Forward with Giampaolo, despite everything. This is the most important news that emerges from the night of San Siro, where a Milan at historic lows he comes out humiliated by Fiorentina. In fact, the 1-3 final makes the idea only up to a certain point: more explanatory, in this sense, are the images of the Curva Sud leaving the stadium after the Viola's third goal, signed by a sumptuous Ribery. However, reducing anger only to the hottest sector of fans would be wrong, given that the whole stadium literally submerged the Rossoneri's performance, the worst in the entire championship, with boos.
That's why, in the light of this, the news on the cover is the coach's confirmation, as if Maldini and Boban knew that, once he fell, it would be inevitable to follow him into the abyss. After all, they were the ones who entrusted him with the Milan bench in Gattuso's place, despite a championship that ended just one point behind third place, and they were always the ones who managed the market, entering (spending more than 80 million) and output.
“The coach was our choice, shared between the technical management and the club and we will always defend him – Maldini's stance. – It's right to give him time, we have a young team and we knew what the problems could be even if we thought we could do better. Four defeats in six days is a lot and even the quality of the game is certainly not satisfactory". In short, carrot and stick, demonstrating a scenario that is really difficult to manage.
The certainty is that next Saturday against Genoa, in Marassi, Giampaolo will still be in his place, in the event of a further defeat, however, thanks to the break, anything could happen. In all of this it is also fair to underline the great performance of Fiorentina, driven by a Ribery in Bayern format (congratulations to Commisso, Barone and Pradè for the intuition) and capable of inflicting a far more clear-cut defeat on Milan than what the 1-3 final.
After all, if Donnarumma hadn't saved the penalty against Chiesa (70'), the goals would have been at least 4 and even the only Rossoneri, after all, was born from an individual play by Leao totally detached from the context, with a San Siro already emptied and full of hatred (80'). First it had been a viola monologue, also because at the beginning of the second half, with Montella's team in a deserved lead (14', penalty from Pulgar), Musacchio had himself kicked out for a foul on the usually elusive Ribery (55'). From then on, if possible, Fiorentina's domination had become even clearer, as certified by the goals from Castrovilli (66') and the French phenomenon (78').
“Three days ago the team had a game full of personality, I had glimpsed flashes of things that I like, but this game was played badly individually, with little sense of order – sighed Giampaolo. – I assume my responsibilities as a coach, but I continue convinced of my ideas, I have never thought about resigning. Unfortunately it seemed that the team had found themselves playing at San Siro without having trained together, this is the thing that disappoints me. The fans? They pay the ticket, they have every reason to be angry."
The standings cry and transform Marassi's match into a real salvation clash: if the rossoblu were to have the upper hand next Saturday, in fact, Milan would even find themselves in the relegation zone...
On the other hand, Sunday of the Napoli, returned to victory after the midweek slip. Against Brescia, 3 points were needed, on pain of further detachment, perhaps even definitively, from Inter and Juventus. Mission accomplished, albeit with a few too many headaches, testifying that Ancelotti's team, despite a quality market, has not yet found the right recipe.
The 2-1 at San Paolo won't go down in history for the game played, on the contrary the one, paradoxically, was better on Wednesday against Cagliari. Yesterday, however, despite the summer heat, the Azzurri were able to make the most of the opportunities they had, taking home the whole post and thus giving themselves a few more days of serenity.
The approach, perhaps also thanks to Wednesday's slap, was good and Napoli, not surprisingly, unlocked the impasse already in the 13th minute with Mertens, good at finalizing a good move born on the Fabian Ruiz-Callejon axis. A few minutes and Manolas seemed to have found the 2-0 but the Var, rightly, canceled for a touch with the arm. Not bad, because the Greek made up for it with interest in full recovery by deflecting a side from Maksimovic into the net, for a blue double that had all the air of a sentence.
But woe to give up on Brescia, capable of coming out with courage and determination, as well as with the class of some of its elements. Tonali, for example, is a superior category player and Balotelli, despite all his ups and downs, needs no introduction. Just Super Mario reopened the match with a nice header in the 67th minute, thus re-establishing the feeling with the Serie A that had been missing since the days of Milan. A goal that reinvigorated Brescia and made Napoli suffer, forced to resist to take home the 3 points.
“We should have closed it earlier but in these matches, with the heat, it's normal to suffer – Ancelotti's analysis. – In the first we did well, in the second half we did better against Cagliari but I'm still satisfied. Inter-Juve? I'm more worried about Genk and Turin…”.
Important victory also for the Roma, smiled again after the knockout with Atalanta. Lecce needed an answer and Fonseca's team gave it, moreover without conceding a goal: an absolute novelty in the league (it had already happened in Europe) and who knows it could not be the first step in a newfound solidity. Conquering the Via del Mare wasn't easy and in fact it wasn't: in the first part of the match it was balance that reigned supreme, with Liverani's team dangerous on the break several times.
In the second half, however, here is a different Rome, capable of imposing its highest technical rate and the right personality. Great protagonist Mkhitaryan, who first sensationally missed the 1-0, then propitiated it by serving a chocolate on Dzeko's head, which Gabriel could have opposed much better (56 ').
From then on, the Giallorossi showed great maturity, managing the advantage without running into great dangers, even coming close to scoring the goal that would have ended all discussions. Kolarov had the greatest opportunity from a penalty but Gabriel, this time, responded brilliantly, forcing the Serbian to make a mistake from the penalty spot which had been missing since 2010. Not bad, because Roma won anyway, relaunching both morale which in the standings.
“It is always important to win this type of match – Fonseca's satisfied comment. – I think we put in a good performance, always controlling the match and creating many goal chances, we could have scored 5 or 6. I'm happy then that we haven't conceded any goals, we're reaching the balance I'm asking the team for”.
