Watching dreams die is so painful. Watching them die in those horrific "Welcome to Dreamland" kits is so very much worse. But when it's your team, your dreams, it hurts on a level that people who are not supporters do not understand. When there are other things contributing to the loss of all you dreamed of, such as past managers, referees, poor management, or even other fans directly impacting results, it can feel like the whole world is against you and your beloved Milan. And it can get worse, too, because both the Primavera and Milan Futuro teams lost on the same day as Milan's stoppage time 1-2 loss to Lazio as we were on ten men. Sunday was a total blackout.
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| The players are the first to hurt by results like this. |
Milan were immediately under siege in this match, with Maignan forced into a 1v1 save on Boulaye Dia in just the third minute. A few minutes, Pavlović made a clearance that was frighteningly close to an own goal. Isaksen took a couple of dangerous shots, but gratefully, they went just wide. Lazio dominated the first 15 minutes.
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| Pavlović still defending for the entire team in every match. |
Not so coincidentally, Milan's Curva Sud were boycotting the first 15 minutes, leaving in their place a banner which read, "Only for the shirt." I don't know if they recognized the harsh irony in their empty seats with this false claim of dedication to the team. Because while they were absent, all that could be heard were the Lazio supporters. They literally created a home pitch advantage for the opposition.
And very, very noticeably, the minute they entered the stadium, Milan were able to flip a switch and dominate Lazio instead. Even though the Curva were singing their now well-known "Cardinale go away" chang urging him to sell the club, the players knew the voices of their own fans and that "support" they had received this season gave them a huge boost in mentality.
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| Most ironic banner from the people in the stadium who were the least committed to the shirt. |
Reijnders forced the first save from Provedel, but Álex Jiménez also got a shot off, but it unfortunately went over the bar. Then, in a twist of fate, though Milan had been controlling the match, Lazio scored. Maignan saved the first attempt from Marušić, but Zaccagni's shot went into the back of the net to make it 1-0 Lazio. It was difficult to think that if Walker had been 100%, he likely would have intervened on that one, whereas Jiménez's strength lies more in attack.
Milan continued to attack, with Reijnders and Musah teaming up, but being successfully shut down by Lazio. Musah started getting a bit too heated, mixing it up with Zaccagni. Whether it was that, or for an actual tactical reason, Conceição made an early substitution in just the 37th minute, pulling him off and bringing João Félix on instead. The Portuguese player almost immediately had a great shot, but it went just wide. Fofana sent one well over, then just before the halftime whistle, Pavlović made a great solo effort, but his shot was saved.
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| Reijnders has been so consistent for Milan this season, even when he doesn't score. |
It is notable that the Curva Sud had switched from indifferent criticism of management to disengaged whistling of the entire team. So, although their announcements regarding their Friday banners of protest and their 15 minute boycott indicated that that there were a few players they found worthy, and Pavlović was widely believed to be one of those players, they did not even stop whistling for his fantastic play, let alone applaud him. I doubt they even saw it. Because their "support" certainly has nothing to do with "Only for the shirt." It should have read, "Only for ourselves."
For the second half, Conceição replaced Jiménez with Walker, which saw another huge jump in improvement in the entire team's performance. Santi Gimenez, João Félix, and Pulisic all weent on attack, with Lazio players trading shots at the other end. In the 60th minute, Rovella shoved João Félix in the back pretty forcefully, but Manganiello did not even call anything. This was also a theme for the match. Anyone who has ever seen Lazio play knows that the final card count was definitely suspect.
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| Walker solves a myriad of problems with just his presence on the pitch. |
Fofana sent the ball forward, not sure if it was meant to be an actual shot or not, but it actually hit Reijnders from behind, because he had no idea it was coming. Gimenez sent a shot wide. João Felix sent a shot in that was slightly deflected, which allowed Provedel to save it. And just as Milan were getting close to scoring, Pavlović was shown a straight red card.
This was controversial, because it did not seem quite forceful enough of a tackle on Isaksen to be a straight red, so I assumed it was for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO.) But not all the criteria were there for that call, as there were still Milan defenders in the area and Isaksen did not have full control of the ball. However, as suspected, the match report revealed that it was given for the DOGSO ruling, even after a VAR review. Manganiello made an error, and now Milan were on ten men, plus Pavlović will miss the Lecce match because of it. This happens too often to us.
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| Another victim of a bad ref call, and he's been a star player for us. |
Rather than wait, Conceição subbed Thiaw and Chukwueze on for Pulisic and Fofana right away, which proved to be very wise. Tavares took a wicked shot that Maignan missed, but Theo was there to make an awkward stop and clearance. Any goal line clearance is good for me, it doesn't need to look good. But Maignan made no mistake on Tavares' free kick, he made an excellent save.
Back to the referee, Manganiello, he carded Santi Gimenez for a foul on Rovella, who had gotten away with more than one cautionable offenses himself. Then Leão was shown a yellow card for fouling Patric just a few minutes later. Sure, Milan were on ten men and were maybe a big frustrated, but this was now 1 red card and 2 yellow cards for Milan, zero cards at all for Lazio. Remember Di Bello's 15 card match where Lazio had 3 players sent off? Yeah. Absolutely suspect.
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| This match was not as mismatched as people said, our players battled ferociously. |
Boulaye Dia scored a goal in the 83rd minute, but it was blatantly offside, so was disallowed without protest. Needing the goal, Conceição pulled off Gabbia and sent Jović on in the 83rd minute. And just two minutes later, Chukwueze came through with a fantastic header to equalize. 1-1 all. Milan had scored on fifth place Lazio while playing on ten men.
Maignan made another save on Isaksen at the other end. Somehow, Gimenez did not get a second card for shoving Gila in the 87th minute, so at least Manganiello showed a tiny bit of mercy. After wrongfully sending off a Milan player and failing to give any Lazio players cards at this point, it was the very least he could do. (Actually, he probably just didn't see it.)
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| The moment of brilliance that nearly saved the match. |
In the 92nd minute, Manganiello was forced to give Vecino a yellow card, because he interfered with Maignan as he was trying to distribute the ball. A shame, Vecino ruined Manganiello's perfect record. But also, maybe helped it look slightly less suspicious in the end. But he was given another chance to redeem himself as completely biased in the 94th minute by Mazzoleni in the VAR booth.
Isaksen came running in trying to make a shot, and Maignan came out to make the save, so Isaksen cleverly kicked the ball out and counted on Maignan's momentum to make contact with him. Maignan did his best to avoid contact with his arms, but his body went sliding into the player, and Isaksen did fall. Manganiello initially decided it was not a penalty, which is what any normal referee would do in that situation. But then Mazzoleni told him to have a second look.
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| Milan have had so many match-defining calls made by referees and VAR reviews. |
Upon VAR review, it was clear that Maignan did make contact with him, and a penalty should be given. This time. But as a former referee pointed out, a very similar incident happened in the Milan-Roma match at the end of December, with Pisilli tackling Reijnders in the box with a two-footed tackle. However, on that occasion, Fabbri, the referee, never even stopped play, let alone allowed for a VAR review, which referee experts agree was an error. So, once again, all referee errors go against Milan. And when they get it right, it also goes against Milan. Perfect. As if Milan need any more bad luck.
So Manganiello awarded the penalty in the 97th minute, which Pedro stepped up and converted. 2-1 Lazio. all that amazing display of grinta in the second half, especially after Pavlović was wrongfully sent off and they unnecessarily played on ten men for 30 minutes, all went up in smoke in that one referee call. Worse, still, Maignan apparently said something to Manganiello in the tunnel after the match that he did not like, so he will also be suspended for our match vs. Lecce. (But Lautaro Martínez still hasn't been punished for blasphemy when they have video and audio of it. Because Marotta League.)
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| If only every player on every other team were penalized as much as Milan players are. |
What exactly is Conceição meant to do differently here? The team played 16 matches in seven weeks in four competitions, during which he actually won a trophy in his first two matches. Such an intense schedule for any team, but especially for a new manager coming into a broken dressing room and injury crisis. And he got them off to a good start. However, then management got the brilliant idea to do in January the rest of what they should have done last June, so in the space of ten days, they sent five players out, including our captain, and brought five players in, further destabilizing the team. No idea at all why people are talking about sacking Conceição or asking him to quit.
