It has come to this. Tomorrow, we face bottom of the table
Chievo, and we Milan fans have real and valid concerns about the result.
Despite the Flying Donkeys having only one win and two draws, Milan could
easily drop more points to the bottom of the table Verona team. It’s enough to
want some wings of our own and someone to say “Come fly with me.”
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| Chievo are flying low this season... will Milan rise to the occasion? |
Chievo manager Sannino is one of the few managers in Serie A
with worse results than Allegri, but with a squad that cost a fraction of
Allegri’s. In a scoreless draw with Bologna on Monday, Sannino lined up
Puggioni; Dainelli, Cesar, Pamic, Sardo, Frey; Radovanovic, Estigarribia,
Rigoni; Paloschi, and Thereau.
However, Sannino is missing Claiton, Bentivoglio, Drame, and
Calello to injury, as well as Guana to suspension. Despite the missing players,
they have home advantage, and the Bentigodi is always a bit of a fortress.
Historically, Milan have still dominated this matchup, but will they be able to
capitalize on the poor form and injuries of the Flying Donkeys?
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| Will Paloschi hurt us? |
In addition to long term injuries to Pazzini and El
Shaarawy, De Sciglio has been all but ruled out due to some swelling on his
knee. Players returning from injury or recently injured who are doubtful
include Nocerino, Silvestre, Amelia, and Bonera, while Balotelli is suspended.
As for Balotelli, it’s hard to blame him for getting a game ban for card
accumulation, as he gets to spend more time with his
beautiful girlfriend.
But while Balotelli attempts to score off the pitch, our
striker options dwindle significantly on the pitch. For example, Chievo own
half of our Paloschi, who actually has 2 goals, compared to our own Matri,
likely to start tomorrow, who only has one goal this season. So this should be
fun.
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| Will he double his goal scoring tally? |
Midweek, Allegri whipped out a theoretically defensive
4-4-1-1 formation and benched Balotelli from the start. This coming off of yet
another ritiro, so plenty of time to
work with the players on tactics. That lineup failed pretty epically, and the
pressure on Allegri has finally set off the Galliani
confirm-him-every-day-alarm, so it’s really impossible to guess what formation
or lineups Allegri will praise after failing to get results this time. Maybe
he’ll pull an Ajax and have the boys sit back for the entire first half because
Chievo is a “superior” team. I could never tell you what goes through that
man’s mind, if anything.
So while the battle of a relegation-destined team vs. a team
in a nosedive (I’ll let you decide which is which) sounds fascinating, at 6am
my time, I really doubt it will be. It’s a chance for Allegri to snatch a
valuable 3 points, but that is usually his cue to amaze and astound with his “genius”
(read: epic fail) tactics, so I highly recommend the alcohol, no matter what hour
the game is for you. Milan could fly away with this game, or could fly off into
the sunset and into Serie B with the Flying Donkeys. Let’s just hope it’s the former.
This post inspired by the music of
Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me”
Chievo vs. Milan
Sunday, November 10 • 15:00 CET (9am EST)
This match will NOT be shown LIVE in the US
If you have beIn Sport, you may be able to watch on beinsportplay.tv
Check comments for stream links ahead of the match