On 6 August 2022, Sandro Tonali limped off the pitch after sustaining a groin injury in the friendly against Vicenza, which sent alarm bells ringing on social media.
Tests and diagnoses were conducted to determine the severity of the injury, and it determined he will be monitored day by day. But, the chilling prospect of starting the season with Rade Krunic partnering with Ismael Bennacer in central midfield would have given those concerned a sleepless night, not because Krunic would start the odd game, but of the associated premonitions.
Before losing Franck Kessie to Barcelona this summer, few teams could rival Milan’s depth in midfield. The Italian champions could play Tonali, Bennacer and Kessie simultaneously or deploy one instead of the other. That luxury no longer exists. As defending champions, that no longer would be a luxury either.
Tonali’s meteoric rise in 2021/22 ensured that he was Stefano Pioli’s first-choice central midfielder, clocking 2608 minutes across 36 appearances in Serie A, 31 of which were starts. Kessie, Pioli’s next preferred central midfielder, was positioned as a pseudo No.10 in the second half of the season, following Brahim Diaz’s ominous drop in form. A quick glance at Kessie‘s stats indicates that he made 31 appearances for Milan in Serie A. However, 22 of these were in central midfield, clocking 1895 minutes in the process.
Ismael Bennacer, now an undisputed Milan starter, was the third-choice central midfielder last season. This wasn’t down to serious injuries – he missed only two Serie A games due to injury. This was a result of pairing and performance.
Tonali and Kessie made for a stronger double-pivot, complimenting each other’s strengths. They’d even mirror each other, alternating roles of supporting the attack and screening the defense when required. Bennacer ended the season registering the lowest starts (15) and the fewest minutes (1523) of the three.
Bennacer isn’t a weak player, far from it. He has distinct strengths and is an asset to the team. However, heading into the new season with Tonali and Bennacer as uncontested starters and the rest not being nearly good enough is a shuddering thought.
There is some solace with Tommaso Pobega returning to Milan after a successful stint at Torino, bolstering the midfield depth for the seven-time European champions. He checks the homegrown quota and will find minutes over the course of the season. Milan have signed a contract extension with him, keeping the boy from the academy at the club till 2027.
Despite this show of faith, Pobega is not the calibre of player to step into Kessie’s gigantic shoes. Showing up for a team that finished 10th in the league is one thing. Competing with some of the best midfielders in Serie A is another. Lest we forget, Tiemoue Bakayoko. There isn’t much to say about the incompetent loanee from Chelsea, is there?
DM request 👇
Per 90' performance radar confront between Tommaso #Pobega for #Torino 🔴 and Frank #Kessie for #Milan 🔴⚫️ in 21-22 #SerieA 🇮🇹
Has #Milan ⚫️🔴 already replaced #Kessié who has joined #Barcelona 🔵🔴 by bringing home #Pobega ? pic.twitter.com/5GGMRWQcZi
— MxD Zone (@mxd_zone) August 4, 2022
Pioli has recently commented that they aren’t trying to sign like-for-like replacements. Milan’s unrequited pursuit of Renato Sanches characterises the kind of midfielder Pioli has requested for. The incoming player’s quality is of equal importance, which seems to have been lost in the narrative.
Milan will be expected to defend their title and qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League. With other top clubs in Serie A adding quality to their ranks this summer, winning the title again will be harder than it was last season.
Milan are unlikely to be handed a traumatically difficult group in the Champions League, given that they are in Pot 1, but qualifying for the knockout rounds won’t be a breeze either. In a compact season where games will come thick and fast, possessing a deep and competitive squad is of utmost importance. Competition would also push Tonali and Bennacer to keep improving during this stage of their career, as complacency would be disastrous for either of them.
Tonali is expected to miss the season opener against Udinese on 13 August. Another injury to him and Pioli would usher Pobega and Krunic into the starting line-up, suggesting an enormous drop-off from having Kessie in the squad.
Pioli has admitted to needing a midfielder (and a defender) and Milan must address these requirements – even if not immediately but by the end of August – to continue on the team’s upward trajectory. Having come this far, regression isn’t an option.
