Player Ratings: AC Milan 0-1 Napoli – Centre-backs pass; Tonali mistake costly

By Isak Möller -

AC Miln extended their run of poor results this evening as Napoli scored the only goal at the San Siro. Down below are the player ratings of the Rossoneri. 

Starting XI

Maignan (6): You can’t fault him for the goal and he was generally comfortable between the sticks tonight. Not much was asked of him, to be fair, but he did well in the build-up as well.

Florenzi (6): A few poor crosses perhaps but he also had more than one good interception. He likes to be involved in the attacking play and that was a positive for Milan tonight as they struggled to have the movement sometimes.

Tomori (6.5): Made an incredible block to deny Petagna (who was a bit slow, though) and won most of his duels this evening. Had nothing to do with the goal conceded either.

Romagnoli (6.5): He was heavily involved in the build-up and took on a lot of responsibility in that phase of the game. Also did well defensively and just like his colleague, he cannot be blamed for the goal.

Ballo-Toure (5.5): He ended up having a few decent crosses but the cons are clear for everyone to see. He was very insecure defensively (causing issues for Milan) and he got forward way too little. He still hasn’t got a grip of the balance in his position.

Tonali (5): He fought hard for most of the game but in the end, his mistake cost Milan the three points tonight. It was really poor defending against a player that isn’t really that tall, which makes it worse.

Kessie (6): He thought he had grabbed the equaliser on his birthday but then came the controversial call. Anyway, he was decent tonight except for a few misplaced passes, though countered by some good intentions when going forward.

Messias (5.5): He looked afraid to take on Di Lorenzo tonight and thus didn’t have a huge impact on the game. It doesn’t really matter if he’s comfortable on the ball if it doesn’t amount to anything.

Diaz (5): He won a few free-kicks but was mostly invisible once again and when he did get on the ball, he didn’t get much right. It might look like a harsh rating but Milan definitely need more from their No.10.

Krunic (5.5): He was decent in the defensive phase with a few good interceptions and he also covered for Ballo-Toure initially. In the attacking phase, though, his performance was rather anonymous.

Ibrahimovic (5.5): It’s not his style of play, but Milan need him to run in behind the defence even more. There were too many hits and hopes tonight and the Swede couldn’t do much with that.

Substitutes

Saelemaekers (6): He looked very good off the bench and had a few good intentions that could have been fruitful. He played on the left and didn’t look out of position.

Giroud (5.5): He was the one offside on Kessie’s goal but he also helped create it in the beginning. It wasn’t spectacular by any means but he actually won a few duels that nearly opened it up for Milan.

Castillejo (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.

Bennacer (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.

Kalulu (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.

READ MORE – AC Milan 0-1 Napoli: Rossoneri suffer damaging home defeat after VAR controversy

Tags AC Milan AC Milan Player Ratings Napoli Serie A

30 Comments

  1. Brahim can’t get a 5. The space behind the striker was wasted!! Wasted!! Napoli always had the ball there, held the ball there and built from there. Brahim offered no pressing and no attacking output. Stop being so soft with these assessment of the players.

    1. Well said man. Playing with Diaz is like playing with 10 players, I would send him back asap to Real. We absolutely need a attacking midfielder, a striker and a decent winger.

  2. Forget it… Inter has won the league this season again…
    Without a proper NO.10 and a hot blooded NO.9 we are likely not to finish top four this season.

    1. Cold-blooded striker? We can only dream of real quality…. I’d want Scammaca….he is a lunatic in the box…. He plays like Zlatan at his youthful age….. Or maybe we get PISTORELO(PIATEK) back! 😉

      1. Agreed, he’s the one I’ve wanted here for a long time. So much natural talent you can see but he needs a mentor (Ibra). He’s the one and he fits our budget.

    2. And who’s gonna provide the scoring chances? The issue isn’t with the strikers (they CAN score), the issue is the lack of service. How many goal scoring chances did the team create? Eeeeexactly… No Scamaccas, Vlahovices or Ronaldos would be scoring from zero chances either.

