They say revenge is sweet, and tomorrow, one team or the
other will likely get a chance to taste it. Will it be Amauri, who, despite being a
complete Matri (read: epic fail) at Juve, has since drawn blood against Milan
at his subsequent clubs in the most painful of ways? Or will it be the
legendary Mesbah, of Milan transfer abuse fame,
who already has a goal in just one start and one sub this season? Or maybe will it
be our favorite Nutella-loving ex, Cassano, who would like to repay our
kindness when he nearly died by taking all three points tomorrow? Perhaps the revenge will
belong to more than one person, like one or more of these players and also the former Milan
player Donadoni, whom Milan have snubbed for a coaching position in favor of
the tactically vapid Allegri. Or will the sweet revenge belong to Milan,
despite the fact that our players could barely tie their own shoes for the
first 8 weeks of the season?
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| Let's hope someone left the Nutella unlocked this week so sweet revenge is ours instead |
Parma are currently in 13th place on the table, and most
recently lost to Verona last weekend. They have struggled so far this season,
with a record of 2 wins, 3 draws, and 3 losses. So they would love nothing more
than to grab three points at home from a Milan side that is still weak and missing
some key players to injuries. The squad that Donadoni lined up against Verona
was Bajza; Cassani, Lucarelli, Felipe; Parolo, Gobbi, Acquah, Marchionni, Rosi;
Amauri, and Cassano. Despite Parma players tallying up seven yellow cards in
the game at the Bentagodi, Donadoni apparently does not have any players
suspended. He is without Paletta, Okaka, and Galoppa, however, to injuries.
Milan will be without Philippe Mexes for the second league
match of his 4 game suspension, so it would be safe to guess that Silvestre
will play in his place again. Last I heard, De Sciglio was training and
fighting for fitness for this match, but even still, Allegri doesn’t often
start players coming back from injury like that. So probably the typical back
four aside from Silvestre. And in the midfield, Montolivo and De Jong
undoubtedly, with either Sulley “The Killer” Muntari as Allegri’s favorite
scoring threat and purveyor of deadly tackles, or maybe public opinion (and fantastic performances) will have
won Allegri over and we’ll see Poli. There is always room for Allegri to
surprise us.
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| His goal basically changed our Scudetto fortunes in the 2011-12 season |
In attack, one has to wonder. Everyone has been saying we
are switching back to a 4-3-3 after the Barcelona success midweek, which is
probably about 9 games too late in the season, but better late than never.
Rumor has it that Allegri tested a forward three of Niang, Balotelli, and
Robinho in training yesterday, and I would not mind seeing this at all
tomorrow. I wouldn’t mind seeing that Kaka we saw on Tuesday, either. Or the
Slovenian number ten. In fact, anything not to have to drink an “Allegri Smile” … I would sooner like to see Zaccardo up front than Allegri’s favorite ex-Juve player. And while I
patiently await the return of il Faraone
and Pazzo, I think that front three
could help ease my pain and also punish Parma.
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| Let's hope Donadoni keeps this bundle of lightning bolts on the bench |
It is always more fun to punish than to be punished,
especially when it comes to the -exes. I thought Cassano had chosen Parma for
all of its great food, but he seems to be fit and in form (clearly someone hid
all of the Nutella), so we’ll have to settle that one on the pitch. Mesbah is
less likely to play, but if he does, I’d expect a career-topping performance,
so I hope he doesn’t hurt us, either. Amauri is so painfully terrible a player,
yet seems to have found his fountain of goals at Parma, so let’s pray to the
Gods of Football that the true Amauri shows up instead. And Donadoni, I know
you were Milan, but now you are the enemy. We can’t show you any favors, but
I’d be happy to buy you a jar of Nutella to console you if Parma lose. Milan
need this win to keep confidence up and to stay in the top half of the table
and fight back for a respectable finish this season. So please, Milan let’s get
3 points away, and don’t let that ungrateful Nutella-loving wretch (or anyone else from Parma)
get any Nutella revenge.
This post inspired by the silky
smooth, sweet, chocolaty hazelnut heaven that is Nutella... mmmm…..
Parma vs. Milan
Sunday, October 27 • 15:00 CET (10am EDT*)
This match will NOT be shown LIVE in the U.S.
If you have beIn Sport, you may be able to watch it online at beinsportplay
Check the comments for stream links ahead of the match
*note European Daylight Savings Time ends
Note: Only one normal-sized jar of Nutella gave its life for this preview. No other jars were harmed in the writing of this post.