Stopped the bleeding and some favorable outcomes in other league games this round so far has Milan on the up…I mean, there really wasn’t anyplace else to go, amiright?!…
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
TATARUSANU 6.6 Only his 3rd clean sheet of the season in 15 league matches, so these have been preciously few. Can’t say he did anything well but these last two games appear to show him gaining some confidence with a more defensive approach in front of him. I even saw him come out and punch a corner away!
Goal Keeping Overall: 6.6
Defense
THIAW 7.3 Boy, this kid looks to be the truth. I did think he was out of position a couple of times but he did recover well and has surprising speed for his size. Another part of his game that has looked good so far: tackles. Haven’t seen a reckless challenge yet
KJÆR 6.8 Started the game much the way he looked during his whole performance vs Inter before being subbed out. But as the game wore on he seemed to get better, mostly because he was in the right position and not being the one asked to chase guys around. Still, when Tomori is healthy he probably drops to 4th or 5th in the pecking order, below Kalulu, Tomori, and now Thiaw
KALULU 8 Simply stellar. I’m still blown away he can play virtually anywhere along the backline, 3 or 4 man, and play it better than guys on the bench who’s sole position is the one he’s overtaken them for. With Tomori out you saw Pioli play him to where he was able to use his speed to shut down play and intercept balls. Splendid game for the kid who hadn’t been having his usual knockout performances
Defense Overall: 7.6 They looked much more coherent in the 3-man backline than vs Inter and closed down space much more effectively. Yes, playing Torino and not Inter helped but the improvement was there to be seen
Midfield
HERNÁNDEZ 7.8 Captain’s armband? Check. Dyed hair? Check. Vintage Theo? Check! We finally got a glimpse of pre-WC Theo and boy did it help. Theo got out and forward much more this game compared to the last one and even got his first assist in what seems like ages. Being in 4-man midfield I wasn’t sure how much he’d be able to get out running but once Brahim started to get going then springing Theo seemed to be a go-to. He probably would’ve been my MOTM had he not missed that sitter
TONALI 6.8 Tonali also had a better match than vs Inter but he seems to be the one in the midfield struggling the most with the change. I hope he can find his confidence again because Milan is going to need it
KRUNIC 7.3 Very workman like. In fact, I barely noticed him but in a good way. Did his job to win back possession and mostly stayed back, which is the perfect role for him if you ask me
SAELEMAEKERS 8 MOTM I know. I’m surprised I gave him MOTM too. But this kid may have found his best fit and should make Pioli’s decision easier to sit Calabria. Doesn’t matter if he’s a RM like today or a RWB in a 5-man midfield, Salad Man was everywhere he was supposed to be. He used his terrific work-rate and applied that all down the right. I even saw him anticipate and jump a few passing routes to intercept the ball. He stayed wide when getting forward and even worked a few overlapping runs with Kalulu. Positive stuff
Midfield Overall: 7.5 Played much better and as a unit. Surely the decline in quality in the opposition helped but so did another game in this new 3-man backline formation and more defensive posture
Forwards
LEÃO 6.7 Still not quite the Leão we’re used to but played better and even got wide a few times and that’s when he was the most dangerous (big surprise). On a better day he probably has 1 or 2 assists as his teammates were very wasteful in front of goal
DÍAZ 7.4 Aside from a cheeky little pass to set up a nice opportunity for Theo early, Brahim was quiet for most of the first half. But man did he turn it around in the 2nd half with quality pass after pass and displaying some wonderful vision to spring counter-attacks. Once the midfield started to look for him after winning back possession Milan’s attack grew some teeth. And, like Leão, probably has an assist or two on any other day
GIROUD 7.5 Not really a tale of two halves but really of two performances: the first had lots of flicks and dummies when receiving the ball, and other one where he received the ball, held up play, and was a vital component to building up and springing some offense to life. This combined with Brahim getting the ball really got things going as they were the catalysts for the best goal scoring opportunities on the day
Forwards Overall: 7.2 Some might put Leão and Brahim in the midfield here but I thought they along with Giroud were the forward-players and the ones tasked with generating goals. Either way, Leão and Brahim starting and Giroud RECEIVING the ball and not trying all those god-forsaken flicks and dummies, can be a reliable offense in this more defensive approach
Subs
