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