After some poor results and some time spent in the lower
half of the table this season, Milan propelled themselves all the way to fourth
place. Or should I say Romagnoli did. But the injuries are taking their toll,
and there are even more injuries since the Juventus match, where we slipped up
again. With Lazio taking that fourth place spot from us, tomorrow’s match could
see them push us further down the table.
 |
| The other Inzaghi has his own struggles this year |
The other Inzaghi had a great season last year. In fact, he’s
nominated for coach of the year in the Gran Galà del Calcio awards. But this
season has been more difficult. Lazio did enough against Sassuolo to earn the
point in their 1-1 draw and pull ahead of Milan on the table. For that match,
the other Inzaghi lined up: Strakosha; Luiz Felipe, Acerbi, Radu; Patric, Parolo,
Lucas, Lulic; Alberto, Milinkovic-Savic; and Immobile. He will be missing Lucas
due to injury, while Durmisi and Caicedo are doubtful.
It might be easier to mention the players that Gattuso does have
available, but here are the ones he does not: Higuain is serving his first game
of a two-match ban that was upheld on Friday. Strinic has been cleared to train
again and training all week, however it will likely be at least four weeks
before we see him take the pitch again. Long term injuries are Biglia, Caldara,
and Bonaventura. We are also missing Romagnoli and Musacchio for on and two
months respectively.
 |
| A big piece of our hearts is missing or wounded |
Available but injured are Calhanoglu and Calabria. Conti is
back and available, but probably not match-fit. Also probably not 100% are
Rodriguez and Kessie, but they have been playing through their knocks all
season. It will be interesting to see which players Gattuso lines up at all,
let alone what condition they are in.
Speaking of condition, many are worried about the condition
of the Olimpico pitch. We are expected to play there after at least 48 hours
straight of rain, and a rugby match being played there today. Which of course
sends me back the Injury
Apocalypse we spoke of on the last podcast. A pitch in poor condition
could easily take out the rest of our team.
 |
| Back... kind of |
This won’t be an easy match, nor is it an easy match to
predict. In his press conference, Gattuso said there are no excuses with our
injuries, but then made excuses for the injury apocalypse. So I am willing to use
injuries as an excuse if we don’t get the ideal result. Also the rain, the
rugby match, the pitch in general, or any other excuse I can think of. Because
injuries impact more than the players who are physically injured. They impact
the mentality of the whole team. And that is why I can’t blame them if Milan
are falling.
This post inspired by the music of
lovelytheband’s “Broken”
Serie A week 13
Lazio vs. Milan
Sunday, November
25 • 18:00 CET (12noon EDT)
This match will be
shown LIVE on ESPNEWS and ESPN Deportes USA in the U.S.