Match Review: Milan v Udinese

Milan faced off against Udinese at the San Siro yesterday, a match with rather important implications. Milan, after drawing 1-1 to Inter the previous match, needed 3 points. Of course, that has been the case for weeks now as the Rossoneri have been prone to dropping points with below average draws against clubs they should handle. The result of this match ended in a 2-0 win for Milan, with both goals coming from Jeremy Menez. Here is how the match went.

Milan fielded a 4-3-3 formation that looked as follows: (Diego Lopez; Armero, Rami, Mexes, Bonera; Bonaventura, Essien, Van Ginkel; El Shaarawy, Menez, Honda) This formation included a few new faces like Van Ginkel and Armero, who both made their first starts for the club.

In the first half, Milan controlled possession and it wasn't really a contest. Milan created numerous chances to take the lead and run away with this match very early on but nothing seemed to fall their way. Still, the club continued to generate chances in hopes of getting that decisive goal which we thought came from Rami, who headed a ball into the net. The goal was not granted despite it appearing to fully cross the line. Later, it was shown to have been the correct call. The 1st half ended 0-0 despite the dominance by Milan.

The 2nd half wasn't nearly as dominant for Milan. Udinese began to control possession more and it seemed that Milan would really be in for another disappointing result. In the 54', Essien received a yellow card which would come into play later on. Despite this, Milan kept Antonio Di Natale in check as the defense was stellar and allowed Diego Lopez to break virtually no sweat in goal. The match would turn in Milan's favor in the 62' when Honda was pulled down by Domizzi in the box which resulted in a controversial penalty and red card decision. Honda appeared to have touched the ball with his hand prior to the foul but regardless, both calls stood. Menez put in the penalty easily, giving Milan the 1-0 lead.

In the 71', Essien would commit his second yellow card offense and it was now a 10-on-10 match for the remaining 20'+. But Milan would add a 2nd goal and one that seemingly sealed the win. Bonaventura fed Menez who made a great individual effort to put himself in scoring position for the goal.

Finally, Pippo used his 3rd and final sub, which brought on captain Riccardo Montolivo for Marco van Ginkel. It was Montolivo's first appearance in a professional match since the devastating injury ahead of the World Cup. He played a few minutes which was a nice finishing touch for Milan's 2-0 win over Udinese.

There were several solid performances for Milan, including Menez, Honda, van Ginkel, Essien and Mexes. However, the ones that stood out the most for me were: Menez, van Ginkel and Mexes. Menez of course scored the two goals, giving him 7 on the year already. van Ginkel started his 1st match and didn't disappoint. Confident on the ball and was at the center of many build ups. Lastly, Mexes turned in yet another solid outing. He seemed to be the leader in the back and as a unit, the back line was organized and prevented Lopez from having to get his gloves dirty. Again, many were solid and this list could include more than three top performers.

Milan have Genoa next Sunday, December 7th followed by Napoli and Roma to end the first half of the season.