It sent alarm bells ringing by reactionary idiots on social media. Common sense tells you to wait for the medical reports before jumping to conclusions and common sense also tells you that Milan wouldn’t be starting any of the no name players they’ve been linked with in Tonali’s absence, against a team like Udinese. Krunic or Pobega are more than capable of filling in.
Krunic is a capable backup. Not an everyday starter. Everyone knows that who has a clue about football. Poegba is still young (“Despite this show of faith, Pobega is not the calibre of player to step into Kessie’s gigantic shoes. Showing up for a team that finished 10th in the league is one thing. Competing with some of the best midfielders in Serie A is another”) and putting too much pressure on him or Adli is unwise. Funny how you and others said we weren’t interested in Sanches and that it was all fake LOL. Clearly Pioli, M&M know they need another capable starter for this very reason – a potential injury to Tonali or Benny. Very simple. No coach will say not to replace one of their main starters (Kessie). Pioli is requesting another mid and CB. Otherwise Maldini would declare our mercato closed – which he has not.
Pioli did say that on paper, a defender and a midfielder is missing. But he also said that Pobega and Krunic are unfairly underestimated.
They’ve been Unfairly underestimated by who?
By Pioli?
Because he is the one that decided that Pobega isn’t good enough and sent him on loan last summer. Has Pobega improved that much where he can play in double pivot? Nope. Because most of the season with Torino he didn’t play in central midfield, and we haven’t seen anything from him this pre-season.
Krunic has played under Pioli for 2.5 seasons and he never looked good in double pivot. When he looked OK he played as a defensive minded n10 who was backed up by the 2 best DM’s in serie A. Vs Udinese there won’t be Kessie nor Tonali to hold his hand. Hopefully he doesn’t look awful
Milan needs a starting caliber DM . Outside of Tonali everyone else is a question mark, including Bennacer.
By Coco
Well said @Coco
Which prove you disagree with Pioli.
Suka atau tidak suka , Pemilik Milan harus belanja pemain tangah dan bek … Hanya itu yang harus di lakukan Milan , sebagai upaya melangkah jauh di liga Champions dan juga gelar ke 20 ..tanpa belanja pemain mustahil itu terwujud , okelah ada Pobega dan Adli , tapi mereka tidak akan kuat memikul beban yang di tinggal kessie , si keparat itu yg memilih Barcelona…
We dont need kessie replacement if bakayoko can do double pivot but since he is awful and need to be terminated his loan that make us need one starter quality DMF. Jean onana or seko fofana are good but of course that depend on budget from elliot
sometimes when Bakayoko was on the pitch, I actually thought we were playing with 10 and the opposition had 12 players. AND then Pioli puts him in in the last game of the season to give the fans a heart attack.
Very good feature article.
“It sent alarm bells ringing by reactionary idiots on social media. Common sense tells you to wait for the medical reports before jumping to conclusions and common sense also tells you that Milan wouldn’t be starting any of the no name players they’ve been linked with in Tonali’s absence, against a team like Udinese. Krunic or Pobega are more than capable of filling in.”
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Exactly. But it’s obvious that the Doom & Gloom gang doesn’t think that way… for these far-sighted geniuses, the fact that Tonalli misses out on our championship debut sure means we’ll be relegated.
“for these far-sighted geniuses, the fact that Tonalli misses out on our championship debut sure means we’ll be relegated.”
Spot on. Thanks for the laughs. 🙂
I remember when Kjaer injured, someone said Milan will scramble for 4th place, who are they?
A smart coach and management prepares for the worst scenario. May not be an injury now but can happen after the market is closed – then we are in trouble. Your coach is telling you he does NOT have faith in his current crop of mids as of yet and wants another mid and CB. Otherwise Pioli would say he’s happy with his current group. Well he’s not.Yet some idiot who goes by the name @Gre-No-Li thinks he knows more than Pioli LOL. Sit back down fool you don’t know more than our coach nor M&M. They are trying to get someone even with the peanuts budget they have – which tells you all you need to know how much confidence they have in our backups.
“Your coach is telling you he does NOT have faith in his current crop of mids”
Are we reading different interview?
Pioli said midfield is Milan’s strength.
When talked about the strengh of Milan, Pioli mention the midfield and praise them, specifically praising Pobega, Krunic, and Bennacer.
