Well, then we finally agree.


I also think a out-of-retirement Mirante would be a better pick.


Agreed.

Well, not to bust your balls or anything, but fresh out of today's press conference:



Also:



Enough with Krunic! Can't believe we're back to this. We had an entire summer to fix the AM problem and we're still playing fucking Krunic there. A useless, useless player who does nothing and offers nothing!

And I'm even sicker of those fans who say "Oh, but he provides equilibrium". What equilibrium??? The one who provides equilibrium is Brahim, someone who tracks back a lot, pressures the opponent like crazy, steals balls, initiates counter attacks etc. Krunic is just a bowling pin, a waste of space. We're playing with 10 men with him on the pitch. Please just play Maldini at this point...

Good. The comment by Pioli tells you all. The mere fact that he has the need to state that Mirante (a semi-retired keeper) still isn't in form and therefore the "growing" Tatarusanu will start means he's not blind and will consider starting Antonio as soon as he regains form.

I believe it was the interviewer who might have brought up Mirante.

Probable line-up vs Torino: Tatarusanu; Calabria, Tomori, Romagnoli, Ballo-Toure; Kessie, Tonali; Saelemaekers, Krunic, Leao; Giroud.

Brahim negative to Covid.

Hopefully we'll him for Roma alongside Rebic.

Some good news so far this week in terms of recovering players.

And we've only lost 2 to injury. Not too bad...

Terrible first half. We lack everything from from advanced midfield onwards. Zero ideas, zero creativity.

Lucky to be one up.

Well, at least we haven't allowed Torino much either. We had one chance, we took it. That's enough for me as long as we win

Kalulu needs to come off. He's a 2nd yellow walking. Why is Pioli using him on the left? He's totally flat footed on that side. Calabria at least has some experience playing on that side

Alos, Krunic is such a weak link in that position. Makes it feel like we have a midfielder less

We should switch him out for Benna

Worst game of the season.

1-0 FT

I hope us playing like this was a choice by Pioli to preserve energies, or fatigue, because it was unbearable to watch.

Honestly, we're complaining too much over nothing

It was a contained and professional display. Simple as. We didn't really press, we actually sat deep which is curious to see as we've rarely done that under Pioli.

Torino have given a lot of the big sides trouble this season, this is not the same team we thumped last season


Anyway, we need Brahim back ASAP, he's the heartbeat of our attacking game


3 points, clean sheet. Can't ask for more. We've seemingly weathered the storm in terms of injuries and absences. We should be in much better shape against Roma, plus we have an extra day to prep and get players back in. Hopefully we'll have Rebic ready as well

It was a clear tactical choice imo

We played a low block, and did not apply our usual pressing game, which has put us in some trouble recently when we were missing so many vital cogs. I think it was the correct approach. Didn't run ourselves into the ground either

Torino have become a very tricky side to maneuver under Juric, it has to be said, I watched them against Napoli and they gave them a lot more trouble than they did us

Btw, we sh!t on him a lot but Tata came up big on that Sanabria chance. I'm getting great vibes off this team right now. I don't want to get excited but we're pulling rabbits out of the hat in each game even when we're not playing well.

Our best start since the 1950s. Praying that we're on the path to 19

I'm not. These last 3-4 games have shown a very ugly side of this team. The next week will be crucial. Roma-Porto-Inter, need a top team to play them. If we play like we've been playing g recently we'll lose all three.

But worst game of the season? Oh come on man, it's a classic 1-0 game Juve for example just to do all the time during their heyday. No, Porto was perhaps the worst so far. Bologna also goes in as a contender.

Han I do not feel your way about Tatarusanu. Saving Sanabria's strike wasn't that hard, while his reactions and positioning leaves me terrified almost every time. He's a terrible, terrible second choice keeper.

Juve never won games 1-0 by being squashed in their own half. We displayed the mentality of a Serie B team for the most part. So yes, it was the worst game of the season in Serie A thus far.

Agreed about Tatarusanu.

Despite the injuries the team had to deal with, I am very proud of the lads to pull off a win out of this fixture. Playing 4X in 10 days with a decimated squad is not easy and could have gone wrong at any point. 9/10 wins in the past 10 games is also an excellent feat.

Forza Milan!

Juve pulled this type of win off regularly, usually with some sort of dodgy call added to the mix. If you're expecting an entire season of dominant, all out attacking displays then you're going to be disappointed. That's simply not realistic.

We arguable haven't played well this entire round of games since the NT break. It's not some big head scratcher though. We've lost 9 players to injury/Covid, we have not been able to rotate the likes of Leao and Alexis much, if at all in case of Leao. Honestly, I don't know what more you want from this team though. We've weathered the storm like pros. Most Serie A sides wouldn't be able to cope with 1 key player being missing, let along 3 or 4 at the same time. We haven't been able to play our best 11 basically the entire season. Imagine Inter losing Barella or Lautaro for an extended period of time or Juve losing Chiesa or Locatelli. And they have even deeper squads then us, but I'm 100% sure they'd implode without those players in particular

I'm getting great vibes from this team because I know how well we can play when we have all the puzzle pieces available, and now I also know we can grind the wins out when we're not at our best due to various factors.

