Following a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, Milan showed impressive resilience in their domestic campaign, beating Frosinone with the same scoreline.
The response from Stefano Pioli’s side was a mix of impressive individual performances and tactical adaptability, revealing both strengths and areas for improvement.
The game started well for Milan but they didn’t create much in terms of clear chances until the end of the first half. Jovic was then presented with a great opportunity and he took it in style, opening his tally in red and black.
That gave some confidence to the Rossoneri and they followed up with two more goals in the second half, courtesy of Christian Pulisic and Fikayo Tomori. Towards the end, they did concede but it was a clear breakdown in communication. Let’s delve into five key observations from the game.
1. French duo impresses
The Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan displayed all of his qualities during the evening, first making a crucial save against Frosinone. A pivotal moment that kept Milan in the game. Then, he bagged an assist (!) with a great long ball for Pulisic.
Meanwhile, filling in as a centre-back, Theo Hernandez delivered an unexpectedly solid performance, demonstrating his adaptability and defensive prowess in an unfamiliar role. The dedication was there from the first minute and he also helped out in the attacking phase.
2. Jovic builds momentum
Jovic is showing signs of finding his rhythm. His well-timed volley against Frosinone and an assist could hopefully be the start of a good, consistent form. The finish on his goal shouldn’t be understated, because that is by no means easy.
The Serbian’s hold-up play and sharp movements are creating more opportunities, suggesting a positive trajectory for Milan’s attacking line. Olivier Giroud will be back for the next game, but now he’s got a proper competitor for that spot.
3. Stellar performance from Pulisic
In the absence of Rafael Leao, Pulisic took charge on the left flank, scoring a technically brilliant goal. His control, dribbling past multiple defenders, and eventual finish past the goalkeeper highlighted his significant role in Milan’s attack and his ability to step up when needed.
He has now bagged five goals for the Rossoneri and once Leao is back, he will be able to impress on the right flank once again. Samuel Chukwueze, whom we will get to below, has not had the same success as the American.
4. One step forward, two steps backwards for Chukwueze
Chukwueze’s fluctuating form is becoming a concern. Despite a promising display and a great goal against Dortmund, his performances in the league matches have been lacklustre. And yesterday was no different.
His struggle to maintain consistency and challenge for a starting spot, especially in comparison to Pulisic’s form, raises questions about his role in the team. There will be time for him to regain confidence, but Milan also cannot afford to wait for too long.
The Atalanta clash could be his last proper chance in a while, with Milan hoping to have Leao back for the big game against Newcastle.
5. Musah can be more incisive
Yunus Musah initially impressed in the midfield but is now experiencing a challenging phase. While he hasn’t been outright ineffective, his impact, particularly in attacking plays, has diminished. Yesterday, although it was offside, he missed a big chance and arguably made the wrong play in that moment.
With the return of Ismael Bennacer, the American will face stiff competition for his position, especially since Tijjani Reijnders has found some consistency too. It’s a critical time for him to step up and reaffirm his value in the Milan midfield.
The hard work has always been there, and hasn’t gone unnoticed, but he can add more contribution in attack.
Remember this was done against Frosinone. Anything below what’ve done yesterday would quite frankly be considered dissapointing. The only two highlights really are Jovic scoring and Bennacer coming back.
Now we should focus on Atalanta.
Underestimating teams like Frosinone is precisely how teams miss out on titles.
We don’t need to beat inter. We just need to beat Frosinone. That was the secret to Ferguson’s success and the success of most serial title winners.
We also need to beat Inter.
Forgetting that us forgetting a winning formula.
Losing to inter costed us 2 cups, 1 UCL final and 1 supercup. So my guess that if you want titles, you should consider beating them at some point.
And I didn’t imply to understimate Frosinone, but beating them shouldn’t be a surprise or sort of a milestone. But we’ve been so mediocre lately, that even a simple win came as a “shock”.
Take the 3 points and move on.
Despite Pulisic scoring and making assist, I can’t believe that Maldini labelled him as one of the wrong transfer. Probably he is angry for his dismissal.
