Monday, January 25, 2010

miserable milan

Diego Milito


Inter Milan 2 AC Milan 0

I was seated at home with two of my closest friends, to witness a game that every Milan fan lives for. Unfortunately, it was a feeling of deja vu. As the teams lined up, I pointed at Milito and told my friend "he will score tonight". The rest as they say is history. It was an appalling performance from Milan, but it left me highly embarrassed because I had been bragging so much about this 'great club'.

Without Nesta and Pato, we were considerably weakened. Inter capitalized on our lack of favored personal, and their might showed in the domination in the early stages, resulting in a top drawer finish from Milito. Abate displayed defensive skills that would give the lame hope. We were nowhere in the game, our pathetic defense was essentially our downfall. Our passing was disjointed and we appeared afraid (and rightly so). Oodles of open space for Inter to pass and play their game. They were hitting us with their pace, especially on the counter. Rocchi the ref decided to even things out, he joined the red and black brigade by sending Wesley Sneijder packing for merely clapping. Then on, it was 10 against 12. On the attack, we were getting close. But the Inter defense were supremely organized and were like a rock that we were trying to crack down with a hammer. Abate continued to get skinned by Milito. Seedorf was brought on for the anonymous Gattuso at the half.

We started the second half on a strong note. Cesar was forced to produce a point blank save, and Ronaldinho volley went marginally wide. Beckham's crossing was exquisite, Borriello's heading was equally poor. Pandev's and Milito combined fantastically, the Macedonian was denied by the post. However justice wasn't to be denied to Inter's latest acquisition. His freekick was sublime; maybe our set piece takers should learn a thing or two. What baffled me was that we were continuing to pour in the crosses into the box as Borriello struggled against Samuel and Lucio. The two centrebacks were winning the aerial duel hands down, but we persisted with the strategy. We were restricted to shoot from distance and quite often the ball boys had to shuttle to the moon to collect the ball. Huntelaar, when brought on started causing numerous headaches to the Inter backline, making Cesar work and bring out his true quality. He then proved to the world why he is truly the best net-minder on the planet with his penalty save along with the other world class saves.

This derby has taught me many lessons. One primarily is, Scudetto is easily a 150 years away from where we are. We will never challenge for the title unless we do what Inter did; spend. We need top players in the first team; Gattuso's, Abate's and Dida's wont do. Leonardo is not a title winning coach, not yet. He needs to have a superb team at his disposal for his tactics to work, and he cannot ring in results with a mediocre side. Pirlo should stop taking freekicks. And finally, we need to focus on the Coppa Italia for the next 25 years, because realistically, that is the only tournament that we stand a chance of winning!


Scorers-
Inter - Milito 10', Pandev 66'
Milan - /

Highlights - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBb01XktM58

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