The AC Milan Offside: FanPosts

YTOWN's Final Season Player Ratings

2013-05-22T20:14:26Z

Here are my ratings for the year. The scale is 1-10 and I am basing them on what they were asked to do and how well they did it on the pitch. Injuries or off the field stuff doesn’t factor in. I don’t care who your girlfriend is, whether you were hurt or not or whether or not you’ve been here 15 years or 15 minutes. I don’t care what you did last year or back in 2006. I also don’t care how young or how old you are.

Abbiati – 8... The guy simply won’t dive anymore and is almost rooted to the ground. He gets credit for some superb performances and lots of clean sheets but also loses points for just flat out not reacting to some things. There were times I thought maybe he needed glasses or laser eye surgery or something.

Amelia – 5... I guess…. I don’t know. Twice as many goals per game than Abbiatti. Actually let’s go with a 4.

Abate – 6… This was my toughest call. He still offers nothing going forward and has hardly improved in 3 years. Terrible crossing and for some unknown reason will take guys one-on-one for the NT but just sends in terrible cross after terrible cross for Milan. I have no idea why not. With all that pace he should at least be TRYING to go by people. There is sooo much potential there. Drives me more crazy than any other player on the team. He should not be allowed to cross midfield and really needs a MF in front of him to interchange with. Too bad our MF stinks. He might be the perfect RB for a 3-5-2 where defense is job 1. I dunno. Sometimes he just really pisses me off, but other times his pace makes me smile

Antonini – 3... Did he play? Does anyone remember?

De Sciglio – 7 I’m not giving him a higher grade just because he is young. Some people will do that. He still makes errors and I don’t think everyone trusts him quite yet. That will come with time though. He also suffered from the same issue Abate had, no MF in front of him to help him out. Often times SES had to go all the way back to help him, which didn’t help SES in the long run. (Also see Constant)

Mexes – 8… He had ZERO reds and had to cover up Zapata’s meanderings all the time. Great down the stretch. He will probably be even better with a better partner. I gotta admit I was more worried about him than Zapata early on. I was wrong.

Zapata – 6... He can NOT be a starter next year. He's good for depth, but not every day. He wasn’t horrible but tended to wander off like a lost puppy at times. He needs to get better at realizing when it’s appropriate to venture forward and when it isn’t.

Yepes 6… I love this guy. He’s just an old head that does his thing. Good depth guy. That guy will be coaching somewhere some day

Acerbi – ZERO…. F&%@ing ZERO… maybe -1?

Constant – 6… Another tough call.Did very well for a guy playing a new position. He deserves much credit for taking on the LB challenge and getting it right. Allegri’s master stroke. Probably should have been moved up to MF, where he played for Chievo, in front of DeSciglio once it was clear that DeSciglio was the better fit back there. Most certainly would have been the better move for the return leg against Barca. I have no idea why he wasn’t an option in midfield when we were sooooo depleted there. I’m not sure why this never happened, but the left would have looked nice with DeSciglio in the back, Constant in MF and SES up front. If he’s given that chance and excels there during the second half, he may have been our most valuable player. Maybe 6.5.

Bonera - ? Really? Come on man…. Ok, fine, he did serve a purpose in the first half while Allegri was figuring out this mess. I’ll say 5.

Montolivo – 7… I'm still not convinced on the Full Monty. He can be marked out as easily as Pirlo used to be. Siena proved that. He still disappears too often. He was invisible against Siena nearly the whole game. You can’t be disappearing during the most important game of the year. Also was invisible during the second half of the Fiorentina game. Unacceptable. Could have done much better.

Boateng - ? I have no idea where he’s supposed to be or what he should be doing… and neither does he. He reminds me of the kid on the team I coach that has a ton of talent, but won’t stay in position and feels like he can just go wherever. He’ll score a goal here and there but overall kills the team and it's organization in the long run.

Nocerino – 2… worthless…. Even with all the injuries in midfield was a last resort. Good riddance. Lost his puppy (Ibra) and was never the same.

DeJong… incomplete… but can’t wait til next year.

Ambrosini – 4… Thank you and enjoy the parting gifts Ambro. A career well done. Your recklessness during the last game nearly cost us the CL.

Muntari – 6… He was so unreliable from game to game, great one week and a disaster the next. He was good for depth, but bad every day. Pretty much like our entire midfield.

Flamini – 7… FINALLY showed what he could do. A must keep. I love the headless chicken. Now if he could go through an entire year like that AND avoid red cards, we really have something.

El Shaarawy – 8…. He gets a 10 for the first half and a 6 for the second. He had almost no production the 2nd half. I know he was injured toward the end but he also played a lot of games where he was just lost. Huge questions as to what to do with him going forward. It will be very interesting to see what kind of set-up we have with him and Balo both in there together. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of chemistry there. I’m not sure he can handle being number 2. I loved how much he tracked back, but there were times he was behind the entire defense. I fear that one day he is the next Pato and we wonder why we only get 12 million for him when we could have gotten 40. I know I’m gonna get slaughtered for that comment.

Traore… who?

Pazzini – 8… A job well done. He poured in goals against marginal teams when we really needed it and was there when SES was falling apart in January. I would like to see him kept around. Then again, he may still bring some nifty coin. It’s not like he’s 40. I’m not sure he wants backup duty behind Balo. There are lots of teams in Serie A he could start for week in and week out.

Niang – 5… He needs to leave the U-17 playground tricks at home and get his nose a little dirty. A little too much style without substance there. He also couldn’t finish to save his life and could have been the hero against Siena and totally botched it. He also could have been a hero against Barca. Woulda, coulda, shoulda is the story of a lot of player’s careers. Mostly guys you forget.

Krkic – 6… Not bad. Had almost no chances the second half and still scored a few goals. He probably could have had a few matches down the stretch with our MF being so depleted.

Robinho – 5… It’s the same story. He makes lots of chances and is usually in the right spot but almost never converts them. Same old song.

Balotelli -9… Without him, Shaaraway is run into the ground by now and ruined. He brought so much to the table. Showed the willing ness to track back at times and showed a good connection with Niang which sadly led to mostly heartache. At times becomes a bit of a black hole at times (The ball goes in but doesn’t come back out. Older NBA fans will really get that one. Otherwise google Moses Malone). I think that will improve over time as he gets to know and trust his teammates. Would to see him do some other things with free kicks from 40 yards other than launch them into the stratosphere. Then again, that also has to do with the fact that we haven’t had any imagination on set pieces in 5 years.

Which leads me to…

Allegri- 8… The guy turned an abortion into 3rd place. You have to give him mucho props for that. The Constant switch was genius and probably saved the season along with SES’s emergence in the first half. The problem there after was that there were some real opportunities to make adjustments after that and he kept rolling out the same tired folks in MF when Constant should have been a real option. He also never quite figured out what to do up front with complimentary pieces for Balo. All in all, he helped guide us to 3rd and I’m not sure too many other people in Europe could have pulled that off. Thanks max and enjoy your next job.

Amelia – 5... I guess…. I don’t know. Twice as many goals per game than Abbiatti. Actually let’s go with a 4.

Antonini – 3... Did he play? Does anyone remember?

Yepes 6… I love this guy. He’s just an old head that does his thing. Good depth guy. That guy will be coaching somewhere some day

Acerbi – ZERO…. F&%@ing ZERO… maybe -1?

Bonera - ? Really? Come on man…. Ok, fine, he did serve a purpose in the first half while Allegri was figuring out this mess. I’ll say 5.

Nocerino – 2… worthless…. Even with all the injuries in midfield was a last resort. Good riddance. Lost his puppy (Ibra) and was never the same.

DeJong… incomplete… but can’t wait til next year.

