The last 3 games have been emblematic of the season thus far…
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 7.8 Another solid game as the goal conceded was on the guys in front of him. Probably kept another couple out that had Tata been in there would have made this game much worse. Also, that tackle on the Salernitana breakaway? Oh my. Stud
Goal Keeping Overall: 7.8
Defense
TOMORI 7.4 Actually pretty good most of the game. But was caught sleeping like vs Fiorentina. Not quite Jekyl-Hyde but these mental lapses are becoming costly
THIAW 7 Good match but like Tomori, was caught sleeping on the goal. Needs to make sure those types of lapses are kept at a minimum
KALULU 8 Co-MOTM Another stellar game and is my defensive MVP of the season. He’s been the only consistently-performing defender all season
Defense Overall: 7.5 Much better than the game against Fiorentina but a little bit of a downgrade from the Tottenham match. More importantly, while the goal conceded was on them, a goal conceded shouldn’t be a death sentence for the team and that means the offense needs to carry their own weight and start producing goals
Midfield
HERNÁNDEZ 6.7 A bit of a letdown and his first sub-par game in a month. Couldn’t seem to find space down the side, then again, him and Leão haven’t exactly been seeking it out either
KRUNIC 7.8 Big game from Krunic and paired up well with Bennacer. In fact, Krunic played his part so well, winning back balls and breaking up play, that Bennacer thrived in a more advanced role
BENNACER 8 Co-MOTM Best game in a while. Was fantastic on the ball and was the best in the midfield at building play and distributing. While Krunic held things down Bennacer got to be more of a box-to-box midfielder and did quite well. Splendid game
SAELEMAEKERS 7 Solid game from the Salad Man on his return to the starting lineup. Did his part on defense and I really liked how well him and Kalulu worked down the right flank. Just wish he brought a little more going forward…(there’s some foreshadowing going here, folks…)
Midfield Overall: 7.4 Two solid performances, two average ones. Still, Pioli has options developing in the middle of the midfield with Tonali, Bennacer, and Krunic all playing well and bringing different characteristics to those two positions. Going to be interesting to see how he deploys them
Forwards
LEÃO 6.1 Not good. And no, I’m not going to talk about him cutting in and drifting centrally AGAIN even though that’s what’s still causing his subpar play. Should you feel like it, I’ve talked about this here, here, here, and here, all in the last month
DÍAZ 6.3 Possibly his worst game of the calendar year. Just couldn’t find space to do much. I mean, it doesn’t help that everyone else is all up in his space so this isn’t entirely all on him
GIROUD 7.7 Best game from the Frenchman in quite some time. He was already having his best game in the last month before the goal. And the goal? Quality. A striker’s goal. Was getting completely mugged and redirected that corner perfectly
Forwards Overall: 6.8 It’s only this high because of Giroud as the other two laid an egg
Subs
DE KETELAERE 6.2 Came in for Brahim and proceeded to do about as much as he did
IBRAHIMOVIC 6.8 Best game since returning and for a few moments there it sure did feel like he might salvage all 3pts. He didn’t, but you can see he still has enough to impact the game
ORIGI 6.1 Better. Still garbage
FLORENZI 6.6 Ok, that foreshadowing I hinted at above, this is why. In the current 3-4-2-1 setup his lack of pace isn’t going to kill Milan and his work ethic is more than enough for RM/RWB. Just in these 15min or so he had more quality crosses into the box than Saelemaekers and Messias this year COMBINED. I wasn’t as thrilled about him returning in the old formation, but this one?…this could be big for Milan regarding their anemic offensive production since switching to the 3-4-2-1
TONALI N/A He played (not bad or anything, just not enough to rate)
Subs Overall: 6.4 Probably the best the subs have looked for Milan in some time. As I just mentioned, Florenzi could be a revelation over on the right
Coaching
PIOLI 6.7 The lack of production or players not playing well isn’t all on Pioli, but Leão’s continued and unabated drifting into the central of the pitch is killing Milan’s width and they just don’t have the room to do anything. And that my friends IS on Pioli. It’s simply been going on too long to not start to put the blame on him. He’s going to need to get that right, and fast, because a deep run in CL is VERY possible this year if Milan can score some f**king goals
Final Thoughts
I haven’t mentioned this above but Lisi and I spoke about how Milan players are just holding onto the ball way too long. I know some of that is because they aren’t finding anywhere for the ball to go but part of that is that they’re all scrunched into a small space due to poor positioning. Maybe not a huge issue if they were players with different characteristics playing tiki-taka, but they’re not. This is basically what’s holding them back offensively at the moment and it’s costing them points left and right.
Ideally Pioli remedies this soon but especially before Champions League. Milan not taking advantage of other top 4 contenders dropping points is also concerning as even a draw at Fiorentina and a win vs Salernitana – both very reasonable expectations, would have Milan in 2nd place right now and 4pts up on 5th place Roma. We’re not too far off when every league dropped point is going to feel massive as the number of games remaining whittles away and there’s plenty of teams looking to take advantage of it, even Juventus.
Anyway, that’s about it. Milan faces off against Udinese on Saturday before Napoli the following weekend. The next round of Champions League isn’t until the week of April 11-12 with the draw coming this Friday. Already 2 Italian teams in the semifinals at the time of this writing and unless something odd happens, Napoli should punch their tickets to the semis as well. Exciting stuff.
Let us know your thoughts below and what you think is the culprit of Milan’s current inconsistencies.
Forza Milan
gillis
