AC Milan were once again let down by their big names as they lost a sixth derby in a row to Inter, one that allowed them to celebrate winning the Scudetto.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) has their ratings from the game at San Siro, starting with the team’s overall performance and Stefano Pioli’s choices which both earned a score of 5 out of 10.
The best player on the field for Milan was Matteo Gabbia in the eyes of the paper as he was given a 6, while the player who struggled the most was the rather anonymous Ruben Loftus-Cheek who got a 4.5.
Yunus Musah and Yacine Adli were each given a 6 for relatively bright displays, while Samuel Chukwueze came off the bench and tried to make things happen so he was awarded the same score.
From there, however, things start to go downhill. Mike Maignan and Ismael Bennacer were given a 5.5, then Davide Calabria, Fikayo Tomori, Tijjani Reijnders, Rafael Leao, Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud scored half a point less.
The final negative note was Theo Hernandez, who got the same score as Loftus-Cheek for a very erratic performance that ended with a straight red card for an altercation.
This is the culmination of the work Cardinale started in the summer, i.e. deprive Milan of the core of mental fortitude (in the sacking of the Technical and Sporting directors. Selling Tonali was a good mistake (…or intended covert operation) hauling in 8 players seemed a panicked move; while 2nd place, if achieved, will be an undeserved but consoling achievement.
everyone has checked out for the season. It was going to be hard from the start to integrate 8 new players (4 or 5 to the starting 11) and selling (luckily) your best midfield. But that’s what Pioli wanted. Let’s not forget, he had a big saying in the tranfers this year.
It didnt help that Inter had an outstanding season. But we’ve been stagnant. That’s the truth. Since the scudetto season we have been basically flat with a clear pattern of start season decent, then come dec-jan go into a run of bad results that kicks us out of contention in both europe and domestically, to finish on a somewhat strong in the top 4.