AC Milan’s top four hopes were dealt another huge blow on Saturday evening as they were beaten 2-1 by Torino at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino.
The tone for the evening was in many ways set by the horror own goal a few minutes in, when Mike Maignan kicked a clearance straight into Malick Thiaw and it rebounded into an empty net.
Tijjani Reijnders did bring Milan level in the second half with a rocket of a shot, and yet Torino restored their advantage on their next attack with Gineitis scoring.
Given that Lazio and Bologna had dropped points in the build-up to the game, it was yet another missed opportunity for the Rossoneri to gain ground, and they are fast running out of runway.
Sergio Conceicao made just the one change from the team that drew with Feyenoord and exited the Champions League on Tuesday night, with Alex Jimenez coming in at right-back for the injured Kyle Walker.
There was a moment of confusion just a couple of minutes in when Mike Maignan went to claim a cross but dropped the ball and was crashed into by Sanabria. The loose ball turned into a rebound attempt that was blocked on the line near enough, until the referee finally blew his whistle for a foul on the goalkeeper.
In the fifth minute Torino took the lead, and the way the goal went in was somewhere between comical and embarrassing. As Maignan rushed out to clear a long ball over the top, he succeeded only in hammering it at Malick Thiaw and into the back of the net.
Milan recovered quite well after the early setback and begun the missing of drawing level, which Santiago Gimenez came close to doing in the 20th minute having been found in behind. Milinkovic-Savic in the Torino goal did well to punch his rising shot away.
Gimenez was again on the end of service from the right side when Christian Pulisic whipped in a low cross towards the striker, who could only glance it wide of the far post.
On the half-hour mark a big turning point arrived as Milan were awarded a penalty. A deep cross to the far post was headed by Rafael Leao directly onto the arm of Pedersen which was inexplicably up in the air. Pulisic took on the responsibility from 12 yards, but his shot towards the bottom left corner was brilliantly saved by Milinkovic-Savic to keep Torino in the lead.
Maignan went some way towards beginning to atone for his earlier error when he made a good save to deny Pedersen’s shot from inside the box after a corner had fallen to the full-back. Moments later, he produced a strong hand to stop a Vlasic effort that was destined for the top corner.
Conceicao chose to ake a rather interesting change at the break as Leao was withdrawn and Youssouf Fofana came on in his place, with Yunus Musah then moving to the right side from his original position in the double pivot and Christian Pulisic to the left.
Milan hadn’t even registered a proper attack in the opening eight minutes of the second half before the coach made another change, with Musah making way and Tammy Abraham coming on to partner Gimenez up front.
Milinkovic-Savic was finally called into action when Fofana wound up a first-time curling shot from around 20 yards out that was bending towards the far corner but was parried away to safety.
A couple of minutes later, Reijnders shanked an attempt into the Frenchman’s path, but his redirection towards goal was too weak to trouble to Torino goalkeeper.
The Serbian continued to be busy as Milan got closer to an equalising goal, firstly stopping a curler from Joao Felix that was going into the postage stamp, then sticking out a leg to deny Reijnders after the Dutchman let fly from the edge of the box. Not long after those two chances, Alex Jimenez lashed a first-time shot narrowly wide.
With 20 minutes left on the clock Conceicao tweaked the attack again, with Felix making way for Riccardo Sottil.
When it looked like it might not be Milan’s night, they equalised in the 74th minute through Reijnders. It was a lovely move too, with the ball worked down the left flank and cut back to Sottil who laid it off to the Dutchman and the finish was applied.
Remarkably, parity would not last for very long as Torino got themselves pretty much straight back in front. Sanabria took a free-kick quickly which caught Milan’s defence sleeping and allowed Gineitis to hammer a low shot across goal and into the bottom corner.
The final couple of rolls of the dice from Conceicao came in the closing stages with Francesco Camarda and Samuel Chukwueze entering for Gimenez and Jimenez.
Most stupid crappy players, so bad, only pavlovic wants to win
Everyone tried to the end it just shouldn’t be
It’s a good game to watch. Fast. Direct. Creating chances. Definitely not an issue of missing game plan or character.
Pavlovic mentality and desire is all all the milan players needed. The way he combines defensive job and attacking when in need of goal reminds me of Barcelona Pigue and Chelsea Rudigar
So we can agree. Red Birds transfer strategy totally collapsed. One player plays others don’t even bothers.
This is happened because of low profile players bought and play and low goals set such as 4th position.
Seems like every game its something….
I can’t wait to see what we come up with next
Milan is cursed since the dismissal of Maldini. Transfers are fail after fail. New coaches are also fail after fail. I guess Milan alongside Man U/ Chelsea are most mismanaged clubs in Europe. Coincidentally, all owned by Americans. Do something revolutionary. OR appoint new coach every 2 weeks or at least before an important match to get a rebound win.
Still we will see what’s going to happen financially. Are they keeping the money or starts loosing.?