  3. Ballo Toure was a solid 6, especially in the second half he had a few nice interventions.

    Pioli was bad with subs again

    Pioli had same luck with refs as Klopp. I hope that guy leads Milan one day

    VAR is bullshit

    1. Ballo did better today but sometimes he seems scared. Salemeakers was a great boost! Diaz was triple marked! I have said it several times that KRUNIC needs to fall in the opponents box more than in midfield, he is senseless! As for FLORENZI, nearly can’t kill a bird! He tries to hit it many times before this game, precision is what he needs to get the goals! Tomori, well done! Messias?! Pls, how is he an upgrade to SAMU as he keeps playing the same style! I hope the management gets FAIVRE from Brest in January so he can adapt in six months before another season begins…. I’d want SCAMMACA, AZMOUN from Zenit OR VLAHOVIC. Cheers!!

  4. Not a surprising result, Milan deserve every result we are getting now… The stupidity and inexperience of Maldini and Massara in the transfer dealings. Pioli not been able to call a spade and offload the deadwieghts like krunic. How is Krunic doing a better job than Pobega would have done? Ibra can only rollback the years a couple of times with a little luck here and there, but he’s not what Milan need in attack. He can hardly best his man, can’t run anymore, best can do is an average holdup play, and fancy flicks if given some space by the opponent. He blames his teammates when he can’t control a normal pass given to him, sometimes the dude should own his fuck ups. He and Tonali let the goal scorer get in front of them to head in the goal while they watched on, I mean at 3mins into a football game, how absent minded can a player me??.  And please, can we just stop with the back-passing, with the exception of Leao, Tonali and just maybe Messias, almost all of our players back pass 90% of the time when they are cornered or when they have their backs against goal, even when there are better options, honestly  this is a disgusting habit. If by now Maldini and Massara don’t plan on going hard in January, trust me guys, just throw every expectation you have of this season into the Bin. Inter is steamrolling any opponent they face, they play at the same level week in week out, even with UCL commitments, i  wonder if their players are human. Our players play the first 25mins of every game like they just woke up from bed, fatigued and worn out, We can’t even keep the same starting XI for a month.

    Our substitutes don’t feel the need to step up when called upon to replace an injured player, they just show up to fill that space until the injured player recovers. Look at Ballo-Toure, that guy has had more chances to improve on his game than any other player on the bench, and he still hasn’t shown any sign of improvement. I like Pioli, but when a coach is faced with the same problem every, he needs to get it right more times than he gets it wrong. That’s the only way people can see that you know what you are doing, or you have the situation under control. You can keep making the same mistake week after week.

    Sometimes it gets tiring having to blame the boys all the time, in times like these you tweak your formation in a way that preserves our dignity, we may be able to score in some of the games, but must we concede??

    It pains me to see how the League is slipping away from us, because I believe we could have handled most of the situations better. We all believe in the scudetto, but We just don’t have the players who can play consistently to win it, because the management set us up for failure from the beginning of the season. You can’t give what you don’t have. The boys are playing how best their ability takes them.

    A word for Maldini and Massara: we may not have the funds, or the capability of attracting the best playeres in Europe, but No one goes into the Transfer Market “waiting for opportunities” and scooping up used players. We need to know what we want for the season, and act on the market in a way to meet those objectives.

    It hurts watching us play.

    1. If any team could win serie a with 40yo Zlatan, Krunic and Messias in attack, scudetto would be meaningless.

      One or two irish coffee calmer after that ref blunder and my question is this: why Pioli is wasting Daniel Maldini.

    2. usually when one replies to a comment it is to argue or criticize ,however in this case agree with you and can make some more points, As to the goal, there was a whistle just before the corner kick, Elmas tried to get in front of Tonali, he set Sandro up when the kick did come by laying back this time, if blame is to be given it is also on Ibra, regardless ,shit happens. As to back passing , we win the league on that one. We definately missed Theo that game. We also miss Calabria, he like Cuadrado with Juve. always feed the box just past midfield where many of our goals came from last year. I think Pioli is on the same page thinking this, evident by the high number of offsides we get. Soccer is just like any other sport, a game of adjustments, and every team we face has adjusted to our style of play. Having Ibra out there is an advantage in the sense that he draws a lot of attention, double teamed, but also clogs up the middle/shooting lanes by being there. Sorry but to win, headers are great on set pieces and from the deep sides, to score with your feet yo need the ball fed in earlier and in a centered narrower window. Don’t know if it is our philosophy or reaction to the talent or lack of talent that we now have with injuries……Scudetto slipping thru our hands.

