Leonardo the Loser

What's with the shocked look, Leo?

AC Milan 3 Inter Milan 0

When a team scores in the first minute, there is precious little the other team can do to stick to their game plan. Especially, when the manager of the conceding team is Leonardo, who at best can strike a pensive pose. Milan's hallmark this season is the manner in which the team attacks vigorously from the start. Inter's weakness at this point in time is pace. Milan countered this weakness with the breakneck speed of Alexandre Pato, Prince Boatang and Robinho. The result, a goal in the very first minute. Inter looked bamboozled and carried this look for ninety minutes. One can ascertain that Inter's biggest weakness isn't their pace, its a man called Leonardo.

Tactically, Inter were a disaster. Leonardo's ultra offensive 4-2-1-3 is clearly the result of wishful thinking. Thiago Motta and Esteban Cambiasso were overrun in midfield a bit too often. Clarence Seedorf, Mark Van Bommel and Rino Gattuso dictated the game and bossed their counterparts. Van Bommel played his first derby for Milan that night and showed what Milan have misssed in a long time is an 'Anchor Man' who will sit and protect the defense. Gattuso ran up and down and continued to snap at the heels of the Inter players. Seedorf was the best player on the pitch that night. He dropped back to defend, moved up to attack and sprayed those passes with admirable precision. The Dutchman is enjoying a stint of his best form for Milan in a long time and the timing could not have been better. Pato ran riot in attack. He outpaced both the central defenders and was decisive in his finishing. Robinho did well to stretch the defense, allowing Boatang more space to run through the middle. Robinho's finishing might have been atrocious this season but his passing and movement has been invaluable to this team. He no longer is the player who stands with his hands on his hips when the team is not in possession but he tracks back and tries to win the ball. Speaking of tracking back, the Inter forwards were not asked to do so, it seems. They very rarely got the service from midfield and Wesley Sneijder got forced into sticky positions regularly. Mark Van Bommel refused to let the maestro settle down which annoyed Sneijder greatly. On the right flank, Ignazio Abate did a fantastic job of keeping Samuel Eto'o quiet while Milan's centre halves went about the motions without much fuss.

AC Milan did attack reletnlessly and Max Allegri did well to prove himself. He is a superior manager to the noob he took over from and he demonstrated his superiority on the pitch, where it really counts. It's been a fair while since Inter have been hammered by Milan in a derby. And as long as Leonardo stays in charge, it will be a fair while before Inter stop being hammered in a derby. A lot of people didn't expect this result for several logical reasons. Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed this game out of suspension and Milan lacked an identity without him. He was the focal point of Milan's attack and when he stopped working, so did AC Milan. Allegri had 2 weeks to develop a plan B and he executed the plan exquisitely. With the exception of a blot called Antonio Cassano who ridiculously got himself sent off in an entertaining cameo, Milan were superb throughout. Milan didn't miss Zlatan. Inter definitely missed Lucio. Andrea Ranocchia and Christian Chivu are a recipe for disaster as was witnessed in the derby. Inter needed a leader who could glue that leaky defense. Surprisingly, Javier Zanetti went AWOL when he was needed to step in.

AC Milan - Pato 1', 62', Cassano 90' pen
Inter Milan - /