Tuesday Milan Musings

By: Gianfranco | June 16th, 2009

Well where do we begin…

-Welcome to Milan’s newest edition Aly Cissokho. He underwent a medical today and will most likely be officially announced in the coming days unless of course Milan plan to wait until the opening of the transfer window. This move comes with some positives and negatives. Positives being that Aly came relatively cheap, is young, and his versatility to play either side will be helpful considering our lack of real depth at LB. The negative for me is that the Portuguese league is not all the great, and his play in the CL, where I remember him most, was not all that great either. Defender’s at his age have a lot of “growing up” to do and like Milan’s own Antonini, growing pains for players in that position appear painfully obvious. The other down fall for me is that he is not Italian, again this may not bother some of you, but for me Italian players are the heart and soul of AC Milan, and always have been. We poke fun at Inter but we are growing drastically close to the same style of roster…

-The Dzeko deal appears to have hit a snag, though it seems Wolfsburg are shopping for strikers. Price is probably an issue, but at this point this deal seems far from complete. Many of you rate Dzeko highly, I am lukewarm on him as a player, and we all know scoring in one league doesn’t always translate to others. Luca Toni, outside of the Bundesliga (national team), can’t seem to hit the broad side of barn, which leads to me believe the Bundesliga presents more concrete scoring chances which leads to more goals. Again, Dzeko may be great, only time will tell that, but if we are going to invest time, money, and effort to sign him, I can’t help but think we can do better. Problem is save splashing a ton of cash, I don’t see where better is at the moment, and again Italian would be preferred. As you can see I am at a bit of an impasse here as well.

-Paloschi will remain at Parma for another season. I like Alberto, but he just doesn’t seem fit to carry torch at AC Milan. He is smallish in stature and his ball skills are not great, but boy can the kid finish. He reminds of Pippo, and plays a bit like him as well, but at the moment that is not the type of player this club is really looking for or needs. Another year on loan will do him well, and his value may increase with a good season in Serie A. I would be more surprised if Paloschi was brought home than sold, but again that is just my opinion on that matter, and I am sure feelings are different on the teen.

-Guiseppe Rossi is easily becoming the hottest thing since sliced bread after his past nine days in the National Team blue. His goals have been sublime, and his work with Pirlo last night makes me wonder why on Earth Milan isn’t burning down Villareal for a transfer. The kid is a proclaimed Milan fan, and his return to Italy will be good for him and the league. What I saw last night was a player who could easily fill the void left by Kaka, with a more penalty area friendly style of play that Milan could really use. He seems equally comfortable with or without the ball, and his willingness to shoot is a plus. I am sold, and sooner than later so will GRossi, the question is where?

-Last night’s performance from Pirlo was top class. Yes he was playing against ten man, but for the majority of the match the US seemed to be in control and was operating quite nicely around the World Champs, kudos to them for playing tough when many people believed they couldn’t. As the game wore on and the US wore off, Pirlo really began to shine, his move on the final goal was beautiful and the pass was even better. Many of you have asked why he doesn’t play that way at Milan, and the answer is simple, he doesn’t see the ball in the same type of areas or play with the same type of personnel. At Milan he operates in his own half, whereas with Italy he can move forward and become more a part of the attack. Milan seems to prefer the ball at the foot of Seedorf, Dinho, and, last season at least, Kaka this may change now with Leo at the helm, but for Pirlo to be successful he needs to more of a Xavi style playmaker than a long pass hucker, and that was evident last night. It also helps that Lippi employs big target style strikers which force defenders deep into their area and make space for Pirlo to come forward, at Milan even Pato comes back to half to begin running at defenses. Hence the need for a target man!!! Seeing Pirlo in such form was AWESOME, can that form be found at Milan with Leo at the helm is the real question? My fear is that we may never know, as Pirlo has the eye of Carletto, and after last night possibly a few more clubs to boot.