AC Milan claimed three huge points away at Udinese on Saturday night, coming back from 2-1 behind to win 3-2 thanks to a 93rd-minute strike. Several players did well, while some struggled, and below are the player ratings for the Rossoneri.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out how we decide the player ratings. From the scale to what affects the rating, we have compiled everything there.
Starting XI
Maignan (6.5): He couldn’t do much about the goals, with two great finishes, but that is all secondary on a night like this. The Frenchman faced abuse from the Udinese fans, who sang racist chants, and the fact that he played on showed just how strong he is. Not to mention that he made a very good stop just before Udinese’s second goal.
Calabria (5.5): Poor attacking contribution for the captain, arriving a second too late on most occasions, and he also was far from brilliant in defence. He can do more, and we should expect more.
Kjaer (6): The Dane made a crucial interception in the first half, getting to the ball at the last second, but he was also fooled by Samardzic on Udinese’s first goal. He just about gets a pass here, seeing as he was strong in most of the duels and also won some headers.
Gabbia (7.5 – MOTM): Throughout the 90 minutes, he was by far the best Milan player on the pitch with several interceptions and strong play in the duels. One sequence comes to mind, when he had to stretch all that he could to clear the ball, preventing an open-goal chance for Udinese. And that was only one of many good interventions.
Hernandez (6): His mistake on the second goal was poor, there is no doubt about it, but he at least redeemed himself with the cross just before Milan’s equaliser. He was also involved in the first goal of the game, getting the assist with a similar cross.
Reijnders (4.5): The worst Milan player tonight and it’s not even close. He struggled to keep hold of the ball, often misjudging its arrival, and made three (!) almost identical mistakes in the build-up, losing the ball in very dangerous situations. He didn’t add much when going forward. Far from his normal standard and he probably knows that. Not to mention that he was involved in the second goal conceded.
Adli (6): He wasn’t always the best of friends with the ball, but he improved as the game went on and was important for Milan with his work rate.
Pulisic (6): The American was not involved in a lot tonight, truth be told, but at least showcased some good possession skills and had one good cross for Giroud. It was right to take him off in hindsight, but he just about gets a pass tonight.
Loftus-Cheek (6.5): A calm and collected finish to open the scoring for Milan, once again showing that he enters the box well. However, he struggled to control the ball in many situations afterwards and certainly could have done better.
Leao (6): Another game which is incredibly tough to assess, as has become a theme with the Portuguese international. He was quite poor throughout the 90 minutes, looking sloppy and failing to beat his man on most occasions. He was involved in two of the goals, finding Theo on both occasions, but Milan still needs more from him. Update: After further consideration, his rating has been changed to a 6.
Giroud (6.5): The Frenchman had two great chances in the first half to give Milan the lead but struggled with his touch. However, he was involved in all three goals, assisting the decisive winner and being a great contributor to the first two goals.
Substitutes
Okafor (7): He looked bright from the start, not afraid to use his skill, and ended up being decisive with a great finish from close range. He should always score from there, of course, but he still deserves praise for doing it in that moment.
Jovic (7): Decisive again, at the right place at the right time tonight. With more minutes on the pitch, the Serbian could have done more damage to Udinese, but what he did will certainly do.
Florenzi (6.5): He took the corner which led to Milan’s winner, finding Giroud in the box with a nice cross. Passing is certainly one of the veteran’s main strengths.
Musah (N/A): We didn’t see enough to give him a rating.
The manager
Pioli (7): Milan got a bit unlucky on both of the goals conceded, it must be said, and it was a tough game in general because Udinese slowed down the tempo and made sure there were many breaks. Pioli did well to navigate through this, as the subs he made ultimately were decisive in turning around the game.
How about those new signings! All 3 goals.
Sloppy game by Milan. Everyone seemed to have a heavy touch, couldn’t control the ball, every pass a little off the mark. But they fought and showed heart. Give Pioli credit for that. And the subs , although I think they should’ve come on earlier.
We do need a RB tho, Calabria is not getting it done. I would start Florenzi over him.
Let’s keep the momentum going.
Once again calabria was a shame, as much as theo he is also guilty for second goal,in the begining of their attack he is the one who gifted them a ball,when he just needed to shoot the ball off our half he complicated it,couldnt recieve the ball,it bounced of him as of the wood,this is his 432865 mistake in defence and pioli wont even mantion it and he will keep playing him,on the other hand if a young player make ONE wrong pass he put him on bech for 15 matches.
Gabbia’s recall may be THE great transfer of the season haha! Anyway, fully agree with the post assestment, another excellent display by the man. And overall a great comeback.
He’s looking really really good. I think at this point Thiaw might find some competition (that’s if Pioli doesn’t play his favouritism games)
I just didnt agree with pioli assestment, 6 maybe suitable for him
You know how it is: if the team wins, even if I were the coach, I will get a 7.
What a game. Both subs make a goal.
Have a nice week end.
Gabbia is definitely notable… wow… I guess that time in Spain really got him even better. Maybe we don’t need a CB afterall?
Gabbia looks like a new signing.
On the other hand Reijnders is lookin’ a bit shaky and tired, I guess he needs a rest.
A bit of rest would do him a world of good . Can’t blame him much really, cos he’s proven his abilities, he’s just tired
Adli not so bright as he was against Roma, but having another very solid display. He definitely became a precious asset for us.
Ugly, physical game, as per usual vs Udinese, but a great comeback win. . The players didn’t give up and showed great fighting spirit.
All 3 goals by the new signings, put that in your pipe Sacchi and smoke it.
Gabbia was flawless today.
RLC looks like he is hitting form. Not a perfect game but he is more and more involved offensively and defensively.
Reijnders and Adli were very poor.
The outstanding going forward but messed up on the 2nd goal.
Leao and Pulisic very poor.
Giroud missed couple chances but in the box was very dangerous. Directly involved in all of the goals.
Okafor and Jovic deserve more playing time. Came in clutch today.
Few of the starters need to be on the bench..Reijnders for exhaustion, Leao for being doo doo. Week 21 and he hasn’t scored since week 5. Play Okafor. Reward players that give effort and produce.
And lastly about those cowards in the stands. Until the league starts suspending games and giving the visitors 3-0 wins nothing will change. Punish the clubs so the can then police their own “fans”.
Serie A is thinking about going down to 18 teams. Udinese and Cagliari should be the 2 teams relegated just for being racist.
On to Bologna who is going thru a slump.
“Reward players that give effort and produce”. This right there, but Pioli would keep on with his favourites
I hear you but if its not for Arrigo you don’t even know what Milan is. He is a legend among legends, respect.
Milan is Milan, Arrigo didn’t make Milan great, Milan made him famous, respect the institution not the individual, are you telling me the club had not achieved anything before Arrigo came
No, Arrigo made Milan great. He changed everything at the club, he laid the foundation for decades.
Okay, I get your point and respect it
Beofe Arrigo we were ok..after Arrigo, we became legendary. Arrigo Sacchi blazed the trail to what coaches today still put into their methods. Pep being one of them. He literally revolutionized football and we were the team he did it with. A two way street
“All 3 goals by the new signings, put that in your pipe Sacchi and smoke it”
Tell where are you “new signings are so great” guys when none of them scored? Like…..the last game..and the game before that….and the game before that. New signings haven’t scored in like 4 games lol but take the W while you can, sure
Had we lost the game, I wouldn’t have blamed Pioli, the players were awful to a point. But great spirit to come back and win the game, great substitution by Pioli and great defensive work Gabbia. Theo was great, Leao didn’t try to overdo.
Forza Milan
I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it many times more – Gabbia has always been a great defender. One of most underrated CBs out there.
In the past he wouldn’t be given any minutes for months and then he would have to come on in a huge game like v Juve or someone and he would be solid. That is almost impossible to do.
I’m delighted he is getting a run in the team and I hope he will be more valued in future
Exactly, always called on to perform a miracle.
No, he’s simply a defender. We just forgot how those look like
Gabbia is great cb no one can deny that
Udinese played dirty, the anti-soccer. Lucca is a thug and should have been expelled. Udinese committed tactical fouls galore, and basically they tried to stop our players by fouling them; the ref was complacent and didn’t show the yellows he should have shown in first half, thus not giving a second yellow to players like Lucca. When he finally started giving yellows, too little too late, Udinese simply subbed out the yellowed players and brought in other players who continued to commit fouls. This, added to the racist chants (which did distract Maignan and stopped our momentum, having contributed to Udinese’s first goal), accounts for despicable players and despicable fans. I would have been very upset if we dropped points to these unsportsmanlike people. It was very satisfying that we still won, while facing unfair strategies and a weak ref.
Mike did fail in their first goal but he was upset and distracted. Otherwise he did well.
Kjaer was OK for most of the time but failed badly in their first goal.
Gabbia was truly impeccable.
Calabria was poor and a liability. Three times he lost the ball badly and had to be rescued by Gabbia. When he was subbed out and Florenzi came in, the defense improved.
Theo was great throughout the game but had a HUGE failure in their second goal.
Rubens Loftus-Cheek had a great game, totally different from his very poor showing last time. He is so irregular!
Reijnders; it wasn’t his day. Correctly subbed out by Pioli.
Pulisic, discreet. Nothing bad, little of brilliance.
Giroud, great game. Involved in all 3 games, an assist, crossbar hit that resulted in our second goal, and a shot that was only truly miraculously saved by their goalie, still resulting in the corner that then became an assist for the Okafor score.
Rafa, was unfairly stopped by a tactical foul in his best run of the game, did have some good crosses and passes that put his companions in scoring position, but also lost too many balls. A mixed picture. He needs to improve.
Adli, pretty good game, no defensive failures, some very good forward passes. Had one failure, an attempt at finishing that went really wildly off-target. Otherwise he did well.
Okafor, very sharp as a sub, opportunistic in his goal.
Jovic, another good goal. He definitely has been ensuring that we don’t need another striker this winter window.
Other subs, not enough for an assessment.
Pioli, obviously one of his best games. He reacted well to the situation and definitely made the right subs. Pioli is often slow to adapt to the situation and subs too late. Today, it wasn’t the case. He was a contributor to this come-from-behind satisfying victory. Maybe we should keep him, haha!
I’m so happy that despite Udinese’s despicable tactics (by both the players and the fans) we still prevailed!!!
I kinda wish he made the subs a little sooner in this game too… Jovic had to wait until the 75th minute.
Yes, maybe he should have done it from the 60th minute, but it was still good; he made the right subbing decisions.
Now imagine Udinese being coached by Mou
Kudos to Gabbia, a man who has always risen to the challenge when called upon!
Calabria has been good recently but tonight was poor.
Kjaer struggled with pace but was solid in general.
Theo created good chances, pity about the daft mistake.
Reijnders – not his day
RLC – started well 1st half which was an improvement on recent form but was pretty poor in the 2nd
Adli did ok
Pulisic – fair play to him he works very hard sprinting back to cover. Was not very sharp in attack
Giroud generally awful yet comes away with 2 assists
Leao – oh Rafa, Rafa, Rafa, what is going on?
I think he has actually been working harder in recent games, even won the ball back in defense tonight.
But in attack he is struggling, I know they marked him tight but he is capable of dealing with that.
When he goes on a counter now he beats 1 man and then stops and passes or crosses, he wont sprint on, I think he is not fully fit.
Whether his issues are mental or physical I think he needs to be benched.
Okafor is a real talent, he needs to play more. He is more effective than Leao
Jovic – needs to start more, he’s a goal scorer
Giroud generally awful??? We watched different games, then… Giroud sent a ball to the crossbar and the rebound enabled Jovic to score. He had a phenomenal long-distance shot that should have been a score if not for a truly miraculous save by the goalie; still, this became a corner which then Giroud made into an assist, resulting in Okafor’s goal. He was involved in the first goal too, and had other dangerous actions and moved a lot, generally upsetting Udinese’s defense.
Giroud awful??? One of his best games, actually. We might have lost this game without Giroud.
He missed good chances in 1st half that would have put the game to bed early and saved all the stress.
Generally lost the ball.
The chances he missed in the 1st half?
1. Beautiful pass by Leao and Giroud 1vs1 against the keeper but the angle was really tight and the GK made a superb save on a good strike. Not sure how Giroud could have done better (realistically).
2. Tried to take down the long and difficult ball coming from behind instead of shooting on 1st contact. Not an easy ball to begin with and I think he made the right call. It would have been very difficult to get a clean shot without trying to control the ball first.
Like it or not but Giroud played well and was INSTRUMENTAL on getting the 3 points. Without we would have lost for sure.
Did you all notice how Pioli brought in Okafor and Jovic but kept Rafa and Giroud? This resulted in our offense getting hot again and coming from behind to win the game. Well done, Pioli!
Your view of the game may be clouded by the final result. The offence was still relatively toothless even after the substitutions. The midfield was altogether very sloppy killing any flow and preventing sustained offence. Jovic and Okafor were in the right place at the right time which is great but aside from the goals contributed little more than those they replaced. I am happy for the win but the overall team performance was very poor.
Oh wow, people are never satisfied. So two forwards come in, play each for some 15 minutes, and each scores a goal, and still, they contributed little? Yeah, right.
There’s a difference between contributing and scoring a goal. Not technically, because scoring a goal obviously contributes to the score line. But he’s saying in open play, neither contributed anything to the team. Hopefully you can wrap your head around that notion.
You can have a terrible game and score a tap in. That doesn’t mean you played a good game.
You are honest truth big brother? Good for you mate. The guys were on the pitch for 20 minutes and got us the win. You probably forget that Leao used to do nothing but score us goals and we all loved him for that. Of course you don’t remember because you only started supporting Milan yesterday.
You said the “offence was getting hot again” after they came on. I saw absolutely no evidence of that. Yes, they scored two goals both of which were fortuitous but aside from that, the offence was toothless. I am glad for the win and the goals but the result clouds the performance. It isn’t about being satisfied or not, it is about honest perception.
We were losing 2 to 1 and Pioli broughtthem both in. They were free to make the goals because there were 4 forwards, which means it is tactical advantage. Pioli made the decision, so credit goes to him. Is it that hard to understand?
The honest truth (pun intended) is that a week from here no one gives a flying f*** whether Jovic & Okafor “contributed little more than those they replaced” as the only things that matter are the goals and points they got us.
My rating:
Maignan: 6
Calabria: 5,5′
Kjær: 5,5
Gabbia: 7
Hernandez: 6,5
Reijdners: 5
Adli: 5
Pulisic: 6
RLC: 6
Leao: 6
Giroud: 6
On point as usual.ni think Theo should be 6 tho. And Leao and RLC 0.5 less but good nonetheless
Overall credits should be given to pioli at the end we won the game. Maybe if he would have brought the subs earlier we wouldn’t have ended with the same result . Secondly I don’t get people complaining about Rafa he always has 2-3 players at him which makes it easier for other Milan players to move in freedom.
I think Kjaer was our worst player by far while Reijnders is more a box to box so he is playing out of position. Lastly Calabria should take some lesson from Theo because he doesn’t know when to do an overlap and run forward. He either stays at the back or makes stupid runs to the middle.
Udinese has always been a tough opponent for Milan which many big teams have so enjoy the win and Forza Milan
“I think Kjaer was our worst player by far while Reijnders is more a box to box so he is playing out of position.”
Kjaer did one mistake and saved a certain goal. Kept Lucca goalless. Reijnders? DEFINITELY the worst on the pitch. Not even a contest. Sloppy. Constant threat to our defense. Gifted a goal. Horrible display. Absolutely horrible.
Definitely reijnders the worst performance in a milan jersey. Leao has just been a huge let down and there’s no more excuses for him. He needs to step up or be benched.
We continue to struggle against teams we should always win against. We were lucky the subs came on and made the difference but it must be better.
I would say rewatch the highlights Leao was actually involved in the first 2 goals. It’s sad that he hasnt scored in a while but he is contributing in one way or the other. Also Leao defends now much more than he used to, so he isn’t just staying forwad
Saw that
I think people are used to seeing him as our main man. Before, if Leao doesn’t perform we wouldn’t get results. We are used to relying on him so much to carry us but now our other players are starting to step up. I mean seriously 3 players are always on him when he got the ball and he still managed to combine with Theo to produce 2 goal.
If we looked back to the game that we shouldn’t lose or draw its other players that messed up.
Juventus – Thiaw get send off for immature foul, krunic deflected the ball (-1 points)
Lecce – Musah doing stupid dribble on the right (-2 points)
Salernitana – Maignan got beaten by long shot near his post (-2 points)
This!!!! Leao was literally marked out of the game, pick up basketball style. They just put one guy 1 yard away from him and when the ball came another one or two defenders came in too. Leao to get free when he did was great. Imo it was passing to ball to the free guy that was our undoing. It needed to move faster to take advantage of Leao taking away pressure.
” Also Leao defends now much more than he used to, so he isn’t just staying forwad”
Nope. He defended on ONE occasion. One. But people remember that because they’re not used to seeing him work in our own end and think “oh, he’s working his *ss off for defense nowadays”. He did his usual share of walking on the pitch after he had lost the ball. Still A LOT to improve on his work rate and defending.
Not true. He cut out two corner kicks (one with a header). He tracked back deep many times. He was in central midfield multiple times slowing Udi down.
It is clear he is evolving his game. This must be at the request of Pioli. I’d love to see him score more too, but let’s give the man his due on playing in more phases of the game and improving as he does.
Gabbia is solid and Kjaer can still played well for at least one more season. Add Tomori, Thiaw, Kalulu, and Simic, i say we don’t need another CB.
But Leao needs to start from the bench for next match while Okafor start. Jovic also deserves another start although Giroud still played well with the “two” assist.
I think one or two would be sold should a new CB arrive, and it will most likely be the most valuable ones in there. Simic might be sent on loan too.
But I agree, we’ll be okay with no new CB arrival
Probably Pioli could try Adli – RLC as the double pivot , with Reijnders ahead of them in a free role
I thought about that too. I am starting to think Pioli might have it right. Think, RLC has slotted a few goals in those advanced positions that Reijnders probably would fluff and in defense RLC is more prone to foul players so he would give away free kicks in more dangerous positions. Its true RLC has those failed runs at goal and rarely makes the correct pass which leaves us calling for Reijnders to be more forward. We just have to hope RLC can figure out how to play with the balling going forward or that Reijnders finds his shooting boots.
I guess you’re right on both of them, but if only…only if
I would argue Leao looked far worse and ineffective than Reijnders. One is a difference maker, #10 with a 7mil salary and the other one is a young midfielder in his first year in Milan having played every minute so far…
Harsh on Reijnders.
Reijnders is not young
Deers is older than Leao lol 😂
Just play Simic instead of Calabria and we win every game easy. But Pioli is a coward.
We cannot afford sloppy defense and we had that by a kilo! Rejnders I think he got lessons from Adli. Double pivot that can’t defend the ball in tight combat… what a joke!
Gabbia, Giroud, Okafor, Loftus, Pulisic played really well.
Its clear, Milan need a better right back next summer. Calabria quality is not enough to win Serie A and UCL.
He won us the scudetto a couple of years ago. Calabria all by himself. Got us to UCL-semifinal too. Without breaking a sweat. 🙂
What a muck up of a match. Cold damp conditions with a foul opponent. The Udinese’s players were just as foul as the their supporters but in different ways. The main positives is that we won this match in a fashion when during this season we have lost or came away with a draw so I am pleased with the result.
Maignan put in a professional performance given the fans were far from it. He stood tall even after the equalizer which could have sent him into a spiral if he wasn’t mentally strong.
The backline has an unbalanced performance. Calabria was bang average but not necessarily in a bad way. I think the way Udinese defended negated his ability to go forward as he was swarmed each time he received the ball (like all did). Kjaer got fooled on the goal but held strong after that. Gabbia was a rock tonight making up for Theo’s lack of defensive focus. For Theo, he looked great going forward and came away with many positives but that second Udinese goal left me scratching my head. Overall, they fought hard against forwards that wanted a physical battle and we came away with a victory.
The midfield was mixed today. RLC has this ability to slot goals in the corner which Reijnders and Musah do not so RLC gets a tip of the hat. Adli was passing all over the place tonight with most of his displays being positive. You could see his ability to pick a line breaking pass from a deep lying position and that’s hard to come by so he had a good performance. Reijnders may have be playing a bit out of position and didn’t look himself. Overall, they did well to coil Udinese swarming defense as we broke through the center of the pitch which is something I have been wanting to see for a while now.
The frontline men were fairly quiet tonight in their advanced positions. Giroud looked to get the ball anywhere on the pitch so I applaud his hunger instead of settling for a battle of the box with Udinese defenders. Leao got doubled most of the times he got the ball and was left with little room to operate. He did show for the ball periodically and when Theo came forward they gave Udinese something to think about. His major contribution was he drew defenders from the box which left the midfielders and Giroud in dangerous positions. Pulisic played more as a second 10 with RLC at least going forward or as a progressing outlet. I think Pulisic figured that if he sat on the wing he would receive the same treatment Leao was getting so he moved centrally looking for space to be impactful. He dueled it out all night and kept position well. He did not have an impact on the score line so Udinese did a good job defending both Pulisic and Leao. Overall, the poor field conditions and defensive set up doomed our wingers.
The subs sure sparked the comeback. I know Giroud was credited with the goal which he should have but Jovic was there to clean up. Okafor had a real quality goal and we needed it so big thanks to him for the victory.
Pioli had another good outing. I think with a fully healthy squad he can put out a good lineup and make proper substitutions. My worry is sometimes he is too willing to try new things out during matches (Musah on the wing/FB, Krunic at CB and Adli wherever) but not willing to try out new players, if that makes sense.
Have to admit it I thought we had lost this one or were going to draw at best but the players and coaches surprised me and pulled it off. Well done lads on to the next match.
Indeed it was good to see them come from behind and grind out the result, that’s an important strength we have been missing
“For Theo, he looked great going forward and came away with many positives but that second Udinese goal left me scratching my head.”
You could say that the fault was shared with Reijnders who dealt weirdly with the ball and overall didn’t play well.
And also, while Maignan was the target of racism, I think this did affect some of the other players as well. I think the team was mentally shaken and less focused.
I’m pumped up for Gabbia. What a rock today. Also, the more Italians on this side, the better.
Agree, also I would try to sell Kalulu, move Tomori to RCB, sign Buongiorno for LCB and have Gabbia as a second choice LCB
A fit and confident Kalulu is a starter.
Or maybe just play Kalulu at his original RB, then no need to bring in a new RB. But at this point, it would seem like a new position for him which he has to re-learn. But in the end I think the natural instincts will kick in
It seemed to me that Udinese was simply way more physical than we were. They need the points and are willing to push the envelope. But they had to sub off a number of carded players ultimately weakening them at the end. Clever if it works I suppose. That Lucca guy is quite the goon IMO.
We played slow. It’s like we never got out of 2nd gear. I was constantly frustrated to see us almost wait for all 10 of their guys to reset. Reinjders and Adli both seemed to favor going backwards and even those passes were off pace and often cut out.
Mangion was clearly put off by the BS in the first half. Nobody should have to put up with that and I am glad he had the courage to take off his gloves and take a stand.
Adli was not as effective as last week. But he was effective on defense again. It was his ball control and passing that lacked comparatively. I think his rating is fair, but I’ll be honest – Average Adli in this game is a big step up from 2 months ago. Progress.
Giroud was a bright spot for me in this game. He was always in motion and his mates were trying to find him. This too is different from 2 months ago when he seemed to be able to do little else than ineffective flicks and effective pressing. Today he looked like he could score at any time.
Jovic … It’s easy to say he was lucky to be there. He was. He also makes a lot of his own luck these last 5 weeks or so. His effort flinging himself at the rebound made it clear to me he wants to be at Milan. I’d like him to be at Milan too.
Pulisic – 6.5 – not sure what this guy has to do to be recognized for the good work he does off the ball. So many runs drawing defenders. So much tracking back. Always available for the pass.
Reinjders was not crisp or sharp. He was sluggish and seemed always 1/2 a beat slow. Easy to say he is tired, but the team on the whole was off. Hard to give him a rest with Bennacer & Pobega out.
Gabbia was great. Excellent idea to bring him back. Today he didn’t jump forward as much and it seemed this was a good reading of the game on his part.
Love Kjaer but he too seemed slow today. He got turned around on the first goal and was gotten behind several times. Didn’t seem to own the airspace as I’ve come to expect. Hope to see a bit more of Simic so we don’t grind Kjaer down.
Theo 5 – he borked the defending on the 2nd goal. He’s a defender, so this is his primary job. Was okay on offense.
Leao – he is clearly trying to broaden his game. 3 and 4 guys on him and he is looking for the pass. On a day when others were crisp and quick I think some of the passes into the box create much more danger. He tracked back and played D a notch better than usual tonight. I think we are seeing him develop and the growing pains that can come with it.
RLC – nice goal. The late run works for him. He carried the ball well but seems out of ideas or not quick enough to make them work otherwise. When he plays forward and Giroud drops deep that is causing trouble for opponents. Hope to see more of this and more goals from RLC because of it.
Other than the first goal we didn’t look great. Moments of connection and danger here and there, but our timing was off. In some ways it looked like preseason. But, we kept grinding. Our subs impacted the game with both energy and impact. These are things that we need for the rest of this season if we want to keep Inter and Jive in place. I’ll take the win and expect us to be an improved side against Bologna.
Forza Milan.
Reijnders needs rest. Rafa is cursed by Prince Boateng. Changed his shirt number to 10 then becomes mediocre.
Great win under the circumstances. We needed this and against this opponent.
In serie a’s youtube channel, they don’t show the racism incident.
That shows how corrupt and racist serie a actually is.
Try to maintain a clean image while sweep their problems under the rug.
Btw, people really think the win was on pioli?
If milan weren’t down 1-2, there was no way he would play jovic and okafor.
That was just his usual desperate subs, only this time it worked.
Agree or disagree most channels don’t air their dirty laundry. Find this comment naive.
And Pioli got it right. Started the game ok- went ahead. Then outside forces and a few errors made for a tough match. He made the adjustments and the team won. The team didn’t play particularly well and eeked out a win. Pioli needs to take some credit.
Yes the win was on Pioli.
Was it that hard to give credits to Pioli and act less like some entitled kids who knows more than a professional manager?
it was not on him. the fact we were behind was on him. sh!t game managment again. The team was totally unprepared to deal with the physical udine. took him way 2 long to make subs. If udine had any quality up front we’d been 4-1 down by the hour mark
Theo and Reijnders being clumsy with the ball on the second goal is not on Pioli.
The subs all contributed to the win.
If he gets all the blame when they lose, he has to get credit when they win.
it is. Tijani was not having a good game and should have been subbed before he even made that mistake. Im not even gonna praise the subs, they did what they did but overall it was udine who have fallen apart (again) in the finish of the game. They concede a lot in the last 15min. Milan got hella lucky
Time and time again i have to say it was never on pioli.
He always rely on his talisman to do wonders.
Giroud, theo and leao.
Why do you think on form jovic keep being benched for a 39yo striker.
There has never been a clear strategy or gameplay from pioli.
And with his subs too.
Whenever milan are down he always do these desperate subs and pray they do the miracle.
Which worked last night, but it won’t work every time.
Not true. jovic got the start last week and did nothing when he did. Giroud had a goal and assist in the last game and contributed to 2 goals in this game. The guy leads the team in goals and assists and people still complaining about him. Unreal.
