Milan 1 Fiorentina 1

Truth be told, I found it puzzling that Filippo Inzaghi went back to the false nine for this one.  Sure Fiorentina are struggling to score goals, but why not grab a few early and let the result ride?  The choice of Menez was puzzling, but we can talk more on that later.

The game itself started brightly enough, outside of the selection of Jeremy Menez the lineup was as expected.  Honda looked poised to continue his streak and Cristian Abbiati remained in net despite a fit Diego Lopez.  The GK choice didn't really surprise me one bit as Abbiati stood on his head last match and Lopez had conceded as many goals in two matches as Abbiati did in seven.  But on this day the GK didn't really matter, Milan's lack of a proper CB did.  Milan dominated the flanks and were not susceptible to Fiorentina's attempt to get wide.  Abate was his usual stellar self and even DeSciglio was able to get forward.  The problem was once the team got forward things fizzled, mostly due in part to Menez and his inability to keep the play alive.

In the comments someone stated quite plainly why Menez hasn't ever really found a "home" and at this point it should be obvious to everyone.  He is selfish, he makes poor choices, and his speed only get him so far.  I said it went Roma fans were gushing over him and reminded them again when they were tired of him, I have no idea why I thought here it would be different.  Worse, the team didn't have the presence of Fernando Torres who had been selfless in the last win to keep attacks alive, this was a big gap.  Honda and SES did well otherwise, just no real cohesion for the rest.  Inzaghi's switch to Torres and Giacomo Bonaventura were to little to late and Milan never really capable of kicking the game into high gear.

In truth it was a disappointing result to a match that Milan seemed to dominate at times but then simply seemed disinterested at others.  with a win Milan would have had as many points as they did in the Scudetto season and battle for third place would have gotten a major victory, now Pippo is left wondering.  Check that, he shouldn't be wondering about anything!  Menez is a substitute and the CB problem is going to worse before it gets better.  Time to plan for it and keep progress this team forward with a trip to Sardinia.