There were certainly more negatives than positives after AC Milan’s 4-2 defeat against Monza last night, as is reflected in the player ratings from Tuttosport.
The newspaper (via MilanNews) have given passing grades to just three players, namely the two goalscorers Christian Pulisic (7) and Olivier Giroud (6) plus the right-back Alessandro Florenzi (6).
The American winger gave the assist to Giroud and scored a masterpiece goal, while the French striker was the one who reopened the contest with a tidy finish and Florenzi provided the cross that led to it.
There were many negative performances, starting with Stefano Pioli (4.5) who ‘immediately experienced first-hand what it means to play on Thursdays in Europe’ because the rotation did not work and the team suffered.
Luka Jovic, Malick Thiaw, Yacine Adli and Noah Okafor were the worst on the field as they all got a four, starting with the Serbian who ‘was a chicken to take the bait that Izzo offered him’ and he ‘had accomplished little’ before that.
The German centre-back hadn’t started since November 28th and ‘the rust was showing’ because on the penalty he managed to take out two opponents in the same action while on the second goal he lost Colpani and on the third goal he was too deep.
Adli was ‘slow, imprecise and listless’ and Monza’s second goal came from him losing the ball. Finally on the Swiss: ‘A non-paying spectator in what should be his favourite position’.
Thanks AC Milan doing social distancing to Inter
Thiaw was really bad. Adli too. I’m usually a fan of his.
I think a lot of the criticism of Chuk and Okafor was not justified for this game.
Had either stayed on, they probably would have contributed more than Leao did in the 2nd half.
Nothing on the field of play had suggested that either Okafor or Chukwueze would have contributed more. Substituting them off made a lot of sense. Now, what the players who came on in place of them did is another topic entirely.
I agree but who do we put on for them aside from Leao? If it’s true what Pioli said and Leao did have an injury, why even bother risking him if you know he’s only going to be a shell of himself? This is the thing that bothers me, did Pioli not see him in training or the day before OR during warm-ups, did he not see that Leao can’t move? Otherwise, I would think that Pioli is protecting him and making stuff up. So why put him on in his normal position and ask him to do what Pioli knows he can’t (due to injury). Why not change formation and put Okafor up top or something else, why put a physically incapable player out there and then keep him out there once you went to 10 men, just doesn’t make sense. So either Pioli is stupid or he’s lying about Leao’s injury, the latter would mean that Leao really played that poorly with no injury, which is very worrisome. Either way you cut it, it’s not a good situation. He took off Okafor and Chuck, but he didn’t take off Thiaw who in the 2nd half STILL made mistakes that lead to goals and chances. None of it makes sense. They would be almost better off in going with the system Allegri used while at Milan and let the front 3 do what ever they want and make sure the midfield and defense block the passing lanes and close down shots. That would mean pulling RLC back to mid going with a 3 man mid and just focus on not letting goals in with 7 players and let Giroud Leao and Puli just go nuts up front. Another crazy idea, if Leao is really hurt, bench him and put Theo there and play Jimenez again. Our overall play isn’t attractive football, the way we win games and the way Atalanta win games, we are a team just getting by why Atalanta are growing. If we aren’t careful, we could lose the 3rd spot which hurts us in UCL standings and makes everything that much harder. We keep dropping points to teams we shouldn’t every 5-8 games (not including Europe) and I don’t see that Pioli has learned anything, so it makes sense to assume we’ll drop at least 3-7 more points before the end of the season (still have to play Atalanta, Juve, and inter) . That puts us in a precarious situation. So I agree that O & C didn’t contribute much but I don’t know that just taking them off was the right choice either given Leao’s capabilities right now. It’s a very frustrating lose/lose situation we’re in. Forza Milan
I don’t disagree about playing an injured Leao but there aren’t that many options especially when needing to chase 2 goals. The lack of substituting Thiaw makes sense in that they needed to score so had to make the changes in the mode and forward positions as a priority. The redxard really put4he4ea in a difficult position.
Rafaeeeeellll Pippaooooo…our great leader , more rapper than football player 😆😆
TEAM DEFENCE WINS TROPHIES ,not having to score 4 goals a game !!!!!!!!