Who said steamroll? But they were there for the taking! We were too cautious and meek in our approach and that's on Pioli

Agree totally about all the subs. They were wrong! The waiting until the 60th minute as always to make them, the bad decision to leave Krunic on. Rebic only getting 14 minutes in there playing on the left. Just bad all round decision making and shows his lack of confidence of getting this over the line when Juve were - if possible - even worse than us.

Not starting with Bennacer, another really terrible decision that literally resulted in the first half being wasted

Messia once against getting the start when he's been absolute sh!t every time he's played for us aside from a few good minutes against Roma. The obsession with Krunic... I could scream that was so frustrating

The Leao sub was just as predictable as all the other decisions he made. There is such short-sightedness in this nothion he has that Leao and Rebic must always play on the left. Never on the right. Same issue with Hauge there last season as well. He goes to Germany and is immediately used on the right. You'd think they'll break their leg if they're moved to a different wing...

Why can't Rebic just go in on the right? He is clearly our best winger next to Leao. This insistence on Messias is frustrating as the Krunic obsession

Against Inter, Rebic should start up front. Simple as. We've played our best football with him up front this season. Diaz Leao and Alexis should be behind him. Enough with the Krunic, Messias BS.

Giroud is an excellent weapon off the bench. Use him as such.

Pioli's decisions all around were terrible, but I knew he would f*ck us over the moment I saw Krunic in the starting line up. This guy has no balls. And his stubborness with his myopic decisions and changes is appalling.

Bennacer should have started, Alexis or Rebic should've played on the right. Diaz and Leao shouldn't have been subbed off.

Oh whatever, as I said, what's the point in complaining anyway. We just get pissed off whereas our players shrug it off, pocket their millions and go home to their hot wives and girlfriends.

Juve about to sign Vlahovic for 70m. We are about to sign some 18 year old from Crvena Zvezda who has only played 370 minutes and scored 1 goal in the fucking Serbian league.

This ownership is going to be the death of us.

Yep...

I don't know if I'm losing patience or just hope at this point. How can we hope to fight with an attack comprised of grandpa Zlatan who's more injured and than fit, the useless Giroud, the mediocre Saelemaekers, the garbage Messias, and a Brahim Diaz that looks like Bojan Krkic when he was playing with us. And now we've the signed new Pellegri just for the sake of it.

Defense is in shambless with Kjaer and Tomori out. I really don't know at this point.

Against Inter I hope Pioli has the brain cells left to start Bennacer and hopefully Kessie as AM in case Ivory Coast gets KO'd in time, and Rebic as CF. Enough with Krunic, Giroud, Messias and his other crap!

Yep and Inter Gosens...

Honestly, where are Inter and Juve gettng the money from??

Juve are on the hook for well over a hundred mill next season with Chiesa, Locatelli, Kean and a few other small deals having to be finalised following loans.

Us on the other hand penny pinch over 1m with clubs until talks break down...


I really cannot blame management or even ownership. We need at least 2 more consecutive seasons in the CL before we can really make these types of moves imo. This is all the fault of B&G and the Chinese ownership and then the idiotic Leonardo moves continued to compound on things.

Over 200m spent on players and only one is left. With barely any returns to show for it.

It will take time for us to be in a place where we can spend seriously


Mehh. Not so sure about Kessie there. Tonali would make more sense if you want to go that route. I'd still give Diaz the go-ahead if Rebic starts at CF. Diaz was good against Juve and worked his @ss off as well to cover the spaces so we know he'll put in the work needed.