  5. Maignan: 6/10 he didn’t have much to do.
    Romagnoli: 6/10 he did well..Tomori: 8/10 our MVP today. He played with his heart..Florenzi: 6/10 he was good defensively, not much in offense tho..Toure: 5/10 lack of confidence. Belong to the mls…Kessie: 5/10 he doesn’t deserve the raise, he can go. Tonali: 5/10  kinda quiet today.
    Krunic: -2/10 🤦‍♂️oh boy, where do I start.
    Messias: 4/10 lack of confidence. at least he created some chances. Elliot management stop being cheap sign Berardi or another efficient Rw
    Ibra: 5/10 the midfield failed him.
    Diaz: 3/10 what the hell happened him.
    And finally Pioli: -7/10 he is clueless.  Krunic as Lw omg. His tactics sucks.

  6. Tonali’s mistake means nothing, if we had a proper, confident and competent number 10, and a 9&11 that combined have less than 300 years we might have had a chance.

    Brahim is not the player he was at the beginning of the season, I’m starting to think that was a fluke.

    Yoko is a waste of space, I what universe did we think he was a better choice than Pobega?

    Ibra should be playing last 30 minutes of the game, he is slow and defenders neutralize him easily when he needs to conserve his strength to play 90 minutes.

    Giroud should retire, its time.

    Sale… Unless I’m missing something obvious I would send out him on a loan asap. Krunic too.

    Even Florenzi and Ture were better than Brahim and Ibra today.

    Bottom line, f**k full back, if you want to win you need to score more than the opponent. We need a proper trequartista and a young, fast, competent striker. Or we can say goodbye to CL next season.

    1. One said this countless times, management is scrambling to replace Kjaer in the short term, and your attack can’t get a single shot at goal… Diaz lapses were covered all through the time when Leao played with Rebic as False-9, it made us think he was a decent #10. It’s clear for all to see, why Chalanoglu kept getting the nod ahead of him. I remember people blamed pioli for keeping him on the bench 🤣🤣🤣… I was one of them and now I apologize. Diaz has short legs and he fumbles the ball many times under pressure… It seems like a primavera player playing out of his depth.

    2. Theo’s absense was very noticable today, he is always thinking and trying to advance up the pitch, would like to see Ballo back there with Theo’ help and move Theo higher up the ptch to a winger, has a nose for the goal/assists. Look where he plays on the French Nat’l team and the results he has produced.

  7. I would spend nothing this winter. Just presign Kamara and Belotti, at best Nketiah as well.

    Inter is way stronger than us now. They will continue in CL and I thought with their older squad they may tire out. But Liverpool is the best team in the world now, although I would like them to lose to Serie A team its a slim chance. And we were impacted by the injuries the most so our guys are tired as well.

    Nobody will sell any good target in winter – all clubs fight for euro cups, league or fight off relegation. Same why i want Adli and Pobega to stay on loan – both have developed well and cannot be rushed.

    PIOLI needs to check his system, for me change it. And do something with existing talent – Gabbia and Maldini need more chances. Others failed many times more but can even start, Maldini did not disappoint once and is wasting his time on bench.
    Were I him, I would request a loan to Premier League to get a different experience

  8. Diaz Diaz Diaz. Half are problems are because of this midget. Either we buy an attacking midfielder or we’ll finish the season out of the top four.

    Also, Kessie a 6? Yeah right. Worst player on the pitch after Diaz, who deserved a 2, again.

