A bad week for Milan but Allegri remains calm, stating: “No need for any drama, we haven’t become useless all of a sudden”.
With Parma’s Stadio Ennio Tardini blanketed in snow on Tuesday night, their clash with league leaders Juventus was postponed less than an hour before kick-off.
This gave title rivals AC Milan the opportunity to go clear at the top of the table when they played Lazio in the Olimpico on Wednesday night. With Lazio’s start of season strike force of Djibril Cisse and Miroslav Klose unavailable due to one being sold and one being injured, it was left to their veteran captain Tommaso Rocchi and their Brazilian midfielder Hernanes to test the Milan defence.
And test it they did with Hernanes putting Lazio ahead in the 76th minute before Rocchi capped an inspired performance with his side’s second with five minutes remaining.
AC Milan veteran Mark van Bommel admitted afterwards that the 2-0 defeat to the Rome side was a missed opportunity and that they would have to recover quickly before their weekend clash against Napoli.
“This year, just like last, Milan-Napoli is a key game in the Scudetto race. After losing to Lazio we do not want to lose any more points in the standings,” said van Bommel.
“We are facing Napoli, Juventus, Udinese and Juventus again – I consider this period the most important in our season and I also want to score a goal.
“We are not happy when we don’t win because we know we fall further behind Juventus. The reaction has been positive and the squad knows it is important to learn from the defeat, so as to return to winning.”
Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri echoed those sentiments and said there no need for panic: “There’s no need for any drama, we haven’t become useless all of a sudden.”
“We have to keep pushing on without making a big deal of it,” Allegri said, speaking to Milan Channel before the game against Napoli.
“We have to analyse the defeat (to Lazio) and we must improve certain aspects of our game. We find it difficult when teams shut up shop, and we have to cut down on our mistakes in defence.”
But the loss to 4th placed Lazio continues a trend this season where the champions have struggled against rivals near the top of the table. They have lost four points out of six against Lazio: 2-2 at home and 0-2 in the return fixture. They lost badly to Napoli (3-1), capitulated in the final minutes against Juve (2-0) and were beaten 1-0 in the recent derby against Inter.
“That doesn’t mean much,” Allegri countered. “We have a point less than last year and statistics don’t mean anything until May. It makes no difference if you get your points against the small teams or the big teams. Besides, when I was younger everybody used to say that to win the league you had to make sure you beat the small teams…”
“When our opponents go on the defensive everything is more difficult. If you manage to break the deadlock, it’s a whole lot easier. We created several chances against Lazio before going behind. We have lost a few games to our rivals but it’s no big deal. A win against Napoli would put everything in a different light – for everyone else, that is, not for me.”
Ibra sees red
Unfortunately for Allegri though, there was to be no such win against Napoli. A 0-0 draw in freezing conditions and a red card for Zlatan Ibrahimovic midway through the second half was the outcome of what proved to be a frustrating day for the Rossoneri.
Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani had asked for the game to be postponed due to the forecast of freezing weather. The compromise reached was the playing of the game in the afternoon rather than the evening but in sub-zero temperatures, the imperfect San Siro pitch became an even more difficult proposition.
The slippy surface prevented Milan and Napoli from playing their usual styles of attacking play as the pace of the game was reduced substantially, leaving little for the fans to cheer about in the first half.
Into the second half, Napoli goalkeeper De Sanctis made a difficult save to deny Ibra in the 63rd minute and the Swede let his frustration get the better of him two minutes later when he needlessly slapped Salvatore Aronica and saw red. Napoli failed to capitalise on their one-man advantage and the points were shared.
“I did a stupid thing,” Ibrahimovic admitted during an interview with ‘Striscia la Notizia’ on Canale 5 on Monday night. “What happens, happens. [But] I have to learn from my mistakes. I don’t need the television cameras to know what I’ve done. I made a mistake.”
On Monday the player was handed a 3-match ban which means he will miss the Rossoneri’s upcoming Serie A clashes with Udinese and Juventus, as well as their trip to Cesena in between.
We have been here before with Ibra, last March he picked up a straight red for punching Bari’s Marco Rossi in the stomach: he was given a three-day ban following referee Brighi’s report, but following an appeal to the High Court, this was reduced to two (from ‘violent conduct’ it was reduced to ‘gravely unsporting behaviour’).
It’s possible an appeal could succeed again but this time the strike was to the face rather than to the body so the likelihood of a ban reduction is surely diminished.
The Milan of last season were able to cope with his loss and would go on to be crowned champions. Will the same thing happen this season? Juventus being held by Siena at the weekend helped Milan’s cause so the jury is still undecided – but this Milan side is more brittle than last season’s variety so for now, it’s advantage Juve.
Weekend Results:
Wednesday, February 1
Cagliari 4-2 AS Roma, Inter 4-4 Palermo, Lazio 2-0 AC Milan, Napoli 0-0 Cesena, Udinese 2-1 Lecce
Saturday, February 4
Novara 1-2 Chievo Verona
Sunday, February 5
Genoa 3-2 Lazio, AC Milan 0-0 Napoli, AS Roma 4-0 Internazionale, Chievo Verona 1-2 Parma, Fiorentina 3-2 Udinese, Juventus 0-0 Siena, Lecce 0-0 Bologna, Novara 0-0 Cagliari, Palermo 2-1 Atalanta
Fixtures
Thursday, February 9
Lazio v Cesena (7:45pm Live on Setanta Ireland)
Saturday, February 11
Udinese v AC Milan
Cagliari v Palermo
Sunday, February 12
Atalanta v Lecce
Catania v Genoa
Inter v Novara
Parma v Fiorentina (2:00pm Live on Setanta Ireland)
Bologna v Juventus
Monday, February 13
Napoli v Chievo Verona
Siena v AS Roma
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