Milan host our Kryptonite team, Sassuolo, at the San Siro on Tuesday night in the Coppa Italia Round of 16. While there have been good memories, such as winning the Scudetto with a 3-0 win over Sassuolo in their house just over two years ago, there have also been awful defeats, such as the 3-1 loss to them that same season at the San Siro. And we can never forget Berardi, who has scored 11 goals against Milan in his career, and who specializes in scoring at the Stadio San Siro. Fonseca said lots of the right words to indicate that he is aware of the dangers, but as usual, he is planning to over-rotate. Sassuolo come into this as Serie B leaders, so let's hope that Fonseca knows enough to B-ware
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| Sassuolo are a team who will sneak up on you and chase you down. |
After being relegated last season following 11 straight years in Serie A, Sassuolo thriving under World Cup Winner Fabio Grosso, and are on track to come straight back, having only lost one match all season. They also won both of their Coppa Italia matches thus far, a 2-1 win over Citadella in the first round, and a 2-0 win over Serie A side Lecce in the second round. Their most recent match was a tough 2-0 away win over Reggiana in the league on Friday. For that match, manager Fabio Grosso lined up a 4-2-3-1 with Moldovan; Toljan, Romagna, Muharemović, Pieragnolo; Obiang, Boloca; Berardi, Thorsvedt, Laurienté, and Pierini. As of this writing, Grosso has a couple of players in doubt due to fitness issues: Josh Doig and Ghion, but otherwise should have everyone else available.
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| Fabio Grosso has his team in fantastic form. |
In addition to Bennacer, Florenzi, and Jović, who are all out longterm, Fonseca will be missing Maignan to a minor tooth surgery, and Theo Hernández, who took a knock on Saturday. He has also indicated that he will rotate heavily, (although ironically, in doing so negates his understanding of the dangers that Sassuolo pose in this match.) Sure, we have a lot fewer injuries this season, but we also have a lot fewer points and a lot fewer wins. Is he just overconfident after achieving the team's third convincing performance of the season? Or does he genuinely not understand what 'facing Sassuolo' means? Or is he that vain and foolish enough to believe that fielding a complete B team against the Serie B leaders is enough? (Maybe he should talk to Allegri)
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| Fonseca seems to have learned one lesson, as Leão is reported to start again. |
Whatever the reason, this match has disaster written all over it, and it is a win or go home match. Even last year, we at least made it to the Quarterfinal, going out in the Round of 16 to a Serie B side is just embarrassing. Every time Fonseca wins a match... well, the three times he has convincingly won a match, everyone is calm and supportive of him and his project. Then we play the next match. Well, this is that next match. And with some big players out, Milan will need luck as well as skills to get past a team that seems to be in much better form than us. I truly hope Fonseca makes his decisions wisely for once and rotates like a normal coach instead of an insane person who believes that Loftus-Cheek, Musah, and Leão are all the same. But first he would have to get out of his own head to B-ware of the threat of this team actually poses to Milan.
This post inspired by the music of Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?"