Thursday Milan Musings

By: Gianfranco | August 21st, 2008

This whole week I have stood by quietly while it seemed like every footballing decision out of Milan was worse than the one prior. I sat by quietly and watched Ronaldinho and Pato fail at the Olympics, I didn’t type a word while Milan lost Ivanovic tried for Sheva but lost him again, I didn’t write a post blasting Lippi and the lack of form of the Azzurri on Wednesday. Well the silence is over and I am not all that pleased nor really in the mood to be all that cheeky, and quite frankly I am upset.

-Let’s start with our big time, big money, big player summer signing. As I type this I am watching the Brazil game and in the 43rd minute of the first half I have not seen the ball outside of the Argentine attacking third in close to 20 minutes. What I have seen however is an Argentine with 11 players willing to work for every ball and bit of space on the pitch while I watched a Brazil team chase the game, by not doing any chasing at all.

I understand that Dunga’s system and formation is rigid and a bit defensive minded, but I am also quick to point out that this is a team of youngsters all capable to control the ball, and each one capable to make magic with every and any touch. A coach put you on the field and gives you a mentality and strategy, he does not however hold an XBOX controller on the sideline and move you around, and so blaming a coach can only go so far. With that being said with a guy like Dinho at your disposal who is “capable” of phenomenal things, wouldn’t you think Dunga would allow him to have carte blanche? To move freely centrally and to the left, and to move for the ball on all areas of the pitch, in my humble opinion no one is going to tell the supposed Brazilian genius to stand still.

But alas what has he done, he has defied all logic and covered the single smallest area of a soccer pitch I have ever seen covered by any professional player in my entire life (outside of Totti, who I believe plays on a foosball arm). I understand Dinho has not played in close to seven months, and he is a bit out of shape, however if you are in fact a player who wants to get back to the top, would you not bust your hump in an venue where you could do so against player who are “below” your level. I can’t take away the occasional good pass he made, and there were few, but I can be disappointed in his lack of effort, drive, and what seemed to be a true lack of will to play the game. First and foremost I am disappointed in him as a player, but second I am disappointed in him as a person. All I hear day in and day out is that he likes to party first and play soccer second, I don’t want that anywhere near my team, and he may be in the starting lineup…

-When this transfer window started we had the need for a striker and a defender, and instead we all stood by as Fester purchased a playmaker. OK we let it slide. Borriello goes down and we court a defender, Nesta goes down and we shift gears to court Sheva. Does anyone else think that the Brass have completely lost their minds. Granted had Milan snuck Sheva and Ivanovic in the deal from Chelsea it would have truly been a coup, but instead we are all left wanting and waiting for something, more like nothing to happen. When did we become the whipping boys of the transfer window, do we really want to be Chelsea’s favorite reject after we didn’t sell them Kaka. Why not look elsewhere? Why not forget the targets everyone else is eyeing, and make some noise on a move like Asamoah Gyan before he left Italy or a young CB from who knows where. I am not looking for top class players every time; it is OK to take a risk and fail, because you can succeed all the same.

-Yesterday Marcello Lippi rolled back the clock and took the Azzurri circa 06 out against Austria, a team widely considered the whipping boy of Austria. What did Lippi lead us to…a 2-2 draw which I thankfully didn’t see. Thanks to Julian at the Italy blog, Alessio, and a host of other bloggers I was able to piece together a match that saw Gila take credit for a own goal (got to get some cred somewhere), Gattuso getting hurt, and former Milan target now Pool player Dossena having one of the better games for the boys in blue.

I know it was a friendly, but I am disenfranchised with Lippi and the squad at the moment, because by the time the next fixture rolls around this team needs a new look. I know Lippi is capable of it, and is also not all that afraid to do it, but the time is now. The chopping block needs to be used for a fair amount of players, some Rossoneri included, to usher this team in the future.