AC Milan clinched their first proper win of the pre-season this evening as they managed to beat FC Köln by two goals to one. Olivier Giroud was the decisive man with a brace and down below are the player ratings of the Rossoneri.
Starting XI
Tatarusanu (6): He was called into action a few times and made sure to keep a clean sheet while he was on the pitch. Solid.
Florenzi (6): He did well on a few occasions to either send the ball long or combine with his teammates to get out of tricky situations. But nothing spectacular from the veteran this evening.
Kalulu (6): Overall, it was a good display from him and he continued to show just how calm he is on the ball even in tough situations. His rating is lowered by the fact that he made a huge mistake that, frankly, Köln should’ve capitalised on.
Gabbia (7): He was very good in the duels this evening, both on the ground and aerially. He also got to wear the captain’s armband when the youngsters came on and it was a shame the clean sheet didn’t last, because he was very good.
Ballo-Toure (5.5): A mixed bag from him this evening. Sometimes, he beats his man with ease in the attack but the main issue is his defending. He was caught way out of position at times this evening and that was tough to see.
Bakayoko (5.5): Just like Ballo-Toure, he was caught out of position so many times and it’s strange that Köln couldn’t punish Milan more. Pobega did have a very attacking-minded position, so maybe that was it, but he was still way too poor in defence.
Pobega (6): It’s clear that he needs a bit more time to adjust to the formation but clearly his physique could come in very handy this season.
Messias (6.5): He often led the counter-attacks for Milan and they were decisive this evening. He showed his skill on the ball and did well generally.
Diaz (5.5): He got the assist for Giroud’s goal but it was really just an easy pass. There were multiple times when he failed to pick out his teammates or time his pass correctly.
Rebic (7): The Croatian seems to be in a very good mood this pre-season and the backheel assist for Giroud described that perfectly. If he can keep this up, then it will be a very good season.
Giroud (8 – MOTM): Despite his age, he was very mobile today and if it hadn’t been for his unselfishness, he could have got a hat-trick. The first goal was incredibly cheeky and the second one confirmed his class (even though it took a deflection).
Substitutes
Adli (6): An average display from him with some good and some bad decisions on the pitch.
Mirante (6): He made one very good save in the second half and was unlucky to concede really.
N/A: Traore, Cubis, Roback, Maldini, Michelis, Brescianini, Robotti, Bartesaghi.
I know its only a friendly and preseason , but Gabbia looks a lot stronger and more direct in his challenges. He looked tentative and hesitant last season. Now he is more sure of himself, confident. Even if Milan brings another defender i would like for Gabbia to stay because i dont trust Kjaer’s fitness
gabbia in my view has actually almost all the time he has been fielded looked fairly good or decent he just need more consistent minutes. If kjær is deemed fit and kalulu as well is infront of him then he most likely wont get many minutes to play all season so loaning out gabbia absolutely do make sense unless we want to stutter his progress. Either way he shouldnt leave on a permanent transfer.
This season there is a World Cup in Nov-Dec. Teams need bigger squads because they’ll play every 3 days.
Milan only has 4 CBs including Gabbia, and 1 of them is 34 year old Kjaer who is coming back from a serious knee surgery. And even before the ACL, and throughout his career he has always been injury prone. Gabbia needs to stay and actually be ahead of Kjaer in the pecking order. Milan won a title with Kjaer missing 75% of the season. He’ll be a year older and slower. Why would he be ahead of Gabbia?
But Milan needs one more CB to come in
First of all its not because gabbia has a bigger stake in the championship than kjær last season as he was actually a starter untill december and played more minutes than gabbia and whether he should be a starter ahead of kjær is not even up to question if kjær is fit and i can pretty much guarantee that pioli will share that view as most would. You can argue that there will be a world cup but but we have pretty much become accustomed us to playing often so im inclined to say it wont change much but he might come handy nevertheless it just doesnt mean he will play enough if ending up as a 4 or 5th choice cb. When that is said im also looking at this like we have tomori, kalulu, kjær and potentially adding 1 loan or buy and what is actually in the best interest of gabbias developement as a player and which will most be beneficial for the club in the long run rather than having an unfufilled talent rarely playing.
kjær only turned 33 in may by the way.
Except Milan who don’t have too many players participating in World Cup.
Gabbia need prove himself in other club but just dry loan. If stay in AC Milan next season,he will keep benched like romagnoli last season
Imo the Primavera players should also get some ratings.. One call out for me will be Michelis; boy paired well with Gabbia.
All in all, twas a good game for Milan.
So happy for Rebic.
Forza Milan 🔴⚫
I’d definitely vote for keeping Gabbia, given he can learn a lot from Kjaer, and Kalulu can play on the right… I see him being a starter for most of the cup games
of course he can learn from some players and tomori included but as we reached the semis in the coppa italia last season we will first start playing the coppa italia in january and at most play 5 matches there iIF we were to reach the final and thats also if he will play in them all. He propably wont be fielded in more than 15 games all season. Gabbia would benefit of a season playing pretty much all matches for a midtable or serie a struggling team .
Gabbia was ok, but he needs to learn to stay calm, and not always clear the ball up in the stands or out for a throw-in…
Sell Ballo-Toure asap please !
We have Florenzi and Kalulu for LB. Enough for back up for the indispensable Theo
NO. I say give him more chances. He’s only Theo backup which is the reason why he still have mixed performance because he didn’t get enough playing time to adapt with the formation since Theo always playing.
they played against a farmerliga side, simmer down lol
There are glaring gaps in the team, depth is a major issues if we want to compete with Inter and Juve. Aldi and Pobega will need time. Ballo is seriously suspect. And Baka is definitely not giving assurances.
We will have to replace Kessie with more muscle in the anchor role and get CDK (Diaz is just not showing up) to help on the attacking front otherwise we will not be able to compete on all fronts. And please don’t tell me it’s a friendly, the team need depth. The rate at which Inter and Juve are strengthening we will end up fighting for a top4 finish this season. And the rest of the big teams are strengthening, look at Liverpool, Man C, even Barca with their poor finances are recruiting seriously…we are falling behind guys. 😳
“The rate at which Inter and Juve are strengthening we will end up fighting for a top4 finish this season”
That’s the same line any Milan fans said last season but Milan came out at the top of the table.
Really, you’re giving Juve and Inter too much credits.
Allegri is still handling Juve like crap so i don’t expect Juve will be dangerous even with Pogba and Di Maria in their lineup. Especially Pogba is pretty much finished.
Inter lost a couple of their important players. So i don’t think Lukaku can do much in the front.
Gabbia’s form give ACM a message : “We dont need new CB”.
Tomori, Kjaer, Kalulu, Gabbia : sound tough CBs. And these CBs already proved last season as toughest defense at Serie-A.
For Rebic, I wonder can he be a RW. I wanna see Leao & Rebic play together with Origi as STC.
His preseason performances made me cant pick Leao or Rebic, its better both of them play in same time. Rebic is so good when give right pressure at right time when we lost possession. He is also smart & technically good too.
I dont know who gives notes for performances after games,but it has nto much with a real state of things.7 fo Gabbia against Koeln??That must be a joke!Firstly:His aerial duels were total desaster ,he was not able to recognise jumping moment in 90% of duels,was way too far from oponnent,95% of balls played by head were uncontroled.Not much better on the ground,constantly wrong positioning,too late on ball,lost in space….passing game desaster,totaly uncontroled played,not a single pass froward was played right,furthemore,his balanca was like he was drunk or stoned,at least 10 times ended on ground after change of direction…..completely anti football performance from beginning to last minute((grotesque reaction at 2:1,guy is not slow…he is hyper slow by recognising state on field,slow at bringing decisions,super slow at making decisions done,all in one:a perfect defender—-if he were a oponnent!He is not worth a 25 % of Simon,or Calulu,is just a burden for team and trainer.Hopefully he is going to find himself a suitable place somewhere else.As soon as posible!
“Really, you’re giving Juve and Inter too much credits.”
Pobega and Adli do not give us depth, they will need time to settle Baka is not an option, he should be sent back. Diaz is inconsistent at best. Meaning we are stretched in Midfield.
Our ARW are not giving any assurances either. We are lacking in that department.
If we want to progress in UCL and defend the students we need to come up with solutions for our limitations.
And you still think Inter and Juve are non issues? Inter are replacing all the players they have lost, and Juve are doing the same. Last season will be tougher for us to repeat. Period.