Spring Break

With all the international friendlies taking place over the past week, domestic league football was suspended. This could not have come at a better time for Milan, who are still reeling from a recent wave of losses. No news has trickled out from the Milan camp, as many of the players and staff blew off interviews and remained silent during some press conferences. This may have been by choice, or possibly ordered by Berlusconi. Either way, not much has been left to write about in this off week.

The next post will undoubtedly be much more interesting, as AC will have played their rivals Inter in a game that will most likely decide who wins the title this season. In the past few seasons, Inter has clearly held the top spot in the league and were pegged to the obvious winner, so the game was more for bragging rights. This year, a new dimension of competitiveness and fire will be added as both teams can see the trophy in their sights. I hope the game will be wonderful display of skill and determination, rather then one of poor character and sportsmanship as they have been in the past. Part of me thinks the latter will take place, as most Italian games with such high stakes usually take on an ugly quality. I can't wait to see what will take place in a week. Until then as always,

FORZA MILAN!

A Time To Panic

Sound the alarm bells, two if by sea one if by land, use whatever kind of cheesy phrase you want, but Milan's season is slipping away. A 1-0 defeat to Palermo has now allowed Inter Milan to close the gap that AC lead by to a mere 2 points. Once again, Milan showed a lackluster effort across the board, with little to be happy about. Palermo are a respectable team, and deserved the goal they scored. I would say that Milan are better and should have thrashed them, but at this point I'm not really sure if they are as good as I think. Ibra was suspended, and although sometimes he does more good then bad on attack, the team looked lost without the large Swede up front. It seems his presence does a lot more then I previously thought. With the intra city match against Inter looming in the coming week, the next match that Milan has must absolutely be won. There are are only a few weeks left in the season, and to see it slipping away to the hated cross town team is the painful.

On an interesting note, ever since the news surrounding Berlusconi has died away, so has the winning ways of Milan. Something really has to be said about this, and not rule it out to simple coincidence. Maybe that with all the pressure on the owner the players were able to go out and perform with no worries, or vice versa and thrived under intense pressure. The task to reigniting the fire or coming up with new motivation falls to Allegri the manager. This is what he was brought in for, and if he is able to right the listing ship in the coming weeks, a contract extension is in order. If he fails, then the well used manager axe will be swung again. The Rossoneri world is on eggshells for the next 2 weeks, so until next time,
FORZA MILAN.

Frustration

For full disclosure, this post was written immediately after the AC Milan-Bari game.

After watching a game like this, I can now understand how and why soccer fans become so crazed with passion. For the past 90 minutes, Milan was frustrated by themselves to the last place team in the league, and were only saved by wonderkid sub Cassano with a garbage goal in the 82 minute. There was no team cohesion, passion, or and type of discernible game plan coming from the bench. 11 individuals happened to put on the same red and black uniform of AC Milan today, and acted as if a win would simply fall into place. The only decent performance was turned in by Mr. Emotional himself, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Ibra managed to create 2 goals by himself only to have them overturned on highly debatable and unexplained decisions from the ref. Predictably after the 2 overturned goal, his infamous temper got the better of him as he punched/pushed a player on Bari, earning himself a straight red card.

At this point in the game I had lost all faith in not only today, but for the rest of the season. After an astoundingly boring Champions League rematch versus Tottenham resulted in a 0-0 tie and Milan's UCL exit, one would imagine that some sort of fire would be lit in the players, or by the manager. It looked as if the complete opposite took place, with each player exhibiting the demeanor of a hibernating bear. Milan certainly has more then enough talent to win the Italian league this year, but their mental toughness seems to decrease at every available opportunity. As a fan, you want to run on the field and physically push you team to run down field, slide for the loose ball, push them to rise a bit higher to win a header. You want to see anger when an easy opportunity to score is missed, or grit when trying to defend a 2-1. Simply going through the motions and with stoicism at all times is unacceptable.

Yes, Milan is still 5 points clear of the its cross city rival Inter Milan, but a meeting 2 weeks away looms incredibly large. Whoever wins that match will almost certainly win the league, with a 6 point swing hanging in the balance. It frightens me to think what will happen to Milan if they face a team that is known for its fierce and aggressive style with the same attitude displayed today. A serious shift in attitude needs to take place, and the sooner the better.