AC Milan v Liverpool
A very good, professional team performance, after losing an early goal. Admittedly, this is not a great Milan side, maybe not even a particularly good one in their current form, but you can only beat what is front of you. Initially, it was a bit of a struggle to break the high press when trying to play out from the back, but once that was broken a couple of times, Milan dropped off and gave up trying to win it high. Liverpool’s press did fall off once they had a 3-1 lead but, for most of the game, it was more of a soft press on the passing lanes but always giving the Milan players an option to play it to Pavlovic, who was never pressed. It was clear he had been identified as the weak link and Liverpool were happy for him to have the ball as much as he wanted. It did not take long for Pavlovic to show why the Reds were so happy to let him have the ball, he could be relied upon to give it back to them more often than not!
Another tactic that had clearly been decided upon was to put dead ball deliveries into areas in or around the 6-yard box, where you would normally expect the goalkeeper to come and claim, but not right on top of him. Maignan was covered in tape before the game kicked off, you could see it up on his neck, which suggests he had come into the game with an injury issue which was obviously hampering him. Delivering the ball into those areas, where defenders would normally expect him to charge out and deal with it, asked the question of his fitness and confidence in his own body to cope with the buffetting. He was found badly wanting and the defence never adjusted, allowing the Liverpool centre-backs to score two quite simple goals from dead ball deliveries. That pleased me, as you have to be capable of spotting these weaknesses in your opponents and exploiting them at the top end of the game. These small measures make a huge difference over the course of a season.
A slight tweak that I did notice was in the way the left-back played. Robertson has been at times playing as a third centre-back this season, being much more reticent to charge forward than usual and often cutting inside when he does. Tsimikas, on the other hand, played very much as a conventional modern left full/wing-back, charging forward at will and wasted multiple chances with wayward shots. I would be interested to know if that was a conscious decision by Slot, or if Tsimikas simply is not as capable of following the tactical instructions and new style of play. Judging by the way Tsimikas continued to play exactly the same way in the second half, and Slot’s lack of any kind of adverse reaction to it, it does seem like a decision to play that way against Milan. Whether that is because it was Gakpo ahead of him, rather than Diaz, or whether he just felt it was better suited to this game, is another question.
It is interesting that, since this game took place Liverpool have withdrawn their advertisement for a set piece coach. Newly arrived coach Aaron Briggs had been filling in and has been so successful LFC have decided to give him the role on a long-term basis. Briggs was hired to be a First Team Individual Development Coach, replacing Vitor Matos, who left along with Jurgen Klopp in the summer. It is hard to disagree with the decision, especially after this result!
I have to admit, I was surprised at Milan. I know they have not started the season well, I know they are not a particularly good Milan side, but they were handed a blueprint by Nottingham Forest of how to handle Liverpool’s midfield at the weekend, but they totally ignored it. Fofana is fully capable of being the physical brute that Yates was, even Loftus-Cheek has the power and strength to do it, but they tried to be technical and outplay Liverpool instead. They did not need to drop deep and defend, but those two could have been much more aggressive, especially with the referee allowing a lot more physicality in the play than is usual in European football. That was probably the biggest problem Milan had, they showed little aggression and allowed themselves to be bullied in a similar way to Liverpool at the weekend against Forest.
Tactically, Milan tried to press high early on and put the pressure on Liverpool, but that died off as it failed to really work. They were far too reliant on Leao to create something from nothing, when he usually creates nothing from something. He has insane pace, good skill and technique, but has no idea how to put it together and seems to lack a football brain at all. All he does is run and hope for something to happen, rather than start out with an aim in mind. It is a real waste of ability as he should be ripping teams to shreds. Instead he is just falling over in the hope of a free kick. Though that is a problem throughout their team, a lack of ideas leading to an attempt to just buy a free kick, which failed miserably due to the referee being happy to allow physical play.
Before I move on to the players, I have to make a quick comment about something that Livebird brought to my attention, thanks Doc. Mark Clattenburg actually suggested during the match that the referee should have given some soft decisions in favour of Milan, simply to get the San Siro crowd off his back! Astonishing comment. Maybe you do that in Gladiators, because it is all an act, but this is meant to be a fair sport, where referees are in place to ensure the laws of the game are adhered to. Collina did not win respect by being a homer. He did it by being fair and giving the decisions as he saw them. That is why Clattenburg will be remembered by many as Clattenturd, while Collina is a legend of the game. It is no wonder Forest got rid of him for being more of a hindrance than a help – the guy is a moron. A corrupt moron.
Quick notes on the players:
Alisson – had almost nothing to do in the game, though the one time he did have something to do, he raced off his line and fluffed his kick. It must be said though, he was moving like a guy who had been stood around too long doing nothing and all his muscles are stiff. Which is entirely possible with the amount he had to do. It was certainly totally different from the performances he regularly had to put in last season, where almost every attack led to a chance for the opposition.
Alexander-Arnold – a decent game, shutting down Leao when possible, but when the winger was running at pace he made sure not to give him any excuse to dive and just positioned himself to force Leao into traffic. On the ball, he had a good game, delivering some excellent deliveries from corners and free kicks.
