Following a rather frustrating loss against Juventus, AC Milan headed into the away clash against PSG with the hope of at least sealing a point. However, it was yet another UCL night without a goal and with a disappointing result.
Milan didn’t look particularly good and as has become a common theme this season, they allowed their opponents plenty of space. And with a front three of Kylian Mbappe, Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembele, that was always going to be an issue.
In the 32nd minute, it was Mbappe who beat Fikayo Tomori with ease and gave the home side the lead. The game continued pretty much in the same fashion, with Milan offering little up front and in the 53rd minute, Kolo Muani also got his goal doubling PSG’s lead.
The Rossoneri couldn’t offer anything meaningful and even managed to allow a third goal in the 89th minute, forming the final score of 3-0. As mentioned, it was also another UCL night without a goal for Stefano Pioli’s men. Here are five things we learned:
1. Major concern
The attacking department has shown some promise against the weaker sides, but after just one in five big games against Inter, Juventus, Newcastle, Dortmund, and PSG it might be fair to say that this is a real concern that needs to be addressed and not a one-off.
Realistically, even with the arrival of Noah Okafor, Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze, the elephant in the room was always Olivier Giroud and his 38 years of age. Unfortunately, none of those mentioned above arrivals are known for their goalscoring instinct and Milan failed yet again to bring in a top striker who can turn the tables around in a given game.
Whilst the three additions masked the problem for a while and against weaker sides, it’s more than evident now that this department might have improved but not by much.
2. Unrecognisable in the middle
The midfield looked like it could work at the beginning of the season with Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek starting well, then Adli and Musah also stepping up. However, against PSG it was just a horrendous performance.
Musah was arguably the best out of the bunch as he continued to show his talent and solidify a spot in this team, but that’s the only positive.
Reijnders had some good moments but was lacking the finishing touch to make it count and was not all that helpful in the defensive phase either. Two in a row for him where he just lacks an edge and he needs to improve.
The other elephant in the room: Rade Krunic. The Bosnian was probably the worst player on the pitch by far. The positions in front of the defence have been an issue ever since Franck Kessie departed, but was not addressed then and was not addressed this summer either even though Sandro Tonali left the club and Ismael Bennacer is injured.
We have to criticize the management for thinking this could work and whilst Krunic has had some good games, again – only against poorer sides. What’s even more concerning is the apparent desire to give him a massive salary increase to keep him and continue counting on him as the first choice. This is not a move that signals “We want to win trophies” and performances like this should be expected if a quality defensive midfielder isn’t brought in.
3. Lost the solidity
The first two games of the Champions League campaign were marked by great defensive efforts but struggles in the attack. Against PSG, both the attack and defence struggled as the French side’s front three proved too much for Milan to handle.
The backline was exposed way too many times in one-on-one situations against the likes of Mbappe and Dembele which was never going to end well for Milan. The midfield also didn’t help and in general, so much space was given to PSG to work with and they made the most out of it.
This probably also needs to be addressed by Pioli, who gives his players the instructions and choosing to commit that many bodies forward against PSG in France is arguably a dumb decision.
4. Pioli losing the plot
Whilst the coach has done rather well domestically, winning 7 out of the first 9 games, it’s fair to say that Milan haven’t impressed with their game for a while now and are really struggling against the top side.
The games in the Champions League show that clearly. Inter are probably the only Serie A side to have built a solid team that also works in Europe, and the same cannot be said for Milan. Pioli can’t expect the ‘Serie A tactics’ to also work against the top European teams, as highlighted by Inter in the derbies.
The harsh reality is that this team, by the looks of it, haven’t got a proper playing style. They move the ball slowly, they look clueless in the final third and it has only been because of individual quality that they have won this many games in Serie A.
5. Reality check
Finally, this game is certainly a reality check. After selling Tonali, the management invested in quite a few players but that only masked the problems to an extent. Key positions such as centre-forward, defensive midfield, right-back and centre-back were not addressed properly.
A lot of the players that were brought in weren’t anything exciting at the time, but Pioli and Milan hoped to maximise the potential. The whole window was a low-risk, potentially high-reward situation, and whilst there are some rewards, we can’t really bend reality and say that the quality has improved massively.
Unfortunately, Milan need to commit to their current plan of financial sustainability, otherwise it won’t be possible to bring in world-class players and compete with the big dogs in the long run.
