Part of the blame, in fact most of the blame, should be shouldered by Leonardo. There is absolutely no excuse for leaving two subs on the bench during such a hotly contested match. If you do not trust the players on the bench, then you are the only one to blame for putting them there. Flamini should have been a must in the 65th minute when it appeared that both Pirlo and Ambro were about to drop dead. Leonardo can also be blamed for not pinching in the midfield and retracting Zambro into defense sooner. OM saw the weakness at the outside back position and exploited it, Abate provided some help but even he seemed a bit nervous, in the end our weaknesses are continuously exploited time and time again.

Ronaldinho and Borriello were once again bright spots linking well, but lacking that final bite or touch. The Bori goal was top class, and he won countless balls in the attacking third but in the end he needed to be more of a force in the second half. Pato showed flashes but they were rare and never dangerous, he seemed poised to test the defense but it never materialized, and in the end neither did the Rossoneri. Strikers need to score and bag chances and that goes for all of them, on both teams in this case. In the end I am actually rather frustrated by the whole thing, maybe it was exhaustion, maybe it was lack of preparation? In the end the lack of adjustment to counter the opponent is really what bothers me most.

As I do with most poor Milan performances I immediately call my cousin in the boot to discuss and get his take. This call was rather funny we both mused about the luck, and how we managed to stay alive in the CL, and fail to make anything easy as a Club. As we got to talking we realized that Milan has not won a home game in the CL since losing to Arsenal in the winter of 08, that is an alarming run for what was once a CL fortress, and a place where no team wanted to travel to. Home field advantage is rather important in tournaments such as this, and it stinks to not be able to count on the points at home. The problem is there is no real remedy for this strange new ailment…

So the squad sits second in the group, with a win being away to Zurich the only sure bet for qualification. If not the Europe League looms, and what was looking to be a brighter season may be back into the doldrums sooner than you think. There was a time when AC Milan with their backs to the wall were second to none, that time seems to have passed and Leo will do well to rest his big guns before the trip to Zurich. Nothing is ever easy is it…see you on the weekend…

If Pirlo is flanked by Rino and Ambro his value is clear, but when Seedorf and soon Beckham are alongside him, his play will continue to decline, and the need for a true CM in the mold of Essien, Toure, or D’Agostino becomes even more imperative. This balance issue is also imperative on the flanks as well. If you use the left flank as an example, with Dinho, Seedorf, and Zambro, the natural tendency for these players is to attack, with Dinho it is a must, and Clarence can hold possession but he drifts centrally which could leave Zambro higher on the pitch than needed and balance is lost. Ultimately causing the team to become weak and susceptible on the flank. This not always the case on the right with Ambro checking in behind Oddo, or Oddo tracking back (which he does do), putting the RCB under less pressure than the opposite side, which rings even more praise for Silva who has dealt with this in-balance week in and week out.

Due to personnel there is no real easy fix. You can argue that Clarence can play central with Flamini and Ambro on his sides, or even Abate, but again Pirlo is once again the odd man out; a sacrifice that after Sunday many of us are willing to make. In the attack Borriello’s balance was worth its weight in gold as he dragged defenders in and out of the box, especially Astori, who looked a man lost, and showed the pitfalls of a youthfully exuberant CB. Pippo does not offer this same type of work rate and style and the offense sputters around him, even though he is still capable of scoring the big goal; balance again becomes the issue, with Pippo being the target, instead of a cog in the three man offensive line.

So with Marseille coming to San Siro this week for the second game in four days it is hard to say what Leo’s gameplan will be. Conventional wisdom says a guarded defensive approach will be taken due to the possible knee injury of Borriello, but Leo has rebuffed conventional wisdom time and again, to his credit, so it may be more of the same, with the same personnel. Let’s just hope they can keep this heavy game pace up as the season wears on…

A handful of veterans are nearing the end of road on this Club with contracts expiring in May. Dida, Pirlo, Rino, Nesta, Ambro, Kaladze and Favalli are in the final months of their Contracts while Oddo, Zambro, Dinho and Seedorf are close to a year out as well. Sending all these loyal soldiers on their way seems like a team chemistry implosion and losing the veteran presence at the club may be suicide, but there are certainly some moves that can be made to set this team up for the future. I want your thoughts as well, but my ideas are as follows:

The first group is a list of untouchables that MUST remain with the club, and frankly it is far shorter than even I anticipated. There really is no equal for a healthy Nesta and the value he brings to the table on defense extends beyond what he does on the pitch. His partnership with Silva has been excellent and playing two youthful and exuberant CB’s comes with negatives, and therefore a veteran is a welcome addition to teach, but also to provide grit. The only other player on the list is Ambrosini. Why Ambrosini you may ask? Because his fight for the cause has never wavered, he has never demanded first team football, and has always had his head on square for the team and team alone. There was a time when those accolades would be heaped on Rino, but at this point it is plainly evident that he does not get on with Leonardo, and when he is on the pitch he doesn’t have the rounded skills that Ambro brings to the table. It pains me to say it, but for me Rino’s heart and soul left the Club when he flirted with Bayern, and though he arguably had the best season of any player pre-knee injury last term, his attitude towards the Club is no longer what it once was.

Pirlo is also short of the list, Leo likes the 4-3-3, and frankly if done right I doas well. Pirlo is no longer the type of mid needed to make this system work. I love his contribution and his history with the Club, but at this point we need a box to box beast at CM in the mold of Micheal Essien. My vote is for Asamoah of Udinese, Mikel of Chelsea, or Mariga of Parma, who in the end lends more to making Leo’s system a success. Pirlo and Rino to Chelsea for Mikel is starting to look like more and more attractive by the minute, and the least Carletto can do to satisfy everyone at the table.

