AC Milan general spiel 2.0

[The MAN]

Dont think Flamini is starting this one just yet

I hope Robinho can start with Ibra and Dinho....I'm not in favour of starting Pippo and I'm also not in favour of moving Boateng to the right side of attack, for me I see him as a midfielder and this where he'll contribute the most to us.

Also, looks we'll sport the all-black 3rd jersies for this one

[p_maldini_3]

i don't think robinho is fully fit for 90 minutes. he hasn't trained much in preseason (with his dispute with citeh) and then he went off to train with the brazilian NT.

we always kick lazio's ass, lets hope that trend continues.

[San Paolo]

looks like we will have a mid of

rino--pirlo--seedorf

and a front 3 of

KPB--Ibra--Dinho

equals WTF!

[San Paolo]

MILANO - Queste le formazioni ufficiali di Lazio-Milan, in campo alle 20.45 allo stadio Olimpico.
LAZIO: Muslera; Cavanda, Biava, Dias, Radu; Mauri, Brocchi, Ledesma, Hernanes, Foggia; Floccari.
MILAN: Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta; Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf; Boateng, Ibrahimovic, Ronaldinho.

[p_maldini_3]

this will only work if abate motors up the right flank the whole game. we'll probably see boateng tucked in on the right, operating behind ibra.

but fuck me, gattuso pirlo and seedorf. same midfield that won in 2003.

7 years later.

what the fuck.

[The MAN]

[p_maldini_3]

allegri is an idiot.

then he has the audacity to say he was happy with today's game and we had 3 chances in the first half.

unless he turns things around quickly, he is a fucking retard.

where the fuck was robinho.

[The MAN]

If Allegri continues to insist on the "status" quo" and plays the same players without any innovations, he'll be toast soon. Remember, this is not Leo or Carlo's last few years where an extended bad run is tolerated by the club, the expectations are higher and management/fans expect results this season

I'm seeing some improvements overall, however, few of things are also not being managed properly as well...Seedorf said this team needs a month and I think this is about the same timeframe Silvio & Galliani will wait before making any moves.

[vtec]

"playing Boateng where he played today is not the best of ideas"

i made a similar comment to that in the shoutbox last night, just before i passed out on the couch while watching the game. i woke up briefly to see the replay of ibra's goal, but passed out quickly enough to miss the lazio equalizer completely.

i blame our early failures so far this season 95% on allegri. i am really disenchanted by his managing and am starting to believe that he's using a try and fail approach to coaching than actually thinking about anything. boateng and seedorf really should have been playing each other's positions. i only really watched the first half, having fallen asleep in the second, but both were bad in the first. anyone who thinks boateng played well will have a lot to convince me of as i thought he lost the ball a lot in the final third of the field and made some very bad decisions. that quick fk is just one example, but he would always pass to the wrong person and, more often than not, his passes would end up intercepted. the same can be said of seedorf and pirlo, who still haven't played a good game so far since the season's opener.

for their part, lazio defended really well and hernanez was causing us lots of problems. he's a talented young player and may well go on and become a star player. that is, if he can avoid the temptation of going to man city next year. mostly, though, lazio defended really well and gave us no room, and forced us to retreat a number of times. in hockey, we call that the forecheck; i don't know what you would call that kind of defending in football.

zlatan showed flashes of brilliance but was frustrating, although he did score a good goal. gattuso, i can't stand the sight of him any more as i don't think he has any claims to a starting spot, but he played solidly enough in the first half. besides, if flamini and ambro were both out, there really wasn't anyone to take his place.

overall, i think allegri has shown a failure to properly adjust his tactics to the players he has available. if you have both pato and robinho injured, you shouldn't try to fit another player of infinitely inferiour technical quality to fill their shoes; rather, you should adjust your formation so that the team can work without them. carlo's old diamond 4-3-1-2 would have worked much better last night with seedorf as trequartista than a 4-3-3 with boateng as attacking winger. nothing against boateng, though, as i think he was our best acquisition of the summer and will have an important role to play in the club, just not as a striker, i hope.

also, our best player was, by far, abbiati.

[The MAN]

I thought Boateng was giving it ago though...he works hard but I think he ran out of gas in the 2nd half

Agreed Seedorf shoud've played there....or play Xmas tree with Dinho and Seedorf behind Ibra...bottom line, u fit ur players around formation not vice versa.

Problem, is this team cant string a few good passes in the final 3rd..too many useless passes and nobody makes runs, there are like 100 examples of Pirlo or Seedorf for example trying to pass but everybody standing still. Wbe had lots of the ball abd couldnt do much with it....I'm telling u, if Allegri can't get this team to deliver wins by the time we get the Madrid double header, he's toast. I hope he comes good, maybe he's gonna wake up who knows. The #1 problem for us is midfield. I can live with our defence, I can live with the shady goalkeeping, but the midfield is killing us...too many players doing the same thing and that being nothing

[The MAN]

Abbiati
Zambro-Nesta-Silva-Antonini
------Flamini-Boateng
Robhino-Pato-Ronaldinho
---------Zlatan

I want to see this lineup for 1 game only (once the 2 Brasilians are fit)...no more Seedorf, Pirlo,Rino or Ambro...bench their asses for 1 game. Allegri has to show who's boss. I'm not saying these 4 should be bench players from now on, at least 1 will need to be a starter anyways, but this shit cannot continue. The midfield of 02-03 being used in 2010 is an absolutel fucking joke. I do not remember the last time a club team or national team pulling this shit before.

[San Paolo]

The midweek round of Serie A taught us a few things – Roma are in trouble, if perhaps unlucky, Inter striker Samuel Eto’o simply cannot be stopped at the moment, and Milan are mediocre.

When this writer saw the players in the line-up for Milan against Lazio, a faint whisper of approval could be heard. The starting XI had Kevin-Prince Boateng starting instead of Robinho, so four “midfielders” in Boateng, Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, and Clarence Seedorf.

However, on the field it was the same 4-3-3 system as always, just with Boateng in the wide role where the injured Alexandre Pato would normally be – alongside Ibrahimovic and Ronaldinho. Once again, the system was exposed as the Bianconcelesti held a rather pedestrian looking Milan side to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico. The Rossoneri often proclaim themselves as proponents of attacking and stylish football, but what was witnessed on Wednesday evening was neither easy on the eye nor particularly effective.

Manchester United were the masters of exposing Milan’s three-man midfield and backpedalling backline last season in the Champions League and the Serie A sides have also figured out that there is plenty of room to exploit in midfield, in front of the defence and for the full-backs on the flanks if they set up correctly. Lazio’s Hernanes did it brilliant all night long and eventually set up Sergio Floccari for the equaliser.

The only question is when will Milan and Massimiliano Allegri finally get the message?
Why can’t we see four midfielders either in a flat or diamond 4-4-2 formation with Clarence Seedorf at the top? It’s time to play with just two strikers and a midfield capable of recovering the ball as well as they pass it. Ibrahimovic and Pato (when he returns from injury) would make a brilliant pairing up front and both are more comfortable playing in that type of system. Seedorf, who set up the Swede’s opener, is a proven and underrated playmaker – unfortunately he’s rarely had the chance since Ronaldinho’s arrival at the club.

The Brazilian is surely talented, but he limits a team’s tactical scheme as he flourishes in wide positions in a three-man strike force. Whether Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani would accept it if he were left out is another story.

Meanwhile, city-rivals Inter had a fairly easy time seeing of Bari 4-0, as Eto’o continued his inspired form with another two goals, both from the penalty spot, and an assist for Diego Milito – who also found the back of the net twice to end his goal drought. The Nerazzurri’s well-oiled machine is clicking into gear and are top of the table and currently the rest look like being left behind once again – only time will tell if that’s the case.

Onto poor Roma, who fell 2-1 to Brescia at the Stadio Rigamonti without captain Francesco Totti. Coach Claudio Ranieri must now be feeling the noose around his neck, though he will feel aggrieved not to have earned at least a point on this occasion. Philippe Mexes sending off was debatable and of course so was the winning penalty, prompting the Frenchman’s reaction of both incredible fury and frustration.

Overall, it was another round of Serie A laden with goals, controversy, defensive lapses, wonderful passes, and as many tactical mishaps as successes – we can only hope the next one is just as exciting.

[The MAN]

I don't think this Milan are medoicre. We're underachieving so far.