The next 3 games are crucial, yes, I'd actually rest some players for Porto. The league is the goal. and we have a chance to be champions this season, I'd play the Primavera against Porto if that means we win the 2 games in the league on either side of it


Yeah I agree. But I want to get behind him as much as possible.

It's obvious that the defenders don't trust him either, look at Kjaer chewing his face off when he hesitated to come out for that ball late in the 2nd half. I can't wait to have Mike back, but until then the fans need to really try to get behind him, and when I see him pulling off saves it gives me some encouragement at least that he can do some basics. But yes, he's super sketchy, especially on set-pieces. It gives me palpitations, not gonna lie


Juve never won ugly or by defending in their own half?? Say what now? Juve were pretty much terrible during Allegri's final 2 years , but they won the league by winning ugly.

I'd rather a simple 1-0 where we played a professional game with little fanfare rather than the messes we've seen against Bologna and Verona. How ca you say this was our worst performance?

THIS!

How people can still complain at this point is beyond me

Let's see how we do this weekend against Roma. I think we'll see much better performances, especially since Theo and Brahim will most likely start the game

Juve lost at home to sassuolo late in stoppages

Sorry bro, but you're completely wrong. There's a difference between playing ugly, and parking the bus against a relegation side at home.

Juve NEVER did that, never. They played ugly but always imposed themselves as the dominant side. We just slept on the game last night. Scored that early goal and then created zero chances and barely tried to hold possession and attack. It was a Serie B performance.

Unbelievable that Milan fans would accept such an attitude from their team. How low have we fallen?

Yep. Another excellent result for us. Juve once again terrible

Inter could have easily been 2 down vs Empoli as well. Lucky to be winning atm. Roma struggling to break down a truely awful Cagliari

Lucky to be winning? Inter should be 2 up. They've been dominating the match. 65% possession, and 6 shots vs 2.

Aren't you being a little biased now?

Empoli for me had the better chances before Inter scored obviously. Plus the very obvious penalty call Empoli should have had right before Inter scored. Obviously once Inter went up it wad done and dusted

Inter just haven't looked that good to me. Certainly no where near where they were last season under Conte in terms of performances

What chances?? There was only one chance during a corner kick. That's it. And I remember there being a penalty call (can't remember the episode right now) but I didn't think it was a penalty. The fact that nobody talked about it afterwards speaks for itself.

Inter walked the game yesterday. And unlike us, they didn't fumble like morons with one man up.

D'Ambrosio took out the Empoli player's leg instead of the ball. And it has been talked about, but as usual since it's not a big team crying foul it doesn't carry the same weight with the media, as was the case with the Juve penalty, which they are still whining about even though Dumfries clearly kicked Sandro's foot in the area

Empoli had 2 very good chances in those opening 20 minutes. Obviously in the 2nd half it wasn't even a question

But I stress once again, are Inter going through the same crises we are going through? Having 9 missing players? No, all their key players are available and they are able to rotate their squad comfortably. How is it even a comparison.

When Inter lose Barella, Lautaro and Perisic plus 6 more squad players, then we'll talk about how they're walking games.

Now Napoli are a side that really worry me. They look really great in both phases of the game. Spaletti is doing great work with them.

They'll be missing key players as well during the AFCON but we have the harder fixture list during that time

I agree that their lack of injuries has been a huge advantage for them, but the Empoli game was never in question from the first minute despite you bringing up bland Empoli chances and supposed not given penalties. Let's give credit to where credit is due.

Early probable line-up vs Roma (Mediaset): Tatarusanu; Calabria, Kjaer, Tomori, Theo; Tonali, Bennacer; Saelemaekers, Brahim, Leao; Zlatan.

Possibly our best starting XI except for the GK. I would be very glad if Pioli starts both Tonali and Bennacer but something tells me Kessie will eventually start.

Great to have both Theo and Brahim from the start, though.

At one point D'Ambrosio cleared off the line in those first opening 20. They were lucky not to concede.

Re the penalty. These are 2 tweets from Inter fans

米津玄師「Lemon」Lemon @indrohari1908
Empoli should have a penalty if VAR used the same way like match against Juve but yeah ..

BalleraLemon @nicoloballera
Let's be fair and say they absolutely had to have a penalty, it doesn't matter though, Inter is scoring at least 3, Empoli already look gassed.

Btw, I never said that on the basis of general play, Empoli should be ahead, because Itner were the more dominant team, but my issue with this Inter iteration vs the one Conte managed is that they are defensively suspect. Handanovic has become amateurish. And they put themselves under pressure a lot when playing out from the back. So they gave Empoli openings which imo made them lucky not to concede


Do we know anything about Rebic?

Never mind, Milannews just reported he trained alone today

I mean honestly, wtf do the medical/fitness team do at Milanello??

First they said it was a minor sprain and he could even be back for Porto, now it's been 2 weeks that he's been out. Same thing happened with Krunic

Messias played well over 30 games for Crotone last season, steps foot at Milanello and hasn't been able to stay fit for more than a week so far.

