The
last time we went to Bologna,
we got a lot of help from one Signor Rocchi. So much help, in fact, that the
FIGC gave him a little vacation afterwards. Today, Signor Tagliavento also did
his best to help us, but maybe not to the same extent as Signor Rocchi did. I’m
just wondering what the fans at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara think of Milan now.
Hopefully, they realized that we actually did win this on our own merits,
despite a little help from a friend.
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| Pazzini's hat trick carried Milan to victory |
With
a whopping 10 Italians in the starting lineup for Milan for the first time in
who knows how long, the match started as many do, missed chances, easy saves
for the keepers. Until a jersey tug-of-war, which Pazzini easily won, resulted
in Pazzini pulling Cherubin down on top of him and Tagliavento giving the
Bologna player a yellow card and awarding Milan a penalty. Ouch. In the 16th,
with flashes of Inter vs. Udinese flashing through our minds, Pazzini stepped
up to take the penalty…. and converted! 1-0 Milan. Although it was hard to be
happy about something someone just handed you, I would rather have earned it
fair and square.
Then
the yellow cards started flowing: Montolivo in the 18th, Bonera in the 24th, Ambrosini
in the 28th, Pazzini in the 59th, and De Jong in the 68th. All for dumb,
reckless, senseless fouls. And several of these players (I’m looking at you,
Bonera!) did their best to earn a second, too, obviously Tagliavento’s “help”
extended beyond the penalty call. Before the half, we also lost Montolivo to
injury, too, and De Jong was subbed on for him in the 41st. Boateng also hurt
his hand, he came back from the half with it taped up, let’s hope it’s nothing
serious that could sideline him.
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| Hopefully Montolivo's injury is not serious |
Diamanti
proved time and time again that he was worth his weight in, well… diamonds. He
troubled the defense and also Abbiati again and again. Like in the 25th when
Acerbi had a great stop, and less than a minute later, Abbiati stopped him,
too. This was a recurring theme throughout the match, the man played 90
minutes+ and was unstoppable. Well, there was that one time, in the 41st
minute, when Nocerino tried to stop him with a clumsy tackle, and Tagliavento
had to award Bologna the penalty. So Diamanti coolly stepped up and took it in
the 42nd, 1-1. That seemed only fair, except that if it had been fair, they
would have been up 1-0 by now. Maybe the second half would change things.
The
second half started off with a bang. In fact, Cuarente took a wicked shot that
forced a great save by Abbiati. Then in the 53rd, El Shaarawy and Antonini
teamed up with a couple of nice flicks and a backheel and a good cross. Yes,
Antonini was playing very well. In fact, he had an amazing clearance in the
58th that I had to go back and see again, the man played like a real left back
today. (maybe it was his way of saying thank you for not buying anymore left
backs!!) Bonera, on the other hand was his typical self, out of position,
sloppy tackles, shoving players down in the box, like in the 66th, when he was
already on a yellow.
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| Antonini with a surprisingly great performance |
Boateng
and Nocerino were both like children who have ingested too much sugar, they
were running around everywhere, but not really accomplishing a lot. Boateng
worked especially hard to create shots, but all of them were sent into orbit
like Robinho is so famous for. In the 61st, We saw an old friend come on in
Gilardino, replacing Acquafresca. Not that he ever worried us. Well, okay,
there was that one header in the 69th, but we all knew that was going over.
Bojan
replaced El Shaarawy in the 67th, I thought that in the time he had he
demonstrated some good efforts. And El Shaarawy seemed better this match than
the last, he had some nice looks at goal and was a lot more visible in building
up plays. The 72nd saw Pazienza handle the ball in his own box, but no call.
Finally, I felt a little better about our first goal. And in the 74th,
Antonsson decided to practice his acrobatics over Pazzini’s back, and somehow
Pazzini got called for the foul. So maybe this Signor Tagliavento wasn’t so
friendly after all.
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| Snake eyes times three! |
It
was the 77th minute that changed everything. The ball was crossed in, Agliardi
bobbled the ball as he was falling to try to save it, and Pazzini, with killer
instincts, struck, scoring an amazing goal. 2-1 Milan. Then again in the 86th,
De Jong put a nice pass forward to De Sciglio, who crossed it in, Nocerino had
a quick touch on it before Pazzini just slotted it in for his hat trick, 3-1
Milan. It is also worth noting that De Sciglio had another amazing game. I
cannot believe how both poised and skilled he is for someone so young, he is so
refreshing, and Abate is going to have to work hard for his spot. Which is a
nice problem to have.
Allegri,
in true form, subbed on Niang for Pazzini in the 91st. As if fresh legs for the
last 2 ½ minutes are meant to make any changes in the game. Between that, and
the frightful fielding of both Bonera and
Antonini, the man is definitely on my list.
And I don’t care if we won this one, he’s still on my list. Getting better
players has helped his cause, but I want to know where Zapata is and what he’s
done with him, why we have to endure Bonera and Antonini every match, and why
he can’t use his subs to help prevent injuries.
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| Pazzini's performance saved Allegri's butt |
It
is also worth noting how many wasted chances we have on set pieces. For
example, from the 12th-14th minutes, we had a free kick, two corners, and a
free kick, with nothing even looking dangerous. The last game, we had seven
corners and did nothing with them, while we conceded on an opposition corner.
Allegri, you want to get off my list? Please start by working on set pieces.
With this new Budget Milan™ squad, we need every chance we can get.
Still,
an improved performance from last week, as we fought hard for everything for 90
minutes. We have our weaknesses, but we are finding our strengths, and with the
addition of the Three
Musketeers, who all got at least a couple of minutes today, we are even
stronger, still. I am still frightened to face off against a bigger team, but
today, even if we had a little bit of help from a friend, we showed that we are
improving and that our reinforcements will definitely help us. Congratulations
to Pazzini for showing Cassano just how far a little class goes and at the same
time showing Stramaccioni how ridiculous he was to freeze him out of the squad.
And well done to our heroes, the boys of Milan.
This post inspired by the music of Andrea Bocelli