AC Milan were held to a goalless draw by Sassuolo on Tuesday with the Rossoneri attack failing to fire in a frustrating performance.
Stefano Pioli opted to rotate for this game with the Derby della Madonnina coming up at the weekend as well as a hectic fixture list ahead with the Champions League also starting next week.
READ MORE: Analysis: De Ketelaere excites and shows real promise in first Milan start
Ultimately though, that could have been a key factor in why we produced such a below-par performance at Sassuolo, as we struggled to get going and find our rhythm in our attacking play and came up short to drop crucial early points in the Serie A season.
While we were left to bemoan the same concerns about the lack of creativity and quality in the final third from our playmakers, Pioli and the players will hopefully identify and address where they went wrong in this game and rectify it in time for Saturday, as we must find a higher level against Inter otherwise we’ll certainly face an uphill task.
AC Milan player ratings vs Sassuolo:
Mike Maignan, 7 – A brilliant penalty save in the first half kept things level, and given that we didn’t ever really look like scoring, it was a huge moment in the game and Maignan produced quality when needed.
Alessandro Florenzi, 5.5 – Not a particularly strong performance either defensively or from an attacking perspective, and his night ended early with an unfortunate hamstring injury that could sideline him for some time now.
Simon Kjaer, 6.5 – 79 minutes banked on his return to action in the starting XI, and it was great to see the big Dane back in the side and bringing back his experience and solidity to the team. Cut out danger on countless occasions before being replaced late on as a precaution.
Fikayo Tomori, 6.5 – Not so accurate with his passing out from the back as he tried to kick-start our attacking play, but defensively sound throughout as he was aggressive and read the game well to limit Sassuolo.
Theo Hernandez, 6 – His first-half booking arguably had a big influence on his display as although he was switched on defensively and covered well late on, he didn’t bomb forward down the left flank as we know he can and we need to see more of that in games where we’re struggling to break through.
Ismael Bennacer, 7 – Although he couldn’t quite find the final ball with others around him struggling to create anything, this was another top performance as he ran things in midfield for us with his defensive tenacity and urgency in possession to get things moving quickly.
Tommaso Pobega, 6 – Certainly some positives on his full debut as he showed good touches at times and made positive runs forward to offer some penetration in attack. Will hopefully learn a lot from that and continue to improve.
Alexis Saelemaekers, 5 – A really poor effort from the Belgian, as he gave away the penalty with some lazy defending and showed next to no quality in the final third as he offered zero threat down the right flank.
Brahim Diaz, 5 – Similar to Saelemaekers as the pair offered nothing from a creative perspective to trouble Sassuolo. Started the season well but again will be disappointed with his display as it’s nowhere near good enough when we need him to unlock defences and add creativity to our play in the No.10 role.
Rafael Leao, 5.5 – Shows his quality in flashes but lacked both a decisive end product and the general energy and drive that we saw from him last season on a consistent basis. Having looked so confident and sure in what he was doing last year, he’s losing too many 1v1 battles where he could make a big difference.
Olivier Giroud, 5.5 – Struggled with the lack of service as he wasn’t found in the box on countless occasions and so that limits his impact significantly. Further, couldn’t really get into the game to string together our attacks as he often does and so this was a frustrating game for him in particular.
Substitutes:
Charles De Ketelaere, 5.5 – After such a positive impact last time out, this wasn’t close to that as he struggled to prise Sassuolo open as they were physical and aggressive when marking him.
Sandro Tonali, 6 – Added more security and drive in midfield with fresh legs as he tried to push us on in the latter stages.
Messias Junior, 5.5 – Better than Saelemaekers which wasn’t difficult, but still lacked the cutting edge and final bit of quality to create an opening.
Yacine Adli, 5.5 – Worked hard and tried to quicken the tempo of our play but couldn’t find a way through the Sassuolo defence.
Pierre Kalulu, N/A