They cut out such occurances so they don’t encourage them. It’s same when someone invades the pitch, they don’t show it anymore.
Nah, it’s not even about not encouraging the viewers, it’s about hiding their shame.
Not the first time something like this occurs in serie a.
As much as i love ac milan, i have to concede that a lot of fans over there are racists.
I appreciate bein sports for showing the disgusting incident on their channel, they even make a separate video for that incident so people will learn the harsh truth.
This midfield is simply not working. Very unbalanced and lack of real cover for the defense.
Good result, bad match
Game could have gone either way. We “lucked” out. If Theo doesn’t make that run, if Giroud doesn’t get the shot. If the defender actually defends, if Jovic does get that touch, we lose.
I’m so happy we won and was screaming when Okafor scored but man we had the football gods watching over us.
I don’t know why pioli can’t rest leao and start okafor..is that too hard for him to do? Leao is still a good player he just needs some rest and since okafor is fit why not start him..rest these players and start players that are ready
Okafor just came back from yet another injury. He would be used a lot more if he could just stay fit. He’s a really talented player but so injury prone.
It is the same match as Newcastle, Bergamo, Salerno, Empoli and many others. Decent first half in which Milan is the better team. Horrible second half, with physical drop, lots of technical mistakes and no control over the match. Results got better but Ac Milan has not changed. There will be other blackout ahead.
Unpopular opinion: Rafa is not as good as he (and we) think he is.
I think when Okafor is fit enough to start, Rafa needs to start from the bench. Dude needs a kick up the backside. He’s been consistently churning out average-to-poor performances. Watching him play, you won’t believe this is an attacker that has scored just thrice since September. No “anger” at all. Where I’m from there’s a saying, “A hungry man is an angry man.”
I just don’t think he’s “hungry” enough to be an elite footballer & I don’t see him getting there. I watch players with less than half of his ability but with monster mentalities & I wonder, “What if Rafa has just half of this dude’s mentality?”
Ability isn’t enough (I see you MB45). Heck, imo talent-wise Balotelli is way better. But how did it go?!
I’d love to be wrong though.
Also, concerning managerial changes for next season, I’d rather have Pioli than the names being bandied about.
Great win btw. Ugly but 3 points nonetheless. We won’t play every game like the Roma match. We need to win these kinds of games too.
Forza Milan.
“Unpopular opinion: Rafa is not as good as he (and we) think he is.”
Not everyone here thinks he won the scudetto for us all by himself and gets away with anything with the “old merits”. 😉
I give Mike Maignon a 0 rating for giving up those two goals.
Both were stoppable – the first one was well within his considerable reach, and the second one went right through and in between his upraised arms.
Surely a “world class” goalkeeper looking for a gigantic world-class contract would have, SHOULD HAVE stopped both shots.
What was noticeably irritating on the first goal, because he has been doing this so regularly, Mike did not even bother to jump towards the shot, apparently guessing that it was going wide. It did not, the spin caused the ball to curve in, and surely a world-class goalkeeper would have known that was a possibility, and leaped for the ball – Mike was just too lazy to do this and didn’t even bother to make a move for the ball.
I’ve been noticing this pattern of mistakes from Mike all season long. All season, Milan has dropped numerous points because of one point losses or because of leaked goals leading to draws, and it is absolutely positively necessary that the fans and sports writers realize that these were stoppable goals and to thus start calling out Mike for his absolutely poor shot stopping this season.
There are objective parameters that show this on the fbref website for goalkeepers. The key parameter for shotstopping by goalkeepers is this rating measure called PSxG-GA.
From his 2018-2019 season at Lille through the scudetto year of 2021-2022, Mike’s PSxG-GA were all fairly high and at or near the top of the league goalkeepers, with a high of +7.8 in the 2020-2021 season when Lille finished in first place in Ligue Un and an excellent +4.3 in the scudetto year of 2021-2022 with Milan.
To paraphrase fbref’s explanation of this parameter, the PSxG-GA is the post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed, and positive numbers indicate an above average ability to stop shots.
Last season, Mike’s PSxG-GA dropped into the negative zone, to -0.7, and this season it is even lower, currently at -1.3
Visually this corresponds exactly to what we have seen in this match and in other matches where Milan has dropped points – Mike leaking in stoppable shots because he didn’t bother to leap for them, or because they just went through his arms.
How does a goalkeeper’s shot stopping ability as measured by this parameter affect the team results? Well, it just means that in the scudetto year, Mike saved enough expected goals that the team could get by with scoring only one goal and it was almost guaranteed a win, whereas this season, the team needs to score two or more goals per game to guarantee a win.
So, yeah, I am definitely calling out Mike Maignon here.
You guys on this forum have been screaming and yelling and blaming the wrong guy – Stefano Pioli is NOT the guy who has been causing Milan to drop points and sink into the #3 spot in Serie A.
No, it’s been Mike Maignon and his poor shot stopping that’s been responsible for Milan dropping points this season. It’s especially noticeable because he really was superb in the past, but for some reason, he’s just turned to stool this season.
If you google “fbref Serie A advanced goalkeeping” you can find the table of stats of the team goalkeeping for all the Serie A teams. Monza, Fiorentina, Inter, Lecce, and Juventus all have team goalkeeping PSxG-GA stats in the positive range.
Milan’s team goalkeeping PSxG-GA is EIGHTH in Serie A.
So writers and raters of this forum, there is absolutely positively NO DOUBT that Mike is having a horrible season and that HE IS THE ONE DRAGGING THE TEAM DOWN TO POOR RESULTS.
It’s the rest of the team that has been carrying Mike on their shoulders. If team records were solely based on the shot-stopping abilities of their goalkeepers, Milan would be in EIGTH PLACE right now.
So, yeah, Stefano Pioli has been doing a great job this season, getting his team to outscore the leaky arms of his poor performing eighth place goalkeeper.
Given that Mike Maigan had to deal with the BS from Udinese fans, and that this is the THIRD time it happened to him and NOTHING has been done about it, I think you should give him a little break for yesterday’s game.
He’s a pro. Black athletes across Europe have long had to deal with this racism problem, sometime much worse, with bananas getting thrown at them on the field, etc.
You don’t think this happened to him when he was at Lille and during the scudetto season?
That sure didn’t stop him from posting great shot stopping numbers during those seasons.
And as I mentioned in my post, his poor shot stopping has been going on for this ENTIRE SEASON, and really this drop in shot-stopping form began last year.
The PSxG-GA number is a CUMULATIVE NUMBER for each season.
His inability to stop those two goals is fairly similar to other leaked goals that led to losses or ties this season. No complaints about racism from him in those matches.
So, no, don’t blame it on him getting distracted by the racism.
He’s been poor ALL SEASON LONG.
And yet, he NEVER GETS CALLED OUT FOR IT.
All I ever see on this website are comments like: “Mike couldn’t do much about those shots.”
Absolutely false.
