AC Milan failed to clinch a second consecutive win in the Champions League, crumbling in the second half against Borussia Dortmund. As a result, the qualifications chances are now minimal and below are tonight’s player ratings for the Rossoneri.
Starting XI
Maignan (5): He couldn’t do much about the penalty, of course, but his positioning on the second and third goals was really poor. We are certainly not used to seeing him make those mistakes, but it ended up being costly for Milan. Needless to say, he didn’t get much help from his defenders.
Calabria (4.5): Committed the foul for the penalty, with an inexperienced intervention, and continued to struggle against his man on the right flank. Just like Maignan, his positioning was far from great on the other goals.
Thiaw (6): The German did well against the Dortmund attack and also wasn’t afraid to attempt some risky passes, which more often than not paid off. It was a shame that he had to come off with a muscular injury (here we go again) because Milan played well with him on the pitch.
Tomori (6): A leader at the back as usual, using his pace when needed and also showing some strength in the duels. Of course, the task got a whole lot tougher when he didn’t have a proper centre-back partner and that showed.
Hernandez (5.5): It certainly wasn’t a terrible game for the Frenchman, but the feeling is that he could have offered more when going forward. He often ended up passing it to the nearest man, or attempting a cross. Not enough overlapping runs.
Adli (6): His passing was needed and it made sense to play him from start. Sure, he played some risky passes but during the period when Milan ‘dominated’, he was important. For a higher rating, he needs to evaluate certain situations better.
Reijnders (6): Moved well around the pitch and often sacrificed himself to open up space for his teammates. A good player to have, in other words.
Chukwueze (7 – MOTM): What a way to score your first goal for Milan. In that moment, we all saw exactly why the Rossoneri paid a lot of money for him this summer. For the rest of the game, however, he didn’t have as much success but he’s still the MOTM.
Loftus-Cheek (6): His presence was needed against a strong Dortmund defence and he did well in the hold-up play. Compared to the PSG game, however, that didn’t really amount to much this time out and he also missed a couple of chances. But his importance in that role is still clear.
Pulisic (6): Based on what we have seen, he’s stronger on the right-hand side, at least at Milan. Having said that, he was involved in a lot for the Rossoneri this evening and also had his moments with a couple of good passes (such as the cross for Calabria).
Giroud (5): He missed the penalty and then vanished from the game, more or less, struggling to win the battles against the defenders.
Substitutes
Krunic (5.5): The positioning was poor on both goals but then again, he’s not a centre-back and that must be taken into consideration.
Jovic (6): He hit the post with a lovely header and did get into good positions.
Chaka Traore (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
Should’ve brought in Flo and put Calabria on CB. RLC’s best position is in mezzala of 3 man mid. That way he still has space to exploit. Putting him on an AM makes his space to run strictly limited as he’d directly face the opponent’s CBs.
Exactly, if they play with a 231 then pulisic needs to play as the cam or rw. if chuck plays then pulisic can take the cam. In very specific situations is it helpful to play RLC as the cam
I thought he’d have gone with Theo as CB with Florenzi at LB tbh as Theo played CB recently. Not saying this would guarantee a result but it’s better to go with defenders and leave midfielders like Musah and Krunic to play midfield roles .
The only way to qualify is by beating Newcastle away and also dortmund should beat psg
However, I don’t think if dortmund will work so hard to beat psg because dortmund has already qualified. So the path is so narrow for us. But I still have hope because in football anything can happen.
Exactly calabria was playing in the Middle instead of RB all game anyway so it was the logica thing to do but pioli doesn’t logica solutions apparantly
Yeah that was the logical thing g to do
But he turned to his Mr fixit instead,
They should both leave together
Giroud was just poor ad don’t deserve more than 3
Agreed. After he missed the penalty he kinda faded away from the game. Even his pressing seems lacking than what we usually saw from him. After krunic came on I knew the game would be over. SMH 😔
In a team like Milan we still have krunic playing for us what a joke the management came in sack maldini sold tonali and gamble with the investment by purchasing randomly without replacing key areas.
Three factors went wrong
Leo was surely missed
Secondly thaiw that went off for krunic was a disaster
Thirdly Pioli incompetence killed the game yes I know we were plagued by injuries but atlist a good coach would have savage a draw at home
Chemistry lab experimental
I think the depth is much better. The problem is still that Pioli has been out of his depth for 2 years now. He is a guy that can motivate a small group of players to get to 5th place in the league and not to coach a big team. His first few years was playing same tactic every game. Last year he experimented a bit with 3-5-2/3-5-1-1 but this year he started with playing 4-3-3 every game. Then he wanted to have 2 players for each position. So if all fans know that Chekwueze plays when Pulisc can’t on RW then any professional coaching staff knows that as well. That also makes players like Chekwueze or Okafor to have little match experience. That stopped working, so Pioli wanted to spice things up like amateur player of Football Manager. When he wants a taller mid then plays Pobega in important games without match experience, not even subbing him in for weeks or months. Yesterday he wanted 2 passing mids, so he played Rejinders and Adli together first time in such important game. Someone should have made Pioli aware that he is a shit tactician and he should have just played the 4-3-3 that he plays this season with whoever is available. Atacking 3 was sorted with Chek – Giroud – Pulisic and they even had a sub in Jovic. Then defense was sorted as well, so he should have just field the same looking mid set up as usual(Krunic, Rejinders, Loftus-Cheek) and push for 1:0 win. Why a shit tactician tries new things in a game like that? We will not even play in Europa League dropping out as last place. I really hope this made the management to look for a new coach for next season or hopefully winter break already.
Plays Musah as RB, Krunic as CB lol.
Musah is banned, we had Bartesaghi and Florenzi. Both would be better on the flanks, with Theo in the middle though. this coach is completely incompetent. He has to go
I expect a hatrick from Chuck on Saturday. All I’m saying about this evening
The miss chances throughout this group has probably cost us qualifying to the knockout stages. 1st game vs Newcastle leao backhealing when clean through, 2nd game Dortmund away giroud missing from close range in first half then chukw missing big chance in 2nd half. 3rd game away in psg when 1-0 down pulisic looking for giroud instead of shooting himself. And tonight Giroud missing penalty that would of gave us the lead. I know Ac Milan have had a lot of injuries but you have to be ruthless which we haven’t
Sadly true, between our inconsistency in front of the goal and our idiot coach we shoot ourselves in the foot way too much to be able to qualify in such a competitive group
the issue is our management decided to gamble on maybes, hopefullys and throw stuff against the wall instead of taking concrete action. This precedes them with Elliott’s halfway there, half ass decision making, being strict on budgets instead of our retention policies.
