AC Milan’s wait to lift to the Coppa Italia trophy will frustratingly continue.
The Rossoneri suffered a 1-0 defeat to Bologna on Wednesday, missing out on their final potential trophy lift of the season. U.S. men’s national team star Christian Pulisic started and played 88 minutes while Yunus Musah was an unused substitute in the match.
Dan Ndoye’s goal in the 53rd minute was all Bologna needed to win the match while goalkeeper Łukasz Skorupski registered a two-save clean sheet. It marked Bologna’s first Coppa Italia triumph since 1974.
AC Milan struggled in the final third, which was the opposite in comparison to their recent 3-1 Serie A victory over Bologna. Pulisic scored once and added one assist in last Friday’s league showdown, but the 26-year-old was held in check on Wednesday.
The Rossoneri sit in eighth place in the Serie A table heading into their final two matches of the season. Sunday’s clash with sixth-place AS Roma could have a vital say on who gets into European competitions next season.
AC Milan will close the season on May 25 against Monza.
I’ve watched quite a few AC Milan games this season…like the majority. I swear it seems that team tries to play AROUND Pulisic. Maybe I’m just imagining it but they seem to avoid passing to him.
Again, today after he was subbed out the right side suddenly became an option to play through. Whereas prior it was all middle or left. I’m sure there’s some stat site I don’t know about or have access that could show if my assessment is accurate.
I seriously hope Leao and Hernandez are gone this summer.
I didn’t see the match but looking at the stats Pulisic had 33 touches in 88 minutes Leao 36 in 90+. Rejinders and Fofana were even with 50 each at CM. Hernandez had 69 touches Jimenez had only 27 touches in his 62 minutes. Joao Felix had 21 touches in the final half hour (which is probably when you noticed things start coming down the right.) Chukwueze had an astonishing 9 touches in 2 minutes + stoppage time.
Thanks for the stats.
Chukwueze was who I was referencing. He was the sub for Pulisic.
Touches are one thing. Location of touches are another. But I can definitely admit I’m likely to be seeing this with a slanted view.
MotO,
I did not see the game.
But I know Bologna are a very good team. And very good teams know who CP is and what he means to Milan.
They will try to deny him access to the ball.
Which means Milan have to look elsewhere at least for a little bit. I did not see the Coventry game either but read that Haji was “starved of service”. It seems to me that a large part of Sunderland’s game plan would be to make sure that happens.
You don’t score like Haji and CP have been doing all season long and not get special attention in the big game.
The other guys get paid too.
dude, you couldn’t have thought five seconds about the numbers you just spat out. what they say to me is exactly what he just said. the mids and hernandez almost double his touches. jimenez and felix almost catch up to him playing less.
while his personal numbers look good, you have to scroll down a ways to find his team in the standings. i feel like dude’s a bit of a james harden ballhog who gets the ball and wants to hold the ball a second and play iso soccer. while he’s foot on the ball or freelance dribbling or dancing around, the defense gets back and set.
i push reyna, ferreira, and others because we need the engine to be more of a connecting player. pulisic needs to be a 9 or second striker in that type possession offense.
I was thinking the same thing. The recent match when they defeated Bologna was when Leao wasn’t even playing, and they brought on Chukwueze. That should’ve been the thinking for this match as well and Leao should’ve been taken off. He takes away the rhythm of the game and him and Hernandez don’t link well with others or play much defense.
It almost feels to me like Leão and Hernández are a two-man team playing on an 11-man team.
Milan just couldn’t build out of the back in this one, it was painful to watch them pass between the CBs, wingbacks, then back, then a hopeful long ball to no one in particular. Credit to Bologna for their pressing. Milan’s midfield did not have a good day, actually thought Musah could have helped. As far as Puli I concur they don’t get him the ball enough. Not sure myself. I do feel like ever since he started playing more centrally, his touches decreased and his goals/assists decreased. I guess the thought was he could help the buildup, but I always felt like he was best out wide, taking defenders on with speed, and crashing back post when Leao did the same on the opposite side. But in this game, watching him try to win long ball headers in the middle of the field against guys six inches taller was just silly.
I think you have found the most important aspect of the issue. The Milan coach wants to build out from the back and have a rather deliberate attack. Bologna really stymied their approach. When they last played (I missed the last part of the game when Milan scored twice to win) Milan was kept in check most of the game. Bologna was even better in this game with a pressing defense that didn’t allow for Milan’s desired style of play. After a while in the second half Milan started trying long balls to get behind the defense, with no real success. Pulisic is hardly someone you can expect to win balls in the air and when Milan tried long balls it was often on the left flank where Pulisic wasn’t.
jb: well, to me, ACM is as close as we have to a “twin,” except when their interior player gets the square ball, then knocks it wide, he sometimes doesn’t follow the ball, he may instead turn and run between the backs. we end up by the flag because it’s always a flick wide and a run to follow it. then an aimless cross in. if we insist on this offense, make some runs across or through the defense instead of around it. we just kind of stand around in our pods.
and if you are meh about ACM, well, that should be a mirror.
part of my issue with the build from the back is it seems more intended to egg a press reaction and fart around than like we are looking for a specific pass forward as part of a planned progression. it’s like we’re improvising the whole time. system i came from you were trying to put defenders behind the ball and then get it to feet in the box. there’s a plan. we just want to mess with teams in the back or the flag and then if they react improvise from there. and we then look like an offense with that “degree” of “drilling” on their “plans.”
btw if you want to see how i’d like us to play, it’s napoli with conte, or atalanta. that’s not kickball. get back to the circle, defend as a tight group, swarm for your teammates, win the ball, quickly down the wing, put the ball to feet in the box. most of that on the floor. italian soccer you get ripped for cheap giveaways. you take your risks in the other box. if you actually watch the games, england is back to being the kickball league, frenetic, 10 turnovers per minute.
Leao is such a half interested player. No urgency…. He’s fast but terrible technical skill. It’s so annoying seeing him move the ball only to lose it.
Yeah, I see him as a faster more arrogant Jozy Altidore, possibly with less technical skill than Jozy…and with Milli Vanilli hair (couldn’t resist). I’m not real impressed with Felix either, other than a minute or two every 10 or 15 games.
And yeah, I’ve seen a lot of Milan games and Chelsea games when he was there…and thought the same thing. Why don’t they pass to him when he’s so well positioned and open? But like above, I’m probably seeing that through a skewed lens.
You’re not wrong. Pulisic has a bigger work rate where he tracks back to link and then heads into attack. Leao will go vertical, and if he loses possession, doesn’t fight hard to win it back. Too many times he’s half heartily leaning back reaching with his leg for the ball instead of going into it. Hernandez is frustrating too. He would look right, Pulisic would be moving into the area to receive a pass, and then Hernandez would move back left into traffic.