I'm more worried about our attack right now rather than CB. We played Juve and they did not put a **** on target. Kalulu has been faultless this past month except for that mistake against Spezia. He was very good with Romagnoli next to him. I really don't see B as the emergency it was a week ago. We need a proper mobile striker. Vlahovic in our set up would have been perfect. I'm sure he'll have fun at Juve playing CDM under Allegri

We still need a RW. Messia shouldn't be redeemed at the end of the season. We need to move Samu on ASAP as well. This Lazetic kid I know nothing about, but Pellegri was filler here and this kid is for the distant future I am sure. But a proper striker needs to be brought in for sure. If we could mange to keep Rebic fit he'd be my first pick, even if Zlatan is fit. He just gives us more with his movement

Btw, Kessie got injured today during the game against Egypt. Someone on twitter made the very funny but sadly apt comment that there were 22 players on the pitch and it had to be the Milan player that got injured...

I don't know what type of injury he got but he'll be back to Italy tomorrow. Hopefully it's nothing serious so we can at least have him available against Inter

Juve had an increase in equity capital recently, not to mention all the money they saved from Ronaldo's departure. But still, considering their financial indebtedness and huge losses of last year, I really don't understand how they can afford a 70m signing.

Inter instead signed Gosens for 22m on an 18-month loan plus obligation. Seems very fair.

I don't really expect us to make 70m signing any time soon, but what bothers me is the reluctance of spending even 10-15m amounts on players we need like air. I read we're after some Schalke CB, Thiaw I think. We've offered 5-6m, they request 8-10m. Squabling over peanuts again, just like with Faivre last summer.



I've given up on Brahim. He doesn't have what it takes to cut it in Serie A. Maybe in Spain where defenders are loose for some Villareal or Valencia he might work.

I just want to see Tonali and Bennacer always start, regardless of the circumstances. I think they are two of our most gifted players, and having Bennacer warm the bench not only deprives us of a quality CM, but also affects his morale and motivation. He needs to feel centic to the project, and not just the go-to sub for Kessie and Tonali.

I made a point somewhere else about how Chelsea won against Tottenham last seek with a Jorginho-Kovacic-Mount midfield. I don't see why we couldn't field Bennacer-Tonali-Brahim against Juve. Fucking Pioli man, with his myopic decisions and his asinine fixation with Krunic!

Moratta is a master. Kudos to Inter for bringing him in

As for Juve, not that worried about Vlahovic going there tbh. He'll be deprived of service. The biggest problem at Juve is the midfield and they go and spend their entire budget on a striker...

Vlahovic is a top notch CF, no two ways about it. But he'll be wasted at Juve. Morata is a very good CF as well. Not as prolific, but his movement and general involvement is very good but he scraps for crumbs there with Allegri's arcane ideaology


Brahim is all we have. And until the fat lady sings, I'm going to keep my faith in him. He just needs to have better upper body strength

I agree in general re Bennacer. Kessie is on his way out. At this point he should be benched and used as the first sub. Simple as that. No more penalty taking, no more captain's armband and no more assured spot in the first 11. BUT against Inter his physicality is important. And yes, maybe we should go for 3 CMs to counteract their 5 in the middle

Milan is focused on the summer transfer window it seems, they are planning on a MT/LT CB and CDM (re Botman and Sanchez).

The issue this club is facing is not that it can not make the same moves as Juve or inter, but rather the owners want the club fit for sale; they have a ST, MT and LT plan for the club and I believe Milan are still in the ST phase. Obviously under this ownership Milan will operate within its own means, and that will most likely be the pain point felt by fans (i.e. letting Donna and Kessie go for nothing rather than increasing the wage cap or entering bidding wars to secure the hottest name). The club?s operating module continues to invest in raw players, polish them and sell them.

Once the club reaches its MT and LT, that is when it makes regular CL football and secures sponsorship deals that help fund a team with greater caliber.


Nothing new here, just my observation.

You're right about everything except this part. The club is not interested in making profits by selling players. Just think about it, who have we sold since Elliott took over for cash? On the contrary, we've let guys like Dollarumma, Capanoglu, and now Kessie and Romagnoli leave for free.

The reason is because Elliott is trying to find a buyer by improving our net income (higher revenues, contained costs) and maintaining a quasi-debt-free capital structure. Selling players for cash does not constitute a benefit in this sense, as in mergers & acquisitions they are considered one-off items of expenditure, and financial statements have to be "cleaned" from such items in order to give a true and fair value of a business.