How in the world does he still get a passing 6 rating when he couldn’t stop these two shots?
People on this sempremilan website need to STOP BLAMING PIOLI for the poor results and recognize where the real problem is.
It’s Mike Maignon’s POOR FORM.
Milan would be in EIGHTH PLACE if the team weren’t somehow compensating for Mike’s poor form by scoring more than in the scudetto season.
In 2021-2022, Milan scored an average of only 1.8 goals per match and finished in first place, with Mike’s PSxG-GA of +4.3.
This season, Milan is actually SCORING FAR MORE, at a rate of 2.45 goals per match, but, with Mike’s PSxG-GA at -1.3, Milan is only in third place.
Milan fans and sports writers need to start recognizing what is actually happening this season, realize what the REAL CAUSE of Milan’s failures are, and to stop blaming Pioli, fantasizing about replacing him with Conte or Motta, and realize that the one guy that needs to be replaced is MIKE MAIGNON.
Correction: I wrote that in a hurry.
This season, Milan are scoring at a rate of 1.95 goals per match, which is indeed still higher than the scudetto season (and higher than last season’s fourth place finish), but not high enough to overcome Mike’s leaky shot stopping.
“He’s a pro. Black athletes across Europe have long had to deal with this racism problem, sometime much worse, with bananas getting thrown at them on the field, etc.
You don’t think this happened to him when he was at Lille and during the scudetto season?
That sure didn’t stop him from posting great shot stopping numbers during those seasons.”
Sorry but we don’t train athletes and football players to withstand racial abuses, no excuses to the fans. This is a game, not a war.
Sure some players dealt with this problem in different ways, but he is a human being and you can’t blame him for being angry and a bit disconnected because of the BS of Udinese fans.
OK, fine.
I haven’t been posting in on the several losses and draws where Mike leaked in a goal or two, and there was NO racial abuse incident, but next time that happens I’ll post in just to remind you guys that this is what has been going on with Mike all season long.
He always gets a pass on this website when that happens: “there was nothing Mike could do about those goals”
I’m calling B.S. on that.
He’s supposed to be a world class goalkeeper, which means he SHOULD be making lots of saves on seemingly unstoppable shots, in which case his PSxG-GA would be solidly in the positive range, and leading Serie A.
Instead, if you look on the fbref site, Pietro Terracciano of Fiorentina is leading Serie A with a PSxG-GA of +6.2 and a save percentage of 83.1%
Compare that with Mike’s PSxG-GA of -1.3 and save percentage of 76.0%
And, I would point out that currently Fiorentina is in fourth place, 11 points behind Milan (with one game in hand) and this is mainly because they don’t score as much as Milan, having scored only 29 goals in 20 matches, or 1.45 goals per match
PSxG-GA don’t tell the whole story alone. It’s easy to just read random stats here and there and make conclusions, it’s less easy to watch games and actually analyse what is happening, like for example, the context of yesterday’s game which you tried to ignore.
Also, Maignan has been called out A LOT because of some poor savings this season, and many commented that this is indeed his worst season with us. what you didn’t mention however, is that Maignan missed more than 30 games between club and country since the scudetto season because of injuries, which has an impact on his performance.
You tried to make it look like it’s his fault alone that we’re having a bad season, but if you watched the games carefully, you’d see how it’s easy for opposition to get past our midfield and find themselves in a favourable situation against our defenders, that is not the fault of the goalkeeper.
The fact that we’re out of almost every competition, it’s not leaking shots, but leaking tactics that allow teams to win against us.
Well, yes. Mike’s injuries could certainly be the reason that he is not so sprightly anymore and is either a lot slower or less willing to make those lunging dives at the hard to stop shots.
I don’t know if that explains how a shot goes right through his arms, though. And that isn’t the first time that has happened this season. Do injuries slow your reflexes?
Fundamentally, if he can’t perform at a world class level, he shouldn’t get a world class contract. And there are clearly a lot of goalkeepers better at shot stopping than he is right now who would be a lot less expensive.
Milan are out of Champions League this season because they got drawn into the Group of Death, and PSG got some highly favorable referee calls in their matches with BvB and Newcastle. Otherwise, Milan would have made it through and PSG would be out. Qatari money works.
And then in the Coppa Italia, Milan ran into a highly motivated CdK, while Pioli finally decided to listen to all his detractors who kept crying for him to give the Primavera kids a chance, especially that Jimenez kid. How did that turn out?
Also I have checked this famous data you’re talking about.
For Maigan:
In 21/22: PSxG was 24.3 and GA was 21 so he conceided 21 goals while he “should” have conceided 24 or 25.
In 22/23: PSxG was 20.3 and GA was 21 so he conceided 21 goals while he “should” have conceided 20 or 21.
In 23/24: PSxG was 19.7 and GA was 21 so he conceided 21 goals while he “should” have conceided 19 or 20.
You should note that while we’re midway through the season, the PSxG is already as much high as the previous 2 seasons. Tell me, who’s fault it is that the PSxG is so high ? AKA, opposition’s players are allowed to have MORE clean shots ?
You should note that penalties are included in all of this, thus increasing the PSxG and also pretty much the GA.
Also the drop in performances you’re talking about are pretty much rounded to conceiding a SINGLE goal MORE than what he should have.
You seem to defend Pioli a lot in here, so tell me, what do you think of him never mentioning the fact that we conceide too many goals and always blame the losses on chances we didn’t score ? Or what do you think of him thinking we played well in Paris and against inter because we had possession ?
If a coach listens to his detractors to make a decision and loses, it’s still his decision and he should be blamed for it.
Maignon’s save percentage, which is the much more common number often listed as the means to judge goalkeepers, has also gone down.
His very best year was the Milan scudetto season, when it was 81.2%, and then his second best year was the previous Ligue Un Championship with Lille when it was 79.4%. Compare that to his current 76% save percentage.
The difference between Mike’s PSxG-GA of -1.3 currently and the +4.3 of the scudetto year is ….. 5.6 goals, not a SINGLE goal difference.
Milan won the scudetto by a mere two points over Inter. A single extra loss would have put Milan in second place. So yeah, Mike’s PSxG-GA of +4.3 that year was absolutely 100% responsible for Milan winning the scudetto that year, every bit as much as Leao scoring all those key game winning goals.
Currently, Milan are six points behind Inter, with Inter having a game in hand (to be played today). If Inter wins, then Milan will be nine points behind.
In terms of dropped points, that’s THREE extra losses, or five extra draws, that Milan should not have had, if it wanted to stay in first place.
It’s EASY to see how a drop in performance from your goalkeeper to where he has conceded +5.6 goals more at the halfway point of the season would put the team nine points behind the first place team.
And you totally mis-understand the PSxG-GA. Yes, a bad defense will concede more PSxG. But a great goalkeeper WILL STOP THOSE SHOTS, AND THE PSxG-GA WILL COME UP POSITIVE, not in the negative range.
Take a look at Mike’s 2018-2019 season at Lille.