  9. Tonali and Ibra blew it on the goal, otherwise were good, everyone makes mistakes but still sucks. But while that sucked, the bigger picture and by far more worrying is that yet again we are toothless in attack.. just like the second half of last year..and yet we’re talking about spending 20m on a defender in January… so smart…

  10. Well I think unfortunately the cracks in our team are finally that obvious other teams are now capitalizing on them each week. Management must take responsibility. Yes injuries have played a part no doubt, but management must also take blame for that as well. Training/medical staff should have been replaced a long time ago IMO. Our starting line are all backups – Salesmakers, Krunic, Messias, Giroud, Ibra (at his age) and even Diaz….none should be starters really. Perfect backups – but as starters – it is clear as day they are not. Elliot and management MUST purchase a real quality young striker (Vlahovic) and a starting RW (Faivre) to pair with Leao. At the very least we need Faivre for January – Kamara too – or we won’t finish top 4….Hope Diaz can regain his form – but by next season Adil will be the starter and our future CAM. This team needs 5 new starters for next season: striker, RW, DM, CB and CAM. Vlahovic; Faivre; Kamara; Botman; Adil….give me that team and we win the Scudetto next year and CL within 3 years:

    Leao. Vlahovic. Faivre
    Adil
    Kamara. Tonali
    Theo. Botman Tomori Kalulu
    Maignan

  11. Kessie and Diaz were worse than rating they assigned. Diaz so disappointing — he’s so weak and falls so easily. It’s a shame
    Krunic and Ballo Toure were better than rated. Very surprised and happy with BT tonight and lately with Krunic over last several games — he gets good interceptions and tackles (he’s always been better defensively) but lately, his touches offensively have been excellent, shielding the ball, drawing fouls, making nice touch passes sending people forward.
    But we certainly miss Rebic, Leao, Calabria and Theo — those guys get forward and make things happen offensively for us. We miss them all very much; but we need a replacement for Diaz, Saelemakers and of course as much as I appreciate the old men, we need to replace Ibra and Giroud and get a Vlahovic or other clinical finisher.

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  13. I don’t know how Kessie is getting those ratings week in and week out, it’s a 4 at best. WTF is wrong with the coach?
    A little adjustment to the formation giving the right personnel’s are out injured could be the game changer but no, to r coach continues to make us suffer from rubbish display. I’m tired

  14. We need hood quality players..most especially attackers, we really need to change tactics cause we must not always wait for zlanta to do the finishing..messes really played bad today as a winger which I’m expecting dribbling and shooting like the likes or mahrez of MC..must he always look for zlanta while on the ball..this team needs restructuring with a 10,7,9..our attack are very poor tonight let stop deceit our self ..managament buy players and stop looking for scrap players…we can’t continue like this

  15. Diaz Diaz Diaz, he just one of our worst players if not the worst these last 2 months felt like we were playing with 10 players he was just invisible the whole game, he has no physical bad shooting, always messes up not the same brahim at the start of the season, He is still young and has a lot to improve but we can’t keep playing him if he’s invisible the whole game and doesnt know how to create space

  16. The hell did Kessie do to deserve a 6?

    Have you seen how invisible he was and how many times he loses the ball?

    tOnAlI cOsTlY eRroR doesnt make his WHOLE GAME BAD, it was much better than whatever the hell Kessie is doing now

  17. Castilo actually was decent, toure also wasn’t complete shit, and florenzi was actually really good.
    Diaz would play better as a second striker next to ibrahimovic.
    If tonali gets injured during afcon it might actually be good if it’s short term bcs it would force pioli to change his shape

  18. This is very telling of where Milan currently is. Its naive to think that in January things will turn around. Players might be fit again but you damn know that more will get injured. We dont have proper attack. Brahim is bullied easily, I would save him to put in as a sub in the second half with fresh legs. Krunic should stick in the middle, no use in the wings.

    We need a whole new formation, the 4-2-3-1 isnt working.

    Kalulu, Maldini, and Gabbia need more playing time.

    Management need to see the crisis we are in. Continuing like this might even cost us the top 4!

  19. Diaz needs to be benched and either Messias in the middle or Maldini.

    Kessie needs to be benched, he is leaving soon. It doesn’t matter if it’s week’s or month’s it’s time to sync Tonali-Bennacer.

    Krunic, when a guy like this plays all the time you know you have problems. He is not Milan quality, not even bench. His defensive pressure is OK but he adds NOTHING going forward. Yet Pioli thinks he is great.

    If possible, recall Adli (include Ballo*) and Pobega (include Krunic) and see if we can get a CF as well.

    *Ballo-Toure could do with a loan. May as well try Kerkez as Theo deputy.

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