Have you ever had an injury or illness that affected your equilibrium? It's a strange sensation, and one that would feel very familiar to Milan fans who have watched this season. One minute, the team seem fine, great even, capable of doing anything. And the next minute, they are either wobbling or actually on the ground, without even understanding what happened. Conceição, who is used to consistently winning, has struggled to understand both the atmosphere from the Milan fans this season and also something he has made a few references to as "bad luck." Yes, Sérgio, one club from Milano gets all the calls, and one does not. Beyond that, with management being about as stable as America's current president, the environment at the club has been volatile this season, making it even more difficult for players to strike a balance in their individual and collective performances. However, it is time to try to end the season well, so let's hope they can start with this match by finding some equilibrium.
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| The team are in a difficult environment, but need to find their way. |
Another team struggling to maintain some equilibrium this season is Fiorentina. They overturned a deficit and defeated Panathinaikos 3-1 in the Conference League Round of 16 at home, 5-4 on aggregate ahead of the international break. They also managed back to back wins before and after the break against top five teams. However, they have been quite unpredictable this season, with their three league matches before those matches being L-W-L. They come to the San Siro in eighth place, just four points ahead of us, with two wins where Milan have two draws.
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| Adli was that teammate, hopefully, he won't hurt Milan on Saturday. |
Their most recent win was a 1-0 defeat of Atalanta at the Artemio Franchi. For that match, Palladino lined up a 3-5-2 with: de Gea; Pongračić, Pablo Marí, Luca Ranieri; Dodô, Mandragora, Cataldi, Fagioli, Parisi; Guðmondsson, and Moise Kean. With the tragic incident with Bove in December, he is ineligible to play due to Italian rules regarding heart defibrillators, and Palladino is also missing Colpani and Gosens to injury. Amongst the players Palladino has called up for this match is our own Adli, who is on loan to Fiorentina, the guy who threw team parties and woke up early on his day off to buy NBA jerseys for all his teammates last summer, so that could be emotional.
For Conceição, he is still without Emerson Royal, and now Loftus-Cheek is recovering from his appendectomy as well. Reijnders left traininig early on Friday and is reported to be suffering from gastroenteritis, so he is unlikely to start this one, or possibly even be available. Álex Jiménez is suspended for this match, so is actually going to be available for Milan Futuro's match earlier in the day. That is certainly one benefit of being eligible for two different leagues, and if Oddo is smart enough to use him, he could really help in their battle to aoid relegation. This will be Sottil's first time facing his former club since joining Milan in January.
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| Sottil may or may not see minutes against his former team on Saturday. |
Milan have the home advantage, so long as their fans continue to support them as they did on Wednesday for the Derby. The match is nearly sold out, so hopefully it will be a positive environment again. Fiorentina have the advantage of not having played on Wednesday, so will be more rested. But if Milan can find their way and get that support from fans, this would be a great way to make up some points on the table. Especially after the debacle in the first half of the season when we played Fiorentina. Let's hope we can erase that memory. Otherwise, Milan's Serie A campaign will probably be considered a complete disaster, considering how much management invested in the team. But then again, it is management who are at fault for the team not being able to find their equilibrium.
This post inspired by the music of Lush's "Sweetness and Light"
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Serie A Week 31
Reviewed by Elaine
on
10:02 PM
Rating:
