Recap: Milan v Napoli

In case you missed it, Milan lost to Napoli 3 goals to 1 Saturday evening. This match had several key notes prior to kickoff and as the match progressed, a few more developed. Let's take you through the match, shall we?

Prior to the match, many people expected a few changes to Seedorf's starting XI as Honda was ruled out and Kaká expected to start on the bench. As expected, Seedorf made some changes to the 4-2-3-1 formation as he fielded the following formation: Abbiati; De Sciglio, Rami, (c) Mexes, Emanuelson; Essien, De Jong; Abate, Taarabt, Robinho; Balotelli. Here were the key notes to take from this:

1. The French pairing of Rami and Mexes making their debut. A move many thought needed to be done in order to see if something would help sure up the continuous defensive woes.

2. Phillipe Mexes wearing the captain's armband. This shocked everyone. Seedorf's reasoning behind this move was that he hoped to ignite the Frenchman's confidence  given his recent shortage of playing time.

3. Essien making his Milan debut alongside De Jong. This pairing needs to be fielded as it will be the expected tandem in front of the defense when Milan plays Atletico Madrid in less than 2 weeks.

4.Abate starting as a winger while Taarabt makes his debut as a center attacking mid behind Balotelli.

In the first 10 minutes, Napoli and Milan went back and forth with exciting displays of football but it was newcomer Adel Taarabt that took the ball more than half the length of the pitch and scored his first goal on his first shot for Milan. It didn't take Napoli much longer to equalize as Gokhan Inler scored a beautiful left footed goal from outside the box that appeared to take a slight deflection. Milan were able to survive the first half even with Napoli, despite the half being owned by Benitez's side.

The second half saw an immediate switch by Seedorf as he subbed in Kaká for Robinho, who had yet another disappointing performance in an attacking mid role. The second half was all Napoli. Insigne and Jorginho played extremely well for Napoli and were heavily involved in nearly every buildup. Jorginho outperformed his €5mil fee Napoli dished out for his signature. Gonzalo Higuain scored his first of two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half on a headed ball served up by Inler. In the 70th minute, Riccardo Montolivo came on for Urby Emanuelson. Montolivo performed pretty well in the final 20 minutes of the match, nearly setting up a Balotelli goal opportunity.

The drama arrived as Mario Balotelli, who had an off match, was subbed out for Pazzini in the 73th minute. The squad needed a change and Seedorf hoped Pazzini would be the man to spark the squad in the attack. As Balotelli left the pitch, he appeared to be calm about the move. Once he sat on the Milan bench and watched on, something happened. Something forced a shocking emotional twist from the Italian. Tears were seen running down the striker's eyes as he sat on the bench disappointed and emotionally torn. He covered his face in his jacket to hide it but everyone was able to see his sadness. Nobody knows entirely what caused the tears but either way Milan had a match going on that could still result in some points. Higuain would later add to his goal total on the season by putting another past Abbiati, clinching 3 pts at San Paolo for Benitez and Napoli.

Seedorf suffered his first league loss as Milan manager. Despite the result, some positives should be taken away from the match. Adel Taarabt, who arrived to Milan, looked sharp in his debut. Coming from an immediate criticizer, he did all you could ask for in a debut. Secondly, Michael Essien had a decent second half after a poor first half where he seemingly looked out of sync alongside De Jong. The negatives were, besides the result, Abate and Robinho who provided practically nothing for Milan going forward. Mexes, as captain, proved that he is highly suspect once again. The Rami-Mexes experiment was a failure in its debut as well.

Bottom line: Milan need to pick it up these next few matches if they want any chance at Europe as well as advancing past Atletico Madrid. Seedorf experimented with some new ideas v Napoli which I found necessary. He made all the right subs at the right time and he even subbed off his best player, something many managers wouldn't do in a big match. Again, these hiccups are symptoms of what we hope to be maturity for this Milan side. Seedorf and the boys need to learn from these trials, find who fits where and who doesn't. The growth of this squad can't be rushed as much as we want it to be. The future of this squad won't contain a handful of the current players on the squad so we must be patient in our club's growth going forward.