[han2503]

Winning this would not only help us get close the gap to either one of Roma or Fiorentina (or even both), it will help us open an even wider gap between us and Sassuolo so another must win

It's not going to be easy considering our recent record against this team, but we won the reverse fixture when we were playing a lot worse than we are now so I have hope that we can do the job here, if nothing else grind out the win to take all 3 points home

Fiorentina-Roma is currently underway

[maldini03]

I didn't say Kucka is the main problem, I just started with him as the evident choice. Bertolacci was uninspired in the way Poli usually was last season, but Kucka was the one who made countless small/big errors.


Lazy? I think it's just preconceptions. Balotelli, just like Bacca, had no service today. The midfield looked disjointed, while the flanks didn't put any offensive pressure.

Milan lost this match because we were unable to retain ball possession and start attacks. There were periods when Sassuolo kept poneseni and pressure on our part of the pitch for 10-15 minutes without interruption. I really think it's why we lost. How can this be possible? And how can this be Balotelli's fault?

I agree that it doesn't all fall on Balotelli's shoulders but when the wings are having trouble pushing down the flanks a forward has to drop into the hole to get the ball and draw out a cb or a defensive midfileder to open up space to run into. When Bacca plays with Niang, Niang is this guy he drops to support Honda and Bona and give us a presence in the "hole". Balotelli wasn't doing this at all, nor was he holding up the ball. Bacca isn't the type of player to do this so it is Balo's job to replicate what Niang gives the team. Because we had no presence here Berto kept pushing into the space, quite unsuccessfully. This is also why Kucka looked terrible, usually he runs though the holes created when Niang pulls a central player out of position. There was no space to run into today. Berto pushes up and unbalances the team and our defense, with Zapata and De Sciglio this was far from our best line, came under extreme pressure and couldn't push out. They capitalized on this, but in reality the score could have been much more than 2.

I understand this comes down to the coach making the wrong choice, but if Balo wasn't lazy he would have dropped to pick up the ball from a deeper position, hence why he is a key part of the problem. It's not a coincidence that as Niang came back from injury this team had a resurgence. Balo and Bacca can't play together, just like Adriano and Bacca can't play together. None of them do the work to pull a cb out of position and there is a logjam up top. Hopefully Miha recognizes this and plays Menez from the start.