Sampdoria-Milan Preview: Proceed With Caution

There are no easy games. And even if there were, this won’t be one of them. First of all, it’s never an easy game at the Marassi. The stadium was built to intimidate, the fans heed its call, and there is too much history there, too. But this time Sampdoria have also started their season out on the right foot, so they will likely trouble us, too. Despite both teams having played on Wednesday, only Milan have to play again on Thursday of this next week. Like we did last week, etc. So we have fatigue and squad rotation to contend with that Samp just don’t have to worry about. We need to proceed with caution.

History

Sampdoria sit not far behind us on the table. With a game in hand, they have two wins and two draws to start their season. Their midweek 0-0 draw to Hellas Verona was perhaps disappointing, but they were also away to Verona. For that match, Giampaolo lined up Puggioni; Regini, Silvestre, Murru, Berszynski, Caprari, Torreira, Alvarez, Linetty, Praet, and Quagliarella. It looks as though Giampaolo will be missing at least Viviano and Dodo to injury, but should still have a strong squad to face Montella’s side.

Milan have the task of gelling as a team, avoiding injuries, and playing in three competitions. None of those are easy to begin with, but all three simultaneously could prove impossible. Avoiding injury did not work out well for poor Conti, Antonelli is still out, and Montolivo has picked up a small injury as well. Thus far, we are lucky that those are our only injuries as of this writing. However, Montella may choose to not call up players to rest them for our clash with Rijeka in the Europa League on Thursday. Players like Bonucci and Kessie have played more minutes than most, but it’s hard to know if and when Montella will give them a break as they are both so essential.

This veteran has no problems spoiling your lunch

One might assume that Sampdoria would have had a loss had their match with Roma not been rained out. But it is never safe to assume anything in football, because anything can happen in 90 minutes. Which is exactly what Milan need to remember as we head to Genoa. For the past five years, we have suffered. Now things are looking up, but we have to get there one match at a time. This match isn’t even easy on paper, and playing at lunchtime makes it that much less predictable. So set your alarms here in North America, and proceed with caution.

This post inspired by the music of Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower”

Serie A Week 6

Sampdoria vs. Milan

Sunday, September 24 • 12:30 CEST (6:30am EDT)

This match will be shown LIVE on RAI Italia America in the U.S.

(also available on your devices on fuboTV and BeIN Sports Connect)