We needed a goalscorer this summer. A proven striker. They had their hands on two and instead of going for the kill on either, they played the lets hope and wait game. Ended up with none, even loaning out one we knew what to expect from, to land a gamble like Jovic.
We needed 4 reliable central defenders, not 3. They signed a random prospect that was injured after one game. Here we had a midfielder who should have left this summer to make room for a more physically apt midfielder, which were available for the same price we were offered for Krunic, but we kept him instead. We knew Bennacer was not going to be there by the time qualification round were done. They had to move Krunic and get someone better. His halfway there performances and mediocre displays have killed us in important games, against superior competition last year. He proved he wasn’t cut for it. We kept him thoughm PSG, now hete, his presence alone was enough to cost us a qualification. No way Theo in the middle with either Florenzi or Calabria on the left would have been as disastrous as fielding him.
Well their management philosophy of keeping their fingers crossed on gambles is manifesting itself as we speak. All their poor decisions over the three years, lettting Hakan, Kessie etc go for a couple million here and there had the worst outcomes.
We had the WORST SERIE A TITLE DEFENSE EVER IN THE LEAGUE. We were embarrassed on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, not beat in games that could have went either way, completely destroyed. That is 3 years of running a football club like ab American baseball franchise.
Haha decent points but Krunic doesn’t play CB because he wants to play CB all of a sudden. Neither does he start because he wants to start. I don’t agree that he needed to be shipped off necessarily. he’s a reliable backup. We just needed a proper DM. Especially after we changed formation that requires one of the most important if not the most important player to be DM
100% on point man. The management need to do better. Pioli should learn to brace up. All big team have one or two teenagers in their ranking getting playing time.
Players like Chaka Toure, Zeroli, Bartesaghi, Jeminez ought to be around the senior team with good playing time. That could have help in this injury crisis. But Pioli is too naive to give them a chance. see what Dortmund Gerrit did to calabria. the gut is just Toure age and not more gifted than Toure. It is just a matter of coach confidence in the players.
Exactly.
I am not sure a manager could do much when players like this, experienced World Cup winning players, miss sitters.
Pioli will likely be sacked soon and that is precisely the sort of scapegoating that breeds a lack of accountability amongst the players.
Our coach is off tactically, starts a game with plan a, and sticks with it to the end, no adjustment no creativity.
Look at man.city who were 2 goals down at half time, a tactical coach with game plan and creativity turned things around.
We are tired of krunic
Giroud’s last 2 match; ridiculous red card and a penalty missed. What a way to celebrate his 100th on Milan’s
Speechless to say the least…
At least its a fact that Adli is good and can play when the opportunity is given, Krunic isn’t Milan or Milan’s bench quality. We need a good manager that’s all I can say. Forza Milan
How long we’ll have to wait for management to wake up and fire this coach? It’s over. It’s been over.
Who goes into a must win game with only 2 CBs without bringing one from the Primavera? Simic might not have the experience, but he has the instinct of playing as a cb. The genius Pioli puts in Krunic at CB. Game over.
Then he waits till the 75th minute to throw in Jovic an extra forward, when he is chasing a result.
The sooner they get rid of him, the better chance Milan has to salvage this season. If he stays top 4 just like last season will have to be achieved with help from outside.
was Simic registered as a player? I doubt we would have two GK on the bench, no cb if simic was Registered for CL.
Sadly Simic was not eligible for the squad under UEFA rules. Otherwise I’m sure would have been the reserve cb option
Our Attack is always based on Individual brilliance – you cant go into a game and “hope” for individual brilliance – we need to have an attacking game plan – this is where I think we as a club are missing – we need better attacking and tactical coaching.
What a shocker by Calabria. He’s been playing well lately but this was a disaster. You could argue all 3 goals were his fault. The first 2 for sure.
Giroud also let the team down. Should’ve had 2 goals within the first 10 minutes.
Once Thiaw went down ( surprise, another muscle injury) we were screwed, and the kiss of death was Pioli putting in Krunic. The entire medical and training staff should be fired. It’s been 4 years of this nonsense. We can’t even bring in a CB when one gets injured, we have to put a midfielder back there.
I would like to say that the injuries are an excuse for Pioli but like I said, this has been a problem the entire time he has been here and he doesn’t change anything so it’s his to own. If Milan don’t win some trophy this year he is gone.
What do you mean “IF Milan don’t win some trophy”??? LOL 😀 😀 😀
But yes, the whole medical staff should be fired alongside with Pioli. It’s their fault that half of the players suffer from muscle injuries. WHAT A BUNCH OF F*NG AMATEURS!!!
Enough is enough now let’s get pioli gone and get conte in the whole thing is becoming a joke and we are becoming a laughing stock. To think of the club we used to be I don’t no how barise can sit and watch these players trying to play football.
As always when u need him the most the captain choke and strugle,well done boi. Also genius move by pioli for not calling a bench CB from primavera,all coaches can call junior players in this situations ,only out genious goes on the most important champions league match with no subs. 👏👏
players need to be eligible for the CL. No additional Primavera player is eligible.
Simic was ineligible because he just arrived but other Primavera players were eligible..maybe I think Nsiala was eligible
What are you talking about Luigi,completely false, Coubis,Nsiala and Paloschi are all CB’s and all of them were registered for CL this year.
To summarise Pioli out. He is out of his depth, the substitution of Krunic for Thiaw is just as shocking as Musah playing right back. Pioli’s should be sacked tonight.
A legend says there was a match without injuries for Milan.
Wasn’t it in the 80s?
As much i we all hate krunic wearing milan jersey (he should be sold asap) it was calabria that messed up tonight. He did well goimg forward but meesed up big time in both goals.
Regarding injuries: something is not right here folks. All these muscle injuries ( unsustainable) is not just bad luck. Lack of proper coaching, rotation, proper training, fitness and diet staff are the culprit. So it’s not just baldy that gotta go, his whole staff.
