After swapping out nine of the starting eleven players from
Wednesday for various reasons, this also looked like a completely different
team. Much less focused, struggling to maintain shape, and not nearly as tight on
defense, I was worried. But they managed to pull off the win, with goals scored
by our two players born to Moroccan parents. So tonight, to celebrate, I think
I’ll have some Moroccan barbecue.
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| The Moroccan double |
Between injuries, the flu, and players who were suspended
midweek for the Atleti match, Seedorf made nine changes in the lineup. The new
lineup gave me nightmares, even at 6am. So it was no surprise that they looked
much less the team than we saw on Wednesday. But no one told Taarabt that, and
in the 12th minute, the Moroccan-born attacker took a great cross from Rami,
born of Moroccan parents, who headed it, and when the keeper sent it back out,
just slotted it straight back in on the rebound. 1-0 Milan. Sampdoria got a
little taste of the Moroccan barbecue.
The other significant part of the first half was the
beginning of the parade of cards that became the storyline of this match. There
were eight yellows and a red shown (2nd yellow) in all. Constant started the
parade, with 2 by Sampdoria players next. After the half, 2 subs by Sampdoria
failed to make a difference. In fact, just a minute after former Milan player
Maxi Lopez of Hotelgate™ fame came on, Rami scored a fantastic header from a
Taarabt cross in the 58th. 2-0 Milan. A second helping of Moroccan barbecue. It
must be said that Pazzini collided with Da Costa in his attempt to head that
ball, and Sampdoria were not happy that the ref didn’t call for the foul,
especially since Da Costa required treatment. In fact, their defender, Costa,
got the 4th yellow of the match for protesting.
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| 2nd Milan goal plus the assist |
That seemed to set the tone for the rest of the match.
Muntari was given a precautionary yellow for a foul he was certainly going to
commit, and thus will miss the Juve match next week. In the 68th, Eder had a
great chance on goal, but collided with Amelia, who saved the shot. But again,
Sampdoria didn’t like the ref’s non-call, so this time Maxi Lopez spouted off,
and was shown the sixth yellow of the match, but didn’t stop there. Almost
immediately after, the ref showed him a second yellow/red, which left his team
on 10 men. The final yellows went to Gabbiadini and Honda, although if the ref
had more eyes and hands, he could have given several more.
Pazzini got a bloody nose and had to go off in the 79th for
treatment, but came back on as we were out of subs. In the 82nd, Amelia had an
amazing save. That’s right, haters, I just said something good about Amelia.
Deal with it. In fact, I have to say that despite me breaking out in hives upon
seeing him as the starting keeper, Amelia had a great match. Ha. I’ll bet you
never thought you’d here me say that. (But then again, neither did I.) Rami had
a great header attempt in the 90th that was saved, and that was about it.
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| The boys thanked the fans, we thank them for another great performance |
Seedorf’s subs were Poli on for Saponara in the 57th, with
Saponara given his first start under Seedorf and making me proud, too. Next up
was Muntari for Essien in the 64th. A little strange to me because Muntari will
not be able to play next week. But I guess Seedorf recognized the Tasmanian
devil look Muntari gets after a card and realized that we would be down on 10
men sooner rather than later. Finally, in the 76th, he brought on Urby for
Constant, who hadn’t had his worst game, but wasn’t great, either. If I was
giving Seeforf a grade for subs, I think it would be a C+. They were timely,
and gave people rest and playing time, but could have been more effective.
Some people thought we played well. I did not. I felt like
we showed confidence, but not competence. We played well as a team, but not as
individuals, working together, but too many errors. We were sloppy, we lost balls, gave up a few chances (they got
eight shots off with only three on goal.) We took our chances, fourteen of
them, to be exact, eight of which were on goal. But we needed more discipline,
and we needed to recover balls better, amongst other things. Still, it was an
improvement. Each game we improve in some little way or more. And with nine new
players to the lineup that dominated against Atleti, playing as well as we did
was an improvement in and of itself.
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| Four wins in his first six Serie A games as a coach... why was sacking Allegri a bad idea again? |
Two clean sheets in a row in the league, two wins in a row
in the league, and the precious three points. Plus Taarabt and Rami hooking up
for a goal and an assist each, and for each, their second goal for Milan. I’m
not gonna complain about this one at all, it made my day. We can always ask
more of our boys, but I am fine with this one. In fact, I think I’m craving
some Moroccan barbecue.
This post inspired by the music of
Pearl Jam
Our next match is
Milan vs. Juventus
Sunday, March 2 • 20:45 CET (2:45pm EST)