Plan B, Allegri

A nut called Zlatan Ibrahimovic


Fiorentina 1 AC Milan 2

After a dreadful start to the season, Fiorentina picked up pace and are surprisingly in the top half of the table. The management chose to stick with Sinisa Mihajlovic without firing him at the drop of a hat. That is not easy given in the Serie A, managers are highly expendable. Fiorentina missed Adrian Mutu in this game and lined up a ‘Christmas Tree’ formation with Mario Santana and Adam Ljajic behind Alberto Gilardino. If statistics are taken in isolation, this would be an even game. Truth be said, it was far from it.

Milan dominated for an hour. Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned to the line up and Milan resorted to the tried and tested drudgery of lob, hold, pass and move. This one-dimensional game which has become painfully predictable was once again on display. The fluid style of attack which Milan used to demolish Inter is Allegri’s plan B. I suppose this is one of those rare cases where Plan B is better than Plan A. Sandro Nesta had to be rested after picking up a knock with Mario Yepes deputising for him. Thiago Silva marked Gilardino while Yepes picked Santana. This did not make any logical sense on Max Allegri’s part. Santana is a quick attacker and Silva is the better defender against such opponents. Yepes on the other hand would be sufficiently experienced to deal with a poacher of Gila’s calibre. Tactical gaffe by Mister Allegri which was not punished, it seems. Clarence Seedorf continued to roll back the years with a peach of a finish. He made the correct run with Zlatan picking his move, though the assist finally came from Alexandre Pato. Seedorf roamed the pitch like he had wings. He was everywhere. The front three combined brilliantly to tap in the second for the away side. Allegri’s men were on cruise control at this stage. Fiorentina continued to cross into the box in vain throughout the first half. They hardly tried to penetrate Milan through the centre. It can be argued that they had more wide men in the team than central players. Vargas loves to play wide and so does Santana. Also, Gila is a lot better with his head than his feet. That being said, attacks through the centre were few and far in between even though Ljajic loves to cut right through the heart of the opposition.

Ibrahimovic missed two sitters in the second half which might have sparked some enthusiasm in the home side. Fiorentina picked up their game by several notches in the last thirty minutes and Milan sat back while attempting to score on the counter. Fiorentina’s defense was in shambles and the Milan forwards can be held responsible for terrifying their back four. Fiorentina continued to knock but could not find a way though. Christian Abbiati has been criticised for his inability to gather crosses but he demonstrated immense stability while going for the crossed ball. Fiorentina finally cracked Milan’s defense albeit with some luck. To compound the problem, Zlatan received his marching orders on the 85’. The lack of goals has tormented him but he chooses to take out his frustration on the linesman. Kudos to his maturity. This is a very important win for AC Milan in the context of things. Going away to the Artemio Franchi and picking up 3 points at this stage of the tournament is not a simple task. True, AC Milan are expected to win these games but a draw would not be be counted as a disaster. It was not a draw, so well done Milan.

Fiorentina - Juan Vargas 79'
AC Milan - Seedorf 8', Pato 41'