Theo hasn’t been himself this season. And giroud disappeared after that pk miss, which can happen to anyone. Happy for chuk, milan will need him.
Tomorri and thiaw were good tonight, especially tomorri. What a season he is having, obsolutly a beast.
Finally, pioli gotta go, his cycle has been finished for some time.
We haven’t played well all season. The worst in the last 4 years. I’m not using pioli as a scapegoat because I said it last season too. I thank pioli for bringing this team back, but he’s brought them as far as he can. The only thing he can do well is have relationships with the players. This season especially the tactics, formation, subs, and player selection have been completely wrong. Maybe we’ve played two good games this year, none were excellent.
I understand we got a lot of players this summer, but pioli has made them all play under their true potential. His time is done here but the sad thing is there aren’t many options out there to take over a failing team at this stage. Nor do the management have the balls to sack him. Last year and this year milan have been so poor and before someone says we reached our goal of a top 4 finish last year. That was due to a technicality and had it not been we would have been away by 5 points!
A massive overhaul needs to happen in our coaching department, everyone needs to go.
I can’t fault the team for effort, but we’re simply not good enough. Individual mistakes again and the midfield is nowhere near the level needed. Do they protect the defense? No. Can they create chances through the middle? No. Can they score? No. Can they maintain possession under pressure? No. Barring a few good moments from Adli, I was not impressed at all. All of our chances came from the flanks and our strikers seem dangerous when they actually get service. I’ve been saying it since the Inter match, the way our midfield is playing, only Bennacer will be starting next season. Luckily we can still qualify but it’s clear the summer transfer strategy failed. Expect one or two midfield signings in January.
We simply don’t have a playmaker. After more than a decade we never replaced players like Kaka, Pirlo, Seedorf, not even with players half as good as they were. No wonder there are no chances created from the middle and that we can’t dominate any team. Pulisic and Leao are only remotely creative players and they’re wingers.
Absolutely, we are mediocre and given RedBird leadership so far and players we had purchased over the summer, we are at best on Porto or Salzburg level. Even though I’m a foreigner but brining players from North American continent makes it even worse. Calabria may be limited but Italian. At this point I miss late Berlusconi and Galiani era.
We had a very solid 1st half and the team was generating chances all around (Calabria really should have scored on the end of the half)
Unfortunate that our CB gets injured but you really can’t expect to compete in Champions League of you can’t even have an adequate substitution for your center back. So what does our genius coach do? Sub in our worst player that is not even good at his main role into the core of our defense.
Then at min 75 comes with stupid substitutions, takin out Chukwu who had been our most dangerous man in attack, leaving Giroud who didn’t do shit all game and taking out our best midfielder of the day in Adli. That really messed up the team and from then onwards it was just trying to flood the area with crossings. Baffling loss that should have been a win for us.
Giroud 5? I don’t care about the penalty, it happens. But what he did afterwards was shameful. No movement, all duels lost, almost all passes wrong. One of the worst individual performances I have seen in 25 years watching football. We played the most important match of the season with 10 man.
Beyond disappointing. Had to take a walk to cool down. Pioli makes the worst subs I have even seen a coach make in the history of Football. Honestly, did Pioli take a bad drug? Why put Krunic in at center half?! My god Christmas comes early for Dortmund and Piloi is the Santa Claus. Then he pull Chukwueze for a teenager? Why not just put me in? and I don’t even rate Chukwueze but he is better than a primavera player no offense or blame to him. No one played well, Chukwueze had one play of brilliance and Pulisic looked like he was trying to play a game by himself because everyone else had a thumb up their butt.
Pulisic was my MOTM, most of Milan’s positive offensive play flowed through him.
Pioli out
If there’s a good coach out there I think it may be time to move on come December.
Giroud’s bad miss conditioned the game and likely Pioli’s survival beyond this season.
Agree. The management should sack this fool asap. Look at napoli fired garcia for a lot less than pioli’s bloopers. Time for a new coach to bring fressh air to the team. Hell, the signs have been there for a couple of seasons now and a replacement should be there.
The owner hates losing and spending too much at the same time.
The owner hates spending? Are you blind?
Did you even see what i wrote?? I said spending too much bruh.
Go back to school if you don’t understand things get out of here.
Ahem, I guess I should be less invested with the team. Not good for my health, having high expectations from our players.
Anyway, now will the management held the staff accountable for all these injuries or not and why the fu#k did this bald subbed Krunic to replace Thiaw when we had an experienced Florenzi on the bench.
Yeah that was the logical thing g to do
But he turned to his Mr fixit instead,
They should both leave together
Ponch is available! And we’re not the trash that Chelsea is. He could actually do wonders here!
so we didnt put theo in the middle and introduce a winger on the flank? is this coach braindead? Theo surely can handle a centerback role better than Krunic. I dont like criticizing coaches endlessly but this was sheer stupidity.
Let coach PioLOL gives his words, he likes krunic holistically from CB to Forward, he likes to exploit Lord Krunic full service position as many as he can before Lord Krunic goes to someone else this winter
Pioli’s tactics and subs are terrible but can we investigate all these injuries? Now he has an excuse to lose most games. Also, can we buy a proper playmaking mid ASAP? We are creating no chances from the center of the field, only on the wings, and if Leao or Puli is out, we only have 1 source of creation or 0. Any decent defense can stop us easily.
Krunic at CB! WOW! And then we immediately lose because he’s a bum. Why not put in a defender?
Good job Pioli. You’re a loser, time to go. Take your lover with you too. Enjoy Turkey.
Couldn’t watch tge game but from what I have read is that our coach was at fault again. Why bring on krunic when you have a talented young natural defender in bartesaghi on the bench who did well in pre-season. And how calabria stayed on the and florenzi on the bench…You also had pobega which i think would have better than krunic.
Without Leao this team is nothing. He may be lazy but what he can do in a few minutes, this entire team cannot do in 90 minutes. The guys don’t know how to attack! It’s soo embarrassing! Pass, shoot, cross, dribble, they struggle with everything! After one decent game against PSG they think they’re superstars. These players need a kick up the backside and a reality check. As for the coach, he is just a waste of space and needs replacing asap. Pioli is a broken man and in need of counselling. Milan should be worried as any team in Serie A will fancy there chances against us based on there performances.
We are a MASH unit at this point.
Given all the injuries, and all the criticism I’d suggest folks consider that our players on the field are not at 100%.
I personally felt like there was a distinct lack of energy even when the run of play was going in our direction.
I’m not sure why Krunic is getting all this blame. He was out of position. And on one of the goals Tomorri he was down and out of the play.
Calabria was definitely off tonight. But I go back to the idea that he’s probably not at 100% since he plays so often. There really is something wrong with how our players are training, conditioning or managing their health.
I was happy to see Chuk score. He continued to track back and for me most importantly, he had his head up and seem to know where to find people far more often than in the past.
Puli was my MOTM. He was everywhere. He got off several good shots. He put out several potential assists. He played defense as well as either Theo or Calabria.
I’m not sure Pep or Carlo could do much in this situation. Players hurt. Players tired. Players unavailable.
It will be curious this weekend to see how we line up.
Finally a proper take. Some of these guys need a rest.
“I’m not sure why Krunic is getting all this blame.”
I don’t think I’ve seen one single post where Krunic was blamed. Everyone has blamed Pioli for that sub but not Krunic himself.
When Thiaw injured, Pioli must change his approach to be more defensive. He should accept that we have minimum chance to win this match when Thiaw injured.. He should replace Thiaw with Bartesaghi dan Adli with Krunic so Krunic can help the defence more. Let other attacking players who work to make another goal. Pioli is sometimes smart but often stupid. I can not enjoy watching Milan since Pioli, Inzaghi, Gattuso, Montella as coach. Pioli won scudetto because of Ibra, got through semifinal UCL because of friendly schedule. He won’t take Milan to be great again.
Ive been saying all this time that haters gonna hate.
I think the problem still is finishing in front of goals. Even penalty is failed to make goals that is something i called massive bad luck. If we score the penalty, we can sit deep in the second half and reduce the pressing so thiaw will be less working on the pressing and maybe can avoid the injury. Because of course above all that l, the decisive part that we lost the game is thiaw injury
But what can we do, as i say its massive bad luck if you ask me, not only this match but from the start vs newcastle we shoot 9 shot on target and NU only 1 shot on target but we still cant win.
In Europe we have a problem with goals. In Serie A we’re about ok. Its the translation to European football that gives us the problems
Massive bad luck from match to match, eh? Yeah, not buying it. Some say “luck needs to be earned”. This team hasn’t worked hard enough this season to earn it. Only a fool would hide behind the “bad luck” excuse.
No matter the game’s outcome, Lord Krunic will always be there with PioLOL, in bad and good times they’re always be together ever after, until Winter Mercato comes at least.
Bye bye Pioli…
People are talking about Krunic (who was sent in to burn, out of position) forgetting that Calabria gifted this victory to Dortmund. This score is entirely Calabria’s fault. He gifted then their first two goals and half-gifted them their third. Not only that but he lost several duels, increasing Dortmund’s possession and dangerousness. A disaster of a performance for the Captain who had been doing well lately. Well, it happens. But don’t be fooled by all the Krunic hate and Pioli hate: while they have their share of responsibility for this loss, it was Calabria who had the biggest share and who completely screwed up and granted to Dortmund their victory.
Oh, and the trainer department is also at fault. The number of muscle injuries is unreal. Can you all imagine how far we’d be both in the UCL and the League if we had our players as healthy as Inter’s players? Our administration is incapable of solving this problem. They need to fire and replace the entire trainer department. By the way, it’s not the fault of the doctors. They only intervene when the player is already injured. It’s the fault of the trainers, who foster these injuries by obviously inadequate training methods.
But PioLOL sometimes gives holiday breaks after some matches. Did they work too hard or work in the wrong way, or wrong medicine supplement or fitness centre massaging and perhaps they could use ice bath or Cryotheraphy for relieving muscle injury, etc, and also perhaps some staff didn’t comply with guidelines, for example: Real Madric sacked fitness/treatment staff because Arda Guller still get injured until now, right.
@Luigi all facts bro!
This is a massive failure for the medical and physio department and whoever is related to the occurence of injuries
agree
In order of people I’d like to see the club get rid of:
– some ‘fans’ on here:
– Cardinale
– the directors he appointed,
And then we can reassess based on how we can recover after this summer’s anarchy.
Ha ha ha , are you on that list of “some fans” that you’d like to see the club get rid of?
Where does the bum a*s coach falls on that list of yours?
Oh yeah he isn’t on that list because someone is stuck in 2022 and believes that just because Pioli stumbled on one scudetto, the only trophy he has ever won in his “illustrious” coaching career, he deserves to stay as a Milan coach until the end of his life, like the Pope.
No matter how bad Pioli is , no matter how bad the team plays, Padre Pioli has to stay. Right?
The directors and Cardinale gave Pioli everything he asked for this summer. And for that they should be fired. They made the mistake believing that this fool is actually a good coach.
Also, Kinda hard for a club to get rid of its owner. It’s the other way around. The owner can get rid of the club by selling it.
Milan has better players this season in comparison with last season and the team still plays bad just like they did last season.
Better players, same old bum coach.
The responses from some “fans” on here are nothing short of a disgrace.
the order you will see go
-Leao
-Theo
-Mike
then we will be bought by Chinese and sign Bonucci and Kalinic back.
Kalinic would be a massive upgrade to Jovic though.
We could of subbed in Florenzi or Barteshagi and moved Calabria, but oh no, Pioli HAS to play Krunic.
That aside, it was like a lot of our guys didn’t realize they’re playing CL!
Calabria is short. We will at disadvantage when crossing and corner.
the sub of Thiaw for Krunic as CB is worse than sent off. Sending off make the players knew that they miss a CB and have to fill in that hole. Krunic as CB, others player supposed there are no holes, but in fact the huge hole right in front of GK
I missed the game today as I had scheduled plans. So Adli started therefore it must mean we won right?….after all Milan only loses when “that other guys starts” right? (You just have to ignore the faults on the Udinese and PSG games). I haven’t read the comments yet but lemme guess Krunic came on and then we lost..oh yea don’t mind Adayemi skinned Adli for the goal, that’s Krunic fault right, because he came on? Who’s fault also is it to bring him on as a CB ? Matter of fact let’s do one better and ask which CEO and/or coach working in perfect harmony as a team who shipped a reliable CB in Gabbia for the unknown quantity who is injured. 🤔 Anyone I see blaming Krunic for anything I’ll be with the smoke.
