pulisic was much more dynamic than recently which is great to see
Leao was horrific, needs to be benched
Pavlovic was really poor also, got rosted time after time and was lucky not to give a penalty away
Pretty poor performance. Interesting though that with 343 we still conceded no goals, perhaps lucky the Venezia goal was ruled out.
4 games 9 goals scored and 1 conceded playing 343.
Some of those games like today we did not play well but still kept a clean sheet. This is reason enough to fire the management and coach as there should be some plan as to what team we are building. Why do fans know more than the pros??
Leão just loses the ball too much. I accept that offensive players will lose the ball more then any other player, but many times it’s just sloppy play.
Venezia picked us apart through the middle. Not sure what we lacked today. I think Theo and Jimenez should have squeezed centrally and taken away the passing lanes.
Leao never looks good in mid day fixtures. You could tell many players looked sluggish, maybe Theo and Leao the most.
He has really lost his confidence
One moment ACM looks brilliant and then like crap. Can these players pass? Typically, when I’m watching a game, I watch for when the player has the ball do they see the open pass? Most of the time it’s NO. This isn’t on the manager, it’s totally on the players. If you want a fluid offense, you’ve got to be able to play one touch passes. Are the players just selfish?
The usual suspects are basically already on vacation. Theo has been on vacation since the start of the season. Leao, depends on the game.
Meanwhile, Pavlovic is Tomori 2.0, running around like a headless chicken, but with more grinta. Pulisic has gone missing under ConceiCiao, until this game. I don’t know what to make of Fofana.
Basically the only players consistently performing at the moment are Mike (and only in the last couple of months), Jimenez, Gabbia, and Tijji.
One of the worst games to watch this season. Both teams were very sloppy. Milan did enough to win.
Pulisic was the only player that showed up to play, the rest were just going thru the motions. The left side and Abraham were awful
Are you surprised ?
The comment you just posted right now can be pretty much pasted in many games without any modifications.
Aside from the inter games, Milan overall this season and especially under Conceição has looked awful and not in the sense that we defend too much (I’m ok with that) but in the sense that we don’t seem to have control over the actions of the games and that our wins seem very lucky.
Nevertheless, since adopting the 3-4-3, we’ve scored 9 goals and only conceded once in 4 games, winning 3 times and losing once, so I guess Conceição found a system that offers us a defensive “sTaBiLiTy” ? A bit like Fonseca in the last 4 games before getting fired, but with a better offensive output.
Agreed
Classic mid day fixture for ya.
Agreed with you, seems also something was off about the pitch
Why was Jovic replaced with Abraham before the match?
Back issues.
Theo was bad and predictable in attack.
Leao should have been rested. He looked flat again.
RLC initially impressed me off the bench but then he wasted a good chance.
Gimenez looked badly out of form until he finally got a chance in his zone on the left foot.
Fofana and Rjeinders were both impressive. I think their ratings should have been higher. particularly Fofana. Most quality moments involved Rjeinders. He is one of the few you can count on to deliver a good pass.
Pulisic was very good too. Always looked the most threatening in attack.
Is Chukwueze even still at the club? He’s going to end up as the next FBT if we don’t get him some minutes to show what he can do.
Fingers crossed Gimenez can do something from here, but I hope Jovic isn’t too injured.
Game was far more even that it should have been against a relegation candidate; our quality won through over their desperation/determination but again rode our luck. Even split of shots, passes and possession though… scoreline flatters us a bit.
I thought maybe we would see Chukwueze come on for Leao instead of Felix. We also haven’t seen even a hint of Musah making another appearance. Maybe the double pivot midfield didn’t suit him as well. He is a good true central midfield #8. But he could be the right sub to come on for Fofana.
A few thoughts
1. After the early goal the game dictated that Reijnders stay back and keep the defensive shape. I thought he did a good job of being disciplined
2. Fofana was everywhere. Very physical, won back the ball multiple times and had the nice assist. I think this was his best game in months
3. How can Milan have so many professional footballers who can not look up when they dribble the ball? 3 times Pulisic was missed (Jimenez, Tammy, and RLC). Then Tammy missed Rafa and or Reijnders. I miss Giroud so much. The guy got the ball off his feet.
4. I think Theo played well again today
5. Jimenez is growing on me
6. TomorI is so much better in a 3 man back line.
7. Is it time for Rafa to sit a half again to recharge?
8. Pulisic had a really nice first touch on his goal. Good control on a bouncing ball.
Was Pulisic missed due to poor vision or due to selfishness? Pulisic has been MIA lately because of missed passes to him like today. He was trained in Germany to play in a structured, one touch system. He tries not to take a lot of risks – ie trying to dribble thru two lines or 4 players. Seems people like players trying that even when they end up losing the ball.
Good point on Puli. He doesn’t seem afraid to take people on, but it is not his style like it is for Leao. He did best surrounded by players who can work give- and-gos in a flowing offense. Too many times he gives, makes the right run, and then the player he passed to tries to dribble and loses it or back passes instead of playing it through.
Well Fonafa has always had those poor passes but today he’s done it with a better performance. I hardly praise him if ever but he should manage to at least get a pass without the assist seeing he would’ve seemingly gotten a 5.5 😳
Cut Leao’s 5 to a 4 and add the 1 to Fofana’s for a 7 and the ratings are good!
I think Fofana had a great game especially in tight situations. Always came out with the ball. Yea, some of his passes aren’t crisp and it’s an ongoing thing but he was everywhere today and was very effective. He was easily a 7 for me.
Agreed. He would be a next level player if he could improve his passing. I think he plays right on the edge of his physical abilities which this impact touch and passing. Most people’s skills are best expressed when they are playing at 80% speed not 100%.