The incompetence in this department will be our downfall this season and nothing else.

Best investment we could have made last summer was a clear-out of the medical/fitness staff. Look at Inter, barely any injuries, same with Napoli, they all have the same hectic schedule and they've barely had any absences

But what can the medical staff do? He had an ankle sprain, that takes times, max 2 weeks. If he doesn't recover for Roma then he'll recover for Porto or the derby.

Jive lost again. And good result of a draw between Lazio and atlanta

But they first said it was nothing serious even said he could be back for Porto (1st tie) now it's been 2 weeks.


The bigger the gap between us and 4th place the better.

Especially with 3 big games coming during the AFCON

Juve are such a mess, can't believe we didn't beat them

It was not serious. He has been out for 2 weeks, not 2 months. And it was the newspapers who claimed he would return against Porto. Pioli said that ever since he got injured he has been evaluated on a day to day basis, but his ankle continues to hurt.

Krunic is starting.

I'm done.

Ibra scores 1-0

Good first half, but we should press harder and close the match. Roma are not up to it and we shouldn't allow them to gain confidence in the second half.

Interesting formation from Pioli with either Kessie or Benna dropping deep to form a 3-man defence with Calabria and Theo pushing very high. But man oh man we're so slow with building up play from the back. Lots of backwards and vertical passing without any end product. That's why we need Brahim to offer more options and versatility in midfield.

Let's keep this up and take home the 3 points.

Such a high tempo match!

Not sure what the second half will hold for our beloved Milan, as this Roma side can sting

This ref FFS....


Theo was stupid, but I can count 3 or 4 times when a Roma player on a yellow pulled similar challenges. Karsdrop is lucky as f@ck to have finished out his game on the pitch

Now he keeps throwing around yellows for the stupidest sh!t

Kjaer is a colossus of a player. So good in one on ones, great distribution as well

Theo missing the derby is such a big blow man

6 f@cking minutes added. F@ck off Maresca

Yes!!

Huge win!

That Theo red is going to hurt against Inter...

FFS I think I lost 5 years of my life!!!

I'm sick and tired of this defeatist attitude we display every time we go one man down. Just like with Atletico we completely park the bus. It's unacceptable!

Look at Bologna last week, with two men down kept pushing and nearly scored their 3rd. This is not right. We were completely dominating the match, and I mean dominating in every single aspect. Roma were nonexistent, yet in the end we almost fucked it up.

And this ref man, I was so sure he was gonna give them a pen in the end due to the pressure.

Nevertheless...

Colossal 3 points! I'm not gonna count the last 30 minutes, and just focus on what happened when we were 11v11. We demolished them. They were lucky on those two offsides that were millimetrical. Would have easily ended 3-0.

Theo out is going to be a huge blow in the derby, but at least the rest should all be available. Brahim will get important minutes against Porto.

PS: Zlatan is a king. I said he's finished vs Bologna, but I was mistaken.

Re the man down aspect. I think Pioli's changes created some confusion.

Against Atletico we only really started dropping back very deep around the 60th minute mark when they had on all their attacking players.

Today, when Pioli made those 3 subs it forced us very deep and we couldn't play out either.


Anyway, as you said what's important is how we played 11 v 11. This is what I've been talkin about while we were trudging along through those injuries. Once we have the squad back healthy, we're a different side, plus Roma are perfect meal tickets for us with the way they play imo.

Zlatan was immense today, I knew he'd be back because that's just the way he is, rustiness after a long spell out that included surgery was normal, the fact that he's back in such great shape already is astonishing, and shows what an absolute professional he is.

Krunic was also greatly important in how he played today imo, him and Ibra continually switching around really pulled Roma all over the place. Still want Diaz back though



One small gripe. We need to play to the whistle. Theo got sent off because everyone was more busy whining about that foul on Krunic not being given. Look at Theo, whinging while performing the rugby tackle. And everyone else more focused on the ref rather than the ball. Just play to the whistle!

Btw, Kessie was racially abused by the crowd, and Ibra was continually called a gypsy but he got a yellow for gesturing at the crowd to keep singing... This ref man..


The refereeing in this league is a huge part of the problem as to why it is not up to par with other leagues, simple as that

Yes!!! Thank you! I was going to bring this up. Every time we think there's a foul we stop playing, as if our opinion is absolute. Like you said, we need to play to the whistle.

Theo is the most blatant example. Not only do I think he's a terrible diver, but he completely halts whenever someone as much as touches him. There was a moment in the first half where the foul was nonexistent. If the ref hadn't whistled Roma would have had the easiest of counter attacks. Pioli needs to drill this in the mind of our players.

Maresca is well-known for a being a show man. Last year he sent off Ibra against Parma because he thought Ibra insulted him when in reality he saying something completely different. And remember the bickering with Conte that got him sent off, with Conte shouting "It's always you Maresca, it's always you".

He's terrible. Gives yellows completely at random. Thank f*ck at least his judgment on the pen was correct. Ibanez clearly fouled Ibra before barely touching the ball. Cos I see a lot of interesti whining that the pen wasn't.