Ok, enough of the nastyness. What can I say about this game. From the get go the setup is either inspirational, reckless or hand tied. Reinjders and Adli in a double pivot mmm mmm mmm. Pioli you’ve outdone yourself, but only because you let the anti-Krunic mob get to you. So basically no protection at the back. Very interesting Pioli. At least Reinjders tried to defend but Adli kept leaving a bunch of space by pressing high up the field. I’ll say this about Adli. He’s an enigma. On the one hand at the start of the game I saw him spray the ball out and thought man we really need this kind of passing which you won’t get with you know who. But then gives away the ball crucially upfield which eventually led to dangerous shots and also lazy to get back on defence, leaves LARGE gaps in midfield and tries to overdo the passing. Yet when he does the passing it’s amazingly slick. I hv no idea what to make of it. But if people don’t see why he gets benched after seeing this game then I really can’t help you. Positioning is a thing in football and while there’s no question about his attacking flair there are some serious questions otherwise.
Anyways, the lack of defence and defensive positioning from the pivots today caused major problems.
Next up, Mike who was suspect on the last two goals especially the third. Calabria was bad, Loftus Injured Cheek was basically missing all game, Puli tried, Chuk did well, Jovic did well, Krunic had no choice, Theo was decent, Giroud probably costed the game, and the lights were too bright for Chaka literally and figuratively.
Btw, this is y’all Chaka Traore?!can’t control a lofted pass, can’t lob a pass inside the box?! This is why I dislike all these “promote Primavera products” (and also promote Abate). Watching Primavera play and watching professionals play are two different things. I say you don’t introduce these young Primavera players too early. How high is the quality of the Primavera if a 15 year old gets called up for a league game before the other senior players? Anyways wrong occasion for an introduction by Pioli.
All in all, terrible game with the destiny in our own hands prior to the start. And at times we were dominating them .let’s hope we don’t make Europa as my summer prediction is coming to life.
Oh..didnt I mention the danger of Adayemi before the game?
“IKWYDLS
27 November 2023, 15:15 at 3:15 pm
Adayemi is the danger man. He’s hot and cold but when he’s hot it’s cray cray “
“I missed the game today as I had scheduled plans.”
And yet:
“Ok, enough of the nastyness. What can I say about this game. From the get go the setup is either inspirational, reckless or hand tied. Reinjders and Adli in a double pivot mmm mmm mmm. Pioli you’ve outdone yourself, but only because you let the anti-Krunic mob get to you. So basically no protection at the back. Very interesting Pioli. At least Reinjders tried to defend but Adli kept leaving a bunch of space by pressing high up the field.”
So you missed the match but still knew that Reijnders tried to defend but Adli kept leaving space. Yeah. Sure. You’re the first one to always protect Krunic but still are here to attack Adli when you didn’t even watch the match. LOL. Talk about double-standards. Hypocrite.
Hahaha bro it’s obvious I saw the game afterwards. I missed it live duh wtf how.dumb are u??? 😂😂😂😂😂
It was pretty apparent you saw the game but why start you comment stating you missed the game? #iknowwhatyoudidlastsummer.
Oh maybe it wasn’t as apparent that I saw the game afterwards then..my.bad bb
I don’t “defend” Krunic . I keep it balanced for him and all players. A true neutral take which gets misinterpreted as “defending” Krunic because it’s in a sea full of Krunic hate. So when I see people write that he only passes backwards for instance and I go look at the stats and see his progression yards as 70 and Reinjders at 75 that’s where I come in. Or when people say he can’t pass or passes to an opponent all the time, that’s where i come in and show them he’s the third most accurate passer in the team for instance. That’s keeping it neutral!
I’ll criticize aspects of his game that are not so good and praise the parts that are. But the majority of ppl here just see Krunic, get heated and vent on the poor dude as if he picked himself to go play …CB as in this case here.
How come you only see me as defending him? Where’s the part where I criticize his lack of ability to progressive pass or in the some of the recent games where his form has dropped especially after his injury and I duly noted that. You guys only see what you want to see. Take in everything positive about him as somehow defending him and ignore ALL the other parts where I criticize. Can’t with u guys anymore
My bad BB apparently it wasn’t as apparent as I though. I’ll try to be more.clear next time
Haha, Didn’t watch the game(or pretends he didn’t watch the game in order to ask dumb questions) and after that performance all he is worried about is defending Krunic. Still can’t let it go that he was wrong about Krunic. Not to totally blame Krunic for Pioli’s idiotic decision to bring him in but the game was tied when he came on and we all knew it would not remain that way.
And to try and blame it on Adli in the double pivot is especially stupid. Up until the Krunic sub Milan had not given up much and what they had given up was all Calabria’s fault. The first 2 goals were 100% on Calabria and at least 50% responsible for the 3rd. Calabria was on Adeyami and then switched off and told Adli to take him, probably because he had already been beaten so many times. That’s not what a good defender does.
u now pay coz we not qualify 16th round with still maintain pioli and krunic what the hell this management
Lets not blame adli. I always give my objective opinion even though i always despise many who think adli is a god. Objectively adli play good defensively (no question for his offense because he is great in that aspect).
The reason we lost only because we can not score even on penalty so i think the first culprit is giroud even though its based on luck too to miss penalty kick. The 2nd reason is the injury, its only this 2 factor on this match. We dont need to blame krunic or adli because they do their job despite the disavantages.
Fair points
It’s not luck – even for average players.. Giroud is a penalty expert; he should have lifted the ball.
There’s no such thing as “penalty experts who never miss penalties” (see the 94 World Cup final).
S&$t happens.
That’s why it’s a good idea to support the team through thick and thin.
Superficial fans will never be satisfied because football is rarely a fairytale.
Sorry to break it to you but neither Adli or Krunic should really play for our team and when at full health they wouldn’t be. Yes, we don’t score but what midfielder have you seen in our kit look dangerous? Once a team sees that our midfield is weak they sit in low block and wait for Leao, Pulisic and Giroud. There is blame to go around from the forwards to the training staff.
The idea that Krunic and Adli SHOULDN’T play for OUR team is the reason why OUR team won’t be competing at the top level again for a long time.
Because that will eventually apply to all players and we’ll never have the stability required to build a top team.
