Tommaso Pobega was an unlikely protagonist yesterday as he scored the equalising goal that ended up earning AC Milan a point against Bologna.
As Calciomertcato.com report, Pobega had gone almost 50 days without seeing the field, having even been briefly overtaken by Tiemoue Bakayoko in the hierarchies of the midfield. Then, he got two starts in a row and 180 minutes in his legs during the game against Empoli and Bologna.
The busy schedule meant rotation has been necessary and Pobega responded to the call, scoring the goal that reopened the contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara and establishing himself as the fourth man of the midfield after Bennacer, Tonali and Krunic.
It cannot be ruled out that he could get another chance – albeit off the bench – on Tuesday in the Champions League against Napoli. It is a competition where Pobega has also made his mark, scoring last September in the 3-1 win over Dinamo Zagreb.
Under contract until 2027, Pobega has shown that he is fully involved in the Milan project despite struggling for playing time. He is destined to remain beyond the summer, when Maldini will still be forced to make a signing in midfield.
Keeping Pobega is something that is also influenced by the fact he came through the academy at Milan, a big factor when looking at composition of the squad list.
Really?? Because he scored one nice goal. He’s not good enough. I don’t think they have won a single game when he has started.
In fact he has scored 3 goals this season, more than any other midfielder in the team, including Tonali and Bennacer. Looking at how limited his playing time was that’s not bad at all. Also he is best in a more attacking role like in Torino, in Milan he is prefered as DMF because of his size, but his best qualities come out when he is closer to goal.
He was good against Empoli.
His distribution was really good as was his anticipation/read of the game. His influence faded as Empoli parked the bus (not leaving much for our DM or the CBs to do).
I haven’t seen the Bologna match yet but if it was the same standard he’ll have made real progress as a DM. It is the role Pioli has been developing him for. It suits his size and physicality which adds something to the squad that is otherwise lacking.
Looks are a bit deceptive with a Pobega. He looks likes a burley DM but that has not been his game. He’s been a #8 more than anything and a fundamentally attack minded player for Torino last season.
I think that is why he was so static in some of his earlier appearances this season. His timing and positioning was bad which made him look slower than he is (which is not to say he is particularly quick).
I’m not saying Pobega is or will be a star but I can see him being reliable depth for maybe 10 starts next year and minutes off the bench, something approaching Massimo Ambrosini.
Pobega situation is very similar to Krunic. Both came in as box to box midfielders who are trying to learn a new position as a DM in double pivot. Naturally it takes time.
Krunic wasn’t a defensive midfielder when Milan first sign him, and looked awkward, slow and robotic in that role but now he is not bad at all. Defensively we are way more compact when he plays then when Bennacer plays in that double pivot with Tonali.
Pobega can follow suit. He has been much better as of late. And unlike Tonali and Bennacer, he actually makes runs in the box like Kessie used to do, and Is a threat on set pieces ( too bad there isn’t a single player on the team that can send a cross )
He is only 23, home grown, which works well for the UCL list.
We still need another starting central midfielder, but Pobega should stay for depth and continue his growth
With Krunic you could see what he brings but Pobega sucks visually and the data doesn’t show any significant contribution in any meaningful area. For every goal he’s scored he’s thrown away 100 possessions…
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Don’t compare him to Kessie, I know everyone is desperate to see an Italian do well but he’s not the guy.
Don’t compare Krunic now vs Pobega now.
As I said, both of them were/are learning new position. The same critique people say today for Pobega, was said 3,4 years ago about Krunic. Krunic improved, and Pobega will, too. Krunic isn’t faster, more mobile or even a better passer than Pobega. His job is to do the dirty work.
Also, I wasn’t comparing Pobega with Kessie, I just said he makes the same late runs in the box as Kessie used to do. That’s only 1 part of their game, far from comparing their whole game.
Also, Bennacer,Tonali,Krunic, Leao, Theo throw a 100 possessions for every goal they score, not just Pobega.
Leao and Theo lose possession far more often than they actually beat their man.
No! The guy has two good moments out of a thousand, that’s all we need to see to know he’s nothing more than a deep bench player. His passing and decision making suck, Bruno must not have watched the Empoli game. His per 90 stats tell the real story. His pass completion rate is in the 20th percentile, his progressive passes are in the 40th percentile, successful take on rate THE 5Th percentile! Plus his xg of .21 indicates some luck with his 3 goals. His xa is .03 obviously because he’s terrible at passing. Defensively he’s mildly better with being in the 67th percentile successful tackles, interceptions the 44th percentile, blocks 47th percentile and he does well in the air being in the 87th percentile. These stats are when compared with other midfielders across the top 5 leagues. Keep Pobega for registration reasons fine but the guy doesn’t belong in the starting squad.
The guy hasn’t even played that much for you to say that he had “thousand” moments lol. And those stats don’t mean anything. Didn’t Leao had some 30% dribling succses rate last year but he was still crucial in our attack. Pobega passes are also forward long thru passes where he is trying to split the deffence and create something. It’s normal for that type of passing to be less sucsesfull then let’s say Salamakers type of passing who keeps playing save and just passes back. Also Pobega kept scoring goals in any team that he went, it’s not just this 3 goals now in Milan. The guy obviously has an eye for goal, it can’t be luck all the time as you put it. Just give him time he hasn’t played as a DM, mainly he used to play in a more attacking role, he will get better.
I agree and even last year he bossed kessie in one of our games against torino.
Pobega has played 15 serie a matches this season scoring 2 in 752 minutes
He played 7 cl matches scoring 1 over 145 minutes
Thats a combined 897 minutes which equates 9.666 full matches played this year while scoring 3 times in the process. Thats pretty fine stats as i see it.
He can use both feet and even though his preferred foot is right we all hopefully saw how good he was with his left foot yesterday but guess not 🙁
We shouldnt forget either that we need a certain amount of players that has played 2 years in the club while between 18 and 21 years of age who is above that age bracket and if those demands isnt credited we will lose a spot in the cl squad. So should we buy back locatelli or someone to replace him ?
Pobega is a good servant for the club and doesnt complain when he doesnt play and still has some room for improvement because the player isnt even half as bad as he sometimes is made to be.
i made the mistalke to not include that he had played 77 minutes in a coppa italia match without scoring which then instead equates to 974 minutes played and an 10.82 games played. Still fine stats though.