Indeed. Krunic is such a mediocre player. Tonight he looked half decent inn the first half cos Celtic were truly sh*t, but he has no place to start games in the Serie A, especially as trequartista.

Dalot looked pretty average as well. I liked him defensively, but for a fullback he looked like another Conti, maybe even worse.

SPAL? We haven't played them yet have we?

I think you're nit-picking a bit here to not let yourself buy into this too much because we've been burned a lot in the past.

Yes, today we took the 2nd half a bit too lightly, but imo, we only came under pressure once Kessie came off, not before then, we were still relatively comfortable for the first 15 minutes or so of the half, and aside from 2 plays, we were never really pressured seriously.

Let's just enjoy this, yes there still needs to be improvement, I think the games we played at the end of last season were more fluid and we had better fitness levels, all things we can achieve as the season progresses. If we get to that level we can beat any team, as we demonstrated just 2 months ago.

The fact the we have so many things to be excited about in this team, especially all the young players who are all showing their quality


Agreed re Krunic. He's just average. Plus he made some really bad errors in that 2nd half

Tonali also needs to improve imo. He's taking too long on the ball. He needs to be quicker and be more accurate with his passing.

I actually liked Dalot, Celtic were double teaming us heavily on the wings, they did their homework re how we use our FBs. Theo rarely managed to break free as well. Plus this is his first game. That being said, if he doesn't impress, we simply send him back to Man U, no harm, no foul

I meant Spezia.

And I don't think I'm nitpicking. I'm not saying we should play extraordinary football cos we don't have the right players to do so, but just to keep up the momentum for the whole match. We shouldn't doze off like this cos then it becomes a bad habit, not to mention it doesn't bode well in terms of mentality improvement.

We need to be continuously aggressive, something we did really well after the lockdown last season.

Sure, but fatigue would not allow your legs to keep to that kind of pressing. That will come as we regain fitness levels as they were post lockdown imo

That is not a justification. Other teams also get fatigued, but they still keep playing. Besides, against Celtic we had many players who didn’t start on Saturday so you can’t say fatigue was a motive.

Look, even if we decide that after a 2-0 lead at HT we want to manage the result without pressing as much, I understand that completely. But there’s a difference between managing a result and simply switching off, which is what we’ve been doing lately.

Good night this one for me

No, because PSG and City, since this spending level began, haven't won a thing in Europe? That's what buying success is.



Real are terrible these days?



You say a monopoly but Barca, Real, PSG - their time has gone (PSG already lost twice this season). There wasn't a single Spanish or English side in the last four of the CL last season. Monopoly? You sure?

Right now it's anyone's game, even Liverpool's little flurry has gone. The sport is actually more open than it's been for a long time.

Prices going down? They're the same as always. There was just less movement of the absolute world's best players.

But whatever the reasons for CL losing excitement, it has, tangibly, and definitely.

We agree there!

Donnaruma and Huage along with three other players were positive for covid19.

*Three members of the team group.

Hopefully others have not been infected.

On the bright side, Hakan has recovered and should play from the start.

Donna missing cost us that goal, don't understand what Tatarusanu was trying to do there...

Good first half so far though, should be leading imo.

F*cking Tatarusanu, man. Why do we always opt for such shitty second goalies. Why couldn't we get someone reliable like Mirante. Every time Roma shoot or there's a corner I have shudders.

I thought we played well overall. There were about 15 minutes that we kind of forgot how to play football, but eventually got around to holding possession. Not many great combinations, though, should do better from that aspect. Quite unlucky on Kjaer's post.

I must say, though, Theo has been massively disappointing lately. He doesn't push, doesn't dribble the opponent, he's too static.

Gotta win this. No excuses. Roma are not that great.

How was that a penalty??

Pedro literally stamped on Bennacer's foot!

Mannn how was that a penalty

This f*cking ref!!! That was foul on Bennacer! Couldn't even bother to check the VAR. What a theft!

Then Mancini with the blatant handball and he whistles on Ibra...

This ref omg

Gives us the return penalty

Knew the first one did not exist

IBRA

Yes but come on this is wierd

FFS!!

Defend the corners!

3-3

This keeper man! No one is trusting him and it's chaos when the ball is in our box

The other Donnarumma should start the next game, this guy is useless

Here we are with bobble head in goal, while Mirante is doing miracles for Roma!


How did he save that??!

F"?!$"?%"?%

What a miss!

Should have won this!

How the Kessie and Romagnoli headers did not go in... So unlucky and wasteful as well!

Tatarusanu man... Roma barely shot at our goal. Yes the set-piece defending should be better, but wtf was that?? Scrambling in our area on every corner. He should not be starting the next game.

I think the only chance from open play that Roma created was that Dzeko shot that went over, other than that nothing. But the corners... So bad at defending them suddenly. Pioli needs to work on that. We've conceded 3 corners in the last 2 games!

But the fact that the goalie is not trustworthy in such situations will cause the players to panic as well, which is what happened, especially on the 3rd Roma goal

We've really f'd up our goal difference with this game, plus our perfect record comes to an end...

Man I'm so pissed. Roma did jackshit and still managed to score three times. Those frigging corners, and this Godforsaken goalkeeper we have. And we were so unlucky with the corners instead, one post from Kjaer and then Romagnoli's final header which I have no frigging clue how he managed to send wide!

Oh yeah, Kessie's header as well. Sometimes things just don't go your way I guess...

They scored off of 3 f@cking set-pieces!

The non-existent penalty is what made the game go crazy. We lost our heads a bit after that and didn't manage to regain our calm even after we scored.

We created so much from open play while Roma did jack ****!


I guess this is for riding our luck against Inter...


Anyway, we move forward to the next one. Sparta on Thursday and Udine on Sunday

Pioli needs to rest Ibra, Hakan, Theo and Kessie on Thursday. And we need to go all out against Udine. Cannot afford to lose points in the next 2 games in the league before we face Napoli so we can go up against them still top of the table.

Against Sparta we should go with



It should still do the job and it will give guys who've been playing non-stop time to recharge a bit


Oh and the older Donna should start in goal. He's started games for us before and he's a million times better than this guy we signed this summer. At least he can catch the ball...

Hard to analyse this game.

Roma were basically harmless except for one great chance from Dzeko in counterattack. And though I still think we let them play too much at times, I can't blame the team for this draw. We got screwed by Tatasticazzi, the ref, corners, luck. Deserved to win no doubt.

Very underwhelmed by Theo as I pointed out earlier. He's too static, makes too many mistakes. And it's been going on for a while. He was such an explosive player, whatever happened to him.

Agreed.

Thanks for the laugh on that one

Re Theo, I think we're forgetting that a big part of his game last season was the interchange with Rebic. Leao is a much different player, he doesn't link up like Rebic does with the rest of the team, and Theo was the one who benefitted the most from this.

We also have to take into account that opposing teams this season are treating him like the threat that he is. We've played a lot of 3 at the back teams lately, and all have made sure to double team him as well as cut off his running avenues.

It's not like we haven't seen some of that explosiveness at all this season so far. His goal against Spezia (or Crotone?) was scored from one of his bursting runs. They always say that the 2nd season is the hardest, you're no longer an unknown quantity to teams. And Theo has definitely garnered enough attention that teams pay more attention to him than they would any regular FB.

That being said, I'd like to praise our other FB today. Calabria. Another top-notch performance from him today against a great player in Spinazzola.

Last point before I head for some Zzzzs

My only point of contention this game was the amount of counters we squandered. I think we caught them out 5 on 3 about 4 times in the 2nd half and didn't do anything with it. Had this been last season we'd have scored on probably each occasion. Yes, we haven't rediscovered that sharpness as of yet, but we shouldn't be wasting so many chances

The players look a bit too fatigued right now. And with no reprieve in sight in terms of fixture list, I do worry. Why we're playing international breaks when the fixture list is this packed + the pandemic looming is beyond me.

I really do hope this 3rd wave we're starting to go through will force UEFA's hands and they cancel the stupid friendlies and the insipid Nations league

+1

I have no clue how Mediaset gave him 5,5. It's like they watched another match.




This. I was pulling my hair.

missed the game as it was 1AM on monday night. but it seems we could have got 3 points. Also heard Leao was quite good.

A draw was a fair result.

2nd half of last season, Milan did not have Europe to contend with so had enough rest days. Also no Corona virus to take crucial players from us for a minimum of two weeks at a time.

That said, this is just the beginning of the season, if Milan gets a CL birth then it's a very very good result. First place is not something this squad can achieve.

So yes this draw is a fair result, hoping to keep winning is not possible. Maintaining an unbeaten run however is certainly something of a feat but not sure when that will end.

Still not keen on Leao on the wing. He doesn't link well with the others, but at the same time the first two goals came from him, so it?s hard to discredit his performance.

Thought we played well but the ref really wasn't interested.

But ultimately Romagnoli cost us the 3 points. One of the worst misses you'll see this season.

But equating who should have won this game with the fact that we can't keep winning doesn't make much sense to me. Sure it had to end at some point, but not like this. A game we should have won, and had Gigio been there it would have been a 2-0 game for sure.

This is the mentality of old, not expecting too much, yet the disappointed and angry reactions from all Milan fans shows that we've come to expect to be the dominant side in games and to win them as well. That's how far the bar has been raised since Pioli and Ibra came imo

This time last season, not even God could have helped us walk the ball into the back of the net. We could not score for love or money.

Look at us now. Should still be at a 100% record if it weren't for some shocking refereeing and a couple of miracle saves from Mirante, plus missing Donna.


Agreed. He just doesn't do it for me. It feels like he doesn't know what he wants to be. He's all gangly awkwardness, but his burst of pace really is a killer when he uses it correctly.


Nah, can't put this on Romagnoli's shoulders. Kessie, and Kjear also came inches close. But the ref and Tatarusanu really were our killer blows.

Really hope Donna 2.0 starts the next few games in goal

We shouldn't have gone for Lyon's reserve goalie. Low move from Paolo. He hadn't played a game since February. There are so many active goalies in Serie A who would gladly accept to be Donna's reserve.

Goals win matches. He missed an open one in the final second. It's on him.

Pioli going with practically an identical line-up to the one I posted here. Ibre instead of Leao though...

I really wish he would rest, there's no need for him to be straining himself. We need him for the league.

OFFICIAL Milan XI vs. Sparta Prague:

Tatarusanu; Calabria, Kjaer, Romagnoli, Dalot; Tonali, Bennacer; Castillejo, Brahim, Krunic; Ibrahimovic

Tatarusanu starting... Pioli obviously not wanting to completely demoralise him. Hoping he doesn't flap as he did on Monday

Fun Fact: Theo starts from the bench for the first time since September 2019

Diaz!!!

It's clear that Castell has no future in this team. I think it is best to part ways in January.

I'm really really liking Dalot and Diaz! Hope that we can keep them.

Dalooot!!

Calabria out. He's been immense. Amazing performances.

Maybe we should start playing Dalot on the left, so Theo can wake his @ss a little.

He's unwatchable.

The obvious weak link in the entire 11

Don't think we can recoup much on what we paid for him at this point. If we sell him that would probably be all of Leo's purchases gone.

And I thought we'd get rid of the Mirabelli players first... (Hakan and Kessie turning into top players under Pioli so have to give him credit for those 2)


Overall good game. I like the fact that we can rotate heavily and still play a relatively comfortable game without losing any of the characteristics the first team displays.

Diaz is a gem for sure. He's the one I for sure want to see us keep. Dalot is a quality utility player imo. He can play many roles and play them all well, he's like a Bonaventura. Would keep him as well, but we have to look at what Real and Man U would want for them. Diaz would be the priority though