Ambrosini – 4… Thank you and enjoy the parting gifts Ambro. A career well done. Your recklessness during the last game nearly cost us the CL.

Muntari – 6… He was so unreliable from game to game, great one week and a disaster the next. He was good for depth, but bad every day. Pretty much like our entire midfield.

Flamini – 7… FINALLY showed what he could do. A must keep. I love the headless chicken. Now if he could go through an entire year like that AND avoid red cards, we really have something.

Traore… who?

Krkic – 6… Not bad. Had almost no chances the second half and still scored a few goals. He probably could have had a few matches down the stretch with our MF being so depleted.

Robinho – 5… It’s the same story. He makes lots of chances and is usually in the right spot but almost never converts them. Same old song.

Which leads me to…

Allegri Is Gone!

2013-05-20T04:21:14Z

This was a comment that I posted a few days ago. It was really too long to be a comment.

My opinion.

I was reading his statements today and a few things stood out. First off. If he was going to be here next season, it would have been confirmed by now. Instead, everyone is coy and non-committal. Everyone. We all know that our owner’s “logic” leaves many logical people scatching their head. However, I don’t even think that he is so irrational to judge whether to pull the trigger over the results of one game. I could be wrong but I’m totally convinced that his mind is already made up regardless of the result tomorrow.

Second, Allegri’s comments betrayed his lack of a real answer. He spoke of making sure that he thanks the players, staff, and fans for their constant support. Why the need to address them personally and individually like that unless there were also some goodbyes happening? Unless he’s just really that nice. He could just thank fans thru the media like everyone else does. No talk of next season, of future goals for the team, or reinforcements. This is a man who knows he’s leaving. Everything that I read points to an Allegri exit. Like it or not. Some will be happy. I think it will be disappointing and will have an air of scapegoating. My immediate question is who do we have lined up? After that more questions. Is he really better? We do have someone lined up, don’t we? We f**king better have someone lined up! I sincerely hope that our owner (@#^*) makes a wise choice and isn’t playing fantasy football. I sincerely hope that one day we don’t line up against an Allegri coached team who tears us a new one.

I’ve stated my support for Max and don’t care to argue the point again. However, I think that whether you are pro or anti Max, we can all agree that he’ll leave Milan with his head held high. ….and perhaps his middle finger.

This was a comment that I posted a few days ago. It was really too long to be a comment.

My opinion.

A Salute To Massimo Ambrosini

2013-05-20T00:47:09Z

Today might have been Massimo Ambrosini's last game for Milan. It's a real shame that it had to end with a red card. He has been a warrior for us for so many years. A loyal servant who never complained or demanded this or that. He'll probably never make any hall of fame except Milan's. He wasn't "world class" but he was ours, and he was good! Not too many players get to stay at one club for so long. He's endured many ups and downs. He's been a starter, a bench warmer, and a captain. I remember that he first got his start for Milan during Fabio Capello's disastrous second stint. Capello really only started him out of spite for his first team. Haha. Ambro took his chance and impressed enough to stick around. He's left his heart and soul on the pitch ever since and in a red and black shirt. Despite how it all ended for him today, he deserves our praise. He's had a very good career here and I will remember him very fondly. Hopefully Galliani gives him a nicer pen than Pirlo.

So this is a salute to Massimo Ambrosini. Thank you so much sir! The number 23 will always be yours in my mind.

Stephan El Shaarawy left foot

2013-05-10T12:21:46Z

What about El Shaarawy left foot? His inability to use his left foot is making him more predictive late in the season. Stephan hasn’t work on his left in practice the same way De Sciglio has, so he becomes predictable by side stepping to the right to maneuver an opponent. It is the same event that happened to Arjen Robben at Bayern Munich. Robben first season, he succeeded because defenders weren’t familiar with his style of play. The following season, opponents became familiar with him and he was predictable. When Robben is attacking 1 v 1, everyone in the stadium knows he is going left. This is the same problem Stephan El Shaarawy has entered late in the season. Everyone knows he is going to the right when attacking an opponent.

He needs to develop a left foot pronto. If he can display the same talent he does with his favored foot on his left foot, then he can be unpredictable…..the same way Ribery is now. At times, Stephan has attack going left on 1 v 1 situation, but those attempts are very rare. The ability to pass, cross the ball, and shoot with his left foot will improve his game tremendously. His growth won’t turn him into an AC Milan and Italian legend if he can’t be ambidexterity.

Poll

Will El Shaarawy become predictable like Arjen Robben or unpredictable like Ribery?

Yes

10 votes

Maybe

14 votes

No

3 votes

27 votes | Poll has closed

A little respect!

2013-05-09T21:09:27Z

In light of recent happenings here on the offside, I had a few thoughts to share. Rather than post some long comment, I'll do what I've always threatened to do, a fanpost. First one so here goes.

On the offside, there happens to be a lot of people with worthwhile things to say. Unfortunately, the conversation sometimes goes south because of a few knuckleheads who don't want to make any sense. They just want to hear themselves talk, or read what they write I think. I can only speculate why they wouldn't want to at least come to an understanding. That's not exactly what this is about though. Where I'm going with this is that Gian, more than anyone gets more s**t than anything warranted. He got attacked pretty hard along with AviA, for what? Thinking something and explaining why he thinks so? Really?Whether you agree with Gians views or not, you have to know that his views are coming from a place of thought and honestly. At least he deserves the respect of someone who knows what he is talking about. Many of his detractors cannot say this about themselves. This isn't meant necessarily to kiss his ass, though love is intended. I don't agree with everything he says nor does he agree with everything I say. Golden! Free thinkers often come to different conclusions. That said, agree with most.

The biggest reason he deserves respect however is because of the way he moderates this blog. Folks you can say whatever you want. It's on you. You are free to make as much or as little sense as you wish. Have you ever been to other blogs? There usually so many house rules that you can't say s**t. They are so anemic that real discussion is impossible. Not all but still. I really think that fans are extremely fortunate to have an English speaking blog of this quality. Regardless of the silliness sometimes. Gian deserves all of the credit. Please acknowledge this.

Also, I have only recently been able to receive comments. I noticed that many comments are well received but the actual posts aren't. I've started receiving every post of Gian's and every fan post as well. I only started this very recently but I figure that if they go thru the trouble to do a post, agree or not, it should be acknowledged. Not to tell anyone what to do, but it might not be a bad idea for others to do this as well. They deserve it.

End rant. Most of this was something I've wanted to get off of my chest for a while. Aim your guns here!

In light of recent happenings here on the offside, I had a few thoughts to share. Rather than post some long comment, I'll do what I've always threatened to do, a fanpost. First one so here goes.

On the offside, there happens to be a lot of people with worthwhile things to say. Unfortunately, the conversation sometimes goes south because of a few knuckleheads who don't want to make any sense. They just want to hear themselves talk, or read what they write I think. I can only speculate why they wouldn't want to at least come to an understanding. That's not exactly what this is about though. Where I'm going with this is that Gian, more than anyone gets more s**t than anything warranted. He got attacked pretty hard along with AviA, for what? Thinking something and explaining why he thinks so? Really?Whether you agree with Gians views or not, you have to know that his views are coming from a place of thought and honestly. At least he deserves the respect of someone who knows what he is talking about. Many of his detractors cannot say this about themselves. This isn't meant necessarily to kiss his ass, though love is intended. I don't agree with everything he says nor does he agree with everything I say. Golden! Free thinkers often come to different conclusions. That said, agree with most.

End rant. Most of this was something I've wanted to get off of my chest for a while. Aim your guns here!

