Well not very often can a 0-1 loss be considered progress and yet here we are. Now, not all is merry in Rossoneri Land as there are two very distinct camps on this, but we’ll save that for the end of this ratings post. First, the ratings…
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
TATARUSANU 6.4 This is the highest rating I’ve ever given him and I’m even torn on that. He did have probably his best game, at least this season, and in that were a couple of decent saves. But this hesitancy I have is because I think I’m unconsciously grading him on the curve and his great saves were probably just average ones for most keepers, and well, that’s not fair to those average keepers I’d kill for right now
Goal Keeping Overall: 6.4
Defense
GABBIA 6.5 Best he’s looked all season. Was very aggressive moving around and had some nice pressure and challenges well outside the 6yd box area. Was one of the bright spots for Milan on the day, especially in a poor team first half
KJÆR 5.8 Looked to be the one responsible on the Lautaro goal and TBH looked slow the whole time he was in there. This is not new but the part that troubles me is that he looked slow in a scheme that had Milan sitting back. The once brick-wall might be starting to degrade…
KALULU 6.7 Might be a little higher than some would give him but he had a decent game. More importantly, and this can’t be stated enough: the kid – and he’s still a kid in sporting terms (he’s 22) – can play EVERY position in the back line, doesn’t matter if its a 4 or 3-man backline. He provides Pioli so much flexibility and maybe even a path out of this mess with a different formation (we’ll discuss below)
Defense Overall: 6.4 Not bad, not great. And the kid in the photo? We’ll discuss him down in the Subs section
Midfield
HERNÁNDEZ 6.4 Like most players, was stuck defending for the whole first half but was decent in the midfield 5. Got forward more and did pretty well to stay wide and brought some much needed width in the second half. Heck, him and Tonali seemed to find a nice rhythm during some buildup over on the left. This will be key if Pioli sticks to the 3-5-2
KRUNIC 6.2 Was one of the midfield ball winners and did that reasonably well. But that was pretty much it. Which was fine
TONALI 6 The lineup card had him in the middle but I saw him out on the left more, particularly in the second half. I’m wondering if he just wasn’t understanding his positioning but was one of the poorer Milan players on the day
MESSIAS 4.8 Not a midfield player, not a CAM, not a guy who can receive the ball, turn and go. Which is what Milan needed. Oh and was terrible on defense
CALABRIA 4.4 We probably shouldn’t see him anymore this season, or ever if I’m being honest. I thought before the game that his liability on defense could be minimized to the point where it was almost eliminated in this uber defensive approach but he was still getting burned and getting burned regularly. I lost track of how many corners he gave up in the first 20min. Worst part of this is that every team knows this and it’s exactly who they go after. He’s like wounded prey. Time for him to sit
Midfield Overall: 5.3 Very poor, especially in the first half. They gave far too much room for Inter at the top of the 18yd box
Forwards
ORIGI 5.4 Don’t let the picture above fool you, he wasn’t that flashy or impactful. Really was just a whole bunch of nothing. To be fair to him, Pioli didn’t really put him in the best position to succeed
GIROUD 5.2 Many times in his short-ish Milan career Giroud has gotten all 3 points for Milan or even saved them a point. On this day he very likely cost them one with that poor touch during one of the few times Milan countered with numbers. Game really should’ve been tied 1-1
Forwards Overall: 5.3
Subs
DÍAZ 6.3 Came on at halftime after Pioli almost certainly realized he needed a ball carrier in the midfield and Brahim’s presence was immediately felt. Wasn’t spectacular by any means but provided Milan that functional piece for the approach to work
LEÃO 6.6 Better from Leão, who seemed a little more focused than we’ve seen him. He actually drifted wide a few times and although that wasn’t necessarily where he should’ve been in this 3-5-2 he immediately provided width and Milan had some of their best buildup when that happened
SAELEMAEKERS 5.8 Very average from the Salad Man. I barely noticed him, either in a good or bad way. In fact, the best thing about him on this day was that he was subbed for Calabria (and was probably a better fit a WB)
THIAW 6.6 Giving the kid one of the better ratings on the day because while yes, Lukaku is a shell of his former self, his former self still casts a pretty big shadow and this kid was not intimidated. He hasn’t been perfect but like Kalulu in his first season with Milan…you can see this kid may have it. May be time for him to jump Kjær in the pecking order. Actually you know what, no maybe. He should and should probably start until Tomori gets back
REBIC NA Came in really late but at least looked like he cared
Subs Overall: 6.5 Best aspect of the game were when the subs came in and provided Milan some possession and something of an attack
Coaching
PIOLI 6.5 This might be high for some of you. In fact, it might be WAY too high for some of you but I thought what Pioli did gave Milan a chance vs a very in-form Inter. I mentioned this in the chat but in the previous 3 games before this one, after 25min, Milan was down to Inter 2-0, 1-0 to Lazio, and 2-0 down to Sassuolo. They were down 2-0, 2-0, and 3-1 by halftime of the same games. Pioli had to stop the hemorrhaging and for the most part he did, so for that he gets some credit…some.
Now he totally got Messias the ball-carrying midfielder wrong and Origi provided nothing as a support striker. These two decisions effectively killed any hope of offense in the first half but his subs did provide a little bit of a spark. This was good because it showed with the regular starters in there after the first wave of substitutes that this 3-5-2 could work with a little more time and practice. In any event defending in numbers helped and this is going to need to be the way to go until Maignan is back.
Oh, one last thing: this benching of Leão has got to stop. I know he may be distracted with his contract talks but he needs to start. The guy can generate offense by himself and on this kind of a day, a flash of brilliance could have netted a point. Anyways, we’re going to have more on Pioli in the next day or so stay tuned.
Final Thoughts
Not going to say much more about the game or Pioli other than this is how it’s probably going to look most of the time for the next month, and that’s assuming Maignan does indeed come back this season. If he doesn’t, then that Scudetto bus is going to need to stay parked in front of Tatarusanu and Milan is going to have to scratch and claw and bite to get into the top 4.
I know we all wanted some investment in the club (keep in mind the €35M new kid hasn’t been able to get more than 15min when he does make it off the bench) but really if Milan had only invested a little bit in a quality veteran backup goalkeeper then they’re probably about 8-10pts better right now in the table and that might be going light on it’s potential impact.
This change by Pioli closed down space, the acres of it teams have been feasting on for the last month and that’s what counts. This provincial approach probably won’t beat many of the top of the table clubs but it at least gives them a chance and it’s good enough to beat midtable and bottom of the table clubs. That last part should be good enough to get into the top 4. I know what that sounds like but we need to understand the situation. Maybe Milan can resemble what we’ve gotten used to these last 24 months by March or April, but right now it’s survival. And, right now, that survival means getting all 3pts vs Torino this Friday and stealing a point vs Tottenham in the first leg next week.
You don’t come here to have smoke blown up your ass and we’re not going to start now. So, get ready for the next 3-5 games to be UGLY.
Alright, rant over. What do you guys think? Are you happy with what you saw? How do you think the next month will go?
Forza Milan
-gillis