Milan Obsession

Many of you who read regularly may remember that I am married to a Juventino, so this week preceding the big matchup is always “smacktalk week” around here. This time, Milan are wearing the Scudetto patch on their uniforms, and tired from midweek Champions League play, whereas Juventus are welcoming us to their new stadium, having also spent the most money in the mercato on reinforcements. So I decided that we should give them a little housewarming gift. How about Milan hand them their first home loss in their new stadium? Yes, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, as the loss of 3 points will affect them all season long. You’re welcome in advance, honey.

In sports, we always talk about Cinderella teams. Viktoria Plzeň are a Cinderella team that made it to the ball, but maybe didn’t have quite what it took to dance the night away with the prince. But it wasn’t for lack of trying. If you look at the match purely by the numbers, you’d never guess the disparity between the leagues they play in, the salary and talent of their players, or the sheer amount of cash behind each team. They came to play, they left it all out on the pitch, and for that, I say: Respect.

When I meet someone for the first time, I try to develop friendly conversation, listen to them and get to know them. But when I meet an opponent for the first time in competitions, I look at my opponent as dinner. I am a ruthless, vindictive, win-at-all-costs kind of girl, not above making my opponent cry or worse. It is this carefree, happy, competitive attitude which I hope Milan bring to the pitch on Wednesday when we welcome FC Viktoria Plzeň to the San Siro. All smiles and handshakes and such before and after the whistle, all predatory football to the death in between the whistles.

So far our Serie A performances have been severely lacking in quality, and the scorelines show it. Tonight, the players stepped it up a couple of notches, but I don’t know if it would be considered quality play necessarily. However, with a lot of heart and a little luck, we got the 3 points. And at least until everyone else plays tomorrow, that bumps us up to the top half of the table. You can’t put a price on that.

Milan go into Saturday’s match with yet another injury to add to the list. In my mind’s eye, I see the team, battered and bruised, huddled together at the fortress San Siro, preparing for battle. Allegri calls for every able-bodied player to stand up and be counted. But there are so few… And normally, he would probably rest some important players against a team like Cesena ahead of the midweek Champions League match with Viktoria Plzen. But now he is forced to rest them, forced to select from those who are fit. And given that we are 14th in the table with only 2 points in 3 matches, he must play his very best 11 so he can play for the win.

Not only did our boys look like they were underwater again when it came to pace and accuracy, but our results make us look like we are barely treading water, not trying to reach the shore. If it weren’t for the young El Shaarawy throwing us a life ring, we could have sunk all the way to the bottom of the table. As it was, we managed to float back up out of the relegation zone into 14th, but we are nowhere near the shore yet.

The optimist will be looking forward to tomorrow’s match with hope and a positive attitude. I am usually that person. But I have eaten two rounds of Serie A humble pie, and my optimism is suffering from some serious indigestion, to be quite honest. So in reality, I am hunkering down for Udinese’s trip to the San Siro like naughty students prepare to face the headmaster. And I am practicing saying “Thank you, may I have another?”

If you didn’t read my preview, you probably didn’t realize how severe the injury crisis was for us going to the San Paolo. With one-third of our players out with injury, our team was already frighteningly thin going into the match. And with Lavezzi’s miraculous recovery, he was able to help Cavani give us nightmares in the scoring department, too.

While Napoli could be missing key player Ezequiel Lavezzi for Sunday’s clash at the San Paolo, Milan could be missing up to10 first team players. Wait, how many in a starting lineup? Oh yeah, 11. And we’re missing 10 players. Nice. Will this match have a viewer warning with it? And should we be bringing extra stretchers with us now to these matches?

In case you are living under a rock and missedJovan's Milan Season Preview, my friend Avia of the AC Milan Offside fame has offered to catch you up to speed with the contenders before week 3 gets underway...

I have to confess, I tried to be brave going into this match against the defending champions. But the news of Ibra’s injury hit me like a sucker punch, and I honestly felt quite ill at kickoff. But Pato made sure I didn’t suffer long, as he scored a goal in 24.77 seconds, quick as lightning.

Barcelona have dominated Europe so much lately that I bet even most Americans could find Barcelona on a map. Okay, let’s not get carried away here, I mean how many Americans have even seen a map? Still, the 1st match in the Champions League Group Stage on Tuesday is going to be a big one.

Sometimes as fans, I think we see our team win a title, and we assume that they will pretty much automatically win every match from there forward. But this year’s title race started today, and our team only earned one point of three. And while I think our players were both very determined and yet realistic, maybe some of us fans were rudely awakened from our fairy tale by a very well organized Lazio side.

The Serie A strike is over, which means the ball can finally start rolling in Italy. The defending champions will open the season at home against a tough Lazio side. Despite losing some key players such as Muslera, Zarate and Lichsteiner, the sky-blue side of Rome may just be a more compact and experienced team this year. On the other side, Milan strengthened their scudetto-winning squad with a few very solid and reliable players. With both teams almost complete, everything points to a fierce battle on Friday.

10) Ibra-freaking-himovic and his league-winning mojo (or maybe just his massive talent?)

Today I thought we would take a quick look at how we rate the Players’ Strike. As strikes go, has it had enough drama? Have there been enough innocent women and children harmed? Has one party completely owned the other, or has there been a lot of boring compromise going on? Have there been ongoing negotiations taking place, showing concern for the fans, or have both parties barely been bothered to make any effort toward resolution? Has it lasted long enough? Has the loss of football to loss of life ratio been high enough, or could it be improved?

After Milan's Supercup triumph, a question arises: is the victory a sign of what is to come in the new season or is Gasperini's Inter simply still searching for its identity? With Juve strengthening and Napoli keeping their stars while adding the midfield motor that is Gokhan Inler, Inter is still likely to be our strongest competitor for the title. So I'll take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each side in an attempt to compare them as scudetto contenders.