Boneheadera

Daniele Bonera

AC Milan 4 Udinese 4

After his stellar show against Real Madrid, people wondered why Amelia was relegated to the bench. This performance should put those concerns to rest. Abbiati's injury had forced Allegri to reluctantly hand the gloves to Amelia.

The second-choice keeper showed why he is second choice right from the word go. Flapping like an injured crane, he appeared shaky and nervous. His collection was poor and his distribution wasn't any better. Antonini demonstrated his attacking capabilities with his marauding runs whilst combining with the forwards. In the first period, both teams spent chunks of time in the opposition half. The defenses were proving hard to crack open, rugged and gutsy against some fine flair of attacking talent. Udinese, like any other team that travels to the San Siro, defended deep while not in possession. As the half progressed, Udinese lost the battle of possession and chose to resort to counter attacks instead. With the pace of their forwards, Alexis Sanchez and Di Natale, Udinese were aware that they could catch the vulnerable Rossoneri backline on the break. Inler gladly shot from outside the box whenever he got the chance and wasn't too far from goal. The thought of closing him down never occurred to Milan's middle men. Just as expected, in the 34', Inler's shot rebounds of the post and is turned in by Di Natale. Seedorf was late to arrive on the challenge and this was the first of his long list of mistakes that night. Ibrahimovic and Pato didn't track back, viz rather interesting because both these players in recent games have worked hard without the ball. Milan pressed for the equalizer and it finally arrived on the 46'. Zlatan drew defenders with him before setting up the Brazilian. Score was even, perhaps against the odds.

A highlight of Zlatan's play for Milan has been his renewed ability to set up assists. He would have added another to his impressive count of assists, but Handanovic denied Robinho on the 50'. Strasser having impressed against Cagliari was handed a rare start being played on the right of the midfield three. The team played wide causing him to become a winger at times. Sanchez joined the party on the 53'. He lost Bonera for a header that Amelia should have saved. This was the first of Bonera's hatrick of gaffes. Ibrahimovic being isolated in the first half, dropped deeper to get further involved in the game, in the second half. Di Natale scored his second on the 68', A classic counter, Di Natale turned Bonera like a 9 year old on roller skates before slotting past Amelia. Rudimentary error from Daniel Bonera. Needless to say that it wasn't his first and will not be his last. Cassano was brought on in the 69' for Seedorf. The departing Dutchman was wildly abused by the tifosi when he jogged back to the bench. He was involved in two of Udinese's three goals, therefore the anger was fairly justified. Handanovic denied Strasser on the 78' but a fortunate deflection of Benetia gave Milan their second and along with that a ray of hope. Milan dramatically found the equalizer on the 82'. A characteristic run from Silva resulted with the ball at Cassano's feet who in turn pushed it too Pato. The Brazilian coolly finished with a deft first touch. If we thought we had enough for the night, substitute German Denis scores Udinese's fourth. Bonera nowhere near the man yet again! And with the last kick of the game, Zlatan scored Milan's fourh on the 94'. Cassano's third assist for the club in the 37 minutes he has played for AC Milan!

Bonera undoes any good created by our mesmerising forwards. He is a remarkable liability and a major downgrade in the absence of Nesta. Always overrated, Bonera has the unique ability to convince his bosses that he deserves to play even if he lacks the basic knowledge of defending. Pair him up with Amelia and you have a devastating pair. Amelia's lethargic, defeatist attitude doesn't infuse any confidence in the team and therefore I wish Abbiati a speedy recovery. There were a few positives about this game. One in particular was the fact that all our attackers were on the pitch at the same time and they wrecked havoc!

Milan - Pao 46', 82', Benetia (O.G 78'), Ibrahimovic 94',
Udinese - Di Natale 34', 68', Sanchez 53', Denis 89'