After a big midweek win over Real Madrid away at the Bernabéu, Milan had to travel to Cagliari in what was a ripe game for a letdown. Did Milan deliver on this potential letdown? You bet your sweet ass they did! Nothing like a 3-3 draw to a relegation-sitting team. F**king aye…
Anyway, with the international break upon us, this post is a little longer. But hey. We ain’t got nuthin’ goin’ on so who cares, amiright???
Truth be told, I’m not all that bummed about this outcome even though I anticipated it and thought Milan would overcome it. They didn’t (well, kinda of) but the game, at least for me, felt different than other letdowns this season. I say this because Milan had most of the guys out on the pitch who could best defeat a packed in Cagliari trying to steal some points at home. We couldn’t say that earlier in the season when Fonseca came out of the gates in some of these winnable games (on paper) with some suspect decisions in his starting lineup.
We’ll get into the Serie A table here in a second when I review what happened in the league, but had Fonseca managed those previous games better, I’m talking simply starting his starters, he’s easily 3-6 points better now and Milan is in the thick of things, battling for the top spot. The top spot in the table is at 26 points, the next four teams (spots 2-5) are at 25 points and 6th place is at 24 points. Milan sit in 7th at 18 points, game in hand, 5 points back of the final European spot. Lots of time but important to know the context AND the missed opportunity.
For this game, Cagliari and some of the Cagliari players had career days. Goals on strikes they’re never likely to replicate for the rest of their careers in top flight football. I mean, two first-time volleys for goals, one of them Zappa struck with his leg horizontal to the ground into the top corner? It happens. This is why those previous preventable dropped points games irked me so much. Fluke games happen so don’t drop points due to poor preventable decisions before kickoff.
As for Milan, Leão is heating up and Reijnders continued his hot streak with another stellar performance. Surely some big-spending clubs are starting to notice. On the less impressive side, Pavlovic continued his bad run of form and Fofana had another bad giveaway. Both of these guys seem to have that type of play in them and Fonseca needs to rid them of it.
Michael Lisi and I disagreed somewhat on Theo and if he was responsible for the third goal, as I felt he helped with the danger nearest to goal and Lisi felt he needed to protect the back post. One thing to note on this play: Okafor was strolling and in no-man’s land when the Cagliari player made the run to get into the position for the volley. This is another can of worms although it did influence the play and should be stated. Theo’s up-and-down performances are not in dispute, however, and he needs to pick it up AND stop b*tching so much to the refs.
But again, despite all of this, I’m less down after these dropped points compared to earlier this season. Fonseca needs to stick to the game plan of the last few games with necessary adjustments to the defense, because the hemorrhaging of goals needs to stop. Sticking with a CB pairing for a run of games would surely help.
What Happened in Serie A
Napoli (1st) are still at the top of the table after drawing with Inter (4th) 1-1 at the San Siro. For those keeping track at home, Conte’s men are 0-2-1 vs other teams currently in the top 6 (Napoli’s win over Milan doesn’t factor in this at this time because Milan sit outside of the top 6). They have yet to play Fiorentina (3rd) and Lazio (5th). I’m expecting more of the same when they do.
Speaking of Fiorentina, and before we get to Atalanta (2nd), they easily took care of Hellas Verona (14th) 3-1. Fiorentina have won 9 of their last 11, including 6 straight in Serie A. The last Serie A team to beat them? Atalanta, who beat them all the way back on September 15th (Empoli drew with them on September 29th). As for Atalanta, they beat Udinese (9th) 2-1 and have won 5 in a row and 8 of their last 10. These two are easily the hottest teams in Serie A at the moment.
Lazio (5th) beat Monza (19th) 1-0 and are winning a lot of games right now. Definitely one of the hotter teams despite going through what many (including myself) would consider a rebuild. Juventus (6th) beat Torino (11th) 2-0 but have only taken 21 out of their previous 39 possible points across all competitions. People jumping off of that ship in the last month or so, which is unsurprising to me at least.
Bologna (8th) have started playing better, beating Roma (12th) 3-2, extending their win streak to 3 games in Serie A. In fact, this stretch has accounted for 3 of their 4 league wins this season, so definitely showing signs of life. Roma fired Juric after this game and are now onto their third manager this season in 16 games across all competitions. They are 4-6-6 during this time. So much for all the money they spent this past summer. Seems like a poorly constructed team.
