Milan are in a tailspin of six games without a win. But for two
of those games, against league leaders Juventus and Napoli, we actually performed
very well, just didn’t get the result against superior teams. If you look at
the table or the scores alone, it would seem to be a big problem. But it’s
really not. Milan have matched their opponents in every one of these matches,
and all they need to do to stop the spiral down the table is dig a little
deeper.
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| More of this, please |
We can’t afford to play to the level of Bologna when we are
paying our players so much more than they are paying theirs. They currently sit
12th on the table, 15 points below us. Their current form is
D-L-W-L-D, and with all due respect to them, Milan need to add another loss to
keep that pattern going. Former Milan great, Donadoni, is still miraculously in
charge of the club despite years of public longing for the Milan bench and
limited results at Bologna. For their draw vs. Cagliari last week, he lined up
Mirante; the other Romagnoli, De Maio, Gonzalez, Dzemaili, some former Milan
player called Poli, Crisetig, Masina, Orsolini, ex-Inter Palacio, and former
Milan youth player, Verdi, who is also their top scorer. Our old fling Destro is
apparently in doubt for the match, but could be fit.
Milan are without Conti, Biglia, and Romagnoli. But
Calhanoglu has been back in training and is deemed fit for this match. The mental
fitness of the team is the biggest question. After losing to Benevento, Gattuso
went on a rampage, canceling everyone’s days off and even his own holiday. I’m
not sure if he’s quite OFI
Crete angry, or if maybe he’s even more angry than that, I don’t know.
Last week, he accused them of having lost their souls, but it’s not that simple.
The inherited problems of not being able to score are still there, only now
there was a bit of a lapse in mentality in that they now match their opponents
instead of destroy everyone and everything in sight like their coach did as a
player. We all knew that his infused grinta alone wouldn’t last, and now
it’s time not only for them to dig a little deeper, but also for him. He’ll
need to do better with his tactics and lineups. Playing striker roulette is no
better than playing Kalinic every single match, strikers need to play
consistently to break scoring droughts.
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| Will the student become the master tomorrow? |
This is a game that on paper Milan should win. But after
last week’s soul-destroying loss to the now relegated Benevento, nothing is
beyond this Milan. But that goes both ways. Nothing is beyond them on the
positive side of things, either. Well, okay Champions League is mathematically
beyond us, I believe. But by digging deeper, they could easily win this game,
and possibly even pull off a fantastic performance. I know it’s hard to imagine
right now, but it is possible.
This post inspired by the music of Imagine
Dragons’ “Whatever it Takes”
Serie A Week 35
Bologna vs. Milan
Sunday, April 29 •
15:00 CEST (9am EDT)
This match will be
shown LIVE on RAI Italia and BeIn Sports in the U.S.