Eagles are incredible creatures. A 15 lb. bird can take down
a deer that weighs multiple times its body weight. Their grip is phenomenally
strong, some are strong enough to crush the skull of their prey, and their
talons are often razor sharp, too. They will take and kill their own prey, they
will steal prey from each other or from other animals, and they will also eat
prey that is already dead, such as roadkill. Some of them will even begin to
eat their prey while it is still alive. This is important to know, as we are
hosting Lazio on Tuesday, also known as le Aquile, or the Eagles, and Milan often play more like roadkill.
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| Milan can't let Lazio fly away with this one |
Lazio are coached by Simone Inzaghi, Pippo’s little brother.
He was not as well known as a player, but is slowly starting to gain success
managing crazy Lotito’s Lazio. His Eagles just devoured Oddo’s Delfini on Saturday. Like three
goals in nine minutes devoured. Ouch. I didn’t even know eagles ate dolphins.
For that 3-0 win over Pescara, Inzaghi lined up Marchetti; de Vrij, Radu,
Bastos, Milinkovic-Savic, Parolo, Cataldi, Lulic, Anderson, Immobile, and
Djordejevic. As of this writing, he is without Biglia to injury.
Milan may have pulled off the victory on Friday, but it
wasn’t without cost. Abate has been training separately due to fitness issues
after the match. However De Sciglio did return to training yesterday. If
neither of them make match fitness, then Montella always has Calabria and
Vangioni, but that leaves him in a pinch if anything else happens. The Mister
will still be without Zapata, Bertolacci, Fernandez, and Antonelli. And he’ll
have some tired legs, too, for this Tuesday fixture, having just played on
Friday. (Even if Lazio played on Saturday.)
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| Will they be scared little mice? Or will they be men? |
But the bigger issue is the mental fitness of a team that is
4.5 years into a mental yoyo, with inconsistency, turnover, and even more
change on the horizon. Not to mention recurring discipline issues. If Milan don’t want to fall prey to Eagles in
our own house, they will need to do more than run around like little mice,
holding the ball and passing it backwards. Having snatched three points on Friday might
help, but they’ll need more than luck and one sweet strike from a great assist
to take down these Eagles. There’s a reason that eagles are at the top of their
food chain, and even if Lazio aren’t top of the table, they will have no
problems feasting on the roadkill that is Milan’s morale these days.
This post inspired by the music of The
Kills
Milan vs. Lazio
Tuesday, September 20 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)
This match will be shown on RAI in the U.S.