If Lazio’s mascot is an eagle, then Milan truly have to ask
themselves: Are we mice? Or are we men? A man could escape an eagle attack with
some damage, but live to tell the tale. But a mouse… well a mouse would be but
a snack for this Lazio team, devoured faster than someone being attacked on
Twitter. So as they travel to the Olimpico, now without a team bus and
apparently without Niang, too, it’s time to man up and face Lazio like a real
team so that we don’t get devoured.
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| The kind of strength a man could survive, but a mouse wouldn't last a minute |
Lazio have started off the year well enough and were in third place up until last weekend. But a costly loss to Napoli has left them only on 31 points, which is now fifth place, behind both Napoli and Sampdoria. Rest assured that they will be fighting for that spot back, and will need all three points to have any hope of it.
Against Napoli, Pioli fielded Berisha; Basta, Radu, Cana,
Cavanda; Parolo, Biglia, Ledesma; Djordevic, Keita, Candreva. He’s got some serious
injury concerns, missing Gentiletti, Ciani, Ederson, Braafheid, Gonzalez,
Anderson, and Lulic, as well as Mauri and de Vrij still questionable as to
fitness. But even with his injury woes, he’s got the advantage of mentality and
playing at home. I mean they lost to Napoli, there is no real shame in that.
It’s not like they lost to 17th place Atalanta. Or 14th place Sassuolo.
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| Lazio look thrilled to be wearing this '86-87 throwback shirt for our match |
Meanwhile, Inzaghi has to face injuries on top of the insults
being thrown his way. In addition to losing Niang to Galliani’s Obsessive Transfer
Disorder™ (OTD), he’s missing Zapata, Bonera, De Sciglio and De Jong to
injury, while the Muntaried™ van Ginkel and also Pazzini, Essien and Muntari
are questionable. Rami is suspended for card accumulation and Honda is still at
the Asian Cup, too. Is it unusual to feel tremendous pain when reading a Milan
injury and suspension list? But get used to the pain, because win, lose, or
draw, we will see these guys again as we host Lazio on Tuesday at the San Siro for the Coppa Italia, and
that’s gonna hurt, too.
As if the mentality of the club and its fans wasn’t
difficult enough to overcome right now, the squad are facing an uphill battle
by playing in the Stadio Olimpico, and playing with a team who have as much or
more talent, but haven’t had their co-CEO playing musical chairs with their
squad nonstop for 2.5 years. If those disadvantages weren’t enough, Milan have
to deal with a massive injury/suspension/missing list and a looming transfer
window deadline list that could see any of them plucked from the team like an
eagle.
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| Using Mickey Mouse tactics will see the eagles devour us |
Eagles are predators, very high on the food chain. Will
Milan be their dinner? Or will we find the strength from within to make a meal
out of Lazio? Or maybe learn to fly like eagles, just enough to get a draw and a
precious point? While it’s hard to think about our team being someone’s dinner
instead of having teams cower in front of us, it is now a reality. And sometimes,
reality bites. But so do eagles, once they’ve snatched their prey. So it’s up
to Milan to decide: are we mice or men?
This post inspired by the music of
Oingo Boingo’s “Nothing to Fear (But
Fear Itself)”
Milan vs. Lazio
Saturday, January 24 • 20:45 CET (2:45pm EST)
This match will be shown on RAI and BeIN Sport in the U.S.