The curious case of El Sharaawy

2013-05-08T02:42:53Z

I am not sure how this is going to be recieved. And yet the frustration building up inside me for the past few weeks vis-a-vis the Pharaoh's continuing struggles to score a goal, needs to be crystallised into a proper post and not a bunch of long winded comments on different threads.

Let me start of by first listing all he has done for us this year. From his goalline clearances as a quasi 5th defender in the home Juve game and countless others, to his blistering goals against Napoli and Udinese, that 20yr old took the Serie A by storm after the first few games. IF the first month of the campaign was characterised by the Pazzini show against Bologna, the next 6 months were what i would like to call , 'The Reign of the Pharaoh'. From that pulverising missile of a goal against Udinese that started it all to the stinging double blow against Napoli and the singularly ballistic performances in the UCL against Zenit and Anderlecht, the guy was turning into a goal machine. By the time we met Juve, it was expected of him to score all the time. I remember the Curva Sud chanting this against Juve ' Siam Venuti Fin Qua, Per Segna Vedare El Sha'. Hadnt heard that since Kaka left the team.

What sold me on the guy wasnt his goals this year or his superhuman, almost unique ability to play like a born defender when out of posession, any suprise then that Galliani said as much after a game against Genoa i think.
No ...what sold me was that supreme show of confidence, that divine bit of skill against Lazio in the Coppa, that flick off the heel to release Seedorf to score. Even Ibra stood up and gave him an ovation worthy of a true wizard. I thought i saw the spark of what was to become a real star the coming year .

Not to mention his dogged , singular determination to drag the team out of the mess at the start of the campaign, and lets be blunt,. we were in deep, deep shit, like flirting with relegation deep shit. It took a player playing his first proper season with Milan, discounting his stop-n-start last year, to will our way out of the woods. Allegri responded by tailoring the formation to fully exploit the napalm that was El Shar in November, A 4-3-3 would morph into a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-4-3 and even those changes in tactics did nothign but elevate his game to a level where he would race to the 15 goal limit set by Ambrosini and make Capitano pay for his vacation. Boy was i psyched.

Then came the peaks and troughs. or every Torino and Catania that he roasted , there was a Malaga that resisted his charms. His form just like his stamina was starting to hit a plateau .And then come New Year , the arrival of his buddy Balo, all the drama, the Milanman fed vitriol against Balalal and the bagging doubts about whether they would flourish together,

Doubts that have solidifed in recent weeks. Balo crossed 5 goals long ago and Els has hit a goal drought that honestly irritates me. But what riles me more is the reasons that contributed to this situation.

Now Allegri faces the unenviable task of deciding whether to pick him or drop him, something that would have been blasphemous around Halloween is now reality. Dropped against Napoli when most of us thought he would return and terrorize the Vesuviani like way back when.

I have my own theories about this situation. Let me list the factors in think are critical to this matter.

1) Balotelli's arrival and the slight change in formation to focus more on the CF as the focus of our offense instead of the free roaming, bulldozing nature of Els early season outings.

2) The apparent lack of understanding and link up between Els and Balo compounded by what i notice is apathy on the part of Balo to try and link up more with El Shar on counter attacks or building up play.

3) The piss poor nature of our wide midfielders when it come to supporting our wide forwards. (Im lookign at you Noce, Flamini, Muntari(for the first few game after his return from injury))

4) The stoic refusal by anyone besides Monty to try and play the ball quickly to Els before he gets shunted out by two sometimes 3 markers.

No while these may seem to abdicate responsibility on the part of Els, i think otherwise. Els' defensive output has not sagged during his goal drought. He still defends well, a slight drop in energy levels at the fag end of the campaign is understandable. What's unfathomable however is that there have been countless instances in recent games where a simple give and go with Els would have resulted in a goal at crucial times, and instead of doing the obvious our midfielders either punt the ball to Balo or shoot it at the roof hoping to perhaps kill some pigeons.

IF i was a conspiracy nut, i would call it a concerted attempt to marginalise Els, but i think not. He still finds space and makes his runs. Its lack of simple short passes and intelligent support from midfield necessary for him to really shine that is central to his current predicament.

I am afraid it wont end till Allegri is able to field a squad that plays atleast 75% of the game together and is consistently playing at a high level. His early season miracles, were as much a byproduct of his ability, will as the team's trust in him. Somewhere along the way the team found a new toy to play with(Balo) and forgot what made them look so good. I hope sanity prevails and our offense is channelised through Els more once again.

I wanted to write this post in terms of the tactical changes and changes in the way Els has played this year over the course of the season, but somehow an attempt at generating a coherent tactically oriented piece turned into a post full of regret on what has transpired over the last few weeks. Perhaps the comments on the post may allow me to substantiate my points better. Cheers.

Is Boateng good enough?

2013-04-28T16:01:03Z

Many were impressed with Boateng in the 2010 World Cup, including me. When I heard AC Milan were acquiring him, I was excited. Allegri wasn't sure where to stick him, so he gave Boateng an attempt as a mezz'ala. From my perspective, he was excelling at the position for a while. Then, everyone was witnessing a string of mediocre performances. He wasn't innovative,became a liability on the defensive side, and had a string of injuries. When Boateng recovered from injury, Allegri decided to give him a crack as trequartista. In games, he thrived in that position better than he did as a mezz'ala. No one question if Boateng was a bust anymore. Kevin-Prince was seen as irreplaceable, especially when others struggled in his absence in that position. Many don't realize when Boateng thrived as a trequartisa, he was playing with the pair of Ibrahimovic and Cassano, or Robinho and Ibrahimovic/Cassano.

Lets fast forward to the departures of Ibrahimovic, Cassano, and the decline of Robinho's impact. Allegri change the formation to a 4-3-3. Continuously, Allegri rotated Boateng starting positions from mezz'ala to forward, then to a false 9'. Once again, Boateng would put in a string of great performances for a couple games in either position, then struggle to make an impact in the next few games in either position. Allegri would continue changing Boateng position because of injuries, match ups, and Boateng's fluctuating performances. Example was shown recently when he dominated the first leg of the round 16 match against Barcelona, then struggled to make an impact in the second leg.

Recently, Boateng has stated to the media he is frustrated with switching positions. He feels he can't concentrate on one position if he is changing positions. If Iniesta didn't exist, then I can understand how he feels. The problem is Boateng, Iniesta does exist. Boateng already has gone on record for his great admiration of Iniesta, rightfully so. But the club he is playing for is AC Milan. He can't accept his limitations at a club of a high prestige. I don't agree with all the media stating our club is not on par with Barcelona. I believe we are missing pieces to overcome Barcelona. Iniesta happens to excel as a mezz'ala and a forward. I do recognize Iniesta dominates the game more in the midfield as oppose in the front three. With all that said, Iniesta level of performance in both positions is on a level Boateng can't reach.

Once again, I will reiterate is Boateng good enough? He is at a point where everyone can see he can no longer improve on what he has now. He is at a age and skill level where he can be sold for a good amount of money to fund the purchase of centre-back or a creative midfielder. I am sure they are a level of teams who are competing for their respected league title Boateng is willing to leave AC Milan for. Can Boateng improve? Yes, but he can't just complain about switching positions. He has to tell Mr. Allegri, "I want to stick to this position, so I can give you the best of me." Then, he needs to find out what his game is missing in order to instill in his arsenal. In my opinion, I have gone past waiting for him or to improve or consistently perform at a high level. Galliani and Allegri doesn't believe it, but I believe we should sell Kevin-Prince Boateng.

Poll

Should AC Milan sell Boateng?

Yes, it is the right time.

9 votes

Yes, he was only great when Ibrahimovic and Cassano were there.

0 votes

Maybe, he can still be helpful to us.

