Roma 2, Milan 1: Comedy of Errors

We knew Roma were plagued with injuries on an apocalyptic level, which gave us the most hope we could have of coming away from the Stadio Olimpico with any points at all. But after our worst start in decades and with a young team, we have already had to change coaches this season. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that we fell to one of three teams in Serie A that have only lost one game this season. Especially since our team have clearly been suffering with mentality and focus. Losing a match due to the mistakes of our young players wasn’t the surprise. The real surprise is that fans on social media continue to be a comedy of errors.

More celebrating the good, less hating on the mistakes

I could write about what a revelation Theo Hernandez is. But that’s not what fans are talking about. Instead of taking inspiration from the fact that he left Real Madrid, the only team with more Champions League trophies than us, and took a pay cut to join Milan, they criticize the team. If only Milan had fans that would step up the way that Hernandez has.

No, the fans are talking about Calabria’s error that cost us the second goal. Not how he put in a great cross for Theo to score the goal for Milan. Or all of the other things he did right, just his errors. Yes, they let a masked 6’4” Bosnian striker waltz into the box, there were errors that happened. Name a player, and the hate is there, even when players put in great performances. Only our players are sweating blood on the pitch, dieting and training and working out and giving their lives to Milan. The fans are just sitting behind a keyboard, or in the case of the Ultras, boycotting in the stadium.

No love for the assist, only hate for the errors

After two years of hate that was completely misguided, most fans finally see Gigio for who he has always been: a world class goalkeeper whose heart belongs to Milan. With talk of a possible contract renewal, even with reports of a paycut, the media and fans on social media are already waiting to disparage him again and act worse than Raiola or Mirabelli did last time. This was a perfect example of how fans impact the players and the club firsthand, even when fans are just a comedy of errors.

This match was a vast improvement over all of Giampaolo’s games combined. Were it not for the costly errors, the results would show as much. A loss to Roma is actually an improvement on a draw to Lecce. Sure, we can question why Pioli inexplicably keeps swapping Kessie and Paqueta’s sides, impacting both players’ performances. But other than that, he is pretty much doing everything right to improve the team, especially mentally.

The masked guy has 5 goals in 5 games, we're not the only ones to make errors

That includes Pioli asking fans to support the team. Period. He said that calling out a single player is like calling out him, the team, and Milan in general. And yet there are still more fans posting hashtags with their hated player of the day and “out” on social media. Not a surprise when you consider that this morally bankrupt set of fans who also have questionable intelligence levels trended #PioliOut before Pioli was even hired. No one analyzes the game or the decisions anymore, they just make knee-jerk reactions and spread the hate. It’s really tragic.

Again, I want to talk about the game, but the errors on the pitch were nothing compared to the errors made by fans and the media. We saw such improvement overall mentally, both last week and this week. Especially when the goals were scored, the ability to react, something that has been missing since last year under Gattuso. Same with the new and improved offense. But the fans have lost sight of what it is to support a team. We have all been suffering all of these years. Think of all of the players who suffered with us. But on a much larger scale. As in their lives and livelihood are tied to Milan’s success, not just their Twitter or Instagram accounts.

Hated before he even met the team. Really, Milan fans?

If we want this team to get back to winning ways, then we as fans need to remember how to support them. Not delusionally, or with unrealistic expectations, but with actual support and without all of the hate. We need to be the fans that deserve a team like we want Milan to be, not just expect them to win without us or even in spite of us. What we say on social media does impact the players, the team, the coach, and the management. In fact, Pioli has addressed it in the last few press conferences. So try this on for size: If you want Milan to return to Champions League, then tweet or post like a fan of a Champions League winning team. Take the high road. Talk about successes, not just failures. We have a young, talented team. We have the technical directors of our dreams. We have an ownership that has piles of money. All of the things we asked for when the team was deteriorating in the first place. That means winning will come. But it takes time, it takes patience, and it takes support. Anything less than, and you become the comedy of errors.

This post inspired by the music of the UEFA Champions League Anthem

Our next match is

Serie A Week 10

Milan vs. SPAL

Thursday, October 31 • 21:00 CET (4pm EDT*)

*European Summer Time has ended, but U.S. Daylight time is still ongoing