Another poor performance by the Rossoneri

In a game of two halves a less than impressive Milan limped home with a point. Leonardo does not seem to have it right yet, however, considering the players at his disposal can we really blame Leo? Milan looked slow and sluggish tonight and even though the team’s performance improved in the second half, Milan really should be doing better against sides like the Amaranti. The Rossoneri’s performance tonight once again begs more than a question or two.

Livorno completely dominated the first half. If it were not for Storari, Milan may well have been down by half time. Marco made a couple of wonderful saves in the first half including a classy double save from Candreva just after the hour mark.

Milan really struggled in the first half not registering a shot on target until half hour into the game. A long ball played by Seedorf picked out Pato who threw of his marker only for De Lucia to save at his near post.

Flamini looked lively in the first half in a Milan side that were extremely slow and lacking any spark, particularly in midfield.

The first half ended and Milan would have considered themselves lucky to still be level.

Shortly after the restart Huntelaar was replaced by Inzaghi and Ronaldinho came off for Pirlo.

Huntelaar failed to make an impression

With Pirlo on the field Milan looked capable of creating opportunities. The Italian international made an immediate impact in the game and came oh so close to scoring on 60 minutes when his free kick hit the underside of the bar.

Seedorf was pushed up to play behind the strikers but it was Pirlo, sitting on the left side of midfield, that was creating the play for Milan. Moments later Milan almost went ahead when Pato played Inzaghi through, however, Super Pippo’s clipped shot was deflected over the bar by De Lucia.

Pippo was making a nuisance of himself and nearly came close again to scoring however he was unable to reach Flamini’s low drive across the face of goal.

As the game drew on Milan relied on the long ball when going forward. Consequently, they failed to create any more clear cut opportunities as it became increasingly apparent that Milan would have to settle for a point.

The game eventually came to a close. The draw most certainly will be viewed as a failure by Milan and indeed it was. It was not just the result but the performance of the team that will have many fans, like myself, worried.

Ronaldinho was again a great disappointment. Following his poor outing in the derby one would have expected Dinho to really try make amends in this round. The Brazilian again failed to live up to expectation and Leo should seriously consider dropping him for the Champions League clash. It is simple, Ronaldinho is past it.

Though I sympathise with Leo as he really does not have much to work with, his decision to play Pirlo on the left side of midfield was baffling. When Pirlo came on for Dinho, it should have been a straight swap. Instead Seedorf was deployed in the trequartista role instead.

I also feel that Huntelaar was not given a decent chance to show his worth. Milan struggled to create opportunities for their attackers as both Pato and Huntelaar were starved of service in the first half. The second half had barely gotten underway and Huntelaar was replaced. Huntelaar needed to be on the field after Pirlo had entered the fray because only then were Milan creating opportunities.

In all it was a sobering performance by the boys with some questionable decisions by our coach. Leo really needs to change things around. Milan do not have any width at the moment. With the full backs we have, Leo either has to change to a flat four in the midfield to give us options down the flanks and to support our helpless full backs or he gets rid of them altogether and plays with three central defenders.

With every game it becomes clearer, Dinho is past it.