Great article but can I ask why ac milan have to commit to a financial plan do chealsea man city psg real Madrid Barcelona?
As far as I’m aware none of the above comply or get close to ffp not to mention other technical difficulties ie match fixing and yet unlike italian clubs they seem never to be punished even when caught they get away with it so how are ac milan the 7 times ucl winners going to compete and when another ten twenty thirty years?
farcelona are selling the old camp nou seats and grass to be able to buy players
Great article? Yes, but the title should be: Things we NEVER learn.
The issue isn’t FFP. It’s simply profits and losses as a corporation. The PL teams have massive television rights revenues, plus state sovereign fund owners willing to pump in astronomical sums. Billionaires like Chelsea’s owners see their massive investments as worth it to pump their club’s value in that context. Serie A has none of that.
Milan needs to look at its Primavera(Youth system) and take more young players from there, instead of just buying them and think that they are ready to play in the main team. I don’t like to discriminate anybody, but Milan needs to have Italian players again, from their youth system like it was many years before. And there are great talents there. It just feels that Milan is not picking them and other clubs in Serie A are doing so, such as Juventus, Inter and Roma. It is a shame that Milan can’t look into its own league to find good players. Maybe that might be wiser than looking for players at leagues which are inferior. What player came from the Serie A this season? If somebody can tell me, please
Totally agree with that. Why Barcelona bring in young talent in important matches and we can not? Dont we have great young players? Yes we do! But we never ever put any trust in them.
Its already happened since Auba era, he didn’t have a time to showed himself in Milan, and shine after leave. Locatelli is another example. Donna had a chance under Miha cause there’s no other GK available at that time, and luckly, he showed quality. Something isnt right in general management.
So, Milan should start trying their youth system again because what they are doing now isn’t working either. Due to that youth system, great players came in Milan’s history, such as Baresi, Maldini or Albertini. Let’s be realistic. Milan does not have the budget to do what a team like Real Madrid does, just buying players and not growing their youth system. I think Milan should start replicating other system such as pointing out by someone else on the forum. Most likely Barcelona is. good example to follow. They tried to buy expensive players too, and that idea or concept failed to them. Barcelona still buys players, but their best players still come from the youth system. Maybe looking again at South America, and getting talents from there is not a bad option either
“The whole window was a low-risk, potentially high-reward situation, and whilst there are some rewards, we can’t really bend reality and say that the quality has improved massively.”
Most people swore that squad quality has leapt above the last season’s squad. Besides, the signings were all Pioli-approved – except there is something we’re missing here. If there’s anything wrong, the fault has to go to the gaffer.
I think the squad overall is absolutely stronger. We lost midfielders in Tonali and Diaz and added 3, RLC, Reijnders and Musah. People act like Bennacer is gone, he’s just injured. So I will take a midfield of Bennacer, RLC, Musah, Reijnders, Krunic and Pobega over last years Bennacer, Tonali, Krunic, Diaz and Pobega.
Also, you can’t deny that Pulisic is an upgrade over Messias or Saleamakers. Not to mention Chuku who hasn’t done anything yet but some people love.
Didn’t really lose anyone in attack except for Ibra who played 1 game last season and Origi who really did nothing, but we added Okafor and Jovic, so I think that is still a slight upgrade.
Defense is pretty much the same, minus Ballo-Toure who never played. We now have a better back-up keeper as well.
So yes, I think squad is stronger and deeper than last season. It’s up to Pioli to make the most of it.
If Tonali and Diaz were still here, and Bennacer was healthy, they’d all start in midfield over everyone available to us there at the moment
Please. Tonali was the most overrated player. He already lost his starting spot at Newcastle and now he’s going to be out for 10 months. Thank god we got rid of him. I’ll take RLC over him any day.
I agree, for right now, it is definitely a step towards the right direction, but for how dortmund and newcastle fared against us, I think it isn’t too unreasonable to say that we should have made it out of groups, not saying that we can’t right now, it is just that road is now much harder than previously thought.
And Pioli-blocked if I may add.
Still irrtates me that the management agreed to bring in Singo for the RB position and Pioli blocked it.
Not to mention his veto against selling Krunic…
6. The teams supposed “superstar” fails for umpteenth time to make an impact in a UCL game, a competition that Milan is most known for.
