It was a tough evening for AC Milan and PSG came away with all three points, keeping a clean sheet and scoring three goals in the process. Never once was there any order for the Rossoneri, as argued by Arrigo Sacchi.
Stefano Pioli and his men struggled from the start but at least looked okay before the opening goal, scored by none other than Kylian Mbappe. After that, PSG took control of the game and bar one or two chances, Milan didn’t come close to a goal.
In his usual post-match column for Gazzetta dello Sport, Sacchi discussed the game and explained what went wrong for the Rossoneri. According to him, they were never a team on the pitch, failing to act as a collective against a strong opponent.
“Aside from the result, which often influences judgments in Italy, let’s look at how the Rossoneri were on the pitch: they were stretched and they were often surprised by the French’s counterattack (which cannot be the case if the opponents have Dembelé and Mbappé).
“There was no connection between attack and midfield, and between midfield and defence. In a nutshell: Milan were not a team, they were not a collective. Unfortunately, a poorly interpreted and executed game.
“I noticed a lot of confusion in the ideas and their application. There was never any order the pitch. It’s true that the Rossoneri had some chances, but it’s also true that the French always had control of the game and could have scored a few more goals,” he wrote.
Quite clearly, they will need to do a lot better in the return leg. For now, however, they will have to shift focus to the league and Napoli away from home on Sunday.
A disjointed, directionless display at best…unacceptable for a brand like Milan. We did not win any friends, but lay bared our inability to deal with pressure and higher caliber opponents. Is Pioli a spent force? The coach will have to take accountability for this downward spiral…
I have always liked Pioli and he is admirable for his approach to play modern football , especially in Italy but this season he seems to invested in his philosophies.
In an away tie ,against one of the most lethal players on the planet how on earth can you have such an approach ? How can you send out the team to play on their terms ,toe to toe,with acres of space across the pitch inviting them to cause havoc. It bewilders many.il
It would make more sense for such a tie, at least at the start, to go with an extra midfielder in place of Giroud (Reijnders) and keep 3 midfielders to help screen the defense, and play counter-attack as all great teams have had to do sometimes during the season to get the result.
This will become his downfall. Capello and Sacchi are right to call him presumptuous and lacking order and compactness.
Still not spitting facts??? Dude calls it like it is and has enough weight to his words from experience and accolades to be able to take seriously.
I know of some who were upset when he laid into Leao (who I appreciate btw but time and again I’ve said he’s not world class as he still need to learn the basics such as ball control).
I don’t know why his words would trigger people, there are stats to prove his point.
ANYTHING negative said about Leao will trigger (some) people.
Sacchi might be a tad annoying and biased but in this case he is 100% right. And it all comes down to this 4 3 3..we have 0 creativity and we can’t get the midfield to connect with the defending and attack. If he would just revert back to the 4 2 3 1 he would see how fluent we’d be and you’d get your two best players back firing again, theo and leao.
Giroud
Leao. Reijnders. Pulisic
Musah. Loftus/adli/krunic
Theo. Tomori. Kjaer. Calabria/kalulu
Against napoli until everyone is available just try this out. It’s idiotic to have this system for 4 years that won you a scudetto, that brought you to the semis and we continue to stick with a 4 3 3 that hasnt worked since match day 3.
Until pioli realize that Pulisic is not a winger, he will keep losing to big teams…in Modern football, you play a right footed play as your number 7(RWF), Who does that? Remove Krunic from that DMF role, he is too slow and can’t pass the ball..Pioli is something else
Pioli is satisfied because Milan played “better” for 60 minutes. Not sure why he is so delusional.
Could you trust a coach who said Milan played better in first 60 minutes, but in score sheet we already 2-0 down?
Pioli doing Pioli things. No surprises. One plan. ALWAYS. He doesn’t understand how to adjust based on opposition as was evident against Inter and PSG. He thinks domestic tactics also work in Europe….
How can you high press a team that fields Dembele, Kolo and MBappe?! We don’t have the quality to man mark those players. Needed to hunker down, defend and counter.
But no, not Pioli.
After the 5-1 vs inter, pioli said we played better, here also he says we played better. For him it’s only a matter of missing opportunities. He doesn’t seem to able to see the countless problems that his tactics and the team are suffering from and he does not question himself. Personnally, I think the sooner we find a new coach, the better.