Midweek games are hard enough, but worse when you face a team like Udinese today who played so defensively and scored with one of their two shots on target. Their yellow kits were like a giant yellow school bus parked in front of the goal. While we only got 12 shots off, with seven of those on target, they frustrated us into getting four really dumb yellow cards, too. It's the kind of game that leaves you seeing yellow.
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| A picture tells you 90 minutes |
The first minute was so telling, with Kjaer crumpling to the ground in pain with little to no contact. Although he made it back into the game and played all 90 minutes, the fact that Brahim had our first shot in the 19th minute made it more clear that this was not the same Milan that took the pitch on Sunday.
Rebic saw the first yellow card for a foul on Becao that ended with Rebic's boot in his face. Ouch. Theo Hernandez made what looked to be a great challenge in the 32nd, but I think Massa thought he came in too hard or something, he saw yellow as well. Leao attempted an overhead bicycle kick in the 38th, but Castillejo had the best chance of the first half, forcing Musso into a great save with his leg.
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| Never enough |
To add potential injury to insult, Tonali was taken off at the half as a precaution due to a muscular issue. So Meite replaced him, and while he is energetic and didn't have his worst game today, we are still missing that important vision and passing that Tonali or Bennacer provide. Although in all fairness, he did have a great shot that Musso had to tip over in the 51st.
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| Goal line clearance? Yes, please. |
The highlight of the game for me was Romagnoli's goal line clearance in the 48th. He is still my captain, and still a solid defender. The emotional moment was in the 13th minute of the second half (it seems they forgot to do it in the first half?) an image of former youth player Davide Astori was put on the boards at the San Siro and the match stopped for a minute to honor him. More poignant was the realization that Pioli was his coach when he tragically passed away three years ago. And Udinese were the team he was meant to face that fateful day, too. Very sobering, indeed.
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| Especially poignant in this match |
After that, Pioli subbed on Calabria for Kalulu and Hauge for Brahim, but to no avail. After an epic clearance from Kjaer on Molina in the 68th, Becao sent a header that went between Gigio's legs and seemed to surprise even the Udinese players. 1-0 Udinese. Milan's intensity rose a bit after conceding, but it wasn't enough. Samir was subbed on in the 82nd, but was injured a few minutes later and came off. However, although Gotti had a sub left, he had used all of his sub breaks, and Udinese actually played the last ten minutes or so on ten men.
In stoppage time, Romagnoli got a yellow card for trying to stop Llorente, and Kessie got a yellow, I think for dissent, I am not sure. But it wasn't until the fifth minute of a five minute stoppage time that Stryger-Larsen gifted us a penalty with a bizarre volleyball-style block with his hand. So, in the last seconds of stoppage time, Kessie stepped up and took the penalty and converted it to salvage a point for Milan 1-1 all.
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| Grazie/tak/thanks |
Disappointing, frightening, disjointed, uninspiring, lacking in intensity... a lot of adjectives come to mind to describe this Milan performance. We are still waiting for the brilliant, inspired moments of Leao to show up again, it's been a while. Calhanoglu was greatly missed, and Brahim wasn't enough against ten defenders to create the chances that our number 10 usually does. Ibrahimovic traveled like five hours each way to be with the team, even though he was injured. He should have stayed in Sanremo. It was more painful to see he and Mandzukic both there watching, we needed one of them at least.
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| Another penalty, this one a lifeline |
Yes, there were five changes to the starting line up that rocked Rome on Sunday. But even for the six who were the same, they were unrecognizable compared to that team. They seem tired, and I don't blame them. Milan have played more matches than any other Serie A team, and with the injuries we've had all season, it's just too much. But it wasn't pretty, and it hurts to watch. This game simply left me seeing yellow.
This post inspired by the music of The Cure's "To Wish Impossible Things"