Being so late in the season, I’ve been waiting for the round to complete before putting these out. I love writing but believe it or not this isn’t my day job and sometimes life gets in the way of discussing football at all times like we’d all probably like. So, waiting like this allows me to cover both rather than needing to write two separate posts. It’s just more efficient! LOL
There was some movement in the top 7 and if you can believe it things got even TIGHTER. But hey, this is what we all love and the fight to the end is what we’ll all remember. So, like last time I’ll do the player ratings first, then move to a more general discussion about the match, then a general discussion about the Serie A table and the fight for the top 4.
Let’s go!
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 6.7 Not Mike’s best game as I think he was caught a little off guard (and flat footed) on the Abraham goal. Not totally on him but it’s something we’ve gotten used to him saving
Goal Keeping Overall: 6.7
Defense
HERANDEZ 6.8 Not bad but need more out of him on days like this. The opponent isn’t going to challenge you very much so GET FORWARD and cause havoc. Needed more from him with a packed-in Roma side
TOMORI 7 Good game from Tomori and soldiered on after taking a knee to the quad by the looks of it. Nothing major but I’m not expecting to see him midweek or maybe even this weekend
KJÆR 7 Solid from Kjær but in games like this, with the opponent not doing much it’s not always easy to rate these guys. Would’ve liked to see more long balls though since it was proving difficult to break Roma down in their final third
CALABRIA 7.2 Probably the best of the backline but you could see why I prefer Kalulu there as on the Abraham goal he was trying to catch up and just couldn’t get there to help defend
Defense Overall: 7 Good game from the backline, no real complaints other than who Pioli decided to field. But that’s not on these guys and they all played pretty well
Midfield
TONALI 7.5 Continues his good run of form. Solid game from him and had some quality crosses into the box that his teammates just couldn’t get to
KRUNIC 5.8 Yeah, I thought he was terrible. I’ll speak a little more about this below
BENNACER 6.7 Had a fine game but like Krunic, just couldn’t impact the game getting forward
Midfield Overall: 6.4 Average from this group, which is odd as they’ve been really good of late. Defensively they were fine but provided very little getting forward
Forwards
LEÃO 8 Even when it seems like he’s not going to impact the game, it’s a cross coming off of his boot that found Saelemaekers to help salvage a point VERY late in the match
DÍAZ 6.5 A couple of games now where he hasn’t been able to really impact Milan’s attack. He still managed to get off one of Milan’s few quality shots on goal, but Milan need him to do more and I think the best place for him vs these teams parking the bus is in the middle of the pitch
GIROUD 6.3 Maybe he needed another day off? Didn’t do much of anything and seemed to be back to those stupid flicks. Just receive the ball, hold up play, and distribute. He did take a beating and I’ll give him that for fighting through it (I’ll talk more about Roma’s…umm…physical approach to the game below)
Forwards Overall: 6.7 These guys have got to produce when facing a team like this. Pioli fielding the right guys would’ve helped but still, gotta be better
Subs
THIAW 7 Really good from the big kid. Came in for an injured Tomori and the backline didn’t miss a beat. Good stuff
SAELEMAEKERS 8 MOTM Not exactly Saeledona, (he could’ve been had he nailed that volley opportunity he had late), but still a hell of a job getting on the end of that Leão cross and saving an embarrassing defeat. He’s been pretty good of late and probably needs to start at RW
KALULU 6.5 Played well but could’ve probably closed down Abraham better on that goal (some credit needs to be given to Abraham here, as that was a cheeky little touch he had to give himself some room to get off the shot)
DE KETELAERE 6 I know he had his hands on the Roma player on the goal, and in slow motion it looks worse that it actually was since you can clearly see the Roma player fall to the ground once he realized the ball was over his head. But man, in what has been a bad season for CDK would’ve been substantially worse. He might’ve gone into pariah status with the Milan faithful
ORIGI NA He played
Subs Overall: 7 Solid contribution from the bench on the day. Perhaps not too surprising considering that at least 2 of the subs probably should’ve been starting from the get-go
Coaching
PIOLI 6 Not his best pregame preparation, as everyone knew Roma was going to sit back, so Pioli should’ve gone more offensive with his lineup choices. Gotta risk a little bit at the back and get those early goals to open up the opponent
Final Thoughts
This game was lost (or at least not won) with Pioli’s lineup decisions. That’s the first takeaway for me.
In the matchday post I spoke about how I liked Bennacer in the CAM better than Krunic (or Kessie last season) but my first choice was Brahim. Still, Bennacer wasn’t the main issue Milan couldn’t get things going. The biggest issue was that Roma mostly sat back aside from a couple of guys pressing high, leaving a lot of space for a ball carrier. Sometimes that was Tonali but the high pressing Roma players mostly took him away and so that was left to Krunic. And he failed miserably.
As I mentioned above, I’m trying hard not to penalize Krunic too much for stuff that’s not in his arsenal, but Krunic failed to make even the simplest of passes and turned what was going to be a difficult day into a game that effectively killed any continued offensive threat from Milan because he couldn’t even complete a simple pass. I sh*t on Mourinho a lot, and I’m glad he’s not at Milan, but I have to give him credit. He banked on Pioli going Krunic in the double-pivot and Bennacer as the CAM and exploited it. Milan’s offensive build up was cut off at the knee.
This was only part of the reason Milan struggled on the day. I mentioned this in the matchday thread down in the comment section but this Roma approach, and perhaps better described as their style, is to bully the opponent, toe the line of being thuggish and illegal (as in getting carded ALL THE TIME because of all the hacking they were doing). It reminded me of Torino of about 5 years ago, especially going to play them at home. If the ref didn’t take charge and give out yellows, then it was only going to encourage over-the-top physicality and ruin any semblance of football being played on the pitch. That studs challenge on Saelemaekers should’ve been a straight red. Milan could’ve surely done more to win the game, but the ref didn’t help by not allowing football to be played.
In the end, Pioli has GOT TO go more offensive-minded in these games vs teams who park the bus. Yes, this means playing Brahim as the CAM, pairing Tonali and Bennacer in the double-pivot, and perhaps most importantly, play the fastest backline you can and that means Kalulu at RB, Thiaw paired with Tomori at CB, and Theo on the left. Speed kills and can make up for a lot. Press high, get that extra body forward, and trust your speedy backline to get back and cover. And, let’s not forget Maignan is back there. Come on, Pioli…IPIT!
Serie A Standings
Alright, onto the league table. With the draw, Milan gained ground on Lazio in 2nd, who lost to Inter, and stayed the same with Roma (obviously) and Juve, who also drew. Atalanta and Inter won and made up ground, with Inter getting into a 3-way tie with Milan and Roma but leapfrogging them into 4th at the end of this round on point differential.
- Napoli 79pts (1st): OMG, what a choke job. Naples was ready to explode and Napoli completely sh*t the bed. I think this best sums up the Scudetto party that didn’t come
- Lazio 61pts (2nd): Sassuolo, @Milan, Lecce, @Udinese, Cremonese, @Empoli
- Juventus 60pts (3rd): Lecce, @Atalanta, Sevilla (Europa), Cremonese, @Sevilla (Europa), @Empoli, Milan, @Udinese
- Inter 57pts (4th): @Hellas Verona, @Roma, @Milan (Champions League), Sassuolo, Milan (Champions League), @Napoli, Atalanta, @Torino
- Milan 57pts (4th): Cremonese, Lazio, Inter (Champions League), @Spezia, @Inter (Champions League), Sampdoria, @Juventus, Hellas Verona
- Roma 57pts (6th): @Monza, Inter, Leverkusen (Conference League), @Bologna, @Leverkusen, Salernitana, @Fiorentina, Spezia
- Atalanta 55pts (7th): Spezia, Juventus, @Salernitana, Hellas Verona, @Inter, Monza
We’re now down to 18 points left on the table and things are only tighter now then they were the week before, with 2nd and 7th only separated by 6 points. The next round is midweek and there aren’t any head-to-head matchups between the top 7, but that changes for the games this weekend for round 34, including Milan’s game vs Lazio and Inter traveling to play Roma. Milan also still play Juventus and therefore still control their own fate. Somewhere around 12-14 points of the remaining 18 I believe will be enough. Time will tell…
Forza Milan
gillis