How did he actually label him as one of the wrong transfers ? from what i can recollect from the top of my head he said something in the vein of that the Pulisic transfer amongst 2 other ones wasn’t really moneyball transfers which seems to me to more indicate that pulisic didn’t need much algorithmns or scouting to decide whether if it was a good one or not. He has pretty much been an ongoing transfer rumor for the last 2 years but 2 years ago chelsea apparently wanted 40 mil and the year after 30 if remember correctly. believe one of the other ones mentioned in that bunch of players was Loftus who again has been rumored to milan for the last cuple of years but again chelsea demanded a higher ammunt that we could or would pay,
I assume this is the section you are referring to and i simply doesnt see it as abelling the players as wrong moves
“The algorithms?
“There is no need to use them to sign Loftus-Cheek, Pulisic and Chukwueze: just use the money that a team that finally has a turnover of 400 million deserves. You can’t compare the 4 previous markets with the last one, we had different weapons.
“Sustainability? With Boban and Massara it was stimulating to cut salaries by 30%, renew the squad and increase its value with the Scudetto and three years of Champions League, after seven without.”
This.
That guy read the wrong interview made by Gery and Furlani lol.
I wasn’t really trying to mock him but it does seem like that he at the very minimum lacked comprehending reading the text or maybe read it with some colored glasses.
Either way Maldini was correct in his estimates, no moneyball algorithms was needed for those transfers.
Exactly
Thanks
I mean if you didn’t understand what he said you seriously need to re-evaluate yourself. He was mocking the management for calling these signing “Moneyball” and all the other so called algorithms not the signings themselves.
I think you may have misunderstood what Maldini said. He said you don’t need algorithms or money all to u destined you should sign players like Pulisic or Sportiello etc… you just need money. And he is correct.
As for Jovic I’d hardly say he’s now competition for Giroud. Nice volley yes but fortunate for the wide open deflection. He has to show much much more and over the course of several games to say he can be a “proper competitor” to Giroud. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We player Frosinone – not Inter.
Chuckwuze agreed. Seems very one dimensional and has to learn in you cannot expect to dribble 2-3 players each time you get the ball. This is Otaly not Spain and the defenders are a bit more sophisticated compared to a more open game in Spain.
if your friend say “you don’t need math to buy a Ferrari” do you understand what he mean?
No.
He is basically saying in between the lines that there is no need for any greater thought process to define whether a Ferrari is a great car or not as its clear for all to see that it is a great car.
Yea I think you’re trying to re-write the narrative. Good try thoug. I’ve seen worst stick on this site. They did really well with the “Maldini didn’t get along” one
Chuku will come in good.
I think so too.
Reijnders/Bennacer/RLC VS Atalanta sounds exciting. I hope they won’t have to play too long together to understand each other well. That midfield, when clicking, sounds on point.
I can’t shake the feeling Reijnders and Musah are being misused. They don’t seem to know what their roles are. Musah is just running around chasing ball while Reijnders has ideas but the system itself is not adapt to his ideas. I focus a lot on Reijnders play and positioning and he offers himself a lot, tries to do one-two plays many times but others don’t follow him in build up phase.
I don’t know about you but Reminders decision making / execution in the final third is terrible!. He should work on that.
* Reijnders
Or maybe he’s just not as good of a player. We don’t really have anything to go by in terms.fonwhatbhe can bring to the table in top flight football. We have for Puli and RLC though and Musah somewhat. Maybe this is the product we bought
Let’s wait next season to give a better judgement about him. For now he is far inferior to previous season Tonali but he ain’t so bad.
Yea I’ll give him a shot for sure but to me at his age it’s difficult for me to see leaps in improvement like Tonali did..
Maignan did well with the assist and the 1v1 but he also let the ball enter the 6 yard box rather easily for the goal. He needed to command that area better. There have been some slip ups with Mike recently. Performance aside he also looks injury prone a few times in the match. He made what I thought would be a risk less slide only to seem to have pulled his thigh.
Overall though. I’m not cracked up about this game. It was very nervy and didn’t do much until the goal. Frosinone did well in the first half.