Sadly the rest of the list can go. There are rumors that Dida and Favalli will part ways with the club come January, good riddance. These two moves can open the door for the potential arrival of players like Ranocchia or Bonucci from Bari, and for a new GK to be groomed behind Abbiati, who will return to first team football shortly, such as Marchetti or Castelazzi, and yes I am being optimistic with these names, but the financial windfall of cut wages should be enough to make Milan a force in the transfer market with the pursuit of quality young players.

It still leaves a bit to be desired at the outside backs position, but frankly the talent in this position is a bit shallower than people are willing to notice. If you stop for a moment to consider the best players at the position: Ramos, Cole, Maicon, Evra, and Alves; these are all players that would cost a heap of money, and frankly would be like luring Maldini away from Milan. The best bet here is to push the issue with Abate and Antonini and promote from within the Club. I am not familiar with many of the names from the youth squad, but if you consider the wealth of wingback talent historically nurtured at AC Milan: Maldini, Panucci, Costacurta, and Tassotti, it cannot be without reason to think that this player SHOULD exist. If not, then versatility is the next big thing. A LM or RM with a penchant for defense can be easily pulled back alla Janks, or more recently Abate. No matter how you look at it, this position is and will be continue to be the biggest challenge for Milan and many of the other clubs looking to bolster this position.

Now it is your turn…

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.

The first half of Wednesday evening was abysmal. I won’t go too far into Dida’s catastrophic error that led to the first goal but it is unacceptable and in fact is far worse than any mistake he has ever made, Storari and Abbiati cannot return soon enough! What I found most frustrated with the first half was the terrible hoofing of the ball forward which caused an already offside prone Pippo to be caught time and time again, and led to no real chances or efforts on or towards goal for forty five minutes. I will give credit to Leo, whom I will discuss more later, for employing a 4-3-3 against a team that likes to attack in Real, but that 4-3-3 looked a lot like an XMAS tree for most of that first half and the application of his tactics looked like an utter failure.

The second half was a different story, immediately Milan looked reborn. Not sure if Leo just asked the forward line to stay forward, or if the squad just woke up, but the game certainly changed. Pirlo’s goal was a cracker, really have not seen a shot like that out of him, or any other player, since Zambro’s cracker last year . While many say Casillas could have saved it, he didn’t get a clear look at that ball until it was behind him. What followed were two more cracking Milan goals with Pato showing a flash of what will hopefully make him so special. I have been hard on the Pato lately because I expect a heck of a lot of him, and frankly the team needs his A-game to succeed, but when he brings it, as he has against Napoli, Roma, and now Madrid the kid is a force. A friend asked me who I would liken Pato to as a player, and really I was speechless, it was a question I couldn’t answer because he really combines various play styles, in the end I said a cross between Fernando Torres and David Villa, and if that one day is true, than we truly have a special player on our hands.

Speaking of special players, Pirlo and Dinho were once those guys; but lately they have not shown their old class. This night was again a bit different. Dinho didn’t show it all that much with his play, but he showed some fire and drive which frankly I have not seen in him once in a Milan jersey. He looked to take on, ran with a purpose (again I will take the running), and worked hard on the ball. He also bitch slapped Raul and that has to count for something, but in the end he seemed determined to make a difference and though he didn’t score or make big plays he did draw defenders and open space for his teammates. As for Pirlo, the shoot was pure class, he also did well moving the ball and his passes save a few long balls early were on target and effective.

Now for the negatives, Oddo and Zambro were atrocious both offensively and defensively. It took Kaka a few minutes in the second half to realize he can carve Oddo open and when he did he had quality shots on goal that proved dangerous. Lost as well in the madness of the match was a clear PK on Zambro early when he fouled Benzema, which would have easily changed the complexion of the match, these players though both effective in their time are now liabilities more than ever. With the weekend fixture against Chievo if Abate is healthy he should be the RB and either Janks or Antonini should be given the start on the left. I know Antonini has been up and down in many eyes, but he can’t possibly be as much of a liability as Zambro has become, Lippi take notice, your WC10 left back may be moved to left bench.

Finally my last negative is the employment of the 4-3-3. In this circumstance it worked nicely possibly by chance, and I will delve deeper into it next week in a tactics post, but if the opponent employs a packed box and counter mentality as many of them do against Milan, this formation will leave us shattered. Can you imagine Pirlo and Seedorf huffing and puffing to get back to stop a counter!? What about Dinho having to hold up a wingback in the attacking third for the midfielders to reshape, a pivotal requirement of the strikers in the 4-3-3…scary thoughts!

Which leads me to Leo, I have to admit that following the weekend and now this match I have renewed faith in him as a Coach. Yes he is lacking tactically, and doesn’t seem to know how to control a match, but what he lacks in tactics he has made up for in adventuress squad and formation selection. One could also argue that the players are more receptive to him now than they were 2 months ago and that is helping as well. Either way I can’t say I wish him gone as much as I did even a few weeks ago, and yes I would still prefer him in charge of scouting, but if he stays on the bench I don’t feel all that bad. So when someone said this win would only prolong Leo’s Milan career and best of luck to us who have to endure it, I say if he needs to win every game from now until December to keep his job then so be it, we could use the points!!

I hope to preview the upcoming Chievo game tomorrow, but forgive me if it doesn’t happen; I have a full slate of coaching duties scheduled both tonight and tomorrow!