After a string of poor performances, a couple of wins, as
well as some okay performances coupled with losses or draws, Milan will now be
tested by the team just above us on the table. Coming off of defeating Juventus
and also a win in the Europa League yesterday, they will certainly be coming to
the San Siro for three points. And after last season’s loss at the San Siro in
December, then their 3-0 “Snack
Time” revenge on us in the San Paolo, they are probably ready for some
red and black dessert right about now. So if Napoli crush Milan’s souls on
Sunday, know that it will probably be our just desserts.
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| Can he inspire a San Siro victory against this team? Or will we get what we deserve? |
Most people seemed to agree that Benitez’ Napoli
underperformed. There was so much hype over Sarri taking over, but six games
in, that enthusiasm has largely quelled. Sitting in 10th with only two wins,
three draws and a loss may be the reason for that loss of enthusiasm. Their two
wins were spectacular, a 5-0 thumping of Lazio and last weekend’s 2-1 defeat of
Juve. However between them was a lackluster scoreless draw with Carpi. So it’s
difficult to know what to expect.
For the Juve match last week, Sarri lined up Reina; Hysaj,
Koulibaly, Ghoulam, Albiol; Loureiro, Jorghinho, Hamsik; Callejon, Higuain, and
Insigne. Yesterday, they played Legia Warsaw in the Europa League, and Sarri
wisely rotated many players, with only Koulibaly, Ghoulam, Callejon as repeat
starters. (It is also of note that our own Gabriel played as keeper in that 2-0
win for Napoli.) Additionally, Sarri has only one doubt as to injury. That
player is Insigne, who was back in training this week and should be fit to
travel to the San Siro.
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| He's been key for Napoli this season, if he's fit, we should be scared |
Mihajlovic will definitely be missing Romagnoli to
suspension. Additionally, Niang, Menez, and Abate are all ruled out due to
injury. Mexes could be fit finally, while Honda is battling the flu and could
miss, while Balotelli is struggling with a minor muscle injury and is still in
doubt as of this writing.
While offering a refreshing blend of consistency in lineups
with some rotation, too, Mihajlovic will need to make a few key choices for
this match. Romagnoli’s suspension leaves a center back spot available,
although with his substitution last week, it seems obvious that Ely will be
that choice. The regista position, as
we discussed in the last post, is like heads or tails with Montolivo or
De Jong. After saying that he was really liking the “qualities” that Montolivo
brought, he also subbed him off early in the last match. So will he give De
Jong another chance at that spot or will he continue to play him out of
position?
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| Our two biggest doubts, both could be game changers |
That brings us to another position of a lot of speculation,
the trequartista position. Obviously, Honda’s fitness is the biggest question
there, but even if he is fit, will he try Bonaventura there again? Or maybe
give someone like Suso a chance, even if he has expressed a lack of faith in
him? And finally, assuming Balotelli is fit, which striker does he start
alongside him? Bacca is quick and cunning, while Adriano is powerful and does a
lot to create chances. And of course, with all of these choices, he’ll be
considering Napoli’s personnel and playing style, too. This is one of those
matches where a coach absolutely must get the starting eleven right to give his
team a chance of winning.
However, Mihajlovic also needs to continue to demonstrate
his ability to learn from his mistakes. Sure, he is fighting the quagmire of
poor mentality and lack of support from both management and fans. But the best
way to escape both of those is to produce results. Well, and good performances
if possible, too. So if he is unable to inspire his starting eleven to do that,
then we get what we deserve. I’m sure Napoli would be more than happy to give
us our just desserts.
This post inspired by the music of
Muse
Milan vs. Napoli
Sunday, October 4 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)
This match will be shown live on RAI in the U.S.