Podcast: Make Milan Great Again

Everyone was stunned when Mihajlovic was sacked and replaced with the promoted Brocchi with only six games and a Coppa final left. After seemingly finally doing some of the right things to actually rebuild after almost four years, this took us spiraling straight down to that horrible limbo between the champions of yesteryear and the success of the future. So while we wait to see what becomes of our beloved club, all we can do is talk about what can be done to make Milan great again.

Looks can be decieving

For such an important discussion, I needed a truly passionate fan, so I asked Steve, aka the Bonaventura of Milan fans. Steve didn’t let his fame from @RedCardWeekly go to his head, instead he founded a fantastic company called vintagepitch.com with amazing football t-shirts, which you can follow on Twitter @VintagePitch. And as if that wasn’t enough, he is involved in the relaunch of the Milan Club Montreal, or @ACMClubMTL on Twitter. We chatted about:

• News of the Week: Niang update, Drones, Sexism, VAR technology, Panama Papers, Kobe retires, Milan’s recent loss

• Season Update: summary of recent matches

• Make Milan Great Again: discussion of Milan’s demise, the sacking of Mihajlovic, and how to get back to successful ways again

• Coming Up: a look at the games ahead

Download this Episode

Thanks again to Steve for taking time out of his insanely busy schedule to talk Milan with me. Follow him @RedCardWeekly, @VintagePitch, and especially support the relaunched @ACMClubMTL.

Adriano back in the squad for this match after injury

Verona-Milan Mini-Preview: Going to Hellas

I Diavoli should be used to hell by now, but nothing is worse than losing to the 20th place team in the league. Considering that Brocchi felt that having 77% possession in a 0-0 draw vs. the 17th place team was a “step forward,” this match could be hell indeed.

Verona have won three times this season and last week was not one of those times. In their 1-0 defeat to Empoli, Del Neri lined up Gollini; Pisano, Samir, Bianchetti, Souprayen; Wszolek, Siligardi, Greco, Ionita, Viviani; and Pazzini. If the name Pazzini sounds familiar, you may also enjoy such Milan flashbacks as 3rd keeper Ferdinando Coppola, the young Michelangelo Albertazzi, and the infamous Urby Emanuelson, all on the bench for the 20th place team. But perhaps one of them will see playing time as Souprayen and Viviani are suspended this match, and Toni, Helander, and Fares are out injured.

Milan will be missing key players, too, such as sound minds, good judgment, and clear vision. Also, reality is indefinitely suspended at the club apparently. But as for players, we will be missing Balotelli and Alex to suspension, while Bonaventura, Bertolacci, and Niang are all out injured. They are the lucky ones who aren’t sitting up front for this train wreck of a season ending.

If Milan manage to win this one, it’s the 20th place team, and nothing that other teams haven’t managed to do 18 times this season. A draw would not convince, we did that in December, and even a loss would not be a surprise at this point. Our players are tired from playing on Thursday, demoralized from… well from playing for this Milan, and the new coach is nearly as delusional as the man pulling his strings. Watch or don’t watch, it doesn’t really matter. We’re all going to Hellas.

Our next match is

Verona vs. Milan

Monday, April 25 • 17:00 CEST (11am EDT)
This match will be shown LIVE on RAI and BeIN Sports in the U.S.