It ended up being a frustrating afternoon at Mapei Stadium, with AC Milan’s fond memories from the stadium quickly vanishing in the wake of a problematic crisis.
Milan had a chance to cement themselves in the top-four race, extending the gap to eight points, but completely botched it against Sassuolo. Fabio Grosso’s men took the lead early on and were then helped by a red card for Fikayo Tomori.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
The home side managed to score one more goal before the final whistle, while Milan never really got close themselves. As such, Massimiliano Allegri now has a lot of work to do, especially since the situation in the standings is far from great. Below are five things we learned.
1. Champions League now at risk again
After the four points collected against Verona and Juventus, not to mention other results going our way, it felt like Milan had arrived at a safe point in the Champions League race. A win today certainly would have asserted that, but now the feeling is the complete opposite.
As things stand, five points separate Milan and Como in fifth place with three games to go. However, if Roma were to beat Fiorentina tomorrow evening, then they would leapfrog Cesc Fabregas’ side in the standings and decrease the aforementioned gap to just three points.
In other words, a defeat against Atalanta next weekend could see the Rossoneri drop out of the top four, which would be nothing short of a disaster. The worst part is that it doesn’t feel like an unlikely scenario, given how it’s looking right now…
2. Insane decision-making
I said it in my player ratings as well, but what on earth was Tomori thinking? You could see from the get-go that it was going to be a tough game for him, as Armand Lauriente looked in a fantastic mode (at which point he’s one of the best wingers in the league).
The first yellow card was 100% correct, being the result of a very late challenge, and there isn’t much to say about the second either. He got bodied by the Frenchman, lost his footing in the duel and then tried to recover despite being on a yellow.
When you have been beaten that clearly, and a counter is underway, you simply can’t risk those challenges from behind when you’re on a yellow. Sadly, it’s something we have seen from the Englishman before, and he never seems to learn.
3. Attack continues to struggle
Leaving stats aside for a moment, Milan only had a couple of moments throughout the ENTIRE game when it felt like they could potentially be onto something. And the best chance of the game, which fell to Rafael Leao, was more so the result of a Sassuolo mistake than anything.
Christopher Nkunku did nothing to prove his value, Christian Pulisic looked out of sync coming off the bench, and Santiago Gimenez didn’t quite find his position this time out either. It was more of the same old, with no light at the end of the tunnel.
Now, we all know that it looked like a horrendous attacking display, so what do the stats say? Well, let’s just say that they agree: Milan registered their lowest xG since May 2018 with just 0.27 today, and it was 0.2 then. That tells us all we need to know.
4. Modric’s absence weighs heavily
Most of us knew that it was going to happen, especially given the struggles of Ardon Jashari and Samuele Ricci, but it was probably even worse than we imagined. In the build-up, there was very little control throughout the game, contributing to the first goal and other chances conceded.
Indeed, it was a big opportunity for Jashari to show that he’s up for the task in this season finale, but I don’t think we got any assurances. The mistake before the goal obviously played a big part, but he got a 4.5/10 in our player ratings.
Ricci came on in the second half but even though the Swiss international was poor, the Italian didn’t do much to tell us that he should be the starter instead. It’s a shame because they both arrived with a lot of promise, but now it just feels like wasted money.
5. Seriously, what has happened?
The headline says it all. Milan have gone from a solid team to one in complete disarray, and nothing suggests that they will be able to dig themselves out of this one. If only we could fast-forward to the end of the season and still finish top four, but we can’t.
What happened to Allegri being such a good mentality coach, and one who can easily motivate the players? Given how highly the players have spoken about him as well (even recently!), I feel like this entire regression is mind-boggling.
Now, of course, Milan did get a bit lucky in some games in the first half of the season and often made something out of nothing. However, this isn’t just a case of not scoring enough goals; the entire team is struggling to gel in a way that is both hard to understand and to describe.
I suppose that’s why so many of us are worried about the Champions League too. A poor run of form would be one thing, but this clearly goes deeper.
Luckily, everyone is in sh*t form. Como, Juventus and Napoli, Roma a bit better. And Milan is still ahead.
1- We’re a lucky team since Como, Napoli & Juventus refused to win, otherwise we might be already either 4th or 5th.
2- Jashari is not yet ready to replace Modrić and I don’t know if he will.
3- Everyone in the serie A is now able to get points against us. Whatever good phase we had earlier this season, is no longer relevant now.
What do you expect, Allegri barely give Jashari a chance. Santi been available for how long and barely give him minutes. 352 worked best with Santi a in the attack dragging defenders with him.
Stop making excuses for Jashiri. He was given a chance today. There’s no excuse. He’s feeble.
How dare a fan try and defend one of the players!
Yeah, you expect him to be comfortable when he rarely get playing time. You’re confusing FIFA and real life buddy
One thing was learnt. Modric and Rabiot made this Milan look better than it really is.
The ultimate proof that quality is way more important than quantity or age.
F’ off and celebrate your (what is it?) 16th Scudetto?
The three in the 60s don’t count because Inter were using performance enhancing drugs.
And there were the two stolen ones in 05 and 06.
Oh and your club also broken Italian football.
You should be embarrassed coming around here.
Today was mainly down to Tomori’s madness. However, the team has really struggled in the second half of the season. The same pattern resurfaces. Poor transfer strategy leads to an imbalanced squad where no formation is ideal or sustainable. Modric and Rabiot have been carrying the team this season. I still believe we will get over the line but falling this far off since Maldini and Massara is devastating. Don’t forget; 300 million spent on 30 signings in three seasons and the team has only regressed.
Almost the entire team needs to scrapped. Sell everyone except Maignan, Pulisic and Rabiot, and rebuild with young players surrounding those veterans. There is NO REASON to be paying the salaries we pay with these results as these are the type of results you can get with a young new team anyways.
This ^
Young players?
Are you mad ?
I have more faith in the teams Juventus, Como and Roma play against in the last 3 (4 ) games to help Milan qualify for the UCL than Milan doing it on their own.
Yep. If we make 4th it will be because other teams don’t take their opportunity.
We will not get the 6 points to secure it.
Milan will be lucky to get any further points.
Jashari happened.
Its like Allegri is out of this world.
On bench there is Ruben Loftus. Tough guy with experience, who can be in the middle and not lose that ball like Jashari.
At least Milan wouldnt get so fast goal and probably many things would be different…
But now everything went down.
But at least we know who they are going to sell next.
Probably whole team.
Jashari isn’t the problem. How minute did Allegri gave him? Even when we were winning comfortably he never introduced him in the last 10 minutes. When you have a player coming from a different league. You don’t bench them and play them during crisis hoping they’ll adapt. No you gradually introduced them into the team. Think Vini first season at Madrid. Specially when pressure is high. If his performance is hinder we’ll have stubborn Allegri to thank.
Sure. Jashari is world class but Allegri is holding him back.
You just don’t get anything, now do you? 😂😂😂😂
Thankfully you do, that is what having limited brain cells does to people. They thought they understand things they have 0 clue about. Keep it up, it’s entertaining to watch. Let’s just say if Musah or Fofana did the same as him you’d be all over them. Maybe you really are a racist piece of sh*t. Leao, Tomori, Musah, Emerson, Fofana. You are always first to criticise them but Jashari is held to a different standard? 😂
LOL. Sure thing, kid. Ever had a comment where you didn’t attack/bash the others taking part in the discussion? Didn’t think so.
This has nothing to do with race buddy. I call a spade a spade. Musah had his chance how is he doing at Atalanta?
Some player are just not good enough, some need time others can’t adapt. Remember we did the same with DeKetelar( i might spell it wrong) but what happened when he has a coach giving him opportunity? He flourish, buying a young player expecting instant impact is unrealistic. Does it happen of course but not always. Tonali wasn’t an instant impact on his first season was he? You’re talking about people having one brain cell. Yours is working on limited capacity if you can’t come to this conclusion
Tonali was afwul during his first season. Saying that probably makes me an Italian-hater too according to “some people”. Or is it selective? I can criticize white people but not others?
