Italian sports papers analyse Milan‘s defeat against Atalanta saying that Stefano Pioli should have been more practical, especially with a long list of absentees, but only a few of his players were up to the task, including Olivier Giroud and Christian Pulisic.
The Rossoneri suffered a 3-2 loss in Bergamo on Saturday, seeing Inter go nine points clear at the top of the table, after a 4-0 victory over Udinese.
With only Fikayo Tomori available in central defence, Pioli once again played Theo Hernandez, Davide Calabria and Alessandro Florenzi at the back, but this time the plan didn’t quite work as it had happened against Frosinone last week.
Both La Gazzetta dello Sport and Il Corriere dello Sport claimed on Sunday that Pioli should have been more practical. ‘On the other hand, he continued pursuing a playing style that Milan can’t afford at the moment,’ wrote the pink paper.
‘It should have been a 4-3-3, but there was more: Theo running forward, Florenzi playing close to Reijnders an exaggeration which means the exclusion from the title race,’ added Il Corriere dello Sport.
Pioli was rated 5/10 by Gazzetta and Tuttosport and 5.5 by Corriere dello Sport.
Verdicts on most Milan players were just as harsh. Davide Calabria was sent off in the second half and received 4/10 from Gazzetta, but Tomori and Samuel Chukwueze were also disappointing.
Only a few Rossoneri received passing grades, including Mike Maignan (Milan’s MOTM for all three Italian sports papers), Giroud and Pulisic, who started the game, and Luka Jovic and Ismael Bennacer, who were introduced as substitutes in the second half.
The Serbian striker scored his second consecutive Serie A goal for Milan, but it wasn’t enough to avoid an away defeat.
Weird only one team played this game and there were no goalscorers. Incredible report. 0/10.