Europa League - Group H: AC Milan vs Lille OSC 05/11/2020 21:00 CET

damn what happened

helloAgain said:

Bennacer was easily the best player. Last few games benna has leveled up. Need to remove the release clause immediately.

Lille started to play well only after the second goal. They played like bottom table serie a teams for entire first half.

This game reminded me of the banter Era games. All possession and no shots.

Krunic completely invisible, Samu and Diaz over complicating everything.

Hakan is vital for quick transitions from mid to attack. Can't afford to lose him for free unless there's big pile of money lying around.

Diaz and tonali are not ready yet to play against big teams. Dalot crosses were very bad.

Rebic looks rusty.

I don't blame pioli all that much except for starting krunic when he had leo, Rebic and hauge available. Both Roma and donna made stupid mistakes which cost us the game.

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Are you serious about Hakan? He had no impact on the game after he came in. He got the ball. The only impact that we had was Bennacer. After he came on, we showed signs of doing something. Diaz tried but he was crowded out.

ToonInvader said:

Pioli was right to put the B team. The Verona game is more important. Krunic LW is for a defensive strategy, it makes sense. Same for Samu. Pioli's strategy was to begin the match slowly and not overuse players. Curious to see players' reaction on Sunday

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No, not right. He had 3 LWs sitting on the bench. He could have played Rebic or Leao or Hauge. Krunic is Borini 2.0

Charbel said:

Everyone asking for a salary raise does not deserve it by the way. Dona , Roma , and Hakan.

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No, they don't.

helloAgain said:

Lille started to play well only after the second goal. They played like bottom table serie a teams for entire first half.

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The problem was ours.
1. We played selfishly upfront, we should at least make 1 goal in the first half if players like Hernandez, Diaz, Ibra play as a team.
2. We dropped our intensity in the second half and the opponent already gained their full confidence.
3. We were just terrible in the second half. If we scored, I doubt that could raise our motivation to make another goal.

Krunic and Samu were exposed so big this time due to lack of finishing product from other offensive quality players. I am not try to defend Pioli but if the PK was not called or we at least score one goal in the first half, we would forget the 'mistake' Pioli made.

We deserve the loss for playing Castillejo and Krunic both in the attacking three behind Ibra.

I really don’t understand the decision considering we have 3 good LW to call upon. I feel bad for Hauge who anyways might not see much game time with Rebic and Leao and now frickin krunic starts ahead of him Jeeeez.

Castillejo’s Milan career is over imo. He was pretty average to start with but now he’s completely lost all his confidence. We need to start trying Hauge on the right later in games as he seems capable of putting in defensive shift that we require our RM to do. Or maybe Diaz. Loan or sell Samu in Jan.

ZBoban said:

But he was so good during the covid tourny

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Pioli's Samu fetish has got to stop, right now, ibra's getting frustrated as hell with him

Are we talking from the same Hakan here? The one who subbed in but didnt want to run?

Once Bennacer came in he started delivering balls and winning plays. He is our best player this season!

Matteo Vismara
To those who are already singing the profundis I would like to remind everyone that big defeats happen to everyone, even to teams stronger than this Milan.

This year:
Man Utd 1-6 Tottenham
Aston Villa - Liverpool 7-2
Hoffenheim - Bayern Munich 4-1
Man City - Leicester 2-5
Real Madrid - Shakhtar 2-3

He makes a poignant point.

Make no mistake, this was a humiliating loss at our very own San Siro, but it might be just what we needed to crash back down to earth.

Roll on Hellas Verona and show us what we're capable of.

Brahim and Dalot on the same side are far too weak, imo cost a lot of stability 2nd half. Roma should rest a bit, needs to get more ready.

im not even annoyed after this game
because what can you do if your defense gives 2 goals for free?!

milanator said:

Brahim and Dalot on the same side are far too weak, imo cost a lot of stability 2nd half. Roma should rest a bit, needs to get more ready.

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They looked too weak because their offensive performance were just not optimal, not like they especially Hernandez normally do.

Hernandez needs to rest. He looked tired in that game. We need one more quality fullback.

Really hope we take revenge in the return fixture in a couple of weeks.

fray said:

Matteo Vismara
To those who are already singing the profundis I would like to remind everyone that big defeats happen to everyone, even to teams stronger than this Milan.

This year:
Man Utd 1-6 Tottenham
Aston Villa - Liverpool 7-2
Hoffenheim - Bayern Munich 4-1
Man City - Leicester 2-5
Real Madrid - Shakhtar 2-3

He makes a poignant point.

Make no mistake, this was a humiliating loss at our very own San Siro, but it might be just what we needed to crash back down to earth.

Roll on Hellas Verona and show us what we're capable of.

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Man utd now a stronger team?

This defeat has something interesting to it in the sense that it showed how much we're the kind of team that performs or underperforms as a team. Our Players are really dependent on one another. It's not like we have 3-4 players taking the team on their shoulders, not even Ibra does that IMO. You could see yesterday that the machine as a whole was not working. The inverse was true in the previous games.

ToonInvader said:

This defeat has something interesting to it in the sense that it showed how much we're the kind of team that performs or underperforms as a team. Our Players are really dependent on one another. It's not like we have 3-4 players taking the team on their shoulders, not even Ibra does that IMO. You could see yesterday that the machine as a whole was not working. The inverse was true in the previous games.

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The plus side is that the loss to Lille probably won't have much of an impact to our season than let's say if we lose on Sunday. Indeed it's a slip up, and an embarrassing one at that, but the consequences can still be minimized in the return match...

The same however cannot be said of Serie A games.

Sunday's game is a crucial must-win match for the team's mentality. We can't afford a slip up then.

We had to lose eventually and I think this could be the one to give away considering we're still likely to qualify from this group.

In truth, the team looked really tired and the upcoming break will be a real lifeline. We will need to edge out Hellas Verona, they will be tough and I'm sure they took notes from the Lille game. I hope none of our players play international football especially Kessie and Hakan they need this break more than anyone.

Please dont overanalyze this game please. It's so easy to see what happend and that there is nothing to worry about.

Pioli approached the game underestimating Lille as well as playing our B team, and on top of that he probably had in mind not to play as intense as usual in order to preserve the stamina of players - because this is a game in a competition where we already have 2 wins out of 2 and top of the group.

So those three combinations put us in a situation Lille could massively take advantage of.

Secondly, it was Lilles night yesterday. That is football. Teams will have their usual one to ten games a season where literally everything is going their way. Every 50-50 duel, every pass reaching the designated player, chances like Theos one not getting into goal etc etc.....

Third I want to say Lille gained massive confidence after every goal they scored. Massive confidence will always take your game to another level.

And lastly, the result does not reflect the game. Yes, Lille deserved to win 100 %. But our first two goals were avoidable and something we usually dont concede. So, there is no need to overanalyze this game. In football, especially with the points I brought up and them being in combination, this stuff will happen. Every team has them, Liverpool 7:2, Bayern 5:1 for example. So, in conclusion, the ones in charge do their usual standardized routines and analyze the game, no more than they usually do, and we move on with our project onto the next game

Mr. Milanista said:

Please dont overanalyze this game please. It's so easy to see what happend and that there is nothing to worry about.

Pioli approached the game underestimating Lille as well as playing our B team, and on top of that he probably had in mind not to play as intense as usual in order to preserve the stamina of players - because this is a game in a competition where we already have 2 wins out of 2 and top of the group.

So those three combinations put us in a situation Lille could massively take advantage of.

Secondly, it was Lilles night yesterday. That is football. Teams will have their usual one to ten games a season where literally everything is going their way. Every 50-50 duel, every pass reaching the designated player, chances like Theos one not getting into goal etc etc.....

Third I want to say Lille gained massive confidence after every goal they scored. Massive confidence will always take your game to another level.

And lastly, the result does not reflect the game. Yes, Lille deserved to win 100 %. But our first two goals were avoidable and something we usually dont concede. So, there is no need to overanalyze this game. In football, especially with the points I brought up and them being in combination, this stuff will happen. Every team has them, Liverpool 7:2, Bayern 5:1 for example. So, in conclusion, the ones in charge do their usual standardized routines and analyze the game, no more than they usually do, and we move on with our project onto the next game

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Nothing to over analyse , we have a bad bench and this has to improve if we to win anything, this team should get us 4th spot but playing every 3 days with no backs for dm, cf or real cb you cant win anything unless magically we never get injured, covid or tired.

couldnt watch the match

we lost

People are asking why Krunic at LW, meanwhile they want Diaz as CAM...or even worse, as winger.

Pioli used the same front 4 against Sparta which many described as our best performance of the season.
Krunic and Samu turned it into a flat midfield-four in that game, which accommodated the Bennacer-Tonali duo and they carried and provided for the front duo. It was a rare occasion where Diaz didn't look out of place, tactically, since he's a second striker, not a CAM or a winger for a counter-oriented 4231 side.

It's understandable why Padre decided to give it another go.
He needs to find an alternative, sustainable way to play without Hakan.
There were enough promising signs in the first attempt to give it more tries.
This time it failed miserably.
Lille were too good. Kessie-Tonali weren't as progressive as Bennacer-Tonali. Krunic got exposed. Diaz was hopeless in the crowded hole - his passes were easily intercepted and his dribbling got him nowhere.
Samu posed no danger, but he was actually the least of our issues tonight. And yet he's becoming the scapegoat for this disaster. It reminds me of the first Giampaolo games, where Samu was the only one out of the front 3 to at least get the basics right in a lineup and system that was set up for a disaster, but he became the fall guy and was perma-benched for the rest of GP's tenure. Yesterday he managed to maintain possession in the final third, unlike Diaz & Krunic, and he fulfilled his defensive duties, which was sorely lacking from Diaz-Leao on the flanks in the 2nd half which happens to be when the team collapsed and were lucky to only get away with a 3-0 loss.

Lessons from this game? What to do to prevent more disasters like this one?

For starters, Rebic should always be the LW whenever he's on the pitch along with Leao.

Diaz is a second striker, not a CAM or winger, which is a hassle for Pioli since we normally don't play with one. I think I even prefer Krunic as CAM if it's not a Crotone or Sparta at home.

Tonali is weak defensively(shocker).

Someone needs to inform Dalot that it's not illegal to hit slow, low crosses in the box.

Also we can't afford to have Hakan, Kessie and Donna underperforming at the same time.