The Rumour Commode XXXI: The Panther Era

[Rossoneri97]

Likely posting incorrect opinions on Twitter and saying we were going to lose to Roma while posting Paqueta news and finally bashing Kjaer for being worse than Tomori but no word on Romagnoli who he benched.

Oh wait... he actually checked all three boxes in one night last night:
https://twitter.com/rossonero_fans/

 

[Pingu]

What was said/communicated between Di Canio and Caressa over the Leao penalty situation?

That was a clear as day pen btw.

I didn't think it was a PK at all during the game. Replay is here:

https://twitter.com/CompsACM/status/1366155002084007941

He does kick at Leao's leg before Leao even starts to fall, so given that we've had a PK for the same on Calabria was it? And, the penalty that Kalulu gave away against Correa (Lazio game) by standing on his heel even if not intentional I can see it given. So tempted to agree.

For me, I'm more surprised Fazio wasn't sent off. Yellow for the foul on Calabria giving the PK, but then sarcastically claps at the referee with no punishment? That's always a yellow for dissent and lucky to not see red there.

 

[Hitchens]

Likely posting incorrect opinions on Twitter and saying we were going to lose to Roma while posting Paqueta news and finally bashing Kjaer for being worse than Tomori but no word on Romagnoli who he benched.

Oh wait... he actually checked all three boxes in one night last night:
https://twitter.com/rossonero_fans/

What a loss to RnB

 

[IRON MAN]

I don't write very often but a few thoughts about current season:
1) season is going above expectations, no one would have placed Milan Top 2 at this stage, or first as long as we were leaders.
2) Top 4 is something everyone should be happy about in the end of the season, we would all love to win this but Top 4 should keep everyone happy
3) Pioli really needs to come up with alternative formation, or have some variations of current one, this is what separates him from elite managers. He is still a very good coach but not elite one. Teams now know how Milan plays and when 2 or more players are absent or out of form it gets problematic. Another thing is he didn't utilize Tonali as he could (boy didn't forget to play), or found a system to filed Rebic-Ibra-Leao together (he needs this at times).

 

[MilanBG]

Why don't coaches just put 3 players around Messi? So simple

I don't expect Lukaku to be surrounded by 3 players, but at least I expect the coaches to try to do something to stop him. He is free like a bird all the time.

 

[voom]

I am really worried about our defensive display. Literally every game we allow the opponent to create at least 3-4 good situations. If Dzeko was on the field, we were probably going to concede more. Also, this press we are attempting like 90% of the time doesn't work any good. Literally one pass to the center and our defense is left exposed against the quick attackers of the opponents. It's like we don't have midfielders and this leaves Calabria/Theo constantly 1 vs 1 against wingbacks/wingers. Even if they fuck up just once per game, this is resulting into a clear situation in front of Donnarumma. No idea what Pioli is thinking, but such defensive setup will lead to a humiliation against any decent team, just like it happened a few times already this season.

On a side note, I just watched a highlight video of merda-Genoa. It's absolutely crazy how no coach in the league manages to stop Lukaku. Merda's whole game depends on him, he is like their playmaker, assist man, target man and winger at the same time

I'm more worried about wastfulnes in attack. Until 20 minutes Milan could score 3 goals. Ibra is showing his age in second part of the season. I was mad at his egoism when he didn't pass to free Hakan in the box.
I hope Maldini buy Belotti next year. I think he will fit like a glove in this team.
I'm glad that Pioli finally benched Romagnoli. I hope injuries are not serious for Ibra,Hakan and Rebic.

 

[Pingu]

One Lukaku injury and Inter may very well crumble.

 

[Kaka06/07]

Was thinking for this current team a 442 would be best. Imo everyone bar hakan would play better. Leap and rebic ss
Ibra and mandzukic
Hague and Diaz LM.
Sale and Sami would be better suited as well because less reliance. All our CMS are defensively able to some degree.

Hakan is left without a position but hakan dosent need to play every game anyway. I would be interested to see how it goes

 

[Hitchens]

 

[brk]

I'm more worried about wastfulnes in attack. Until 20 minutes Milan could score 3 goals. Ibra is showing his age in second part of the season. I was mad at his egoism when he didn't pass to free Hakan in the box.
I hope Maldini buy Belotti next year. I think he will fit like a glove in this team.
I'm glad that Pioli finally benched Romagnoli. I hope injuries are not serious for Ibra,Hakan and Rebic.

