This match was meant to be a test of this young squad, particularly with Ibrahimovic injured. The result was definitely not what we wanted, but the performance left something to the imagination, too. Milan scored with their singular shot on target, and the presence of everyone who was missing was felt today. Also, those kits. We have struggled in every game we have worn them. If you look like you have a rash, you're just not going to play as well. Perhaps it was just because of all of the turkey ingested in the United States today for Thanksgiving, but the performance was a little too subdued, maybe it was the tryptophan effect.
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| Grateful for good service |
Both sides had opportunities to create chances in the first half, but Lille was the team to actually take a few shots. Other than a couple of yellows for the home side and a late Bennacer yellow, the first half was relatively uneventful. Most are talking about Ibrahimovic's absence, but Pioli's absence was felt, too. Bonera seemed really nervous and the young players likely fed off of that.
The second half started out with a bang. Tonali sent an amazing ball forward, Rebic served it up perfectly for Castillejo, who merely had to tap it in, so he did. 1-0 Milan. The team livened up a bit with some confidence after the goal, but 20 minutes later, Bamba equalized for Lille. 1-1 all.
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| One win, one draw, but also not that impressive |
Despite one of the Milan staff likely being on the phone with Pioli the whole match, relaying information to Bonera, as they did on Sunday, Bonera's subs have lacked. This is a stark contrast to Pioli, whose superpowers are lineups and substitutions, and the team suffered for that, as well. Brahim brought some life into the game, but was often double-teamed and only got on the scoresheet due to a late yellow card in stoppage time for a nasty foul.
One of the things that we missed most about Ibrahimovic was his sheer willpower. Had he been on the pitch, the last 15 minutes would have been the worst of Maignan's life, because Ibrahimovic would not have stopped shooting until he had at least one goal. Most of our players lacked this skill, only Theo Hernandez troubled their defense in a final push, and instead, it was Lille taking shots at Gigio. They took three times as many shots as us and had three times as many on target, despite only having 42% possession.
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| Not the starting 11 we had hoped for |
This short summary doesn't tell all of the grinta they gave, or tell us how we lost the last leg 3-0, and so drawing this time was closer to a win. But the result leaves us only one point ahead of Sparta Prague in our group, with two matches still left to play. It wasn't Milan's worst game ever, and they didn't lose, but simply the fact that Castillejo got the goal when he had another lackluster performance did not instill the confidence we had hoped for in this team. Hopefully, Pioli will be back soon, and eventually Ibrahimovic, too, and we'll just chalk this one up to the tryptophan effect.
This post inspired by the music of Oingo Boingo's "Gratitude"