Juventus vs AC Milan

Captain Sulleyman Remember the good old days when we thought the world had ended because Bonera had the armband?

A rival should inspire many emotions in an opposition, be it fear, respect or even contempt. It's a cruel reflection of our state that Juventus seemed only to register disinterest in us. This wasn't a clash of titans it was a training session in which our opposition never left second gear. Our starting eleven was uninspired and conservative, everything we've come to expect by this stage of the season. In a sense, it can be defended. The absence of both Montolivo and De Jong robbed Inzaghi of an anchor with great personality. Van Ginkel has looked short of confidence in recent weeks, leaving Essien as our only remaining option in front of the defence. Even then his reduced mobility, suspect decision making with the ball and lack of technique would seem to necessitate that he is surrounded by players of greater discipline, which undermines the case for Bonaventura's inclusion in our midfield trio. As I said, one can understand the decisions that Inzaghi makes. One can also tire of making excuses though when there seems to be no reason to give someone the benefit of the doubt. To field a side incapable of playing anything but the most rigid and uninspired football might be overlooked in isolation. To see it develop into a pattern though is beneath such an institution. Injuries must be taken into account and we were simply missing too many starters to expect our very best football but I saw no attempt to supplement our weaknesses tactically. They were simply accepted by a side resigned to its fate before a ball was kicked.

Juventus had one clear weakness on paper, being forced to field Padoin at right back in the absence of Lichtsteiner, however absolutely nothing was done to exploit this advantage. Antonelli, who has had an excellent season to date at Genoa, in particular due to his exploits in attack, was given virtually no support. The front line of Honda, Cerci and Menez seemed to have no express purpose beyond stepping on each other's toes. Menez made a meek attempt to drift to the left at times whilst Honda seemed caught in between freedom and futility. That Zaccardo was preferred to Rami at right back did little to help our game going forward, with Cerci forced to come deep to drive the ball forward. Alessio was our most lively contributor on the night however he was isolated as Pogba dominated the entire flank, repeatedly coming over to frustate Cerci after he had seemed to better Evra whilst completing erasing Poli as a quantity in the centre. Honda's lack not simply of speed but acceleration rendered him too easily suppressed as he failed to either beat his man or move the ball on quickly enough on numerous occasions, though he was hurt both by the lack of a threat in behind - at least in the opening half an hour - and by our side's unbalanced structure. We did not play badly at times however this was largely down to Juventus' relaxed attitude to the game rather than any great pressure that we applied. We lacked precision and purpose when attempting to pierce Juventus on the break and lacked tempo to shift them out of position when the entire team pushed up, with Juve able to push their entire team back and soak up pressure with ease before repeatedly tearing us apart on the counter, though thankfully a relatively poor game from Tevez saw us go unpunished on many occasions.

With regard to the goals, the first was obviously a controversial offside decision but it was also poor and risky defending. We should never have been threatened from a throw in to begin with. The second was an unfortunate error from Diego Lopez who, having earlier made a terrific save on Marchisio after Muntari's inexplicable lapse of concetration on the ball in the box, undid all of our efforts to equalise with a poor punch. It was an uncharacteristically poor game from Lopez on the whole whose distribution was horrid throughout. As for the third, Lopez was unlucky to be deceived by the ball coming off the post but it was no more than Juventus deserved. We were simply fortunate that they did not put five or six past us by the game's end such was their threat on the counter in the second half. In attack, Antonelli deserves credit for a beautiful header from a well taken corner by Cerci as well as for his effort to win the ball back high up the pitch and play in Pazzini for what should have been our second equaliser. It was a monumental save from Buffon but against such a good side, when you create so few chances, you simply have to take them and it was a huge blow. Giampaolo's introduction was an undoubtedly positive one after Menez left the pitch early however as his movement in behind and his determination to at least fight for long balls gave us a new dimension. It was not enough however and sadly one got the impression that even had we rolled in a second goal, Juventus could have taken this game away from us whenever they wanted.

On a final note, I thought Paletta's debut was also positive. Not a perfect performance by any means but he didn't do too badly considering it was a baptism of fire. Probably our third best performer after Cerci and Antonelli, though the latter was a bit wasteful on the ball at times. I've watched quite a bit of him at Genoa this season and he is simply inconsistent over the course of 90 minutes but the positives that we saw against Juventus, both on the overlap and when cutting in and combining, are elements of his game that he shows week in, week out. I hope to see a left flank of Antonelli, Bonaventura and El Shaarawy in the near future.

It's an honor being Dostoevsky's fellow Milanista, Milan forum member and friend. If I write something half as good as this, I'll be happy in the knowledge I am a commanding, wonderful writer.

While I disagree on a few points - I think Cerci was horrible and horribly wasteful and one-dimensional and that Lopez saved us from the embarrassment of losing by a more humiliating margin - this post taught me a lot.

Keep it up, my man. I'm a fan.

Lopez certainly had some important moments in the match and I would not take that away from him, however unfortunately a goalkeeper is most often judged upon their errors and to be at fault for a goal so soon after we had equalised was a massive psychological blow for the team. Had we reached half time at 1-1 it might have been a very different game. I also believe the point concerning his distribution to be legitimate, whether long or short, he rarely had any success on the ball.

As for Cerci, it was not a terrific game objectively, but relative to the performances in our forward line, he seemed the only player with the capacity to worry Juventus individually and he ended up drawing quite a few fouls throughout the match.

As for my write up though overall, you're far too kind.

Didn't see the game , but i did expect a similar result anyway . Watching just the highlights , it felt like Juventus had an easy night .

Having read the thread , i think most of the complaining and frustration is legit , although in the team's defence , we did lack many players . Now , as to what would it mean had they played , that's another matter. Our form so far is probably the worst in Serie A , at best we would lose with one goal less? whatever , when you can't win ..

Also very good post Dost , a nice synopsis on the points of the game . I didn't see the game and it let me in into some elements of the game highlights wouldn't reveal , although i would have expected most of it anyway.. With the team we have atm and the poor form we currently present , we would never win this , but we should have at least believed in the win , even if it was a madman's hope .

Special mention to Antonelli , it seems like he had a very positive debut , can't wait to watch him against Empoli .