Milan-Udinese Preview: No Expectations

It’s going to be Saturday. At the San Siro. Udinese are coming. Despite an initial stadium ban, there will be fans there after all because the ban was temporarily suspended until the FIGC tests the political implications of a full stadium ban for territorial discrimination. It will be a game. Or something, I don’t know. I seriously have no expectations.

Udinese sit 8th on the table with 10 points. Their record so far is L-W-D-L-W-L-W, a record that has already had the press talking about Guidolin’s future with the club. Their last match, a 2-0 win over Cagliari, saw Guidolin line up Kelava; Naldo, Danilo, Heurtaux; Loureiro, Bata, Lazzari, Gabriel, Pinzi; Di Natale, Lopez. Guidolin is missing his starting keeper, Brkic, who has been out with a long term injury, but should have a full squad otherwise.

That is a stark contrast to Allegri, who is now also missing Balotelli to a new muscle injury. On the other hand, Cristante is back from his national team duty with the Italian U19 team. And Kaká is expected to make the bench and possibly play a little. Birsa, Bonera, and Silvestre have also returned to training this week, so could be available. But that is pretty much the end of the good news. De Jong and Mexes are both suspended, so Allegri is going to be looking far and wide for enough players to start, and even further for players of quality.

Lesser team, more points, more likely to be sacked. It's Bizzarro Serie A

So in case you are keeping score, Guidolin’s future has been questioned, despite much better results. And Allegri is secure, despite not only worse results with a much better team, but performances that are beyond embarrassing and barely qualify as football. Yeah. Oh, and Milan are in ritiro, so go get ‘em, boys. Yeah.

I have to confess, in over two and a half years of blogging, this preview was the hardest preview to write. I have absolutely no optimism left. I am numb from the betrayal and lack of accountability of our management. As I wrote in the last post, if it was just the team performing poorly, or even this ridiculous amount of injuries, I could cope. But that, coupled with the epic fail of management has made me completely numb with disbelief. Because thinking anymore about it hurts too much, I guess.

So I will watch the game tomorrow, and I will root for my red and black, but I have absolutely no expectations. Yeah.

This post inspired by the music of The Beatles “Help!”

Milan vs. Udinese

Saturday, October 19 • 20:45 CEST (2:45 EDT)

This match will be shown LIVE on RAI in the U.S.

Check here for stream links ahead of the match