Empoli (10th) drew with Lecce (18th) 1-1 and continue grabbing points where they can. Lisi always says 30pts+ usually keeps a team up and Empoli is already halfway there. Parma (13th) got their second win of the season, beating Venezia (20th) 2-1. Finally, Como (15th) drew with Genoa (17th) 1-1 and both teams continue to tread water.
Alright, that about wraps up the Serie A review. Now onto ratings…
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 6 – Not going lower than a 6 because he got very little help. But concede 3 goals and unless the tally would’ve been 8 without some Herculean effort, then I can’t go higher than a 6 either
Goal Keeping Overall 6
Defense
ROYAL 5.5 – Needs to do a better job of closing down ball carriers as lot of clean service came from his side
THIAW 6.5 – Solid. Again
PAVLOVIC 5.5 – Wasn’t directly responsible for any of the goals and yet his play was average to poor all game. His positioning has been bad and if it wasn’t for 8 offsides called against Cagliari, about half very close, he likely would’ve been directly responsible for 1 or 2 goals
HERNÁNDEZ 5 – As mentioned above, Lisi and I have some disagreement about if he was directly responsible for the 3rd goal, but his play otherwise in this game was poor. His attitude has been bad too as I thought he was going to get sent off for dissent. Not sure what’s going on but hopefully the break helps
Defense Overall 5.5
Midfield
FOFANA 6.5 – Bipolar game for the Frenchman. His pass to Leão for Milan’s second goal was a gem but his poor touch directly set up Cagliari’s second goal. This is now a couple of times where he’s clumsily given up possession and it led to a goal this season. Gotta clean that up
REIJNDERS 8 – Solid all game but the outside of the foot chip over the top to find Leão was sublime. Kid is on fire right now
Midfield Overall 7
Forwards
CHUKWUEZE 6.5 – Yet another 6.5 from me, as I thought he was quietly solid all game
PULISIC 6.5 – Was invisible for chunks of the game but also popped up here and there including the rocket that the keeper couldn’t handle that Abraham tapped in on the rebuild
LEÃO 9 MOTM – Really good and finally found his scoring boots. Many of his touches were efficient and caused Cagliari problems all night. He simply has to play as much as he can. Still Milan’s most talented player
CAMARDA 6 – Kid did ok in his first start but Abraham probably should’ve gotten the nod even if his shoulder isn’t 100% as Fonseca mentioned this past week. Still, happy for the kid but probably needs to stick to late cameo appearances for the time being
Forwards Overall 7
Subs
LOFTUS-CHEEK 6 – Was fine
ABRAHAM 7 – Love his intensity and how hard he works to get himself into advantageous positions
TOMORI NA – He played
MUSAH NA – He played
OKAFOR NA – If Leão was where Okafor was and did what Okafor did on that 3rd goal, we’d never hear the end of it…just saying
Subs Overall 6
Coaching
FONSECA 6.5 – Thought the tactics were right, not sure why he started Pavlovic unless he thought Cagliari was going to whip in a bunch of aerial balls like Monza. I mean they did, but it always seemed to be at the back post (either back post for that matter) since Cagliari isn’t a tall as Monza. Anyway, I love that he played an aggressive attacking line and the 3 goals are the byproduct of that.
But the defense on the other hand. Yikes. Hopefully this international break helps him find solutions. Could be as simple as sticking with a CB pairing for awhile. Could be more time, like this break, for him to get across his defensive philosophy. Or most likely, in my opinion, he needs to get the loose turnovers under control as the second Cagliari goal was the most offensive to me. Sometimes dudes hit wonder strikes. Sometimes the opponent gets the best of you in a series of possessions. But like Fonseca’s lineup selections this season, those dumb giveaways are unforced errors. Entirely preventable. Let’s start there
Final Thoughts
Well that wraps up this post. All in all, the team is trending in the right direction. Make some adjustments, keep attacking while the defense sorts itself out, and keep playing the players we’ve seen these last few games.
We’re going to try to get out an article or two this break, so be on the lookout for something in the next few days (hopefully). Until then, Forza Milan.
gillis