I agree in a way and but not in another. Because Liverpool started to be better after being acquired by Americans. But it took time. They acquired Liverpool in 2010, and it was after several years that they started winning. I think Chelsea is not doing as bad as ManU. Anyhow I do not want to blame it on Conceicao because he arrived when there was already a mess. Some things got better and others did not. I think the fact to be out of UCL affected the players heavily and also being in a bad position in Serie A before Conceicao arrived. What I am disliking about Conceicao is the fact that he putting as starters all the time Joao Felix( Who was a player I was excited to see playing, but I am now noticing more during each match that Milan does not need him if there is Leao). The other one is Musah, I think he does not do a good job overall. Maybe he might be good as a substitute but not a starter for sure. I think it is hard for Conceicao to deal with players whom might not fit his style of game. I also can notice that some players are not psychological prepared to play. I think it might take time to improve that…
Thiaw disasterclass. For me his performance this game is worst than Theo in the CL. Conciecao lost the plot. Subbing Leao and keeping J Felix was a big mistake.
Yeah, Leao was really amazing today. I think he even managed to pass the ball to teammates 4-5 times. And how many successful dribbles? Was it zero? Splendid performance. Vintage Leao.
I feel like Tomori got the rough end of the stick and lost his spot to that blundering donkey thiaw through that var incident. I’m not even talking about the 1st goal but caught napping in that 2nd when all he had to do was stand over the ball shows the immaturity in his game. The points we drop seem to be individual errors love to know who has cost the most points to the team I think thiaw culpable for a good 9 points
Son TIFFOSI desde los 10 años… Pero mejor que CONCEICAO se vaya porque estos ESTÚPIDOS!!! (MIKE, THEO, GABBIA, MUSAH) LO Destruyen TODO!!
Like I said many moon ago, Milan under RedBird is a sitcom, not a football club. As long as the creators of said show are owners of the club, it will be like this, with additional comedic nuances in different games.
Milan keep losing because of mental errors. Showing a lock of professionalism. Wirhout the unforced errors this game is 2 nil Milan. Although Vanja made a fabulous save on Puli’s PK. Puli is now 12/13 all time. These guys just aren’t dialed in when it’s time to kick the ball. It shows week after week. Which to me, generally points to coaching issues and players who have downed tools. At this point they need to prove its otherwise.
Such a basket case club at the moment, there obviously isn’t a single one issue but something different not working and going wrong each game…
Maybe time to switch off this season.. 25/26 we can all watch one game a week … less blood pressure issues. We can’t seem to break low block teams then something mental isn’t there.. series of bad choices and we are digging deeper and deeper … but hey we won against Real and Inter …
Fuc.king miserables here make me sick. I just saw a team with a fighting spirit that was amazing, I’m proud to be a fan of that team. Mistakes yes, but who doesn’t make mistakes.
Missing gameplay? We scored one, missed a penalty and two more sitters. Had the ball like all the time. How can you still ask for more? Support another team but don’t come back we we are through that curse and start dominating the league.
SURE, WE NEED RESULTS. Not feelings.
You need to lay off the drugs.
Pioli was milan’s best hope, his attack was one of the strongest. Now, we struggle for goals and is our main problem tbh.
True
So who is to blame today pulisic, last time was theo despite the fact we had 2 legs, 2 tries to beat feyenood, a useless coach we make you think you can’t win game if a single mistake is make, the fanbase are morons blamed maldini despite the fact the man was given limited resources, and his heart love the club, same with pioli, we are now man utd second, anybody who loves the club is dismissed
Felix has performed below expectations since he joined Milan. Why is Bondo not playing and Fofana whose passes are rarely accurate comes in? Milan don’t win balls and are sloppy whenever they lose possession. They need a change of mentality if they want any European chance next year.
At this point it’s just comical, what creative new ways can we find to totally fck ourselves next time??
xG was Milan 2.45 Torino 0.36
Yes 0.36… we gifted them the goal and fell asleep on the free kick (the xG from that play was 0.01). Torino didn’t do anything all game, they got 2 goals on 0.36 xG.
And that own goal… Man oh man, that will live on blooper reels for years to come. Can’t wait to see what we come up with next.
The way things are looking, it seems there was no point in letting Pioli go. Pioli gave us better results with a worse team. With Pioli we were at least fighting for top three on the table And I am sure we would be in the round of 16 in the champions league. From my point of view Fonsceca and Conceicao are not upgrades over Pioli.
I agree, we are still playing the same style, the players still cannot score goals against defensive teams. Still cannot benefit from set pieces. and definitely still slow in the build up.
Milan desperately lacks the grinta that Paolo Maldini has. The current players need to be fierce in the field, the determination, and no one could instill it better than Maldini. Furthermore, the ownership’s focus on profit is detrimental to the club’s soul; they should consider selling to an entity that is not looking for profit at the expense of Fans.
Stability in the organization is what is required. There isn’t that now. Meaning from the top down.
Elliott, Maldini, Pioli brought stability and the results followed. Liverpool maybe the best example. Inter as well. New owners but all the directors and the coach are there long term and the new owners didn’t touch that. Even the same core group of players have been there for years with a few changes and tweaks.
Whereas RedBird comes in and blows everything up. Chaos. No surprise that trickles down to the players.