MILAN failed to take advantage of Inter’s draw with Brescia as they returned to Serie A action earlier today. After the disappointment of going out of the Champions League midweek, a match against bottom club Bari seemed like a good oppertunity to get back on track, but Milan slumped to a 1-1 draw. After dominating, Milan conceded a 1st half goal from a set piece, and despite Cassano scoring off the bench, a wrongly disallowed goal from Robinho, Ibrahimovic was sent off for a petulant push and the game ended 1-1.
The Rossoneri had some positives ahead of this game, Antonini returned to play with Nesta, Thiago Silva and Abate in defence (ahead of Abbiati in goal) – after impressing off the bench midweek, Alexander Merkel returned to the starting lineup, alongside Gennaro Gattuso who was back from injury – whilst Van Bommel returned to the team to complete the midfield 3. In attack, Robinho once again Started behind Alexander Pato and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
In a game which started off at a fairly lesiurely pace, there weren’t many chances early on, however, it was Robinho who came closest to breaking the deadlock early on, as Milan were settling in to the game. After a run down the right hand side of the box from Ibrahimovic, the Swede managed to cut inside with a piece of skill! His ball across just about found Robihno, and the Brazilian turned to shoot – but before he could get a decent shot away, his effort was blocked for a corner – from which nothing came.
Ambrosini ‘has offers’ but ‘wants to stay’
Merkel favoured over Flamini for Bari game
After dominating the opening part of the game, the scores were still level. Ignazio Abate looked very dangerous on the right and had seen a lot of the ball – he’d made a few good crosses but so far nothing had come from them. Robinho was working hard, whilst Pato and Ibrahimovic looked threatening up front, but they needed more of the ball in the final third. Meanwhile, Bari looked fairly toothless, and apart from 1 simple header straight in to the hands of Abbiati after a corner, they hadn’t really threatened either.
The Rossoneri almost took a deserved lead with just over 20 minutes gone! After Ghezzal (who was back helping out his defence) delayed on the ball for too long, Ibrahimovic was alive and alert enough to intercept the ball, however, as he looked to square the ball Gillet did well to dive on the ball to prevent a goal. Within minutes Milan could have lead again, after a dangerous breakaway left Pato with the ball on the left with Ibra running in the box – however, Pato’s attempted cross was sliced and went straight out for a goal kick.
With 25 minutes on the clock, Milan had a free kick in a very dangerous position right on the edge of the penalty area after Ibrahimovic was taken down from behind. The Swede got up and took the free kick himself – he managed to get the ball on target as he blasted it goalwards with full power around the wall, but Gillet did just enough to parry it away despite diving the other way to the ball! Unfortunately for Milan, the ball did not fall kindly to a Milan player, and Bari were able to clear it.
Disaster struck for the Rossoneri just 5 minutes before half time though. Despite being completely dominant, Milan had failed to take their chances and were made to pay with around 5 minutes to go before half time. A well worked training ground set piece from Bari undid the Milan defence. After picking up a free kick 30 yards out or so, the ball was played as a through pass for Rudolf in to the box, and he placed it perfectly in the corner of Abbiati’s net! leaving the goalkeeper with no chance! A hammer blow for Milan after making a good start!
As the half drew to a close, Milan began to get over the shock of conceding, and looked threatening. Ibrahimovic had a shot which seemed destined for the net get deflected wide by Belmonte. Pato was the next to try his luck from a free kick, in added time of the first half, but his effort was held comfortably by Gillet, despite bouncing in front of him. The half ended with Bari 0-1 up, and Milan looking in trouble!
At half time, Massimiliano Allegri brought on Urby Emmanuelson for Alexander Merkel.
Within seconds of the second half kicking off, Milan were level! But it wasn’t to count! After a long ball in to the box, Ibra sensibly headed the ball across goal between the goalkeeper and the center back, Robinho had timed his run to perfection and replays showed he was in fact in line, but as he tapped the ball in to the back of the net and celebrated, the linesman’s flag went up despite the Bari players protesting more out of desperation than actual belief he was offside. Within minutes Robinho had another effort on goal but once again, Gillet held well to keep Bari ahead.
Time went by and after 10 minutes Milan still didn’t have the lead, so Allegri decided to take off Robinho for Antonio Cassano. Within minutes of the switch Milan could have equalised, after an excellent run down the left from Urby Emmanuelson, the dutchman managed to pull it back in to the box, however, Luca Antonini completely miscontrolled it and missed the ball. With 30 minutes left Ibrahimovic brought it down after a deflection and blasted it in to the back of the net! but this was ruled out too! This time for handball, and in fairness, this decision was right.
Milan were pressing now, and piling on the pressure. After a stunning bit of play on the right, Abate fired a cross in and it almost found the back of the net! However, Gillet did well to dive across goal and keep it out. It was essentially like a training exercise – attack versus defence, and Ibrahimovic played an outstanding ball across goal with 65 minutes on the clock, but again Bari got away with it – so far, the defence was winning.
The Rossoneri were totally dominant, and with 20 minutes to go were on top by far, were piling on the pressure. But disaster struck. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off for pushing a Bari defender in the side after a challenge in the box, and will now miss 3 games with suspension for a straight red card – [b]including the derby[/b] – An absolutely disastrous event. Shortly after, Pato went down after a shove in the box, but again nothing was given – it didn’t look like it was going to be Milan’s night.
Masssimiliano Allegri had 1 last throw of the dice with 10 minutes to go – Clarence Seedorf coming off the bench for Gennaro Gattuso after impressing against Spurs midweek.
A minute after the substitution and Milan were level! Luca Antonini burst down the left with pace after a fantastic through ball from Urby Emmanuelson – Antonini played the ball perfectly in to the path of Antonio Cassano who was running on to the ball, and the Italian finished calmly and collectedly to make it 1-1! Game on with Milan on top, piling on the pressure despite being down to 10 men with 10 minutes left!
With 3 minutes to go Milan were piling on the pressure, Gillet was forced to make several good saves, most notably from Thiago Silva’s long range effort, Milan were desperately looking for a winner, and Pato almsot provided one from 20 yards out, but his cross/shot wasn’t on target and Cassano was an inch away from deflecting it in! The San Siro had come to life and the fans were almost willing the ball in to the back of the net at this point – but the scores remained level!
As 4 minutes of added time were announced, Milan were on the attack, and almost scored at the end of a flowing move! But 2 Bari blocks in a row (and a save) from Ignazio Abate’s low drilled effort and Urby Emmanuelson meant the scores were still level! the ball fell out for Van Bommel who’d struck several long range efforts to no avail in the game, and again the ball went over, the ball just would not go in for Milan!
Despite having even more efforts blocked, Milan simply could not find the extra goal to take advantage of Inter’s slip up, and so the difference at the top remained 5 points. Infuriatingly, Milan would have won had Robinho’s goal not been wrongly disallowed, if they would have been able to take 1 chance, or if they would have had just 1 bit of luck, but it wasn’t to be Milan’s day, and it’s ‘as you were’ at the top of the table.
Best Moment: Cassano’s leveller
Man of the Match: Ignazio Abate, Thiago Silva just behind
By Hefin Davies, Rossoneri Blog
Robinho OUT! Ibra disastrous! Pato misses the parties with Ronnie…..BRAVO CASSANO!!!!
Fine game from abate, silva,eman and cassano all the rest performed like shyt pato should have came off instead a bhino he was lost in the game very…and thnks coach thnks for starting ibra who is not worth 60m(24m+(9mx4)) not worth it…secondly guys we cant keep pirlo,gattuso,seadorf,van bommell and ambro atleast 2 of them must go including flammini, a must!!! including flamini…….and emmanuelson is no LB milan should stop be cheap and purchase 1 Aly mayb…..
What a soft red card and all in all what a waste of a chance to go 7 points ahead of Inter, but maybe this is the only way Ibra can get a week off. Now he’s suspended for Palermo, and maybe that can serve as a way for him to regain his strength and composure.
This was a terrible game by Milan – how can they play so well on Wednesday and then don’t show up today? Against Bari – are you kidding me? Ibra is a moron for getting a red card when we needed him the most – I hope he gets 2 games and misses out on Inter game. I am getting tired of his BS. Van Bommel went for a nap on their goal. Pato was nowhere to be found and so was Robinho. Seedorf played well the last 10 minutes he was given – here where my problem is with… Read more »
@Luke: How can you say it was a terrible game by Milan, we had 2 disallowed goals, one of which was perfectly good. A soft red for Ibra and we were definitely punished by the officials. The game should have been 2-1 or even 3-1 for us considering we were with 10 men.
Looking back at Robinho’s disallowed goal there is no way this was an offside, thanks to all the mafiosi who control the officials!
I couldn’t watch the first half of the game :( (I missed it). Was it any worse? Oh God if it was… Ibra, plain awful, needless fouls and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS offside. He’s no Pippo, so what the hell is his problem??? Pato seemed like he didn’t want to play, no where NEAR the Napoli performance. I seriously hope Barbara has nothing to do with it. Well done to Allegri too, who started Ibra, instead of Cassano. Excellent. Ibra looked tired, bored, and well, offside. Oh and he will miss the derby, great job. Silva and Abate were like the… Read more »
Robinho goal should be count!
Yes, Zlatan, yes, you are the best player in the world.
And did you see Allegri clapping his hands when Ibra was going off after the Red card? He should have kicked him in the ass not clapping – Allegri is definitely in love with big nose.
Despite the draw, I think it was a great game. I especially like it after Ibra got sent off, the team played with more urgency, pace, and those almost never effective long balls over the top were reduced. My unpopular opinion for the day – push aside the miss control in front of goal (I think he was trying to backheel to Pato), to me Ants played relatively well after going down to 10 man. Showed glimpses of his last year self. I don’t think the Bari goal was Ants fault, if i’m not mistaken, it was Bommel who lost… Read more »
Oh, and we allow ONE shot on target for all of Juve, Napoli and Tottenham and yet we concede against Bari, at HOME.
@Luke
He wasn’t applauding Ibra, he was trying to lift the team considering they just went to one player less. With 10 players left on the field, motivation is key. Just want to point that out.
Maybe now Ibra will get his rest. Sack his expensive ass Galliani ASAP! How can a player like him say he’s tired. U don’t see other players complain about being tired. He ain’t tired he’s just lazy. I can complain i’m tired. Tired of him snoring in offside all the time and then complain about it. I never liked him for those who will attack me for this comment. And instead of having his worthless ass on the field they should give him rest. for the REST OF THE SEASON! Just bring in Beretta he won’t be tired he’ll work… Read more »
very very very very dissapointed what a poor first half of milan omg i cant believe my eyes we draw with bari
pato did not have a good game.but i will tell you why? it’s because all the balls were being targeted at ibra who was always offside
@makAveli,
I totally agree with you. All the balls were sent to Ibra and he was just wasting them. We are better off without him.
because their tired after play against tottenham.
First of all pitch was full of slippery and for me MAN OF THE MATCH= THIAGO SILVA SUPER defending talking of pato he played better than robinho ibrahimovic .
galliani- we can afford only one ibrahimovic so uncle send ibra back to barca instead we can have KAKA kaka >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ibrahimovic
its embarassing that v r giving points at home!!!
even if v had a bad lucj . . and v played nice aftr half time . . still counts as shame v conceed goal at san siro . . this year it happned many time as well!!
and less attacking creativity in the middle. .
@milanistindonesia That’s Allegri’s fault. He SHOULD HAVE NOT STARTED IBRA! Cassano had a week’s rest and yet he start Ibra. If we continue playing like that, Inter will overhaul us EASILY. The moment Ibra came off we played better by far. Urby should start next game and Cassano, Pato and Robinho for attack. I would even like for Baretta or Verdi or Odu to start instead of Robinho (Basically, a player who can score, even if there is like no ‘keeper, and doesn’t aim at a diving player to stop the ball going into the net, instead of aiming at… Read more »
I have a perfect solution – Ibra doesn’t want to go back to Barce because he hates their coach. So lets send Ibra back to Barca and bring Guardiola to coach Milan – problem solved!
look guys, allegri is a bad coach and that’s it.
he has no control over his players
he is affraid to substitute zlatan, zlatan wasn’t substituted not one time no mater how he’s playing, what’s up with that??
I hope to God that he will be fired in the end of the season!
Van Basten, please come to coach milan, that would be another dimension
and I wouldn’t change my opinion about allegri if he won everything, FO allegri
yeah luke..point well taken. at TJ56. indeed you are right. i said it before the game that urby should start.possibly ahead of gattuso bcos we dont really need two defensive midfielders.remember the game against tottenham?we played without a natural DM but we played marvelously so why play 2 DM’s against BARI? On a lighter note barbera belusconi was charming.it ws also nice to see van basten
Allegri –> F**K
Ibrahimovic –> F**K
Robinho –> F**K
and F**K Galliani who swapped Leonardo, Kaka, and Ronaldinho for F**KERS
Is not Ibra fould wake up is very tired remember ibra in the star of the season???Pato he loses the ball every time!!When Bari won the free kick why not marking Rudolf he was desperately alone in our area.Abate should try to do better crosses really is very good.And last point why we lose so many chances why??Forza Milan!!!We should win whis game 2-1 but but some (referees) did not allow they should feel shame!!!
did everybody notice each time ANTONINI plays.we concedes goal.when JANKULOVSKI plays,3 clean sheets (napoli,juve,tottenham)..allegri should know that the problem of milan is not in attack but in defence especially in left-back area…allegri is good coach…i will support him and trust him..Forza Milan!
No comment to today’s game, i wanna crying…
Where was our passing game? I was hoping to see Cassano and Jankulovski start… and they didn’t. They should have. Cassano was going to turn it up against his home town… he got us the draw. But we should have won this 2-1. However, this was not a good display at all. This was just complacency. And I’m not going to defend Ibra here at all. Pathetic man, just pathetic.
And before anyone jumps on Ibra’s throat even more, Pato was absolutely horrendous this game. Be consistent please. The only worthy performances came from Gattuso, Abate and Cassano.
Ibra should go back to Barca, and bring back Kaka. As @fyah-mayne said, he doesn’t deserve 60m. And Allegri is even worse for playing him.
No Kaka please. His form is in the dumps.
We need to get some new faces. And Balotelli wants out of Man City. Bad attitude, great talent. Fine by me.
And my pick for midfield next game.
Gattuso-V.B.-Emanuelson
@Giancarlo
Yeah, I agree, I was really mad about Ibra’s stupid performance. I don’t think Kaka can perform THAT badly, compared to Ibra. At least he doesn’t whine and shout all the time. If Balo were to come, I’m completely certain he will behave. I see him and Pato as the future attacking duo. Balo in, Ibra out. 9 years apart, and Ibra doesnt perform on the big stage. Balo may.
No Gattuso! We are playing too defensive and Bari knew that…
Against Palermo:
Abbi
GOD 1 – Nesta – GOD 2 – Antonini :/
Flamini (Merkel) – Van Bommel – Urby
Robinho :/
Pato – Cassano
maybe, i really doubt if Ibra is good player for our team.
I was wrong defending IBra. Yes, he’s done great this season with all his goals and assists, but what he did today was unnecessary.
However, as far as Kaka… he’s in very bad form. Balotelli is my pick… he’s a striker, but I think he could work better with Pato… Balotelli is very strong and tall… stronger than Pato. Pato is always a second striker in my eyes…
Also the other issue with Kaka is his persistent knee problems… he’s out again with an issue. We need to get a player that isn’t having constant problems.
@Yanni
Robinho-Cassano supporting Pato is even better. Maybe even a 4-4-2?
—————————–ABBIATI————————–
—ZAMBRO——-NESTA——SILVA———ANTS–
—-ABATE———–MvB——GATTUSO——–URBY–
——————–CASSANO——PATO—————–
milan can affored one ibra who is gonna cost milan £20m or more so i think that milan should send him back and buy BENZEMA! who is like 7yrs younger than ibra!!
to be honest i was happy when ibra got the red card for 2 reasons….1. i knew we would play better without him and we did….2. he wont play against palermo…we did play better we he came off…im sick and tired of his attitude!!! as well as the long searching balls….!!! now we will see something different next saturday….hope it will be something better…
In fact that formation above looks really balanced, defensively, and offensively dangerous. Abate and Urby attacking from the flanks with Cassano and Pato in attack could be amazing. I doubt Allegri with turn to it though.
TJB56:
Allegri dosen’t want change the system, but it can be good idea..
People who say that Milan are not deserving Scudetto champions (After that performance, well, let’s see), it’s sure as hell it’s not Inter. I would vote for Udinese to win, they have been in incredible form, and now have scored 4 against Cagliari, with whom we barely snatched a win (even though Cag came closer when they hit the post, we’re different now but still). I believe they deserve second, thumbs up if any think so as well.
Goodbye Ibrahimovic, I sincerely hope that you will never play for this club again. Your perpetual inability to function on a team that isn’t created solely for you is sincerely mind boggling. I didn’t see the entire match as I opted to sleep, but from what I saw, the team looked complacent and bored. In sports, teams often take on the characteristics of their biggest and best players, who in our case the biggest is Ibrahimovic. It is clear that what we have now is not working, and that needs to be fixed. Ibrahimovic has become bigger than the team,… Read more »
Inter has produced numerous bad performances and have dodged various bullets this season… they could have lost against Brescia.
People need to stop writing off players.
And no. Abate should stay as a right back. Come on now. Don’t fix something that’s not broken. And there is no way we’re going to play 4-4-2 which is a static formation.
Abbiati – Abate, Nesta, T. Silva, Jankulovski; Gattuso, Van Bommel/Flamini, Boateng; Robinho; Cassano, Pato.
This is what I would play in the next game. 4-3-1-2. Boateng should go back to play in midfield. That’s where a lot of our issues came from. He does relatively well there.
I had it from the beginning of my posts here . Allegri is not of Milan standards. Ibra is over rated , There is too much emphasis on him to perform . He is a tap in kind of a player,very very far from Inzhagi’s standards. Allegri cannot motivate his players , He still has to bring the best out of his complete squad . We go downhill everytime we play , If 3 guys play good the others fail , Abate was a revolution under Leonardo and will continue his form for a decade or so. He needs an… Read more »
And what a surprise… here he is. *rolleyes*
@Giancarlo
It was just a suggestion.
A midfield of KPB, MvB, and Urby should do. Very dynamic and energetic midfield. In attack, Cassano, Pato and Robinho.
And how many goals of Ibras have been tap ins? I’m not going to excuse his sorry joke of behavior today… but Ibra doesn’t score from tap ins… that’ll be Pato. Ibra has had many long range goals this season.
Please student. If you’re going to comment on this… get your facts right.
Guys when does Pirlo come back? Have it been 6 weeks?
He should be back for the derby though, right?
TJ56: I understand. I just like how well Abate defends as a RB. I wouldn’t want to change to it for anything. His defensive qualities are needed. He gives the position some life… something we need in the LB position. I think Jankulovski should start again… or Zambrotta.
Sounds good to me as far as that midfield. But I think we should start Gattuso.