Milan may have defeated league leaders Napoli for the second time in ten days on Wednesday when they faced them in the Champions League Quarterfinal first leg, but now they face a bigger test. On Saturday evening, they must travel to Bologna and do something they have only managed to do in three of their eight away league matches in 2023: take all three points. Bologna are only nine points behind Milan, sitting in eighth place on the table. Rumor has it that Pioli plans to rotate a lot of players, something that completely backfired on him last week at home vs. Empoli. If not, he risks injury or exhaustion of his starters ahead of the decisive match vs. Napoli on Tuesday. However, it has never been more important to our challenge for top four to take all three points and maintain mentality in beating the away match blues.
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| The players deserve to lose those away match blues |
Bologna fired Mihajlović in September, who then passed away this past December. He was replaced with ex-Inter snake Thiago Motta, which made Bologna's move twice as awful. Since that time, Motta's record with the Rossoblù is 11 wins, four draws, and eight losses in Serie A. Most recently, last weekend, they served up a surprise 2-0 away defeat to Atalanta. For that match, he lined up: Skorupski; Posch, Soumaoro, Lucumi, Kyriakopoulos; Shouten; Soriano, Ferguson, Moro, Barrow; and Sansone. Motta has a number of players missing for this match, however, with Orsolini suspended. Injured players include Cambiaso and Arnautović, as well as Soriano and Bagnolini, who are both out with long-term injuries.
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| "Sir, they have not forgiven you for your years as an Inter player." |
The pressure is on Pioli, and he seemed to crack a bit under the pressure on Wednesday. He only used two of his five subs, despite the prospect of playing three matches in seven days. Now reports are that he will heavily rotate the squad to rest players. However, that has never worked out for him. With Champions League qualification for next year so important, he can ill afford to make the same mistake again. Yet something tells me that he will, as he seems to be a slow learner when the going gets tough.
After Milan were hit with the perfect storm this season, injuries are no longer an excuse, with only Ibrahimović unavailable for this match. Kalulu should be fully fit for this match, and available if needed. Pioli does, however, have five players just one card away from suspension: Kjaer, Tomori, Calbria, Kalulu, and Rebić. Basically, most of our defense and Rebić. So he will need to be very careful about managing those players should discipline become an issue.
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| Pioli points in the direction most of the shots go when our bench players start. |
The club, the players, and the fans, though, will be looking for all three points. Bologna are a much tougher team than when we faced them at the San Siro in August, but Milan desperately need points to stay in the hunt for top four. Pioli's choices will be incredibly important, as will maintaining the team's motivation against a very difficult Bologna side. Pulling off the win will do wonders for mentality and finally beating the away match blues.
This post inspired by the music of Wes Montgomery's "West Coast Blues"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
8:05 AM
Rating:
