Verona 2, Milan 1: Never Say Never

Mihajlovic said that he would never coach Milan. And then he did. And every game since he left, Milan fans grow more grateful. Berlusconi said that he had never seen Milan play worse football. And then he fired Mihajlovic, Milan fans have never been more hateful. There is a lesson here, or maybe more than one. Berlusconi has been wrong about a lot of things, but perhaps never more wrong than on this one. Oops, I shouldn’t have said never. Because the first lesson here is never say never.

He's too young to know how to suck that bad

On the podcast from this weekend, I said that Brocchi was the least convincing coach I could remember at Milan. But apparently, he listened and decided that he should try to be the least convincing coach ever. And I know that’s hard, when you’re really a puppet for someone else’s ideas. But he certainly is more convincing every day of being less convincing.

Speaking of more convincing, I have never been more convinced that the team’s poor performances are a direct result of poor management than now. This same team that beat Inter 3-0 in the Derby and other impressive performances this season lost 2-1 to a team that was relegated by Lasagna shortly thereafter. This bottom table team that got 28 shots off, with 12 of them being on goal. With only 36% possession. I mean that is difficult to allow if all of your players are in a coma or legally dead. But hey, Brocchi says that maintaining so much possession is a step forward, right? It is plain as the nose on my face that this match would have gone drastically different had Mihajlovic not been sacked by… wait for it… management.

A shame that Mauri's first Serie A start for Milan came when the team was imploding

Wszolek’s apparent cleat to De Sciglio’s face in the 10th minute was a perfect metaphor for the way management have treated the team. There were huge gashes, tons of blood, and De Sciglio tried to keep playing, but was eventually subbed off and required seven stitches to try to repair the damage, but there will be scars. But in the management analogy, Milan are still bleeding with no signs of stopping.

At least Menez scored in the 21st, a rebound from a Honda shot from distance that had been parried by Gollini. 1-0 Milan. If the game had stopped there, we’d still have a bit of dignity and also three points. But it didn’t. Like a train wreck that you can see is coming, it just kept going.

A moment of celebration in a world of hurt

The second half just kept getting worse. It kicked off with an Albertazzi yellow card in the 48th for a foul on Abate, which the ref should have known was just a friendly greeting from an ex-teammate. Bacca collided with Gollini in the 62nd, but both players were able to continue. Bacca kept fighting, but all of his attempts on goal were thwarted. Zapata saw yellow in the 67th, then Mauri was apparently handed a yellow in the 71st as well, I assume it was for saying something to the ref.

Verona’s luck became obvious when Romagnoli was called for a handball in the box as he was pushed and was flailing his arms for balance. But I’ve seen worse calls for less. So our former Pazzini stepped up and converted the resulting penalty, making it 1-1 Verona. Besides, it’s not as if Milan did enough the rest of the match to deserve anything more.

Impressive to see how quickly one coach can destroy a team

So after conceding so many shots, and Donnarumma’s heroics producing 10 saves, the most for any keeper in Serie A this season, Siligardi scored from a free kick in the dying seconds of the match, the fifth minute of stoppage time. 2-1 Verona. Ironically, the free kick was also given for a handball, perhaps using our hands is part of Silvio’s Brocchi’s brilliant new tactics? But congratulations to Verona for their fourth win of the season, even if they are still going to Serie B. They certainly earned their three points from this match.

All I know is that anyone who thought they could never see such a poor performance from Milan against the bottom of the table team should think again. Until something gives at the top of the club, we’ll likely see plenty more games like that. Sacking Mihajlovic was demoralizing enough, but whatever Brocchi’s been doing has obviously sucked the very lives out of our players, and with Sassuolo only one point behind us again, we should be very lucky to still finish sixth. Berlusconi thought he’d never seen Milan play so poorly? Well surprise, Mr. President. Get ready to see much, much worse. You should never say never.

This post inspired by the music of Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never”

Our next match is

Milan vs. Frosinone

Sunday, May 1 • 15:00 CEST (9am EDT)