1 votes

No, I disagree with your opinion.

2 votes

12 votes | Poll has closed

What to do at Centre-Back?

2013-04-04T18:06:10Z

The defense of AC Milan was atrocious at the beginning of the 12-13 season. The main reason had to do with the departure of the great Thiago Silva and Alessandro Nesta. Right now, Mexes and Zapata are the best tandem. Down the depth chart, we have Bonera and Yepes who's contract run out this upcoming summer. Don't forget to include young & promising Bartosz Salamon and the experience bargain of Cristian Zaccardo. Most Milan fans agree that Bonera and Yepes doesn't deserve a contract extension and should be on their way out. The issue is, Galliani has a tendency of holding on to players a little bit too long. I don't think Galliani wanted Zaccardo, but had to accept his transfer in order to sell Mesbah. Based off what I am hearing from Milan fans, they want Bonera, Yepes, and Zaccardo gone. This leaves a 31 year old Mexes, on-form Zapata who deserves to be on a permanent transfer to Milan, and a January acquired Salamon.

Galliani plans on keeping the salary bill in a certain bracket, so Mexes will most likely be ask to lower his salary from 4 to 3 million a year. Mexes might refuse, which can result into a transfer out of Milan. Even if he had a lower salary, I still would consider selling a 31 year old Mexes so I can buy a younger CB. If I was Allegri, my main goal is to keep a maximum of 3 centre-backs. Overflowing that position doesn't allow the next Baresi to come up from the youth ranks, make it to the first team and have opportunity to display their quality. I know everyone has a favorite and the names linked to Milan has been Ogbonna, Dario Del Fabro, Vlad Chiriches, Vidic, and Dede. Most Milan fans are favoring the "next Thiago Silva" Dede who stands at 6'4 and I happen to agree with them. Will Galliani fork out 12 million for Dede? Lets hope so, because if we continue with this weak core of centre-backs, we can kiss the Champions League Title goodbye.

Poll

Will Galliani fork out 12 million to buy Dede?

Yes, I have faith in Galliani

6 votes

Maybe, sometimes Galliani pull through

12 votes

No, I am sticking with what I have

2 votes

No, I am buying someone else

8 votes

28 votes | Poll has closed

Quality in Midfield?

2013-03-17T17:18:51Z

Our best midfielder who can just do about anything is Montolivo. Right behind him is Nigel De Jong,then Sulley Muntari. The key elements I look in a midfielder is can he maneuver out of trouble, can he be creative, and can he find space to be open? Maybe this is Allegri fault, apart from Montolivo, every other midfielder neglects to find a way to be option for the back four when they are pressed. Midfielder are practically a via link between the back four and the front three. Most of the midfielder struggle to dictate the flow of the game the same way players like Mark Van Bommel, Pirlo, Iniesta, Xavi, and Yaya Toure.

Nocerino rising stock last season was due to the assists from the departures of Ibrahimovic and Cassano.Nocerino lacks lateral quickness, creativity, and inability to maneuver out of trouble. If he doesn't leave this summer, he would definitely stay on the bench. Traore has been unknown this season. He has been subbed in for several matches always in the last 12 minutes. Traore hasn't convinced Allegri he is good enough to start a game. I don't know what Boateng is.One minute he is playing a FW, the next he is playing a mezz'ala. One minute he puts in a string of stellar performances, the next he is mediocre. Flamini has improve this season, but struggles to make an impact againtst big teams. Evidence was there in the 2nd leg of the Barcelona match. Flamini is a player who lacks ability to find a way out of trouble when pressed. Also, the creativity in Flamini doesn't offer the front three that much. The knocks I have on Muntari is that he passes are not polish. Sometimes his passes looks lackadaisical and doesn't successfully reach his teammates. The other knock is he sometimes doesn't realize opponents are closer than he thinks. He would look casual and slowly react to opponents closing on him when he is on or receiving the ball. As for Montolivo and De Jong, I have nothing to say except keep improving. The summer is coming up and for Milan to succeed in Champions League as well as in Serie A, the quality in the midfield has to improve.

Juraj Kucka has agreed to arrive at AC Milan in the summer, Bryan Cristante will join first team, and Jorginho's team has a verbal agreement with Milan.I haven't seen Kucka play, so I can't judge his quality.Kucka is defined as defensive midfield, so he will most likely replace Ambrosini in backing up De Jong. I believe Cristante has the skills and quality to be creative midfielder,someone who will be on par with Montolivo in the future.What I have heard of Jorginho if he comes, he definitely has talent.

That means when June hits, the midfield will consist of of Montolivo,De Jong, Flamini, Ambrosini, Nocerino, Traore, Cristante, Kucka, Muntari, Boateng??, and possibly Jorginho. After June, Flamini and Ambrosini are the midfielders out of contract and most likely won't come back. Nocerino and Traore are favors to be sold. The squad in midfield for next season will most likely be Montolivo, De Jong, Cristante, Kucka, Muntari, Boateng, and Jorginho. Do the ForzaMilan fans believe the midfield will have quality next season or will it consist of mediocre midfield that gets torched in the second leg against Barcelona?

The bus is a lie! The cake is also a lie! Milan 2, Barca 0

2013-02-22T03:19:10Z

There is no spoon. There is no bus either. By this I mean that we did not park the bus against Barcelona.

Note the number of times Messi tried that. Zero.

So this merits a long-winded tactics/history lesson.

I tend to think of football as a game of attrition and flair. A defensive team wins by outlasting the other team in a war of attrition, draining resources and frustrating opponents, while an attacking team feeds on the exuberance of attack, prizing attacking flair and flashy play. Sure, most teams fall somewhere in the middle, particularly depending on the scoreline and personnel but the basic philosophy remains fairly constant. 1-0 is just as valid a path to victory as 5-4. Neither is necessarily easier (to do mostly one or the other requires immense concentration and discipline) so teams that fall closer to the extremes are rare and iconic and should be celebrated. Unfortunately, modern fans have an instinctive hatred and lack of comprehension over what defensive football aims to do. To not attack all the time or to not demand maximum possession is considered a failure of imagination. What it really is is a failure of comprehension.

With that in mind, I think it useful to go over what two of the more iconic and reviled defensive formations of the modern day are all about and what they mean in practice. Catenaccio and the infamous Parking the Bus. I don’t want to go over how they were applied in the past so much as highlight how they function in the modern game.

TL;DR Milan did not play either of those two formations against Barcelona. To say they did is to misunderstand defensive football in general and is nothing more than an unthinking slur.

Catenaccio

Iconic and Italian. While it was the brainchild of an Austrian and dates back to the 30s, Catenaccio is closely associated with Italy and Italian football through the dominance of La Grande Inter in the 60s and onwards into the 80s. The basic idea is a withdrawn team with a 3 man defense with a sweeper right in front of the goalkeeper set up in a reactive formation. The sweeper would be permanently camped in the penalty area to sweep up any attacks that make it through the defense. Each defender would man-mark an opposition striker with the spare defender doubling up to break up threatening attacks. Spare full-backs might join the counter-attack and the sweeper, a ball-playing defender in the mold of Franco Baresi or Matthias Sammer would play the ball forward.

Catenaccio fell out of favor for two obvious reasons:

The Sweeper would naturally play opposing strikers onside by being so deep.
Man marking moved to zonal marking

The only modern team that I have seen that utilized Catenaccio successfully was Greece in 2004. You know, the anti-football ohmygodtheydontdeservetobeinthecompetition Greece under Rehhagel.