The Milan of the last couple of years was mediocre. This Milan is not and should not. We are definitely under-performing, but not mediocre.

4-4-2 the way he described it is fucking rubbish. He's basically saying we should play Seedorf but bench Dinho, r u fucking kidding me?

[vtec]

i think we are better than last year for sure, but still mediocre compared to other champions league teams. we should expect to finish in the top four, but we are not scudetto-level, so i think that was a fair point. our attack, on paper, is one of the best; our midfield, on paper, was the best and should still be good with boateng and flamini; but our defense is crap.

the concensus definitely looks to be that boateng and seedorf were played out of position last night, which is the coach's fault.

[San Paolo]

another Milanisti's post but he makes some valid/decent points imo

"We are in an all most identical position to where we were under Leonardo last year. In fact, our first 3 games of the season were IDENTICAL. Win, loss, draw.

There are practical reasons why Robinho did not play, though 88 minute seems odd, but, he wasn't even on the bench for our last game. This was Flamini's first appearance of the actual season, he was injured, and was not even on the bench last game. Those are the practical reasons why they did not play, it is not Allegri being an idiot, it's him being smart, and what a proper manager should do.

As for Ronaldinho being the cause of all of our problems, this is getting ridiculous. The problem is that with the way we are playing, without the full use of our weapons, or more importantly without any chemistry, we are failing. But, this game is a significant improvement over our outings against Catania and Cesena.

The team clearly lacks chemistry and I don't know how you can fault that on Allegri, when his latest weapons all came very late in the transfer window. Zlatan and Robinho did not even participate once in pre-season, while Boateng came in mid/late August. So please, calm down, because it is getting ridiculous.

Clearly a midfield of KPB-Pirlo-Flamini will change a lot of things, but I think there is another major positive from this game and from the Auxerre game. Has anyone noticed the quiet resurgence of a certain Zambrotta? I mean, I would much rather have him as our starting RB with Antonini as our LB, and to be honest, Abate was not bad, still raw on tactics, but I think if Zambro can play like he has been playing consistently, we have a huge hole filled."

[The MAN]

[The MAN]

[San Paolo]

Allegri himself said we wont see the new Milan until the middle of october as for some reason he always has slow starts to seasons, the last one cost him his job with Cagliari didnt it?

[p_maldini_3]

allegri has made plenty of boneheaded moves to deserve the flak that he is getting.

he is playing people out of position, not getting the best of them. and for 3 games straight, we were hit on counterattacks. we finally saw an improvement against lazio, but after dropping 5 points of a possible 9...

allegri needs to get his shit together, he needs to show tactical elasticity and intelligence, especially when it comes to ronaldinho; who is playing like a fucking retard at the moment.

[The MAN]

OK, I sense that Allegri is being cast as the sole scapegoat to this, which I disagree with.

Did Allegri mess up? Absolutely, certain selections are messed up. I'm not happy with midfield, fullback rotations, and heck, even playing that idiot Abiatti ahead of Amelia.
Is he at fault? Yes, of course.
Is the THE main reason for our struggles? I don't think so.

Listen, when you have 2 of your 6 midfielders unavaialble, and you're left with 4 for 3 spots, 3 of them being underperforming veterans (Rino,Pirlo,Seedorf), what are u supposed to do as a coach? Don't tell me play some primavera players, we're gonna be eaten alive, u pretty much have no choice but to use them and hope shit sticks. There are not many alternatives there for Allegri.

Same with forwards, when 2 of ur "fantastic 4" are injured/unfit, team will struggle, specially since 1 of the other 2 barely had time with the club (I do think Ibra is doing pretty well considering everything)

There's only so much a coach can do with selections, ultimately its the players who have to deliver on the pitch. When you see Rino barely doing anything useful, Pirlo looking lost and tired, and Seedorf strollinng around being his lazy self and barely moving, what is the coach suposed to do?? The players have show heart and effort, I hope Flamini is fit to start on Saturday, I want to see veteran asses benched. They have no fucking hunger to try win us those games. Im sick of it.

This is not a defence of Allegri as much as it is stating some facts. I don't think he's settled on a lineup, which is a problem and he needs to get the shit sorted out because if it isn't, coaches will pay the price first and foremost.