The Devil's Downfall. Other than third place, Milan made up for their second home defeat of the season by Palermo and saw the few built certainties crumble. It is useless to hide, the postponement of San Siro exposes all the limits of a team in difficulty, up until now supported only by the enthusiasm of the home pupil Inzaghi. “I'll have to be good at working on the players' self-esteem – explained the Rossoneri coach at the press conference. – The blackout was for everyone, we need time to give continuity to the results. I certainly hadn't deluded myself in the face of the good results at the start of the season, I knew we would encounter some difficulties and I accept my responsibilities.
In any case, the championship is long, this blowout will also be useful as long as we don't lose our convictions". Regardless of Inzaghi's words, at the same time tough and understanding as per the textbook of a good coach, the image of a dull Milan remains, almost too bad to be true. A discreet start, the Devil melted like snow in the sun at the first negative episode, proving to still be an open building site, with all that follows.
Worried about the match in Cagliari (which the Rossoneri deserved to lose) Inzaghi shuffled the cards by deploying Saponara in midfield, Torres in the center of the attack and Menez on the outside, against El Shaarawy relegated to the bench. The idea could also work if it weren't for the fact that the team, from the beginning, shows an even higher defensive fragility than usual. The first intervention by Diego Lopez, who started again after almost two months, arrives in the second minute of the game: the prelude to a bad evening, to be forgotten as soon as possible.
Suffice it to say that the Rossoneri coach had to face the first substitution after just 2' (muscle injury to Alex, Zapata in his place) and that the same proved to be, unfortunately for him, decisive. In fact, the Colombian scores on his own goal (23') forcing Milan into an uphill match, then, three minutes later, he "repeats" himself by being humiliated by Dybala for the 0-2 goal. The Rossoneri didn't start a shred of reaction throughout the first half (indeed, the Sicilians even came close to scoring a third goal) and things certainly didn't improve in the second half.
Despite Inzaghi's efforts (transition to a 4-2-3-1 with El Shaarawy, Menez and Honda behind Torres and, subsequently, the entry of Pazzini in place of the spent Japanese) the inertia of the match did not change, so much so that in the end there were no dangerous occasions towards Sorrentino's goal. So it ends 0-2 under the boos of an incredulous San Siro, almost more disappointed than angry. The numbers say that Milan remain a contender for third place, the sensations instead tell of a team in free fall, much closer to the problems of the Inter cousins than the standings say.
Next Saturday there will be a direct clash against Sampdoria, a real exam that will say many things about the future of the team. The response will be very important, because after yesterday evening the bonuses are reduced to the bone, not to mention zeroed.
