Milan Obsession

Milan fans everywhere seem to be not only deflated, but writing off this season like the past three. However an unpopular opinion is that there has actually been quite a bit of progress and growth this season. As that is my unpopular opinion, for this conversation, we explore whether or not that is true and why and how. So listen and feel free to let me know if you agree that this year could finally be year zero in a Milan comeback.

This discussion required the ultimate guest, Francesco. He is a second generation Milan fan, born in Milano, and now spreading the gospel of the red and black in Argentina. Follow him on Twitter @FrancescoPetra8. In the face of technical difficulties, we discussed:

• News of the Week: Borgonovo tribute, Conte exit, ICC tournament, Varese friendly, almost a Berlusconi confirmation, and Water Bottlegate 2016

• Season Update: summary of recent match

• International Update: summary of Milan players’ contributions for their national teams

• Is Milan Better than Last Year?: how Milan has improved this year

• Coming Up: a look at the games ahead

Thanks again to Francesco for being an amazing fan and for valiantly fighting the interwebs to be on this podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @FrancescoPetra8

Reflecting on the Silvio years after the recent 30 year anniversary of Berlusconi buying the club, it’s important to look at all of those 30 years. Through triumphs and tragedies and trophies, how will he be remembered? As Silvio the man? Silvio the businessman? Silvio the politician? Or Silvio the owner and President of Milan? Or maybe a combination of all of those? As fans I suppose we can pick and choose, especially those of us outside of Italy. But the anniversary was worth catching up on all things Milan and having that discussion.

Following a lunchtime match at Chievo, I needed someone who was willing to stay awake so early in the morning here in North America, and that person was my good friend Vinny of Red Card Weekly fame. Like the best of celebrities, Vinny is only very occasionally on Twitter, but you can follow him @RedCardWeekly. For our early morning chat, we discussed:

• News of the Week: Where’s Sheva?, We have a Curva?, Niang’s bad luck, shut up Inter, Berlusconi vs. Mihajlovic, new FIFA president, Video replay technology, Galliani accountability tally (The El Shaarawy Catastrophe), and Water Bottlegate 2016

• Season Update: summary of the recent matches

• 30 Years of Berlusconi: then and now, what could have been?

• Coming Up: a look at the games ahead

• Thanks again to Vinny for sacrificing sleep and sharing his views on Milan with us. Follow him @RedCardWeekly to see if there is going to be a Red Card Weekly reunion!

When this podcast began three years ago as a personal challenge, I never dreamed that I would still be spending an ungodly number of hours editing these things in 2016. However, it has been so much fun to have different fans on discussing Milan, I can’t imagine life without it. All 70 of them, specifically. It has been a fun way to interact with fans on top of the blog and Twitter. So for that, along with the signs of improvement with the team and a couple of other milestones coming up later this week, it seems like it’s time to celebrate

A milestone like this required going back to the roots of Milan Obsession, when my dear friend Jovan and I co-founded the blog. Now he is the genius mastermind of a suite of fantasy football sites, including fantasyseriea.com. While catching up on all things Milan, we talked about:

• News of the Week: De Jong’s farewell, all things Kucka, Donnarumma the kid, Luiz Adriano hair update, Water Bottlegate 2016

• Season Update: summary of the recent matches

• Mercato Update: transfer updates post-mercato

• Galliani’s Culpability: discussing The El Shaarawy Catastrophe

• The Demise of Inter: exquisite schadenfreude

• Coming Up: a look ahead and an important date for 2 different reasons

Thanks again to Jovan for a great podcast and for his part in the roots of Milan Obsession. Check out fantasyseriea.com and his other sites, where it’s still not too late to get in on head to head action from now until the end of the season.

Nothing could follow the most deliciously epic Derby win on Sunday, but I had to try. I stopped my laughter and screaming and wiped away my tears of joy and set out to talk about all things Milan with a massive smile on my face. The Derby win was a moment of healing and a reprieve from all that fans have endured in the past few years, as well as a gigantic slap in the face to our most hated rivals, something fans could only dream of before today. But after the celebrations are over, there are other games to be played, and so much to look forward to.

