Saturday night sees Milan traveling to Salernitana, Lotito's former second favorite team. In the first leg, we played them just days after losing Kjaer, but managed to be in control of the match despite missing a number of other players as well. Now, Milan go to Salernitana while we sit at the top of the table, while our opposition sit dead last on the table, struggling to make a comeback with a brand new manager. But hey, they say that opposites attract.
 |
| Franckly no contest... or is it? |
Stefano Colantuano was sacked as manager of Salernitana this week, replaced with Davide Nicola. That gives Salernitana a new coach smell, but with a record of three wins, four draws, and 17 losses, maybe the manager did not have a lot to do with having only 13 points after 24 matches. Salernitana did make some decent changes in the mercato, because having an injury-prone, washed up old statutory rapist in Ribery probably just wasn't enough.
Colantuano was sacked despite earning five of their 13 points in their last five matches, including a point last week vs. Genoa. For that match, he lined up Sepe; Mazzocchi, Dragusin, Fazio, Ranieri; Ederson, Radanović, Coulibaly; Benazzoli, Verdi; and Djurić. Nicola inherits the injuries of Coulibaly and Schiavone, who will miss this one, with Verdi and Ruggeri in doubt as well. It is worth noting that Nicola was the one who took over for Giampaolo last year at Torino and was able to help them avoid relegation, which is perhaps a fool's hope at Salernitana, but don't say I didn't warn you if our match goes south on Saturday.
 |
| Nicola is just happy to be there |
Pioli has a pretty good thing going right now, having taken top spot from Inter last weekend, although they do still have a game in hand. Also, he has nearly a full squad available, barring our two Vikings, Kjaer and Ibrahimović, even if the latter is starting to train with the ball again finally. Gabbia is still in doubt as well, with a nagging injury causing him heel pain.
On paper, Milan could just stay home and get the three points. But games are not played on paper, and Salernitana have been showing signs of life lately. Along with their new coach smell, they could easily help Milan to drop points, especially if we lose focus or intensity. Personally, I am hoping that Milan pull off the win but that Salernitana just roll over, because I love the football we have been playing. Hopefully, there will be some sparks, because opposites do attract.
This post inspired by the music of X Ambassadors