AC Milan general spiel 2.0

[maro]

That you're identifying your response with that of those Chelski idiots is pretty damn revealing.

[p_maldini_3]

van bommel was caught on the wrong side of the ball way too many times, we really need to find a better player for the CDM position, ddr looks like a perfect fit.

there was plenty of space between the midfield and defensive lines, i think it's more of an indicator of how good our defenders are that barcelona didn't win too many 1v1 situations.

the ref was a piece of shit, barca continued to dive all around the place. the penalty call was a joke, and during their first goal xavi was in an offside position when the ball was played. they also got at least 2 of our offside calls wrong.

i'm not going to say that barcelona didn't deserve to win, they are miles above us in team chemistry and footballing technique, but i'd prefer to be beaten fair and square without the drama of bitchassness and unsportsmanlike-conduct from the barcelona players. they don't need to resort to such pathetic levels of play-acting and even pressing after a fair play kick. you don't need that in football.

there were times where we pressed them of the park, but as red said, it wasn't consistent enough. we gave them a good battle, and it was a great game for the neutrals. we tried to impose our authority on the game, unlike most teams who face barcelona, so i'm not too disheartened by the defeat. at the end of the day, i'm happy with the team's performance.

we needed a much more solid midfield, we need a much stronger defensive midfielder who can impose himself onto the game, maybe allegri can try nocerino there in his orthodox position. our midfield is our weakest area, and it shows against technically superior teams (of which there are very few). we are quarterfinal material, maybe semi if we are lucky.

i fucking hate barcelona. i can't wait until they come to chicago soon, i will throw some old shoes at them.

[p_maldini_3]

say no to tevez.

fuck this shit, i can't believe another dickwad is coming to the club.

[maro]

Sure you hate Barca. They're everything you wish Milan were. Only you would never admit it. Van Bommel, Gattuso, Robinho, Ibra - these doods are such paragons of fine sportsmanship. Almost as fine as Taddei, Menez, Totti etc. etc.

[Brigate Rossonere]

[Brigate Rossonere]

[Brigate Rossonere]

[Brigate Rossonere]

[p_maldini_3]

every team has dicks, but nobody likes self-righteous assholes who sing iinnocence and preach against evil.

you master baiter. you didnt even watch the game.

[maro]

[red]

[Brigate Rossonere]

[Brigate Rossonere]

[p_maldini_3]

sorry brigate, i was addressing maro. for future reference, if there was a king of internet master baiting, maro would be the princess.

[p_maldini_3]

and brigate, over here, contrary to other popular football forums, we try to involve and ponder over the different wisdoms that come from the many different opinions about football.

labeling somebody as ignorant or dumb is pretty easy and can make for some damn good fodder if we all had IQ's of 100.

but we don't.

red brings up a point that i was also screaming about during the entire match about aquilani tracking his player. sure, you quote sacchi, but that's under the guise that allegri's footballing philosophy is the same as sacchi's. it's not, and it most likely never will be. allegri will never reach sacchi's shoes, he'll most likely never reach guardiola's shoes either. allegri plays some solid, and stolid, football. not aesthetically pleasing eye candy at all.

regardless of what footballing philosophy is the gold standard (sacchi's), the fact is that allegri does not adhere to that standard. in allegri's football, midfielders track midfielders, defenders track strikers. it's one of the reasons why allegri dropped pirlo. for all his genius, his biggest weakness was tracking a midfielder that bombed forward. pirlo would give up at least 5 goals a season where he wouldn't track his marker. it happened recently in italy's friendly against uruguay which they lost 1-0. a uruguayan midfielder had an open shot from 5 yards in front of the defense where the midfield (ie, pirlo) should've been tracking his run. italy lose the game 1-0. to hold this milan team to the sacchi standard of a defender being more aware of his teammate than his opponent is very idealistic and impractical. allegri's milan doesn't even play like that, so don't be so quick to discount red's observation.

you're new to the forum, and it's good to see a fellow milan fan so enthusiastic about the training ground aspect of football. but always remember that there will definitely be somebody who knows more than you, and you should always think that you know the least.

you'll be surprised to see how much you can learn from the incredibly insightful football fans we have here, don't blow off somebody's opinion without analyzing why they said it.

except maro. that mofo is a poof, and unfortunately we don't have the means to ban him. we would've done it ages ago, but it's some glitch in the internet or some shit like that.

[maro]

Quoting that bit from Sacchi - which I also thought was the most interesting part of that piece - to 'prove' that a midfielder shouldn't have been tracking his opponent's run is to travesty what Sacchi himself was saying. Defensive shapes and defensive systems, he was saying, are about knowing what each other is doing and playing in relation to one and another - most often, for a midfielder, that will mean tracking a run to ensure the players behind you don't get pulled out of position. I suspect Aquilani is, for Sacchi, exactly one of those players who doesn't really get system and defends in his own little sphere. I haven't seen the game - as mk knows - but it would be pretty unusual for a midfielder to get in behind and for it not to be the opposing midfielder's fault.

[vtec]

[maro]

ex-bqrcq?

[Brigate Rossonere]

[maro]

Don't worry, BR; I think most in this place have pretty thick skin and so it'll take quite a lot to offend them. I think mk's point, really, was a more general one - red knows his football. This doesn't mean he doesn't get things wrong but it does mean it's always worth at least seriously entertaining the possibility that he might be right when he disagrees with you.

In short, let me say two things. First, every (good) defensive set-up has to be a mix of the zonal and the marking. The consequence of this must be that if a player is ever pulled out of his zone(or, better, I think, pulled about within his zone), for one reason or another, the rest of the team moves together to compensate. And one of the reasons midfielders are generally asked to track midfield runners is that it is in front of the back 4 that there are more players and so more fluidity of zone. It is also true that any runner who gets in behind has necessarily in that very act compromised the set-up of the zone defence. One could also put the Pirlo instances another way - the runner has moved through Pirlo's zone; if Pirlo can see that he can't pass the player on for any reason, then it is his job to take responsibility for covering that run.