Empoli v Milan

On the bright side we drew 2-2 with Cesena so you didn't lose any ground on 1st place.

Outplayed, outworked, out-coached. Sarri's Empoli leave San Siro with their reputation as giant killers intact but in all honesty they should leave disappointed not to have collected three points.

We were dominated in the opening quarter of an hour, with Empoli forcing us into simple mistakes on the ball all too easily. The contrast between the sides in possession was as striking as it was unforgivable. Empoli shared the ball in midfield with one or two touch football, passing then moving to create overlaps down the flanks and capable of progressing with short passing or going long, penetrating us three times with the same ball over the top into the channel between LCB and LB in quick succession. Mario Rui, a thorn in our side all game, nearly opened the scoring with a clever shot from just inside our half which struck the corner of the goal. It well summed up the differences between our sides. Empoli were energetic and inventive but just lacking a tiny bit of technical quality to make us pay whilst we had no clear idea of our plan either with or without the ball, simply scrambling to keep Empoli out.

After fourteen minutes arrived our first cross. Not our first chance, but at least a positive move which freed Bonaventura to whip a ball in, though it was cleared by the first man. It was at the very least a sign of better things to come in the first half. The major issue however was that we lacked a consistent avenue from which to escape our own half. Both Tonelli and Rugani are rocks in the air and easily swept up any attempt to clear the ball long from defence whilst Empoli's quick and physical midfield effectively strangled space in front of the back four and forced, allowing Menez and Honda no time on the ball and preventing them from turning which led to first time passes being misplaced or necessitating that the ball be recycled backwards before a second, risky pass forward must be attempted. Menez's ability to drive the ball forward represented the greatest individual threat to Empoli but they forced him to come deep into midfield in order to pick up the ball facing towards goal to erase him as a counter attacking weapon for long periods of the game. We lacked a wide threat capable of stretching the play and ended up isolating Destro entirely. He was largely uninvolved for the first half an hour but that's simply the game he plays and he was given no service whatsoever to work with. When a chance did arrive though he was in the right place to take it. Menez, when given the chance to run at the Empoli defence created expected havoc before laying off for Jack to roll a ball perfectly in for Destro to score his first goal with the club. The goal energised Destro who soon after turned Rugani near the half way line and drove the ball deep into Empoli's half despite the attentions of both Rugani and Rui. It was play very much reminiscent of his days at Siena but all the momentum we seemed to gain through our goal was lost with the half time break.

Our approach to the second half was disgraceful. Rather than attempting to put the game beyond Empoli's reach and impose ourselves on them we let them come at us. Dropping deep and hoping that they would be forced to leave space at the back might have been a defensible approach if we appeared to register any threat on the counter. Instead Menez was anonymous throughout whilst Honda and Bonaventura were picking up the ball too deep to influence the game. Even on the odd occasion when Jack beat Hysaj, he did so inside his own half with little on offer up front. We did create a handful of chances throughout the second half but none that we might point to as evidence that we deserved to extend our lead and win the game. Destro was fed one decent cross but it was a difficult chance and the defence did well to put him off. Menez meanwhile was unforgivably selfish - on an albeit offside chance - when choosing to try and beat the keeper at the near post on a tight angle rather than cross to an unmarked Destro six yards from goal. He missed horribly and though it was offside, it was representative of everything I detest about him. He doesn't play for the team, he plays for himself and Inzaghi's enchantment with him is half the reason we're so dysfunctional in attack. We were not helped however by how physically unexceptionable our wingers are. Honda is a willing worker but effectively useless when fielded out wide on the break. He has fewer options in possession and he can simply not carry the ball forward himself. Furthermore, he is not respected as a threat by the opposition. Had Cerci been on in the second half as we attempt to play on the break, it would have forced Mario Rui to play more conservatively for fear of being caught out. Knowing he could catch Honda in approximately three strides though, he was free to continue to bomb up and down to his heart's content all game long, with Honda only removed after 79 minutes.

The goal we conceded was simple but well executed by Empoli. A beautifully placed cross from Hysaj as Maccarone expertly peeled off Paletta to find the space in between he and Rami before finishing with aplomb. One moment in which our defence failed to communicate and lacked concentration was all it took to squander yet another lead. It was the price we paid for such a negative approach. Rather than at least attempting to put the game beyond reach, we tried to simply hold on for an entire half despite the repeated failure of this strategy this season.

Empoli got their just reward for excellent play but they simply didn't wait and hope as Inzaghi did. Sarri successfully altered the game through the intelligent use of his bench, with Tadovan providing Empoli with an increased presence in the box whilst Verdi's movement and mobility troubled our midfield. Such proactive management was in stark contrast to our own. That we did not eventually lose this match was fortunate. Lopez's disastrous clearance was immediately returned as a throughball for Tavano after a clever touch who should have won the game for Empoli but instead saw Lopez dismissed for handball. Paletta's hamstring going soon after compounded the situation and we were fortunate Bonaventura could continue after once more taking a knock to his shoulder after Tonelli's harsh challenge lest we be reduced to 8 men.

We spent the last five minutes of a home game against a promoted side that had thoroughly outplayed us desperately holding on to a draw for dear life. This is what Milan has become.

There are very few positives to take from this result. Antonelli once more impressed me with his limited contributions in the opposition half whilst Destro is finally off the mark. More concerningly though Alex was forced off early whilst Paletta has picked up an injury. Though he was partially at fault for the goal and had a few more mishaps, it was a decent game from him and yet another problem we did not need. Bocchetti meanwhile was uncertain throughout and constantly gave away needless fouls. He doesn't read the game well on the ground, he's average in the air and he's not particularly great on the ball either. I fail to see how he's an upgrade on Zapata or even Bonera.

On a final note, someone needs to find out who that kid was sitting next to Galliani. His facial expressions were legendary. Perfectly summed up just how exciting it is to watch Milan plan nowadays.

I'm pleased to see that everyone here is on the same page and that I wasn't the only one who felt physically sick from watching that game. However, one point that Dos touched on that I didn't comment on during the match was how Inzaghi made Sarri look like a coaching genius. Sarri just did the basics right. He set his team out with some objectives and gave them a plan on how to achieve those objectives. When the game changed, Sarri adapted and made obvious (but highly effective) substitutions. I don't think there's any intelligence required to put players in their natural positions and to bring on a striker when your team goes 1-0 down; U-10 coaches know to do that. But credit to Sarri where credit is due, he did everything right with the players that he had at his disposal.

I am starting to give up on this "team", when was the last time that we actually played enjoyable and effective football? The "team" has no identity anymore and teams such as Empoli, Cesena, etc. are not afraid to play us anymore.

I take it things aren't going so well for us lol

PS: ES, Anomander Rake, such a fanboy lol

Tiste Andii>>>All other races

Clearly you haven't heard of the Teblors/Toblokai

Rossoneri Ninja wrote:Clearly you haven't heard of the Teblors/Toblokai

Initially, i wanted to put Coltaine () on my avatar, but i couldn't find a good picture of him and i soon realized that i was spoiling myself by googling Coltaine () pics lol. Went for Anomander Rake since his pic randomly popped out

Back on topic, my theory of what happened to Inzaghi is that he started off the season with some high-scoring games where we also conceded lots of goals. He then tried to compensate for the defensive frailty by altering his game plan, but in doing so he creates some sort of useless hybrid plan that cannot attack or defend properly.

The team lacks cohesion, constant injury to first team players has not helped the situation at all. I doubt things would've been as dire as they are had our first team players get to play together on a consistent basis.