AC Milan 0-2 Ferencvaros: Five things we learned – a poor squad picked apart
By: Oliver Fisher
AC Milan’s Europa League misery continued at San Siro on Thursday night as they were beaten 2-0 by Ferencvaros.
Ruben Amorim made six changes to the team that won the derby against Inter, hoping that the entire group would remain buoyed by that performance to secure a much-needed win in Europe. However, what followed was the worst performance of his tenure so far.
Lenny Joseph netted twice in the second half to capitalise on errors and fire the Hungarian side to a memorable win. Ferencvaros were not even rocked by a red card to the substitute Yusuf as they kept the Rossoneri at bay quite easily, securing a two-goal win they deserved.
The result means that Milan have now dropped out of even the top 24 spots, and they can just about say goodbye to any hopes of direct last-16 qualification barring a miracle. Ivan Stoev has five things we learned from another dismal midweek game.
1. Herd mentality
It’s difficult to pick five talking points after a game like this, as we can probably spend quite a bit of time discussing how bad each of the players were. But let’s try to address the bigger issue.
This squad is full of sheep, lacking both leaders and the quality to compete. We can talk all about how much Amorim rotates the squad and try to ease the blow by suggesting the Rossoneri didn’t field their best XI. Yet, if the management were serious about making the club competitive, then the rotational players should be above the quality of almost all teams competing in the Europa League, bar a few.
Obviously, if we assume Amorim is the right choice and Gerry Cardinale is serious, then it will take a lot more than a single transfer window and three new players to get Milan to compete on a few fronts, which was further proven against Ferencvaros.
Out of the whole squad, the only player that can change a game is Diego Moreira, who doesn’t play every game and has lots of room for improvement still. Not to mention that playing with the likes of Filippo Terracciano, Ardon Jashari and even Goncalo Ramos is not helping Belgium at all.
The rest of the squad lack either the quality or the mentality. The collective arrogance on the pitch was insufferable to watch, with Ferencvaros looking like the only side that had any desire to actually win. Whilst the Diavolo looked like they were playing a game in the park with no aggression, no focus, no intensity. No nothing.
It’s a bit pointless to discuss individuals because I think the wider point is clear – Milan lack leaders, Milan lack quality and Milan lack a game changer that can get the ball and make something happen when the tough gets going.
It was made evident after four games in the Europa League and a few blunders in Serie A that there’s lots of work to be done in January and next summer.
2. It’s becoming harder to be patient
Again, it’s difficult to pick and choose which player to discuss, but given Ramos is the Rossoneri’s most expensive signing ever, it’s probably fair that the pressure starts mounting on him.
Listen, I wasn’t too bothered by the lack of goals initially, as the striker did well in the build-up and opened up space for his teammates; he also ran a lot in both phases of the game. Let’s also be honest, he has lacked the service to actually get the goal-scoring opportunities.
Nevertheless, in the last few games and especially against Ferencvaros, he has been dire – his build-up is poor, his ball control is pretty bad and when he does get a shot off, it’s usually miles away.
Now, obviously he’s not a striker that’s going to create chances for himself; he lacks the pace and the trickery, which is fine if you are good in the other aspects of the game. However, we can’t keep grasping for straws.
The reality is that the former PSG man is just not living up to the expectations given the hefty sum paid for him in the summer.
In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t wise to spend such a sum on a player who needs quality around him in order to be a better facilitator or to receive more chances overall. The reality as of now is that the Portuguese is a disappointment.
3. Dead weight
Again, as we said, most players in the squad lack quality or mentality and unfortunately for us there are some that lack both and it’s way past the tipping point at this stage.
Terracciano, for starters, has not shown anything worth mentioning in all of his games with the red and black shirt and there’s really no reason for him to get minutes. Even without pressure, he’s just not of the needed level.
Jashari is another one that the fans and the management have hoped will bounce back after his lengthy injury after joining Milan. Yet, he’s probably had one good game from start to finish and there’s always gaps in his game.
It’s probably wise at this point to accept he’s not going to live up to the expectations and a solution needs to be found on the market, especially given Luka Modric will most likely be retiring at the end of the season.
There are also other players in this category that didn’t necessarily participate in last night’s game but should have the same fate – Pervis Estupinan and Ruben Loftus-Cheek to name a couple.
If nothing else, these poor performances should highlight to the management where the gap in quality is and what the strategy on the transfer market should be.
4. De Winter’s disastrous performance proves costly
I think the biggest individual call-out should definitely be the Belgian, who played an awful back pass to Lorenzo Torriani on the first goal. Yes, the keeper could’ve and should’ve done much better, but that back pass was just so sloppy – it could put an outfield player in a tricky situation, let alone a goalkeeper that perhaps isn’t as comfortable with his feet.
This especially coming from a player who should’ve been a certainty at the back given the heavily rotated squad.
We can also partly criticise the intervention on the second goal, because it started the whole sequence leading to the Joseph’s brace. Yes, it was a bit unlucky where the ball ended up, but you can also argue it was sloppy, the same way you can argue that a keeper clearing the ball into the opponent’s feet after a shot instead of towards the corner is the keeper’s fault to an extent.
It’s just unacceptable to go from bullying Thuram to being bullied by not even Ferencvaros’s first-choice striker.
5. Amorim’s tactics fail, but the players also struggle
I think it’s probably fair to criticise the Portuguese coach a bit too, as the Hungarians totally outplayed the Diavolo at the San Siro and were tactically better. All in all, they had the answer to everything Milan tried to offer on the night.
At the same time, I’m torn to put the blame fully on Ruben Amorim because he did make a triple change at half-time, bringing on Pulisic, Moreira and Gila, which was still at 0-0. At that point, the Rossoneri had more than enough quality on the pitch to be able to deal with whatever Ferencvaros had to offer.
Instead, two individual mistakes gave away the opening goal and it all went downhill from there. Even after the red card, Milan struggled to create a big chance.
I personally struggle to blame this fully on tactics given all the circumstances and we are back to the point that the Milan squad are just not good enough and lacks that killer mentality.
