My computer follies’ strike again, as I was unable to get the gallery tool to work, hopefully Avia can send or post his photobucket link for the great pictures of the San Siro such as this!

Absorb pressure early, stretch and tire Madrid, and attack swiftly on the counter. There is a danger to this game plan because if you get hit early and often you may very well be knocked out, but Milan seemed to be fortunate on this night with Kaka and Higuian missing early. Milan did manage to counter but unlike Stallone in Rocky III were unable to really knock Madrid off of their game.

The 4-3-3 has certainly shown it’s positives in the past few weeks, but in this match it made me nervous. Milan did not get as compact as I would like and allowed a lot of space to Madrid in the middle third of the pitch to pick up speed and attack the defense before the players were closed down. For all the space Madrid was afforded, the defense, specifically Nesta and Silva stood very strong, and Ambrosini did well to get into tackles and effectively slow down Kaka.

Kaka was actually much more dangerous in this match than the previous and often needed both Ambro and Oddo to bottle him up, his shot that led to the goal was vintage Kaka as he slalomed into a shooting line and drove it hard at Dida who couldn’t claim it as it fell for Benzema.

All and all there are few complaints with the Milan performance on the night, with many again expecting our boys to be outplayed. Credit has to be given to Madrid for their intense marking of Borrielo and Pato all match long with Pato being played physically and Borriello be squeezed by defenders rendering them far less effective than we saw on the weekend. It was not the cleanest of defensive jobs, but is surely was effective especially with the Ref consistently allowing the physical play. Personally I would expect Pato to improve in games such as this, and be more physical himself, but at 20 years old and probably weighing 130 pounds you can see his frustration. Even more impressive out of Madrid was Lassana Diarra. The man was truly everywhere and is really rekindling the magic of Claude Makele that made Galacticos 1.0 so special. He mixed it up with everyone and got the best of many of the challenges.

As I fast forward and watch bits and pieces of the match again, I do wish that the dodgy PK was not called and the Pato goal was allowed. I still cannot put my finger on the reason for the goal being disallowed and if anyone can shed some light on that I would be more than happy to read about it. I also want to satisfy the Dinho fanboys who have made their return to the site as of late, this was in fact Dinho’s best performance in the Red and Black, I personally am still hoping for more, considering all I hear about is his “magic” but consistency and performances like these will be welcome! He also deserves heaps of praise for his tackling on the evening, and here I thought he didn’t know how to defend!?

So to take some positives from the match, the team stood toe to toe with a powerhouse yet again and though a win would have been the ultimate, the draw was well deserved. Now figuring out how we can draw with Madrid and lose to FC Zurich is the real question. I do believe that if CRON was healthy this match would have been far more challenging, but the recent run of play is promising as Milan now sit fourth In Serie A and atop their CL group…I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at our current status and was expecting to be far worse off at this stage of the season.

-12 minutes in and Madrid dominating possession and doing all the work around the goal with acres of space to play and no one closing down. Kaka looking far more game than two weeks ago.

-15 minutes and Pato looking like a ragdoll, doesn’t seem to want to be challenged at all. In fact all three strikers seem afraid to be hit or tackled.

-18th minute Milan look game to counter and nothing else, not really what you what you want to see from your team at home…Dida gets it though and playing some very nice long balls.

-23 minutes a great counter by Seedorf with an even better pass to Pato…save Casillas…great save really…

-27th minute Kaka slaloming through the middle following a Seedorf muff, he rifles a shot, Dida parries but not far enough, this is problems…Benzema with the goal. No defenders to be found Benzema with a top class finish but Dida and defenders should have done better.

-28th minute I can’t help but feel bad that this team has conceded the first goal to Madrid at the San Siro in 53 years…53 long years….this team has caught many a dubious honor in the past few years starting in Istanbul, losing to Arsenal at home, and now stopping a 53 year clean sheet…I hate statistics in football.

-32nd minute Borriello making poor decisions, in fact many of his teammates are as well…to forward with too many long balls, not good for a team who likes to posses.

-33rd minute Zambro goes charging in, missed cross but Pepe with a handball…
Ref calls it immediately with no hestitiation…who strikes it!?

-34th minute DInho BURIES IT, excellent PK…1-1…wow what a strike…

-36th minute Pato makes magic out of nothing, absolutely nothing…what a finish…OFFSIDE, no can’t be what is thecall, WHAT IS THE CALL!? Wow, my heart is racing out of my chest, a handball? Push? Has to be a push I see NOTHING else…

-Milan buzzing here in the 38th but need to relax a bit as Madrid is always dangerous on the attack.

-40th minute and I still can’t look at Xavi Alonso without a festering hatred for the scouser that he was…

-41st minute Milan with a horrific display of tackling through the center of the pitch with Dinho, Seedorf, and Ambro all missing wildly, Kaka strikes but wide…not good…Madrid can counter just as quick…

-42nd minute class tackle from Dinho in the midfield, the 4-3-3 really looks bad when Madrid attack with numbers, resembling something of a hockey power play. Dinho did very well to recognize and retreat. Soon thereafter tries to take on Diarra 1 v 1 but seems like a battle he will never win against Lass who looks more and more like Makele on and off the pitch.

-Dinho continuing to be a focal point as he crushes Pepe on a clumsy lunge/tackle. Frankly I like it, he looks MAD, and that is a good thing.

-Can someone tell me why Marcelo plays Madrid, I just don’t see it. I know he is a LB and is playing up in place of CRON, but the guy is not all that good…speaking of CRON, Milan has really lucked out without him on the pitch.

-45th Borriello getting chippy as well, finally these guys are sticking up for themselves up front…

-46th Pato with a HUGE tackle and Pepe seemingly takes out Borriello, this game is getting chippy with the halftime whistle coming at good time.

Clearly fortunate to go in with a draw here at half, the PK was suspect but the Pato goal disallowed was probably worse!? As I always say these things work out in the end, and clearly this is the case here. Milan seem happy to counter but that cannot continue because Madrid will eventually capitalize on these chances, a little more attack would be welcome.

-Looks like Leo missed the memo as Madrid comes out swinging.

-47th minute is Lass the best DM in the world? I mean Essien will have something say about it, but this guy is unreal. He is EVERYWHERE, but corner for Milan. Nothing.

-Oddo’s first move forward in what seems like the whole game is a wash in the 50th minute, he was far more attacking in the last match, maybe Kaka has made him fearful.

-Oddo again forward in the 52nd with a horrible cross…that’s more like it…

-53rd minute Ramos turns Zambro inside out, but a poor cross, he can be very dangerous but seems to have a hint of Oddo disease at the moment.

-55th what a ball by Dinho to Pato, but Pato controls the ball with his hand, gets a card for his trouble.

-56th announcer says Dinho has more tackles tonight than his whole career, I have to agree!

-Ambrosini reminds Kaka whose house this is with a great tackle in the 57th minute, Kaka falls as though he has been shot. Ambro has done well on the tackle but has done little else. Fast break follows for Milan and a yellow for Marcelo, Dinho really bossing that wing and forcing Marcelo to work very hard all over the pitch.

-59th Ambro unmarked, and misses the header. Our best header misses a chance…

-61st minute Benzema has two touches all game one of them a goal, the second a quality snap shot. For all the talk of the Frenchmen’s talent, I have to say he is not as dangerous as expected and seems to be lost at times. Kaka continues to be challenged, no love lost here…

-65th Pato going hard, but a bit too far from goal to be dangerous for Pato, a good free kick by Pirlo forces a corner. Nothing from the corner again…

-70th minute and Milan having some good possession but doing little in the final third.

-Kaka still with a lot of space if Ambro is not around, he is far too dangerous to not close immediately.

-74th minute Raul coming on, I don’t like him all that much because he is a Madrid’s version of Pippo and is too dangerous for my liking late on.

-76th minute Seedorf breaks nicely but Pato again fouled off the ball, Madrid has shown that they are willing to slow down Pato with fouls often and until the ref starts to hand out some yellows for it they will continue with their game plan.

-80th Leo counters Raul with Pippo, which CL legend has it in him tonight…man I hope it is Pippo.

-Madrid bringing on Ruud, hopefully Leo doesn’t want to counter this move with our own Dutch striking stiff.

-83rd Pippo so nearly, couldn’t get his feet right.

-Pato continues to get hacked, Arbeloa already on yellow.

-87th the game has grown cautious, both teams seemingly starting to look OK with a draw, and no one really wants to stretch themselves forward to be open for a counter. Madrid manages a quick shot Dida to save, but again not away, defense clears.

-89th Dida huge save on Raul, excellent reaction, WOW what a save.

-92nd minute Dinho can’t turn Ramos, but Milan earns a corner, and probably the final chance of the match…but a draw it is…wow, it ended a bit slower than it started, but a good match all around and a well deserved point on both sides.

I hope you enjoyed my pseudo live blog, it actually was a big help to me to keep my sanity during the match and if you already watched the match maybe you can re-live a bit of it, and if you didn’t see it maybe it will help. Should be back tomorrow with a recap.

Oddo: defensively a plus, but this is only when he decided to defend. Many times he was nowhere to be found on the track back and was bailed out by Rino and Silva on many occasions. Offensively he was dreadful, with acres of room he never made good on his delivery. He had one good cross that Pato nearly nodded in but the rest were forgettable and laughable; expect Abate to get the start vs Madrid if healthy.

Silva: I am willing to argue that Silva is one of the best additions Milan have had in recent memory. He has been a stable and reliable CB all season long and his poise for such a young CB is remarkable. A proud addition to a historic Milan defense, his tackling is top class and his occasional burst forward is a joy to watch. A goal for him today would have been well deserved.

Kaladze: at times I barely knew he was there, a plus for a CB. The less we here about Kaladze the better he has played. Find by me as he filled and for Nesta, really can’t complain about his use as a backup.

Antonini: he frustrates me beyond belief. Excellent movement into the attack, great one two passing, but the injury was disheartening. When he is out of options he forces a pass to Dinho which requires him to defend, he can improve his patience and get the ball working laterally as well. Defensively did well, but Parma prefers to attack down the middle instead of the flanks so the pressure was more on the CBs than the wing backs.

Gattuso: a solid match, tackled when needed and did what is expected. Should start midweek against Madrid.

Pirlo: atrocious and borderline hard to watch. Looks slow and disinterested, and his passing choice was the worse I have seen it in a long time. As I mentioned yesterday this nightmare will continue unless takes on the role of playmaker, until then I hope to see less of this Pirlo and more of this one:

Seedorf: almost as bad as Pirlo, but seemed willing to run a bit more. Also gets caught in traffic on the left flank especially when Dinho and Antonini were both present in that spot. Should shift inside a bit more, and shouldn’t be afraid to interchange with Pirlo as needed. Bottom line he doesn’t seem comfortable so deep, but will have to make due as the system of tactics is yielding results.

Pato: heavily marked, and given little to no breathing room. It is games like these that will define his benefits to Milan or any club he plays for that matter. Parma was clearly preoccupied with him allowing Borriello more room than normal, in that sense Pato can keep his feet moving and create even more room for his strike partner. What bothered me was his loss of interest and aggression following the PK claim, as I tell the boys I coach, this game gives you 90 minutes to make good on a bad call or mistake, get over it, move on and keep working usually your fortunes will turn.

Borriello: an epic two goal effort from Marco. He looked hungry and driven for goal, he made some mistakes but his work rate was high and kept finding room to operate. Linked nicely with Dinho and proved dangerous on the pass as he tried to setup Antonini and Silva. Is a revelation after watching KJH putz around and should be a fixture in the leading attacking line.

Dinho: better, and frankly is improving every match. I made a point to tally the amount of times he had his arms up in protest to the ref in the first half, sadly I counted twelve. That means twelve times he was too busy whining than tracking back or trying to win back possession. Frankly I don’t remember this trait at Barca, but he also rarely made mistakes or hawked for calls. He needs to further simplify and evolve his game to be effective. Milan do not need him to dribble four players and score, they do need him to work passes and create space, which he did well today. Let’s focus on the aspect and build on it, and the rest should progress nicely.

I want to take a minute and talk about the near deal for 20 year old Ghanian striker Dominic Adiyiah. The deal is nearly complete, but knowing what we know about infamous Milan medicals I wouldn’t seal the deal quite yet. I watched the U20 World Cup final against Brazil which ended in a very cagey draw that saw a ten man Ghana forced to defend for the entirety of the match rendering Adiyiah rather unnoticeable. He did show excellent movement and comfort on the ball and as the match wore on seemed to find his legs. Hard to tell what type of striker he will be based on the match, and immediately you want to invoke comparisons to Weah, Eto, and Drogba, but it is far too early. In the end the move is a step in the right direction for Milan and I would expect an official announcement at some point today or tomorrow.

Some highlights from the aforementioned WC:

-Parma plays some very nice football. Slick passing, great movement, and tenacious in the midfield! I was so intrigued I found myself googling players like Galloppa and Morrone early in the match. Sadly Morrone is on the wrong side of thirty, but how nice would he look at the RM spot if he was south of 30? Credit Parma’s coach and players for implementing a quality system and making it work against fierce competition up to this point in Serie A, it is nice to see a team getting it right after coming up from Serie B. On a side note, there was a time where loaned and co-owned players didn’t play against their parent club, apparently those times are long gone, at least he didn’t make us pay.

-WTF is going on with Nelson “no hands” Dida? He really has turned back the clock to 03-04 here or is he just seeing a blip in form in the absence of the first choice guys? Either way I will not complain and sadly have even found some confidence in the quick reflexes Brazilian, this of course under the circumstances that he doesn’t have to catch an easy ball or deal with a fan running on the pitch!?

-Ronaldinho’s yellow in the 42nd minute was completely foolish. He threw the second ball on the pitch after Antonini had thrown the ball in. What was worse is that he seemed cognizant of the whole thing, not to mention the referee was watching the entirety of the play!? It is not so much the card that bugged, but his attitude in situations with the referee, if you kept a tally of how many times he is left with his arms aloft waiting for a whistle that will not come, you would easily be in the double digits before the half. He was having a solid game to that point and I can’t help but think his mental state is part of his dip in form.

-The injury to Antonini is extremely frustrating. He was questionable for the match, but passed fitness to start and have an excellent first half. He was strong on defense and seemed to be a bit more unleashed on the attacking front; with great runs into the box and even finding a shot on goal, albeit horribly weak. He is a big piece of the Milan depth chart and if he can come through with success will allow transfers to be used on the midfield, shame really. What is a bit more puzzling is the inclusion of Zambro with Real midweek? Why not use Favalli to assure Zambro full rest??

-Borriello looking game and fiery through most of the match. Put his nose into a lot of good places and even got a shout onto his teammates to move and work forward. Frankly I like it, strikers need to be hungry and aggressive and that works for me. On the flipside Pato looked “checked out” he was marked heavily and rarely received his passes with some space, but he needs to stay focus and learn from challenging games such as this. The near penalty was surely arguable, but it wasn’t called so move on and get on with business.

-Silva is unflappable. He made countless 1 v 1 tackles and if you were a casual fan you may have mistaken his skill and movements for his backline mate Alessandro Nesta. Yes he was guilty of a mistake midweek that led to a goal, but he seems to have no memory of the error and his confidence continues to boom. A great addition, and credit to Leo for making this move a reality and getting his find game time.

The 4-3-3 is really poetry in motion, dynamic, fluid and capable of reshaping almost immediately. The most widely recognized version of this was the Dutch system of “Total Football” and their on-pitch general Johann Cruyff. What made the Dutch system special and ultimately the 4-3-3 special is the way the formation seems to envelope the pitch and the opponents, allowing for defensive and offensive pressure on every turn of possession, but what makes this work is not truly the alignment, but the players in that lineup which is the biggest negative in the Rossoneri employment.

Ideally when employing the 4-3-3 you want players with versatility and a skill set in which they are able to defend and attack with the ball in their vicinity. These players must be fast, tactically aware, and have an excellent spatial sense to cover their designated area, be it centrally or wide. The ideal players in this formation would be akin to Michael Essien, maybe Lassana Diarra, or even Carlos Tevez, players that can play in every direction and not just North and South or East and West. Milan’s lineup is almost the polar opposite of versatility, stop for a moment and consider our wingbacks on track North and South, Dinho on a track North and slightly East if he moves and at all, while Pirlo only moves East and West, with my point being that the versatility required in the 4-3-3 to immediately be a defender or an attacker does not exist in the Rossoneri roster.

This lack of versatility did not seem to get exposed Sunday against Chievo, yes Milan took a fair amount of time to figure out spacing and get balls into attacking zones, but ultimately Milan had the lion’s share of chances Sunday and Sorrentino was really the difference maker and score keeper. Napoli however was a different story, physically the 4-3-3 is extremely demanding and with a such a short turnaround from game to game it really didn’t seem like an issue in the first 20 minutes or so. But as the game wore on and Napoli began to press it was only Dida, much to our surprise, that kept the two goal lead, which ultimately was lost in the dying minutes of injury time. The problem was not the draw, or when the goals were scored, for me it was Leo’s stubbornness to stick to the formation and not adjust to preserve the win.
As the game wore on exhaustion set in and Milan played deeper on the pitch, and while the Nesta injury may have been a problem sub, the inclusion of Flamini came too late and the striker swap was ultimately mind boggling. In the end if you want to defend for close to 85 minutes than reposition the squad to do so! Evolve the 4-3-3 into the 4-3-2-1 and get men behind the ball. Maybe it is Leo’s naivety or lack of experience but in the end we lived and died by the 4-3-3 and saw the good and bad in a three day span.

So it leaves us with Parma on Saturday and Real Madrid soon thereafter. Does Leo stick with the demanding 4-3-3 or does he shift? If he sticks with it, he will surely need to rotate a squad that is being overworked with Pirlo, Seedorf, and even Dinho seeing extensive minutes nearing the possibility of playing 360 minutes in two weeks. Not really what should be going on for players on the wrong side of 30!! Problem is there are little to no options otherwise and Leo will have to start to get creative and work with youngsters like Strasser, Zigoni, and Di Gennaro (when fit) into the lineup to take some work load off of the old men.

