Annnnnd everything comes crashing down…
Ok, maybe not quite that bad but don’t get on social media or you’d think Milan is just absolute trash, everyone must go, burn an effigy of ____, and hashtag ____Out. Do that and you’ll fit right in!
But, if you’re not ready to do that, then let’s discuss a few things because while the sky isn’t falling there are some things, both short term and long term, that need addressing.
Let’s deal with the easy, straightforward stuff first. Gabbia completely let his team down with a mental lapse that put Milan in a hole. I brought up in the comment section of the matchday post that many people skewered Theo for a slip in the Parma game when his was much more forgivable, both in what happened and it’s impact. Theo’s slip was a changing of direction, his feet slipping out from under him. Gabbia’s was a complete lack of concentration (maybe effort too but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt), something that can’t happen really anytime but especially in a game of such magnitude. I can’t imagine the reaction had this been Theo or Leão or even Tomori. I think some of your heads would’ve literally exploded.
The Gabbia howler (boner?), as bad as it was, is unfortunately something that happens sometimes. It was and is avoidable but it was also something that the team could have come back from considering the talent on the pitch and the time remaining. What happened with Musah was more egregious and deserves more criticism.
The first yellow he received, for trying to pick up and dragging a Dinamo player, who was of course milking it, off the ground was dumb. It’s frustrating as a fan to see the dramatics and I can imagine how it is for players, particularly those who don’t partake in the shenanigans, who just want to play the game and the opponent is flopping around like a fish out of water when they were barely touched if at all. But if Musah decides to do what he did and gets that foul and yellow there, then he has to understand the tradeoff he just made. He can no longer be as aggressive, he can’t jaw back to the ref as much, and he can no longer commit the tactical foul when necessary. And that’s the other thing! The tactical foul he committed that drew the second yellow wasn’t even necessary. The ball was well away from the opponent and it was closer to Maignan than it was to him (and Pavlovic was there as well).
This error and second yellow were equally as bad as Gabbia’s lack of concentration but was more consequential since he committed it while Milan was already down 1-0. Being down a man would make any victory very improbable, a victory that would guarantee top 8 placement in Champions League. I’ve historically liked Musah and think he’s a solid, albeit rough around the edges, talented player, but you just can’t do this. I don’t know if this will put him in Conceição’s doghouse, but I’d have a hard time arguing against it. At the very least it wouldn’t surprise me if he sat for the next couple of games.
Those were the near term items, things that were game-related and need to stop. While Milan have undoubtedly seen some of the weirdest and low percentage things happen to them this season, including under Fonseca, the handful of errors every game need to shrink. If you’re conceding a goal 1 out of every 6 dumb errors and you’re having 6 errors a game, then let’s shrink that down to 3 errors a game and maybe concede 1 goal every other game because of this. Of course even less frequent than that, the better.
The more long term issues revolve around the overall circumstances of the moment, and the inherent difficulty that surrounds it. Whether or not you believe Conceição is the right guy, a clear lens of which to view this from is critical. Failure to do that leads to the wrong conclusions about what’s causing things and what’s needed to fix them.
Before we dive into those circumstances, it’s helpful to restate the objective here: Milan need to average 2 points per game from the time Conceição came on to give them a chance to achieve what they need to. They can have some drop off in other competitions but that needs to be the pace in the league. Overall, they have gone 5-1-2 in 8 games in all competitions. If all of them were worth 3 points, that would be 16 out of a possible 24 points, or 2 points per game. In just league matches, they’ve gone 2-1-1, or 7 out of a possible 12 points. Not quite 2 points per game but not far off considering the small sample size. Is that glowing? No. But you’d have to be a fool to not think that was solid all things being equal.
So what are the circumstances? Milan has had to play a game every 3-4 days since Conceição came on. Have you recognized who they’ve had to play and the weight and situation of the games? In 8 games, with no real time to prepare, Conceição and Milan have played Inter, Juventus twice, and 2 Champions League games, which are inherently more difficult than most league games, a ton of injuries (especially in attack), and have had zero reinforcements. He’s produced as well if not better than Fonseca with many more things against him (and many of Fonseca’s were self-inflicted). And before we forget this point, their 9th game is against Inter. So add that to the list I just ran off.
