Milan v Parma: The Times They Are A-Changin’ (As They Say)

When I started watching Serie A way back the day, the team that got me hooked was Milan. The team were so silky and skilled and confident that they were a pleasure to watch every week — they made football look so easy it was almost embarrassing. And, even today, I still tune into Milan games expecting to see that easy control, and for the team to sort of stroll to victory even on their off-days.

In reality, though, those days are long-gone, and it’s obviously time for me (and the Milan fans) to accept it. They beat Parma today with a very solid defense — Oddo was good, if unspectacular — and the combination of one great ball from Pirlo and one major slip by Parma’s back line. Though Milan did dominate much of possession, they weren’t in control of the result until the goal (scored by, of all people, Pippo Freaking Inzaghi) and only really threatened a few times. Much like the teams at the bottom of the table, Milan struggle like hell to get the last ball right — no matter how long they keep it, or how good the defending is, they’re never going to get more than a 0-0 draw unless they can dig up scoring from somewhere. (Hello, Ronaldo.)

So the real question in Milan these days is who will get the chance bring that scoring. Gilardino missed at least one great chance today while Inzaghi, who was on the field only because of an early injury to Cristian Brocchi, scored the only goal of the match and therefore made himself important, at least in his mind. (There was a lot of pointing at his own name after the goal, lest Ancelotti forget who he is.) Oliveira got a bit of a run-out as well today, and proved just as useless has he has been for the past several months — if nothing else, I think it’s safe to say he’ll be seeing even less of the pitch once Ronaldo is introduced (tomorrow).

Category: AC Milan, Results, Serie A

Tags: AC Milan, Inzaghi, Oddo, Parma, Results, Ronaldo, Serie A

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