Matchday 6: Fiorentina - Milan (Sunday, September 25th - 20:45 CET)

[slifersd]

Most definitely a foul, I don't understand how the ref missed that..

Italian refries, its not that surprising.

[ACMILAN1983]

So from zero to shit, how do you rate DES today?? Niang was not far behind!!!!

Really? DES struggled first half when isolated against Bernadeschi and Ilicic, but his second half performance was pretty good. Calabria wasn't any better, but I was happy with both of them in the second half.

Niang was terrible and rightly subbed off. For all his work and movement, his quality on the ball was dreadful and he showed no end product, wasting several decent opportunities to hurt Fiorentina.

[Kastriot]

Really? DES struggled first half when isolated against Bernadeschi and Ilicic, but his second half performance was pretty good. Calabria wasn't any better, but I was happy with both of them in the second half.

Niang was terrible and rightly subbed off. For all his work and movement, his quality on the ball was dreadful and he showed no end product, wasting several decent opportunities to hurt Fiorentina.

Really! Sorry Dev but enough is enough. I can not keep my calm when I see both Des and Niang making 5-6 schoolboy mistakes in one game. It is unbelievable how many misplaced passes came from both of them, most of them not under pressure. 

I get it that Des is left a bit unprotected at times with both Jack and Niang failing in their duties, but NO, I am not talking about that, I am talking about the times when some simple passes or interruptions will be not executed rightly. 

Both Niang and DES are hardworker and somehow their overall contribution is satisfactory, but i`d put them on the bench for next game. Concentration  is very important part of the game, especially when you plan tactical game, waiting to counter the opposition, meaning more danger in the back and less opportunities upfront. I mean, Calabria had more useful crosses in the box than Niang did?!!!

[ACMILAN1983]

I still don't fully understand where DES made these mistakes. The biggest issues he had were when he had Bernadeschi and Ilicic with space to run at him in the first half, but others improved in this aspect so in the second half he dealt with it much better. He had one big tactical lapse playing the offside trap too. On the ball though, I didn't really have any issues with him. He made some good runs forward in the second half.

Niang was poor, I agree, but I think it's one game. Otherwise he's been vital for this team this season. Mistakes have to be accepted to an extent too, Niang's just 21, so it's difficult he will be consistent at his age.

[somedevil]

I agree with both of you. I think he did make silly mistakes in the first half and it even seemed that he was a bit shaken mentally. Yet, he did well to come back and play well in the second half. I have a feeling that it has something to do with the fact that Montella had Antonelli warming up early on in the second half. They panned to De Sciglio's face right away and you could tell he was looking at the sidelines.

I have noticed this with other players too. I think this whole thing Montella has of "no one's place is certain in the first XI" thing is working. Players know that the coach won't hesitate to sub them out.

[nefremo]

I'll have to agree with Kastriot here. I thought De Sciglio was terrible on both ends of the game. When you are a fullback, dealing with pacey wingers is part of your job. The winger can get the better of battle a couple of times, but he can't simply have you twisted every single time. There was a situation where Tello got the ball on a long diagonal pass way outside of the box....and De Sciglio had plenty of time to get out there and start containing him outside of our box. But he had been beaten so many times he had no confidence to get out there....so he waited for Tello INSIDE our own box which is just a dumb decision.

Calabria wasn't much better to be honest, but he at least did slightly better when attacking. All in all, both of them were bad......but if someone offers us 25mil for De Sciglio again, we should take it and run before we get locked up for fraud.

Kucka's flaws were exposed in this game again. Niang was really bad on the night and rightfully substituted. I am not going to criticize him for one bad game....but what's more worrying to me is the fact that he sometimes shows "Mario tendencies". Not in terms of bad attitude or laziness....but in terms of thinking he is invincible on the field and attempting the impossible when there are plenty of better options all around. I hope he doesn't fall into that mindset, because it will be the end of him.

I thought that with Antonelli we were going to go into a 5-4-1 but we didn't. He was also poor. He looked like he still had that concussion the way he played....

Montolivo was fine imo. I read people somewhat criticizing him again, but he was the only calming presence in the middle for this game. I have no problems with his performance compared to the others to be honest.

I am happy with the draw. Fiorentina looked a lot better in the first half but we somehow ended with some very good opportunities in the second half. That should have been a foul and a red at the end. There was no way the ref missed that. You could see that from outside of the stadium. He just didn't want to blow the wistle. Simple as that. For whatever reason, he wanted the game to just end and that's it. I can forgive honest errors. Ones where the ref didn't clearly see the incident or it could have gone either way, and you really need replay to see what exactly happened. BUT this??? No way. That was the easiest decision in the entire game. The defender got nowhere near the ball. There were THREE idiot refs on that side of the field at that time.....and NOT ONE of them saw what the entire audience saw??? Bullshit!