Allegri is a very stubborn man. We knew this about him the first time around. As he progressed and won trophies with prior clubs, he increasingly became known for winning by the smallest of margins, a style of playing he dubbed "corto muso," which translates to "short muzzle," or what we would say in English, "by a nose." People claim it is about playing defensively, efficiently, pragmatically, and focusing on the win itself. However, for us fans, it feels a lot more like gambling on horse racing. (Allegri's love of horse racing is actually where corto muso comes from.) And so, too many matches this season have felt like Allegri was gambling with our potential results. Making some inexplicable lineups and changes and playing his stubborn, defensively constipated tactics at the risk of losing, but gambling that it was enough to win "by a nose." And most of the time, the quality of our best players managed to get him that win. Or at least snatch a late goal for a draw. So many draws. But this 1-0 loss to Napoli showed us that sometimes he gambles too much. He's more focused on doing the bare minimum to reach top four than he is properly preparing the team for matches like this one. A loss like this is what happens when you can't see the match for the corto muso on your face.
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| Did Allegri gamble too much in this one? |
I do understand that Allegri was dealing with fitness issues. Maignan, Rabiot, Modrić, Saelemaekers, De Winter, and Pulisic had all traveled to the U.S. much farther than most of our players, for their national team duties, and only just returned to the squad on Thursday. He had Leão & Pulisic supposedly fit after longterm injuries, but only just, if that. Loftus-Cheek just returning. And then there is Santi Gimenez, returning after being out since October, with only about 15 minutes of game time under his belt from two weeks prior.
I get that all of these things impacted his starting lineups. But starting Nkunku and Füllkrug up front was a massive gamble. Neither one has exactly shone when starting. Nkunku has six goals and three assists in all competitions this season, but that is only one goal every 214 minutes, which is just not enough for a player we paid €42m for. (Don't get me started on how Allegri has never used him correctly, though.)
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| Nkunku may be better than he's shown this season, but he was not enough on Monday. |
Füllkrug only has the one goal in 910 minutes of play, and while he has been quite impactful with his physical presence and drawing defenders, he is most effective at this when he is a super sub. So why start these two together? Two players who have never paired together, in such a big match? And the bigger question, when it wasn't working, why not make a change at halftime? Why wait until the 62nd minute to make a change? If the fitness of the other attackers did not allow for 90 minutes of play, why not 45 minutes, either in the first or second half?
The match started out with a rough foul on Rabiot by Anguissa, which left our player holding his shoulder in pain. And I can't complain about Doveri not awarding an early yellow card for that when almost 30 minutes later, Pavlović elbowed Giovane in the face and was perhaps even more deserving of a card, but was not shown one. And he did card Buongiorno for a bad foul on Modrić just 12 minutes in, so he wasn't letting everything go.
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| Saelemaekers has fought hard, but his moments of brilliance have been neutralized by Allegri's tactics. |
It was a bit worrying to see Saelemaekers grabbing his upper thigh area early on, until the replay showed that he had actually taken a ball to the more sensitive groin area, and was just trying to recover from that. Milan's best chances came from Pavlović, a header from a free kick in the 13th minute that went just wide, and also a shot from Nkunku in the 35th minute that went just over the bar.
But Napoli had their chances, too, Spinazzola's chance in the 23rd minute was unsettlingly just over the corner of Maignan's goal. And McTominay had a late bicycle kick that went just wide. My favorite, though, was an epic block that Pavlović made on Giovane in the 37th minute to deny him a chance. I do love a great block. And had the match ended at halftime, Pavlović would have definitely been MOTM, as usual, at both ends of the pitch.
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| Maignan came up big for us several times, as always. |
With no changes at the start of the second half, any hope I had previously had was slammed out of my heart in the same way Saelemaekers was shoved out of bounds so hard, he fell into the bench area, he was lucky not to be injured (and was a bit slow to get up from that one.) Giovane, who was a late sub for Højlund, who was sick and unable to play, took a great shot in the 51st minute that forced Maignan into a big save. That was a huge difference between the two teams – Napoli had a dynamic striker who got himself into great positions and consistently created problems for our defense, along with players who regularly fed him chances, as well.
There was an incident I haven't seen anyone talk about, and it was kind of disturbing for me. In the 51st minute, as players were jostling one another in the box awaiting a Napoli free kick, Mc Tominay first shoved Pavlović, but then very casually yet deliberately brought his hand up and struck the bottom of Pavlović's chin, knocking him off his feet. Like an actual uppercut to the chin. It was not a natural motion for his arm after the shove, it was clearly intentional.
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| Pavlović gave 100% or more, as usual, at both ends of the pitch. |
And especially after Pavlović was down and Doveri whistled to stop play, I would think it was something that VAR would have looked at. But VAR only intervenes when there has not, in fact, been a clear and obvious error. And McTominay acting all nice and helping Pavlović up did not help, either. But violent play like this is exactly what VAR is for. And how much would it have changed the match had it been fairly called and McTominay sent off?
I suppose I was equally mad that CBS Sports' disgracefully bad American commentators on Paramount+ did not even catch the replay or say anything about it because they were too busy gushing about Giovane as if they were fangirls on a podcast instead of actually calling the match. This is why good commentators are so important. Whether or not they notice something, what they say about it, educated or not, affects whole audiences and the discourse around matches. And those two "commentators" do not warrant such power or authority, they are the equivalent of sitting next to someone in a bar during a match. The fact that they need a "referee expert" (and they spend half of the time undermining her professional opinions) tells you all you need to know. You won't find anything remotely that poor from the English speaking World Feed commentators from IMG.
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| Too little, too late. |
But I digress, because right after the unpunished incident with McTominay and Pavlović, Maignan miraculously saved a close shot from De Bruyne, and McTominay's effort with the rebound was also denied. McTominay then had a shot that Maignan saved, but it would have been offside anyway, and Anguissa had a header that was wide. Napoli were putting the pressure on.
So Allegri finally made some changes. He brought Santi Gimenez on for Füllkrug to give some fresh legs to our attack, and replaced Saelemaekers with Athekame to put some fresh legs on the right wing as well. The latter tried to play hero a few minutes later, taking a wild shot from distance, launching the ball into space, maybe he was a fan of the Artemis II mission? Allegri's nemesis then made one change, then another crucial one in the 74th minute, Politano for Spinazzola, while Allegri finally brought Pulisic on for Nkunku.
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| Athekame made an impact, but it just wasn't enough. |
For Conte, it was the gamechanger, for Allegri, it was too little, too late. In the 79th, Politano scored the one goal, "assisted" if you will by a header from De Winter, who was attempting to clear the ball, but put it right at the feet of Politano in the area, and gave his fellow Milan defenders (Bartesaghi, specifically,) zero chance of stopping the Napoli winger. One defensive error from a young defender (or two,) and Napoli were ahead. 1-0 Napoli.
While Pulisic was causing Napoli problems, as evidenced by Politano's yellow card for fouling him in the 82nd minute, Allegri's desperate "throw everything at them" subs in the 82nd minute was far too late to make a difference. Sending Loftus-Cheek on for Tomori and Rafa Leão on for Fofana meant he now had his three young, and potentially best attackers on the pitch.
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| They arrived as Kings, but perhaps left as the young Princes they are. |
But they were fighting against a deficit in both time and score. And considering that Fofana is our "assist man," I don't know how they were supposed to make a difference against a Napoli team defending their lead in the final eight minutes. Athekame got another shot off in the 86th that was just over, but that was it. Allegri had his eyes on the prize instead of the match, and his chances to win or even draw passed him by.
To be fair, there was also the political matchfixing that allowed Napoli to ban all Milan fans from the Lombardy region, so Milan were without their fan base in a sea of 50,000 people at the Maradona who were almost entirely Napoli fans. Even Napoli's Curva A had put up a banner outside the stadium ahead of the match which read, "Enough with territorial bans, we want our rivals back." Even the horrible thugs who have travel bans themselves disapprove of giving their team this unfair advantage.