Funny how some people always bring out the racism card when they run out ideas. But then again, if you’ve been given only a limited amount of IQ you can’t really work miracles, right?
The whole set up is wrong. Allegri trying not to concede goals eliminates goal scoring chances up front. There is 0 creativity up front. Even when modric was playing not much was created, too slow in the build up. 0 diagnotical balls. Allegri eliminated our 2 most scoring threats, lazy leao and pulisic by playing them as strikers. Having said that. Management hasn’t done anyone any favors. Not only wasting serious money on useless players but they know nothing how football works (just like Chelsea). You hire a coach and purchase or grow players for a system or style of play that they forsee the team to play. Things don’t always work out. But a lot better than this sh…. show that has been happening for 3 seasons now.
If allegri is still at milan next year, then the owner of milan cardinale is an !d!iot. Bring in an attacking coach that outscores the opponent not outdefend them. Sell Leao asap to the nearest 30 to 40mill. Switch to a 4321 diamond or 433 (milans DNA). And bring in 6 to 7 players whos legs are strong on the ground, fast, skillful, 2.0 IQ, Attack minded all. And worse, these players are littered everywhere in brazil and Argentina. Even sassuolo laurent is 100 times better than Leao (who is confused which leg to take shots with). Bring in dangerous wingers who terrorize and score goals. How is this so dam hard for Cardinale to understand how to build a champion team. Dam! Low IQ owners. -0.001
I think Fagioli makes sense. He is better regista, use Jashari as engine-type CM to replace Rabiot… play-making isn’t an easy task
*Fagioli, Gila, Grimaldo, Sorloth, Goretzka. that’s ~85M
Fofana, Leao and Nkunku situation. The only one I question is keeping Leao in this system. Low-blocks kill him
Inter just won the scudetto, and still got a chance to win the double, with a coach that had coached 13 games before being hired by them.
Meanwhile, Milan according to many have to hire Pep, Klopp, Conte, Allegri to go back to winning. Or last season we were reading how Leao and Theo are too big of a players, Ha Ha Ha, to be coached by Fonseca and Conceicao. Fans were saying that Fonseca didn’t have the resume to coach superstars, Ha ha ha, like Theo and Leao.
13 games coached and led a team who also doesn’t have superstars, still much better players than Theo and Leao, to a title. Coaching in 4 competitions after barely coaching in any competition.
Milan got rid of 1 phony big time player, phony superstar, it’s been past due to get rid of the other and have a clean slate. Get rid of the dinosaur coach, hire someone who coaches progressive football and give him time
Inter is still running on inzagi’s game plan. The players that inter have, have not changed much since inzagi’s era so they are comfortable and used to play they way. I don’t think Chivu is any better.
It is not true, Chivu is not using Inzaghi’s style of play. The difference is quite obvious. Chivu still has a lot to learn indeed, he was beaten twice by Bodo/Glimt, but he has made Inter play a more direct, attacking style of play than Inzaghi. He has a better squad at disposal too than what Inzaghi had.
Chivu might be better or not than Allegri, but at least he dares to play an attacking, demanding style of football. In some ways he is a Fabregas with a better squad.
Why do you bother? He is happy Inter is playing good so he can gloat how he said something 2 years ago. Despicable piece of sh*t.
Get rid of the coach who brought the club back from the brink?
As for Fonseca and Conceicao they can f’ off after their treatment of the players.
Yes get rid of our coach
Any coach could have done the same as Theo The Troublemaker left.
And Rabiot & Modric came.
😂😂😂😂 Yes, it’s why Milan was 8th. Hahahahahahaha 😂😂😂😂
Theo the Scudetto wining full back.
If you can’t show respect to a Scudetto winner there’s no point being a fan.
That is literally as good as it gets.
But he is more of a clown than a fan. And he knows it.