Too bad for him Verona, Sampdoria, Sassuolo etc don’t play in the UCL.
2 goals scored in his career, same number as Saelemakers.
The coach made history by leading the team to 5 games in row AND COUNTING without scoring a goal.
Is Milan UCL pedigree suppose to depend on this coach and this “superstar”?
Milan needs an upgrade on both.
The author says that the new forward arrivals are not known for their scoring instinct. Well that means they fit right in with Leao.
Not the first time tomori has his ankles broken by the opposing striker in a big ucl game
“Unfortunately, Milan need to commit to their current plan of financial sustainability, otherwise it won’t be possible to bring in world-class players and compete with the big dogs in the long run.”
Unless we become a part of Bahrain’s or the Saudi government’s marketing arm, running a healthy business is the only way forward. I am excited about our current plan and happy to see it through, but it will have many a rough bump.
What’s the ‘plan’?
Replace half our squad each summer?
LOL yea but even so still got a more than decent team as thing’s stand also talking about stadiums where is milans new one?
Oh yea I forgot 2 decades from now.
1) RLC has been missed. He is a big physical presence in the midfield and is good on the ball. He was playing really well before the injury.
2) We all may have gotten too excited over Reijnders. Aside from the first 2 games of the season he has not been good, and his finishing is bad.
3) I think it has now become obvious to everyone except Pioli, that what most of us already knew, Krunic is not good enough to be our starting DM. It should be Adli’s until Bennacer gets back. Even Musah, Reijnders or RLC would probably be a better option there than Krunic.
4) The team is undisciplined. They are not playing as a unit but as a bunch of individuals. They are careless with their passes and wasteful with their chances. Not to mention the stupid fouls, the yellow cards, the screaming at the referees. It’s all a sign of a team without proper leadership.
5) All of this comes down to the manager. Pioli is losing the team. It’s hard for the players to get behind a coach who is not giving them the best chance to win. WHen they see him playing favorites and starting Krunic who is coming off injury and was the worst player on the pitch against Juventus and bench Adli who has been playing well, it hurts the morale of the team. Not to mention 4 years in and this team still has no real gameplan offensively, doesn’t move well off the ball and is a bad passing team. Still just relying on individual brilliance of a few players. This has not gotten better under Pioli. Not to mention he seems incapable of changing tactics depending on the competition the team is facing, the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent or the players he has available to him. Not a top coach.
” The team is undisciplined. They are not playing as a unit but as a bunch of individuals.”
Indeed. There is no “team” at all. The attacking plays rely on the wingers (who can’t even get the ball to anyone with the same shirt inside the penalty box) and the defensive line won’t make up for mistakes by others. There is zero team play to be seen. Only individuals trying to show how great they are. And let’s be honest, they’re not that great.
We have to be careful not to over analyze this match. PSG, on their day, can comfortably win against any team at their home. They have a better squad than ours by any factor. We need a few more years to be at their level.
Thank you.
The thing is they were neither in “their day” nor are the going a good phase right now (3rd in the so called “League of Farmers” where they should cruise every game).
Pioli shaped the team exactly according how he wanted it last summer (with Maldini out of the picture). And what do we have in the creative sector?
ZERO AMs (De Ketelaere gone -I agree on this btw- , Diaz gone, Kamada not signed).
We practically play with 3 DMs (our Mezzalas don’t have the technical ability to create chances, and by coach tactics they lay too close to our area, with an obvious defensive orientation).
This leads to CF starvation, believe me, (I played the exact position before I retire), lacking quality creative middlefielders makes the CF looks bad.
Just look at Vitinha & Zaire-Emery last night…
Last but not least it cant be a coincidence that EVERY CF we brought played sub-par : Giroud, Andre Silva (!), Higouain (!!), Piontek, Madzukic, name whoever you want. Only Ibra in his twillight managed to stand above, who’s like a one-of-a-kind player…
I guess the issue lays elsewhere… 😉
“ast but not least it cant be a coincidence that EVERY CF we brought played sub-par : Giroud, Andre Silva (!), Higouain (!!), Piontek, Madzukic, name whoever you want. Only Ibra in his twillight managed to stand above, who’s like a one-of-a-kind player…”
You could add a few more names to the list too. So bloody obvious to anyone who understands anything about football that the CF hasn’t been THE issue for years. It’s the lack of creativity and the quality of scoring chances. Even Haaland would have scored zero goals in the last game.