I mean the media and fans are absolutely certain that a player like Krunic is not the sort of player you can go far in the champions league with despite the actual FACT that we did in FACT reach the semi-finals last season with him starting EVERY knock out game.
This logic is what drove all of those transfers this summer where we dismantled said squad that had literally just made the semi-finals of the champions league.
And the media and fans never questioned the madness. Because they were all convinced that that Krunic and Adli SHOULDN’T play for OUR team.
I appreciate your takes on our team even though they are different than what appears to be the majority but if others voicing their opinions are triggering for you and you are over this site maybe you should visit less. TBH, why come to the comment section week after week and expect something different. Remember what Einstein said about insanity.
Agreed!
But also I’m trying (and clearly failing) to stop the rot.
The rot of this never ending cycle of chopping and changing.
And that rot will only end when fans demand it. But right not so many fans are part of the problem.
I am so over so many people on here and this site.
I mean never mind that the season is going almost exactly as I expected after the summer of hype from the very same media and fans that are now turning on the manager and players who were put in this position, this game could’ve gone a completely different way had Giroud scored the penalty OR RLC past the ball on the counter.
Dortmund scored after BOTH incidents.
This is what football comes down which is precisely why you don’t change half the squad AND the directors AFTER your team MEETS and EXCEEDS expectations.
It’s also why you don’t judge based on one game or even group of games but SEASONS.
Businesses don’t tend to sack their CEOs and sales teams after one bad quarter.
BUT…..football is BOTH a very serious business and not like a business at all….apparently.
It’s certainly not the business of actual football more like some terrible reality TV series.
So the manager is going to be sacked soon, and we’ll sign another (What’s the latest? 4-5 new players in January?) and when none of that works we will….do the same in the summer…..what’s that Einstein said about insanity?
Could the fans on here at least learn something from this experience?
Or is it onto the next victims when the manager and the last remnants of the Scudetto winning side are sold?
I’m new. I’m not rot. #Justsayin’
Is it possible this lack of continuity you are pointing out is due to the 20 muscular injuries we have sustained rather than the transfers? Could confirmation bias be a part of your “I told you so?”
Is say it is likely both are contributing factors but the injuries far more so at this stage.
Consider our desired line up. Now consider how many times it has been started.
Now consider impact subs in games and the opportunities we didn’t have to make them due to injury.
Now consider injury subs. Yesterday I’d have felt fine had Kalulu been able to come in. Oh, but he is injured until Feb.
I appreciate your take on the number of transfers and some of the trolls here. But you really need to tighten up you logic a bit or your just a different side of the same problem.
Fan is short for fanatic. While calling for calm please consider exhibiting such as well.
You are definitely not rot. You come here to give you point of view and respect everyone.
The injuries are greatly impacting the continuity. You can see it every time someone goes down because we fall apart. When Christian got hurt against Napoli we fell apart, when Calabria went out we felll apart, similar story with Leao and most recent Thiaw. More evidence suggesting the new transfers aren’t disrupting the team is look how well Pulisic and Calabria play off of each other (example Pulisic’s cross from outside the box to Calabria at the far post against BVB) so much so half of Milan fans think Pulisic is a better RW which for anyone familiar with his game knows he is more dangerous on the LW, he can play most attacking positions because every coach he has played for has moved him around just to get him on the field since he arrived at Dortmund at age 16. Also Giroud, RLC, Pulisic, and Tomori all played at Chelsea together and had great chemistry especially Pulisic and Giroud.
In truth, pioli showed his flaws and should have been sacked last season. His objective was a top 4 finish but got a jail free card on that due to Juventus. Last season defending our title with not so much transfer activity the team somehow played worse, especially after the new year. Maldini knew this and wanted to sack him and bring in someone new which led to him being fired and pioli gaining more control over the market.
So this summer pioli had a HUGE say on who comes in and who leaves. He started by saying he wants to switch to a 4 3 3 and wants more midfield players suited to that. Management delivered whoever he wanted. To present day pioli has constantly had questionable tactics, questionable formations, questionable subs. So please tell me that he isn’t the main culprit in all this?
Even coming down to injuries, no team in the world has as many injuries as we do. Are his training methods due to this? Is he over playing players? I’ll tell you one thing. Leao’s injury is 100% pioli’s fault because he should never have started leao to begin with!
Pioli won us a scudetto yes, but instead of getting better we’ve steadily declined and pioli has shown he’s brought the team as far as he could. This season has been a nightmare and he should be sacked. He’s not a scapegoat in any of this. This team has not played well since last January(all napoli games aside).
pioli should be fired for playing MM as gk, He literally has the Flu.
It’s really a very shameful thing seeing a captain wearing a lofted team as Ac Milan rushing so stupidly into a challenge and bringing down a player who wasn’t even threatening with his run just at the far end. In fact, that useless unwarranted tackle by the so called captain actually did us the serious damage despite missing a penalty by giroud cos the team was still balanced and doing a good job until he conceded that unforgivable penalty and ended up contributing not at all afterwards, what a shame on him and then the poorest rating goes to the coach pioli who’s high rate if inexperience and incompetence is really showing at this top level of football and now look at the result, an almost 100% chances of not getting through to the next stage as it’s no longer in our hands.
My verdict: I feel it’s about time pioli leaves Milan and go look for an average club where average managers like him manages and gathers some top level experience and not this rubbish he constantly does here with my beloved Milan.
The only thing that’s shameful is fans like you turning on the captain for a mistake.
Why don’t you go support a different team – one where no players ever make mistakes?
Good luck finding one.
good / great CAPTAINS lead by example, need I say more ?
Where’s the Pioli and Krunic fans……
ACM has suffered far too much this year. Time for a change, please, Mr Cardinale…..
We understandably looked nervous after they scored their first goal but overall our stats was better with more shots on goal and had the most possession and played rather direct football while dortmund still looked dangerous on the left flank but up untill thiaws injury we were fully in this match and it could have gone either way.
Caabria looked very shaky early on in the match and should have done better and the same goes for giroud.
The collapse after thiaws injury was tough to behold and could have gone even worse but could also have been easily avoided. I wonder why pioli chose to field krunic in the defense and even though bartesaghi wouldnt have been ideal it seemed like a daft and baffling move by the coach.
