This match brought a much needed three points to a team that
has worked hard to be deserving of a little more than their spot on the table
shows. The players showed a confidence and level of teamwork that is growing
quickly now that there is some stability. Both strengths and weaknesses were
exposed, both risking and helping to secure the win. And we saw some good
football, too. So it was a precarious win, but also a strong victory.
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| Exactly what Milan have needed |
Bologna came out fighting, with a couple of weak shots in
the first few minutes. But the game changed in the 13th minute when Piatek was
taken down in the box by Bani. Chiffi gave Milan the penalty, and Piatek took
it and converted it like an assassin. Pum Pum Pum. 1-0 Milan. Chiffi did give
a yellow to Bennacer for a moderate foul on Dzemaili, but a minute later did
not give a yellow to Schouten for dangerous play when his boot met Kessie’s
face.
It didn’t matter, though, Milan were gathering strength and
momentum, and so in the 32nd minute, Theo Hernandez scored a fantastic goal,
outclassing the defender and surprising Skorupski after a brilliant assist by
Suso. 2-0 Milan. A few minutes later, Bonaventura just destroyed a couple of
Bologna players who attempted to mark him ahead of taking a shot that was
saved. If Galliani were still at Milan, he would say that Bonaventura returning
from injury was like a new signing. Milan fans would say he’s the signing of
the season.
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| Plus one, minus two |
Theo Hernandez had never played for Mihajlovic, but I feel
like he must have a big heart or something, because after scoring the goal, he
also scored an own goal for Bologna from a corner. Either that, or he had something
against Danswil and decided to steal his goal from him, I’m not sure. Either
way, it was 2-1 Milan at the half.
Bonaventura took advantage of some great play by Milan and a
defensive error to score a brilliant goal just after the half to make it 3-1
Milan. However, Milan’s intensity did slowly drop after that, making the win
more precarious. Both teams traded shots, Milan only totaling twelve shots to
Bologna’s eleven. Milan were more clinical, however, with seven shots on
target. That might have been their most clinical match this season.
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| Great performance, solid penalty |
The win was completely put into question in the 81st, when
Theo Hernandez, being generous again, took Orsolini down in the box. Chiffi was
not going to give the penalty, but after a VAR review, he did. Sansone stepped
up and put it past Gigio to make it 3-2 Milan.
This is the difficulty that we have at the left back spot.
Theo Hernandez is absolutely brilliant offensively, he’s been the standout of
the season to date. However, he is admittedly not as good on defense. This
match laid bare that fact, as he made two very costly defensive errors to
concede not one, but two goals. Sure, you can try to score more goals than you
concede, but that never works out. This will be something he will have to work
hard to improve on, or we may see Rodriguez more. He is perhaps half the speed
and not as good offensively, but is much better defensively than Hernandez.
Luckily, Hernandez is young and will likely do well to develop the defensive
part of his game sooner rather than later.
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| Respect |
Overall, though, this match was very good for the soul. We
got to see some really nice football, three goals, and a team that are really knit
together and more confident with every game. This is exactly what I had hoped
to see when we first saw Pioli take over, and is hopefully just the beginning
of what we should see this season. We have some really talented players, they
are unified, and there is a lot more clarity from the manager on what they
should be doing. Pioli’s calm and experience has stabilized the team, and that
showed with the strong victory, even if it was a bit of a precarious win.
This post inspired by the music of
Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 16
Milan vs. Sassuolo
Sunday, December
15 • 15:00 CET (9am EST)