The Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating has really
become a way for children to exploit their neighborhoods for free candy. But
the origins were that the children would receive either a treat or perhaps a
trick – a prank or something undesirable. This match was closer to that version
of Haloween. Juventus got their treats, and Milan got tricked into keeping
their coach despite yet another poor result.
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| Winning. |
It must be said that Milan did get one treat, by pranking
the mighty Juventus. Milan’s coreo was unparalleled in trolling the seven time
Champions League final losers. The Halloween themed artwork was brilliantly
displayed with the words “The Cup, the Dream, and the Big Nightmare.” The
graveyard included a tombstone for each of Juve’s Champions League final
losses, with the 2003 loss in Manchester to AC Milan prominently displayed in
the center. Even better that it was displayed at the same time as "O Generosa" was playing, with the patronizing lyrics blasting "Winner you'll be in your heart" as if to troll them further for their endless losses. It was more delicious than buckets full of candy, and absolutely
took the edge off of the inevitable result of the match about to be played. Grazie,
Curva Sud. You’re terrible at politics and humanity, but brilliantly
unparalleled as artists.
I would say that the coreo was the end of Milan’s enjoyment
for the night, but it actually wasn’t. We started off completely dominating
Juventus and pinning them back. That lasted for at least six minutes, so that’s
when I worked in all of my smack talk. That was good, because with Kalinic as
the only player to take shots on the night, there wasn’t going to be anything
else to brag about. Why he was deployed instead of other strikers, or with Suso
again in his very unnatural position as support striker is beyond me. And even if Juventus specifically targeted Suso and shut him down, we saw
what Suso could do midweek when Montella used the 3-4-2-1 and he was given more space. So why change it?
Why go back to the stifling 3-5-2, which has given us more losses than wins?
Why not play Kalinic with Silva, which was absolutely magical the ONE time
Montella used it? This loss, as with the others, is on him.
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| Despite Rodriguez's best impersonation as a center back, we lost |
In the 23rd, we suffered our first blow in an
Higuain goal. 1-0 Juve. It came, as usual, from an error in the midfield, and
our center backs to slow to even react and stop the maligned Juve striker. We
saw Kessie get a deserved yellow in the 32nd, we have to remember
he is much younger than he usually plays. It seemed that we would even the
score just into stoppage time when Calhanoglu, with his back to Kalinic, sent
an impossible header straight to the “striker,” who settled it, took the shot
and hit the crossbar. If he couldn’t convert that tasty piece of play, it was
not going to be our night. And if he had scored it, we would be talking about
the goal and the assist right now.
The second half is where Montella really trolled everyone.
Most coaches make subs to impact the game in their favor. Not Montella. He made
not one, but two subs in the 61st – so early for him – and the result was
another Higuain goal, just two minutes later. 2-0 Juve. I didn’t even know that
was possible. Two pairs of fresh legs, and we couldn’t stop that from
happening. Unbelievable. Equally unbelievable was that Montella wasted two subs
on non-attacking positions in a game where we had been defending well, but
needed a goal. Perhaps he was still distracted by the incredible coreo?
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| Not even with the help of his drawstring could Kalinic get the ball up and over Buffon |
I will tell you who was brilliant in this match: Valeri. He
kept the game running smoothly. A lot of fouls, but only two cards. And no
controversy. When was the last time we played Juventus that you could say that?
It was incredible. Good football (not great, but good) from both sides and no
controversy. So while the result stings bitterly, this was at least a silver
lining. And despite Milan maintaining 54% possession and actually having more
shots than Juve, with 12 shots for us, a couple of errors cost us all three
points. But did anyone ever really see us taking those three points? I mean we
did pin them back, limit their chances, and still create chances of our own. We
simply lacked a clinical finisher, such as one of the two young brilliant
strikers on our bench, Silva and Cutrone. But that, again, is on Montella.
Despite a brave Milan performance, an improved performance
in spite of Montella’s incoherent tactics and personnel choices, we have now
lost five of our first eleven league matches. No way that’s going to get us to
a top four finish. Let me rephrase that: No way Montella is going to get us to
a top four finish. But until Halloween is over, and perhaps every other holiday
this season, our management are apparently going to treat us like children:
Trick or Treat.
This post inspired by the music of Oingo
Boingo’s “Dead Man’s Party”
Our next match is
Europa League Group Stage
AEK
Athens vs. AC Milan
Thursday, November
2 • 19:00 CET (2pm EDT)*
*European
Daylight Savings Time is over, but U.S. is still on Daylight Time until Sunday
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