AC Milan
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I have to admit when I saw Reja’s 3-4-1-2 formation I was nervous that Milan would be unable to cope with Lazio’s width and that they would lose the vital numbers game in the midfield. Cisse’s early goal seemed to affirm that point with a lack of pressure from the midfield causing disarray in the defense and poor marking leading to the goal. But the disarray was only for a fleeting second as Milan began to possess the ball and exploit Lazio’s back three and their inability to link the ball from the midfield to attack with Hernanes looking less like the player he can be and more like a headless chicken.
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With the transfer window still a week from closure we may as well fill ourselves in…
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At the start of the second half on Sunday Allegri made one of the most proactive subs of his Milan tenure. He finally recognized the inability of Urby as a CAM, a half too late mind you, and subbed off Antonini moving the ineffective Dutchman to LB and bringing El Shaarawi into the hole behind the strikers. The thing is El Shaarawi didn’t really slot into the hole, nor did he function as a true CAM, none of the strikers did. Suddenly the time tested 4-3-1-2 looked a bit like a 4-3-3, but not the Leo version that gave many of us nightmares, but a hybrid that proved rather effective; scoring three goals in forty-five minutes.
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Following this win Milan sit at forty points. Forty points at the midway point is exactly the same as last year’s title winning campaign and Allegri has managed 40, 42, and 40 in his first three half-seasons. Sure the knock is that Milan have not beaten a top side in Serie A this season, but the point total stands and it matters little how and were the 40 points were obtained. That is why beating Novara today was imperative, allowing Milan to stay within one point of Juventus and ahead of the pack in the Serie A.
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So here I was planning to write a tongue in cheek post about the Milan way and finding the hard road to beating Novara, but then I read this. Seeing Maldini’s words made my stomach sink, and after last week’s failure to cash in because of “family ties” you have to wonder what is going on in the front office of this Club. You have a Club legend, loyal servant and incredible talent who needed no hype, no fanfare, and brought nothing but success and professionalism to this Club seemingly finding it difficult to make his way into the front office. Yet a child gets the benefit of the doubt, for simply falling on top of the Owner’s daughter, at a Club loss of 35M Euros!? Simply put,this is disgusting…
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Enough licking wounds, it is Coppa Time, and what better way to forget a loss then with a win. Expect some changes to the Winning Eleven today and maybe the return of Alexander Merkel. On a side note I hope you enjoy the finer points of Novara, we will see them again on the weekend…
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So Avais and I have been discussing Pato at length in emails, and he wanted to post his thoughts. I figured before we tackle Novara we can tackle a, “A Problem Called Pato,” special thanks to Avia for writing an excellent piece!
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A few odds and ends that didn’t make it into the recap, but stuck out in my notes…
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