GABBIA 6.5 I thought he looked better vs Inter but not a bad performance coming in for Kjær (and probably should’ve come in for him about 10min earlier). These decent performances definitely have him competing for that 4th spot in the depth chart
DE KETELAERE 6 Came in to help hold onto a lead and used his size a few times to receive the ball and hold off defenders. I think Brahim is playing better and deserves the start but gotta find a way to get him more playing time. I personally wouldn’t mind seeing him come in for Giroud first then transition over to CAM when it’s time to sub Brahim off. I think he could also play alongside Brahim in the two behind Giroud. Sure would be a nice gift to get him going down the stretch
CALABRIA N/A Came in very late to help hold onto a narrow lead and I was nervous seeing him come on for an exhausted Saelemaekers. I hope Pioli begins to shy away from this and finds a different solution to close down games
ORIGI N/A He played
POBEGA N/A He played…and I think he could find a nice role for him in this 4/5 man midfield moving forward. Up to Pioli to figure out how
Subs Overall: 6.2 Not a huge impact on the game as Pioli subbed as little and late that we’ve seen, particularly in the 5-sub era
Coaching
PIOLI 7.7 Much better performance by Pioli and his team. I’ll go into the more broad implications of his tactical and formational change below but in this game you sensed Pioli knows, at least right now, that his starters are the ones he can trust with this new formation and the responsibilities that it requires. After that dreadful first 45 minutes vs Inter we have seen basically the same players on the pitch for about 120 of the 135 minutes played. This is VERY un-Pioli-like.
The most important personnel change in those 135 minutes? Calabria has only played about 10 minutes and Milan has conceded zero goals and that’s with Tata between the sticks!
Final Thoughts
A lot of people have not liked Pioli during the terrible run of form and at least as many haven’t liked the approach he has taken the last couple of games. If you’ve been reading our posts here, we’ve been much more patient with Pioli especially once you take the emotion out of it and thought about how an alternative – any alternative – might look and its likely outcome: no new reinforcements, a backup keeper, and little familiarity with the squad would almost certainly prevent a top 4 finish.
This doesn’t mean Pioli is blameless and we have never claimed such a position. But, what Pioli has done is effectively (if not always pretty) figure out a way to stop the bleeding. Yes, not everything he’s tried worked or been pretty but overall the objective to figure out some way to play better defense with who Milan has available has worked and we have talked about that in the post-Derby ratings and Good Nonno/Bad Nonno just this past week.
One thing I did want to mention on this switch to the 3-man backline, and it’s something I didn’t consider or appreciate, is the flexibility it provides Pioli but not in the way I initially thought. Yes, it can provide more defensive help both at the back and in the midfield, and yes it gets the RW position off the pitch like we’ve talked about, but what it also provides is one formation that can more seamlessly switch tactically from a defensive posture to a high press/high line one when Pioli has the appropriate pieces (I’m mostly speaking about Maignan coming back). We saw what a defensive-minded counter-attacking approach can yield, one that will get better with time, but I would love to see it with a high press/high line approach that would probably look a lot like the 4-man backline but with Kalulu at RB.
A good chunk of the criticism thrown Pioli’s way for the Inter match was not playing a lot of his starters or playing guys out of position. This 3-man backline can keep all of his best players on the pitch, keep substitutions/backups out of the starting lineup, all of which will be important in a financially conservative spending approach that will limit quality depth from being accrued until the coffers are large enough (i.e., not anytime soon). Pioli has proven he can win with arguably the thinnest squad in the top 7 of the league, and until that changes I think he’s one of the best options to lead the squad.
Finally, I was going to write this yesterday morning but I wanted to see what the other direct competitors for the last two positions in top 4 did and really, Milan just about got the best possible outcomes from the Lecce-Roma (1-1) and Atalanta-Lazio (2-0) matches. This has Milan in a 3-way tie with Atalanta and Roma for 3rd, but with Milan having the worst goal differential of the 3 teams, places Milan 5th. Boy not just the loses but HOW Milan lost all those games in January really did a number on their goal differential. Milan still play Atalanta, Roma, and Lazio in the return legs of league play so getting wins vs all 3 will be big. There’s still 16 league games to go so I’m feeling pretty good all things considered.
Tottenham up next in CL and we’ll have more to say about this in the coming day or so but until then…
Forza Milan
-gillis
