AC Milan fell to a 1-0 defeat within the Netherlands on Wednesday evening, and their Champions League hopes relaxation on an excellent efficiency at San Siro.
As a (painful) recap, Milan suffered a heavy defeat in Zagreb to Dinamo which prevented them from ending within the prime 8 spots within the Champions League thus forcing them to play within the play-off spherical earlier than advancing to the knockout phases.
Satirically or not the opponents they needed to face within the playoffs have been Feyenoord, the previous staff of the Rossoneri’s massive winter signing – Santiago Gimenez.
The Dutch facet have been in the midst of a nasty second earlier than the sport however acted swiftly and sacked their coach with Pascal Bosschaart taking up as an interim, and this determination gave them the wanted impulse as they performed brilliantly towards the Diavolo, profitable 1-0 albeit hopefully on the aim however extra on that later.
Following the aim, Milan had little to supply going ahead and once they did have an opportunity to equalise the effectivity was simply not there with the gamers struggling to get going.
It’s all up within the air as issues stand and with the reverse fixture in Italy, Milan are nonetheless the favourites to undergo.
Nevertheless, they might want to decide up the tempo and be scientific in entrance of aim in the event that they want to proceed their Champions League marketing campaign.
Listed here are 5 issues we discovered:
1. A well-recognized mistake
Milan performed poorly and Feyenoord definitely had a couple of probability to attain, nevertheless it’s truthful to say that the aim they did rating was a present from Mike Maignan. A goalkeeper of his class ought to’ve saved Paixao’s shot 100 out of 100 instances, however the .
If it have been his first time fluffing a simple shot like that, we may’ve been extra lenient in direction of him, however the unlucky actuality is that Maignan is making errors like this a bit too typically for our liking and it’s solely truthful to criticise him.
Extra Tales about Mike Maignan
Clearly, there’s no denying his talents, however he must be extra constant and eradicate these errors from his sport.
2. Leao lower than the problem
Leao additionally didn’t carry out on the evening and he had greater than sufficient possibilities to show the sport round.
The Portuguese struggled to get going within the opening minutes, however finally improved as the sport progressed, even discovering himself in some harmful areas within the second half of the opening 45 minutes.
Sadly, on all of those events, he was too sluggish to get a shot off or just sloppy. For instance, the large probability the place he was basically 1 vs 1 with the goalkeeper however didn’t even handle to get a shot off, permitting the defender to catch up after initially beating him for tempo, is an ideal displaying.
Then within the second half, he had a couple of good moments the place he beat his man simply, however then his finish product was dreadful, if we’re being trustworthy.
The winger must react effectively subsequent week as he retains being labelled as this phenomenon by everyone, Conceicao included, however we haven’t seen something phenomenal shortly.
3. Gimenez a ghost
The Mexican was handed his first begin after arriving a few weeks in the past and was just about invisible via a sport stuffed for him having to face his previous facet simply two weeks after becoming a member of Milan.
In hindsight, one can argue that Conceicao may’ve opted for Tammy Abraham as an alternative provided that the Englishman is in good type now and the truth that Feyenoord are aware of Santiago Gimenez and know easy methods to neutralise him effectively. However one can solely speculate the end result if Tammy was certainly most popular for this sport.
However, specializing in Gimenez, he was merely not ok and wasn’t in a position to affect the sport in any respect, however he’ll have his possibilities subsequent Tuesday and hopefully this time he can punish the previous membership.
4. Centre-back duo the one optimistic
Malick Thiaw and Strahinja Pavlovic are most likely the one ones who may maintain their heads excessive following that efficiency and extra particularly Pavlovic, who received the
The Serb has been excellent since Conceicao gave him his probability, following rumours that Milan may be inclined to promote him.
Extra Tales / The Match
In the previous few video games although, he’s managed to be a pillar on the again, while additionally carrying the ball ahead down the left flank, appearing as a striker in a number of video games the place Milan wanted a aim and towards Feyenoord it was no totally different – he made a number of interceptions and blocks in addition to spectacular recoveries showcasing his tempo and dedication.
In the direction of the tip, he additionally made a shot or two on aim which actually encapsulates how a participant sporting the Milan shirt ought to play. Sadly for him, his teammates weren’t up for a combat.
5. Walker discovered his match
The Englishman has been excellent since becoming a member of from Manchester Metropolis and introduced some much-needed management on the again, in addition to composure and tempo that was lacking with Emerson Royal and Davide Calabria.
Towards Feyenoord, nonetheless, he lastly discovered his match within the face of Igor Paixao. The Brazilian scored the opening aim, with a little bit of assist from Maignan, which then seemingly helped his confidence as he was unplayable on the evening making life laborious for Kyle Walker and Milan as an entire as he earned Thiaw a yellow card too.
Walker was thus pressured to focus so much on his defensive duties and even then struggled to maintain up, though the winger was contained for many of it with the Rossoneri doubling down on him within the second half.
Nevertheless, this restricted Walker when it comes to his attacking contribution and that additionally affected Pulisic who struggled to get going too.
Within the reverse fixture, Conceicao wants to determine easy methods to restrict Paixao since he’s by far their most harmful participant.
