Stefano Pioli’s confirmation that Mike Maignan will be out until after the World Cup forces them to rely on backup goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu, something that could prove punishing in their title fight this season, writes Apollo Heyes.
The 27-year-old French goalkeeper suffered a calf injury whilst on international duty with France last month and had hopes of returning to the pitch soon, but the issue cropped back up in training, extending his time on the sidelines. Maignan missed Milan’s last five games across Serie A and the Champions League, forcing Pioli to deploy 36-year-old backup Tatarusanu.
Maignan was a vital part of Pioli’s Milan squad last season and played a key role in their Scudetto success, keeping 17 clean sheets and conceding only 21 goals across 32 Serie A appearances. The Frenchman is a calm and agile shot stopper, able to command his defence and keep things stable at the back with ease.
The statistics also reflect Maignan’s importance to Milan and his ability between the posts; last season, the Frenchman had a post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed (PSxG-GA) of +8.0, suggesting that he kept out eight more goals than he was expected to, based on the quality of shots faced. His PSxG-GA was the highest in Serie A, with David Ospina coming in second with +5.2.
In comparison, his replacement Tatarusanu has never been close to hitting those numbers in his career. Last season, when the Romanian made six Serie A appearances, he kept a PSxG-GA of 0.0. The highest he’s ever reached was in the 2017-18 season with Nantes, when his PSxG-GA was +1.5.
In defence of Tatarusanu, Milan have won their last three Serie A outings with the 36-year-old Romanian between the posts, although he only managed to keep a clean sheet in one of those games. His two outings in the Champions League against Chelsea were less positive and he failed to look confident against Graham Potter’s side.
Whilst Tatarusanu will likely do a sufficient job in the Milan goal, it’s clear this his positioning, decision making, leadership skills and shot stopping abilities are all far below the level of Maignan, putting the Rossoneri defence at risk in a vital period.
Milan’s five remaining games before the World Cup break are against Monza, Torino, Spezia, Cremonese and Fiorentina – all games that Pioli will be expecting to win. Dropping points in these games could prove disastrous for the Rossoneri as they try to keep up the pressure on league leaders Napoli, who currently sit three points ahead at the top of the table.
Luciano Spalletti’s side look electric and exhilarating on the pitch this season and show no signs of slowing down, so Milan cannot afford any stumbles if they want to stay hot on the heels of the Partenopei, putting extra pressure on Tatarusanu and his defence. The Romanian veteran will also need to rise to the task of the Rossoneri’s final two Champions League group games, must-win clashes if the team want to reach the Round of 16 of the competition.
Yes
Sadly, probably not.
Changing to a back 3 for certain games might help.
so sad, deserved to play.
milan cant win the league without him – sub goalie is poor
Shame we didn’t keep plizzarri
Considering the opponents we’re probably gonna be fine, specially if Tata avoids howlers which fortunately he has done in these last 5 matches, but something tells me it’s coming soon.
Champions League is where we are in trouble.
Domestically we’ll definitely be fine as we can make up for it. But in Europe we will definitely have an adventure in goal, Barthez-style.