Wednesday Milan Musings

By: Gianfranco | October 15th, 2008

I want to apologize for my lack of posts in the past few days but this International break has been horrendous in terms of quality calcio, and Milan related news. Lippi’s “Don Style New Azzuri” has me wondering why on Earth there was Donadoni witch hunt only a few months back to bring in this fella. Yes Lippi had success in 06 and I am undyingly grateful for that but lining up Bonera, Perrotta, Rino, and DiNatale is not exactly seasoning the young guns for 2010 now is it? I am not asking to Lippi to field the U21 squad, but playing Rossi and Montolivo is not all that much to ask now is it? The team is not playing lights out calcio considering games against Bulgaria and Montenegro should be won handedly, and I am afraid that a big time opponent will rip this seemingly pompous team a new one. Thank god there is a ways to go before some real competition.

I am done ranting on this Azzuri, but as you can see I am not all that pleased…

In a few days Milan will be welcoming Sampdoria to the San Siro, and the sight of the Rossoneri taking the pitch will be a welcomed sight. An even more welcomed sight will be the potential return of both Marco Borriello and Sandro Nesta who will go a long way in the strengthening Milan in both the front and the back. Nesta, if fit, will most certainly be in the lineup with Borriello being a decision left to Carletto and his tactical formation for Sunday. A dual striker system with Kaka behind seems to make the most sense with healthy and able personnel, but we will learn more together as game draws closer.

I want to take a minute to discuss Gourcuff before we wrap this post up. The kid is flat out playing his heart out at Bordeaux and his goal on Saturday for Les Blues was the goal of the weekend, hands down. So what went wrong at the San Siro? First and foremost Gourcuff had no real position in the Xmas tree, along side Pirlo was to deep, while the attacking line alongside Kaka was a bit to advanced. Gourcuff is a your typical box to box versatile mid who feels most at home in the center of the pitch, which is a job that doesn’t seem to really exist in the Carletto system. If Cuffy does return to Milan his success will depend solely on his usage, and depending on who is still on the roster next season may prove as bad if not worse than it was prior to his departure. I want him back, but if we can cash in big and sell him to Wenger, then I can’t disagree. Carletto really has to look at his bench/roster and say use him or lose him…