SempreMilan Podcast: Episode 295 - Bend Don't Break

Join Oli and Anthony as they recap the hard-fought victory over Napoli and preview the return of European action, as well as the short hop to face Monza. This week’s topics include…
↳ Finally a clean sheet
↳ Stade Rennais arrive in red hot form
↳ How will Pioli be remembered as manager?
↳ Listener questions
Time stamps:
Intro 00:00
Napoli Review 01:47
Stade Rennes Preview 33:00
Monza Preview 43:07
Listener Questions 51:27
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[@silverwave2238]

I thought we were too reliant on the left side of attack , I know we scored from it but lots of time pulisic was free on the right but not getting any real service.

[@hevanli13]

Leaos second touch on the offside call went a little far thats why he passed it, he had to reach for the pass itself. The last 15-20 minutes Pulisic played he was a wing back, I mentioned it on a live watch along and then he got subbed for Jimenez. I think it was a planned strategy by Pioli. I hope Simic gets more playing time, he seems like someone that rises to the occasion and he is a very strong player for his age.

[@ohimats]

So, I feel like I can add a little something here, being based in France and I do follow the French league. I have a few close friends who are Rennes fans (who will be at the San Siro for the home game) and we talked about what's been going on. Rennes's been on good from, Julian Stephan has been the "talk of the town" recently. The opponents they faced were either garbage like Guingamp, Lyon and Sochaux or in poor form like Nice (my home team Bordeaux lost a close a 3-2 at home against Nice and it wasn't because we were good). As far as Ligue 1 is concerned, they are in a similar position as us in that they are coming back from a rough period and starting to gain momentum. Europa league is a another thing and we take it VERY seriously in France given we have many spots in it. Rennes will go full force on us. They play pragmatically, very well on the counter and in setpieces. Toulouse beat Liverpool in the group stages and Lens beat Arsenal in UCL (both at home). I honestly think this could be a draw or very close win for either team. Oli: "They got decimated, really ! Like, all their best players went in the summer" Welcome to ligue 1 XD (winters are brutal too).

[@Labgorilla]

For the Rents game… I hope that our back line can keep them out and that we have too much for them. They are in very good form. Oh well. Pioli just drops terraciano into our toilet defence. I hope that we can flush away their chances.

[@DrJTPhysio]

Gabbinesta was spectacular! I remember RLC was an emergency striker at Chelsea and I think he actually scored or assisted.

[@dillongrant879]

About how I will remember Pioli’s tenure: I was one of the people who was #pioliout before he coached a game. So for me he exceded my expectations (i think for a lot of people) he stabilized us and gave us a scudetto, we got a deep run in the CL. That was far better then what I expected of him. After the scudetto we kind off hit a wall and I think we reached a plateau. I think its time To move on and get a better or more promising coach. End of the day I think we should think of pioli’s tenure as positive and better then expected.

[@ziontrain7887]

I think there needs to be changes for next season. Milan players are still suffering from muscular injuries and we have a team good enough to challenge for the scudetto. Milan players have a mental block and only a strong coach can get us to the next level. Milan cannot replace Pioli with a coach like Tiago Motta.

[@Shishir27]

Inter's squad is much better than ours

[@ziontrain7887]

@@Shishir27 our squad is still good enough to compete with Inter. As a matter of fact our squad is underachieving thanks to all the injuries and Pioli stupid tactics.

[@MARiNZ0]

If we can't beat the seventh team in France in San Siro then what the hell are we even doing here man LOL?! The only way I see this not being a rout is if players are completely disinterested in EL or underestimate them and do silly mistakes. Which to be honest happens often this season :D

[@Neoyorchese]

If we beat PSG this should just be a routine win, I agree.

[@Shishir27]

Bourigeaud is by no means a defender, he is a creative midflielder/wide midflielder

[@jensmustermann1186]

Yeah, I was shocked Oli never heard of him. Rennes was a very good side last year and he has been a well known player for years now.

[@Flamboy0911]

Pulisic was definitely flop of the match for sure after Kjaer

[@johnclark8226]

How do y’all feel about keeping Pulisic almost playing as a wing back. Impacts his forward potential but allow left side to move forward

[@tonyr.5535]

Yeah it’s crazy Pulisics goal drought coinsides with him being clearly asked to be more defensive to cover for RLC being a 10 and our weak right side of defense . Insane tactics.

[@hevanli13]

Im glad I wasn’t the only one that noticed it, a lot of the second half he wasn’t crossing to the other half.

[@TheFergo911]

how on earth are there so many varying opinions on the overall game against Napoli. I saw the game and I saw Milan have the beat chances to score. The chances Milan were creating were more clean, sure it wasn't a brilliant game whereby Milan dominated the entire game, but Milan had fantastic chances to make this game a 2 or 3 too Nil game in favour of Milan. On Leao, he had a below average game by his standards. There were a couple of through balls going his way and he didn't make the run even though he could have gotten to them while being on side. He took shots towards the goal, but the one chance he had which was typical Leao scenario to score and he puts it off target. He had a below average game considering his levels.

[@SkunkMonk]

I feel that the more negative reviews we get are also fair, because there is only one team we have to strive to beat this season, and thats inter. Our team has not gelled together yet is what I feel. once they start understanding how everyone else works in the team leao will automatically start to score, pulisic will score, chukwueze will score. Our midfielders will score for fun at that point. Trust me we wont be able to accept a 4 goal lead when that happens, i believe theres so much more potential in this team, we are still growing, thats why some of the reviews are kinda negative. Each game we played in january and february is making every analyst eat their words a little more. But we are not there yet. I cant wait for the day when we get there. its coming to a point where we are slowly wondering if signing more players will improve us anymore. This is the same narrative as roma as well. You can see they have brilliant signings its just that their playstyle is still developing.