What should have been a great match between two of the best sides Italy has to offer turned into one of those 0-0 draws that won't live long in the memory. The most important event to have occurred was the sending off for top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic for a stupid slap on Aronica in the second half. It was a deserved red, raising you hands is unforgivable in the modern game.
Robinho had the best chance for Milan, put through by a flick on off of the head of Ibrahinovic but his finish, like so many times this season, was very poor, slotting the ball wide for only 8 yards out. There were not too many openings in this game.
The slow build up that Milan employed today played right into the hands of Napoli, they are renowned as one of the best counter-attacking sides in the world, let alone Serie A. The speed with which they can break is quite impressive, Lavezzi, Cavani and Hamsik are all capable of playing anywhere across their attacking trio. Cavani at times today was dropping very deep and working hard to get behind the ball.
The amount of injuries that Milan are experiencing is hampering the side at the moment, the squad will be further stretched following the suspension that Zlatan will pick up for his red, it could even include the vital top of the table clash against Juventus. Today saw Emmanuelson once again playing on the right of the midfield trio, and once again he was poor. I would much rather his utilised as a left sided player, he has shown when playing there previously that he can provide good width and decent service with his left foot.
Milan never really looked like conceding to Napoli, but we never looked like getting the goal either, even when Zlatan was on the pitch, the lack of spark and service to Zlatan was very clear today, he was feeding of long balls and miss-placed passes, often having to come very deep to get the ball. I am not sure if Maxi is anyway near up to the standard to play as a striker for Milan. I hope that Pato can return to fitness soon as he can give the side some pace and movement which was lacking in the final third today.
In midfield we are missing Boateng and Aquilani, both are capable of providing that pass or bit of magic to unlock a defence. We still look to miss balance in the side, I feel that in time Mesbah will give us a great attacking option from left back, similar to Abate down the right flank.
It was another game that Milan failed to impose themselves on, we have really struggled against the fellow title contenders this season, and this could well prove to be our Achilles heal, being top scorers in the league doesn't mean anything if you can't produce against the best defences.
There is still along way to go this season, but with Zlatan missing the next few games it is hard to see where the goals are going to come from...I hope Maxi or El Shaarawy can step up to the plate in his absence, but they are massive boots to fill!
No comments:
Post a Comment