We knew Roma were plagued
with injuries on an apocalyptic level, which gave us the most hope we
could have of coming away from the Stadio Olimpico with any points at all. But after
our worst start in decades and with a young team, we have already had to change
coaches this season. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that we fell to one of three
teams in Serie A that have only lost one game this season. Especially since our
team have clearly been suffering with mentality and focus. Losing a match due
to the mistakes of our young players wasn’t the surprise. The real surprise is
that fans on social media continue to be a comedy of errors.
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| More celebrating the good, less hating on the mistakes |
I could write about what a revelation Theo Hernandez is. But
that’s not what fans are talking about. Instead of taking inspiration from the
fact that he left Real Madrid, the only team with more Champions League
trophies than us, and took a pay cut to join Milan, they criticize the team. If only Milan had fans that
would step up the way that Hernandez has.
No, the fans are talking about Calabria’s error that cost us
the second goal. Not how he put in a great cross for Theo to score the goal for
Milan. Or all of the other things he did right, just his errors. Yes, they let
a masked 6’4” Bosnian striker waltz into the box, there were errors that
happened. Name a player, and the hate is there, even when players put in great
performances. Only our players are sweating blood on the pitch, dieting and training
and working out and giving their lives to Milan. The fans are just sitting
behind a keyboard, or in the case of the Ultras, boycotting in the stadium.
 |
| No love for the assist, only hate for the errors |
After two years of hate that was completely
misguided, most fans finally see Gigio for who he has always been: a
world class goalkeeper whose heart belongs to Milan. With talk of a possible contract
renewal, even with reports of a paycut, the media and fans on social media are
already waiting to disparage him again and act
worse than Raiola or Mirabelli did last time. This was a perfect
example of how fans impact the players and the club firsthand, even when fans
are just a comedy of errors.
This match was a vast improvement over all of Giampaolo’s
games combined. Were it not for the costly errors, the results would show as
much. A loss to Roma is actually an improvement on a draw to Lecce. Sure, we
can question why Pioli inexplicably keeps swapping Kessie and Paqueta’s sides,
impacting both players’ performances. But other than that, he is pretty much doing
everything right to improve the team, especially mentally.
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| The masked guy has 5 goals in 5 games, we're not the only ones to make errors |
That includes Pioli asking
fans to support the team. Period. He said that calling out a single
player is like calling out him, the team, and Milan in general. And yet there
are still more fans posting hashtags with their hated player of the day and “out”
on social media. Not a surprise when you consider that this morally bankrupt
set of fans who also have questionable intelligence levels trended #PioliOut
before Pioli
was even hired. No one analyzes the game or the decisions anymore, they
just make knee-jerk reactions and spread the hate. It’s really tragic.
Again, I want to talk about the game, but the errors on the
pitch were nothing compared to the errors made by fans and the media. We saw
such improvement overall mentally, both last week and this week. Especially
when the goals were scored, the ability to react, something that has been
missing since last year under Gattuso. Same with the new and improved offense. But the fans have lost sight of what it
is to support a team. We have all been suffering all of these years. Think of
all of the players who suffered with us. But on a much larger scale. As in
their lives and livelihood are tied to Milan’s success, not just their Twitter or
Instagram accounts.
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| Hated before he even met the team. Really, Milan fans? |
If we want this team to get back to winning ways, then we as
fans need to remember how to support them. Not delusionally, or with unrealistic
expectations, but with actual support and without all of the hate. We need to
be the fans that deserve a team like we want Milan to be, not just expect them
to win without us or even in spite of us. What we say on social media does
impact the players, the team, the coach, and the management. In fact, Pioli has
addressed it in the last few press conferences. So try this on for size: If you
want Milan to return to Champions League, then tweet or post like a fan of a
Champions League winning team. Take the high road. Talk about successes, not
just failures. We have a young, talented team. We have the technical directors
of our dreams. We have an ownership that has piles of money. All of the things
we asked for when the team was deteriorating in the first place. That means
winning will come. But it takes time, it takes patience, and it takes support.
Anything less than, and you become the comedy of errors.
This post inspired by the music of the
UEFA Champions League Anthem
Our next match is
Serie A Week 10
Milan vs. SPAL
Thursday, October
31 • 21:00 CET (4pm EDT*)
*European Summer
Time has ended, but U.S. Daylight time is still ongoing