You could say the same in any position.
The club hasn’t got the best out of players apart from that 2 year period between Covid and the World Cup when we won the Scudetto.
While you do make a good point, the problem here is that we are seeing the exact same problems we saw in earlier games this season that are still persistent. And when our coach has as a conclusion that we somehow outplayed PSG at times during the first 60 minutes, I can conclude nothing but that the man has lost sense of reality or saw another game and is definetly gonna repeat the same mistakes again and again.
He should learn to be flexible to utilize the opponent’s weakness.
I know ‘fans’ and the media are not bound by any kind of rules of consistency but…
how do you go from:
on the one hand, having all of your little random arbitrary ratings about players being ‘hot’ or ‘not’;
to the other hand, expecting players who you say are not ‘hot’ beating Paris St Germain in the Champions League???
Isn’t the result entirely consistent with ‘fans’ and the media’s expectations for this team?
Can we have a list?
Can we (like in computer games) list all of the players from ‘hottest’ to ‘notest’ and then it would help us work out what the expectations are?
Otherwise it might all come off as a all a bit arbitrary, superficial and juvenile.
6. How hilarious are Donnarumma’s passes!
Man that guy has the worst distribution of any keeper on the planet. And then Maignan’s pass to Pulisic….
Sorry what ‘problems’ were masked?
Milan qualified for back to back Champions Leagues, produced league winning form for 2 years and eventually won the Scudetto, and made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League – so what ‘problems’ were there exactly that required:
– selling a player who had played a key role in the above;
– selling a load of other players who had played a role (even sometimes a key role) in the above ;
– bringing in a load of new players who had not played any role in the above or won sliverware anywhere else?
What if…heaven forbid……rather than solving problems this summer we actually created them?
I will say, our form for right now is worse than last year’s start of season, but I certainly think their is a problem if your champion league knockouts involve having to play sides that clearly underperformed until Inter came along and put sword to stone. Secondly, what worked last season, may of course, not work this season. But for midfield depth, their is definitely a step towards improvement. Again it will take time and we knew it was going to be a tough road ahead of us in this group and scudetto campaign. Forza Milan
Replying to myself, sure this involves the Napoli scudetto winning side, but in my opinion, we lucked out during those matches, and this was during Napoli’s worst stretch of performance but Champions League Semi-final is a Champions League Semi-final. Also, our group last year pretty much set us up for Champions League Knockouts unlike this year, where every match is up for grabs.
Why does every success get written off as ‘luck’ by fans?
Why would you downplay the Napoli results when we were better than them in the head to heads last season?
Remarkably what worked last season was playing 4231….
You are the most clueless ”fan” on this site. Begone.
We’re in a worse position than we were at this time last season….
The only reason we were in semi-finals last year was because we were in a easy group (since we were champions). Heck, even with garbage peformances against Chelsea, we were still able to go to the knockouts and play against arguably one of the worst versions of Tottenham of the last seasons. Some things can be said about the Napoli games, but truth is, we respected them enough to change our tactics and then got destroyed by an inter who had a very easy knockout stage.
Also technically last year we were fifth.
For the rest of your post, I’m confused. I absolutely agree that losing Kessie was a problem that never got solved, but are you trying to say that our right wing (Saelemakers and Messias) was so good that we shouldn’t have brought Pulisic ? Are you trying to say that Reijnders and Musah were a mistake by our management ?
What if the problem is what worked 2 years ago is no longer working but our coach is too stubborn to see it ?
Jovic are injury prone and panic loan from management because they fail to get taremi. Depend on 38 years giroud play full match are bad idea,management need to return jovic and buy starter striker in january ( thats if ACM can passed group stage CL this season ) . Krunic since his request salary 3,5m euro rejected by management continue play bad, should be consider sell him at summer after bennacer recovered
More italian please, bring back traditional values. Pride
+
6. PIOLI. He needs to be sacked, it’s over
This Milan team is still “work in progress”. As far as the league is concerned, I feel they are still the strongest to win it They have come back stronger from every defeat. Injuries, cards, ahead of big games, is affecting us. The team will get better with time, but, the coach has a lot to do. His tactics are way too predictable. Most times, it’s as if it’s just individual talents that get us through, not team play. They seem clueless often times in front of the opponent’s box. PSG players played dirty football when they felt the need to, while Milan players were contented with getting the fairplay award. If the management can afford it, we need a young, prolific striker, with good feet on the ball. Someone who can take on the opponents. The midfielders are not getting goals, and, sometimes, their defending, leave much to be desired. By and large, I believe we can achieve great things this season, and improve over the years.
