Believe it or not, finding motivation to write these ratings posts can be difficult after such a lackluster performance. But as Lisi likes to say…WE MOVE!
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 6.2 Not a good game. Yes, his defense let him down but he still should’ve done better. The only one of the 3 goals conceded I wouldn’t put on him, as I think he should’ve done better, is the last one
Goal Keeping Overall: 6.2
Defense
TOMORI 5.8 More Jekyll & Hyde. Bennacer’s pass was poor on the first goal but Tomori showed no interest is going to get it even though there was lots of time and space for him to see the Udinese player rushing towards it. Unacceptable
THIAW 4.7 Bad. Really bad. Completely lost Beto on the goal right before the half and RIGHT after Milan equalized. Then the terrible flop out on Milan’s right that left the Udinese player to pick who he wanted which eventually led to the 3rd goal, basically uncontested. Bad time for a learning experience
KALULU 6.7 Not his best game but was far and away the best of the backline players. While he had been getting forward more of late, was pinned down most of the game with Udinese applying constant pressure
Defense Overall: 5.6 Bad across the board. Could it be time to change back to a 4-2-3-1? Maybe, but we’ll save that conversation for later this week
Midfield
BALLO-TOURE 6.5 A decent game from Ballo-Toure. I thought he did what he’s capable of and actually did provide Milan some much needed width, which did help Leão get wider than he had been. Still, there wasn’t much danger from him getting forward and Theo’s absence was definitely felt
TONALI 7.5 Best Milan player on the day. Thought he covered ground well and kept the ball moving when in possession. I’ve been critical of his yellows for dissent but this one was well earned against Becão and I actually kinda wish he punched Becão in the face while he was flopping around on the ground (ok, not really…or really?…*strokes chin in thought…*)
BENNACER 6.4 Not a bad game by any means but that pass that led to Udinese’s first goal is unacceptable. It didn’t even look like he mishit it either. Can’t do that with a pass across the middle of the pitch in the middle of the pitch
SAELEMAEKERS 6.1 Probably his least effective game since switching to the 3-man backline. Sure he ran and covered some ground, but he left a ton of space between him and Kalulu and he didn’t do hardly anything getting forward
Midfield Overall: 6.6 Tonali and everyone else, basically. Terrible spacing and didn’t do the work to win back possession or counter the energy Udinese brought (which I’ll have a little more to say about this later)
Forwards
LEÃO 7 Was between a 6.8 and 7 for me but I landed on the 7 mostly because he actually did spend some time out wide on the left and big surprise, it resulted in his best shots on goal in a while as he came from a wide position, squared in, and fired shots with his right foot. He couldn’t do that from his more central position and it just shows how much more dangerous he is when he plays wide
DÍAZ 6.4 Another sub-par game and like many of Milan players, were getting hacked down by Udinese players who the ref thought were totally good to go THROUGH Milan players when trying to win back the ball. Did have a few threatening opportunities but still needs to do more
IBRAHMOVIC 7.2 Best game since returning from injury and showed signs that he still has something left. Best thing to come out of this was I think he found his confidence from the spot again after that redo. We all know he hasn’t been very good from the spot for the better part of the last 3yrs and his anger and determination on that second attempt would have destroyed Silvestri into a pulp had he stayed central
Forwards Overall: 6.7 Best position on the day. Didn’t get a lot of great opportunities early and still couldn’t find their finishing boots, but much better than vs Fiorentina
Subs
KRUNIC 6.4 Came in and while didn’t look as good as when he’s been starting, did provide some of that physicality that Bennacer just isn’t built for. That one-timer he attempted? Yeah, pretty good as a destroyer but not so good in an advanced position
REBIC 5.7 Ran and covered ground but that’s not what he was brought in for. Looked terrible with the ball at his feet and had numerous turnovers
CALABRIA 6 Not terrible but didn’t really add much value, which is especially not good when you consider the fact that he was being subbed for Saelemaekers and Saelemaekers had a pretty bad game. So no added value when replacing someone not producing is…bad
DE KETELAERE 6.3 Loved how he didn’t hold onto the ball much and was much quicker than we’ve seen him when receiving the ball, finding someone, and keeping it moving. So, some progress
ORIGI 5.9 Not terrible. That’s…all I got
Subs Overall: 6 Didn’t provide much of spark when brought in, which was explicitly their point and purpose. Sh*t, I should probably drop that 6 to a 5 then, huh?…
Coaching
PIOLI 4.8 I’m giving him such a low score not because of who he played or how he had the team play, I’m giving him this score because the team has been flat. This requires a longer conversation, and I’ll say a little more below, but this is something we’ll dive into later this international break
Final Thoughts
I honestly didn’t hate the performance completely. Truth be told, I liked the width the team had in this game compared to the last couple of months, as the right side seemed to play wider and with the inclusion of Ballo-Toure, so did the left. This resulted in what looked like, for a change, a coherent attacking plan of getting the ball into spaces, hitting in crosses, and trying to generate some goals. I know it didn’t work but it’s chances for success are far better than what we saw vs Fiorentina. But, this is now two straight league performances where the team has lacked determination and purpose.
Those of you who have been here know I hate platitudes and I think phrases like, “he lost the locker room” or the players “have no motivation” or “aren’t ready to play” are lazy statements pundits give when asked to analyze what they’re seeing that don’t really speak to what’s actually going on. So while I just said above the team lacked determination and purpose, what I mean is that they didn’t play the game like they cared: lots of jogging or in a few cases, the commentators even acknowledged Leão walking around a lot; lazy defending like on Beto’s goal by just not staying on him as the ball was in the box; minimal-effort tackles like vs Samardzic that indirectly led to the first goal after a fortuitous bounce to Pereyra.
I could bring up even more references if I wanted to torture myself and rewatch the Fiorentina game or even the Sassuolo game from before the formation change. Far too often, and most of 2023, Milan has looked like they’d rather be elsewhere. This is, I believe, entirely on Pioli. Maybe the good cop (Pioli)-bad cop (Zlatan) isn’t working anymore. Maybe their practices aren’t what they need to be in terms of intensity because they’re trying to save their legs for competition on multiple fronts. Even so, this can’t continue.
I don’t believe this calls for Pioli to be canned as I don’t know who could come in and do much better. I’m not even convinced a coaching change at the end of the season takes Milan to higher and higher achievements. None of the big name coaches will come for what Milan would pay them, and even then, Milan is not going to spend the GDP of some tiny European country in player acquisitions so please tell me which of those guys can get the results of what Pioli has with a team built like this?
If you add up the wages of the players actually playing this season for Milan and compared them to the rest of Serie A, I bet you their wage bill is somewhere in the midtable range. So for me, Pioli is the guy for THIS team AND he needs to find a way to get these guys to play with the same passion we saw Udinese and Fiorentina play with in just the last 2 league games.
Lisi and I will have more to say on this front over the next couple of weeks as we’ll have time before the next league match. Until then, let us know what you thought of the match, Milan’s recent performances, and if you think Milan can salvage a top 4 finish this season in league play.
Until next time.
Forza Milan
gillis
