The worst time to face the bottom of the table team is when
you are flying high. It is dangerous because they literally have nothing to
lose and everything to gain. Meanwhile, we have a very precarious hold on third
place that would be amazing to take with us into the Derby next week. However,
with confidence high and back to back performances not so high, the Flying
Donkeys could ground us and take all three points. That’s the trouble with
flying high.
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| False confidence? |
Chievo have only won one game, drawing ten and losing 15
this season. Last weekend, they faced the 3-0 wrath of a rising Torino. Even
Simone Zaza scored on them. Ouch. For that match, Di Carlo lined up Sorrentino;
Schelotto, Bani, Barba, Joroszynski; Leris, Rigoni, Diousse; Giaccherini;
Meggiorini, and Djordjevic. Rigoni is suspended for this match, and Di Carlo
has some injury problems, too. Schelotto is out for the season after injuring
his knee against Torino. He is also missing Seculin, Tomovic, and Frey, with
Pelissier doubtful for this match as of this writing.
Gattuso is also missing Rodriguez to suspension, Laxalt will
undoubtedly deputize for him. Bonaventura, we didn’t forget you, we are looking
forward to your return next season. Zapata trained with the team a few times
this week, but is still not fit. Caldara has been called up for the first time
since his injury five months ago, although likely won’t see much time if any.
Gattuso hinted at some changes for Chievo, let’s hope he makes the right
choices.
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| Never forget where you are |
The Bentegodi is a formidable stadium to play in, even when
the host team is dead last on the table. The Flying Donkeys, in addition to
being one of the more ridiculous mascots in football, have a way of turning
other teams into a comedy within the space of 90 minutes. While most people
would expect Milan to take all three points from this match easily, those
people haven’t watched the poor performances of our past two matches. And
perhaps they didn’t watch our flawed
victory against Chievo in October. So let’s hope Gattuso and the team
take this very seriously and give us a more convincing performance heading into
the Derby. Then we would be justifiably in third place and flying high.
This post inspired by the music of “Higher
Ground” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Serie A Week 27
Chievo vs. Milan
Saturday, March 9
• 20:30 CET (2:30pm EST)