[han2503]

Who: A.C. Milan vs. U.S. Sassuolo



(IMG:http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah232/hannvis/milan-Sassuolo_zpseb010f2c.png)



Where: Stadio San Siro



(IMG:http://www.acmilan.com/uploads/club/sansiro.jpg)



When:
6th January 2015 @ 3:00pm CET


Head-to-Head Record



(IMG:http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah232/hannvis/milan-Sassuolostats_zps5de0bded.png)

[X-Offender]

Diego Lopez; Abate, Zapata, Alex, De Sciglio; Poli, Muntari, Montolivo; Bonaventura, Menez, El Shaarawy.

[milanbuf88]

Diego Lopez; Abate, Zapata, Alex, De Sciglio; Poli, Muntari, Montolivo; Bonaventura, Menez, El Shaarawy.

Looks pretty great except for Muntari. Hopefully he can handle playing against Sassuolo.

[Danny]

Defence is pretty much as good as it gets, personal preference for Zaps over Rami notwithstanding.

Midfield is a mess - Poli has been running out of steam early in the second half and Muntari is a liability. But unfortunately MvG is injured and until Cerci is ready Bona will stay up front.

I'd rather have had Essien, Poli and Monto all things considered.

And we will see if SES' display V Real will translate to a 'real' match. Geddit?

[X-Offender]

Update: Diego Lopez; Rami, Zapata, Alex, De Sciglio; Poli, Essien, Montolivo; Bonaventura, Menez, El Shaarawy.

[han2503]

Update: Diego Lopez; Rami, Zapata, Alex, De Sciglio; Poli, Essien, Montolivo; Bonaventura, Menez, El Shaarawy.

Looks better

[Danny]

In Abate's absence that is absolutely our best defence. Rami is excellent as RB and everyone else is as good as we have in those positions.

Midfield is what I asked for in light of no De Jong, and with Cerci not available that's our best option up top.

Basically, it looks like Pippo's finally finding our best team and sticking with it.

Really looking forward to tomorrow's match.

[han2503]

In Abate's absence that is absolutely our best defence. Rami is excellent as RB and everyone else is as good as we have in those positions.

Midfield is what I asked for in light of no De Jong, and with Cerci not available that's our best option up top.

Basically, it looks like Pippo's finally finding our best team and sticking with it.

Really looking forward to tomorrow's match.

I don't see how it can be our best defence though, I think Mexes has shown in these few short weeks how important he is and how much of a stabling force he's been on our defence as a whole. You might not like the guy because he is a hot head, but he came from out in the cold and improved our defence completely, something that not even Alex could do when he was playing regularly before his injury, whether it was with Rami or Zapata, both guys actually started to look like the good defenders they are since Mexes has been back. It's been very clear to see what the common denominator was in this situation imo.

As for midfield, I personally still don't get why we have to include a slow, somewhat of a liability DM in there if there's no De Jong. We're playing Sassuolo here, putting Monto in the centre with Poli and Bona on either side of him would work like a charm, without the added baggage of having Muntari or Essien play in slow motion in the centre. If we were playing a more difficult fixture sure, the added muscle would be needed, but against Sassuolo?

[Danny]

I don't see how it can be our best defence though, I think Mexes has shown in these few short weeks how important he is and how much of a stabling force he's been on our defence as a whole. You might not like the guy because he is a hot head, but he came from out in the cold and improved our defence completely, something that not even Alex could do when he was playing regularly before his injury,

That's not even slightly true. We've never lost a competitive match with Alex in defence. Your pro-Mexes bias is blinding you to how astounding Alex has been for us. I've been pretty fair re: Mexes, he's played well recently, hothead moments aside, but Alex is simply our best defender.

Mexes in defence - we lost in Genoa. We're yet to lose with Alex at the back.

His cameo v Roma while half fit was arguably the reason we held out for the draw.

For me Alex is the best bits of Mexes, Rami and Zapata mixed together. Puts his head where it hurts, absolutely titanic in the air, astounding positional sense, fantastic at last-ditch blocks.

Maybe this is OTT but IMO he's been as good for us in his appearances as Silva was. Albeit in a much weaker Milan.

whether it was with Rami or Zapata, both guys actually started to look like the good defenders they are since Mexes has been back. It's been very clear to see what the common denominator was in this situation imo.

Fair enough, most others see it differently.

As for midfield, I personally still don't get why we have to include a slow, somewhat of a liability DM in there if there's no De Jong. We're playing Sassuolo here, putting Monto in the centre with Poli and Bona on either side of him would work like a charm, without the added baggage of having Muntari or Essien play in slow motion in the centre. If we were playing a more difficult fixture sure, the added muscle would be needed, but against Sassuolo?

You've not watched Essien recently much - he's been far more like his old self. I've been harsher than most on his failings especially given how happy I was with us signing him, but recently he's been quite simply very good indeed.

As a DM backup for De Jong he's a fine deputy.

Re: the rest, we need Bono up top as we're threadbare there and Cerci isn't ready to start. Otherwise yes, for me our best midfield is of course De Jong, Monto and Bona, and for now the best attack is Menez, SES & Cerci. Hopefully we get Destro and that completes the puzzle.

[han2503]

That's not even slightly true. We've never lost a competitive match with Alex in defence. Your pro-Mexes bias is blinding you to how astounding Alex has been for us. I've been pretty fair re: Mexes, he's played well recently, hothead moments aside, but Alex is simply our best defender.

Mexes in defence - we lost in Genoa. We're yet to lose with Alex at the back.

His cameo v Roma while half fit was arguably the reason we held out for the draw.

For me Alex is the best bits of Mexes, Rami and Zapata mixed together. Puts his head where it hurts, absolutely titanic in the air, astounding positional sense, fantastic at last-ditch blocks.

Maybe this is OTT but IMO he's been as good for us in his appearances as Silva was. Albeit in a much weaker Milan.

With Alex we drew a good deal of games, most of which because we couldn't stop the opposition from scoring once or twice in each game

We've managed to keep clean sheets with Mexes in there, most notably against top opposition like Napoli and Roma. For me, whether we won, lost or drew doesn't really figure into this, for example, we won against Parma but conceded four, I repeat, four goals. Sure we won, but that's hardly a certificate of excellence for the defence

For me, our best defenders ARE Alex and Mexes, no doubts about it, as for me they're a level above both Zapata and Rami. But what I'm looking at is when Alex was the "leader" sort of in that pairing and when Mexes took on that role, and I think you can see how good Mexes is by looking at how both Rami and Zapata performed when he was in there.

No one can deny how hugely important Mexes has been since he's been used as a starter again, and this after spending months sitting on the bench because of whatever personal issues Pippo had with him

Not to discredit Alex who is colossal in the air and such a physical presence, but I do think Mexes is the more tactically astute defender of the 2, which is why both Rami and Zapata thrive next to him, and this has always been the case. Which is why I think we'd have a very strong defence if we manage to get both Alex and Mexes fit at the same time and playing regularly together

You've not watched Essien recently much - he's been far more like his old self. I've been harsher than most on his failings especially given how happy I was with us signing him, but recently he's been quite simply very good indeed.

As a DM backup for De Jong he's a fine deputy.

Re: the rest, we need Bono up top as we're threadbare there and Cerci isn't ready to start. Otherwise yes, for me our best midfield is of course De Jong, Monto and Bona, and for now the best attack is Menez, SES & Cerci. Hopefully we get Destro and that completes the puzzle.

I think you know by now that I watch Milan religiously, so I've seen Essien just as much as you have. And while I agree with you that he has done well the last 2 or 3 games he's played (certainly a LOT better than Muntari), he still has a lot of issues, mostly the fact that he's very slow, and takes a lot of time to control the ball and decide where to pass it, which has put us under pressure a fair amount of times either because the ball is taken off him or making a terrible pass under pressure

Basically he's Muntari 2.0 without the shots at row z and the ridiculous passing attempts to no one

[Danny]

Didn't watch the Madrid friendly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[han2503]

Didn't watch the Madrid friendly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

But in all honesty that game looked ridiculous, I'm happy that SES scored for example but I'm not deluded into thinking he'll be back just because of that performance

[han2503]

POLIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Great work

[han2503]

Have you guys forgotten that we play now?

[William405]

POOOOLI!!!

[William405]

Have you guys forgotten that we play now?

