AC Milan suffered a 3-1 defeat to Sassuolo at San Siro on Sunday as we slipped to back-to-back Serie A defeats.
The Rossoneri were on the losing side last weekend against Fiorentina, and this result now makes it consecutive losses in the league, while we’ve also now conceded seven goals in those two outings.
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With the win over Atletico Madrid sandwiched in between, it’s hoped that these are merely blips as we go through a difficult period, but ultimately, Stefano Pioli and the players need to start cutting out the mistakes, reset, and come back stronger when we face Genoa in midweek.
Alessio Romagnoli’s opener seemingly looked set to help us on our way after a decent start to the game, but poor defending contributed to Sassuolo’s comeback, and so there is plenty to assess and improve on moving forward if we’re to get back on track as soon as possible.
AC Milan player ratings vs Sassuolo:
Mike Maignan, 6 – Great to see him return from injury, but he won’t be happy with the manner of the goals conceded. Arguably couldn’t have done much himself to prevent them, but he’ll be eager to tighten things up next time out.
Alessandro Florenzi, 5.5 – Put in a decent shift both in terms of his defensive work and trying to push forward, but did neither with any real dominance as we needed more from that area of the pitch.
Simon Kjaer, 6 – Must take some level of responsibility for the goals conceded as defensively as a unit, we were poor. Played well throughout though in one of the few positives from the game.
Alessio Romagnoli, 4 – Scored the all-important first goal and looked set to put in another important display. However, things went downhill soon after as he was guilty of poor defending for the third goal and got sent off to compound his misery.
Theo Hernandez, 5 – Sloppy game in which he gave away possession multiple times and never really showed any real quality on the ball when breaking forward.
Tiemoue Bakayoko, 4.5 – A struggle for him after coming into the starting XI. Lost the ball in key areas, and that vulnerability was punished in the lead up to the first goal.
Ismael Bennacer, 4.5 – Similarly to Bakayoko, had a poor game as our midfield was overrun. Disappointing on the ball, and couldn’t offer any real protection and steeliness in front of the defence to make us hard to beat.
Alexis Saelemaekers, 5.5 – Provided his usual hard work but despite being shifted into different roles in the final third, was never able to offer us any real quality to make the difference.
Brahim Diaz, 5 – Given the importance of his role in the side, he failed to provide us with the necessary creativity and quality in the attacking phase throughout. Struggled to create moments that could lead to goals and so was another key individual who disappointed.
Rafael Leao, 5.5 – As is quite often the case, he was flashy at times and posed a threat with his pace and direct running, but it never really led to anything of note as he couldn’t find a decisive action in the final third, neither as a direct threat nor as a creator.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 5 – A struggle for the Swedish stalwart in this one as he was sloppy on the ball, wasted good chances and never really gave us the presence in leading the line that we needed as he couldn’t impose himself on the Sassuolo backline to help hold up and link up play.
Substitutions:
Franck Kessie, 5 – Failed to make a positive impact on the game from the bench as his sloppiness was an issue in the build up to the third goal which effectively killed the encounter. Not the desired influence that we needed.
Messias Junior, 6 – To his credit, he at least tested the goalkeeper and looked a threat after coming on to give us a boost in the final third.
Sandro Tonali, 6 – Made a positive difference in the second half, giving us a more reliable presence in midfield to keep the ball and make us tick.
Pietro Pellegri, 5 – No real impact of note as we threw attackers on to try and salvage something from the game.
Pierre Kalulu, N/A