PSxG = 39.0 PSxG-GA of +6.0
That was Mike’s first fantastic season at Lille. Despite the large number of shots conceded by Lille that year, he turned out a great, positive PSxG-GA number, because he made some great saves that year.
The PSxG of 39.0 that season is close to double the current PSxG of 19.7 that it is currently at the halfway point of the current season with Milan.
So, had Mike stayed every bit as good as he was before, he’d still be able to produce a positive PSxG-GA and keep Milan much, much closer to the top of Serie A than it is right now.
Is Pioli responsible for Milan’s season going downhill? I doubt it. He has made some questionable defensive decisions, but overall, since the scoring has gone up, that is a positive in his favor.
I do know that the numbers STRONGLY point towards Mike Maignon having a poor run of form this season, and he is conceding LOTS more goals than he had before (5.6 goals more than in the scudetto year, so far).
And there is absolutely no way you can deny that if your once great goalkeeper is no longer doing the same great job as in the scudetto year, then the team is not going to be in strong contention for another scudetto.
That part is NOT on Pioli. He’s not the goalkeeper coach.
P.S.,
In that 2018-2019 season at Lille, despite the team conceding a relatively high PSxG of 39.0, Mike’s great performance to get a PSxG-GA of +6.0 put Lille into second place that year in Ligue Un
“The difference between Mike’s PSxG-GA of -1.3 currently and the +4.3 of the scudetto year is ….. 5.6 goals, not a SINGLE goal difference.”
I was refering to the current PSxG, not to the PSxG-GA from the scudetto season. Maignan overperformed in the scudetto season, but since then he is pretty much on par with what he should be conceiding and he conceided 2 goals in a game where he had to deal with racist abuses.
You keep using percentages in cases were the actual differences are in the single digits. Also you keep relying on stats, pretty much disregarding the whole context of many games.
Yes he did have better stats with Lille, but even in the scudetto season, he was never close to replicate what he did with Lille (+ 6.0 and +7.8), you know why ? Because Lille faces poorer strikers than what Milan tends to do. For example, even if the xG is the same, by experience a shot from Haaland is different from a shot Havertz. xG and PSxG tend to take into account the “quality” of the action, not the quality of the player and his tendencies to overperform or underperform his expected stats.
Mike Maigan was CRUCIAL to us winning the scudetto I agree. Yes he did drop this year, but most of our draws and losses and due to poor midfield, poor defense and bad tactics. Every player from Leao to Theo to Calabria did drop compared to 21/22.
Are we scoring more than in 21/22 ? Yes, because we have better offensive players (Jovic, Okafor, Chukuweze, Pulisic compared to Saelemakers, Origi, Messias, CDK and Diaz). We are conceiding more goals because our coach kept insisting on playing high vs inter even when our only fast CB was missing, doesn’t learn or adapt from mistakes, used Musah pretty much everywhere, used Krunic as a CB, played vs Atalanta like it was a small team,…
Your a clown
The numbers don’t lie.
If you want to delude yourself into thinking that Mike is playing like a world class goalkeeper, then you need to go back onto your meds.
Mike still leads Serie A in terms of his ability to pick off crosses and playing in the backfield, according to the fbref numbers, but his shot-stopping is seriously not good enough for Milan this season
It’s a team sport.
Our D is a MASH unit.
Mike makes many saves that are well outside the ability ofost keepers.
Maybe it’s a matter of only so many miracles possible per game?
Mike gave up two shots that were easily stoppable in this match, that any above average Serie A goalkeeper could have stopped.
Now, you can blame it on him getting distracted, but he has been doing the exact same thing in a number of other matches where Milan ended up losing or tying the match.
That’s what his fbref PSxG-GA rating of -1.3 shows.
He has made stops on hard to save shots this season, but not enough to overcome the numbers of savable shots that he’s leaked in.
I don’t totally know how much a bad defense will effect the PSxG-GA, but the definition on the fbref site indicates it take into account how stoppable the shot is to make this number mainly a reflection of whether the goalkeeper should have stopped the shot or not rather than how bad the defense was that allowed the shot to be made in the first place.
In any case, it’s clear that Maignon’s shot stopping ability was a key factor for Milan winning the scudetto, and for whatever reason, he’s leaking a lot more stoppable goals this season.
“I don’t totally know how much a bad defense will effect the PSxG-GA, but the definition on the fbref site indicates it take into account how stoppable the shot is to make this number mainly a reflection of whether the goalkeeper should have stopped the shot or not rather than how bad the defense was that allowed the shot to be made in the first place.”
So you pretty much spam the PSxG-GA in every post, yet you don’t really understand how it works ? PSxGA is indeed influenced partially by the defense and also the player taking the shot.
You keep mentioning that we are scoring more but also conceiding more than the scudetto season. During the scudetto season, Tomori was a monster, Kalulu was closer to Desaily than to Kalulu and we had Kessie. This season we don’t even have a defensive midfielder. Yes Maigan was a bit better back then, but that’s not the whole story or barely a big part of it.
^^ This.
Doe Gandalf … Let’s do some stats.
How many total shots faced in each season. (You need absolute measures to compliment relative measures in order for metrics to me meaningful?)
How many shots blocked by defense?
How many stopped by Magnion?
Now a formative analysis …
Just because he got his arms up doesn’t mean he had a 100% chance of saving the shot.
Shot came from close and was a surprise given how Theo lost the ball.
Shot was with a lot of pace.
I’ve not seen an angle that shows me there was time for him to effectively react.
Given the miraculous save with his foot earlier I will offer him benefit of the doubt in my own analysis.
Should he get a WC contract? I’m more concerned about injury thank I am about his shot stopping ability.
Also if we are evaluating him for a contract we need his distrib stats. He is part of our offense and an effective part. Let’s measure and weight that appropriately.
Above you suggest he is somehow insulated to the racist BS because he is dealing with it all the time.
In my experience you have this wrong. People don’t build up an immunity to it. Slowly, they are ground down by it. It is hateful, corrosive and has no place in the beautiful game.
That he escalated his own behavior says that it has reached a limit and Mike (an human who happens to play football) is trying to exert control. Bravo Mike for escalating.
Can you imagine the mental and emotional energy it must have taken that one black man in a stadium of many 1000s to cause the game to be stopped on his singular account?
Can you imagine the physical cost of such a first time decision on the apex of one’s reflexes?
Happy to argue stats.
I hope you’ll consider the man and all that went into what he felt he had to do.
Forza Mike. F Racism.
See my post below to bb.
White European players get abused also by opposition fans, with Eric Cantona’s retaliatory karate kick of one such fan in England being the most infamous example.
Having watched many USMNT vs. Mexico international matches over the years, I can guarantee you that the Mexico fans are ALWAYS intensely abusive of the USMNT players in those matches. And these are the matches played in the USA, with solid and liquid filled projectiles often also being hurled onto the US players by the Mexico fans. It’s especially bad when the matches are played in Southern California.