We just have to accept the fact that for now things will continue to be this way. There have been lot of mistakes made in the past that needed to be made right.

The fact that of the 100m+ spent during the Mirabelli summer, only Kessie is left and we're about to lose him for free as well tells you the extent of mistakes made. Samu is the only one still left from the Leonardo era as well and it looks like we're close to finally being rid of him as well

It's taken so much effort and barely anything coming in return to correct these errors.

What saddens me is that Elliot gave Leonardo the capital to work with and he f@cked up nearly 90m in a single month. I don't think that Elliot are not willing to invest. They want to sell for a profit, so aside from making the club financially self-sufficient, it would be a more lucrative asset for them if Milan were to win trophies as well on top of that.

The management has shown that if the belief in a player is there, then the investment will be made. They're just very picky on who they choose and making sure the investment is the right one.

If only the 250m or so that was basically flushed down the toilet under Fassone/Mirabelli and Leonardo could be given to Paolo/Massarao/Moncada...

But this is the hand we've been dealt. For now, we're just going to keep making these smaller deals and banking on them turning out good

Of the players we've invested over 10m in all of them have panned out well

We've probably gotten it wrong mostly with the filler players who management brought in because they couldn't get the first choice

We shouldn't have let Capanoglu leave, we should have given Brest those 15m they were asking for Faivre and be done with it (I read he's close to signing for Lyon now), and we should have gone for a better option than Giroud as vice-Ibra.

Things would have looked much better now. Instead we acted stingy and placed too much reliance on Zlatan. Maldini & co. haven't exactly been stellar in their decision-making either.

I don't know what the plan is for the summer. Rumours about us closing the Botman deal before June are strong. He would be a great addition. But then he'd cost around 30m, and we need to make at least a couple of signings in attack (RW, CF). Do we even have the budget?

Julian Alvarez is close to joining ManCity for 25m. I would have given an arm and a leg for him at that price. And who do we go for the RW? There's rumours about Kulusevski being offered by his agent but the club doesn't seem particularly fond of the idea.

I just hope Maldini knows what he's doing...

Regarding this, Mediaset says his controls were OK. Should be available for the derby.

Yup, the mistakes made in the past got washed clean by the deal made with UEFA, where Milan served a suspension from Europe. From that point onwards it was to turn the club into a self sufficient entity.

But things are looking bright, especially with the management being proactive in renewals of players who share the clubs moto in that regard (ie renewals for Theo, Leao, Tonali, etc). But those who feel they deserve better, and are not aligned to the clubs strategy, will undoubtedly walk away (ala Donna, Cala, and potentially Kessie and Romagnoli), which is a good omen in a way.

Hopefully the club brings in someone to replace Samu for now, as the club need a spark on that right flank and in AM more than they need a CB.

Heres to hoping somethings cookin.

I reiterated all summer that we should have given Hakan that contract. Because replacing him would be a huge headache, not to mention a far ore costly operation than giving him the measly extra mil he wanted

Giroud is a good player imo and a good back up. We really couldn't anticipate that first he'd get covid and then back and thigh problems that he admitted himself was still feeling just a few weeks ago. Do I think we should have gone for someone who could take over from Zlatan for the future? Of course, but the limitations are there for the management and if the budget was what it was then you can't do much more.

The decision making from the management has been good in terms of where they decide to put in money. Because as I mentioned, all the moves that we made which cost the club over 10m have all been good moves. We haven't struck out once.

Obviously the filler players like Ballo-Toure, Messias, Bakayoko (who I must admit I was all for), etc haven't turned out well bcause they had their hands ties. But at least we didn't sink a lot of money in them as we would have done in the past. Bakayoko and Messias are pain free moves which we won't go thought with. And BT was only 5m and he's on a small salary so he'll be easily moved on. That's the key here. We're not making panic moves that we'll pay for for 5 years straight. See Samu, and many other players signed by previous managements which were impossible to move on without incurring big losses because of the huge salaries and transfer fees paid.

