On the heels of Milan’s huge win over league leaders and biter rivals, Inter, Milan have to travel to the Stadio Olimpico to take on Lazio. I for one am always worried about a letdown after a big win. Throw in that Milan is trying to win their third in a row for the second time this season…the first since late September…and forgive me if I’m a little more nervous than some of you.
With the Scudetto just a tiny bit closer to reach after beating Inter, Milan cannot afford a letup. Can they break this not-so-great trend of not being able to win 3 games in a row? Can they get on a little hot streak, move closer to cementing their place in Champions League next season, and maybe just maybe get Inter to look over their shoulders? We’re about to find out…
MATCHDAY:
LAST FIVE
LAZIO: LDLDW
MILAN: WDLWW
FORMATIONS
LAZIO (4-3-3) *Predicted*: Motta; Marusic, Gila, Provstgaard, Tavares; Dele-Bashiru, Patric, Taylor; Isaksen, Maldini, Zaccagni
MILAN (3-5-2) *Predicted*: Maignan (C); Tomori, De Winter, Pavlović; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modrić, Jashari, Estupiñan; Pulisic, Leão
TIME/LOCATION
TIME: 3:45pm EST/7:45pm GMT
PLACE: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
WHERE TO WATCH:
Paramount+ and FuboTV here in the US of Aye (Spanish broadcast on Fox Deportes in the US); FuboTV and TLN for Canada; TNT in the UK (maybe?); ESPN for Mexico; DAZN for Germany, Austria, Switzerland; a website called GXR for our friends in India; and illegal streams that support dictators and oligarchs everywhere.
*Let us know if this needs updating or if you have additional broadcasters to add*
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
I REALLY wanted to write a post match after that sweet, sweet Inter win, but life just isn’t allowing that right now. I may need to rethink how I post as I’m pretty much only finding time to write like one post a week. Anyway, I’ll be thinking about it.
What I liked about the Inter game was, (1) winning it of course, but (2) was that we looked like the better team ALL game. There was a confidence to their passing, their movements. They didn’t generate a ton of chances but Inter never really threatened and quite frankly, didn’t look like the team leading the league and a team that had won 45 of the previous 47 league points.
For this game, I want to see more of that and with Jashari slated to start in place of a suspended-on-accumulation-Rabiot, I like that we’ll get some of that aggressive vertical play. The last time he started it was next to Modrić and although Milan didn’t score while he was in there, they had great intentional movement while in possession and the only thing that lacked was the goal.
The goal lacked I think, and if things pan out like the predicted lineup suggests, because of the same reason: 2 wingers playing up top. So, I don’t expect any goals until Füllkrug comes in as Lazio are a stingy defense. With their lack of offensively punch, surprising for a Maruizio Sarri side, that should encourage Allegri to get aggressive but I think we’re going to see that same level, albeit slightly better lately, of aggressiveness offensively.
PREDICTION TIME:
Milan haven’t won 3 in a row in about 6 months. Yep. You read that right. The smart thing would be to bet against them pulling that off today. But maybe they surprise us? Maybe they get on a little run? If they’re going to, today is as good as any to start that longer-than-3-game-winning-streak. Let’s see if they can give us a little hope for a late season Scudetto run…
Forza Milan
gillis