Very strict man-marking with four narrow defensive minded midfielders. Modern catenaccio is a very reactive way of playing. The sweeper doesnt sit right in front of the goalkeeper in theory. It doesn’t seek to funnel opposing teams to the flanks necessarily. It simply seeks to intensify coverage in the final third. Match the opposition man-to-man but leave a spare in the back is what you need to know.

When France played two strikers, Greece man-marked them both and had their sweeper Dellas, possibly their best player in that tournament, clean up. Dellas, being super positionally aware, performed the same role whether they played a three man or four man defense and in extreme cases, an eight or nine man defense. Dropping back so deep invites the opposition to attack, allowing room for Seitaridis and Fyssas to counter when given the opportunity. If my memory serves, the Greeks did commit in numbers to their counterattacks, which is another feature of Catenaccio which makes it a lot more than a super-defensive strategy. It is a mark of the systems effectiveness that Greece suffered a comparable number of fouls in Euro 2004 to the flair attacking Portugal and conceded an approximately equal number of free kicks. They also committed fewer fouls than all teams except France, Germany and Italy. Catenaccio is not a reckless commit-all-the-cynical-fouls system either.

As those three stats should tell you, attrition. That is the name of the game. Greece did receive more yellows but its the yellow cards/tackles made ratio that is the true measure of their defensive solidity.

Parking the Bus

This is the modern anti-football, the antithesis of the beautiful game, the Mourinho-ization of Joga Bonito, whatever else you want to call it. The two most famous games using this style would probably be Inter-Bayern/Barca and Chelsea-Barca, both in the Champions League with the spotlights shining.

The basic idea is super-strict zonal marking, to play narrow and have six or seven defensive minded or defensive players. Two DMs in front of a flat back four or three DMs in front of a flat back four with the aim of creating a wall of blue (and black) in front of the penalty area. There is very little actual pressing or doubling up. The threat of a multiple-team looms, of course, but that’s simply a function of the wall and not what happens in practice. A bus team is quite happy to let their opponents play as many short passes in front of them as they please. Defending in the middle third is decidedly casual unlike in the final third. Attacks are expected to come into the final third at which point the stand is made. As a consequence, opposing teams are funneled towards the flanks. Packing the penalty area leaves no way to pass through and the best bet is to win an aerial duel with a tall striker who can also hold up the ball. Teams that park the bus are inviting shots from range. Unlike with catenaccio, this style is much more cynical and invites more yellows/tackle.

Possession is retained by hoofing the ball forward and hoping the forward gets it. Petr Cech probably passed more to Drogba than any of his teammates. The counterattack isn’t really committed either. The DMs stay where they are and once Inter were a man down after Busquets swan dive, not even the wing backs really joined in the attack.

Parking the bus is actually defensively quite risky. Teams take shots from distance, the organization can fail quite easily. If Barca had converted their chances against Chelsea, they might well have won 6-0. This would not have happened at all with catenaccio. (See: Greece at the Euros). Messi broke through multiple times. Teams like Barcelona thrive on spaces between defense and midfield. While yes, there is little space, Messi received the ball mostly in sight of goal. Messi never once dropped deep to recover the ball. The attacks were not started from deep but from in front of the halfway line.

How does that differ from what we did?

We did not park the bus because:

The majority of tackles were made in midfield (on our side of it, sure) and not in defense in sight of goal, which is a defining feature of the bus. In fact, Messi only set foot in the box with the ball once.
There was man-marking. Xavi in particular. The bus does not man mark. It cannot spare players.
Midfield pressing was not casual. When a 4-4-3 (Barca) is set against a 4-5-1 (Milan), the spare man in midfield could be thought of as a sweeper if you really, really want to draw a Catenaccio-ish parallel.
Abbiati hoofed it forward while praying frantically approximately 0 times. The positions from which Montolivo directed long balls were much further forward.
DMs joined in the attack. If we were parking the bus, Muntari has no business being all the way up front or scoring. Muntari and Boateng were directing traffic basically, a much more active role than allowed by a bus. They drove Barca players into triple teams high up in midfield.
The idea wasn’t to make Barca play through the flanks. They were not supposed to get there at all. This is made clear by the number of times we saw Alexis Sanchez (approximately zero) or the number of times we saw Jordi Alba threaten after the first ten minutes. Barca, happily, were content trying to play the middle.
Force Barca to play through the center. This is not a characteristic of the bus. SES tracked back to cover overlaps, allowing Constant to basically man mark Pedro. Boateng did the same on the other side, allowing Abate to double team Iniesta much further up than Abate would have if we were playing the bus. Messi collected the ball deep on the right then cut inside time and again.
I have no idea what Fabregas was supposed to do so I literally have no thoughts about him. Theoretically, he might have been expected to dart between the covering banks but he didnt really do that and the passing lanes forward were clogged leaving only the center open.
Pazzini did not ever attempt to pull a Torres and run at them. Instead he dragged the defense this way and that and at points was Bojan-like in getting himself trapped. The long ball route to Pazzini was more hold-up than a true single striker bus strategy.

This was a game of which Sacchi would be proud but it was not a bus.

Image credits: http://viajealcorazondelfutbol.blogspot.ca
http://www.zonalmarking.net
http://www.thefootballsupernova.com
http://www.fcbarcelona.com

There is no spoon. There is no bus either. By this I mean that we did not park the bus against Barcelona.

Note the number of times Messi tried that. Zero.

So this merits a long-winded tactics/history lesson.

TL;DR Milan did not play either of those two formations against Barcelona. To say they did is to misunderstand defensive football in general and is nothing more than an unthinking slur.

Catenaccio

Catenaccio fell out of favor for two obvious reasons:

The Sweeper would naturally play opposing strikers onside by being so deep.
Man marking moved to zonal marking

The only modern team that I have seen that utilized Catenaccio successfully was Greece in 2004. You know, the anti-football ohmygodtheydontdeservetobeinthecompetition Greece under Rehhagel.

Parking the Bus

How does that differ from what we did?

We did not park the bus because:

The majority of tackles were made in midfield (on our side of it, sure) and not in defense in sight of goal, which is a defining feature of the bus. In fact, Messi only set foot in the box with the ball once.
There was man-marking. Xavi in particular. The bus does not man mark. It cannot spare players.
Midfield pressing was not casual. When a 4-4-3 (Barca) is set against a 4-5-1 (Milan), the spare man in midfield could be thought of as a sweeper if you really, really want to draw a Catenaccio-ish parallel.
Abbiati hoofed it forward while praying frantically approximately 0 times. The positions from which Montolivo directed long balls were much further forward.
DMs joined in the attack. If we were parking the bus, Muntari has no business being all the way up front or scoring. Muntari and Boateng were directing traffic basically, a much more active role than allowed by a bus. They drove Barca players into triple teams high up in midfield.
The idea wasn’t to make Barca play through the flanks. They were not supposed to get there at all. This is made clear by the number of times we saw Alexis Sanchez (approximately zero) or the number of times we saw Jordi Alba threaten after the first ten minutes. Barca, happily, were content trying to play the middle.
Force Barca to play through the center. This is not a characteristic of the bus. SES tracked back to cover overlaps, allowing Constant to basically man mark Pedro. Boateng did the same on the other side, allowing Abate to double team Iniesta much further up than Abate would have if we were playing the bus. Messi collected the ball deep on the right then cut inside time and again.
I have no idea what Fabregas was supposed to do so I literally have no thoughts about him. Theoretically, he might have been expected to dart between the covering banks but he didnt really do that and the passing lanes forward were clogged leaving only the center open.
Pazzini did not ever attempt to pull a Torres and run at them. Instead he dragged the defense this way and that and at points was Bojan-like in getting himself trapped. The long ball route to Pazzini was more hold-up than a true single striker bus strategy.

This was a game of which Sacchi would be proud but it was not a bus.