Not to mention the infant stages of my Milan fandom began at a time where Diego Armando Maradona was ruling Serie A, and their greatest rivals was our very own “soon to be” invincibles. The games were epic and to this day I still feel that electricity when we meet Napoli either at the San Siro or the dreaded San Paolo…For a very thorough and complete preview Neil at the Napoli blog has come up big, check it out here.

I will be back around Friday to recap, explore the 4-3-3 and prepare for the weekend fixture against Parma…wow what a busy week to be a Milan tifosi…

Dida: shaky at best, test early and often and was lucky to only give up one. Defense settled, possession increased and his work slowly tailed off, his stop on the 90th was vintage but he has lost almost all the confidence he once possessed, still counting down the days to Abbiati’s return.

Oddo: erratic, his passes were either to the feet with precision or horribly off, there was really no in between. What bothered me most was his lack of recognition, he seemed confused coming forward and even more confused on the overlap or inside run, in essence it seemed he had memorized a plan and forgotten it more often than not.

Nesta: game saving tackle on Pellissier in the 62nd minute or so. Was very strong on the tackle and for playing in all of Milan’s matches is showing few signs of fatigue. His header was a monster and well deserved, but his second goal was even more amazing!! MOTM hands down and really the only Milan player who had Sorrentino’s number, Frey will certainly have nightmares of Alessandro this evening.

Silva: what a breath of fresh air this player has been. Super strong on the tackle, intelligent and quick, was left hung out to dry on the goal as no midfielder was filling the space of front of him. Made a forward run from the CB spot in the first half that reminded me of Maldini in the last few games of his career; Silva is easily the best addition of the transfer season to this point.

Antonini: tentative and lacking in confidence, his one two with Seedorf early was sublime and his one on one defending in the box on Luciano was excellent. My biggest gripe was much like Oddo he appeared confused going forward. It was almost as thought the wingbacks were told to play more reserved, it is hard to tell without knowing the tactical plan, but his lack of confidence in himself showed in his passing and his general communication with his teammates. He has the skills to play in this team, he just has to show them!

Flamini: went whole periods without even being in the play, if you were a casual fan watching the match you would lose him instantly. Did well early but as the game wore on he wore out and disappeared. Just not good enough has regressed from last season and looks like a shadow of his former Arsenal self.

Pirlo: his service on both Nesta goals was excellent, but his play was lax and rather sluggish. He constantly overshadows his errors with quality passes in all directions but this tactical setups may ask for to much from Pirlo defensively.

Seedorf: like last season Seedorf played one good game and one bad and this was again the case. Maybe it is fatigue, maybe it is the opponent, but he just was not good enough with the pass or the finish. His one two with Antonini should have been a sure goal instead Milan continued behind.

Pato: momentum from the midweek tie was in his favor and he looked very dangerous. Chievo clearly knew he was the danger man and did little to disguise the double and triple marking. He was most dangerous when he was interchanging and his markers could not keep of track him. He needs to learn that even if he doesn’t score his movement is VERY dangerous and as he progresses and learns these facts he will become even more complete as a striker.

KJH: Horrendous is the only word that comes to mind, if anyone can find a way to defend him I would be more than happy to hear it. On three separate occasions he received the ball with his back to goal had an errant touch and passed the ball back with little or no chance of even turning or playing square. He looked stiff, slow, and really poor. Sure he scored goals in Holland, but that is clearly not what it used to be.

Borriello: he was on the pitch for both goals, and was partly responsible for the first one. Showed more grit than KJH, really stuck his nose in the places it needed to be. Between this match and Wednesday he now has to be the first choice man for Milan in the middle.

Dinho: let’ be honest he no longer can take a player one on one, that part of his game which was so spectacular early in his career is all but gone, these defenders were not World Class but they stood him up time and time again. His game needs to evolve and if it does he will be dangerous once again in more of passing fashion. I do not believe he should have been subbed for Pippo, who did very little, instead it should have been Seedorf or Flamini to give way, but if Leo wants to use the 4-3-3, than Dinho is pivotal wide left. Play simple and he will be an asset, trying to do to much his play will be exposed.

Let’s not get carried away here with this win. Chievo certainly deserved more from this match, a draw was far more deserved, but Milan did well to grind it out, stay on the ball, and pressure the goal. Grinding out a win though is a huge plus and should not be underestimated, tied for fourth place is really not all that bad now is it!?