Milan lost their Coppa Italia quarterfinal matchup against Atalanta and are now out of the tournament. This outcome has generated a full spectrum of responses, as one would expect, and they range from meh to lighting their hair on fire. As I am want to do, I’m somewhere in the middle when it comes to how important and consequential a Coppa Italia tie is in the grand scheme of things.
I mentioned in the matchday post that Pioli appeared to be putting in a solid effort to win the match as dictated by his starting lineup. We didn’t see the youth movement we saw the Coppa Italia match before vs Cagliari and most of his starters were in the lineup from the get-go. So how well did that work? Well, let’s dive in…
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 7 – I think he had a solid game. He was shielded pretty good on Koopmeiners first goal and couldn’t see much until it was already going into the net. The second was a PK and those are always 50/50 at best
Goal Keeping Overall 7
Defense
JIMENEZ 5.5 – Not as good as he was vs Cagliari and probably shouldn’t have gotten called for the foul that resulted in the PK as he did get a touch on the ball. Still, took an awfully big risk sticking his foot in to challenge and put it in the ref’s hands…and he lost
HERNÁNDEZ 8 – A step down in terms of defensive performance from the last game but the run down the left and interplay and layoff to Leão was sublime. Time to get him back out at LB
GABBIA 6.8 – Was doing a solid job until…wait for it…he got injured. The Milan injury curse got him. At least it wasn’t a muscle. Rumor is he’ll likely be available for Roma
CALABRIA 6.7 – Very inconspicuous outing for the captain
Defense Overall 7
Midfield
REIJNDERS 6.6 – Did all his usual stuff: running, helping to cover, helped move the ball around. But that was kind of it. Nothing extraordinary
MUSAH 7.5 – Loved seeing Musah back in the starting lineup. He actually looked fresh, which wasn’t the case back in December. Judging from the comments in the comment section, he’s turning into a favorite for many and I’m enjoying seeing him bring to the table all that I thought he was capable of
LOFTUS-CHEEK 6.8 – Just when it looked like maybe he’d get going we get another average performance. Kind of like after the second PSG game. He wets our appetite and then vanishes
Midfield Overall 6.9
Forwards
LEÃO 8 – Wonderful strike for the goal and was generally dangerous, especially in the first half. But like most of the team, kind of vanished for much of the second half and I think it was him drifting more centrally than he had in the first half. Stay wide, kid. That’s where you make your money
PULISIC 7 – A solid if unexciting game. Still, love his smart movements when he has the ball and wouldn’t mind seeing him get a start at CAM at some point
JOVIC 6.5 – Not entirely his fault as he didn’t get a lot of action going through him but when he did he was just a little bit off and couldn’t connect on the give and goes he was trying
Forwards Overall 7
Subs
KJÆR 6.5 – The injuries and age are showing their signs but he was mostly where he needed to be after coming in at the 39th minute for Gabbia. Having played most the league game last Sunday surely didn’t help
SIMIC 6.5 – Don’t know why Pioli had him at RB but as he showed (and earlier this season) he has a knack for finding space when attacking and his header late should’ve drawn a PK
TERRACCIANO 6.5 – Why at LB? I thought he was mostly a RB and Calabria came off? Still, looked decent and should be a welcome addition ESPECIALLY AT RB, PIOLI
ADLI 6.5 – With the team chasing points, I don’t mind him coming in and trying to deliver a pass that might spring a teammate
GIROUD 6 – Like Kjær, age is most likely to show itself on short weeks and he looked flat in this substitute appearance. Still, had someone found him with a decent cross he could’ve perhaps salvaged a point
Subs Overall 6.6
Coaching
PIOLI 7/3 – Didn’t mind the starting lineup even though I would’ve either rested Theo or put him at LB. The team looked good up to the Leão goal, but I REALLY hated how he managed this game after that. So, a 7 for the approach out the gate, a 3 for everything else. I’ll talk more about this below
Final Thoughts
Let’s approach this with a Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The Good
It’s been nice seeing Leão get back on the scoresheet and unsurprisingly, it’s coming because he’s been doing and playing positionally more like a winger. Combined with Theo finding his form, this is as big a reason as any for Milan’s recent run where they won 5 of 6 heading into this match. Musah is now back and looked rested, Gabbia was recalled to help in the CB department, and Milan is slowly starting to get healthy which enabled Pioli to start a pretty strong lineup all things considered.