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| They deserved to have their most devout fans. |
The Curva Sud had done what they could in light of the ban. Approximately 4,000 fans showed up at Milanello on Saturday to send the team off, which Allegri even thanked them for in his press conference. But it's just not the same as having your fans there in the stadium. And I also loved how poorly the Club have treated these fans, with restrictions and bans and lack of communications to basically silence them at San Siro, but they definitely featured them on their social media when they were not in the stadium. Disgusting. Could we have won or drawn this match with our fans? Maybe. But we'll never know, will we?
It may not be fair then, to put all the blame on Allegri and his poor choices and tactics. The lack of fan support had to have impacted the outcome in at least some small way as well. And now Allegri has lost to Conte seven times in 11 meetings, winning only two. So whatever his deal is with being afraid of the Eternal Narcissist probably affected Allegri's ability to make the right calls, too. But Milan still dropped three more points, dropped to third place, and will now have to watch our backs just to stay in the top four race. That's just what happens, though, when you can't see the match for the corto muso on your face.
Milan Primavera Shutout Lecce Primavera 2-0
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| Domniței celebrates after a fantastic goal, his third in as many matches. |
After a tough run of form, Milan Primavera had drawn their last two matches, but finally returned to winning ways with a brilliant 2-0 shutout of Lecce Primavera at home. The match was filled with chances for Renna's boys, but the first goal came from a fantastic long ball forward from Mancioppi that fell perfectly for Domniței, who wickedly lobbed it over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net. 1-0 for Milan Primavera, and a fantastic goal, too. Bouyer made a great save late in the first half to keep the clean sheet.
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| Ossola rushes to congratulate Plazzotta, who sealed the win with his goal. |
In the second half, Milan Primavera still looked the most dangerous, with Mancioppi hitting the crossbar after Ossola's shot was blocked. With growing confidence and more chances created, the second goal came from Plazzotta in the 73rd minute, whose first attempt was saved, but he persevered and scored the rebound. 2-0 Milan Primavera. Pippo Scotti nearly made it three, but the 2-0 victory was more than enough for all three points. Watch the highlights here. The win also pushed them up the table to 13th from 15th the previous week, so positive all the way around. Their next match will be vs. Atalanta Primavera on Monday.
Milan Futuro Lose 1-0 to Real Calepino Away
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| Magrassi battles against three defenders. |
Milan Futuro's six match unbeaten streak was broken by a 1-0 loss to Real Calepino on the road. Milan Futuro were in the game all 90 minutes, even if the first half was a bit slow. But the second half, there was more action, and Magrassi even hit the crossbar. Oddo's guys were building momentum, and a Milan goal seemed almost inevitable, until Oboe scored a header from a corner that Pitarella had no chance of saving to give the home team the 1-0 lead in the 62nd minute. Try as they might, Milan Futuro were unable to grab an equalizer after that. Brief highlights of the match are available.
Of note, Ossola started this match and played 72 minutes after having played all 90 minutes for the Primavera on Saturday. He was replaced by Scotti, who had also played around 30 minutes for the Primavera. It was also the Futuro debut for Seedorf's son, Denzel Viana Seedorf, who subbed on the 83rd. Another big debut was Luca Menon, who plays for Milan's U17 team, and he was able to see 30 minutes as well. Lastly, this was Piermarini's first start since returning from his long injury.
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| Oddo has done much better than Bonera, but that was such an incredibly low bar. |
Oddo gave an interview recently where he said, "Sometimes you have to give up results to help your players grow". And while I agree that player development should be the primary focus, we had 19 Futuro players left last summer, and more in January, most for free, because neither results nor development were prioritized last season. Winning does help a lot with psychology, which does impact development as well, and clubs should never put player development so far ahead of winning that it ruins the morale of the entire team. Just saying. Milan Futuro have dropped from their second place perch down to fifth, and face the eighth place Brusaporto on Sunday.
Reviewed by Elaine
on
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