Theo Hernandez had a busy evening against Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah and the Italian papers believes the Milan full-back ‘lost the battle from the first minute’, as Jordan Henderson was voted MVP at Anfield.
Salah missed a penalty and scored the 2-2 goal three minutes into the second half, as Milan bounced back but then lost the game 3-2 at Anfield.
Apart from the last 10 minutes of the first half, it was all Liverpool on Merseyside and the France international was struggling to stop Salah from making an impact.
La Gazzetta dello Sport believes Theo lost the battle ‘in his head before entering the pitch’, while Il Corriere dello Sport claims he was inferior when battling with both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Salah.
Tuttosport claims his start was ‘embarrassing’ and claimed he was a ‘Swiss cheese for the whole first half’.
Jordan Henderson scored the winner in the second half and played a vital part in the Reds’ midfield trident. The England international was voted the MVP of the match by the three major sports papers in Italy.
Theo Hernandez’s ratings in the Italian papers:
La Gazzetta dello Sport: 5.5
Il Corriere dello Sport: 5.5
Tuttosport: 5
Salah’s ratings in the Italian papers:
La Gazzetta dello Sport: 6.5
Il Corriere dello Sport: 7
Tuttosport: 7.5
MVP Henderson’s ratings in the Italian papers:
La Gazzetta dello Sport: 7.5
Il Corriere dello Sport: 7.5
Tuttosport: 7.5
I just don’t think the full backs and wingers communicate and work well enough together.
Well to be honest there are not many left backs who can really stop Salah. Theo has had much worse performances for Milan defensively. At least he was involved in Milan’s second goal.
Although Milan have a young and inexperienced squad at UCL level, this game once again highlighted the gap in speed and intensity of the top PL sides and the top Seria A sides. It continues to be a wake up call to Italian club football that while technique and tactics are important, so is speed and intensity and Serie A clubs must adapt to this as they don’t face it week-in-week out in the Italian top flight.
The tempo was high for Milan and we couldn’t bring it down. The only player who have done that is sandro Tonali
Curious, I think Tonali is an interesting player but how would he have brought Liverpool’s pace down?
Honestly…Hernandez as a defender is mediocre at best. He should be moved to a wide midfield position & he will flourish much, much more. He is a liability defensively at times. HIs man-marking technique leaves a lot to be desired.
Hernandez has always been a bit poor in defense, and it was magnified last night. His quality is going forward. To be fair though, I rate Calabria highly enough as a defender but last night they were running right past him as well.
I think the main thing to take away from this is that we have a long way to go to become a top European club again (if it ever happens). It isn’t absolutely necessary to have the sort of incredible speed that Liverpool have, but you then have to make up for it by being better on the ball – faster, more accurate passing, so the opposition can run themselves ragged without catching the ball. Either way I am satisfied that we are improving year on year, so as long as that keeps up, we will hopefully eventually become competitive at that level again.
Speed and intensity will get you no where without luck. Italian football is much more beautiful than PL.. at least there is a proper plan to follow even on defeat.. did you see any good play in all of Liverpool goals? Vs Milan goals?
Man U lost to Young Boys, and Chelsea the champions only 1 0 vs zenit… even PSG drew with BRUGGE because those leagues only run after the ball they don’t play good football is like watching a basketball match