Biglia, Bona and Romagnoli are injured

Expect Borini to start again...

Oh well, don't start with this Borini obsession already.

It already has.

Donnarumma; Conti, Bonucci, Musacchio, Rodriguez; Kessie, Montolivo, Calhanoglu; Suso, Silva, Borini.

Love Borini's work rate
though sadly will it bring goals...who knows

Well, it's annoying.

Called it, sadly.

Now they have Cutrone instead of Silva.

Seriously, what's with this Cutrone sh*t? We went from Belotti, Morata and Aubameyang to frigging Cutrone! Start Silva in every game already! He needs to play on a constant basis to get accustomed to the league and his teammates. Cutrone is just another Paloschi. He has no place in the team we're building.

Montella irritates me.

I have to say, as pleased as I was with Silva's finishing v Shiknkia whatever they're called, shitey European clubs are no substitute for Serie A.

Crotone will be a much bigger test and right now I think Cutrone is actually more likely to handle it.

And Montella has irritated me for a long time - I don't think he has ever once played his best XI as Milan manager.

Romagnoli's injury does remove one selection headache.

I'd go with Donna, Conti, Bonucci, Musacchio, Rodriguez, Monto, Kessie, Cal, Suso, Cutrone, Silva.

But Borini will start.

Funny - all this summer work and we still don't really have a great all round team. It lacks quality depth.

Hey, don't you be mocking my language!



Well, we are missing two crucial players in Biglia and Bona. But otherwise, it's miles ahead of what we were used to see every Sunday.

0-2 FT

But you think a 19 year old can handle it?

Silva has actually played as a starter for Porto for a while now, not to mention he has CL experience as well. Playing Cutrone over him makes no sense

Wow, you surprise me now with this attitude. Another Paloschi? You know that from what? One friendly?

Whatever, I don't care about Cutrone. I'm just irritated that Montella never makes the right selections.

OFFICIAL XI: Donnarumma; Conti, Bonucci, Musacchio, Rodriguez; Kessie, Locatelli, Calhanoglu; Suso, Cutrone, Borini.

For a club that's spent over 200M this summer starting with Borini and Cutrone is quite sad.

Agreed

Penalty!!

No, going to VAR

This is going to get tedious and fast

Wow red for Ceccherini and we get the pen

KESSIE

1-0! Kessie with a great pk!

The ref's going to get card happy now.

Cutrone with a yellow already is worrying, they'll play on his inexperience and get him sent off

So, not a bad goal by Cutrone now huh ?

Cutrone!! 2-0

Cutrone. Making a real case here this lad. Awesome goal.

3 already.

Suso! 3-0.

Cutrone returned the favour with an assist.

Cutrone and Suso handing ach other assists

Cutrone definitely has something extra than the likes of Paloschi and Petagna

Damn. I know it is against 10 men but this team looks so much better this year. So many more guys who are proficient and comfortable making passes. So much smoother in transition.

If we're playing with 2 strikers at some point this season we should definitely keep him and focus on signing another wide player/midfielder

Yeah, it feels like a walkover but last season we would have made a total meal out of it.

The fact that we have players who don't sh!t a brick when they have the ball at their feet (especially in midfield) also helps a LOT

This +1

Agreed. We made a mess of things playing some really poor teams last year.

The midfield upgrade is incredible. Kessie is like Kucka with thee times the skill, ten times the brains, and some how even twice the motor.

Conti should have hit the target there.

That should have been another penalty

78% possesion

Yes 78-80% possession for Milan.

It was only 10 men. It was only Crotone. BUT.

The gulf tonight has been unbelievable.

Think back to the equivalent last year - Crotone held us with ease and we only scraped the win thanks to a 88th minute winner from that crappy Pescara guy.

This time we've had 78% possession, 3 goals, and there's not a player out there who's done the shirt any disgrace at all.

I won't judge too much - it's 10 men and it's Crotone, but what a difference.

PS Han and X's apology over Cutrone is almost deafening this kid is the real deal. Give him a chance and he buries it.

Against a 10-man Crotone.

Obviously the red card + penalty changed everything, but we'd win regardless. There's such a difference in quality from last season, starting from the backline and then with guys like Kessie and Calhanoglu (who still looks a bit out of shape). Even Suso seems on fire. To think that with Biglia, Bonaventura and Silva we'll be even stronger.

True, but something tells me this is more than just luck. Maybe we will not score this much against a decent squad bit we have some beasts in the defence. Cant see other teams scoring us so easily as they did in the past.

Cutrone Out - Andre Silva In.

Don't forget Kalinic and Romagnoli.

I think Kalinic will be a major boost in attack compared to Bacca from last season, and when Romagnoli comes back I really do feel that Montella will switch it up

2nd half of last season we played the majority of the games with Zapata and Paletta in the middle, the major gulf between those two and the Bonucci-Musacchi pairing is huge

Silva's been such a live wire since he's come on. His finishing has let him down a bit though, and a couple of really good saves as well

FT 3-0. Great start to the season. It's nice to see us take care of business away from home. More of that going forward please.

I saw hoping for a couple of more goals, but we didn't try that hard in the second half.

Great win, great start to the season.

Ratings:

Donna: 7 Two or three excellent saves. Solid game from him.

Conti: 6 Struggling to make an impression - I have not once seen him defend.

Bonucci: 5 tbh he had a poor night. Beaten in the air a few times, and didn't command the box much. Must say as yet he doesn't look like his heart is at Milan. He isn't convincing me he wants to be here.

Musacchio: 6 Alright but nothing extraordinary.

Rodriguez: 6 Decent enough, but wasn't heavily involved.

Locatelli: 6 Tidy. Did his cleaning up in midfield like a solid DM would.

Kessie: 7 Our best midfielder - wasn't incredible but barely put a foot wrong. Guy is a great, great player. Becoming my favourite player and took his penalty impeccably.

Calhanoglu: 5 Struggling. Really struggling in this system. Barely does anything of note.

Suso: 8 Terrific first half especially. Goal and an assist. Job done. Can't complain.

Cutrone: 8 Just a terrier. He can only get better - clinical finisher and reads the game like a book.

Borini: 7 Didn't hide, worked hard, and solid enough.

Subs:

Silva: 7 He needs to be more clinical. All that's lacking is the conviction. He had it v Shikiniki but they're cr*p. Crotone might not be Chelsea but it's a different level playing in the league.

Abate: 6 Better than Conti although that's no high praise. But clean enough display.

Mauri: 4 No idea why he was brought on.

Montellia: 6 Team selection was not incredible but it did the job. I just do not know why he continues to force this 4-3-3. It worked tonight against 10 men but stiffer tests await.

Incidentally Inter won 3-0 v Fiorentina so they have clearly significantly improved as well.