Let's not even talk about Alvarez. Do you honestly believe that is all he cost City? I cannot even begin to comprehend the agent fees, signing bonuses and other family related fees City paid to get him. For get the transfer fee, that's become the smaller issue today. Look at the Vlahovic deal. Now it's emerging that aside from the 70m owed to Fiorentina (excluding bonuses), they paid big commissions to his agents and father. Transfers today are not that simple.

It's why FIFA and UEFA are corrupt and why clubs should have stuck to their guns and gone ahead with the SL. They implement FFP on the clubs who cannot fight back while allowing PSG and City to do as they wish. An even worse, they have not done anything about these agents extorting clubs for commissions

Zlatan and Rebic out tomorrow confirmed by Pioli. Tomori recovered but on the bench.

Really irked by this continuous unavailability of Rebic. Guy has barely played this season. It's become an inconvenience, cos it means we cannot rely on him anymore. And it's not like we can replace him with ease.

Anyway, line-up for tomorrow:

Maignan; Calabria, Kalulu, Romagnoli, Theo; Tonali, Bennacer, Kessie; Saelemaekers, Leao, Giroud.

Don't except much from the game, most probably a typical derby defeat. I just hope it's not another humiliation like last season.

Rebić and Ibra are unavailable for sure? What's now wrong with Rebić?

For sure confirmed by Pioli during the press conference today. Rebic has ankle issues which kept him out during October/November.

Have this feeling Milan will secure 3 points tonight, Forza Milan!

No game, no play. Tactic not working so far..

Hakan assist??..

Maignan and Tonali the only truly good players in field.

Without Rebić and Ibrahimović this Pioli tactic does not work. Alexis is piss poor and hopefully playing his last Milan season. Giroud is good as a contingency option, but utterly useless in modern fast-paced football. Kessie as AM is a complete brainfart that will hopefully be eradicated by halftime with Diaz in a Bennacer out. Benna is a bench player at this point.

Nothing much to say, everything went as expected. They dominate possession, great attcking manoeuver and combinations. On the other hand we have no idea what playing football means. Our players are static, we rely too much on individualisms and long balls. The quality is simply not there.

This is who we are, the sooner fans come to terms with it, the better.

Don't give up on Bennacer just yet. It's hard for him to be incisisve as a playmaker when there's a vast nothingness in front of him.

Congrats to Maldini & Co handing out Calhanglou to Inter. He secured them their second star. Brilliant season. If only we had the peanuts he wanted for a better salary...

Arsenalization under Gazidis underway. Milan will always aim at 4th/3rd, never go for the scudetto. Next season we'll replace Romagnoli and Kessie with a bunch of talented nobodies or second (third) chance players like Renato Sanches and here goes yet another cycle of "maturation". Then in 1-2 seasons we'll be selling the matured youngsters at high prizes and search for yet another batch of raw talents.

X-O was right to say that as long as Elliot is managing Milan, we won't be seeing much hopes for winning anything.

I think the partnership with Tonali isn't working out. He's getting bullied out and making many mistakes. At this point, I really don't see why we should push for him to play as a starter. He's good in Tonali's spot, but that's it. For the second midfielder we need someone strong and Bakayoko being poor screwed us over royally.

I personally don't agree with your assessment.

Meh that?s just bias. You got nothing to prove Benna is doing good or will be doing in the future..

To be honest, Renato Sanches > Kessie IMO.

Bias? It's not like I have a crush on Bennacer. Whenever he's been poor I've been the first to criticise him.

Good thing Pioli subbed off Kessie and not him.

I don't know who's more useless, Saelemaekers or Messias.

Alexis for sure.

Bring in Lazetic. At this point, Giroud is invisible..

Renato failed multiple times when at a higher (not even highest) level. France and Lille is his maximum IMO

Giroud bodycheck crucial, I apologize.