Image credits: http://viajealcorazondelfutbol.blogspot.ca
http://www.zonalmarking.net
http://www.thefootballsupernova.com
http://www.fcbarcelona.com

New Documentary with former MILAN player Martin Laursen

2013-02-20T14:05:50Z

check out this documentary with Martin Laursen and all his old team mates from AC Milan!

Anyone with an interest in football has looked at Martin Laursen and thought, "If he can do it, then I can too." But they couldn’t. Watch this movie about the difference between Martin and all the unresolved talents.

Director Anthony Tullberg discusses Martin’s strengths and weaknesses with many of his former colleagues and trainers, like Michael Laudrup, Paolo Maldini, Morten Olsen, Carlo Ancelotti, Martin Jørgensen, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andriy Shevchenko, Andrea Pirlo, among many other top level pro football stars and personalities.'

watch the film here: www.martinlaursenmovie.com

check out this documentary with Martin Laursen and all his old team mates from AC Milan!

watch the film here: www.martinlaursenmovie.com

Where do we go from here?

2013-02-17T18:46:44Z

Greetings fellow Milanisti! I wanted to take a break from the usual discussions about whether Balotelli is a rotten apple and whether Allegri is the right coach for Milan so I wrote this fanpost.

We have now experienced the first half of the so called “year zero”, the start of a new project that, according to Silvio Berlusconi, in three years time will see us back at the top of European football. What have we seen so far and lies ahead? These are the questions that I will discuss in the following.

As this fan post will include some predictions about the future I will be forced to rely on some assumptions on the development of our players. This is really not something I like to do as football is an unpredictable game and you never know who will make it to the top or fail somewhere along the way (just ask Pato). I will also have to make some assumptions regarding how our management will act. This I like even less as B&G have shown time and again that they will promise A but do B. But, alas, predictions about the future of a football team are not possible without making some assumptions.

The summer of 2012 and the beginning of a new era

The player exodus last summer was a hard blow to the team. We lost the two biggest stars of the team, Silva and Ibra, and we lost our Senators. The only decent signing in the first half of the summer was Montolivo, a player with great potential but also a player that did not have the superstar status of Silva and Ibra. Cassano felt betrayed by the management and forced Galliani to let him go to Inter. In the last weeks of the transfer market we managed to sign a couple of decent players but none of them could compare to the players lost.

The management told us that we had to balance the economy and that the offer from PSG for Silva and Ibra was too good to refuse. They also promised that this would be year zero and the beginning of a new project. Milan would invest in youth and infrastructure and in three years time return to the top.

The player exodus was painful but necessary. Milan had run a large deficit for years and Berlusconi was no longer willing to cover our losses. With FFP approaching, the economy had to be adjusted to become more sustainable. This could have been addressed earlier as the reasons for the deficit (long, expensive contracts awarded to older players, signing players on free transfers and thus paying them high salaries, extravagant signings like Ronaldinho) had been there since the Champions League victory in 2007 and even before that. But I’d like to avoid dwelling on past mistakes and instead look to the future.

Investments in infrastructure and the youth sector

Since last summer we have seen investments in the awful pitch at San Siro and an overhaul of the dreaded MilanLab. We are already seeing the results of this as there have been significantly less injuries this season and the eyes are no longer sore from watching San Siro in January. The reduced number of injuries can also be attributed to a younger squad and, since January, the absence of Alexandre Pato. Hopefully we will see even better results in the coming years as a result of the investment in Adidas MiCoach Elite System.

Our youth teams have consistently developed decent players like Matri, Astori, Paloschi, Antonini and Abate but have since Maldini failed to develop a true Campione. This will hopefully change as Galliani have repeatedly stated that “we used to buy Campiones but now we will make them”.

Recently, Galliani, Allegri and the youth coaches had a meeting where the strategy for developing our young players was discussed. It was decided that Milan will draw inspiration from the Ajax and Barcelona academies and make all the youth teams play a similar style of football as the first team. While this would mean that the 4-3-3 formation will be the formation of choice for our youth teams, a decision I do not agree with, I think that it is a good idea to have the youngsters play the same formation as the first team.

Another development in the youth side seems to be that Milan are now willing to pay large sums for very young players, players like Hachim Mastour. While the result of this type of transfers is yet to be seen it is at least an interesting development and a testament to Milan’s investment in youth.

The winter mercato

During the winter mercato it became obvious that the management wanted to stick to the promise of buying young players. Three of the four players that Milan bought were under 23 and two of the players played in Serie B. I personally think that it is a very wise decision to invest in players from Serie B. It is a tough league so the players need to be strong physically and mentally, players bought from Serie B will have easier to adapt to Serie A and finally, players from Serie B will already be accustomed to playing and living in Italy and thus will need less of a transition period than players bought from outside Italy. We also know that there are many talented youngsters in the Serie B, just look at Verrati and Insigne who, just a year after moving from Serie B are making an impact in their new clubs.

Once again, the management delivered on their promises and also demonstrated that they know the value of older players in the squad. Galliani is an expert in finding good veteran players in the bargain bin and Zaccardo is a type of player needed in a squad filled mostly with youngsters. My hope is that he will become our next Yepes.

Current players and future transfers

Our squad now consists of 28 players excluding players on loan. Allegri have consistently stated that he wants a squad of 25 players plus three goalkeepers so those are the numbers that I will rely on in the following. As 4-3-3 seems to be the way forward, I will use the 4-3-3 formation as the basis for my analysis.

Goalkeepers

Abbiati, 35 years, Amelia, 30 years, Gabriel 20, years.

Our current problem in the goalkeeping department is that we have two decent keepers but lack an exceptional. My hope is that we sell Amelia who have not proven worthy as a first choice keeper in a team like Milan and invest in a keeper that hopefully will be immediately able to become the first keeper (I hear that Consigli’s contract expire this summer). We renew Abbiatis contract with one year in case the new keeper fails to deliver. The summer after this, Abbiati retire and we can hopefully promote a keeper from the primavera.

Central defenders

Phillipe Mèxes, 30 years, Bartosz Salamon, 21 years, Christian Zapata, 26 years, Daniele Bonera, 31 years, Mario Yepes, 37 years, Cristian Zaccardo, 31 years.

As much as I love Yepes, it is time for him to retire. Unlike Gianfranco I actually want Mèxes to stay. I hope that we buy Zapata in the summer (and I believe that we will) and I hope that Salamon will get some playing time once he is back from his injury so the club can decide whether he should stay with the first team or be loaned out. I also hope that the club will invest in a talented CB (Astori or Ogbonna comes to mind but there are others as well). If we manage to sign a good CB during the summer we could start the next season with a central paring of Zapata and the new CB, Mèxes and Salamon/Zaccardo as first reserves and Bonera hopefully remaining on the bench. With three decent CB’s it will also be possible to play a three-man defense if the situation requires it. While it would be no Nesta/Silva partnership, I think that it would be good enough to challenge for the Scudetto and a quarterfinal in the CL (provided that we manage to hang on to third place). If Zapata, Salamon and the new CB develop nicely I believe that we will have a strong defense, capable of challenging the top clubs in Europe in one or two years.

Fullbacks

Kevin Constant, 25 years, Didac Vilà, 23 years, Luca Antonini, 30 years, Mattia De Sciglio, 20 years, Ignazio Abate, 26 years.

After having complained about our fullbacks for years I, amazingly, do not consider it a position to be prioritized in the summer mercato. I would love to see Vilà get some playing time to allow the club to make a decision about his future. If he doesn’t satisfy the club then he can be sold and we can rely on our other four fullbacks. Constant, De Sciglio and Abate can rotate on the fullback positions and Antonini, as much as I love the guy and his twitter feed, will hopefully remain on the bench. If worst comes to worst both Zaccardo and Bonera are able to play as fullbacks. Santon is a dream but I think the money is better spent elsewhere. With these fullbacks I think we will be able to compete for the Scudetto and even in the later stages of the CL.

