[han2503]

Who: A.C. Fiorentina vs. A.C. Milan



(IMG:http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah232/hannvis/milan-Fiorentina_zpspz9xtyv0.png)



Where: Stadio Artemio Franchi



(IMG:http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah232/hannvis/Artemio%20Franchi_zpsmidogfkn.png)



When:
16th March 2015 @ 7:00pm CET


Head-to-Head Record



(IMG:http://i1381.photobucket.com/albums/ah232/hannvis/milan-fiorentina%20stats_zps6ljx2ik4.png)

[Danny]

Very weird match this one.

We actually played the best we have in absolutely ages, for 70 minutes. I'm not saying we looked like Barca, but it was the hardest I've seen the players work for each other in an age, and quite a few had especially good matches.

The problem was once we scored, we just stopped playing. We retreated again. But we still looked quite solid, Fio didn't look like scoring. Not until Honda went off. Gash though he is in an attacking sense, he defended VERY well on both flanks and it made us quite compressed, in a good way.

When Pippo took him off, it was the stupidest, shape-ruining sub I think I've ever seen. No argument with Cerci coming on, to take the siege off the defence, but why not remove Menez who wasn't offering anything up front in the latter stage of the game? No, he took off Honda, our shape crumbled totally and that was that. It's why Pippo isn't the right man - he makes the wrong decisions. Every time.

Ratings:

Lopez: 6 Ordinary display. Opting to punch a lot, found himself in no-man's land a lot, or failing to come off his line at all. A few average saves. Nothing memorable.

Abate: 8 Thought he was excellent. Top class defending and attacking, and showed how much we've missed him. Also proved himself more captain material than I'd ever have guessed. Han may be correct on that one. His only 'error' was not matching the first goalscorer but then he's no aerial titan so that's not a shock. I forgive him that one.

Mexes: 6 Patchy. Some really good robust saving moments but a lot of loose nonsense and careless concessions too.

Paletta: 8 His best display for us. Soaked almost everything up and bailed his partner out a few times. First time he's looked like the defender I expected him to be.

Antonelli: 6 A little flat today - not heavily involved in any sense and probably his most low-key display since joining.

Essien: 7 I thought, one careless moment aside, he played very solidly and didn't do a lot wrong.

Van Ginkel: 6 Game passed him by mostly, wasn't involved enough.

Bona: 6 A quiet night by his standards, didn't have the drive he usually does.

Honda: 6 Hopeless on dead balls, corners, and in attack but defensively he was terrific.

Menez: 6 X Button broken as usual, but he did work hard now and again to track back.

Destro: 7 Feeding on scraps. Took his goal well and is showing how good he could be with a Milan team that creates chances. This one doesn't.

Subs:

Cerci: 4 Barely did a thing.

Pazzo: 3 Did even less.

Bonera: Would like to know why Abate was hooked for this. Seeing him with the captain's armband summed up how the match ended for us.

Pippo: 5

He put out one of his better teams tonight, and for 70 minutes it worked, it really did. But a combination of the team's lack of confidence when leading and his own very accurate shooting in the foot ruined the whole thing.

We need a better coach, pronto.

[X-Offender]

The problem was once we scored, we just stopped playing. We retreated again. But we still looked quite solid, Fio didn't look like scoring. Not until Honda went off. Gash though he is in an attacking sense, he defended VERY well on both flanks and it made us quite compressed, in a good way.

When Pippo took him off, it was the stupidest, shape-ruining sub I think I've ever seen. No argument with Cerci coming on, to take the siege off the defence, but why not remove Menez who wasn't offering anything up front in the latter stage of the game? No, he took off Honda, our shape crumbled totally and that was that. It's why Pippo isn't the right man - he makes the wrong decisions. Every time.

He made the sub most people were calling for, i.e. removing a very tired Honda for a counterattacking player. I don't think Honda leaving had anything to do with us conceding twice. Rather, like you said, after we scored we completely bunked into our own half and let Fiorentina have the initiative.

[Danny]

He made the sub most people were calling for, i.e. removing a very tired Honda for a counterattacking player. I don't think Honda leaving had anything to do with us conceding twice. Rather, like you said, after we scored we completely bunked into our own half and let Fiorentina have the initiative.

But we still looked quite solid until Honda left. I don't agree he was tired. Till that moment our shape looked good, and Honda was mostly in our half digging in. Are we seriously saying he couldn't have lasted another 10 minutes?

We gave them the initiative, but we still held our ground and they only had two meaningful shots on target all night. Both were goals.