We won the first game because we suffocated the space by playing low, while keeping Kessie single mindedly patrolling the space in front of Lukaku. So he was trapped with Romagnoli behind him and Kessie in front of him. Our mistake in the second game was playing high, leaving him space to run into and not having Kessie deep enough to control the zone in front of him. That's an oversimplification but generally we should have stayed low against Inter, that's how you beat them. If you press high you play their game.

 

[brk]

I'm more worried about wastfulnes in attack. Until 20 minutes Milan could score 3 goals. Ibra is showing his age in second part of the season. I was mad at his egoism when he didn't pass to free Hakan in the box.
I hope Maldini buy Belotti next year. I think he will fit like a glove in this team.
I'm glad that Pioli finally benched Romagnoli. I hope injuries are not serious for Ibra,Hakan and Rebic.

I agree, Belotti would be perfect.

 

[brk]

Was thinking for this current team a 442 would be best. Imo everyone bar hakan would play better. Leap and rebic ss
Ibra and mandzukic
Hague and Diaz LM.
Sale and Sami would be better suited as well because less reliance. All our CMS are defensively able to some degree.

Hakan is left without a position but hakan dosent need to play every game anyway. I would be interested to see how it goes

We play basically a 442. What you're asking is to replace an attacker (Rebic) with a midfielder and a midfielder (Hakan) with an attacker. In the end we have two players pressing their CBs, and midfield double pivot, and two wide players to press their fullbacks. It's exactly the same. I'd rather have Hakan and Rebic over Rebic and Diaz/Hauge. Hakan is off form but for a year he's been one of our best players. He just came back from covid with symptoms. Let's give him time to regain his form.

 

[Nevermore]

Was thinking for this current team a 442 would be best. Imo everyone bar hakan would play better. Leap and rebic ss
Ibra and mandzukic
Hague and Diaz LM.
Sale and Sami would be better suited as well because less reliance. All our CMS are defensively able to some degree.

Hakan is left without a position but hakan dosent need to play every game anyway. I would be interested to see how it goes

we have holes in midfield with 4-2-3-1
you think if we have 1 more forward instead of CAM we will improve?

 

[IRON MAN]

Was thinking for this current team a 442 would be best. Imo everyone bar hakan would play better. Leap and rebic ss
Ibra and mandzukic
Hague and Diaz LM.
Sale and Sami would be better suited as well because less reliance. All our CMS are defensively able to some degree.

Hakan is left without a position but hakan dosent need to play every game anyway. I would be interested to see how it goes

4-3-1-2 seems more suitable...

Rebic as SS- has ability to move around Ibra... attack from flanks and middle
Tonali-Bena as CM combo, Kessie DM...

 

[milanator]

Kessie was boss yesterday, I dont know what happens to him in the inter and spezia match.
If he always plays like that, we win for sure.

Overplayed like probably most players at this point. The increasing number of injuries also point in that direction. It is also not only us, Roma looked pretty gassed too yesterday. Teams that play more pressing-oriented like we do suffer even more probably.

I?m not for a complete overthrow but Pioli should definitely find an approach allowing us to play deep and sit games out a bit.

 

[Pingu]

The only concern for me yesterday is that Roma looked lost in the opening 25 minutes, like... tragically lost. They did really nothing and it was all about us and our pressure. We had 3 key chances missed, with two offside goals and a host of saved shots/crossbar. Somewhat unlucky but we really need to make use of such chances in games like these. The result was flattering to Roma given how the opening of the match was. In games where we aren't afforded such chances, we need to be clinical or risk being punished.

 

[joyrider]

Overplayed like probably most players at this point. The increasing number of injuries also point in that direction. It is also not only us, Roma looked pretty gassed too yesterday. Teams that play more pressing-oriented like we do suffer even more probably.

I?m not for a complete overthrow but Pioli should definitely find an approach allowing us to play deep and sit games out a bit.

Pioli is doing a great job at adaptations on tactical and technical level. The way Sandro was allowed to burst forward was very Bennacer like.
We will have to rotate more soon and Pioli knows the consequences. We are playing 7 games in 22 days therefore we wont be able to field the strongest line up available every time.
I have confidence that we will end in the top 3 for sure, i have faith in padre Pioli and Co.
Dalot, Hauge and Kalulu will get time too.

 

[taura]

Overplayed like probably most players at this point. The increasing number of injuries also point in that direction. It is also not only us, Roma looked pretty gassed too yesterday. Teams that play more pressing-oriented like we do suffer even more probably.

I?m not for a complete overthrow but Pioli should definitely find an approach allowing us to play deep and sit games out a bit.