An epic win required an epic guest, and luckily @RedCardWeekly’s Steve was available. Which is impressive given his newest venture, vintagepitch.com, where you can order some killer new vintage themed Serie A t-shirts. You can keep up on the new designs and releases by following @VintagePitch. Despite our exquisite joy following that delicious win, we were able to discuss:

• News of the Week: Primavera success, Ely surgery, set piece woes, epic retirement, goal line technology news, coaches behaving badly, a use for Montolivo

• Season Update: summary of the recent matches

• Mercato Update: transfer news

• Europe or no Europe: should Milan even qualify?

• Coming Up: a look ahead

Thanks again to Steve of @RedCardWeekly for joining be back on earth after a stellar win to talk all things Milan. Go now to vintagepitch.com to order your awesome Serie A t-shirts and be sure to follow @VintagePitch on Twitter for new designs and releases.

It’s so hard to keep one’s head on straight with all that has happened at Milan. We lose or draw to a relegation side, and it’s easy to go to that dark place where we have spent so much time in these past few years. We win a game, and it’s easy to start building expectations too high again because we want to return to glory so badly. And that’s just the fans. But if you look carefully, the team at least seem to be gradually improving their mentality. However there are clouds on the horizon, with changes possible in the mercato and elsewhere. With a very fragile new mentality following a big win, it’s best to explore all things Milan with a grain of salt.

Because this is a fan podcast, I am always looking for passionate Milan fans all over the world. This time, I found Joe, from the East coast of the United States. Recording after the Fiorentina win, we talked about:

• News of the Week: Injury, speaking out, warnings, making chances, strong Serie A, Platini fail, Barbara’s wisdom

• Season Update: summary of the recent matches

• Mercato Update: transfer news

• Leadership on the Pitch: should they stay or should they go?

• Coming Up: a look ahead

Thanks again to Joe for a great chat and for his undying support of Milan from afar

It may be a new year, but we are nearly mid season and it seems that we are destined to remain stuck in the middle… in the middle of the table, in the middle of a neverending rebuilding, and in the middle of a crisis for fans. We are continually asking ourselves why we continue to support this club. But for many of us, there are a lot of signs of life with some of our players, and that is worth talking about. So near the midseason mark, it seemed appropriate to talk about our midseason player ratings instead of our usual search for justification of our devotion to this club.

With a new year, I needed a new guest. So I invited long-time Milan Obsession reader Nathan. Follow him on Twitter for all of his Milan opinions @NathanTManuel. You can also read his guest post from a while back. For this special epic movie and holiday edition, we talked about:

• News of the Week: Going home, marriage, family, team of the year, and schadenfreude

• Season Update: where we are in the standings

• Mercato Update: transfer news

• Midseason Player Ratings: rating all Milan players on a scale of 1-10

• Coming Up: a look ahead

Thanks again to Nathan for ringing in the New Year in Milan style. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @NathanTManuel for great opinions about Milan and more. And don’t forget to re-read his passionate guest post from last year.

There is a disturbance in the force. Can you feel it? No? Not surprising, as Milan are still struggling to discover who they are. But there are questions as to whether or not we will see an awakening in 2016. I’ve been using Star Wars as an analogy (but without any spoilers!) because it resonates with our struggles as fans, and of course because the new movie is freaking awesome. So for the last podcast of the year, there are two important messages to take: Merry Christmas and May the Force Be With You. Well, okay, there’s a little more to talk about… just listen already.

