Blog: Derby disaster
How depressing was Milan's 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Inter? Let Susy Campanale count the ways
I’m not sure what is the most depressing aspect of the derby defeat. That it confirmed Ronaldinho cannot put in more than one decent performance a month. That it in one fell swoop wiped out any confidence Milan had managed to amass after a disastrous summer. That it suggests the Siena victory was the exception rather than the rule. That Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was signed despite the President and Coach feeling he shouldn’t start in the most important game of the season so far.
That players like Andrea Pirlo, Gianluca Zambrotta and Marek Jankulovski are visibly past it. That it takes Clarence Seedorf 10 minutes to put his shirt on when Gennaro Gattuso is limping around the field, valiantly and as it turns out stupidly trying to fill the gaps. That this was basically the Rossoneri’s first choice line-up and would’ve been beaten by the players Inter left in the stands. Mainly, I think it’s that watching last night’s Derby della Madonnina, it could’ve been so much worse.
After that third goal went in against 10 men – or 9 men and Ronaldinho, which is a different scenario altogether – I honestly expected the Nerazzurri to avenge the infamous 6-0 result of May 11 2001, or even surpass it. Milan were gone, absent, AWOL, anywhere but here. I take it as an act of rare generosity that Inter stopped at four goals, like rescuing a stranded snail from the middle of the pavement where it might get squished.
There was so little to salvage from this performance that one doesn’t know where to begin. Thiago Silva again seemed fairly reliable, Mathieu Flamini worked very hard until his inexplicable substitution and Alexandre Pato was the only one threatening a goal to the end, like the band playing on as the Titanic sank into the murky deep. The fact these were the three youngest Rossoneri players on the field is no coincidence.
Jose Mourinho bleated and moaned until he got the trequartista he wanted and you can tell the difference Wesley Sneijder has made already. Leonardo has had to beg on bended knee for any reinforcements at all, ended up with fifth choice elements in some areas and nobody at all in others. When he took charge, he pledged to finally bring width to the team and crosses flying in for the head of Huntelaar. Yet two months after the Aly Cissokho debacle and with under 48 hours left of the transfer window, the Rossoneri still have no alternatives to Zambrotta and Jankulovski.
This side is simply not good enough to warrant a place in the top four this season, let alone progress in the Champions League itself. When Real Madrid come to San Siro, we may have to kidnap Kaka and force him to play for us under an assumed name. Inter cashed in on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and reconstructed the squad to be stronger and more balanced than ever. Milan practically gave Kaka away and thought Ronaldinho could solve all their problems. Yeah, that is the most depressing aspect of the derby defeat.
CH4
so probalby him, Sheva is really close in 2nd.
