One only needs to look at the fans of the two clubs to see
why Milan lost this one. On Wednesday, after Milan fans had worked themselves
into a tizzy for nothing on social media, the Curva raised a banner against
their own player and viciously insulted him, then whistled him every time he
had the ball. Miraculously, with 9,000 “fans” like this in attendance, Milan
were able to take out an uninspired Verona in the Coppa Italia. Then on this
day at the Bentegodi, Verona returned the favor goal for goal. While Milan fans
were shown turning their backs to the players in protest, Verona fans were
ridiculously loud for the entire match, singing and chanting in… what is that
called again? Oh yeah… support of their team. It literally wore me out
half a world away, they were so loud for the entire game. And so between Milan
fans turning on their own when the wind changes and the Verona fans creating a
nonstop cacophony of support for their team, I think Milan simply were battle
weary.
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| Weary soldiers |
Certainly it wasn’t about trying, as Milan took 30 shots
with a mere eight on target and had 68% possession. Verona were brutally
clinical, with only six shots, yet four were on target. And their goals were
great goals, too. But the game was both very physical and kept at a frenetic
pace for much of the game, and Milan had gone two months without an official fitness
coach as well as apparently not training hard enough under Montella. Well that
and playing in three competitions. Those are not excuses for this kind of a
match, but when you look at the big picture, it does explain how something like
this could happen.
Verona actually lost Valoti to injury in the 22nd, then
Cerci was also injured and subbed off in the 32nd. Personally, I think his
shorts were just too long for him and those thighs he loves so much to show
off. But still, Verona had to use two subs in the first half, both of whom
would come back to bite Milan later in the game. Their first bite, however was
in the 24th, on a… wait for it… set piece. Carocciolo headed it past Donnarumma
from a corner brilliantly. 1-0 Verona.
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| Baptism by fire |
That was like having heavy losses in a battle, and took a
lot of the air out of Milan, for sure. But the second half is where they lacked
focus and their efforts seemed to be more frustrating than fruitful. Despite
Gattuso subbing on Cutrone for Rodriguez at the half to try to find more bite
in attack, it was Verona again in the 55th with a goal from Moise Kean, one of
their subs. So Gattuso reacted by replacing Kalinic with Silva in the 57th,
and then Locatelli on for Montolivo in the 71st, but to no avail. Verona
scored through Bessa in the 77th to make it 3-0 for Verona. To add insult to
injury, Suso was sent off in stoppage time due to a VAR foul – one that would
never have been otherwise called by a ref. He will miss the Atalanta game this
weekend.
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| VAR is always watching |
The game was brutal. It hurt. There doesn’t have to be any
excuses, even the best teams have bad games. We knew with an 11 player renewal
this summer, we knew it would take time to gel and patience, too. That clock
reset when Montella was sacked, but our fans are still stuck in the pain of the
past five and a half years. And now, when our team most needs our support to
get them to that next step, our fans are literally turning their backs on them.
Not only that, but attacking our own players. If we think our team were poor in
Verona, imagine how much more poor we look as fans with our behavior? It seems
we are all a little too battle weary.
This post inspired by the music of John
Williams’ “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 18
Milan vs. Atalanta
Saturday, December
23 • 18:00 CET (12noon EST)