AC Milan 3 Udinese 2: Not Great But Good Enough

At the end of the day, a win is a win as they say. Though we may have not been perfect, we still came away with all three points and that is what is most important. This win marks the end of a string of poor performances and bad results and provides the team with a boost in confidence ahead of that all important clash with Manchester United next week.

Whatever Silvio Berlusconi said to Ronaldinho during the week it worked absolute wonders. Ronaldinho is the reason why we won this match. The Brazilian provided all three assists for our three goals as well as create one other great chance for Gattuso in which he should have done better.

Plaudits are also given to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The Dutchman had three golden chances in the game and scored two of them. It was a great move by Leonardo to finally give Klaas a full ninety minutes alongside a full strength side and he did not disappoint. Klaas’ brace will be a major boost to him and let us hope that this time Leonardo gives him the chance to build on this performance, maybe even start him against Manchester United.

Huntelaar’s brace also comes as a kind of vindication for me. All season long I have backed this guy to come good and I have continually lambasted Leonardo to give him a proper chance. But recently, I have to admit, even my faith in the player was starting to run low. However, Klaas’ brace has renewed my faith in him and I hope he is given the chance to use this performance as a springboard to a better period for him at Milan.

It was great to see Pato in action. Mancini’s injury in the first half that forced him off proved to be blessing. Not only because Mancini is useless but because Pato makes a major difference to our attacking play. Throughout his injury, we have had one less option up front and it has shown.

Beckham does make the same runs that Pato makes for the Englishman is of course a more creative player. But Pato provides another option up front along with our central striker and this gives more options to our creative players like Pirlo but more so to Ronaldinho.

Ronaldinho in particular has a great ability to pick out his younger fellow Brazilian. Ronaldinho’s assist for Pato’s goal was incredible. It was a first time ball, played on an angle that beautifully picked out the run Pato was making in what was a typical Pato run. It was great to see the two Brazilian again combining to great effect.

In midfield Ambrosini was again at his battling best in midfield. This season, wearing the captain’s armband, Ambrosini has really made his mark. The captain won countless battles in midfield and was efficient when playing the ball.

As for Pirlo, he always performs better when Seedorf is on the bench (in fact, the whole team plays better in his absence) and this was no different against Udinese. Pirlo orchestrated the game from the middle and his set pieces were of the highest level.

At the back, Nesta made a decent return from injury. Perhaps not his best performance of the year but he fulfilled his duties at the back competently. The same can be said for Thiago Silva who continues to impress but who unfortunately was forced off through injury.

Bonera, who came on for Thiago, maybe did not have the best match, however, he still can hardly be blamed for the two goals Milan conceded whilst he was on the pitch. Though he perhaps could have done more to prevent the first goal, it was really Gattuso fault. Gattuso was the player tracking Floro Flores and it was he who was beaten to the ball allowing the Udinese striker to get in on goal.

As for Udinese’s second goal it was no other than Papa Favalli who was at fault for it was he who played Di Natale on side after the rest of the defensive line pushed up. How many goals Milan have conceded because of mistakes by Favalli make it hard to understand how he is still given playing time. Kaladze or Jankulovski are surely better options.

In goal, Dida was a constant source of anxiety. He repeatedly fumbled shots and should have done better with Floro Flores effort. Similar to Favalli, Dida is still prone to making horrendous mistakes and his performance tonight was nerve racking. In addition to his blunder for Udinese’s first goal, maybe on another night he may have cost us the win.

What is concerning is that Alex Ferguson, who was at the game, will be aware of this and come Tuesday night expect Manchester United to pepper Dida with shots from anywhere. But this is Dida we are talking about and we should be mindful that though he is given to horror shows, he is still also capable of absolute class acts also. Against Manchester United, let us hope that the Dida that shows up is the latter.

For sake of mentioning him, Gattuso put in an honest performance. His display was neither poor nor impressive. He did his job, if only just.

To finish off on a more positive not before concluding, I would like to reflect on the solid performance of Abate and his significant improvement in general this season. Abate has been nothing short of a revelation this season and is one of the more unsung heroes of Milan’s season so far.

His conversion from a winger to full back has not been without its troubles. But his recent displays have shown a significant improvement in his maturity as a player and in his understanding of his position.

So with this win we are now back on track. Pato is back in form and his ability will be key against Manchester United as it was against Real Madrid. Let us hope that Leonardo takes a hint from this win and the fine performances of Pirlo and Ambrosini by relegating Seedorf to the bench permanently.

Let us also hope he takes the hint provided by Huntelaar and gives the Dutchman more chances in the coming weeks. The only current concern as we look forward to Manchester United is the injury to Thiago Silva.

However, what is most relieving is that Ronaldinho has again found form. In the lead up to this match, I wrote a post outlining the importance of an on form Ronaldinho for Milan and again against Udinese he showed just how important he is. It is yet again no coincidence that with Ronaldinho on song, Milan were also on song.