Bacca is needed.

Yup. Not a huge fan of Bacca, but this is one situation where he could make the difference.

... and now he comes on ...

Damn! 2 lost points

FT 0-0. Frustrating, but Atalanta was very solid defending and dangerous on the break.

Didn't have a chance to watch. How did everyone look?

In my opinion our worst players were Bertolacci and Suso, while our best players were Paletta, Kucka and Bonaventura. Abate was solid too. I think that if Montella made the subs a little earlier we could have had a better chance.

I would add Romagnoli to the list of best players he was immense in his tackling.

I only saw the second half, we should have won. Atalanta were rubbish, only had a few counterattacks. Too bad about the lost points, especially since Napoli most probably will surpass us tomorrow.

PS: Atalanta's players were a bunch of clowns. The referee was horrible as well.

The faul on Bertolacci comes to mind as an example.

Interesting stat that proves me wrong:

Bertolacci made more tackles (5), touches (80) and completed more passes (61) than any other Milan player tonight.

I think one of the worst players on field was Lapadula. Can anyone tell me, beside the two won penalties (which is a really good score btw.) how many shots/goal attempts did he make in the last 3 matches combined? IMO he's too distanced from the goal and poses rarely a real threat.

Paletta wasn't exactly splendid as well. Abate had to cover up many of his completely wrong passes, his long balls, lack of speed (while trying to bomb forward), etc. I get his passion and determination but it's usually just careless and faulty play.

I think Bertolacci did good. Montella shocked me once again. His subs, bringing in MDS and the Niang for Bona perplexed me.

Have to say the mildly jovial tone in this thread is surprising, because after my optimism over recent months, the past three matches suggest the honeymoon is over, and we're going into freefall.

Crotone was humiliation, and we didn't deserve the win - to manage it with the last kick of the ball against Serie A's equivalent of San Marino was diabolical, and against Roma we were just second best period with too many players not producing.

I thought this match was yet more of that direction, with too few players producing - for me Jack and Gigio were terrible, while the only players who seemed in form were the excellent Romagnoli, Paletta and Antonelli. Suso's decline is continuing - absolutely typical that I big him up and now his form is in utter free fall. I barely saw anything from our midfield, which is fine when the attack is compensating, but right now it isn't. In case you guys hadn't noticed, we haven't scored against a worthwhile team since Empoli four matches ago.

We look like we're staring at total free fall, and a major reason is for all the praise I gave Montella, he has no plan B. It's a complaint us Rangers fans had of Mark Warburton, and we were struggling. He's now nailed a plan B and that's three wins in a row. Meanwhile Montella's not offered anything different and that's 180 without a goal and just one point. If both Lazio and Napoli win we've suddenly 6th and I don't see anything in the past 3 matches which points to us regaining form and position.

Montella's done a great job till now, but it's coming undone now.

It's Carlo-itis. That unerring ability all Milan managers since Carlo have had to make absolutely bewildering and frustrating subs which clearly aren't going to add anything.

Antonelli was excellent yet got taken off for the cancerous MDS (who is now my new Montolivo in being the Milan player I now hate) - Niang added little but I thought Jack was poor. Honda should have got a run out - made the difference against mightly Crotone.

I disagree, I thought Jack was far and away our best offensive player. Suso didn't produce much in terms of end results but he chipped in with a lot of running and tracking back. Lapadula was mostly isolated trying to latch onto a ball or two over the top, I think he would work well playing alongside Bacca with a playmaker behind them.

I also thought Antonelli and Romagnoli had strong performances. Atalanta is a good young team. They have taken a few scalps this year, and Gasperini has the players working in his system. They have a few studs.

I am not entirely happy with this result but I also didn't foresee us being in this position when the season began. We have essentially the same team from last year, at least this time around the boys are playing with real heart and drive. You can't support Montella and approve of his plan and then at the first sign of trouble condemn him. We don't have power on the bench, that much is apparent. Who is he going to bring on? Honda? Sosa? Maxi? none of those guys can provide much. The team is still exactly what I thought it was and that is seriously overperforming. We have a very young team and winning takes time and careful building.

Pasalic is getting better and Berto is finally getting healthy which is a good sign for our once depleted midfield, but I still think that out best lineup includes Jack and Niang. The former needs to move back into the midfield. Niang - whatever his flaws - works as a hybrid striker for us. Running our counter attacks and cutting inside when we need more bodies in the box. He is clumsy and is a terrible finisher but he operates as a wide SS and is arguably our most dangerous counter-attacking player.