AC Milan’s final friendly of the winter did not go to plan as they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by PSV Eindhoven at the Philips Stadion.
In truth it was a comfortable win for the Eredivisie side as they ran out to a 2-0 lead before the break thanks to goals from Guus Til and Noni Madueke, with the first being a header from a cross and the second a thumping shot that went in at the near post.
Madueke doubled his tally in the second half with another very well-taken goal from the edge of the box, and that would be enough for PSV as Milan made big changes in the second half to give everyone minutes,
Stefano Pioli opted to name an interesting starting XI for the game consisting of Antonio Mirante in goal, Sergino Dest at left-back, Yacine Adli on the left side of the attack and Ante Rebic as the centre-forward.
The pitch was visibly soaked and Pierre Kalulu was nearly punished for a bad error in the opening exchanges of the game as he surrendered possession and Vertessen was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, though his first touch took the ball past Mirante and out for a goal kick.
Kalulu was required to intervene a few minutes later as El Ghazi wound up a cross from PSV’s left and the Frenchman was luckily able to divert the ball behind for a corner even though the connection was not the sweetest.
All of the early danger came from the home side, and in the ninth minute they took the lead. A cross again arrived from the left flank and met the run of the midfielder Til, who did very well to send the ball back across goal past Mirante to make it 1-0 to the Dutch side.
Midway through the second half PSV doubled their advantage and it came courtesy of a wonderful strike from Madueke. The winger cut in from the right wing onto his left foot and was not closed down, thumping a shot past Mirante at the near post.
An unorganised and sloppy first half for Milan could have got even worse when Mirante flapped at the ball while trying to claim a corner but thankfully De Ketelaere was on hand to clear the danger, and moments later Madueke was again allowed to shoot on his left foot though this time he blazed it over.
A change came at the midway point as Marko Lazetic came on for Rebic in the centre-forward role, with the Croatian’s only real contribution in the opening 45 minutes having been an off-target shot.
Madueke continued to wreak havoc down Milan’s left flank and he doubled his tally with another exceptional goal. Again the Rossoneri made the mistake of allowing him time and space to cut in on his left foot and he slotted into the far corner past a diving Mirante.
Halfway through the second half the decision was made by Pioli to replace almost the entire starting line-up. Diaz, Leao, Vranckx, Bakayoko, Pobega, Tatarusanu, Kjaer, Gabbia, Ballo-Toure and Thiaw all came on, with De Ketelaere, Adli, Bennacer, Tonali, Saelemaekers, Tatarusanu, Kalulu, Tomori, Calabria and Dest going off.
The best period of play for Milan came in the last 15 minutes as Leao looked very lively down the left side, cutting the ball back to Brahim Diaz who should have done better with a first time effort and producing a ball that ended with Vranckx seeing a shot well saved.
The game ended in a rather fittingly worrying fashion as Ballo-Toure came off in agony clutching his shoulder with what appeared to be a dislocation, rounding off a very forgettable night in Holland.
We need a new coach, and many new players.
Milan is a joke
Ah, here we go again.
Please go support city, that sounds more like your cup of tea.
I wonder how people like you reason.
Where do you go? @arsalan?
This is AC Milan not some backyard club. Liverpool, Arsenal and PSV?
Sorry, but that is not to be taken literally. It is indicating that we are going to endure the same thing (people nagging) again. Does that help?
I would punch pioli so hard if i ever saw him one of the worst manager ever and the ultras singing pioli is on fire like like little fan girls go look how adli de keteler played in their clubs or dest in world cup the team cant even pass the ball there is no movement so slow no agility like amateurs in my park long balls long balls 80s football italian fotball is backwards 30 years
“I would punch pioli so hard if i ever saw him one of the worst manager ever”
Yeah, bring back Giampaolo or Brocchi!!!!!!! LOL
How do people watch the games , see the quality of the players at Pioli’s disposal, and come here and criticize him?
What do you expect him to do?
He has pulled miracles for 3 years with a patchwork squad.
He isn’t the one signing the players. He isn’t the one letting the players leave.
He isn’t the one that signed Tatarusanu and Mirante.
He isn’t the one that hasn’t signed proper left back to cover for Theo.
He isn’t the one that constructed a defense without a single left footed CB in it.
He isn’t the one that couldn’t sign replacement for Kessie or back up for Bennacer.
He isn’t the one that can’t sign a RW for 4 year in a row.
He isn’t the one that can’t sign a proper n10.
He isn’t the one that signs injury prone players that are mostly unavailable.
He isn’t the one that spent our whole summer budget on a player that looks like he can’t play in a rec league team let alone Milan.
What is he supposed to do with a lineup that consists of bricks for feet Rebic, run like stuck in mud Adli, looks like never played football before CDK and Saelemakers .
Point the finger at the man responsible for the decimating the squad over the last 2 summers.
But you can’t because you can’t separate the player from the incompetent director, so it’s just easier to blame the coach , the players, everyone and their mother but the person responsible for it.
You better pray nothing happens to Theo or Leao in the next 6 months because without those 2 this is squad with not much more quality than Bologna.
Agree on almost everything. Winning the Scudetto with probably the 4th or 5th best roster in Serie A isa minor miracle. However, one thing I will criticize under Pioli is how poorly this team passes the ball. The worst I’ve seen from a professional team. Pioli gets the absolute most out of his players but offensively, he doesn’t have many ideas. The off the ball movement is terrible and the passing is awful. It’s basically get the ball to Leao or Theo and hope they can make some brilliant play. Not sure he can take the team to the next level.
But really the blame needs to fall on Maldini and management/ownership. This team has gotten weaker each of the last 2 seasons roster wise, which is unacceptable now that they are playing in Champions League. The starters they have let leave for Free, and not replaced, the terrible signings that Pioli doesn’t even want to put on the field even when there is an injury crisis. They are not investing back in the team. They pretend like they are trying to sign good players like Ziyech, Botman, Sanchez, but they always end up signing some cheap 20 year old player that won’t help the team win now. It’s shameful.
Wow! @Poli, point very well made. Facts nearly undebatable.
But then Pioli’s one dimensional rigid shallow approach with his tactics is a huge part of the problem as well.
Why some fans mourn like milan drop into 9th place over friendly games?.. the team play ugly, yes.. but this team currently 2nd and still in CL.. its due to luck & quality of serie A reduced?, maybe.. but your timing is bad, especially with the chances we have to win the league and going further in cl rounds no matter how slim it is..
Redbird need to invest more biggest budget in this team otherwise sell this team up to some billionaire that really love football more than taking many profit from the team. The strategy of buying youngest player with low cost and wage is the most stupid idea ever for the team that want toget back to top again. It makes me wonder why ac milan’s fan not pressing in their business management strategy.