The American colloquialism “take your lumps” is rooted in
contact sports, meaning to take the physical punishment you may receive within
the game. But it also has a connotation of not complaining about the “lumps” you
receive, to accept your fate in a sportsmanlike manner. I feel like this best applies
to the match today, as we were dealt a heavy blow with a 2-0 loss and the early
sending off, too. But all of these things are part of the game, and it’s not always
the result that matters the most, it’s how you get up and face the next
opponent. What you learn from the experience. Those are the things that will
get the longterm results we need this season. So as a team and as fans, we
should perhaps focus on taking our lumps.
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| We want youth? We need to be prepared to take our lumps |
What a difference a summer made. With a starting back four
with the average age of 22.75, this defense was bound to be different. And it
was. Just maybe not in all the ways we wanted it to be. In fact, it was the two
ridiculously young center backs that created the chances for both goals for
Fiorentina, both for errors that experience typically prevents. And while we
were all disappointed, these are the lumps we will have to take if we want to
truly develop youth.
Rodrigo Ely started out having a great game. The 21 year-old
new father got a yellow in the 9th for a foul, but he kept his head up and
worked hard. He put a beautiful ball forward at one point, with breathtaking
accuracy, I don’t know any of our former or even current center backs who could
have done that. He was great on defense, got forward, good in the air, and so
many other good things. But in the 36th, he took down Kalinic from behind, his
second bookable offense, and was sent off. He left his teammates on ten men for
nearly 60 minutes. And as upset as anyone is about this, you can bet that he is
even more upset. And that he will learn.
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| Preparing to take a free kick that was an excellent chance |
But it was too late to save the scoreline today. The
impressive Spaniard Marcos Alonso took advantage of the free kick Ely’s foul
afforded them and sent a spectacular ball curving just inside the left corner.
1-0 Fiorentina. Again, if this hurt you, think of Ely, I can bet you that he is
hurting more. But these are the kinds of mistakes that forge young players and
make them better.
His young counterpart, the 20 year-old Alessio Romagnoli
took his lump in the 55th, when his foul from behind earned him a yellow, but
not just that, because of its location, Valeri awarded Fiorentina a penalty.
And rightly so. I cannot even imagine how much anger Romagnoli had at himself
when Ilicic stepped up in the 56th and converted that penalty. 2-0 Fiorentina.
Again, if it stung for you, imagine the kid. But he will improve, I guarantee
it. That moment, in the opening game of Milan’s campaign, will inspire him to be
better, to try harder, and to not make mistakes.
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| Jack fought brilliantly for 90+ minutes |
Ironically, the center back who is known for making rash
mistakes, Zapata, came on in the 39th after Ely was sent off. And he showed,
through his experience, how to have a fantastic game. I was only sad that it
was Honda that was sacrificed to make way for him, as it is like pulling the
wrong piece out of a Jenga stack. Honda was the best hope of scoring goals –
either through creating chances for Serie A newbies Chewie
and Adriano, or just plain scoring them. So when Mihajlovic pulled him out of
the equation, it seemed our best chances of scoring left with him. But someone
had to be sacrificed.
In the midfield, De Jong was epic as usual, Bertolacci
worked hard when he wasn’t screaming at Valeri, and Bonaventura was simply a
beast. He was all over the place, worked harder than anyone, and his only fault
was getting a yellow for dissent for defending Ely when he got his second
yellow. What a difference this midfield was from what we have been accustomed
to. And yet we still lacked something. But that was probably the man advantage,
to be fair. Well, that, and Fiorentina were definitely the better team in this
match. Hat’s off to them for a great performance and amazing fans.
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| He played well enough when he wasn't screaming at the ref |
However, we were not without quality. Diego Lopez kept us in
the game once again. He had several spectacular saves, like in the 6th minute,
when Ilicic caught him completely off of his line, he had a fantastic
one-handed save. Or in the 53rd, back to back amazing saves. But it was still
different than last year, when he was the MOTM in practically every game. That
was a team of individuals, whereas this team feels more like a collective. And
even when the individual errors happened, it was like the team just knit closer
together and fought equally hard.
Although I don’t know if it’s just me, but De Sciglio
stepped up and had a pretty good game… well, at least on the defensive side. We
won’t mention his shooting attempt. But he especially stepped it up when we
went down to ten men. In fact, that is something I was incredibly proud of,
that the team really kept up the pressure and played with heart for 90 minutes.
They could have easily slacked off at any point after Ely was sent off, but
they didn’t. They battled to the bitter end.
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| That never stop fighting even when you're down is why he wears the armband |
And the end was bitter. Yet there were sweet elements, too.
They also worked as a team. They seemed to have a plan, to know the plan, and
to be doing their best to execute it. Even in defeat, there was improvement,
even if there was also plenty of room for improvement as well. It was a cruel
game to watch for fans who have been battered in recent years, yet if you
looked beyond the disappointment, you still saw improvement. No one wants to
have to learn the hard way, but I believe this match will serve a painful
lesson learned. For those of us who have begged for youth, and for those who
were on the pitch. We all have to learn to take our lumps.
This post inspired by the music of
Portishead
Our next match is
Serie A Week 2
Milan
vs. Empoli
Saturday, August 29 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)