I just tuned in! And a goal, haha (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[CrazyMilanFan]

am streaming at work (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[han2503]

Essien...

[han2503]

am streaming at work (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[han2503]

1-1...

[X-Offender]

Terrible display thus far...

[X-Offender]

Essien and Monto can go f*ck themselves. No dedication whatsoever in their performances.

[X-Offender]

Being dominated by Sassuolo at home How depressing...

[han2503]

Our biggest problem is that midfield, totally disjointed, Essien is a big problem

DS also has just been out of it. Berardi has turned him over 3 times in this half, he needs to get tighter on him and he needs to make better use of the ball when he has it

[X-Offender]

Essien has to come off for Cerci. And Pippo has to scream his players for such a shambolic first half.

Also, I agree with Han about DS being horrible. Sometimes the stuff he does makes no sense. He's turned into a very insecure player.

[X-Offender]

90% of Facebook comments slamming De Sciglio. Worse than Mesbah, they say... Can't blame them.

[CrazyMilanFan]

such a poor half despite a bright start

[han2503]

90% of Facebook comments slamming De Sciglio. Worse than Mesbah, they say... Can't blame them.

I think it's justified to a certain degree, but he's also coming off a long layoff and even before that he was struggling with his form, so I wasn't exactly expecting him to be a super nova today, but he has to do better, at least he's usually very dependable on the defensive side of things, but it's clear he's a step behind Berardi on most occasions

I also don't get why he keeps punting the ball aimlessly

[han2503]

FFS!!

Who was supposed to be marking him??

[X-Offender]

I'm off. F*ck this ****.

[acid911]

am streaming at work

Do you guys have any job vacancies open? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif)

[acid911]

Well, to be brutally honest, Sassuolo do have a pretty good record against us. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) They're about to better it too! Unless something absolutely magical happens in these dying minutes.

(IMG:http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah232/hannvis/milan-Sassuolostats_zps5de0bded.png)

[han2503]

Another terrible performance, just guileless

[X-Offender]

Incredible. All the clamor after the Napoli and Roma results, after the win against Madrid, after Cerci's signing, and this is how we play? Losing at home to Sassuolo. Nothing has changed, really. We're still the shitty team we were a month ago.

[Danny]

What's clear is the attitude of the players is all wrong here. V Napoli, Roma and Real we were totally up for it and fought like lions. Today we were pussies, pure and simple. Add to that Pippo's ghastly naive tactics and Sassuolo's wily counter attacking and we deservedly lost. That, today, is the real Milan, and we're all back down to earth with a horrible bump.

Ratings:

Lopez: 6 No chance with either goal, didn't have much to do otherwise in truth.

Rami: 3 Dire. Caught out of position again and again and while the guy is classy ON the ball, he's absolutely fucking useless as a defender.

Alex: 5 Struggled to keep order, and truthfully didn't manage to do so. His own work was good enough, but was unable to organise the shambles around him.

Zapata: 4 Ordinary. Poor on the ball, but then, always has been.

MDS: 3 Back to classic out of form MDS. Got forward ok but like Rami on the other side exposed the CBs frequently.

Poli: 4 Gets that 4 for his goal. Otherwise a really, really weak show from him, not his usual hard grafting self and faded even worse than normal in the second half.

Essien: 2 Terrible. No focus, no concentration, and slow.

Monto: 2 Back to last season's Monto. Cost us the first goal (in conjunction with a useless defence) and contributed absolutely nothing of quality in this match.

Bona: 5 Didn't hide but not a lot came off for him.

Menez: 3 After a bright first 10 minutes he turned into his old selfish me me me self. Went AWOL soon after. His stinking attitude is back, oh how we've missed it.

SES: 2 Usual SES when it's not a friendly.

Subs:

Cerci: 6 Oddly rather good in these circumstances. Bright, tried to make things happen and nearly scored.

Pazzo: 4 Made one excellent shot. Otherwise, not a lot.

Abate: NA not enough time.

Pippo: 0 After all his good progress today was an absolute disaster, tactically and formationally. If we weren't out of shape at the front we were caught again and again at the back. Pippo did nothing to change anything and it just continued after the break.

TOTAL. MESS.

[acid911]

I know what Han is thinking. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) We needed Mexès there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) But agreed with the overall assessments. And besides, I've always believed that it took us a while to fall from grace, it's going to take more than one season in the right direction to get back to our best.

Unfortunately, we have the wrong man at the helm. Needed a much more mature coach at this juncture. Not someone that is learning (?) on the job. Imagine if you went out like this, no one would hire you!

[X-Offender]

Bona was the only player who really tried, I would give him a 6.5. The rest were rubbish.

[han2503]

Bona was the only player who really tried, I would give him a 6.5. The rest were rubbish.

I don't know if saying "tried" is right. I don't think the others were "not trying".

But I do admire Bona's perseverance. He might not be the greatest player around but he just makes up for that in so many different ways. He's very impressive in that regard.

With the rest, I just think they were bad, not for lack of trying, but just bad. From defenders to attackers. It felt like they were still digesting all the holiday food they ate

[Danny]

Bona was the only player who really tried, I would give him a 6.5. The rest were rubbish.

He didn't hide, but didn't produce much quality either. Effort without end product is kinda useless. I'm not going to score him higher than 5 just because he worked hard.

[Fillipo Simone]

This is one match I can't blame Pippo. He selected what he had available, the formation was standard and all position bar Rami were the players usual comfort zones.

What I don't get is how this mentality still sticks on with us. I mean we start rather well, look dominant and confident, the score and afterwards throw all away step by step.

It's very frustrating to watch Milan like this. First you have the defense, where only Lopez stands out as a consistently good player. Zapata and Rami are like clones, you'll never know what to expect. One day the play fine, the next day the turn a horror show (see Bonera). De Sciligio hasn't been focused and defensively solid for quite some time, which makes us even less solid. Only Abate can be called reliable and Mexes to an extent.

Then you have the midfield, covered with either terrible players like Muntari and Essien or completely anonymous players like Poli, Montolivo,.. There's no true spark, no power, no vision. Just sheer mediocrity.

At last you have the strikers. Hopefully Cerci will humble Menez a bit, because right up until now Menez owned the show, and the fact that he knew this made him only even more selfish and self-centered. SES? What's there to say about him? Han are you really sure he can play a central role? Because he's drifting naturally to the left. And then you have a funny tactical situation with MDS and SES both running and sliding through while Menez dribbles, slowly progresses without even considering of passing the ball to the flanks, and then making the cross (or more often a direct shot) into a striker-less box zone. That's just like we shoot ourselves in the left foot.

Very depressing and very perplexing. I really see so little room for progress with this kind of team overall.

[d'Arc.LP]

It's not that we don't have a good squad, decent. Not great. But even with this squad we should be more consistent and play with a different mentality. Inzaghi's job is not only to select players and formations. I, you, everyone could do that. His tactical approach, motivation and such are desperate. Time for someone with experience I think.

[han2503]

This is one match I can't blame Pippo.

At last you have the strikers. Hopefully Cerci will humble Menez a bit, because right up until now Menez owned the show, and the fact that he knew this made him only even more selfish and self-centered. SES? What's there to say about him? Han are you really sure he can play a central role? Because he's drifting naturally to the left. And then you have a funny tactical situation with MDS and SES both running and sliding through while Menez dribbles, slowly progresses without even considering of passing the ball to the flanks, and then making the cross (or more often a direct shot) into a striker-less box zone. That's just like we shoot ourselves in the left foot.

You make that first statement and then follow it with this...

The reason why SES was "drifting" to the left as you called it is because he was played on the left. We were using a standard 4-3-3, Bona was on the right, SES on the left and Menez was supposed to be the "false 9"

That's Pippo's no striker strategy. If SES is used as a winger, than naturally he'll play on the wing, problem with that is, Menez also naturally drifts there or goes very deep, which leaves us with no presence up front, hence shooting ourselves in the foot, the best chance we had came after Pazzo came on and he was used as a point of reference, atm, we don't have that. And instead of that being a pro for us because we're more difficult to defend against, we make it more easy for the opposition, which totally defeats the purpose of using the false 9

As I've kept saying now for a while, sometimes this Menez up top thing works out for us, but more often than not we struggle because there's no one up front. Either play SES there and give him a FIXED position in the centre or bring in a striker. Simple as.

