Dor Peretz held Dor Peretz's Venice in San Siro against Milan yesterday, before succumbing to a pair of goals and suffering another loss in Serie A (2: 0), the fourth in five games.
The level differences are clear and so is the period of readjustment to Serie A, but Venice is already sinking to 18th place (out of 20) and should wake up.
Despite the loss, Venice coach Paolo Zante is trying to take everything in proportion and most of the time is looking for the positives.
"We were unlucky in the first half, we could have conquered it," he said, "but I have no complaints for the players who gave it their all. We struggled for AC Milan at San Siro and it's not obvious."
In the Italian sports media, Venice made fewer concessions, putting Peretz at the center of criticism, who missed a shot from the box in the first half and thus missed a great opportunity to give his team a surprising foreign advantage.
"He wasted his team's best chance in the first half," the Corriere dello Sport reported.
"He does give everything on the pitch, but that's not enough. He can't make a difference," Toto Mercato was quoted as saying, adding that "he is a determined player, but one who has not succeeded in simple and basic actions against AC Milan." .
Venice and Peretz now have four days to recover, before finishing tenth in the Turin table this coming Sunday.