Roma-Milan Preview: Here We Go

By the time Roma-Milan kicks off on Friday night, a sense of reality may kick in. By that time, we will have learned what our fate is in the Champions League Group Stage this season, and the transfer window will be closed as well. We will face a Mourinho side that is winless in their first two matches, and who will also have a busy Friday, with their Europa League draw set for the same day as the transfer window closes. For better or for worse, we will all know which teams we will be facing in European competition, and our squads should be set until at least January. Here we go!

Pioli's favorite starting 11 is ready to go...

Keep Maldini Out of Your Fu**ing Mouth

There is a cancer of misinformation and hate spreading amongst Milan fans right now. Fans attack other Milan fans on social media for saying anything positive about Maldini. This is not new, when things go wrong, people are always looking for someone to blame. It happened this whole past year. Fans selectively chose what they wanted to hear of the truth and filled in the rest. The result was blaming Maldini for everything that went wrong with personnel, and blaming Pioli for everything else. When Cardinale fired Maldini, for them, that was proof that they were right. With the help of gaslighting from current management, they are doing everything they can to disparage his work and cancel the club's culture. Maldini was not just another director, he was specifically brought in to restore Milan's culture. Those who wrongly criticized him in the past eventually reconciled their wrongs. But their behaviors 14 years ago still remain as a dark stain on the history of the club, known worldwide by rivals and neutrals alike. With the value of hindsight, I think they might think about metaphorically slapping these people now and telling them to "Keep Maldini out of your fu**ing mouth."

The obsession with damaging his name and reputation is actually disgusting.

Milan 4, Torino 1: Payback

Last season, Torino knocked Milan out of the Coppa Italia. At the San Siro. And that was after we lost 2-1 to them in Turin. So Saturday night, Milan and their new look attack inflicted a 4-1 payback on i Granata. To be fair, the first penalty awarded Milan was very questionable, but there was no doubt as to which team was superior, as even coach Ivan Jurić dejectedly pointed out in his postmatch remarks. Even with such ridiculous disparity, after such a difficult first half of 2023, it felt good to be able to inflict some payback.

Payback is a... display of awesomeness

Milan-Torino Preview: Introductions

Milan host Torino in their first home match of the season Saturday night. The match is sold out, with 72,000 fans expected to attend. While Torino started their season off with a scoreless draw, Ivan Jurić's side did defeat Milan two out of three meetings last season, including knocking us out of the Coppa Italia, so this one is unlikely to be an easy match. However, Pioli has a number of new players since the last time we met, and the fans will be eager to meet them, too. Let's hope that this match gives everyone a chance to make the proper introductions.

What is likely to be our starting 11 again, with Calabria in place of Florenzi

Bologna 0, Milan 2: White Hot Milan

Milan started their Serie A campaign off with all three points with a 2-0 away win over Bologna Monday night. The weather was brutal, as it was still 81°F (27°C) at the end of the match. Additionally, the air conditioning in Milan's dressing room was not sufficient, so the team opted to stay out on the pitch at halftime, because it was actually cooler outside. But with two brilliant early goals from Giroud and Pulisic, Milan were able to keep Bologna off the scoresheet with five saves from Maignan (and some help from the woodwork) to win the match. In their perfect new away kits, it was a white hot Milan.

Just 11 minutes were all that was needed to get Milan's season started right.

Bologna vs. Milan Preview: Season of Change

The new season is finally here, and it kicks off Monday night with an away trip to Bologna. This summer was marked by significant changes, and while Furlani insisted that this is not a Year Zero, it was bare minimum a complete revolution. Beginning with the sacking of Maldini and Massara as well as a reorganization of the sporting sector, then the controversial decision to sell Sandro Tonali, then there were also seven players whose contracts were up as of June 30th. Furlani went deep in the transfer market, spending well over €100 million to replace the players who left, and there have been other players who have left or gone on loan as well. As if that were not enough change, Pioli also changed tactics to meet the needs of the players he had available to him. Which means that this season will be a season of change, to say the least. 

A lot of new faces in the squad, but more faces missing.

Milan Season Preview: We Will Concede Goals

Milan returned to Milanello July 10th, and in the five weeks since, they have played a total of eight friendlies, including three in the U.S. We have also seen tons of changes in the transfer window, mainly due to contracts ending, but also because of a few players leaving. This has forced Pioli to change tactics. Between the personnel and tactics changes, Milan look to be scoring more goals this season. However, that also comes at a cost, as we have seen the defensive vulnerability caused by all of these changes as well. No one can predict how this season will turn out, but one thing is abundantly clear, at least for the beginning of the season: we will concede goals.

Two of our new midfielders, both who like to play more attacking roles

Friendly Exposure: When Fans Cannot Access Matches

For a club that is owned by a company claiming to specialize in sports and entertainment marketing, Milan is falling back into the dark ages of marketing and communications. Not just the bizarre marketing choices of transportation devices that were literally popular when the club was founded in 1899, but also the lack of information from the club, and most importantly, the lack of fan access to preseason matches. If RedBird and Cardinale were half the marketing geniuses they claim to be, they would be selling these opportunities to watch friendlies, along with their ridiculous baseball hats and maybe a bag of peanuts or popcorn, too. But even paying to access the matches is not possible. So what exactly are they doing with the team? What good is friendly exposure when the fans literally cannot access the games?

How could you deny 500 million fans the oversized trophy and pyrotechnics of a preseason friendly?

Tijjani Reijnders: Modern Midfielder

One of the new players that has generated the most excitement at Milan is Dutch midfielder Tijjani Reijnders. His press conference was shamefully plagued with embarrassingly inane questions asking him to compare himself to legendary Dutch players who have played at Milan before, to which he repeatedly and patiently replied that he does not think it is fair to compare players. (Don't even look up the 'Golden Delicious Reinders apple' question.) The club itself had him pretend to paint and sign a fake Van Gogh portrait of himself at his signing, because Italians are always threading the needle of xenophobia and racism with their tired stereotypes and misguided comparisons. Which is such a tragedy, because he seems to be a very kind person and a very intelligent player, and unique to any other player we have had before. It would have been nice for them to simply focus on who he is and what kind of player he is, which, by his own admission, is a modern midfielder.

His career has been building up to this point, and he is ready for a big club.

Milan's Post-U.S. Tour: Coming Back to Earth

Milan concluded their U.S. Tour in Las Vegas on Tuesday with a 1-0 defeat to Barcelona. In addition to having lost all three friendlies, which in and of itself is not a big concern, we learned a lot about our squad. While we got to see some of our new players get time, this match in particular demonstrated the lack of depth, despite the exciting new signings. And with Krunić reportedly asking to leave, it signals a huge red flag for our midfield, with Pobega the only current continuing midfielder from last season. Changing so many players, and with even more changes on the way, this tour had the sobering effect of coming back to earth.

Milan, we're not in 1899 anymore.