The squad is still a long way off. It’s much stronger than it was but that wasn’t hard because the squad last season was barely top 7 in the Serie A. It did not qualify in the top 4 and was carried by its best 5 to 7 players. The Scudetto winning season is basically now irrelevant, a statistical anomaly based on a final run with a defensive substance that the team has failed to reproduce since.
The new signings have built sustainability for a genuine top 4 challenge in the Serie A, which Milan was barely capable of last season, but the top end quality is not there for a scudetto or extended UCL run (certainly not both at the same time).
Giroud is not a serious candidate to lead the line. He had 8 or 9 goals last season before a hattrick against already relegated Sampdoria in the last fortnight of the season which padded his stats to respectability. Even this season, his stats are padded by 2 penalties.
Part of me thinks management will panic themselves into spending insane money on David during the winter (so that he can score penalties). That would be a huge mistake because he is the wrong player and because the squad is still building and is not 1 star in any part of the ground from being a genuine challenger. They’d be much better off finding the right #9 and spending big on that player (if ownership is going to release the purse strings in that way).
I would also say that the signings for this season, while solid, are far from so convincing that if some additional statistical analysis is being applied to determine who to sign, that there is an unprecedented level of reliability.
Reijnders aside, the midfield lacks a physical presence and box to box intensity. He lacks class. Musah isn’t more than depth at this stage but he’s also young. RLC provides some physicality in the attacking third but it is not that of a box to box presence – he is what he is at 28 years of age. Adli is the one midfielder with class but defensive positioning and general work rate are not his strengths. Krunic understands defensive positioning but is otherwise decidedly average.
It’s a solid group and certainly runs deeper than it did last season but it’s not even close to world beating.
Tomori is not a reliable lynchpin in the centre of defence. Everyone knows it, that’s why we see all of those ‘we’ll go as far as Tomori goes’ comments. A few weeks short of 26 and in his 4th season with Milan, he should be that player, not continually making the same blunders. He’d be better suited to man marking / playing a more secondary role as a CB because his zonal play and positioning is frequently exposed. Problem is that Thiaw is still a kid as is Kalulu. At this point in time the defence is better suited to a back 3, with Thiaw in the middle flanked by Tomori and Kalulu but that doesn’t suit the rest of the squad. The 3 CBs do have the makings of a really solid group but maturity is required.
I think the pieces are probably there as a foundation for a really good team. It becomes a really good team when the CBs mature, we get a decent #9 and we get another 2 midfielders of genuine quality (ideally a #4 and a #8). Natural attrition should improve some position in the starting team.
Additional chemistry among the players that we do have will also help. I thought we’d start slowly and build into the season. We probably have, it’s just that our reference point is the relegation struggler that we were for a third of the games played last season.
I was keeping my powder dry despite the encouraging start to the year. We now know that Bologna started the season slowly. Cagliari is awful and can’t score. Torino can’t score either and for the quality it has, and tactical sophistication, it can’t put sides under sustained pressure because it can’t score. Roma had its first and second choice midfields unavailable and then we got pounded by Inter.
We were always going to be in trouble in this UCL group. Newcastle is a very good team and PSG has players of the highest quality. In reality, our squad is likely on par with Dortmund.
The depth we have is what it takes to beat the likes of Cagliari, it doesn’t belong in the UCL at this stage, certainly not against the likes of PSG.
I don’t know what to make of Pioli. It is evident to me that he always ‘has’ the players in the sense that they are always united. Contrast this with Lazio, for example, which always feels like a Sarri hissyfit away from imploding. But I also suspect that Pioli is not cut out for the tactical innovation and flexibility required. His sides do get picked apart with regularity (and in the same way).
I suspect that he is still the right guy because he’s not coaching a side that is genuinely in contention. We’re still building the squad that can take care of PSG on any given Wednesday. He’ll likely do all of the leg work that another manager finishes off. Setting the foundation for a Milan system and keeping everyone happy and together is probably the most important thing at this stage.
You can be disappointed that Milan list 0-3, obviously but there is a sense of surprise about the result that I find deluded.
So a squad that in actual FACT finished 4th and made it to the semi-finals of the champions league last season was in your OPINION “barely top 7 in the Serie A.“?
Should I read the rest of your lengthy post or do you think you need to revisit your OPINION based on the FACTS?
Presumably if we end up in a worse position this season your OPINION will still be it’s a stronger squad….because of all of the transfers and ‘depth’ and stuff.
I could get into a long discussion about what is and isn’t a fact but there is no guarantee you will read it.
So I will leave it at this:
1. Milan finished last season in 4th with 70 points;
2. Juventus finished last season in 7th with 62 points but had a 10 point deduction;
3. 62 + 10 = 72 which is 2 more than Milan’s 70 points.
So by your own understanding of a fact, Milan had the 5th best squad. But in reality there are numerous factors that impact on whether a squad can realise its potential. Injury and coaching are among those factors.
The squad could be stronger than it was last season and we could still finish 5th or 6th because Juventus and Roma could get a decent run with injury and catch form (which has eluded them).
Your own argument makes no real sense because an almost identical Milan squad, that finished 1st the season before, and with additions, only managed the 5th most points in the league the following season.
Nope.
There’s no long discussions to be had about what is and is not a FACT.
The table is a historical fact. In 100 years time when they look back at the table Milan are 4th.
As to the points deduction (another FACT). In my OPINION what fans seem falling over themselves to forget is that Pioli factored in the points deduction when he rested players in the games we dropped points. Juve were always going to be deducted points. So Pioli put all his eggs in the Champions League basket.
It is really very important that we stick to FACTS because there’s an awful lot of OPINION and it’d be terrible if that all these OPINIONS were misguided.
But, yes, football is random. How did Milan go from 1st to 4th? That itself should make you question your OPINIONS.
This is the problem. If you’re going to give Milan an out, because it is a fact that Pioli took it easy in the league due to the points deduction, and that’s a fact because ‘fact’ is written in capital letters, you need to listen to the same complaint Mourinho made and go through every other extenuating circumstance for the teams that finished in the range of 60 to 72 points.
What you then do with those facts, better described as circumstances, is weigh them all up against each other and form an opinion.
But it doesnt serve you to argue against the idea that Maldini’s squad was imperfect or weak or however else you would sensibly classify a squad that has 3 reliable midfielders, a single #9 the coach can use (who barely scores) and a single dangerous winger. It’s not like this squad produced a massive goal talley the season before and we do know that the defensive stability that won the scudetto has never been recreated.
…and just because you say your opinion, i.e. your interpretation of facts and circumstances, is a fact does not make it any less an opinion. You could even type the word fact in capitals and italicise, bold and underline the font but it’s still your opinion.
Maldini was unjustly sacked due to a clash of ego. It was dumb by the ownership but the squad was built to about 50% of what it needed to be, and he did burn most of the post Scudetto budget on a player who is average at best. It galls me too that others will take credit for the foundation Maldini laid but that’s life.
This is a balanced and sober take on the whole situation that the team is experiencing. Passion in analyses are fun but rational ones are more honest. Greatly appreciated your analysis, please share more.
Really nice take @Bruno
Pretty much agreed with all of it
Why is no one talking about pulisic. He is a flop for me too. He can’t get past a man down that right wing he has just been lucky to get some goals. Chuku is even better but pioli has terrible judgement in player selection. If we fall to juve. Pioli out
“Chuku is even better”
Well… Chuku is still at 0+0 while Puli is the second best scorer and has a couple of assists too.
Nothing. We haven’t learned anything, because Pioli is incapable of learning anything. He already hit the peak of his mediocrity and it has been a rollercoaster of downfalls and stagnation since then. There is no way forward with him.
Pioli has made some baffling decisions but his track record with us proves he can steady the ship. For me, it’s two main problems:
1-The “pass it to Leao” strategy needs to stop. I’m not blaming Leao. He’s young and still needs to develop aspects of his game. The only way to do that is to keep the ball from him, forcing him to get in better positions, track back, and get into the box.