I thought he was one of the best on the park too. Had to hide behind the couch when Sergio swapped him with Terraciano the last 10 min…
Agreed. He would be a next level player if he could improve his passing. I think he plays right on the edge of his physical abilities which impacts his touch and passing. Most people’s skills are best expressed when they are playing at 80% speed not 100%.
Our team was decent and this game was one of grit. Kept a clean sheet too.
Guys you need to remember Venezia is in a desperate situation and are fighting against relegation.
We spent a lot of energy in the derby game.
I will take this and grinding results like this would have suited us better earlier in the season.
Also it seems our team has their minds on the Coppa final.
The boys were tired. Lots of effort against Inter than you go play away a young and athletic team desperate to escape relegation, and despite some iffy moments, you still keep a clean sheet and win 2-0. But people here love to complain.
Fofana was excellent today. 7
Puli as well. 7.5
It’s nice to see Puli and Gimenez scoring again.
We usually struggle against the bottom feeders. This time we won 2-0.
9 goals scored, 1 conceded in 4 games since 3-4-3, is an excellent record. We are peaking now, too bad it’s too late.
Inter on the other hand are tanking. They are tired, frustrated, short of ideas, angry, and lost to Roma 1-0 at home and continued to shoot wildly off-target. If they play against Barcelona this way, they will lose 5-0. I think they will go trophyless this season, which, if we win the Coppa and this make the Europa League, can arguably be said to be a better seasonal result (except for not making the UCL which does ruin it; but for Inter, it would be very frustrating to win no trophy and lose 3 derbies to us, and only drawing the other 2).
I hope we do win the Coppa. But Bologna are dangerous. It would really turn this season around despite it being only EL qualification.
” If they play against Barcelona this way, they will lose 5-0. I think they will go trophyless this season, which, if we win the Coppa and this make the Europa League, can arguably be said to be a better seasonal result ”
Please don’t get our hopes up for nothing! 😀 😀 😀
Third match in a row in which Leao is the worst player on the pitch. 7 goals in Serie A.
We should sell him and invest the money to buy a proper n9 like Osimenh and a very strong regista.
Walker Gabbia Thiaw (Pavlovic)
Jimenez Rovella Fofana Theo
Pulisic Reinjders
Osimenh
If we have budget I would get a more offensive wingback like Frimpong.
Theo would thrive without Leao. He wouldn’t have to defend for two and he’d have more room for attacking.
Yes the coaches have not been good at putting the team in a good position to win but that is not the issue. Everyone wants to talk about a 3-4-3 or other formations. This “team” (in non-Inter games) always plays a 1-1-1-.5-1-1-1-.5-1-1 (at least 2 players only half show up for each game). EVERY. SINGLE. GAME. Multiple commenters have pointed out skied shots when a teammate could have been played through. Even Puli could have played Rafa through on his blocked shot. More than tactics, the next SD and coach need to work on building an actual team.
Puli could have laid it off but Rafa had no angle and would have been stuck. The one with Ruben was ridiculous. The lay off would have been easy and Pulisic was wide open in front of goal. Would have finished the game off.
Jimenez did the same in first half shortly after the goal. He had similar chance as Fofana to slid a ball between the defenders to pulisic. Instead he put his head down and dribbles – lost the ball of course.
Our striker Jovic is very underrated. He only worth 2 M. Meanwhile others: Kolo Muani, Guirassy, Marcus Thuram, Moise Kean, Dovbyk, Osimhen, etc worths at least 40 M
Jovic was injured for most of the season. He is not physicalllly reliable. I would keep him, but he cannot be starting n9.
Okay performance and better result, considering it’s the end of the season.. I remember people saying before the game we should’ve rested everyone and played the reserves… Sergio’s playing for his freaking future here, he was never going to do that. I’m actually in two minds whether we should keep him or move on…
I hope we win the Coppa. It will really change things. Did you think Sergio should get a second shot at a second year with us if we do?
I’m split. I mean he did inherit a bad situation..
Yeh me too, I’m right down the middle at the moment. It feels like he didn’t get a chance at the beginning with no time to train the team, plus the players were at fault for a LOT of those losses. Then again his man management, in game awareness, motivating the players, etc hasn’t been that great… I dunno I guess it depends on who management get. If it’s Conte/Italiano I’m more likely to say yes. If it’s Sarri/Allegri it’s a no. Jumping from one coach to another doesn’t mean things are going to get better – as we found out with Pioli…
I like a lot of things about Conceicao but I’m afraid there are players who want to leave if he stays.
Conceicao’s style does not match this team. At all. Half a season as evidence. No improvement at all and only 4 mo’s to revert to a formation many of us called for to bring stability to the team.
One Cup, Two Cups, he needs go. We need a better man manager to bring the best out of our bunch. maybe Conceicao can come back just to coach us against every Inter game.
take .5 away from Jimenez and give it to Fofana
THEO tired……………. HA ! HA ! LAZY…LAZY…LAZY !! SELL THE LOSER & EVERYONE STOP LIVING IN THE PAST…HE HAS LOST HIS MOTIVATION TO WEAR THE SHIRT…
Good game. Guys are after a hard fought Coppa semis win and Venezia are battling relegation so they went all in.
One thing frustrates me. Reijnders is a liabilty in midfield. I’ve focused on his defensive positioning and play. Non. Zero. Nothing. Fofana and Pavlo did everything for him, thus why Pavlo is caught out of position many times and Fofana rans out of fuel.
Way to phone in the ratings. Essentially just giving 6 to everyone. Of you are gong to use a scale of 1 to 10, try using more of the scale.
Way to phone in the ratings. Essentially just giving 6 to everyone. If you are going to use a scale of 1 to 10, try using more of the scale.