While i agree that most of our players are exhausted, i dont think injuries relate to that. Most of our injured players (Rebic, Hakan, Bennacer, Mandzukic for eg.) havent played that much this season while those that play a lot (Calabria, Kessie) are staying injury free

 

[mrki]

We miss real Bennacer more then anything...

 

[Mr. Milanista]

When are Rebic, Bennacer, Calhangolu and Ibra back?

 

[brk]

4-3-1-2 seems more suitable...

Rebic as SS- has ability to move around Ibra... attack from flanks and middle
Tonali-Bena as CM combo, Kessie DM...

We can't press high if it's a 4312. That would be asking Ibra to go wide to press the fullback, which he won't do. It would be ridiculously easy for teams to break our press if we don't have players like Saelemaekers and Rebic able to quickly press their fullbacks into rushing a pass, while still blocking the center with Hakan and the double pivot. I don't think we should stop playing with a high press, it's been getting us into a lot of great situations and worth the risk.

It might have been useful to play a 433/451 against a team like Inter where you probably don't want to press high but still want to be able to protect Theo with a winger. I'm still mad at Pioli for playing high against Inter, and especially with Kjaer Romagnoli. It's unforgivable.

 

[Pingu]

We can't press high if it's a 4312. That would be asking Ibra to go wide to press the fullback, which he won't do. It would be ridiculously easy for teams to break our press if we don't have players like Saelemaekers and Rebic able to quickly press their fullbacks into rushing a pass, while still blocking the center with Hakan and the double pivot. I don't think we should stop playing with a high press, it's been getting us into a lot of great situations and worth the risk.

It might have been useful to play a 433/451 against a team like Inter where you probably don't want to press high but still want to be able to protect Theo with a winger. I'm still mad at Pioli for playing high against Inter, and especially with Kjaer Romagnoli. It's unforgivable.

Agree with the last part. Seems he doesn't want to change things too much even when it would benefit us. Even a simple Tomori for Romagnoli/Kjaer versus Inter may have been of huge benefit. At least he ends up making the change and it pays off albeit a bit late. Just needs to be more proactive and find an approach against these high press teams we face, when we have a line line and destroy us on the counter.

 

[Ronin]

What was said/communicated between Di Canio and Caressa over the Leao penalty situation?

That was a clear as day pen btw.

I would be mad if we got a penalty like that against us. What's not shown in that particular replay is that Leao was purposely moving into the defender, he lost the shoulder-to-shoulder duel and the ball.

 

[Alo88]

I don't write very often but a few thoughts about current season:
1) season is going above expectations, no one would have placed Milan Top 2 at this stage, or first as long as we were leaders.
2) Top 4 is something everyone should be happy about in the end of the season, we would all love to win this but Top 4 should keep everyone happy
3) Pioli really needs to come up with alternative formation, or have some variations of current one, this is what separates him from elite managers. He is still a very good coach but not elite one. Teams now know how Milan plays and when 2 or more players are absent or out of form it gets problematic. Another thing is he didn't utilize Tonali as he could (boy didn't forget to play), or found a system to filed Rebic-Ibra-Leao together (he needs this at times).

Agreed mostly bar 3)

Conte is considered an elite coach too, like it or not, he has won league titles wherever he coached except Inter (which could change this season) so it's hard to not consider him an elite coach. However he's one dimensional af. 3-5-2 until death. No plan B.

I don't know if being an elite coach means playing various formations with your team anyway. Especially considered how formations are all but static and in fact very fluid nowadays. It's all about figuring out how to manage your opponents strength, expose his weaknesses while being natural to your own game style and ideally impose it on your opponent.

It's quite a big ask. That's why coaching is nothing we keyboard warriors could ever seriously do on that level.

I'd say bar this black February (and maybe some early signs in January) Pioli did a tremendously good job at all of that, which for me makes him a very good coach that doesn't need to hide behind any other coach, especially not in Italy.

 

[Alo88]

The only concern for me yesterday is that Roma looked lost in the opening 25 minutes, like... tragically lost. They did really nothing and it was all about us and our pressure. We had 3 key chances missed, with two offside goals and a host of saved shots/crossbar. Somewhat unlucky but we really need to make use of such chances in games like these. The result was flattering to Roma given how the opening of the match was. In games where we aren't afforded such chances, we need to be clinical or risk being punished.

Yeah agreed, we've been way more clinical in the past than yesterday. But for now I'm very happy that we at least have found a way back to creating plenty of goal scoring opportunities without giving too much to the opponents, especially in relation to how much we created.

