While videos of the delicious Derby win to earn our eighth Supercoppa trophy on Monday are still being shared and watched, and everything about it is still helping Milan fans smile, the players had to come home and get straight back to work. Saturday's match vs. Cagliari is the first league match for Conceição, and hopefully the first match of Milan's redemption story arc this season. Okay, there will also be a little celebration for them, as the trophy will be presented at the San Siro on Saturday, as well. But aside from that, it is all focus, because we cannot repeat what happened the last time we faced Cagliari after a big match. It;s time to get to work.
 |
| Winning a trophy was Monday. Saturday, it's time to get to work to save our season. |
Cagliari come into this match in 17th place on the table, but only out of the relegation zone on goal differential. Davide Nicola, known for keeping teams from being relegated, will be doing everything in his power to get a result in this match, because they will need every point they can to escape the drop this season. They are also arriving after a win last weekend, a 2-1 win over Monza, who finished on 10 men.
 |
| Milan will need to do better than their draw with Cagliari in November. |
For that match, Nicola lined up a 4-4-2 with: Scuffet; Zappa, Mina, Luperto, Obert; Zortea, Adopo, Makoumbou, Felici; Viola, and Piccoli. This week, Cagliari swapped goalkeepers on loan deals with Napoli, sending Scuffet to Napoli and bringing in Elia Caprile to the Sardinian club, so Caprile will likely be the new starting keeper. Meanwhile, Mina, Mutandwa, and Luvumbo are also scheduled to miss this match due to injury concerns.
Conceição has recovered the dressing room, the media narrative, the club's dignity, the trust of the players and fans, the hopes and dreams of Milanisti worldwide, and also Rafa Leão from his injury. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon opinion, Emerson Royal was cautioned during the Juventus match last Friday, resulting in a suspension for this match due to special Supercoppa rules. So at least Conceição does not have to be worried about getting injured again should there be celebrations.
 |
| Since our new manager won't be starting Okafor ahead of Leão, he'll be loaned out. |
He inherits the injuries of Florenzi and Chukwueze, and just when Loftus-Cheek was returning to fitness, he suffered another minor setback this week, so will miss this match as well. Okafor was also not called up, as reports say he is on the verge of a loan move to RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga for the rest of this season. Conceição has called up Bob Murphy Omoregbe from Milan Futuro to replace him for this match. Milan also need every point we can get. Being in eighth place on the table, albeit with games in hand, is not enough for the level of players we have and the amount of money invested in them, so this match is the first in Conceição's campaign to help us climb back up at least to a Champions League spot for next year.
Fun fact: Conceição's first league match with Milan is January 11th, the same date of his last Serie A match as a player with Lazio in 2004. Everyone is talking about the strict new rules Conceição has set down for the Milan players, including requiring all players to stay at Milanello the night before every match, daily weigh-ins to maintain optimum fitness, to other rules regarding cell phone usage, nutrition, dress and behavior both on and off the pitch. But there has been no dissent thus far about his iron fist methods, because he also showed immediately that he rules with his heart and respects them and cares about each one of them, too.
 |
| Such a novel idea: don't bench or play mind games with your best players. |
Winning a trophy after just two matches must have also helped, but as he mentioned in his prematch press conference, the players' pride was at stake as well. They also wanted to win and redeem themselves. So they seem more than happy to buy in and follow their combination drill sergeant/father figure manager, because he has now won 13 titles, so they can see he has winning credibility to match his personal authenticity. And the primary principle of his coaching philosophy is to work hard every day, so now it is time to get to work.
This post inspired by the music of Julian Cope's "5 O'Clock World"
Our next matches are:
Serie C Week 21
Reviewed by Elaine
on
5:00 AM
Rating:
