I will be brutally honest, I circled this date on my calendar at work and wrote in the little #26 box, Seedorf's last day. I didn't do that yesterday, I did that after the Napoli match. I figured he wouldn't make it to April and the two very difficult away games, Lazio and Fiorentina, would sink an already sinking ship. Yesterday he decided to fight for another day, or three with Chievo visiting the San Siro on Saturday.
The theme of yesterday was unusual heroes and circumstances! Mexes was not only on the scoresheet but he helped keep a clean sheet. The goal was a gift from Neto, but the defender who has more of a nose for the opponent's goal than protecting his own made good on his bad habits and got Milan up early. The statistic even more than the early goal and not conceding was Fiorentina not even mustering a shot! The same Fiorentina who beat Napoli pretty easily and has a Juventus scalp on the season as well. Under the last guy games like this were often labeled less of a Milan win and more of an opponent's loss. I wouldn't go that far on this one, though others have in the past, you can't deny encountering an ailing Viola.
The injury to Pasqual seemed to take the wind of Fiorentina's sales and piled on to an already out and out injury crisis with starters like Gomez, Pizarro, Vargas and Rossi on the shelf. Clearly Montella is at fault for his team's rash of injuries, and while the team fought hard they were missing something and it was evident in the final third. Milan on the other hand seemed OK with ebbing and flowing in the game and while they didn't see most of the ball they didn't seem to struggle. It helped to have Muntari and NDJ shielding the defense to provide much needed balance, but the fact that Bonera and Constant were rarely tested proved a deciding factor for Milan as they kept Fiorentina narrow and mostly in front of the defense for much of the 90 minutes. It was effective albeit a bit unorthodox and as the time dragged on you got the feeling that Seedorf would have subbed on center backs for all the attackers if he had the players and the subs to make.
In the end two goals away at the Franchi and a clean sheet is more like a miracle than a result in the current run of form. Sure Fiorentina looked beat before the whistle and Milan didn't score in the run of play, again, but a win is a win is a win. Seedorf buys another match on the Titanic and continues on what I assume is borrowed time. Onto Chievo to see if a streak of a different variety can start on Saturday.