Yeah, I guess it’s not such a big deal if a USMNT player, whether black or white (about half the current starters are black), gets screamed at with insults or hit by a water bottle by a Mexico fan, but really it’s just a terrible, awful injustice for Mike to get racially abused by Udinese fans.
I think anybody could tell you that Mike coughing up two savable goals is not going to dissuade opposition fans from hurling verbal insults at him in the future. There are plenty of insults to dish out that are not racial in nature, btw.
The homosexual chants El Tri gave to Matt Turner explains why he is having a bad year for forest. We must end racism now! Take the knee everyone.
@Gandalf: It seems you try to normalize racism (whatever it’s against blacks or french or in other countries).
Sorry, it’s not to the player to “man up”, “swallow his pride” and just accept being insulted while doing his job, the fact that you’re trying to use Cantona or whoever as an example just blows my mind. Also if anything, Eric reacting this way proves that he was NOT okay with being insulted.
Do fans use racism to mentally affect players and try to win by dirty tactics ? Sure, but it’s the league (in this case serie A) that has to deal with this behaviour from the fans, and serie A is doing a poor job. Heck, Lukaku and Zlatan were actually sanctionned for provoking opposition fans who were opposing them.
I’ll repeat again, human beings react differently to racism, you can’t say that everyone should react like Dani Alves and just man up. It’s up to the league to provide a safe haven for teams, otherwise this game is not worth it.
“I give Mike Maignon a 0 rating for giving up those two goals.”
Here’s my filtered and toned-down response:
F*** YOU, YOU F*NG IDIOT!!! Being racially abused at least twice during the match will – surprise, surprise! – affect your concentration. You clueless little f***!
This site REALLY needs a “block user”-functionality! I can’t believe the nerve on some of these brainless f*ckers…
I thought this site is for hate? I see you hate every week?
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hating racism and racists is good. If you were to choose sides with racists I wouldn’t be surprised.
I just made a point how you spread hate here constantly and now jou just called me racist. Reflect on your behavior in particular what you post here and do better. I know you can. Don’t be scared to look deep down inside yourself and find the good that is still within you. I know it will be a struggle but you will be so much happier on the other end. The days of you telling people to F off or how stupid they are will be long gone and replaced with positive and uplifting post. bb, I cannot wait for you to find the real you.
bb,
1. First, go see a psychologist and get some anger management classes. I also suggest you stay away from guns and sharp objects.
2. Read all of my posts.
3. Mike’s PSxG-GA rating on fbref of -1.3 is …. once again, CUMULATIVE FOR THE WHOLE SEASON, not just based on this one match.
4. Mike’s save percentage of 76.0% is ALSO CUMULATIVE FOR THE WHOLE SEASON.
5. Mike’s shot stopping stats are far below what they were during Milan’s scudetto season and put him below the top eight or so of Serie A goalkeepers. His drop in form is clearly a major factor in Milan being in THIRD place instead of being in first place, because Milan is actually scoring at a higher rate than in the scudetto season.
6. Mike wants to be paid like a world-class goalkeeper. His shot stopping this season is not only NOT world-class, it isn’t even in the top eight of Serie A goalkeepers, most of whom are getting paid a lot less than he is.
7. Milan would do better to sell him for mega million Euros and upgrading to another less expensive goalkeeper who can keep his cool and actually stop shots at a higher level than what Mike is doing this season.
8. If you love Mike so much, good for you. Keep sending him your love letters. Maybe he will write back. You can always move on to the whatever fan forum of the team that Mike gets sold to.
8. If you love Mike so much, good for you. Keep sending him your love letters. Maybe he will write back. You can always move on to the whatever fan forum of the team that Mike gets sold to.
Naah. He’s a good goalie and that’s it. But thing I can’t stand is racists. And you give those vibes out by normalizing and accepting it. Disgusting. Unacceptable.
Naah.
All I’m doing is pointing out that this dust up over racism is masking a season long drop in form by Mike Maignon which has definitely cost the team some wins which he turned into draws or losses, which is the real reason Milan is in third place this season. The fbref stats are there as proof that this was going on even before this Udinese match.
See my other posts explaining how Mike’s once great form two seasons ago was 100% responsible for Milan winning the scudetto by a mere two points over Inter. Mike isn’t doing that this season.
I’m not normalizing racism or condoning it. I’m only pointing out the reality of the situation throughout Europe and England.
By giving up two really savable goals after being racially abused, do you seriously think that Mike has dissuaded the many, many racists out there to NOT do the same thing to him in future matches?
I totally think the opposition fans are going to see how easily they can get into his head and help out their home team.
Do you think this sort of abuse dished out by fans doesn’t occur with opposition white European players also?
It might not be of a racist nature, but yeah, there are plenty of other foul insults that fans hurl onto white European players to try to get into their heads. Insults that have nothing to do with race.
That’s why Eric Cantona did his infamous karate kick on one of those fans in England when he was with Man United. The fan had been viciously abusing Cantona with all sorts of foul insults.
Eric Cantona is white, and French, btw.
Leao and Giroud need to be benched for some much to recover their legs with Okafor and jovic
First of all great to have three points. I knew Udinese would have been tough but we got through it and it would bode well for the next few games.
My standout was Gabbia, with Puli, Okafor Gabbia was immaculate. That sweeping slide tackles when the fast break cross came across the goal was magnificent. He was the best of the back for sure. Puli had incredible work rate, was everywhere even though he got stymied on quite a few occasions. Okafor’s finishing was brilliant. Didn’t give the goalie any time to think and he had great ball control. He knew the ball was going to setup for a volley in split-second thinking.
The bad were poor defending by Deers and Theo together on that goal. It was terrible I think first by Deers. In that position you can’t pass the ball /tackle towards goal. Second,.the minute Adli went out of position or missing Udinese attacked the space and scored. And herein lies the problem with Adli because for all his brilliant passing, his defending still needs work, it’s improving but still needs work. I wish they would put him in a position which doesn’t require defending as a major factor. It exposed Kjaer who unfortunately was too old to deal with that trickery from Sam 🤣😂😂. Love Kjaer but man that was painful to watch. Calabria didn’t do well but he did better than 5.5. if Calabria did 5.5, then there’s no way Kjaer or Theo can get higher given they were both directly involved in goals conceded. Finally, why can’t we just keep Jovic as super sub? It seems a perfect role for him. Defenders are tired, he has some trickery, movements and so on. Just a thought.
The guys did well. Even when we were down, this time I thought they could come back. Let’s hope we get the next 15 points in the trot ,😁
This website sure likes to punish Calabria for his mistakes. Gds did give a higher rating for Calabria even compared to his own teammates. It seems that he needs to do a lot to get recognition and any mistake will put him south of 6,5.
With that said, I think Calabria needs competition (perhaps Terraciano comes to mind) or needs more assistance from midfielders in order not to leave him in 1vs1 since opposition love to attack more often from his flank.
Agreed fully. If he got 5.5, ah mean what about Kjaer and Theo. Literally the cause. Calabria was periphery on the goals conceded. Also agree he needs competition…. I wouldn’t mind Do Lorenzo 😁