After the amazing
performance against Juventus in the Coppa Italia on Thursday, fans were
waiting to see what the squad could do to follow it up. Would they be
consistent with the new formation and mentality? If so, they should easily overpower
a beleaguered Torino. Between injuries before and during the match, it turns
out they did just enough.
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| More than enough |
The first half started out looking good, with Milan
immediately attacking. It wouldn’t be until the 25th minute, however, that
Rebic would break the deadlock, with another nice assist from Castillejo. 1-0
Milan.
Good news turned to bad, however, when in the 42nd minute,
Kjaer pulled up while heading a ball out and was unable to continue following
treatment. Inexplicably, Pioli sent Gabbia on rather than Musacchio, offering
no explanations postmatch, either. However, whatever the reason, it was a
decent debut for the young center back and great that he got the chance.
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| The youngster stepped up when called upon |
The second half had a lot of action, and Milan created some
chances, but in the end, the one goal was the only shot on target for Milan,
with only nine shots tallied in all. Still, it was refreshing to see them
working together to make plays and create chances. Even with an underwhelming
performance and some different players, there is so much progress.
Paqueta deputized for Calhanoglu, who had a muscle injury and was not called up for this match. The young Brazilian had some moments, but
his performance wasn’t overly impressive. Gabbia’s performance was more
impressive, including a nice offensive run forward right near the end of regulation.
Leao was initially given quite a few chances, but Rebic has pretty much sealed
that spot for himself now with his sixth goal in all competitions, all in this
calendar year.
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| Captain + goalscorer + assist maker = so much love |
After an intense battle on Thursday, this was an impressive
performance for Milan teams of recent seasons. We are starting to expect more
of this squad, but one goal was all that was needed to take all three points
and boost Milan back up the table to eighth place. There were a number of woefully missed chances, but in the
end, it was just enough.
This post inspired by the music of The
Cure’s “Never Enough”
Our next match is
Serie A Week 25
Fiorentina vs. Milan
Saturday, February
22 • 20:45 CET (2:45pm EST)