Konate – a mostly good game, though he did pick up a booking that he probably did not need to do. Overall, he was mostly solid defensively, rarely giving the opposition a sniff and bullying Morata when they were in contact. Also worked hard to get back when Leao did manage to beat him on the dribble. Scored a really good goal as well to equalise and I loved the way both him and Virgil threw themselves in the way of a shot.
van Dijk – scored an excellent header and was always a threat on deadballs and was good mostly defensively. However, he did make a very bad error on the goal. He has to spot the runners going past him and not run forward into the opposition half to try and challenge for the ball. Normally he is very good at dropping off and covering, but he was badly caught in behind him and was nowhere to be seen when they scored due to that. It was two runners as well that were running into space, so there is no excuse for thinking he could leave them for Konate to come across and cover. It might seem harsh to pull him up on that, but van Dijk has set a standard as the best in his position, so simple mistakes like that are not something that can just be ignored, as we know he is better than that.
Tsimikas – other than his assist, he was fairly poor. His constant attempts to hit it and hope a goal would come were reminiscent of Gomez last season. Both of them really could do with getting a goal, it does not matter how, but just to get that monkey off their back as it is affecting their performances. Tsimikas has always needed a run of games to build his confidence and sharpness and produce better performances, so it is not really a surprise that he was nowhere near his best. Coming on as a sub is not enough for him to get going. While being in and out of the side, he always seems a bit hesitant in his play, but one thing you can never fault is his heart and desire, which makes him valuable as a back up. He may not have the best game, but he will not stop running and will not give the opposition an easy game as he will always be trying to get in their face.
Gravenberch – once again, he was excellent. It is not just how well he does on the ball, nor when running forward, but the effect he is having defensively as well. He fully deserved his man of the match award as he was key to the result.
Mac Allister – a decent performance, played some nice passes but his lack of mobility was a key contributor to the goal conceded. He was chasing back the entire time, but never able to make up any ground to have any effect on the play. He is very much a point of weakness for opponents to attack when they have the ball due to that lack of mobility, unless he reads the play better or sits deeper. Sitting deeper negates his best qualities, so he will have to learn to read the play better and anticipate where to be as Gravenberch cannot do it all.
Szoboszlai – other than the goal, not the best of nights for the Hungarian. He works extremely hard, but right now most of the things he tries to do are just not coming off. Maybe he just needs a rest, but his physicality and workrate, along with the injury to the obvious rotation option Elliott, are very important to the side.
Gakpo – was absolutely outstanding, gave his full-back a torrid night and would almost certainly have been man of the match but he was taken off with over 20 minutes still to play. On that performance, it is going to be a real headache for Slot picking between him and Diaz each week, as the Colombian has also started the season in good form.
Jota – another poor performance from Jota, who played well in the first game of the season, but since then he has just got worse each game. We rarely get to see Jota getting a run of games, normally he makes a few sub appearances, a couple of starts and then picks up an injury. This is his first time to be given his head as a starter and he is not impressing. He is so effective of the bench, but when starting his lack of ability to help with build up play or link up with his teammates is really hampering the team. It is not like he is Haaland, who makes constant runs to push the defence deeper and so provides more space for the midfield to operate in. Jota just seems to flit around, far too deep to effect the play when Liverpool have the ball. I think it is time to give Nunez a chance and let Jota do what he does best, come on late and stumble through challenges to score from nowhere. If he is going to stay in the team, he has to offer more. Or anything. He is not doing enough right now, he is not making runs in behind or across defenders to catch their eye when the wide players have it. He seems to just want to hold station and let Szoboszlai run in behind him, but he is not good enough on the ball to provide any kind of link to the play for this role. It is just not working.
Salah – a good performance, which just needed one of his shots to go in rather than hit the bar. Always a threat and caused them so many problems, even though they were usually able to double up on him. People were writing him off after the Forest game and once again he showed that he is too good to be written off.
Diaz – arrived in the 68th minute in place of Gakpo. Failed to have anything like the impact on the game that Gakpo had and the attack lacked the directness with him in it. He needed to really just run at the defence and force them into making a challenge, but he did not do enough. Strange when it is what you can normally rely on Diaz to do.
Nunez – also brought on in the 68th minute, he took the place of Jota. As usual, Nunez worked hard, but never really made a mark on the game.
Gomez – subbed on for Alexander-Arnold in the 79th minute. He had a bit of a disaster. It was like he had his boots on the wrong feet at times.
Chiesa – made his debut for the Reds when he was brought on in the 90th+2 minute to replace Salah. It was just a cameo appearance but it was good to see him make his Liverpool bow and get his first couple of touches in the shirt.
Endo – also came on in the 90th+2 minute in the stead of Mac Allister. In my opinion, he should have been on much sooner, Milan had been running off Mac Allister every time they got the chance. Their plan seemed to be to get the ball to Leao to use his pace and then put it into the space between the defence and Mac Allister, as the Argentinean struggles to keep up with play when it is moving at pace. There was often a gap there for Pulisic et al to exploit, which they used to the full on the goal. Endo would have shut that down, in my opinion, so it would have been sensible to bring him on the moment LFC got their third. Instead, Milan were allowed to build up a head of steam and mount a few attacks after going 3-1 down. By the time Endo came on, the game was pretty much over.
Written by Tris Burke September 20 2024 04:06:25
