Serie A | Parma 2-1 Milan: Player ratings – Pulisic efforts not enough | OneFootball

Milan suffered a 2-1 defeat away against newly-promoted Parma in Serie A on Saturday evening in the absence of new striker Alvaro Morata, with a handful of questionable performances from Paulo Fonseca’s side.

Parma, on the night, were excellent and gave Milan plenty of trouble throughout the 90. 20-year-old striker Ange-Yoan Bonny was particularly impressive, as was Romania international Dennis Man, who opened the scoring after just two minutes.

Though he suffered a loss on his full Rossoneri debut, there were positive signs from new centre-back Strahinja Pavlovic, who looked dominant in parts, but was unable to prevent his team from falling behind early on.

There was also an opportunity for Noah Okafor to start up front in the absence of Morata, but the diminutive forward was not able to lead the line quite as effectively as his new colleague.

Parma 2-1 Milan – player ratings

Parma: Suzuki 7; Coulibaly 6, Balogh 7, Circati 6, Valeri 6.5; Bernabe 7, Estevez 6; Man 8, Sohm 6, Mihaila 6; Bonny 8.

Best Parma player: Bonny 8 –  The powerful, young striker gave Milan’s back line plenty to deal with at the Tardini Stadium. It was a real statement of intent from the France youth international, who is now into his fourth season with Parma. He was unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet himself, but his performance played a massive part in Parma’s victory. A word for Denis Man as well, who was excellent throughout the 90 as well.

Coach: Fabio Pecchia 8 – The team selection was spot on, and his players were clearly motivated right from the off. Parma showed a willingness to work harder than their opposition and are now off to an impressive start after today’s victory and last week’s draw with Fiorentina. It will definitely be one to celebrate for the gaffer, who also celebrated his 51st birthday on Saturday.

Milan: Maignan 5.5; Calabria 5, Pavlovic 6.5, Tomori 5, Theo Hernandez 6; Musah 5, Reijnders 6; Pulisic 7, Loftus-Cheek 5, Leao 6; Okafor 5.

Best Milan player: Pulisic 7 – In a game that was being broadcast live on CBS in his home country, the USMNT star stepped up and grabbed himself an equaliser with 20 minutes of the second half played, which should have been the turning point for Milan. Unfortunately his teammates weren’t able to prevent Parma’s second and the eventual winner.

Coach: Paulo Fonseca: 5 – There can’t be too many complaints about Fonseca’s team selection on the night. Morata was unavailable and Jovic wasn’t particularly impressive last weekend, so it was fair to give Okafor a run-out. The rest of the team behind him was not too far off Milan’s strongest starting XI, although there are cases to be made for Youssouf Fofana, Emerson Royal and Samuel Chukwueze. What is clear, though, is that the plan for winning matches hasn’t been fully drilled in just yet. Just the one point from the opening two league matches of the season is not how the coach would have hoped to have started.