Ruben Amorim was furious after AC Milan’s defeat to Ferencvaros on Thursday night, and some players drew his wrath more than others.

La Gazzetta dello Sport recall that Amorim deemed the performance to be ‘simply unacceptable’, a phrase he used in multiple post-match interviews. The concept was then reiterated in even more direct tones in the dressing room to the team.

Who Amorim was let down by

Beyond the words, Amorim wanted to understand, looking into the eyes of his players after the game, deeming them to be the reason for such a disappointing performance. Alphadjo Cisse, Ardon Jashari, Yunus Musah and the captain Adrien Rabiot are four specifically named.

The Portuguese pressed his players on why – after such an exhilarating victory as the derby – a display like that followed. As he explained post-match, the first topic the coach touched on was the approach.

From the opening minutes, the Rossoneri seemed at the mercy of the Hungarian’s pressing, incapable of finding solutions, ending the first half without a single shot on target. The team’s attitude wasn’t appreciated, nor that of some individuals.

Cisse, one of the key players in the start of the season and fresh from his first call-up to the national team, stood out only for his yellow card and was substituted at half-time, despite having played just a handful of minutes in the derby.

The Italian is barely 20 years old, and Amorim has already preemptively ‘pulled his ears’ to prevent him from getting too excited about his meteoric start. On Thursday, his substitution after 45 minutes said even more than the Portuguese coach’s post-match speech.

In the same boat as Cisse are Davide Bartesaghi, Filippo Terracciano, Jashari and Musah. Amorim is not necessarily pointing the finger exclusively at those who play less and started from the start against the Hungarians.

“The rotation has nothing to do with it,” the former Manchester United manager stated clearly in the press conference after the defeat. Also because, if the first half was a horror, the defeat was sealed in the second half when Mario Gila, Luka Modric, Diego Moreira and Christian Pulisic came on.

Now all eyes immediately turn to the away match in Genoa, the last match before the international break. The topic wasn’t touched upon during Amorim’s meeting with the team at San Siro, but it’s clear that the whole thing was a prelude to an immediate reaction at the Ferraris.