The Bad
Inconsistency, and in this game, a major dose of WTF are you doing regarding Pioli’s in-game management. We are not a #PioliOut place here and while that will remain at least through the end of the season, it doesn’t mean he isn’t without faults. In this game and in recent weeks, he’s stuck with Theo at CB and while Theo has done an admirable job, now that Pioli’s starting to get back some bodies and he’s seen a few of the younger kids play, he has refused to put Theo back at LB and it has caused compromises elsewhere.
For example, playing Jimenez over Bartesaghi or not moving Theo to LB and starting Simic next to Gabbia. I think Pioli wanted an attacking presence down the left and so he picked Jimenez over Bartesaghi because he choose to keep Theo at CB. Why not play Simic at CB and get Theo back at LB and play two players in their natural positions? Yes, one of them is a Primavera player but he’s logged some minutes and looked solid, including scoring a solid goal. Moreover, it’s a better combination compared to a different Primavera player at LB and a LB playing out of position as a CB. This IS something Pioli does and it’s been one of the things I haven’t liked about him, this sticking to something he was forced into because it’s become comfortable. Play guys in their natural position as much as possible, it’ll workout better and work out more often.
One last thing for this section and that’s what the hell was he doing with those substitutions after Atalanta’s second goal? What the f**k was the formation? A 5-2-3? Because that’s what it looked like unless it was a 3-5-2 and he was playing Simic and Terracciano as wingbacks? Seriously, I still don’t know what he was trying to do. PLAY GUYS IN THEIR NATURAL POSITION.
The Ugly
The refereeing. My god Serie A/TIM. This is and hasn’t been a one-off. It’s turned into virtually every week there is a clear-cut mistake and costly error by the referee. In this game, there was the missed call on Reijnders fouling inside the box and he’s actually the one who caused the crash between Gabbia and de Roon that resulted in both players getting injured and ultimately leaving the game. Then there was the PK given up by Jimenez, which looked like he got ball first and didn’t step on the Atalanta player. And yes, while maybe these two cancel out there was a non-handball given (here’s a freeze frame) at the death and could’ve allowed Milan to tie up the match and force extra time.
Now, nothing would’ve guaranteed that Milan would’ve converted the PK or that they would’ve gone on to win. But, it’s important to recognize that this type of stuff robs the players of a fairly-officiated game and competition, and it plants doubts and increases cynicism amongst fans and ruins the product on the pitch and the product for the consumer. I like VAR or any other replay-system that allows the opportunity to get the call correct and minimize human error dictating the outcome of major sporting events. But running it the way Serie A/TIM is, all it’s doing is moving the human error from the ref on the pitch in a snapshot decision he/she has to make, to one that is wrapped up in a systematic process that still renders the decision incorrect and is likely worse for the long-term health of the game. I like VAR, or at least the concept of it. Fix it, Serie A/TIM. We’re way past due.
Ok, rant over.
Milan is out and I’m a little disappointed because extra competition and extra games for young players can be positives. I ultimately didn’t want them to jeopardize any league position for the Coppa, and now I won’t have to worry about it. And, on the more half-full side of things, I’m glad Pioli had this type of game in the Coppa than in the league and especially vs other competitors for the top 4.
The focus is now on the league and at some point, the Europa League, but I still want them playing for the Scudetto. Milan starts the second half of the season this weekend vs Roma, beating them and helping force Mourinho out the door would be a welcome start. Guys are slowly starting to return and with a little luck we can start to see a genuine good run of form.
Forza Milan
gillis