I wrote this crazy long post in the match thread, and it literally is all the things I want to say here, so, I'm copying-and-pasting it. It's a reply to an Inter fan, who is always respectful and level-headed, but I was being an asshole. Anyway, yeah, this is all in my head:
The major issue I have with you is the idea that the ref was consistent. Let me give you an example: your #20 instigated our fans, who used to be his fans (well, not really, but he used to play for us). No yellow card. Ibra, on the other hand, got racially abused by Roma fans, and did something similar, but he got a yellow card.
I'll say this about the two pens, both of them were created by unnecessary errors by our players. Kessie doesn't need to dribble where he did. Toure lost track of a ball that he could have easily just kicked away. The second penalty I'm less angry about--however the idea that Ibanez "got" the ball against Ibra in our game against Roma, when if Ibanez did get the ball, it was after hitting Ibra; so if that (Ibra pen) was scandalous, then Toure got the ball on Darmian. But whatever, Toure was stupid, Darmian was smart, second pen, I have quibbles more with the discourse of fans and the media than I do with the call.
However, the Kessie pen, was laughable. I understand why it was given, but in the world where VAR exists, your #20 hit Kessie first. Considering the uproar that came up from Dumfries kicking the foot of a Juve player for a pen, and how Inter fans howled, I think the fact that your player hit ours first, that was ridiculous. And the way I look at it, if a tangle of legs (which again, was stupid by Kessie) is a penalty, then Ibra getting shoved by one of your 3 CBs (forgot who) should be a penalty in the first half. However, that would have been a soft penalty (the Ibra situation), as was the first of your two pens. I think most refs would say "this is too big a game to give that as a penalty," and we would have fought over it after the game.
Regardless, I think Inter fans should stop crying about refs. The refs have been helping you this season. Empoli was robbed of the most stonewall of stonewall penalties, and you all have the audacity to talk about refs?
But let's get back to this match. TWICE the ref stopped the game, when we had the advantage, attacking-wise. Why? Because one of your players were down. Mind you, it was not due to head injuries. There are no rules that allows the ref to do that. We can keep playing. But the ref stopped it. Which allowed your team to reset and clear their lines, twice. I seem to remember your team being extremely upset about this issue. Oh wait, no, you guys were hypocrites about it, my bad.
Furthermore, your team is setup to just play ugly. Like, let's be honest here. Your team's history is predicated on playing ugly. Your two most important managers are Herrera and Mourinho, and their trademark is doing what? Playing ugly. Even when Moratti was spending like crazy, getting you R9, Recoba, etc, who did you put in charge? Cuper.
Your current team does not have finesse. Dzeko is class, I have a soft spot for him, and Martinez, when he accidentally tries to kick a ball but it hits off his shin, can score some goals--but your team is really setup to play ugly. Conte was perfect for that. You guys played on the counter, which is what ugly, small teams do. Even with Simeone as your coach, who loves to attack with reckless abandon. Barella is an impressive little rat, but he gets away with so many fouls because he's Italy's sweetheart.
Your team didn't get a single yellow card. Think about that. Your team, with goons like Skirinar (the most overrated defender in Serie A), Brozovic (underrated player), De Vrij (who I rate highly), Bastoni (who I rate even higher [for his potential]) your team is just goons. Brozovic should have been sent off for the series of professional fouls he committed. Barella and Brozovic (especially) hit our players, several times. Brahim was hit multiple times, but couldn't get a foul, just because he was being honest (too honest) and kept trying to push through the fouls of your team. The reason you guys could continue to play your ugly counter-attacking style was because the ref allowed you to, by not penalizing you for that.
The idea that you "dominated" is hilarious. Why? Because your attacking plays were allowed by the ref! Let's go over a few examples: when your #20 hits a shot, that goes across the face of the goal, Tonali, who is going to get to the ball, is pushed in the back by Bastoni, Tonali gets pushed into Kalulu, our left-back (we were missing Theo Hernandez, who would have torn your team to shreds, btw), giving your #20 the space to shoot. In Serie a, that kind of stuff is called a foul, constantly. But fine, let's pretend you can do that now.
Let's use another example: later on, a deflection goes to the by-line. Kjaer is ahead of Dzeko, and as he goes to shield the ball, he's in front of Dzeko. Dzeko, leads with his elbow, hitting Kjaer in the back, so he can win the ball, before passing superbly to Vidal, whose shot is blocked.
I can keep going, but I'm sure you can say: "but hey, Samaldinho, the ref was 'consistent'" and I would offer that he most certainly was not: a few minutes later, Skirinar loses the ball, Rebic is about to go clear, in a very similar manner to Dzeko, but the ref says it was a foul. Replays show that Rebic did not touch Skirinar. This was NOT a game where the ref allowed play to go both ways, no, he consistently allowed you to play tough, which would be fine, if we were allowed to be tough, which we weren't.
Since Milan fans love to hate on their team, because that is "objective," when even Matteo Bonnetti says something pro-Milan, you know that it must be bad--and I'll commend you Inter fans, you guys tend to support your team. I wish Milan fans did that, but we have this delusion that if we take positions that are opposite to our favor, even if it ridiculous, it makes them "objective." Yes, you had chances, but your chances were created through lax refereeing.
Mind you, you couldn't score on us through open play. And if you're going to say, "but we had chances!" So did we. More than you, with a handicap of the ref being against us. Ibra made Handa make an amazing save. Ibra also almost curled in a shot. We hit the bar. Kessie, the moron, should have slotted in the rebound. Rebic had shots deflected similar to your shots. Leao had shots, too. Also, we consistently threatened you on set-pieces. Imagine if we got the fouls we deserved, how many more dangerous situations would we have had?
The idea that you had the "upper hand" is cute when we had more possession (60% in the first half) and more shots than you, with your xG sky-high because of penalties, but ours superior outside of that. We had the better chances, your team wasn't penalized for their typical cynical playstyle, which is part-and-parcel to your history, both recent and historical, while we were missing two of our world-class players, and you had your full squad.
I wish our officials and players complained about refs as much as you do, perhaps we'd be able to pressure the refs to help us. I'm not even being fake here, it annoys me, because refs have been hurting us more than you. Refs have been helping you.
Whatever, enjoy your moral victory, and just pray that we aren't full strength when we face you next, because we've had half our squad out and we're top of the league. It was injury luck for you and against us last year that gave you the Scudetto, but we've had over 10 players missing, what's your excuse?
Enjoy the 700m plus in debts, by the way, I'm interested who you guys will sell next.