I should probably start calling these post mortem instead of post match. My god…
This isn’t going to be a long one. The wheels have fallen off or are just barely hanging on, either way things do not look good. The regression has been something spectacular and very likely irreversible this season. I’ve been optimistic about Conceição and the talent the team has but it’s just not working. Truth be told, I’d be fine running with Conceição especially if they can’t bring in someone in with a proven track record in Serie A. And at this point, I think running the risk of bringing in someone without Serie A experience only ups the chances for another lost season next season. But these performances make it hard to defend Conceição especially when he’s veering into Fonseca territory with these mismatched lineups. For all of February it was the players with the unforced errors. Now it’s him.
In this game, it almost felt like there was a game plan, whatever it was, and it likely had RLC as part of it. Then his appendix decided to explode and Conceição had to change course. I think Conceição also planned for Conte’s usual 3-man backline and crowded midfield and when that didn’t pan out, this lack of width and both wingers inverting and moving centrally made Napoli’s job on defense easier and they neutralized Milan’s laughable attack with ease.
As for not starting Leão, I get that he was tired and a little banged up (mentioned in the post match), and that’s fine if he doesn’t start. But Pulisic should’ve been at LW with Chukwueze at RW or Pulisic at RW and Sottil at LW, any of these combinations would’ve been better on top of keeping João Felix central and Reijnders in the double pivot. Instead we got that whole bunch of nothingness in the attack. no direction, no identity, no spark or creativity.
And the defense? Like how can a team be this consistently bad even with talented players. Sure, Gabbia, Pavlovic, Thiaw, and Tomori aren’t world beaters but they’re better than most CBs in Serie A but it doesn’t seem to matter. Maignan is average more times than not these days and it’s looking more and more like a squad revamp is on the horizon. The problem there is we’ll be relying on the people who broke it to fix it…or maybe a fraud they’re thinking of bringing in. Sigh…
What Happened in Serie A
Inter (1st) beat Udinese (10th) 2-1. They did this even without Lautaro Martinez and maintain their 3 point lead at the top of the table. I don’t know if they can win the league again with their other commitments, but they sure are giving themselves a chance to pull it off.
We all know Napoli (2nd) won but Atalanta (3rd) appears to have fallen out of the Scudetto race and are now at risk of falling out of the top 4 after losing to 1-0 to Fiorentina (8th). With Bologna (4th) beating Venezia (19th) 1-0, Atalanta are now just 2 points up on 4th and are in a bit of a tailspin. Gasperini will need to find some of that early season magic if they hope to avoid a catastrophic collapse to close the campaign.
Juventus (5th) got back in the win column, giving Igor Tudor his first win in charge, beating Genoa (12th) 1-0. After two dreadful performances, a much needed win to ease some pressure for the bianconeri. Roma (6th) did their part to keep pace, winning 1-0 over Lecce (17th), while Lazio (7th) drew 1-1 vs Torino (11th). Interestingly, all six teams fighting for 4th each scored 1 goal in their games. Four of the teams won, one tied, and one lost. You can guess who that was who lost…
Como (13th) drew 1-1 against Empoli (18th), taking their point total to the usually safe range of 30 points. With 8 games to go, they should be in line to stay up and build on what has been a positive season. Hellas Verona (14th) drew 0-0 to Parma (16th), also taking them to that same magical 30 points total. Finally, Cagliari (15th) got a much needed 3 points, beating Monza (20th) 3-0. The win takes Cagliari to 29 points on the season and are close to securing their safety as well.
That wraps up the league recap. Now, ratings
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 6 – Mediocre.
Goal Keeping Overall 6
Defense
WALKER 6 – Helped keep Lukaku onside for the second Napoli goal. I feel bad for him as he was very animated throughout the game. You can tell this is killing him.
GABBIA 6 – Invisible.
PAVLOVIC 6 – Partially to blame along with Theo on the first goal. Not sure why he left Lukaku on the second goal. Still, one of the few players who plays with passion these days, and that’s always welcomed.
HERNÁNDEZ 7.5 – Out of position on the first goal but was solid offensively especially after, surprise-surprise, Leão came in, drawing the penalty and assisting on Milan’s only goal.
Defense Overall 6
Midfield
BONDO 6 – Inconspicuous but not bad.
FOFANA 6 – Thought he was getting too far forward again at times, although to be fair, Bondo was the stay at home guy which is why I wanted Reijnders back there…so Fofana could stay back.
Midfield Overall 6
Forwards
PULISIC 5.5 – I read (or heard) he lost possession like 14 times. Brutal. Might have been his worst game in the Milan jersey.
REIJNDERS 6 – Invisible until moving back to the double pivot. Shocker, I know.
FELIX 5.5 – Drifted in too much and killed Milan’s width. Even worse was that it didn’t really do anything, as he was barely involved.
ABRAHAM 6 – Like most of the frontline, invisible. But I can’t really blame him on this one. Zero build up, zero service.
Forwards Overall 5.5
Subs
LEÃO 6.5 – Entered and was instantly Milan’s best offensive player.
CHUKWUEZE 6.5 – Not bad actually. Had some fire and brought some life to the attack.
GIMÉNEZ 5.5 – Missed the penalty and then Jovic took his goal. Bad night.
JIMENEZ 6.5 – Solid.
JOVIC 7 – Very Jovic goal. But that’s good. Need that from someone.
Subs Overall 6.5
Coaching
CONCEIÇÃO 3 – I hated when Fonseca square peg/round holed things and Conceição did that this game. With 2 weeks off, and yes a lot of his players had international duty, but how could he and his coaching staff not see what the best formation and squad selection should’ve been. It blows my mind that he did some version of what he did in the first halves vs Como and Lecce. Not a huge shocker we got similar outcomes.
As mentioned above, I like Conceição, it’s a feeling similar to how I felt about Pioli. But these performances are not going to let the Conceição era continue. I don’t want Allegri or for god’s sake, Conte, but I also don’t want some retread or another Giampaolo disaster. Management has been pretty bad with their decisions of late and I’m not feeling great about them moving on from Conceição. I mean, if rumors are to be believed, they’re thinking of bringing in Fabio Paratici, the former Juve and Tottenham sporting director, who is still serving a sporting ban until June 2025 for the Prisma-Juve scandal. Not good…this is…not good.
Final Thoughts
I so want to count them out but then they’re going to beat Inter on Wednesday aren’t they? Then beat Fiorentina on Saturday?…FML.
Forza Milan.
gillis