From what i can judge regardless miracles or not this seems like the end of the road for this years cl, greatly disapointing but considering the group we are in it really shouldnt come as a huge surprise to anyone either.
I’ll take the two positives in chukwuze playing good and scoring while jovic showed signs of improvement in yesterdays match.
Agree about the positives.
I really don’t understand why people are shocked about the decision to play Krunic in defence.
Have people watched or played football?
Players are capable of playing in more than one position.
There have been many examples of the years of CM’s dropping back into defence.
Ambrosini played CB. Cristante plays CB. Krunic when he plays actually drops into CB all of the time. Maybe fans miss it with all of the hatred in their eyes.
I thought Krunic was the obvious choice at that stage.
And when he did come on – what exactly did he do wrong?
I was baffled by the decision to field krunic but i can also understand that from piolis perspective that he propably felt that krunic would offer more guarantees as he has played those important matches before and has a greater understanding between his team mates but it completely backfired as i see it.
Propably many hasnt played it themselves but i have and was the captain and has also played in various position eventhough i pretty much was the midfield general type of player myself but problem here is that when you play at the highest level its down to milimeter decisons, muscle memory etc and krunic clearly wasnt the right choice yesterday but its always easy to look back in hindsight.
To be fair i propably would have put loftus back there as he is of a sizeable stature but that might have backfired as well.
Well he did some lousy man marking from what i can recollect but at that point i was pretty damn furious qnd that might have clouded my memory.
In the end even though we doesnt always agree on every matter we can still agree upon some things and same goes for boulden even though i’ve sometimes been a bit rough with him ill give you both credit when credit is due and that is that both of you guys always support the team and players in thick and thin and that is what fans are supposed to do so kudus to both of you in that regard.
There was no great solution to having no CB replacement for Thiaw.
The options people have offered here were
Play Bartesaghi – very inexperienced and new position
Move Calabria or Theo central
etc etc
Non of these are good options to have.
Playing Krunic there was as logical as any others.
Also at that point in the game we were in control of possesion and camped on their half way line so Krunic was an understandable solution.
BUT Pioli should have blooded somebody in that position given we all knew if a CB went down we had no replacements.
There MUST be a plan in those situations
When you consider a player like Krunic playing Series B in “other positions” it makes sense. His talent is far enough above the competition to make up for details.
When you consider he is of below average talent relative to Dortmund then him playing out of position takes on a different look. He doesn’t have the extra (pace, tech, soccerIQ) to cover for the lack of reps in a positions that demands synchronization with Tomori.
We have to remember that the level of players on the other team are equal to our own. Musah at RB is the same. Of course he went to dribble through 3 defenders because on that precise second he instinctually expected he had people behind him. There is no time to think at the speed of the game, conditioning (mental sort) matters.
Krunic was not ready to be last man in this situation.
I knew the game was over once Thiaw was out and instead of bringing Bartesaghi in Pioli made a wrong decision again. Last time he brought Musah instead of Calabria and this time Krunic. He does not believe in the team he has. He does not believe in young talent we have he does not recognize a value of morals in the matches like this. The spirit that all our youngsters have would win this match for us. The team played well. First half was excellent but at the end when the extra motivation is needed all Pioli preparations problems come to life. Is not that he can not manage the game. Its not that. Its his inability to recognize the extra strength resource he has at his disposal. He is not realizing this club potential.
Ya Pioli seems to be the victim of his own success. In past he was fearless in playing young players and now he hesitates. If Bartesaghi is so good that management deemed we didn’t need to sign a backup LB to Theo in the summer cause we had him – than why didn’t he get subbed in and move Theo to CB – OR – we simply could have put in the experienced Florenzi and move one of Calabria or Theo to CB. Asking Krunic to play there was foolish
Or better, bring in Florenzi as you said, move Theo to CB AND also bring in Krunic as a midfielder who drops in to help on defence (for Reinjders).
Zidane and Conte are available. Just saying..
For all of those who screamed that we “cooked” this summer getting all these so called “depth” players – seems we are right back to where we were last season relying on a few players to win us games and if they are not available or on their game we lose more times than not. Ya such Amazing depth that we literally had to play Traore who isn’t even 18 and is as green as they come lol. Terrible. That is not what serious UCL teams do. Teams that are serious about winning UCL don’t rely on a 37 yr old striker to play every 3 days and quibble over 500k in salary to sign a free agent striker (Thurman) to replace him. From the Semi-Finals last season to an extremely difficult path now to just qualify for the next round. But ya Fulani and Moncafa were certainly “cooking” all summer LOL.
Calabria is once again exposed at higher levels of football. I like Calabria and he is a warrior – but as I said over and over he is a limited player and simply not UCL material. Gave up the PK, lost his man on second goal and had an open header that completely missed the next at the end of the first half that would have put us up 2-1. If he wasn’t Italian he would not be starting nor the captain. I agree Mike was positional poor which was surprising. I’ve said it before that Theo has been off since the WC. Not the same player. Pioli’s formation change certainly hasn’t helped him at all. Chuck finally scored a goal (although deflected) & showed lots of energy – but for me he was wasteful. You cannot try and dribble 2-3 players every time you touch the ball. Kills the momentum and rarely is successful. Perhaps he builds on this let’s hope so but he has to play more team football IMO. We are certainly not the same threat offensively without Leao and it shows each game he is missed. He draws 2-3 players which opens up the pitch for everyone else especially Theo and Giroud. The other players do not offer that same threat. So for those that say sell Leao well you simply don’t understand the game.
Pioli has to go – I know we will keep him at least till summer – but I have said many times he has peaked with this team and a new voice is needed. I don’t think however changing the coach will solve all our problems – as Management built a flawed roster and didn’t address key positions – but I do think a new voice and a tactical manager will get us a bit better results. So we should be searching for names. We will see how ambitious Redbirds is for a new coach or will they go the cheap route and just promote Abate?
Shame Thiaw was injured and they are saying he will be out for a while. Management better get their act together to save the season as it could get catastrophic from here if reinforcements are not purchased in January – and not bargain bin players either – we need real quality players that can contribute now. We are in a huge mess if we do not qualify for UCL and it unfortunately looks very unlikely that we will. Fire sale will follow – Mike, Theo, etc…not good at all gents
How is Calabria not Champions League material when he literally marked the best player on the planet out of the game a month ago against PSG?
