(Milan: Welcome back! But please, don’t show us Fat Ronaldo!)

As others have pointed out, and as I’ve been hinting at (or saying outright) in posts here and there for a while now, Milan’s inconsistency thus far this season has been on par with their performance during the first half of last season. Remember that while the team appeared to struggle early on, their later matches were a completely different story - and they have a trophy to prove it.

This season, the catalyst of the currently transpiring mid-run change from receding to rampant Rossoneri has been none other than San Siro’s own 11 shirt, Alberto Gilardino. Indeed, Milan’s reawakening (ignoring their loss against Empoli, which I believe was an anomaly) seems to have coincided with Gila’s greatly improved form over the past month. In fact, #11 has scored six goals in Milan’s last five matches, the most recent of which can be seen here:

Not bad, right? Did you also see Gila assist Kaka on Milan’s first goal? With performances like that, it can probably be said that the team is finally hitting its stride.
Why then, are we hearing so much about Fat Ronaldo’s return? Apparently, he’s not going to play against Torino, but he is “likely” to play against Atalanta next weekend.

One can only hope that before tagging Ronaldo as a starter against Atalanta (who aren’t bad from a defensive standpoint, by the way), Carlo Ancelotti will take into account how the insertion of a guy like Ronaldo will affect his attacking unit’s chemistry, which is juuuuuust starting to look good… um… now.

Instead of throwing Ronaldo onto the pitch… just because he’s Ronaldo, Ancelotti needs to take stock of which strikers (*cough*Gilardino*cough*) are playing well at present. If he does, Milan may indeed continue its resurgence. If not, I fear that Gila may fall asleep on the bench (again), and the rest of the Rossoneri may follow.

Categories: Milan