What do you want him to say? I hate my mid?? LOL. A good coach always speaks well of his players. Gives them confidence. But if Pioli really believed he was set in the mid he would says as much – (like he has for striker and RW – he said we are fine as is – hence why we are not looking at more strikers and RW’s) and he would not be asking for another midfielder or CB. Wake up brother. God your so dense man
What he said was:
On paper, two roles are missing: a defender and a midfielder.
According to MacMilan Dictionary, “on paper” is used for saying that something appears to be true but may not in fact be true.
If he don’t like his midfield, he will not mention his midfield as strength of the team.
Have you ever read or heard Pioli criticize any of his players in the media. That’s not his style nor does it do any good, What is he supposed to say?
Look at his actions not his words.
But when you use his words don’t use them just when it fits your narrative. Because he also said that they are not looking for a like-for-like replacement for Kessie , instead they are looking for a midfielder who posses explosiveness, tactical intelligence and flexibility, which destroys your agenda that Milan never wanted Renato Sanches and it was all media invention. Those characteristics describe Renato Sanches to a T
Renato Sanches is explosive, he is great ball carrier, but I don’t think you could put him in the intelligent player category, he lack in terms of decisions, anticipation, and positioning.
@Yelnats24 you just said regarding Sanches “I don’t think you could put him in the intelligent player category, he lack in terms of decisions, anticipation, and positioning.” Hahahahahaha. You may want to read this kid:
https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/renato-sanches-the-next-addition-to-stefano-piolis-rossoneri/
Pioli wants another mid and wanted Sanches but it’s fake news according to you and M&M were desperate to sign him and waited for months but that’s fake news too lol. Like @Coco said when it suits your narrative the news is real – when it doesn’t you conclude it’s fake. Guess you should start your own twitter account and we follow you instead of Romano or DiMarzo eh?? LOL. Come on man thats pathetic.
The article you linked does not go against my statement. In fact, the graphic prove that his anticipation and positioning is lacking as seen from the low number of interceptions.
@Coco: Pioli is not just avoid criticizing. Pioli praise the midfield when he is asked about what he think is the strength of the team. If he think the midfield is not good, he will just not talk about it as strength.
Uhmm, Kessie’s shoes last season were faaaar from gigantic. I’d rather say his overall performance throughout the entire last season was just okay, leaning on the weak side actually, considering he was pretty much the MVP of the season before the last one, so…
Ya that’s why he started every game never got hurtand played multiple positions and every team wanted to sign him lol.
Dude, you are so delusional, the AM experiment was a failure, he lost AM place to Krunic. Kessie also missed games last season due to injury, he also start on the bench few times. Of course that is still better than the mighty Renato you wish as his replacement who only start no more than 20 games in the league.
and in a proverbial “Contract year” to boot.
@Yelnats24 did you really say:
“What he said was:
On paper, two roles are missing: a defender and a midfielder.
According to MacMilan Dictionary, “on paper” is used for saying that something appears to be true but may not in fact be true.”
Hahahahaha. Wow bro you are delusional for real. Get help my friend
You could read the interview yourself. You could look at the dictionary yourself. I only relay the information to you, I don’t change any word.
Pioli goes out of his way to praise and defend Brahim Diaz.
Then he goes and starts Kessie at n10 instead of Brahim.
He goes out of his way to praise Bennacer, but during the most important stretch of last season when he decided to bench Brahim Diaz and play with 3 DM’s , he started Krunic , while Bennacer was watching the games from the bench.
Again, Actions scream louder than words
Your word regarding Bennacer is inaccurate. After AFCON, Bennacer start a lot of matches. He didn’t start the last 4 matches because he just came back from 2 injuries (he went straight to starting after the first injury only to get injured again) and it is always risky integrating players who had just injured in high stake matches.
As for Diaz, Pioli clearly like him, consistent with his word. Even I wonder why he still start with the main team at friendlies and report says he is expected to start against Udinese 😫
Literally in the article above says that Bennacer had total of 15 starts last season out of 38.
Exactly the same amount of starts as certain Rade Krunic.
He missed only 2 games because of injuries and another 2 or 3 because of his short vacation for AFCON.
Incorrect and misleading.
Bennacer missed 3 match due to injury, 1 match due to suspension, and 3 match due to AFCON. He is only available for 31 match, not 33-34 as you claimed.
At the first half of the season he start 7 out of the 18 matches he was available (39%).
At the second half of the season, he start 8 out of the 13 matches he was available (61.5%). The 4 matches he missed come as he just got back from consecutige injures during high stake matches where integrating recently injured player is risky, yet he always closed out the games in those 4 matches.
Bennacer had actually made 8 consecutive starts when available after AFCON (including the win vs inter and Napoli). His momentum was stopped by untimely ankle distortion as Pioli opt for continuity to close the season.
You can twist it any and every way you want. At the end he started only 15 games out of 38.
Previous season he started only 17 out of 38.
Only in his first season with Milan he was considerate a starter with 28 starts. The other 2 season under Pioli he was a bench player and a back up.
So again who is Pioli trying to defend him from, when he is the one not playing the kid. One of the reasons why Bennacer hasn’t renewed, besides the money he is asking that he doesn’t deserve based on the stats, is that he feels Pioli doesn’t trust or believe in him, especially after he kept him on the bench in the last 3,4 games of the scudetto run.
Pioli can say whatever he wants to the media, numbers don’t lie. Women lie, Men lie but numbers don’t lie
This is not twisting, this is called examining the details. This is basic for data analysis. Data don’t lie but can be misleading when you fail to properly analyze it.
Besides, my data is detailed and correct. Your data is not detailed and proven to be incorrect (number of games missed due to injury/AFCON). So objectively speaking, you are the one who twisted it.
Bro you are hilarious.
Here is some data for you.
Franck Kessie was also at AFCON ( his NT went further in the tournament) missed more games than Bennacer. Franck Kessie was also injured and in bad form at the beginning of the season and he still made 25 starts ( 10 more than Bennacer)
The 2 games he missed at the start of the season vs Samp and Cagliari, guess who were the starting DM’s in those games and who was on the bench.
Starters in both, Tonali and Krunic.
On the bench, Bennacer.
Feel free to double check the DATA
Those things are irrelevant. You miss the substance. We are talking about Pioli’s trust on Bennacer. We both know Pioli trust Tonali and Kessie.
The important point is that at the 1st half of the season, Pioli only trust Bennacer to start 39% of available match while at the 2nd half of the season, it was 61.5%. It means Pioli’s trust on Bennacer is growing.
These things are consistent with Pioli’s statement when he said Bennacer can become high quality player. He sees improvement in Bennacer which make him trust Bennacer more.
Stop accusing Pioli as liar. He deserve trust.
WOW. “His trust in Bennacer is growing.” He has no other choice but to trust him now after he lost Kessie, probably the best DM in Europe, without replacing him.
But the fact is Pioli didn’t trust Bennacer at the beginning of the season , with Kessie out, he started Krunic & Tonali ahead of Benacer. And definitely didn’t trust him at the end of the season ,when playing with 3 DM’s, he started all of Kessie, Tonali & Krunic ahead of Bennacer.
What Pioli is doing thru the media with the praise of Bennacer is trying to repair his relationship with the kid which is or was strained.
Oh Pioli is definitely lying thru his teeth when he says that the midfield is still strength of the team after he lost a player who is top in his position, who hasn’t been replaced .
Kessie is a huge loss. As big as Donnarumma, Calhanoglu and Romagnoli combined
I won’t argue about the beginning of last season, but the last 4 games was due to Bennacer losing match fitness after 2 consecutive injuries that stop his momentum.
You can call Pioli as liar if you want.
Anyway, I agree that Kessie is a big loss equal to $, hakan, and ex-captain combined. $ turn out to be weakness with his feet, hakan 😂 (I hope he carry a scudetto curse for his team), Romagnoli ended up as 4th CB.
All the pots and pans rattling around from the media, we will be fine. Kessie is gone, no need to evaluate his loss or his role(s). Sandro can be expected to miss a few games just as other players, it is a demanding sport, when you play hard injuries will occur. Realistically we got lucky last year however the harder you work the luckier you get, In Pioli I trust. Forza Milano
i think everyone agree to replace the unconvincing bakayoko. which might only happens if milan could sign a new midfielder.
We must have faith in Benner, pobrga and ktunic, just like we gave chance to Kalulu when our best defender got injured. I’m sure they will improve this season.. forza milan