It’s this utter nonsense that makes progress impossible.
It’s exactly why the owners did what they did this summer.
You all have this fantasy about what is “Milan quality” ignoring the fact that to be “Milan quality” you actually have to play for the club for YEARS.
It’s not just something you can just magically fix on the transfer market.
There is no right back or footballer on the planet that won’t at some stage make a mistake. Maldini made mistakes at different times in his 22 YEARS at the club. Costacurta cost us the World Club Cup Final so was clearly “exposed” at that level.
Bonucci and Chiellini were part of an Italy team that has not made it out of the Group Stage of a World Cup since 2006 (around the time Serie A clubs completely lost the plot on the transfer market) yet there they were year after year winning Scudetti (until Bonucci came to Milan and stopped playing like a Scudetto winner only to return to Juve to remarkably start playing like a Scudetto winner again (and then picked up a Euros with Italy LOL)).
What we all need to realise is that nobody has feckin’ clue about what does and does not work. This summer the owners basically took a team that was a known quantity and swapped out half the squad with randomers. It was a total gamble and, guess what, it probably hasn’t paid off like most gambles (the House (and in football, agents) always wins).
But this will keep happening until people like you stop making up nonsense about players like Calabria who have actually shown the ability to WIN!
He is capable of winning a Scudetto as evidenced by the fact that he did IN FACT win a Scudetto.
He is capable of playing in the latter stages of the Champions League as evidenced by the fact that he did IN FACT play in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
He is capable of playing at this level as evidenced by the fact that he did IN FACT mark some of the best players in the world out of the game (Kvaratskhelia, Mbappé, whoever…).
Your OPINION does not change REALITY. And the same goes for the numpties running the club who sacked a club legend, sold the actual soul of the team, got rid of a load of other proven Scudetto winners, and replaced them with randomers (Musah finished 16th with Valencia last season).
If Gary Neville can win endless titles with Man Utd and Bonucci can win endless titles, then Calabria can win endless titles. Not your fantasy player who has never played for the club, has no connection to team, has no chemistry, and who is just a roll of a dice.
Calabria is absolutely champions league material
Calabria absolutely did NOT mark out the best player in the world. He did that with Reinjders and others.
Example of being the other extreme.
IMO he is not. At best he is one-dimensional for a full-back. He has practically zero offensive ability has average control, cannot cross and has average speed and height. That is not the mold of a modern fullback. Those are facts. He’s fine to play in Serie A but not in UCL were it’s completely different. And he didn’t mark Mbappe all by himself just like he didn’t mark Krava (Napoli) all by himself – Reinjders was constantly providing a double team in each of those games. Again I’m not saying he’s trash but he def should not be our starting RB and certainly not our Captain if we aspire to be UCL winners/contenders. We need an upgrade. Like I said if he wasn’t Italian he wouldn’t wear the captains armband. That is a fact.
Bro don’t be a hater lol 😂😂😂…Moncada still cooking and he cooked up as sh!t sandwich over the summer which all these people gobble up LMAO. Don’t be a hater for the best transfer window in a decade now 😂
Summer was so weird. Just like you, I’m watching this nonsense unfold where people lost their sh!ts for average or slightly above average signings.
Tough night for us fans, seeing our season go up in smoke!
Last night is the result of decisions made since the takeover in the summer of 2022.
That was our moment to invest in a few key positions to strengthen a very solid core of players.
This team is unrecognizable now, with players sold or let go for free.
Do we miss Romagnoli and Gabbia, oh yes.
Would Kessie and Tonali have started and done better last night, oh yes.
Even the snake Hakan would have been a huge upgrade on Adli/Krunic
Our glorious scout Moncada – well Lois Openda was signed by Lens from Brugge in 2022 for 7.5m (when we paid 35m for CDK). Lens then sold him to Leipzig last sommer for 38m. Watch his goals last night v Man City!!! That is what a good young forward can do, not like the 37yo statue we have.
Not to mention missing so many other good players, even freebies like Kolo Muani and Thuram.
A team that wants success holds on to it’s best players and tries to strengthen each year – “building”
Last night even at 1-1 Dortmund were cutting through us like a knife through butter, it was a matter of time before that resulted in goals.
We signed 10 players last summer and have no DM – literally the most important position in a 433 formation.
Don’t be fooled by greedy owners, we did not need to sell Tonali.
The injury situation is beyond farcical and there surely needs to be changes made there. I would expect the manager to be screaming for such.
Pioli needs to integrate youth players at an appropriate time and place, so we don’t find ourselves in these situations.
THE CLUB OWNERS, STAFF AND PLAYERS NEED TO WATCH THE FIRST 15 MIN OF THE 2ND HALF TO UNDERSTAND WHY WE FAILED. TOTAL CONTROL OF POSSESION AND TERRITORY AND NO GOALS SCORED. THAT IS HOW YOU LOSE A CL GAME!!
Gioud – aweful
Pulisic – looks much better as a 10 than on the wing(he’s not quick enough)
Chucky is a one footed 1 trick pony – played well
RLC was invisable
Adli was a liability
Theo put in some nice balls
Calabria was really up for it but way too many mistakes
Mike was really really poor for a top keeper
Pioli seems to be reactive all the time, no long term planning and no clear strategy of play. I’m losing patience.
If Pioli goes I’d expect to see Leao, Theo, Mike etc leave shortly after.
This may well be the death of this team
I wish we had someone like Maldini in their holding management to account
You are so right on when Pioli leaves Leao, Theo, and Mike might be next out the door and that is why I hesitate to call for his firing. I definitely call out his questionable subsitutions but he is in a hard spot and I get he has not been up to standard for a few seasons so he can’t use the injuries as an excuse but more turnover is a bad look (particularly to the former Chelsea players where it was/is a mess) I know losing is a bad luck too and can’t be tolerated year after year. We might end up in a lose – lose situation unless Pioli figures it out but most fans have long given up on him doing that for fair reasons.
Pioli out!
Anyone ever consider Pulisic in midfield ? His movement and vision of the field to link play could be very rewarding !!!
It is worth considering but Pulisic has been played at CAM for USA and at Chelsea before with bigger midfielders just fouling him over and over. I do like him going central at times when teams sit in against us or to link up as you mention but full time could risk injury. Chelsea even tried playing him as a false 9 and wing back.