Well that was way more stressful than I was anticipating, that’s for sure! What started out as a refreshing albeit somewhat controversial approach with promising results, turned into a meat grinder that had most of us on edge (it definitely had me on edge that’s for sure!).
This is going to be a little bit shorter (just a little!) as the game itself was pretty straightforward. Plus with the timing of this and a Champions League tie tomorrow (Tuesday) vs Club Brugge, I’ll end up catching some of the overlapping thoughts in that game’s matchday post. For this, though, here are my few takeways.
With Theo suspended, sitting Leão…again…was a gutsy (stupid?) move, one that backfired on Fonseca last time. What he did this time to help Milan’s (and his own) chances was start Pulisic as the CAM. This was key for me. Sure, starting and going through Pulisic at RW is fine but not when you are then forced to play RLC as the CAM, which is what he did last time. That left the team down a guy basically because RLC does very little that actually helps. Pulisic can and is very good about running the point (for you basketball aficionados) due to his great vision, can make all the passes, and can shot with both feet. Perfect guy to run things through.
The domino that this triggered was starting Chukwueze at RW, and while he hasn’t played well so far this season, Chukwueze at RW with Pulisic in the middle would surely help. And it did. Early on, I liked how wide Chukwueze was staying and when he did cut in, it wasn’t purely to square up a shot. That kept the defense guessing and having to track him across, which helps suck in defenders and open up lanes.
Lastly, Fonseca rightly asked Terracciano to be a stay-at-home defender in place of Theo, playing to his strengths as a more traditional defender. Not a like-for-like replacement so don’t ask him to do that. Seems simple but Pioli had a problem adhering to this at times. Anyway, this further supported going through Pulisic and having a more traditional attack without our unique and bombing forward LB.
Once Reijnders got sent off (harsh red but another dud from the guy), everything changed and it’s tough to give an honest assessment of the players, aside from congratulating their effort. I thought for sure Milan would give up the equalizer (and almost did if not for the slightest of offsides given to Udinese in the dying minutes), but as some like to say, they showed some grinta.
What Happened in Serie A
Napoli got a dull win away at Empoli and are still sitting on top of the table. I saw a tweet during the international break, a Napoli fan say something about, “Without Europe to worry about, I’ll gladly take Conte any day.” Right, because that’s the goal: never have to play in Europe again so Conte is worth it. Sound logic. What happens next year when he has to manage more than one competition…
The rest of the top 6 all won, including a tough 1-0 win by Inter away at Roma and Fiorentina’s drubbing of Lecce 6-0, while the next 5 teams all lost. In fact, after the top 6, there were 2 wins, 4 draws, and 8 losses. Yuck.
Bologna continues to draw their way to midtable status, after another draw taking their record to 1-6-1. Not exactly playing to win but not playing to lose? God, is Allegri coaching that team? Finally, Monza got a big win, their first of the season, and this will likely mark the beginning of their slow climb to a 12th place finish. Monza going to Monza as Lisi likes to say. It’s what they do. Genoa, Lecce, and Venezia sit at the bottom.
Now, ratings…
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 8 – Might be high for some but I thought he was excellent. Didn’t have a whole lot of shots fired at him but was under the gun after Milan went down a man as Udinese really started pressing. This went on for 70 minutes…Mike stayed cool the whole time…
Goal Keeping Overall 8
Defense
ROYAL 6.5 – Got forward a little bit more early in the match with Terracciano staying home, wasn’t terrible
THIAW 6.5 – Almost certainly playing because of this height, he was kind of invisible early on with Pavlovic getting more advanced, then once down a guy just quietly did his job. Not a bad reintroduction to the team
PAVLOVIC 7.5 – Back to the before Liverpool version. One thing I noticed, again early before going down a guy, was he’s REALLY aggressive with his passing. That’s how he got in trouble vs Liverpool. But it can surely be an asset with sound decision making on when to use it
TERRACCIANO 6.5 – The game plan called on him to just do the basics. And he did. No complaints
Defense Overall 6.8
Midfield
FOFANA 7 – Another solid game. I’m starting to not worry about him, but in a good way. He’s a little bit Kessie, little bit Bennacer, even a little bit Tonali as he likes to push the ball/run with the ball forward
REIJNDERS 5 – Another dud. Yes, unfortunate to get that red but he’s got to know that dude is looking for any contact, heck even the faint breeze from a passing limb, to fall on the floor there. I’ve made a lot of comments about VAR the last few days but until the rules change, you gotta play within them and he needed to avoid that dude at all costs
Midfield Overall 6
Forwards
CHUKWUEZE 7.5 – Solid, solid, solid. As mentioned above, loved his early movement and took his time when Pulisic laid it off to him for the game’s only goal. More of this, please
PULISIC 8 MOTM – He’s Milan’s best all around player and just seems to have that knack for feeling where everyone is. Perfect guy to run as the CAM
OKAFOR 6.5 – Poorest of the frontline but not a bad game. His shooting boots have been bad aside from the goal to salvage a point in the first game. Strangely, and perhaps surprisingly, he seems to stay wider than Leão these days, which is surely why Leão has been inconsistent within games, even if he ends up contributing
MORATA 7 – Seems like a lot of people are coming around on him. The dude just WORKS…and WORKS…and WORKS. Seems to be in the right positions as well and is surprisingly good when coming back to receive the ball and help distribute and create. Really happy with him so far
Forwards Overall 7.3
Subs
MUSAH 6 – With Reijnder’s red at the 29 minute mark, you knew a change was coming and Musah for Okafor was the move. And it was the correct move. High work rate, middle of the pitch. I actually think a double pivot of him and Fofana would work out well if Theo, Leão, Pulisic, Chukwueze, and Morata/Abraham are playing and you don’t need that little bit of extra creativity there. Just high work rate type of stuff
ABRAHAM NA – Got injured about 4-5 minutes after entering, landing awkwardly on his shoulder. Hopefully nothing major and so far reports are that that’s the case. Need him especially if Jovic continues to be frozen out
LOFTUS-CHEEK 6 – I don’t know that he earned a “6” but a 5 feels too harsh because he wasn’t…bad
TOMORI NA – He played
Subs Overall 6
Coaching
FONSECA 7 – I’ve been very pessimistic about a philosophy that includes sitting a healthy Leão, but he fixed this occurrence by getting RLC out in place of Chukwueze and moving Pulisic to the CAM. The team had better movement as the pieces interchanged better this time and Milan was attacking from all angles until going down a man. I think Leão starting in place of Okafor only makes this approach/lineup better, especially against weaker teams, and go back to allowing Theo to get forward (in place of Terracciano) and having Royal stay back (otherwise Reijnders would need to stay back more with Fofana as well). All of this can be figured out though.
Fonseca is running some unnecessary risks, mostly lineup-based from my perspective, but I like when his tactical philosophies come through. Definitely more of a team-based approach rather than star-based, if that makes sense. Not saying one is better than the other, just…different.
I would like to see him use his subs better, or at least more frequently. Like in this game, down a dude for 70 minutes and you don’t use up all 5 subs? Come on. That’s easy stuff, especially with the pile up of fixtures. Gotta fix that
Final Thoughts
I gave just about everyone +.5 to whatever I was going to give considering that it’s hard to keep a clean sheet…and hold on to a 1-0 lead, playing down a man for 70 minutes. That’s no small feat. Tip of the hat to the team for fighting like hell.
Is this the start of nice little run…like for reals this time though?…fingers crossed.
Club Brugge tomorrow.
Forza Milan
gillis