For such an epic podcast, I needed an epic guest, so of course I asked Francesco. He is my appointed President of the Curva Sud America, currently residing in Argentina. He is also an important member of The Resistance, so be sure to follow him on Twitter @FrancescoPetra8. For this special epic movie and holiday edition, we chose to chat about:

• News of the Week: Twitter fail, Youth Sector win, ironic disappointment, nepotism doesn’t pay, transfer fails, birthday celebrations

• Season Update: recap of recent matches

• The Milan Awakens an epic analogy for an epic football saga

• Coming Up: a look ahead

Thanks again to Francesco for sharing his thoughts with us. As a Christmas gift to your timeline, follow him @FrancescoPetra8, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

With so many token moves from the club at the beginning of this calendar year and so many claims of moving forward, fans have subjected themselves to poor performances galore hoping to see some progress. But as one by one, things have fallen through: the deal with Mr. Bee, the stadium, and Berlusconi’s random opening of the wallet, it has become obvious that progress is not in the plans. But with the announcement that Boateng is likely to sign in January and the reports that Montolivo is set to sign a three year extension, not only are we no longer going forward, we are actually regressing.

The victim of all of this bad news in one podcast was Pete, of pdacquaviva.com fame. If you miss his regular brilliance there, then you should follow him on Twitter at @pdacquaviva. We commiserated about:

• News of the Week: regressing

• Season Update: Milan’s regression

• What the Hell, Milan? regression

• Mihajlovic Trolling: LOL

• Coming Up: try to avoid the upcoming matches

If you are not following Pete on Twitter @pdacquaviva, you are seriously missing out. And if you are going to reminisce about the good old days, go back and read his old posts at pdacquaviva.com Your mind will thank you.

After an extended injury break, the podcast is finally back. Hopefully, Milan get the memo and step up and give us some more good things to talk about. Until that point, like a baby deer learning to stand and then walk, Milan will most likely still be finding our footing. That process allows for successes and failures, but does not demand the consistency that most of us fans are craving. But even with a run of three consecutive wins, consistency is still very much lacking in this season. Whether it be mentality or injuries or just missing pieces still, Milan are definitely still looking to find their footing.

To bring us back online with the podcasts, it had to be David as my guest. He is the mastermind behind acmilanfinance.com and you can always find his words of wisdom on Twitter if you follow @DavidLSwan. This time we chatted about:

• News of the Week: Oops, Tavecchio did it again, generous Mihajlovic, Ibra spurns Milan, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Bonera’s wisdom, Mexes’ surprise

• Season Update: Milan’s standing & recent matches

• Injury Update: who is still out and how long they’ll be gone

• International Break: who is representing their national teams this week

• Allegri vs. Milan Grudgematch: predictions for Juve-Milan

• Coming Up: mark your calendar for the upcoming matches

Thanks again to David for an impromptu podcast on a moment’s notice. Be sure to check out his acmilanfinance.com site and absolutely follow him on Twitter @DavidLSwan or you’ll be missing out.

Recorded immediately after the disappointing and yet strangely encouraging Derby loss, this podcast was like therapy for Milan fans. Despite losing, there are still encouraging signs within the team. And yet there are bad signs financially while things look to be improving on the pitch. There have been a lot of rumors and criticism of Mihajlovic’, and yet it seems like there is a lot of solidarity and support for him, too. So above all else, it’s a good time to ask yourself: Are you on Team Mihajlovic?

Post Derby, I had to have the co-founder and former co-blogger of Milan Obsession on, the legendary Jovan. Check out fantasyseriea.com to see the amazing fantasy football game he’s created, just one of four fantasy games for four of the major leagues in Europe. In our post-Derby depression, we meandered about:

• News of the Week: Mister Nesta, new opening, Q&A for kids, wage bill worries, Curva Sud, Balotelli’s greatest crime

• Match Roundups: Mantova-Milan friendly, Inter-Milan Derby

• Mercato: updates on what has happened in the transfer market

• All About Mihajlovic: where does Mihajlovic stand?

• Coming Up: mark your calendar for the upcoming matches

Much thanks once again to Jovan for staying up late after the loss and blessing us with his genius. Go to fantasyseriea.com now to get in on the fun!