Matchday 1: Milan - Torino (Sunday, August 21st - 18:00 CET)
Nice wrap-up, nefremo.

Both team are clumsy and not yet ready for the season. We possess more raw quality, and the result showed that. Poor Mihajlovic. His reluctant smile after Donnarumma's save made me feel confusingly pleasant.
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We are not fully there yet, but yesterday's performance was very encouraging. I am mighty happy this morning and not just coz Inter lost. Suddenly I have expectations for this season. I know its just one game but there were a lot of positives in the first 70 minutes yesterday.
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Agree with everything nefremo said, very good analysis. Only thing I'd add is I thought the penalty was harsh, given the fouling was mutual in that instance and Paletta's shirt is clear evidence of that.

I thought the best were Niang, Donnarumma and Bacca, who I thought were excellent. Was very impressed with how much better Bacca looked in the build up.

However, I have massive concerns about the midfield. Montolivo was atrocious, to the point he was a definite liability and it showed with the amount Kucka had to drop deep to cover in behind him. The midfield was as a result unbalanced and in an odd shape.

Antonelli was almost as bad, again making mistakes that we can't carry in the team. I never understood why on goalkicks he'd push so high on the wing. Not only did it reduce the options Donnarumma had, but it meant Bonaventura would drop back effectively into LB to offer himself, thus reducing options further in an already terrible midfield.

I'm focused on the negatives here, but in all honesty I think the first half was very good despite the problems and even the first 25 minutes of the second were ok (not counting the errors made on Torino's equaliser).
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I agree with those who were impressed by Bacca. Aside from the goals I thought he showed real leadership yesterday too, talking to and directing the other players. Really nice to see. I have also been thinking that it might be good that we haven't revolutionized the squad this summer. Given our situation it's probably better that we don't have lots of players who need time to settle in.

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Romagnoli seems to be getting a lot of criticism in the press, which I find quite strange. While he made mistakes, the biggest probably losing Belotti on the first goal, I didn't think he was bad and was solid much of the match despite a difficult game, where the team was stretched and those around him were faltering badly. Let's face it, having Antonelli to the left, Montolivo in front and sometimes Bonaventura (who is defensively weak) around him doesn't exactly make his job easy.

On that first goal, while Romagnoli lost his man it really was an excellent cross and run by Belotti to make the goal. However, for me the biggest fault is how we managed the build up to the goal, we left way too much space to first get the ball, make the cross field pass to Molinaro (I think) and then allow him to pick his cross. I don't expect miracles, but the team as a collective failed to close the space and angles during that play.
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I agree. Romagnoli had a decent game on the whole....it was just that certain incidents when against him and those incidents happened to be crucial. He will be fine. I am excited to see him alongside Gomez and next to a proper LB. (Not the Antonelli from yesterday)
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