It should be absolutely no surprise, then, that results have taken a hit, even if the poor results are largely due to unusual individual errors or referee calls. Or these disgustingly hideous kits that are an even more disgusting marketing campaign for corporate greed. But in an era where the media and fans live by results only and build narrative around the manager, players, and team based solely on the most basic of numbers without any perspective at all, the already negative energy surrounding the team has simply been compounded by all the negative press and fan boycotts.
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| Seriously, the man has been doing incredible work against all odds. |
No one is talking about how a 10 man Milan scored against Lazio, something that never would have happened under Fonseca, let alone Pioli last year. Or how the team have more fight in them now than we've seen in a long while, they don't just give up when one negative thing happens in a match. They are clearly united and all working together, which is all the more amazing considering the five new players that are still assimilating into the team.
Sure, the mood was intensified by the fact that Thursday's loss to Bologna and now this loss, Conceição's first loss at home, virtually sealed Milan's fate of no Champions League next year. But let's be realistic. He was brought in with the team in eighth place. The damage to our Champions League hopes was done before he ever arrived. Still, he has also been working against forces beyond his control, including a self-centered fan base. He spoke of the environment around the club and the fans postmatch, "...it was strange: first time it's happened to me in my career. The players feel it."
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| Our players face enough adversity on the pitch, they don't need more adversity from the fans. |
He has been begging for the fans' support since January. Walker has asked the fans for support as well since he arrived, and Giroud publicly asked for fans to support the team last year as well. Clearly, this phenomenon of entitled fans is unique to Serie A. Yet even other Serie A clubs find other ways to protest management that don't harm the team, such as Torino's ultras buying full page ads protesting their management in their local newspaper. But our Ultras only threaten to further abandon our team, which is probably the biggest singular factor as to why we all watched our Champions League dreams slip through our fingers, why our team had a blackout.
Milan Primavera Get Destroyed 4-0 By Verona Primavera
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| A brutal loss. |
Sunday's blackout started brutally for Milan fans as the Primavera went to Verona and were completely dominated in a 4-0 loss to Verona Primavera. Guidi's boys have struggled a bit this season, being a younger team on average than many of the other Primavera teams. However, they are still in fifth place after this loss, even if it did allow Juventus Primavera to catch up to within one point below them on the table, so they will need to be careful as they go into the Derby this weekend.
Milan Futuro Lose to Legnago Salus in a 2-1 Comeback from the Ten Man Side
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| Another bitter step toward relegation. |
Milan Futuro did not just have a blackout, they are inching toward relegation with every match. Massimo Oddo's debut was perhaps worse than his predecessor's displays, as they faced the 19th place team, one of two teams below them on the table. After Bob Murphy Omoregbe in the 18th minute put Milan Futuro up 1-0, Legnago Salus went down to ten men in just the 42nd minute for a bad foul on Omoregbe. They were then able to come back and score in stoppage time at the end of the first half, then convert a penalty in the final minutes of stoppage time, all while playing on ten men to make it Legnago Salus 2, Milan Futuro 0 as the final score. Highlights are available on the Serie C YouTube Channel.
As a result of this, it brought the 19th place team up level with Milan Futuro on points, giving Milan only a shaky goal differential lead to cling to that 18th place spot. Oddo and Tassotti now have only nine matches left to bump the team up to 15th on the table and avoid the dreaded Playout. This month, their campaign begins by hosting 15th place Perugia on Saturday. After that, they travel to face eighth place Pineto, then host 10th place Pontedera, next is Arezzo away, who are in sixth place, and finally 13th place Campobasso. All very difficult matches, I hope they will have plenty of fan support as they attempt salvation.
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| Oddo's debut went worse than expected, even for those of us with low expectations. |
It is unclear whether the club will continue the project and compete in Serie D next year if relegated, or just dismantle the project altogether. The most tragic part of all of this is that Inter have indicated that they are interested in forming a U23 team next season, and Milan Futuro's relegation may actually create the space in Serie C for them. It's just too much. First their fake second star, and now this possibility... this management have destroyed everything that means anything to Milanisti.
Stay tuned for an all new Milan Obsession Podcast
Serie C Week 30
Reviewed by Elaine
on
11:55 PM
Rating:
