In true Serie A fashion, all Serie A matches for week 37 where there was something to play for were not just scheduled simultaneously, but also (finally) scheduled for lunchtime. You know, the hottest time of day? This is when Milan will face the port city of Genoa at the Marassi. With a team that are mentally and physically tattered and torn, missing three more players to suspension, the prospect is quite grim. Add to that the keg of gun powder that is Milan's current management, and this match is a disaster waiting to happen. Even if they somehow pull off the win, it will not be easy. No matter the final result, at the end of 90 minutes, fans will likely be feeling shipwrecked.
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| Even our stalwart defense is breaking. |
Our hosts, Genoa, are in 14th place coming into this match, with nothing much to gain or lose but a place in the standings. But their manager, the legendary De Rossi, won't care about that. He will be there to win. Even more so now that Milan are tied on points with his Roma, and both fighting for a top four spot. And with recent form of two wins, a loss, and two draws, tragically, Genoa come into this match with better form than Milan. Worse when you consider that De Rossi took over a winless Genoa in November, and has managed to lift them safely out of the relegation zone, whereas Allegri started the first half of Milan's season chasing the top of the table, but our second half of the season performances would see Milan relegated. Also, Genoa were one of the lower table teams to take points off of Allegri's side in January when our home match finished 1-1.
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| We are so cursed. |
Genoa's most recent match was a 0-0 draw with Fiorentina last week. For that match, De Rossi lined up a 3-4-2-1 with: Bijlow; Marcandelli, Østigård, Zätterström; Ellertsson, Amorim, Frendrup, Martín; Ekhator, Vitinha; and our former Lorenzo Colombo. Side note: Genoa recently triggered their obligation to buy on Colombo's contract, so he is officially a Genoa player now. And yes, Colombo was the one who scored against Milan in January, by the way. For our match, De Rossi will be missing our old pal and Cinderella story, Messias; as well as Norton-Cuffy, and Østigård.
Allegri has a suspension problem, and for once, it is not his own. The card accumulation situation finally caught up with Milan last week vs. Atalanta with a foul and a couple of foul mouths, apparently. The result is that we will be missing Leão, Saelemaekers, and Estupiñan for this one. No matter who the players are, when you have an outfield squad of only 20 players, missing three players is massive. Worse still, Ricci is apparently in doubt after sustaining an ankle sprain in training.
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| He refuses to stop. |
However, Allegri shocked everyone in his press conference when he announced that Modrić, whose season was thought to be over, will be available for this one. He trained with the team wearing a mask. No one embodies our tattered and torn team than a player who had his cheek bone shattered less than two weeks ago, then had surgery, yet is defying the medical experts and the odds to return and play. Pulisic has also recovered and should be available after his injury last week.
The players, of course, have been in ritiro, a "non-punitive" (according to Allegri) retreat and training camp where the players all stay at Milanello together and don't go home for the designated duration of the "non-punishment" that only occurs when the team is performing terribly, and usually only happens in Italy. You may have noticed that Italy has become a third world nation when it comes to football, and this practice, which is almost never successful, tears the players away from their families. In particular, new papas Pavlović and Gabbia, who had to leave their newborns and recovering wives at home since Thursday for this "non-punishment" ritiro.
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| Furlani's latest scapegoats? Or will Gerald finally see the truth? |
The only benefit I can see of the players being locked up at Milanello is that hopefully Allegri has restricted their access to the news, because the past few days, it has been filled with stories of a big fight between Ibrahimović and Allegri after the Napoli match in April (100% believable, based on both of their personalities,) as well who in management, if anyone, will be staying after the season ends. While obviously ignited by the massive fan protests on Sunday, this group of narcissists and fools did not need a match to light the keg of gun powder that are their "working relationships."
The worst of it all, is that the consensus seems to be that Tare will be leaving. The most competent and successful of anyone in question, of course. Media speak about him being "scapegoated," but how is that even possible? If Gerald is truly a numbers man, he needs to look no further than the books to understand the miracles that Igli Tare has wrought in less than one season. In the past five seasons, Milan have only brought in €81 million in profits from player sales, including the big income sales like Tonali, Reijnders, and Thiaw. Yet in a single transfer window, Tare has not only cleared Milan's bloated roster, he created over €100 million in profits from player sales. Not to mention signing Luka F**king Modrić. He could sleep with someone's wif and get a pass, he's done something no one has one at Milan in decades, if ever.
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| A table from @SwissRamble showing Milan's (& Serie A's) profits from player sales for the past 5 years |
There is this myth that Furlani is good with the books. He is not. He was handed a fully balanced budget from Gazidis/Elliott/Maldini that included the first profit Milan had in over 17 years. And since then, he has had to sell a big player every June in order to balance the budget. He has increased wages, while decreasing the size of the active first team players by nearly a third, which means the wages are actually substantially higher. He has spent over €400 million on player transfers, and for what? He took the Scudetto-winning squad he was handed, and has taken them to eighth place last season, all with massive drama. And this season, despite Gerald twisting his tiny little arm into hiring Tare and Allegri at the end of the season last year. Milan may not even qualify for the Champions League this season.
This explosion of truths that Allegri has kept below the surface with his creepy smile and "everything is fine" press conferences all season, as well as the complete lack of communications from RedBird all along, has created the most toxic of environments, and no doubt contributed to recent poor results. Fans are exhausted. The players clearly are, as well. It's difficult to see this match going well, honestly. And while I applaud Gerald for having the balls to reportedly be attending this match and owning up to his mess, it is far too little, far too late. He destroyed this team when he appointed that traitorous, backstabbing, rat-faced little weasel he calls a CEO, and then followed his instructions to sack Maldini. That didn't just put this team in stormy waters, it left us shipwrecked.
This post inspired by the music of Lavina's "Kraj Mene"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
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