That's our comfort zone after all.

 

[brk]

Agree with the last part. Seems he doesn't want to change things too much even when it would benefit us. Even a simple Tomori for Romagnoli/Kjaer versus Inter may have been of huge benefit. At least he ends up making the change and it pays off albeit a bit late. Just needs to be more proactive and find an approach against these high press teams we face, when we have a line line and destroy us on the counter.

I don't think we have a problem against teams that press high, at least not without our core midfield (Bennacer, Kessie, Hakan). It's just that for a long time Bennacer has been out, and Hakan had covid and Kessie can't do it all. Spezia and Atalanta beat us because their intensity was all over the pitch and was overwhelming, we just couldn't keep up. They aggressively attacked Zlatan which voided our plan B, since we didn't have Bennacer to play our way out. Spezia we also had Dalot who is a huge downgrade from Calabria.

My point is that we are actually built to withstand a high press really well, which triggers our break on the left with Theo. That's basically our entire plan A. Invite a press, break it with Bennacer/Calabria/Saelemaekers and then switch to Theo running into space. We theoretically should be able to keep doing that, the problem is that nobody can do what Bennacer does, which means we constantly get stuck in the middle. When our plan B (long to Ibra) because expected and predictable, it becomes easy to plan for it.

If we need a different way of playing it's probably because we don't have anyone that can do what Bennacer does, or Hakan, or Theo. Those three players have a crucial role in the way we play and we tried may options to replace them like for like but they all failed. I'm not even going to consider a Milan without Kessie. Maybe the problem is that we keep trying to play the same way knowing that those players are irreplaceable.

 

[VooDooDoll]

we lack benna in midfield but if you look on hakan:
- does he help our team as before in defending??
- does he help in control the midfield when we are trying to play from the back??

yesterday we replaced hakan with diaz and was there any difference in dirty work between them?? (4 months ago we saw difference but now??)

 

[Alo88]

Agree with the last part. Seems he doesn't want to change things too much even when it would benefit us. Even a simple Tomori for Romagnoli/Kjaer versus Inter may have been of huge benefit. At least he ends up making the change and it pays off albeit a bit late. Just needs to be more proactive and find an approach against these high press teams we face, when we have a line line and destroy us on the counter.

Tomori for Romagnoli surely would have been something very sensible to do on football manager, especially given how many times Romag got owned by Lukaku in the past. However lately I began to hear myself saying that, as brk already pointed out, playing that high was the first and biggest mistake committed, and Romag the one to pay the price for it.

That being said we keyboard warriors often forget that coaching is also about cultivating the group, the individuals, the personalities - the humans. Not only about making lineups.

Benching your undisputed captain in the most important game of the year is... huge, simply put. Nothing wrong on the paper, even sensible and as a fan very easy said, but in terms of managing the group maybe even a bigger risk than just playing him.

Let's say, I don't think it was or wasn't an error to not bench Romag. But I can perfectly comprehend why he didn't want to bench him even knowing that Tomori probably would be the better choice on paper (and not only).

 

[CDarius]

As much as i hate 4-3-1-2

-----Kessie----
-Tonali-----Bennacer--
-----Hakan-------------
-Rebic-------Ibra/Leao--

Kinda looks awesome on paper

 

[Pingu]

Tomori for Romagnoli surely would have been something very sensible to do on football manager, especially given how many times Romag got owned by Lukaku in the past. However lately I began to hear myself saying that, as brk already pointed out, playing that high was the first and biggest mistake committed, and Romag the one to pay the price for it.

That being said we keyboard warriors often forget that coaching is also about cultivating the group, the individuals, the personalities - the humans. Not only about making lineups.

Benching your undisputed captain in the most important game of the year is... huge, simply put. Nothing wrong on the paper, even sensible and as a fan very easy said, but in terms of managing the group maybe even a bigger risk than just playing him.

Let's say, I don't think it was or wasn't an error to not bench Romag. But I can perfectly comprehend why he didn't want to bench him even knowing that Tomori probably would be the better choice on paper (and not only).

Yeah, I get high line is the first mistake. But if we're committed to that, then a solution to fast forwards when our CBs are pushed up is to have a fast CB to counter that. Tomori was said by Pioli to not be "physical" enough to battle Lukaku but Romagnoli is so far up he's never back to stop him or just gets outdueled. So either you play the fast CB who has a chance to stop their counter, or as you've said don't commit to a high press/high line combo.