Midfielders

Massimo Ambrosini, 35 years, Nigel De Jong, 28 years, Sulley Muntari, 28 years, Antonio Nocerino, 27 years, Bakaye Traoré, 27 years, Mathieu Flamini, 28 years, Riccardo Montolivo, 28 years, Kevin Prince Boateng, 25 years, Bryan Cristante, 17 years.

As Galliani have said that Cristante will be promoted to the first team I added him to the list. While I hate to admit it, it is time for Ambrosini to retire. Traoré haven’t really been given a chance but as we already have so many players with similar playing style he should be sold. A younger player can fill his roll of coming on late in the games. I believe that we desperately need two players to the midfield, a pure DM as a replacement for Ambrosini and a creative midfielder in case Montolivo is injured or if we want to play two creative players in the midfield. At the moment, it is hard to say which midfielders except Traore that should leave as Muntari, Nocerino and Boateng have all underachieved and as Flamini, whom I would gladly have gotten rid of last summer, is suddenly starting to play well. We also have Urby that will return from his loan spell with Fulham this summer. I guess we will see during the latter half of the season who deserves to stay.

Attacking players

Stephan El Shaarawy, 20 years, Robinho, 29 years, M’Baye Niang, 18 years, Giampaolo Pazzini, 28 years, Bojan Krkic, 22 years, Mario Balotelli, 22 years, Riccardo Saponara, 21 years

This is actually pretty easy! Bojan can return to Barcelona and play horizontal passes and fall down as soon as someone touches him with Messi and the others. I really don’t see any reason for Milan to pay for Bojan to stay. I also believe that Robinho, as much as I love him, should be sold. Bojan will be replaced by Saponara and Robinho can be replaced by Paloschi whom I hope we will get back from Chievo. That leaves us with an attack consisting of El Shaarawy, Balotelli and Niang and Saponara, Pazzini and Paloschi as reserves. Admittedly, this means having three CF competing for one spot and only three wing-forwards competing for two, but Balotelli can play on the wing if necessary. In case of a severe injury crisis Boateng can do a decent job as a winger. This would mean that no money has to be spent on the attack and we will actually be able to spend money from a Robinho transfer, as well as his high salary, on other positions. This leaves us with an attack that will be competitive for several years and, if our players keep developing, an attack that will make us able to compete for the CL trophy.

Concluding remarks

While 2012 was a difficult year for the Milanisti, I, at least, am starting to feel positive about the future. If the management continues with the current plan I think that we might very well be on our way back to the top. But there are still some worries.

First, we need to qualify for the CL. If we don’t, it will be difficult to attract players in the summer and it will really hurt the clubs finances.

Second, while Barbara Berlusconi has promised that we will no longer sell our star players I am not so sure that I trust her. I fear that, if we can’t resist offers from richer clubs, we will end up like Porto, always selling their best players. I would hate to see that happen. As it currently stands, other clubs are considering us a selling club. I don’t want Arsene Wenger even looking at El Shaarawy and I don’t want Spaletti to believe for a second that Abate is for sale unless the club says that he is. Signing Balotelli was a good statement from the club but I want to see more.

Third, we still need our own stadium. Luckily, investment in a new stadium is excluded from the FFP rules so if Berlusconi wants to invest in an arena it will not affect Milan’s ability to buy players. The question is if he can afford such an investment in the current economic climate. If we want to keep up with the competition from the other big clubs, however, a new stadium is a must.

I hope that you enjoyed reading my thoughts about the future. I wish you all the best! Forza Milan!

/Pivatelli

Greetings fellow Milanisti! I wanted to take a break from the usual discussions about whether Balotelli is a rotten apple and whether Allegri is the right coach for Milan so I wrote this fanpost.

The summer of 2012 and the beginning of a new era

Investments in infrastructure and the youth sector

The winter mercato

Current players and future transfers

Goalkeepers

Abbiati, 35 years, Amelia, 30 years, Gabriel 20, years.

Central defenders

Phillipe Mèxes, 30 years, Bartosz Salamon, 21 years, Christian Zapata, 26 years, Daniele Bonera, 31 years, Mario Yepes, 37 years, Cristian Zaccardo, 31 years.

Fullbacks

Kevin Constant, 25 years, Didac Vilà, 23 years, Luca Antonini, 30 years, Mattia De Sciglio, 20 years, Ignazio Abate, 26 years.

Midfielders

Attacking players

Stephan El Shaarawy, 20 years, Robinho, 29 years, M’Baye Niang, 18 years, Giampaolo Pazzini, 28 years, Bojan Krkic, 22 years, Mario Balotelli, 22 years, Riccardo Saponara, 21 years

Concluding remarks

First, we need to qualify for the CL. If we don’t, it will be difficult to attract players in the summer and it will really hurt the clubs finances.

I hope that you enjoyed reading my thoughts about the future. I wish you all the best! Forza Milan!

/Pivatelli

Attended the Parma Game. Surprised We Did Not Lose. Yikes!

2013-02-16T05:26:05Z

We were pretty awful in the first half. Parma simply out hustled and out played our guys. We were constantly losing the ball. That Parma did not score was pretty miraculous. Abbiati was outstanding however.

The second half we were a whole different team. Montolivo in particular was great. Like a great point guard dishing out the ball exactly where needed. Balotelli was ok. A bit tiresome they way he kept calling his own fouls. Get up and play the game. The ref just ignored him.

Bojan seemed to add some spunk when he came on.

The own goal was amazing to watch slowly roll into the net.

Mario did score a marvelous goal with his free kick. I guess we should keep him around. But 18 year old Niang seems much more mature.

We definitely looked like a top three team in the second half.

We also got tickets to the Barcelona game. Going to Venice for a few days in between.

Friends in California think we are pretty crazy to fly to Italy just for a couple of soccer games. (in particular because so cold). They obviously we no idea what I thrill it was to have great seats at an overall good game at the San Siro.

We scored good seats for the Barcelona game. The town here is pretty stoked about it. I assume the game will be sold out.

Arrivederci,

Kevin from California

Bojan seemed to add some spunk when he came on.

The own goal was amazing to watch slowly roll into the net.

Mario did score a marvelous goal with his free kick. I guess we should keep him around. But 18 year old Niang seems much more mature.

We definitely looked like a top three team in the second half.

We also got tickets to the Barcelona game. Going to Venice for a few days in between.

We scored good seats for the Barcelona game. The town here is pretty stoked about it. I assume the game will be sold out.

Arrivederci,

Kevin from California

Why you need to give up on this season!

2013-02-01T18:12:30Z

As the world’s Milanista continue to figure out what direction we are taking as a club and at the same time trying to guess how things will pan out for us by the season's end we have witnessed a rising level of angst amongst the tifosi that would give even a Zen master a tummy ache. There has been a sudden break from the acid indigestion afflicting Milanista due to Balotelli’s arrival and it feels like his arrival has acted as a lighting rod for some relief, with enthusiasm now rippling through the Red & Black half of Milan but I feel that even with this new addition we should keep things in perspective.

I’m not going to bother to list all the players who left over the summer and don’t wish to labour it but want to remind myself and readers as to what brought us to a season where we seemed to break all the wrong kind of records bearing in mind we finished 1st and 2nd in the last couple of season. What lead to a team losing most of its former & current stars and future mainstays all in one fell swoop? Who lead the club into shooting itself in the foot? Why would ANY club apparently sabotage itself with such seemingly ruthless efficiency? (Hint: its got nothing to do with Allegri).

