Normally, the Derby brings out the bloodlust in me, and I always relish the opportunity to destroy the team that destroyed Serie A in the Calciopoli scandal in 2006. They have whined and complained for years, creating a belief that other teams were cheating, even when they were not. I absolutely despise them. But this Derby is very different. After unusual scheduling saw us meet them five times during the 2022-23 season, losing four out of five of those, then losing both Derbies last season, including them celebrating their league win and their cardboard second star at our home Derby in April, that makes six in a row that we have lost. Given the absolute meltdown at all levels of our club right now, with a complete lack of sporting results, while Inter are still cruising along like most clubs do after winning the league, this match does not give me much any hope. For Milan, this one will be a dysfunctional Derby.
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| Hard to watch these guys get thrown under the bus. |
Inter won the league last year after years of taking advantage of the lack of true checks and balances of the finances of football clubs in Europe. At the same time they were sealing their title, their owners, Suning, were losing the club and all their investments over the years because they defaulted on the nearly €800 million in debts they owed as a club. Not to mention that club president Steven Zhang was not even able to attend the celebrations, as he was found personally liable for over €300 million in courts in multiple countries, including Italy, so could not risk coming to Milano lest he be jailed. So the ownership of Inter was transferred to Oaktree Capital, another U.S. hedgefund.
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| When you are untouchable, and have an endless network supporting you. |
So, Inter came into this season having won the Scudetto last year, and with an easier transition from bankruptcy and takeover by an international hedge fund than when Milan won two years ago and transferred ownership from one American hedge fund to investment group. That's fun. They currently have eight points, with two wins and two draws, as well as a scoreless draw with Manchester City in the Champions League midweek.
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| Racist Acerbi sh*t-talking Haaland just tells you so much about Inter. |
Their most recent league match was also a draw, they finished 1-1 away to Monza last Sunday. For that match, Inzaghi lined up: Sommer; Pavard, de Vrij, Carlos Augusto; Darmian, Frattesi, Asllani, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Marcus Thuram, and Lautaro Martínez. Inzaghi is missing Tajon Buchanan to longterm injury, while it is reported that Dimarco has recovered from his injury that kept him out midweek, and should be available for this match.
As for the disaster that is devouring Milan, injuries are the easiest part to talk about, sadly. Milan's injury curse has continued, with Bennacer, Florenzi, and Sportiello all recovering from surgeries and set to be out longterm. Thiaw trained partially with the team again after his ankle injury and is working to be fit for Sunday, but it sounds unlikely that he will even make the bench. Calabria was just injured on Tuesday, was reported to have recovered, and is now ruled out for the Derby, but Maignan has returned and will be available. Don't get me started on Fonseca reportedly trying a 4-4-2, his third tactical formation, and undoubtedly yet another different starting eleven. In particular, he keeps changing the defense, rather than sticking with at least one CB pairing so they can improve together. The man clearly is just grasping at straws now.
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| Abraham has been lauded for his performances thus far at Milan. |
Fonseca and his staff were brought in to help change a few things, and lowering the number of injuries was one of them. That has not happened. Improving the defense and mentality was another one. That has not happened. Bringing "something new" to the tactics and playing style has not happened, either. with the players unable to understand or unable to execute Fonseca's apparent vision for this team. That has resulted in one win, two draws, and two losses in all competitions thus far, only five points in Serie A, and an endless amount of criticism and speculation from the media ahead of this Derby. Should Inter win, it would be a record seven Derbies in a row for either of the Milan sides, and the Derby losses were something that Pioli was reportedly sacked for, having finished in second place last season.
There have also been many reports of conflicts between Fonseca and Ibrahimović. Many blame Ibrahimović for Fonseca's hire, despite the fact that he was likely Moncada's recommendation. But with no defined roles, and only a cocky RedBird Senior Advisor going around telling everyone "I am the boss," why wouldn't the media speculate? This, on top of the reported conflicts the manager has with players, questions as to whether or not he has lost the dressing room, and questions about how Ibrahimović has handled that situation. However, Fonseca is the most likely to lose his job, with most people assuming he will be sacked if when Milan lose the Derby.
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| So many questions. |
Then you have the squad. Capello pointed out some of the questions many of us have had about this management's transfer activities. Why was Kalulu sent to Juventus when we have so many problems on the right? He spoke of the redundancy of Loftus-Cheek and Reijnders in the midfield, the lack of a playmaker, the lack of an actual replacement for Giroud, and more. It has been clear for some time that this management have been spending to "improve" a team that was already winning, and I am not the only person to question a personal motive in dismantling the team that won the Scudetto. But most pundits acknowledge that they have merely assembled a group of players, not a proper, balanced team.
I could go on, but the Derby would be over before I even got started on identifying all of the problems. Needless to say, I do not know a single Milan fan that is looking forward to this Derby. That is not how it should be. Even during the years of decline, we always had a hope of winning, always wanted the opportunity to destroy our Cugini serpenti. But Milan fans aren't looking forward to any matches these days. Most realize that Fonseca is unlikely to be the manager for much longer, and with management having made such a poor decision when there were better options available, there is not a lot of hope now of bringing in someone the fans really have faith in.
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| Pavlović is all of us right now. |
With all of this dysfunction, watching Inter take/get every advantage yet again, with zero accountability, this is not a match that anyone of sound mind would look forward to. Not only do we have to stare at their ill-gotten cardboard second star, plus whatever douchebag coreo their lame Curva Nord come up with for their home match, but we have to face the team that is legally untouchable. Not even losing their club can interrupt their operations, while their Inter-friendly government opened up an investigation on our two year-old sale of our club last season just to take the conversation away from their literal moral bankruptcy. And we have to face all of this while our own club is imploding in real time because we are stuck with an owner who knows absolutely nothing about football, and cares about this club even less. with a manager who is living at our training facilities because even he did not believe in himself enough to find his own housing. Welcome to the dysfunctional Derby.
This post inspired by the music of Suicidal Tendencies' "I Saw Your Mommy"