Decent game today. He will grow more and he looks more comfortable.
By the way, extending the conversation from the stats and evaluating Tonali’a talent. They are just nitpicking stats to support their argument, a quick search can find plenty of statistical analysis that also highlights his ability. Last season for example, everyone loves to claim all his assists were dead balls. But at one point late in the season(couldn’t find his full season rate) he was third in the entire league for expected assist rate, basically meaning he set up plenty of chances in general and Brescia was an awful team that squandered them. He also did have a pretty low pass success rate, yet Brescia was second in Serie A at speed of play rate, they play a high risk game built on quick transitions and contentious passes. Tonali was meant to force the ball forward. His long passes per game and progressive passes per game were both solid if not very good.
He also is a better dribbler/press resister than his haters will care to admit. He wins some of the most fouls in the league, and his passing completion percentage is essentially the same under pressure, which is a pretty awesome statistic for someone his age. His running stats and ground covered was also very high in the entire league despite Brescia ranking toward the bottom in kilometers per game. In fact the more you dive into it, you notice Brescia in general was terrible, Tonali was asked to do a lot.
For the record, tonali has a lot of work to do. He is far from a finished player, and I think actually Milan can help him in that. He is behind an established CM pivot and can grow without super high expectations. If you want to claim he is no anchor, I would agree, not at this point in his career. But who cares, we don’t play that position. What he has shown is he has the raw ability, he is a willing runner, he started/engaged a lot of pressures last season, and he is a productive player moving the ball into the final third. He is a good prospect, someone Maldini and them(who have shown good eye for talent) are certainly far more qualified than you armchair eeyores that love to shit on everything about this club. Let the kid play and grow.
