We all make choices. Some fans regret the choice of watching Milan since Gerald Cardinale bought the club, for example. But there is one person whose choices affect the match, the results, and the players' mentality. That man right now, of course, is Rúben Amorim. And while people loved his prematch press conference, his decisions in his lineups cost us dearly. On the surface, we dropped points in our 2-2 draw with Lazio, despite wearing the sleek new black third kits. However, we have seen in the past how much decisions like this early in the season can be costly throughout the season, or how the loss of points can even determine our fate on the Serie A table at the end of the year. Which is why, as a manager especially, it is so important to make the right choices.
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| The second half was the Moreira Show. |
Let me preface this with the statement that I have not yet made a judgment on Amorim, he obviously has potential. And he has a slim chance at success, too, in spite of being thrown to the wolves and having no support, with no one else in management who actually knows football. But his choice to stop Estupiñan's transfer this summer was unforgivable. And his choice to start the Ecuadorian in this match was costly.
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| I truly hope Amorim learned from this match, dropping points is a brutal way to learn. |
The first 10 minutes of this match were so chaotic, it's impossible to describe how awful it was to watch. Estupiñan very nearly conceded a penalty for a foul on Cancellieri, then Zaccagni force Maignan into a big save in just the fifth minute. Chukwueze managed to get a header toward goal that was saved by Mandas, and at the other end, Maignan had to make another save, this time on Noslin. And in just the 10th minute, Cancellieri swept past Estupiñan as if he did not even exist and scored the early goal. 1-0 Lazio.
Chukwueze sent a ball into orbit, and later, Pavlović's header went over as well. Just before halftime, Loftus-Cheek hit the ball hard and from distance, so it bounced up, and nearly went into the net, but it did not. And Gila also forced a save out of Mandas in stoppage time. Other than that, the rest of the first half belonged to Lazio.
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| Once again, our captain, Maignan, saved us. Four big saves. |
In the 21st minute, there was a worrying moment when Zaccagni was on attack and collided with Maignan, who stayed down for a bit. After the cooling break. the on-loan-from-Inter Frattesi sent a shot across the face of the goal that went just wide. But in the 39th minute, Lazio got their second goal, which seemed rather miraculous after it hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down. 2-0 But it kind of looked like a De Winter may have actually scored an own goal. Even their goals were filled chaos.
Taking Estupiñan off at halftime was non-negotiable. And Amorim decided to do a pretty big reset by subbing on three fresh players: Moreira, Musah, and Pulisic for Estupiñan, Modrić, and Loftus-Cheek respectively. And the rest worked. Immediately, Milan looked like a completely different team. It's all about choices.
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| Pulisic was an absolute game changer. |
Pavlović had a great header saved in the 57th minute. then Pulisic, who once helped "inspire" Lazio to get three red cards in one match, earned the first yellow of this match for a crunching tackle on Kenneth Taylor. He was not going to let them use him for a punching bag again, and apparently, he also wasn't waiting around for Mercenaro to card the Lazio players, so he took matters into his own hands er.... feet.
He also seemed determined to prove himself on the pitch, especially since this was his first appearance this season. So immediately after the card, he forced Mandas into a save, and the Lazio keeper barely managed to keep it out of his goal. That was followed by another yellow card, this time for Pavlović, who fouled Isaksen.
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| This goal was absolutely insane. |
Suddenly, an angel named Diego Moreira appeared. And he scored his very first for Milan, a powerful, absolutely stunning goal from the tightest of angles, with an assist from Pulisic. 2-1 for Lazio. The clouds and doomed feeling from the first half were lifting. Then, two minutes later, he scored again, this time with an assist from Ramos. 2-2 all. Heavenly. While some in the media are melting down about Ramos only having scored one goal in four matches, it should be noted that at one point, a stat popped up and it was he and Rabiot that ran the most in this match, both having run over 10 km by that point. Those guys worked hard.
For all the talk of protecting goalkeepers, Isaksen fouled Maignan pretty hard in the air, but there was no card for that. After the second cooling break, Guðmondsson, who had subbed on a few minutes earlier, took a shot that Maignan saved. Omari Hutchinson, making his Milan debut, subbed on for Alphadjo Cissè in the 77th minute. Mandas was called into action once again for another Moreira shot three minutes later. Milan had twice as many shots, but with only one more shot on target than Lazio, having fired 16 shots, nine of seven of them on target.
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| Moreira's debut brace made up for a disastrous first half. |
I'm going to guess that Moreira takes issues with fascists. Why? He was fouled hard by Romano Floriani Mussolini (yes, that Mussolini. He is the great grandson of the notorious dictator.) He stood up and shoved "Floriani M." and a bit of a skirmish began and was quickly broken up. While it is more likely that Moreira took issue with the tackle, I am still going to support the political theory, because it's way more interesting.
Amorim's final sub was another good choice, he subbed Camarda on for Ramos in the 85th minute. That guy seriously deserves some playing time after all he's been through. Gila then took the opportunity to foul his former teammate and Lazio captain, Zaccagni, for which the now Milan defender was shown a yellow card. However, when Guðmondsson retaliated with a bad foul on Gila two minutes later, Mercenaro failed to retaliate with a card for the Lazio forward.
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| Finally giving Camarda minutes was definitely a good choice. |
Milan, and especially Moreira, fought to the bitter end for the winning goal, but fell short. Moreira's shot from distance was saved. De Winter lucked out and did not get himself a card for a pretty hard foul, Hutchinson surprised with just a rocket of a free kick that Mandas miraculously saved, and thenthe final whistle blew. Lazio and Milan were splitting the points.
Gattuso, for all the talk about "the team of his heart" earlier in the week, was pretty damned happy when Lazio scored against the team of his heart. But he should have known that this Milan are "Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe ..." because in the first half, Milan were definitely not good. But they made up for it in the second half, so Gattuso may have regretted his choice to coach such a... "storied" club as Lazio.
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| Hutchinson got a chance to make his debut. |
With the Lazio fans all protesting Lotito, they opened up an extra section for traveling Milan fans, which meant there were likely more Milan fans than Lazio fans. It was definitely not a home advantage for Lazio, which likely hurt their chances, but honestly, I didn't mean being on the good side of that for once.
What I did mind were Amorim's starting 11. Estupiñan seems like a really nice guy, I'm sure he works hard. But he is not a good fit for Serie A, and definitely does not belong at Milan. I don't hate Loftus-Cheek, but many pointed out that Amorim had better options there, too, and I agree with that. And had we simply started without those two players, we could have definitely won this one. Hopefully, the mister actually learns from this, because winning or losing can very much come down to choices.
This post inspired by the music of Garbage's "Sisyphus"
Milan Futuro vs. Brusaporto
Wednesday, September 16 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)
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Wednesday, September 16 • 21:00 CEST (3pm EDT)
In the U.S., this match can be streamed English on Paramount+ or CBS Sports Network,
Milan Primavera vs. Roma Primavera
Sunday, September 20 • 11:00 CEST (5 am EDT)
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Reviewed by Elaine
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