There’s a decent chance Milan won’t take home all 3 points this weekend. I hate writing that but it’s true. It’s difficult to beat a team 3 times in one season in the best of situations much less in this one. But provided Milan field the Futuro on Wednesday in the Coppa Italia against Roma (and they absolutely should), February should provide some slowing down in the pace of games and a notch down in the competition. Kyle Walker is signed, which will help, and there appears to be an uptick in chatter in the mercato.
None of what I said means there isn’t room for improvement, both in quality on the pitch and in execution. Of course there is but that’s going to take time. Let’s see what happens over the next month and reassess before the Lazio game on March 2nd.
Now, ratings.
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 6 – Hung out to dry on the first goal, got beat by a brilliant second goal.
Goal Keeping Overall 6
Defense
TOMORI 6.5 – Got an assist and did well while out of position.
GABBIA 3 – Simply cannot do that. You just can’t.
PAVLOVIC 6.5 – Don’t know that he excelled at anything but the heart and work ethic are to be admired.
HERNÁNDEZ 6 – Average game until the red, then it’s tough to really rate him and a lot of guys since they were all out there trying to make something out of nothing.
Overall Defense 5.5
Midfield
FOFANA 6.5 – Ran his ass off and did the best he could. He really needs to stop shooting though.
MUSAH 1 – For as big as Gabbia’s error was, his was what ultimately sunk Milan. Just dumb, dumb, dumb.
Midfield Overall 4
Forwards
PULISIC 7 – Had a bad first 15-20 minutes. Kept getting dispossessed. But found his groove until the red, then did the best he could, including just a quality turn and shoot goal to give Milan life.
REIJNDERS 6 – Reverted back to his average self since Conceição took over, but this time it wasn’t really on him. Like Fofana, had to run and run and run to cover ground.
LEÃO 6.5 – Was really unlucky to not get the penalty awarded, as his elbow grazed…maybe…the face of the defender. Was ok beside that.
MORATA 6 – Average before coming off at the half. Some rumors he was injured but also rumors that him and Conceição maybe got into it? I don’t know, lots of nonsense floating around AND also some rumors that he might be out?…
Forwards Overall 6.5
Subs
TERRACCIANO 6 – Came on to run and defend and did those things well.
CHUKWUEZE 6.5 – As stated earlier, tough to rate attackers (or really anyone) when down a man, but gave maximum effort and had a few good balls.
OKAFOR NA – Oh boy. Don’t want to miss an opportunity and miss he did.
ABRAHAM NA– He played.
Subs Overall 6
Coaching
CONCEIÇÃO 6 – Giving him a 6 because I can’t really rate the gameplan since Gabbia’s error happened in the first 20 minutes. Then Musah’s about 20 minutes later. I read some people saying they didn’t like the effort but scoring a goal while down a guy is no easy task and takes maximum effort. And they potentially had another one before Leão’s PK got reversed.
One thing I wanted to address was the post match comments he gave where he stated it’s tough to do things in football when you lack the basics. I’ve seen some people take this to mean the team isn’t talented but I took it more as a commentary about all the stupid errors we keep seeing, like the Gabbia error of just trying to pass it back and failing but also the mental errors of Musah getting the first yellow and especially the second. You can look back at the other games where a loose or lazy pass gets intercepted and turns into a great scoring opportunity for the opponent, or a poor defensive clearance or marking. Those are the basics I thought about when reading the quote.
Final Thoughts
Before we go, the Champions League draw for the knockouts is as follows: Milan and PSV are paired together, almost like in a pod. Milan is selected first and then they will draw for their opponent between Feyenoord (Gimenez anyone???) and Juventus, in the opposite pod. Whoever isn’t drawn will play PSV. Hope that helps. Draw is at like 6am EST for us in the states.
Inter up next on Sunday…oye.
Forza Milan
gillis
