Tonali has his ups and downs, he makes one too many mistake every match but it's undeniable to me that the dude has a lot of talent and is growing in the role game after game. Today was one of his best matches.
But that midfield with him + Calabria + Diaz just doesn't work and that's the reason our first half was pretty bad. Cala was not bad but he's not natural at all here, he is just a body around most of the time and our transition was very problematic with in the middle. Also, Diaz doesn't do nearly as much midfled work as Hakan does.
That midfield is struggling and it's the reason we've been badly losing possession every game since Benna got injured and it's really absurd how short our depth is for CM - and how many risks we're taking becuase of that. It's past time to get a real backup for CM.
It was a whole different ball game when Hakan and Kessie came in.
Also I get why people talk shit about Diaz but he make things happen. He runs around a lot, he's always energetic and he get a lot of the ball and he tries everything. It's natural he also misses a lot but many of our chances passed though him today.
Leao was not good as CF today unlike the previous games. We badly needed a pivot but he couldn't do it and N'Koulou had him in the pocket most of the game.
Somewhat disagree. I think the main probem in the first half was the lack of chemistry between the front 4 & the fullbacks.
Ibra was missing the combinations with Hakan & Rebic. The others were missing a striker who moves, runs and presses more than Ibra.
Kalulu's runs was being ignored in the final third. Dalot wasn't on the same wavelength as the rest. Leao seemed wasted so far away from the box.
Our by far best period in the game was the first 15 mins of second half, before Calabria was replaced with Kessie, and Kalulu was moved to CB.
Diaz involved Kalulu and would progress where Samu stopped. Hakan came in and orchestrated things as usual.
Leao, as CF, allowed the attack to flow freely.
Calabria delivered some beautiful through-balls and was a Noce type of goal threat, which can't be said about any of our actual midfielders.
The rest of the 2nd half was nowhere as good as those first 15 mins.
Kessie retrieved balls much quicker than Calabria and Tona had done in the previous 60 mins, but the attack was nowhere as dangerous. Fatigue was probably a strong factor, but Dalot was awful at RB compared to Kalulu. Tonali had a more defensive approach than Calabria when he took over the RCM role, and this hurt an isolated Diaz in particular, but we were also missing Calabria's late runs.
On the left flank, Hauge is still struggling to form any sort of understanding with his teammates. It's like he's just an obstacle at times, which is sad to see because Hauge was the Hakan, the orchestrator of his former team. He needs to get on the same wavelength as the rest, and the rest need to accommodate him.
Kessie-Bennacer are obviously our best midfield duo, and normally I would not want someone like Calabria in the midfield. But in this particular game, with Diaz on the wing against Torino B in Coppa Italia, I felt Kessie-Tonali were being too reactive.