2-Midfield signings and strategy: We lost Diaz, Tonali, and temporarily Bennacer. That’s the core we’ve been working with the past three seasons. To change the system and spend 40 million on two unknown unproven players with no Serie A/UCL experience and expect them to do better was insane . Can they improve? Yes but a proven 30-40 million signing (Amrabat for example) with Krunic, Adli, RLC, CDK would have worked better until Bennacer’s return.
P.S: I don’t know why, but I have a feeling we’ll see a double pivot of Krunic and Adli against Napoli
I genuinely do think that the squad quality has improved.
In my opinion, we aren’t using this squad to its fullest potential. This squad is LOADED with attack minded players and we have an excellent opportunity to turn into one of the best counter attacking sides this season.
Yes, we do need stability in the middle and a lack of moronic decisions in defence are more than welcome but the problems go way beyond that. We have to stop passing the ball to Leao and stand still while he figures it out. Sacchi was right to call him out because he’s lazy and under the pretext of “let him enjoy his football”, he’s being allowed to get away with way too much. He has to learn that to be a top player, you have to be willing to get ugly when things aren’t going your way. That’s where Real Madrid always seem to succeed. Their culture is summed up in ONE word : Winning. Period.
We definitely need to address the full back situation and allow more primeravera players to come through. I have zero clue why Bartesaghi isn’t being allowed more minutes. It’s honestly baffling.
I just hope Pioli sees that we have a wonderful team at our disposal but we need to use it right. It doesn’t always need to be pretty Football, but it needs to be effective. Especially if we want to get back to the upper echelons of football as we claim to.
Like I said many times before, this team lacks intensity in midfield. I re-watched PSG clash and focused on midfield especially. They leave so much space in between it made me panic just re-watching the match. Instead of pressing and closing down opponents build up they fall deep and wait.
And when we are in possession, there’s no build up at all. It’s all static and slow. There’s no link between our midfield and attack.
Our system fails where biggest revamp was made – midfield. No creativity, no vision, just a bunch of bullying and running after the ball. And we still lack proper DM in order to be able to utilize and play 433.
Pioli got players for his system. What system? I see only bunch of headless runners.
“They move the ball slowly, they look clueless in the final third and it has only been because of individual quality that they have won this many games in Serie A.”
This! So bloody disgusting how slow all the passes are and the lack of ANY creativity in the attacking zone.
“Key positions such as centre-forward, defensive midfield, right-back and centre-back were not addressed properly.”
DM. Always with the DM. How about getting a player who can actually create? Milan has zero attacking tactics so there should be someone capable of unlocking defenses. There is none. No one in the midfield has the ability to create scoring chances. The lack of scoring chances is a faaaaar bigger issue than a decent DM.
I get the comments section saying it but this site itself really hate Krunic. The level of hate is astounding. You rate him as the worst but was not directly responsible for any of the goals as a midfielder. All other mids had direct involvement in letting goals in, but Krunic gets the most flack. How could that be??? It’s insane
You take away the mistakes from the other midfielders not named Krunic and we have a 0-0 game 🤷♂️. I’m 1000% sure if it was Krunic who made those errors we’d be hearing about it right, left and center. But because it’s Reinjders who is also loved in these parts he gets a pass? He did what 90% pass accuracy …yay stats but an abysmal 50 yards progression? That’s why we give him a pass? Reinjders, 25 years old, got schooled by a 17 year old. He had to commit a professional foul there. Musah, perhaps because he’s still new…so we give him a pass…, is fixing his socks on a corner? Is this Sunday league or UCL ?
Adli, raced over (so he’s out of position btw, more on that later) to Emery who then beats him for pace (you know, the very thing ppl here complain about Krunic lacking) who then passes for the goal the very player who took up the space vacated by……drum roll please……you guessed it …..Adli. When we going to talk about that? Oh lemme, guess he came on and distributed the ball better(which never amounted to anything anyway) so we give him a pass, never mind the goal he let in.
It just amazes me to see how one can adjudge K to be the worst. The whole midfield was bad if we want to keep it real. There’s no clear worse, especially if you were not responsible for letting goals in. This hatred has to stop. Also Maignan not the midfield had the most porgressivs yards in this game smh 🤦♂️
Btw I’m only talking mids here. Theo was also culpable on a couple of the goals.
It was the wrong game plan in that it did not make PSG play to their weaknesses and they DO have weaknesses. I think a 4.2.3.1 counter-attack setup would have hurt PSG; instead, we opened the field up against a faster, skillful group of attackers.