AC Milan 1 v 1 Udinese

 AC Milan played host to Udinese at the San Siro this morning. Frustratingly this match went very much like the last clashes against Udinese , being a tight close affair. Sadly for Milan this match also played out like a cross of the Spezia and Sampdoria game.

Though Milan dominated much of the first half in possession, much of the game play occurred in their own half , passing to each other attempting to control the game and draw out Udinese player's to then play behind them. This did not work and left Milan extremely frustrated as Udinese like Sampdoria and Salernitana employed a very physical approach except Milan were able to play through the middle this time but were often double or triple teamed down the wings. Leao especially was a focus for the physical game play from Udinese and more cards should have been given to Udinese players. Thankfully due to a Tonali cross, Leao was able to beat multiple Udinese players, control the ball and put the ball into the back of the net in a very challenging position. Udinese nearly equalised moments later and Deulofeu a former Milan man was a constant thorn to the Milan defence, constantly finding himself beating a man.

 

Even in the second half, Milan sadly coasted with wasted chances though admittedly Brahim Diaz was finding more space Leao than any other as the game progressed. After Milan made a number of changes with Messias ,Giroud both coming on, Udinese quickly leveled through horde of players in the box scoring from a corner , in a shot that should not have occurred. Rebic who only just came on , made a number of errors that Milan could have conceded from if it was not for Theo who himself also made some. Due to Milan conceding they tried upping the tempo but too many misplaced passes and illtimed runs hurt the cause. Also noting Salaemakers who had come on barely featured in the game and bringing on Maldini amplified the effect of being two men down. The last few minutes turned into a comedy with Udinese using time wastage tactics and the referee slowly losing control of the game.

 

 

Player Ratings
An extremely difficult game to assess with no real stand outs and only temporary contributions from players.

3. Leao

2.Tonali

1.Romagnoli

Salernitana 2 v 2 AC Milan

 

Our visit to Salernitana started off well with an opener from Messias Jnr in the first five minutes. Sadly AC Milan did not look themselves for the rest of the game.  The remainder of the game became an error prone dog fight with Salernitana battling like demons to keep AC Milan at bay.

Shortly after the first goal, the midfield became packed with Bennacer and Tonali being forced to give up the ball, create fouls and forced errors upon them.  Then whenever the ball was played down to Ribery he looked capable of causing damage from his wide runs down the wing, normally beating at least one man on the Milan defence.

Though Milan tried to attack through Leao, he could just not beat his man or his first touch was incredibly poor tonight .It wasn’t too long until Mike Maignan ran out too early on a cross which resulted in chaos in the box and a brilliant bicycle kick from Bonazolli that levelled the scores.

It was an ever increasingly frustrating game as AC Milan thrive with the open spaces teams provide them on the counter, but here there was none to play with and left AC Milan to try and pick out the perfect pass on a day which even the ever reliant Tonali was spraying balls.

Theo was a calm presence for the game, defending well and consistently leading the line forward in attack, but his good intentions proved futile with team mates like Maignan who tried to take on the attacker and lost to only be saved by Romagnoli clearance off the line. Though Kessie had provided some steel since coming on the second half, it was himself and Tomori who left Duric unmarked for a header to connect from the corner and into the back of the net to give Salernitana a 2-1 lead. AC Milan still looked lost running around, with Salaemakers doing his best impression of the invisible man and provided no attacking output. He should not have replaced Messias who scored and was doing his role diligently in attack and defence. Thankfully Rebic blasted the ball from outside the box and was able to level the scores and save face for the game with a rocket of a shot.

 
The last ten minuntes highlighted a consistent problem  for AC Milan with very few men in the team having the strength of mind to take the game on and look for that winning pass or shot. This was highlight by our captain Romagnoli who did not make a positive forward pass in that time.

 

Overall a very rough game, with many men went missing and AC Milan put themselves in a position they should never have been in, but they were lucky to save a bit of modesty with a point.

Player Ratings
These are the kind of games incredibly hard to rate as there was no true Man of the Match but a few highlights and good moments from players.

3. Messias Jnr

2. Rebic

1. Theo Hernandez

Buffon 500

 Buffon has become the first goalkeeper in history to have played in 500 clean sheets. It's a incredible feat that speaks go his longevity , ability and passion for the game. 

  He achieved this in a nil all draw with Benevento and has amassed the others across his career with Parma , Juventus, PSG and Italy. 

 Though this is not the usual Milan news, his been an inspiration for my passion for calcio and it has been a privilege too watch him all those years, with Italy and even against our beloved AC Milan. I do believe his the greatest keeper in the history of the game and I don't know how long he will go on for, I just wish him the best.

 

 

AC Milan 1 v Sampdoria 0

 

AC Milan played hosts to Sampdoria last night at the San Siro, with the long awaited return of Giovinco delayed further due to match fitness problems.

This match was in similar vain to the Spezia game where Milan took domination from the onset, controlled the game and implemented a very offensive game style. Mike provided the assist to the long run of Leao who was able to shoot past Falcone a controlled shot to make it 1 to nil in the eighth minute.

Sampdoria then flooded their midfield with a strong physical presence and it did initially rattle Milan’s duo ,  before Tonali and Bennacer grew into the contest and by the end of the game, had very little trouble navigating the midfield. The physical presence of the game did lead to a few yellows to Milan with Brahim Diaz and Romagnoli collecting one each , both were due to over eagerness to the contest.

 

It was nice to see Conti back on the pitch, even if it was in Sampdoria colours, however sadly he had very little effect on the game and when he was replaced just after half time, I realised I had not seen him for at least 30 minutes.

Much like the Spezia game, Milan was able to relentlessly attack the Sampdoria goal, with either missed shots or superb efforts from Falcone preventing an onslaught.  Giroud the recent goal scoring machine, played with a hunger of a much younger man, only Falcone’s great efforts and the inability of team mates to pass to him prevented him scoring another.

 

 

The introduction of Rebic, Kessie and Salaemakers all provided different results, with Rebic very unlucky to not add to the scoreline on a number of occasions and has hopefully shaken off some of the rustiness from his return, Kessie however was bitterly average, ensuring that he did provide a physical presence on the ball but his contributions to the offensive side of the game, more often than not were wasteful. Salaemakers is always a much better player coming off the bench , he did provide a lot more defensive stability of nullifying Sampdoria’s counter attacks, however he is plagued by two problems which I hope he is able to improve on , his either continuously error prone and wasteful with his ball distribution or his incredibly slow even when dribbling past multiple players.

 

Overall AC Milan was able to hold out ensure the victory, never really looking in trouble .  Other Serie A games that occurred saw Napoli draw with Inter and Atalanta draw with a late Juventus effort. This did ensure that AC Milan finished the round on top, I do believe both results should have been in favor of Napoli and Atalanta as this would have stopped the momentum of both Inter and Juve .In Inter’s case may have contributed to self doubt due to losing a double to Napoli and AC Milan and destabilising their season.

 

 

Player Ratings

3. Leao

2. Maignan

1.Giroud