Now THAT is the way to start off your Sunday folks!
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 8 – Perfect example of what makes a good keeper. Not a lot to do but when called upon makes the difficult look easy and the impossible possible. ‘Only’ 4 shots on target but a lot of pressure coming at Milan. Made a couple nice chances from Colombo and Colpani evaporate into nothing. Two handed sav eon Colpani left the Monza attacker in disbelief.
Goal Keeping Overall 8
Defense
POBEGA 7 – Left back? Okay not really a left back. More of a third CB which is fine considering his size and strength. Not great but a team guy willing to do whatever is asked of him. Allowed Theo the freedom to do whatever he wanted.
KJÆR 6.5 – If this is as good as it gets for him anymore then this is the ceiling of team he can play against. Stayed home. Controlled play from deep. Help organize.
TOMORI 7.5 – Really drove forward to help cut out some counters and limit attacks. Also got near goal a few times while crashing the box. Excellent outing for him.
Defense Overall 7
Midfield
HERNÁNDEZ 7 – LWB really is his most natural position. Great interchange play between him and Leao. Stayed responsible enough to limit Colpani.
REIJNDERS 9 MOTM – Best game of the year for him. The goal came from him exploiting the tiniest of gaps and driving hard towards the net. Was everywhere gathering the ball and recycling the attack. When he is confident and supported he looks like a different player. Losing Brahim hurt but he is slowly refilling that spot.
LOFTUS-CHEEK 7 – Sat a little deeper giving others space. A different role for him with us but just as effective.
FLORENZI 7.5 – RWB really is HIS best role. Excellent game making runs and dumping in crosses. Love when he takes chances from distance too. He and Pulisic worked well constantly pressuring Monza deep in their own end.
Midfield Overall 7.5
Forwards
LEÃO 7.5 – Solid if not unspectacular. Great assist on the Simic goal. I love when he is comfortable enough to switch sides of the field. That leaves opponents off guard. His cross into Simic came from that action. More of that please!
GIROUD 7 – That assist to Okafor was sick. He ‘s so good at laying off balls like that in tight spaces.
PULISIC 8 – Nice assist to Reijnders early. Terrific curler that clanged off the cross bar. All around good stuff. He’s up to 5 goals and 4 assists now on the season. Should get to double digits in each by the end of the year.
Forwards Overall 7.5
Subs
SIMIC 7.5 – Goal on his debut. Solid defending after being called upon for the injured Pobega. Hard to believe he’s only 18.
BARTESAGHI 6 – He played.
BENNACER 7 – Looked MUCH better than he did in his cameo against Atalanta. Him rounding into shape is huge for us for the second half of the season.
OKAFOR 8 – Played 13 minutes. Could have had 2 goals and an assist. Forced a bonkers save from Di Gregorio. Cool finish on the assist from Giroud.
CHUKWUEZE 7 – Every appearance gets a little better. Cam on late and instead of looking nervous jumped right into the flow. Ca’t wait to see what he can do in big minutes in the Coppa and Europa League.
Subs Overall 8
Coaching
PIOLI 9
So imagine knowing we went into this game trying a new formation (343), while starting a barely fit player at CB, starting a player out of position at RCB, losing him to injury 24 minutes in and having to replace THAT GUY with an 18 year old making his first team debut. Then add in that the backup striker you brought on in the second half came up lame 13 minutes later and had to be replaced.
SO HOW BAD DID WE LOSE????
Wrong. We won 3-0.
Pioli nailed it from the beginning. Instead of sitting back at home to start he came out all guns blazing. The pressure was on straight from the kick. Monza was pinned back all the way to their own goal line. Even after the early goal we just kept coming. This not only utilized all the talent and skill we had up top and at wing back but also helped keep the pressure off the back line. Brilliant stuff. The team looked perfectly prepared and it showed. Master class from Pioli.
Final Thoughts
League wise we are still in roughly the same place entrenched in 3rd and 5 points from 4th. Seven of the top 9 teams won this week so there wasn’t much movement. Only Roma lost and now they have dropped from 4th to 8th in the span of 8 days. As long as we can keep that breathing room between 3rd and 4th we should be fine. The next 3 league games are Salernitana, Sassuolo and Empoli. That gives us a good chance to get to the halfway mark on 38-40 points. If we can do that we are solidly on target for top 4 with some wiggle room to take our chances in Europa.
Forza Milan
Lisi
*P.S. Gillis here – wanted to make sure you all saw this photo of Maignan (queue angelic music…)