Theo p1ssed all over Milan’s shirt during his last season. But what does a Como-fan know about that anyway? 🤦♂️
I just hope today’s match ends Tomori’s renewal talks. Poor defender with air between ears
I just hope today’s match encourages others on here to get a different past time.
I’m not sure how Real Madrid would’ve gone had they sold Ramos and Pepe after every red card they got.
I have to agree with you on this one. Red cards happen in this game. Its the lack of fluidity, scoring, and the lack of speed in the build up that is more worrying. Not to mention players playing out of position.
Comparing Tomori with Ramos and Pepe.
Tomori is closer to Paletta than he will ever be to Ramos and Pepe as a player
Good one!
Ramos and Pepe would’ve have failed at Milan (see Bonucci).
They didn’t make mistakes in half the games they played, that’s the difference.
They also played nearly 350 games together.
Milan went through multiple CBs in the time they played together.
And we wonder why the defence (and the team generally) struggled.
ok…so this is how we got here…
(2023)the redbird/ post maldini era/ furlani era (start).. was inheriting a team that was built for a 433 formation,
with 4 holes that needed to be filled…a kjaer, kessie , hakan and giroud’s replacements …AAND a RW at they got right in Pulisic, the only thing they got right.
a simple job?? right?1 RIGHT??!!, but NOOOO
6 mercato’s later and like 200 Mil spent, and we still haven’t solved our 1st 2 problems…
we even bought in a new coach, and even changed our formation, that neturiralized our whole attach, WE DID EVERYTHING BUT SOLVE OUR FIRST 2 PROBLEMS of the last 3 years…which was finding good KJAER and KESSIE replacements…
OUR current problem is that defencefly we are built for a 352 formation(since we did everything BUT buy a good CB) but in attack we r built for 433 (we even have 2 CFs that the coach doesn’t believe in) and this is all down to the wrong decisions in the last 3 mercato’s ….all of this could have been resolved if we brought a great CB 2~3 yrs ago.
any ways, i believe in the GG combo..if GABBIA-GILA combo can work, with good wing backs , then with some adjustments in MID and a good CF we can go back to 433 and see leao and puli go back to their natural postilions.
food for thought….to our brainless management.
Tomori had a shocker. But it’s his 4th career red card. People need to, what’s the word, F’NG RELAX.
The biggest issue at Milan is the inability of the strikers to take the ball into their feet.
Both Sassuolo goals came from the simplest play of balls into feet, and passing the way the player is looking.
Milan seemingly have no ability to do that and it makes no sense.
As a matter of basic physics how are defenders constantly nipping in ahead of Milan’s attackers?
They can’t seem to simply put their body between the defender (who is BEHIND THEM) and the ball (which is IN FRONT OF THEM).
What gives?
It doesn’t matter who they sign.
There’s 5 x strikers on the bench (plus RLC who in fairness is the best at it) who struggle with this most basic of thing.
There seems to be three basic issues:
1. a lack of hunger – the defender is simply hungrier for the ball which is unacceptable;
2. over-complicating things – why are the attackers trying to turn or dribble (or why is Jashari hitting a floaty pass???);
3. a lack of direction – how is this not being worked on in training?
That’s really it.
The rest comes down to a sending off, and Berardi doing a Berardi.
Speaking of which Berardi is really just one of the few examples of any good left in this awful world.
Any players or clubs dreaming of making it BIG (by changing clubs 10 times before they’re 30 or changing players 30 times in 10 years) needs to look at this player and this club.
Morte alla rivoluzione.
We don’t learn anything ever. Useless article every week
Namjerno nisam gledo utakmicu Milana prvi put u životu
Milan now sign players with unproven potential, without strong mentality thinking they will explode and get revenue but is not working, they don’t learn from that,Andre Silva, Charles Deketelere, Jashari,Joe Felix among others,have skills but very poor mentality,I prefer the mentality of Gatuso,Vanbommel,Andrea Poli who put their hearts.Loan Jashari out next season