2nd penalty Ibra's missed! Should let Kessie take these FFS!

Actually, make that the 3rd, he fluffed against Inter as well but managed to correct it

Indeed. F*ck his ego. He's been utter shite tonight.

Why isn't Diaz coming on FFS?!

No luck

Damn

Hauge and diaz will go in. Bit late

FFS the Verona players are faking every injury possible!

I like thr fighting spirit of Bennacer but hr needs to be careful of a second yellow

Calabriaaaa!!!!!

Gooooo

CALABRIA!!!!

Atoned for the silly OG (which wasn't his fault but still)

Let's try to win this now

**** var **** this

FFS

Can't catch a break today

Zlatan **** yeahhhh

This is the mentality of milan

IBRAAA

IBRAAA

This is what I mean when saying this team is not the same

So many chances we've created today

Napoli are going to **** us.

Should have won this!

So disappointing

Feels like a win

We'll see. They've had their fair share of black outs as well.


So disappointed by today though. We created the chances. Ibra f@cked up a penalty, scored an own goal, can't defend a set-piece to save our live it seems. Should have gotten the 3 points.

Yep, bur this is football. But, the most important thing is the fighting spirit we saw from the team. I have lots to say, I'll be posting later

It feels like a loss to me.

We shouldn't have dropped points today. We created so many chances which we just spazzed out on, Let in 2 sloppy goals from set-pieces once again (one of which was an own goal to add insult to injury), missed a penalty and had 2 goals disallowed for the barest of margins

The NT break comes at a good time for us at least. Gives us a bit of time to re-group

Pioli better be working on their set-piece defending though, because this is terrible.

Also, we need to stop launching so many long balls at Ibra. We're better than that, and we rarely resorted to that last season


We missed a huge opportunity tonight to put even more distance between us, Inter, Lazio and Atalanta, so it's even worse.

True, but it was all a pinball mess. Just kick the ball in attack and let's see what comes out of the all the rebounds.

I appreciated the spirit tonight, no doubt about it. But we entered into panic mode and couldn't give substance to our game.

Maybe this break comes at the right moment, cos we're losing pieces here and need some time to regain ourselves.

Someone needs to sit Ibra down and tell him that Kessie will be taking the penalties from now on though. He's already f@cked up 3 this season and was lucky enough to correct the one against Inter

We created good chances through good link up in the 2nd half, but yeah, we're starting to see too many long balls being hurled at Ibra, which is something I worry a lot about seeing. Teams are really putting their all against us, the way Verona were pressing us was very notable, I don't know how they usually play but they were really doing all they could to double and triple team us high up.

I agree re the break, the only issue is that most of the team will be playing 2/3 games during that time, so it's not really a break. But it should give us at least some time to regroup. Give Pioli time to see where we're struggling and try to improve on those things.

This reminded me a lot of the game against SPAL from last season also, hopefully we can settle the nerves and move forward as we did last season

Theo's run for the 2nd was great

He had good moments today, looked much better than the last few games, made the runs he should be making and should have at least scored one of the point blank chances he had

I dont think this is going to happen.

Zlatan should have the emotional maturity to accept the decision. Kessie is ice cold on pens Zlatan has been bad at them this season. He's generally good at them, I don't understand why he's suddenly skying these into row Z

A few words about some players:

Hernandez - I liked him a lot tonight. You can definitely see the difference when he actually cares enough put some effort into his performances.

Bennacer - Great spirit. He really gave it his whole in every fight and for every ball.

Hakan - Maybe we shouldn't renew his contract. Appalling performance, one of his worst. Absolutely nothing redeeming about his game. He's not as involved as he should be and makes too many mistakes, for some time now.

Leao - He was quite dangerous in some occasions, but I personally just don't like the way he plays. But that's just me.

Ibra - Bad, bad game. The goal in the end saved him. But at least he put in his all, cos at the 93rd minute he was fighting like a beast for every ball in the air. And we forget the guy is 39. But that penalty shouldn't have been wasted like that. It would have changed the game for us.

Rebic - Totally changed our approach. We were much more dangerous after he came in. Created many spaces and linked very well with everyone. Should have played from the start.

It is a loss. Wasting two points at home against Verona (who in all honesty were far from great), despite coming back from 0-2, it can't be perceived as anything else but a wasted opportunity. It shouldn't have happened. We should have demolished them tonight, no ifs or buts.

Question. Do you agree that Theo is much more dangerous when Rebic is on? I know you disagreed on this, but we've seen over the last 2 games that as soon as Rebic comes on, Theo starts to make those dangerous overlapping runs, I really do believe that it's in part due to the way Rebic opens up the space for him, while Leao doesn't do that as he drifts in too narrow

I think part of Hakan's problem is in fact that contract. I don't understand why we're letting these contracts hang like a shadow over this team. They should have been renewed in the summer, and all this talk surrounding Hakan cannot be helping. He started the season well, and now with all the talk about his renewal, it's like his performances have dropped off a cliff. Paolo and co need to get these sorted ASAP.

Leao is just too casual for me. He's got to much speed and talent, but he's not applying himself as he should be imo. I know we call him a Niang, but his raw talent compared to Niang is off the charts imo. He's just too relaxed, he's too pre-occupied with trying to dribble through everyone when he has the ball. I still think he has a high ceiling but he needs to improve his attitude

Ibra needs to be sitting some of the EL matches going forward. He simply cannot be playing 90+ minutes every 2 days or we're going to burn him out and that's lights out on the rest of our season imo. He's a phenomenon no doubt, but even he has his limits. He looked sluggish in the first half and also a bit on edge. He should only play in the EL if we need him to come on late, not starting full games.

Agreed re Rebic, he'll start the Napoli game for sure. Also think Brahim should probably get the nod ahead of Hakan or Alexis

Ibrahimovic: "I am angry, obviously, because a draw today is not good enough. here are many games now and when you get tired, you are not always at 100 per cent. Fortunately, the break for international duty is here, because I need rest."

Ibrahimovic: "The next penalty will be taken by Kessie."

Theo definitely plays better with Rebic than with Leao, no doubt about it, but I personally believe it's a matter of attitude. Tonight, even in the first half he looked more involved than in the past few weeks.

Hakan's problem can't be his contract, because if it is then we should sell him as ASAP. That shows a complete lack of character. And in all honesty Hakan has never really shown any character during these years with us.

And I totally agree about Leao. "Too casual", you phrased it perfectly. He's like an amalgamation of Niang and Balotelli to be more precise.

That's good to know.

Commend Ibra for relinquishing spot kick duty

Also have to commend him on what was a lion of a performance on a bad night for him. He hit the post, missed a penalty, Calabria's goal was ruled out due to his handball but still kept fighting like a man possessed in the 96th minute.

A true clutch player like we haven't had since, ironically, him

Hakan's never really been a big character though as you mentioned, he has grown for sure imo but these last 2-3 games have been bad from him, and that has coincided with all the contract talk and Man U rumours. So I don't think it's a coincidence. Still think we should renew his contract. We won't sell him now, we'll lose him for free if it comes to that, no club will pay a cent for him in January when he'll be free a few months later. And I think giving him that certainty will help as well.

Well at least Leao seems far more disciplined than either of those 2 off the pitch which is an important factor of whether he can change his attitude and approach on the pitch. And it's not like he has a bad attitude either, it's just his body language I think that ticks me off the most about him. I don't want to say that he's not trying because he does put in effort, just not enough

Btw, really liked that Zaccagni fellow from Hellas. Really gave Calabria the run around for a moment there. Maybe someone to keep an eye on

X-O you really think you have to remind us that Ibra is 39? I've been here mostly not regularly, but almost every time I drop in here you or Han or someone else reminds us how old he is. Hell you've been predicting that depending on him is a pipe dream because... well... he's 39. Or was 38.

Joke aside, I think we know what his limitations are. Yet, he's the best we got.

As far as Hakan is concerned, you guys still discuss this at lengths? I've seen the same happen with him almost everywhere. He's been with us for, what, 3 seasons by now? Don't you know him by now? He's obviously inconsistent as hell and completely unreliable. We should extend with him under normal circumstances. If he continues demanding Ibra's or Donna's salary... we should let ManUtd take him instead.

I don't think it's a problem of attitude either. Like I said before, I just don't like the way he plays. Body language, as you said, or some decisions he makes. He's not suited to play the winger in a 4-2-3-1 either, because that requires a lot of huffing and puffing and tracking back, which players like Rebic and Saelemaekers are able to do, but that's not in his DNA.

This is why I didn't buy into last season's late form. When it actually matters, now that we're getting into the serious stuff as winter approaches, the form and inconsistency returns bang on cue.

As for Ibra, bad night for him and yet he still saves us with a wonder header.

He's our hail mary.

So apparently you guys are more focused on Milan's short comings than how the opposition figured out Milan's weak points?

Lille got the best of Milan when they man marked Kessie, Verona did the same. Applying pressure on the Milan player who is tasked with relieving the pressure off the team. Also the pressing in Milan half made it tight at the back, hence the long balls forward. This is what Verona did as well and I suspect other teams will have figured out the fragile parts.

Set pieces are a gamble, regardless which team participates in them. Of course Milan can always improve, but perfection won't be achieved.

Since January, the team has done a spectacular job. Defying the odds when we (myself included) felt the Pioli appointment was a oneway ticket to bottom of the table.

In closing, the team got a draw, it extends Milan's unbeaten run in the league. Which is a feat in itself, despite this pessimism on the forum. Think you guys should lighten up a bit, as my expectations is a EL birth. While if the team secures CL, then that would be a cause for euphoria.

So let's all take a deep breath.

So you defend last night because our coach got outfoxed? Curious angle.

Winning the scudetto would be a cause for euphoria. Securing CL placement is the minimum this team can achieve. Anything below 4th spot would be a catastrophic disaster.

Hakan has been consistently good for a while now. It's only these last 2 games that he seems to not be all there.

The exorbitant salary demands are just reports by the media. I don't believe them unless somone reliable like Romano or Di Marzio say anything about it. So far the sources talking about this are not the most reliable

The problem with Ibra is that we're playing him too much. He should not be starting EL games.


Agreed


Disagree. We're still unbeaten in the league having won 5 of 7 games, including the derby. A run like that is not a fluke, and the fighting spirit we showed yesterday is proof that this team has come a long way.

Unless we start seeing horrific stuff similar to what we saw last season under Giampaolo, I'm going to keep having faith in this team and what Pioli is building with Ibra's help.


Disagree with you on what our goal should be. CL should be the minimum with what we've shown so far. We need to get into January in good shape so we can make 2 key signings to helps us out and I think we can make 4th. It would be catastrophic to miss out on CL again as I cannot see us keeping the likes of Bennacer, Kessie, Theo, etc for much longer if we don't make that step.

Regarding set-pieces. In the league alone, all the goals we've conceded so far, bar the Lukaku goal against Inter have been set-pieces, that is not normal. I know there's always a good chance you can concede from these situations, but we're conceding way too much right now. We should be doing much better, and had that been the case, we would not have lost points against either Roma or Verona as we conceded very soft set-piece goals against both teams

Well we'll see by the end of this month start of next. I told X winning is all that matters, and we're still top of the table. The problem is there's been two draws and a defeat in the last five in all competition - two wins of five isn't good form. Especially when four points have been dropped domestically.

My faith is certainly less than it was earlier in the season.

I just see what is looking more and more like typical Milan creeping in.