A midweek Champions League match away in Rotterdam was always going to be difficult. Especially when it was the 12th match in less than six weeks. But this match was never going to be a boring draw, either. Both clubs are going through some things, so things like the weather, home field advantage, and the support of fans would be amplified. (Not to mention the hideous and unlucky kits.) The ability to play with intensity and focus would be crucial, and any errors could be costly. Unfortunately, an early and unusual error for Milan proved costly, and it was a bad day at the office.
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| Bad day at the office. |
This match ended very early, as Paixão scored in the third minute. 1-0 Feyenoord. Maignan did not do as well as he typically would in that scenario, and he posted a picture of himself on social media with the caption "Bad day at the office." Which is true. It was a rare error for him, and there is no way that anyone is more upset about it than him. Particularly now that he is also the captain, he knows it was the worst way to start a match.
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| No one is more upset than him, but a leader encourages everyone to shake it off. |
Yet he stood tall, pulled himself together, and did his job for the rest of the match. The rest of the team has been hyper-criticized for their performance as well, however they stuck with it for 90 minutes. Milan had 12 shots with six on target, while Feyenoord had 11 shots with only two on target. But Milan had more possession and actually created more opportunities, even if Feyenoord looked dangerous.
There were also a number of strange things, too. For example, João Félix, on one of his many attempts, collided with the goalkeeper, Wellenreuther. João Félix's thigh hit the goalkeeper's head, and he was down for treatment for a bit. It was probably during this time that Leão was reported to have gone to the bench and taken an anti-inflammatory for pain, as he has been dealing with an ankle issue for a few days and was not 100%.
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| Leão scapegoated while playing while injured says everything about this fanbase. |
There was also a moment when Leão went down in the box and stayed down. In hindsight, he may have been in some pain. But when a cross came in (as the referee, José Maria Sánchez had allowed play to continue,) he jumped up and tried to play the ball. This did not sit well with Wellenreuther. While I know how it looked, I don't know anything in the rules against it, as it was up to the referee or the players to stop play if Leão was down, and he had every right to get up whenever he wanted, since play was not halted.
Their rivalry literally came to a clash of heads in the 40th minute, when Leão was coming in on goal, and both went for the ball and ended up bumping skulls instead. Again, Wellenreuther needed treatment, and it seemed like Milan's strategy was to take out their goalkeeper with a head injury. Which may have helped, as their backup goalkeepers were both young, but I am certain was not an actual strategy.
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| João Félix was also a threat all match, but just was not able to score. |
Paixão was a nightmare for Milan the entire match. Feyenoord were emboldened by the early goal, and without it, I do not think they would have won. But with it, Paixão decided he was prime Messi or something. Ahead of halftime, he actually hit the crossbar. After halftime, Thiaw earned himself a yellow card trying to stop him.
In the 60th minute, Conceição sent in Chukwueze for Pulisic, who had been largely ineffective, and Tomori for Thiaw, as he was now on a yellow card. Tomori's very first action was to nearly injure Maignan, but luckily, he was able to continue.
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| Chukwueze brought energy and created chances, but to no avail. |
Even though the "Fab Four" were not able to break down Feyenoord's defense, it was not for a lack of effort. On his return to his former club, Gimenez attempted a header, but collided with Beelen. Reijnders sent the ball over. Leão's effort was blocked. Chukwueze had a great shot, but it was saved. Gimenez then attempted a bicycle kick, but was offside anyway.
Pavlović, who was Beast of the Match, had a shot saved. Conceição then replaced Gimenez and Leão with Tammy Abraham and Camarda in the 83rd. It was an all-out attack for the final ten minutes. And in the 95th minute, from a Theo Hernández free kick, Camarda sent it just over the crossbar. So painful. But it just wasn't enough. They will have to overcome the deficit next week at San Siro. It was a bad day at the office for everyone.
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| Beast of the Match. |
To make matters worse, it was pouring rain for much of the match, and there were 51,000 Feyenoord supporters in full voice the entire match. Milan's Curva Sud were absent again, so once again, Milan had no support. Since Conceição arrived, Milan have now lost three matches. Juventus, Dinamo Zagreb, and now Feyenoord. All away matches, and all boycotted by the Curva Sud. When Conceição said that the fans were the soul of the team, that they needed to be the first man, not the 12th man, and that without them, there was no club, he meant it. And it has shown. With the fans behind them, they have managed to get the results, even when they didn't play well.
After the match, they kept Conceição out in the cold waiting for 15 minutes after being in the rain all night. It was nearly midnight, and he had sounded like he was under the weather the previous day in his prematch press conference. The reason he was kept waiting was because the press were fawning over Feyenoord's player. So he went in, answered one question, and left. And I applaud him for this.
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| Seemed to be literally under the weather. |
I personally hate that press conferences are a contractual obligation for managers and players. It would be one thing if they were treated with respect and the questions they were asked were remotely interesting, or if what they wrote about was in any way responsible journalism. But none of those things are true. And I wish more managers would do this – answer a question and leave. He fulfilled his obligation, but refused to sit there and be insulted by repetitive, inane questions, only to have them trash him in their write-ups. Maybe if more managers did this, the press would ask more interesting questions, knowing theirs might be the only one.
It was a rough night. It is not an ideal way to go into the second leg. Things did not go well, but things also did not go as badly as fans and media have made them out to be. Fans were outraged over Maignan's social media post, but it was the message of a leader – he acknowledges his error, but this was not the end of the world, everyone needs to shake it off. It was just a bad day at the office. There is so much improvement in attitude, determination, stamina in the team. They are playing to the final whistle instead of giving up when something does not go their way. Conceição's substitutions are timely and nearly always impactful, certainly always well thought-out. He is rotating the squad properly and treating the players equally, without drama.
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| Returning home did not turn out as planned. |
Yet the criticisms after a poor result flow like muscle memory, and the discourse is exhausting and does not match what actually happened on the pitch. The fans and media continues to scapegoat Leão if the team does not win, despite the fact that five new players arrived in January to alleviate the burden from he and Theo from always being the ones to rescue the team and find the win. People have been complaining about the team so long, they cannot recognize progress and improvement unless they see a result they like. Which is a much bigger problem than just having a bad day at the office.
This post inspired by the music of Julian Cope's "Five O'Clock World"
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The Milan Obsession blog is 14 years old! Thank you to everyone who has read or interacted over the years. |
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Serie C Week 27
Reviewed by Elaine
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