Since Gattuso started coaching Milan in November, they have
been developing their own style of play. And for a good part of this calendar
year, that worked out really well for us. But lately, the team have been
mirroring their opponents’ level of play. So for Juventus and Napoli, that was
great, because the team played really well. It wasn’t so great for Inter and
Sassuolo, who play very poor football. Going into this match, we should have
not only guessed that we would pull off another draw, but also known that we
would play down to Torino’s level. Although I’m not even sure we played that
well, it was more of a parody.
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| That's right, just 1 point for your brilliant goal |
The lineups proved ominous, with some late changes to the
expected starters. Congratulations to Musacchio, whose wife gave birth to twins
today, and thus he was needed more elsewhere. Calhanoglu had a problem with his
knee, so good old Borini got a start in his spot. And what a start. The first
bit of contact in the first minute, and he was throwing both legs in the air,
swinging them gracefully while his head turned and watched the ref’s reaction.
Unlike “Dancing with the Stars,” Maresca neither pulled out paddles with
numbers to judge him, nor was he impressed. Although watching Borini all
season, he might be a better candidate for that show than for this team,
despite all he’s done positively for us.
But the real drama came the next minute – just two minutes
in – when Kessie fouled Ansaldi from behind in the box. Maresca immediately
whistled for the penalty. If Buffon were there, perhaps he would complain that
the referee should consider how early it was in the match, and give the yellow
and a warning rather than the penalty. Which ironically is an option for refs,
unlike the ridiculous and hysterical emotional excuses Buffon spoke about after
his last match at the Bernabeu. But Buffon doesn’t play for Milan, and with
very minimal protest from Kessie, Belotti stepped up to take the penalty… and
hit the post instead! Sometimes it pays to keep your mouth shut, Buffon.
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| Not sure if constipated or just watching the Torino-Milan game |
Kessie made every attempt to atone for his penalty that he
conceded, including shots in the 6th and 9th minutes that went high and were parried,
respectively. Kalinic tried a rebound on that second one, only to see Torino
attempt to clear it. On that clearance, the ball came to Bonaventura, who was
outside the box, saw his chance, and sent it screaming into the back of the
net. 1-0 Milan. Loved that he ran to celebrate below the Curva Sud, the Milan
fans were absolutely fantastic once again.
Kalinic struggled with shooting on target again, but I hope
that not all of you reading this are ignorant to all he does. For example, in
the 11th he took a knock, but rather than stay down wasting time and rolling
around and grabbing his face like a lot of players do (cough)Borini(cough,) he
jumped right up, even though he was still in pain. He is a tough and honest
player, and while he might not be the finisher we need, he is also not the poor
player that most fans make him out to be.
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| The big man came up big again... and again and again |
The rest of the first half was physical and saw just a few
chances total for both sides combined. Donnarumma was still on his great form
he showed on Sunday, and to his credit, he personally kept Belotti off the
score sheet a number of times throughout the game. It didn’t help that at
halftime, Torino’s Primavera paraded their new TIM Cup trophy around the
stadium, the one they had won at the expense of Milan’s Primavera. What a lucky
coincidence for them.
The second half saw Milan “drop their heads a bit,” despite
being up 1-0. I heard Bonucci yelling “Dai, Dai” to them trying to fire them up
as they came out for the second half. But apparently he didn’t realize that the
Allegri methods didn’t go well at Milan. Speaking of Allegri’s methods, Gattuso’s
subs were to bring on Locatelli for the apparently injured Biglia, then to “throw
on all the strikers.” Which worked about as well as seasoning your countertop
instead of your food. Cutrone & Silva, playing alongside the dancing
Borini, saw about as much of the ball as Kalinic saw the back of the net. Speaking of the back of the net, De Silvestri found it with a header in the 70th to tie things up, 1-1. At least Lorenzo is probably happy.
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| Despite this image, Maresca did well enough. But then again, he didn't "kill someone's dreams," either |
I mentioned the game was physical, Torino were whistled for
21 fouls and Milan had 13 fouls called. Plus the seven yellow cards and one
red. Maresca did well enough to control the match, despite a little scuffle
after Suso fouled Ansaldi in the 21st. But a mystery card for me was the
yellow shown to Cutrone in the 79th when he fell near Moretti. I literally
could not figure out watching the replays from the angle I had what he was
carded for. And Moretti knew it, too, you saw it on his face when he turned to
look at Maresca. Oh well, at least our strikers are getting in the ref’s report
one way since they can’t seem to get in there by scoring. And at least we weren’t
De Silvestri, getting a second yellow in stoppage time and earning himself a
red and a suspension for his next match. But that’s little consolation,
considering this was kind of our last thread of hope for Champions League next
year.
We don’t deserve Champions League next year, though, we didn’t
do enough. And we kind of didn’t deserve the point from this match, either.
Torino played better for much of the match, even if they fouled and embellished
fouls and made more shot attempts. I mean Milan actually had five shots on
goal, but only nine attempts, and obviously are still plagued with the inability
to be clinical. That’s not going to win us games, that’s not going to get us
into Champions League, and that’s not going to win a Champions League trophy
again, either. We can’t afford to play someone else’s game, or even to play
down to their level. This was a winnable game, especially after Belotti missed
his penalty. But instead, Milan turned it into a parody.
This post inspired by the music of The
English Beat’s “Mirror in the Bathroom”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 34
Milan vs. Benevento
Saturday, April 21
• 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)