The What

"An average age of 105", "It’s a retirement home" and the like have been constantly banded about and thrown with scorn-like malice by neutrals and Milan fans alike as the club appeared to hold onto its last golden generation. We watched on as names like Gattuso, Pippo, Pirlo, Kaka, Seedorf, Nesta & the evergreen Maldini were routinely supplemented with the likes of Emerson, Mancini, Ronaldo & Dinho to name a few well known but worn out faces joining our ranks over the years.

It was called "Operation: Papering over the cracks" and admittedly it was true but with "hindsight" the club was keeping the spine of the team that had won so much intact and simply adding peripheral players around it. When you consider how bad things started off this season it wasn’t an all too crazy way to do it to be honest as it seems like Milan suffered a total collapse since the summer exodus (aka Operation: Remove Spine). Bzzzzzzzz!

I can recall over the years that there were fierce debates on the old Offside over who we should dump, be it Seedorf, Pirlo or Gattuso etc. I got involved to, going as far as to raise doubts over the venerable Alessandro Nesta when questioning the logic of keeping an ageing centre back with a serious back problem. In amongst all the furore was our host Gianfranco, calmly pointing out that while its ok to remove a piece or two from the Milan Jenga Stack the last thing you want to do is "clean house" unfortunately, it appears that Via Turati never received the memo, facepalm.

The Who

All teams have a transitional phase or cycles but the one thing that most will appreciate is that we got rid of the old guard BEFORE bringing in true replacements. Now this may not have been the smartest move in hindsight and yes somewhat odd for a team that has consistently been synonymous with near constant success but I for one am happy that it has happened because it had been a long time coming. It may help if you view this self inflicted wound as a removal of a sticky band aid whereby it was necessary to rip it off in one quick go and get the pain of rebuilding out in the open. Yes it was long overdue and yes the fault lay solely with the management but I’m happy to bear this especially now that we seem to have started on the road to truly rebuilding.

The Why

This brings us neatly onto the next problem. The team is yet to nurture a true nucleus, a core of players who know exactly what the other is doing on the pitch and can instinctively tell where any given team member is without looking, not to mention the lack of a true leader out there. Now, there isn’t a single one of us outside of the Milan Boardroom who KNOWS what the long terms plans are, all we can do is try to interpret the buying & selling of certain players, comments from Allegri, Galliani, Berlusconi and former players to try to piece together a semblance of a plan but it’s akin to reading tea leaves so lets take a look at what we do know:

The club has implemented a policy relating to players over 30, its already proven by Cristian Zaccardo’s signing that its not set in stone but at least shows that the club will be far more ruthless and less sentimental when our "new batch" become silver haired Senatore
The club has slashed the wage bill with the departures of Ibra & Silva and implemented a salary cap of 4 million (excluding bonuses)
Pippo is now coaching for us. Let me repeat, Pippo Inzaghi in now coaching at Milan! Who better than one of the worlds greatest ever poachers to sniff out and hone the killer instincts of Milans current crop of kids and turn them into ice cold killers on the pitch?
Youth is the future! We have signed Hachim Mastour, Riccardo Saponara & Bartosz Salamon and already have De Scig, Bang-Bang-Niang & SES in the 1st team.

Some recent words from my favourite footballing blonde Babs:

"Our club has, in the last year or so, completely re-organised costing and investments," she continued. "It was about rationalisation, and various sacrifices were needed, not just in terms of player salaries but also about re-positioning the brand, Milan were the first club to choose to organise their accounts and balance the books. Thanks to this strong decision, we can only stand to benefit with our stars of the future, and still also be able to make some important acquisitions."

Sounds abit rich considering that she cost us 20Milly in the failed Pato-PSG sale but willing to look the other way on this if it means we wont be making anymore mistakes like that!

It’s quite evident that we are no longer papering over the cracks and whether this march to youth is due to a genuine belief in younger talent or being dictated by budgets (or $500 Million fines) it doesn’t matter, its happening! The only thing I can make out at this moment is that we have cause for optimism but realise that we are still a way off from having a genuine "spine" of a future team. This leads to another issue, the squad was truly stripped & gutted over the summer and we have far from rebuilt every dept. With a roster of Pazzo & Team Mohawk we are sitting pretty with strikers and in theory have locked in our strike force for many years to come but that still leaves question marks hanging over the other sections of the squad. Regardless of whether you are into bulldog midfields or yearn for super slick technical football we are still to truly develop a squad for the future. Currently it looks like a bit of a mish-mash of players due to the likes of Nocerino & Prince still misfiring, we can only hope Saponara is as good as advertised and gets 1st team football over the coming seasons. We need a solid CB to compliment De Scig & Constant and now that the mercato is closed means realistically, this is still one summer away unless Salamon is the answer to our feverish prayers but like I said about Saponara we will have to await his introduction into the squad to find out.

The Future?

Me personally, I’m beginning to see a "project" where as others may simply see Milan scrambling blindly from one random signing to the next, the thing is either way only time will tell if this is all a random chain of events or a coherent strategy. It will take time, not this season for definite and maybe not even the following but I’m pretty confident that the green shoots of change are already emerging, we might have to be patient during the growing pains. A 3rd place finish this season or not I think we have reason to be optimistic for the future!

The What

The Who

The Why

The club has implemented a policy relating to players over 30, its already proven by Cristian Zaccardo’s signing that its not set in stone but at least shows that the club will be far more ruthless and less sentimental when our "new batch" become silver haired Senatore
The club has slashed the wage bill with the departures of Ibra & Silva and implemented a salary cap of 4 million (excluding bonuses)
Pippo is now coaching for us. Let me repeat, Pippo Inzaghi in now coaching at Milan! Who better than one of the worlds greatest ever poachers to sniff out and hone the killer instincts of Milans current crop of kids and turn them into ice cold killers on the pitch?
Youth is the future! We have signed Hachim Mastour, Riccardo Saponara & Bartosz Salamon and already have De Scig, Bang-Bang-Niang & SES in the 1st team.

Some recent words from my favourite footballing blonde Babs:

Sounds abit rich considering that she cost us 20Milly in the failed Pato-PSG sale but willing to look the other way on this if it means we wont be making anymore mistakes like that!

The Future?

Poll

Is the future looking bright?

Hell no! (we will be relegated in 3 seasons time!)

1 votes

Heck yeah! (we're adding another CL cup to the trophy room in 3 seasons time!)

50 votes

51 votes | Poll has closed

How Can I Get Tickets to Barcelona Game?

2012-12-31T20:04:09Z

I am flying in from California on Friday, February 15th so we can catch two Milan games in one trip. I assume we can get the tickets easily for the Parma game.

However, I have noticed they never have any tickets left online for us stranieri for the big games. Hence, what is best way to get tickets to the Champions League game against Mr. Messi and friends on Feb. 20th?

Worldticketshop.com? (Wow, prices are currently astronomical)

From a semi-authorized scalper at the stadium on game day?

How much should I expect to pay?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Grazie,

Kevin from California

P.S. I think David Beckham should sign for a low salary with Milan. A last chance for Champions league glory. He can still do a marvelous free kick.

I am flying in from California on Friday, February 15th so we can catch two Milan games in one trip. I assume we can get the tickets easily for the Parma game.

Worldticketshop.com? (Wow, prices are currently astronomical)

From a semi-authorized scalper at the stadium on game day?

How much should I expect to pay?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Grazie,

Kevin from California

P.S. I think David Beckham should sign for a low salary with Milan. A last chance for Champions league glory. He can still do a marvelous free kick.