Diaz poor shooting finally payed off..

Yessssssss

Hard to say how we won this...

Very good 2nd half

The moment Brahim came on the game changed.

We f@cking DID IT!!!!!


F@ck those whiny b!tches and their smugness

Forza Ragazzi

I so want Milan to keep the pressure up now, if for anything, to withhold Calhanoglu from lifting the title

Yes.

Kessie was a dead fish. Don't know if it was the position, but he has been no where near his best this season. Can you imagine if we manae to get Renato Sanches in the summer instead of him. So much more quality on the ball

Brahim and Giroud were immense in the 2nd half. Giroud was literally everywhere and fighting for everything

Brahim was that bit of quality we needed

Leao kept quiet all game pretty much


Funny how Theo was sent off for that when Inter made some cynical fouls as well that went unpunished

It's hard to be worse than this Kessie. Can't wait to get rid of him.

SO HAPPY


THAT SECOND goal from GIROUUUDD was magical.

I honestly couldn't believe it when we scored the second. Like, my reaction was almost contained due to disbelief, considering that terrible first half. And then the last 10 minutes I was so sure we were gonna concede again, just cos luck is never on our side.

The team really came on strong in the second half. As soon as that good-for-nothing Kessie came off, we started to finally play some football. Inter barely had any shots at all.

Agreed.

Giroud proved his worth. But we need to think our gameplan and gameplay over.

Yup our defense was very solid and stable. Inwas also certain that we will concede sooner than later

The Brahim change was the key imo

And the added bonus of Inzaghi taking off Hakan and then Brozovic helped us out as well. This just proves my theory basically that if Inter have to lose any key players, especially in that midfield, they'd struggle

We've been without 1 or more key players in basically each game this season and here we are. We have shown immense strength and fortitude imo this season. Not to mention getting royally f@cked over by refs on more than one occasion, namely the Spezia and Napoli game and we would still be leading the league today if it weren't for those instances.

All this with injuries piled on throughout the season and a lot of covid cases to deal with as well


Kessie should be perma benched until the rest of the season imo. Only use him to keep Benna and Tonali fresh aside from that he needs to be finished at Milan. He's not wroth what he's asking for. Simple as that. It's f@cking terrible that we're once again losing out on a transfer fee. But as far as I'm concerned, good riddance. 1 good season out of the 5 he's been with us


Top quality. Giroud hasn't been great this season, one has to admit. Covid and the back issues haven't helped in that regard, but the man knows how to score goals, important ones at that.

Still think our best use of him would be as a sub. Rebic if he is ever fit would be my go-to starter


Yeah, with our luck and considering their insane good luck I was expecting some random player popping up with some insane goal for Inter or like the most ridiculous own goal to be scored


Pioli made a mistake. The Kessie in the AM position was a terrible move, one which I must admit was for before the game as I thought he'd neutralize Brozovic. But Kessie was absolutely terrible and on top of that, didn't help Tonali and Benna out at all in the midfield. So they were severely out-numbered in the first half.

2nd half we came out a lot better and once Brahim went on we looked completely different.



Btw, I disagree completely with you about Bennacer. He was very good today next to Tonali. First half they both struggled because we were out-numbered in the middle. 2nd half both Bennacer and Tonali stepped it up imo and controlled that midfield.

As for Sanches. He'd be an improvement to our midfield. Plus he's more versatile and a switch like today's would have worked if we played someone like him in the 10 position as he's mostly a box-to-box player that very technical as well as physical.

Baka is just a player to fill a hole because of the AFCON. Kessie is gone come summer and if we manage to bring in Renato, I personally thin we'd have the strongest midfield in the league, especially taking into consideration the quality in depth

Btw, Ronagnoli played like a player who still wants to be at Milan and is proving why he's also deserving of a contract extension. Great game from him

Kalulu has been nearly flawless this past month. The kid is going to be a top player in a few year's time imo