This is all about tactics, that falls on Pippo

[Danny]

This really is one where the tactics let us down. Ok, the players initially crumpled after Monto's shocking pass gifted Sass a goal, but instead of changing the stupidly high line our FBs were playing Pippo just let it go as it was.

Time and time again Rami especially was caught miles up the pitch and Berardi, to name just one, was having a field day with it.

This was a strong first XI we put out there, and for the first 20 minutes it was a good display.

But soon as the goal went in we just ceased. That falls initially on the players. But the tactical failings thereafter fall very much on Pippo.

This was his worst performance as Milan boss, by a mile.

How hard would it have been to tell both Rami and MDS to stay back more and help out the CBs?

[Danny]

It's not that we don't have a good squad, decent. Not great. But even with this squad we should be more consistent and play with a different mentality. Inzaghi's job is not only to select players and formations. I, you, everyone could do that. His tactical approach, motivation and such are desperate. Time for someone with experience I think.

And yet he managed to get 3 excellent results v Napoli, Roma and Real?

The players today showed no courage, as if Sass were below them and they didn't need to try. A total lack of respect.

And Pippo's own naivety cost yet more.

Milan cannot only show up for, and be tactically solid for the big games. It's the bread and butter matches like today we need to produce as much for.

For me, the big problem was we played today with the same tactical counter attacking mentality as for those big 3 matches I mentioned, but while actually using the ball more than the players would expect for such a tactic.

It was like two gameplans fudged horribly into one match, and they both cancelled each other out.

[X-Offender]

He didn't hide, but didn't produce much quality either. Effort without end product is kinda useless. I'm not going to score him higher than 5 just because he worked hard.

Not just effort, he produced as well. But it's difficult making a difference when the rest of the players have their heads up their asses. Bona isn't exactly Messi, you know.

[Fillipo Simone]

Yes, he made the decisive cross that lead to the Poli goal.

[Fillipo Simone]

You make that first statement and then follow it with this...

The reason why SES was "drifting" to the left as you called it is because he was played on the left. We were using a standard 4-3-3, Bona was on the right, SES on the left and Menez was supposed to be the "false 9"

That's Pippo's no striker strategy. If SES is used as a winger, than naturally he'll play on the wing, problem with that is, Menez also naturally drifts there or goes very deep, which leaves us with no presence up front, hence shooting ourselves in the foot, the best chance we had came after Pazzo came on and he was used as a point of reference, atm, we don't have that. And instead of that being a pro for us because we're more difficult to defend against, we make it more easy for the opposition, which totally defeats the purpose of using the false 9

As I've kept saying now for a while, sometimes this Menez up top thing works out for us, but more often than not we struggle because there's no one up front. Either play SES there and give him a FIXED position in the centre or bring in a striker. Simple as.

This is all about tactics, that falls on Pippo

In all honesty, I don't think SES can play centrally. You're convinced, but there's no real indication of that.

And what would you do? Play Pazzini centrally?

Oh, and new poll is here

[han2503]

In all honesty, I don't think SES can play centrally. You're convinced, but there's no real indication of that.

And what would you do? Play Pazzini centrally?

Oh, and new poll is here

I think SES's position is a second striker, someone that plays off the main man.

But we don't have that position in our system, so best way to try to use him is as a striker.

If that doesn't work, then yes, put Pazzo there, anything is better than not having anyone up there aside from Menez who usually drifts wide or goes very deep and we end up with no one up front

[Danny]

Yes, he made the decisive cross that lead to the Poli goal.

As I recall it was a slightly aimless pull back rather than cross which Menez couldn't do much with, but the resultant scramble gave Poli the chance.

[Danny]

Not just effort, he produced as well. But it's difficult making a difference when the rest of the players have their heads up their asses. Bona isn't exactly Messi, you know.

I'd rather have Bona than Messi.

[Fillipo Simone]

As I recall it was a slightly aimless pull back rather than cross which Menez couldn't do much with, but the resultant scramble gave Poli the chance.

It was a cross, which SES tried to catch but then the ball got to Poli. His shooting was also good for most of the time.

[Danny]

It was a cross, which SES tried to catch but then the ball got to Poli. His shooting was also good for most of the time.

Either way, we agree he's MOTM.