Milan: A Matter of Perspective! Part Deux.

Roma 0 – Milan 0

Very, very basic thoughts on the Milan game. One very basic thought:

They played poorly, by their standards, against Milan and earned a point…

And people are upset by this? They lost no ground in or around the currently relevant European spaces; they tacked another clean sheet on the board; they put handcuffs on Milan’s best player for 89-odd minutes; and they did so with a whole three games remaining against top half teams – all of which are at home.

This is not a week-to-week sport: points will be dropped, form will be imperfect, chances will go begging and fans will be left seething. A marathon, not a sprint.

Still undefeated since October and 5-2-1 under Ranieri against Serie A teams which qualified for Europe last year. And no one’s pretending they’re in December/January form, but they’re allowed not to be – they’re human. Blips on the radar for professional athletic teams are, shockingly, allowed and, even more shockingly, inevitable; when that blip spell includes a draw with Milan, you’re doing something awfully, awfully right.

Notes

• Milan can rue missed chances in the press all they want, but they clearly haven’t watched enough Julio Sergio this year – it’s taken something special to get past Julio Sergio, and just putting stuff on net ain’t gonna to cut it.

  On a slightly scarier note, what are the chances Milan have JSB’s agent in the speed dial top five…

• This is the first game I’ve genuinely questioned Ranieri’s use of subs, but not tactically – there’s a reason he’s on the sideline and everyone else isn’t. There were simply some terribly tired legs at the end of the match, with a couple – Daniele & David – suffering blows during the game on top of lacking fitness coming into the match. In fact, I hadn’t realized just how many players in the XI had enjoyed the midweek friendlies:

  Juan, Burdisso, Daniele, Julio Baptista, Mirko & Riise, while David & Julio Sergio are/were still far from fitness (less of an issue in Sergio’s case). If there’s ever a time to empty the subs quota, that’s it.

  Claudio played Russian roulette and won this time, but next time the revolver just might empty.

• Ranieri nailed it in the presser when asked why he didn’t bring in Menez, who I wanted to see play desperately, but at the expense of logic: for whom?

  No one without sacrificing a great deal of defensive steel and perhaps the point, that was the problem.

• You’ll notice that as Perrotta’s form has struggled, so too has Roma.

  Not a coincidence.

• Milan’s midfield was impressive – particularly Flamini – but my word if Daniele De Rossi didn’t play the role of a thousand men in that first half…
• This was John Arne Riise’s worst game in a long, long time. Not only were Bonera and Huntelaar – in that order – turning him into fits, but he couldn’t get forward.

  Again, if one of your defenders can play that poorly and still come away with a clean sheet…

• And I’d like to know – in all honesty – when’s the last time the goddamn attacking abilities of Daniele Bonera necessitated a formation change (4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2 so that Simone could offer more help).

  If it’s anything but ‘never’ I’m packing up all my things, moving to Papua New Guinea and quitting life.

• The mere presence of Luca Toni’s shadow wreaked more havoc in the Milan half than an epileptic bull in a fine china shop. It’s been nearly two months since his last true appearance, and it took not two minutes to see the immense dimension he brings to the side.
• Massimo Ambrosini is the new Fabio Quagliarella.
• Apparently this will be the last sell-out for another nine years.
• Two goals conceded in the last seven home league games, one of those Pastore’s (non)penalty.

  Not bad

It’ll now be interesting to see not the result, but the performance after a proper week off. If they succumb to a draw with Livorno…

Go crazy, folks.

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Category: Team News