Milan – Catania Preview
By: Gianfranco | December 6th, 2008As you may or may not know I am still away, but am en route home as you read this. I am excited to know that the one of the first things I get to do upon my return is watch Milan take on Walter Zenga’s Catania.
Zenga’s Catania has been a pleasant surprise in more ways than one. 
Creating quite a stir with “pants dropping” incident. Outisde of that gimmicky move however Catania is a well organized and well coached team who is capable of beating any team on Serie A. Milan is fortunate to be entertaining this squad at home at the San Siro which has been a bit friendlier than in the past few seasons. But this is a team that needs to respected and taken seriously, dropping points in games like these is no longer an option. Catania may not be the bottom feeder we are used to, but three points here makes dropped points from the past few weeks all that easier to forget.
Back to business as usual tomorrow…thanks for your patience!!
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Comments
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talk about bad refs – the guy officiating the sevilla real match is unbelievable – he’s missed 2 penalties, given a red for arguing and is doling out cards like invitations – what a match on 4-3 right now
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Switzerland
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peter b, that arrogance, cockiness and swagger is very much sorely missed at Milan and has been for a very long while. Adebayor also does something that no player in the Rossoneri has done it what seems like eons…SMILE. Now smiling and being a cocky bastard is not the answer, but playing with confidence, which is the flipside of arrogance, and playing with a joy for the game sometimes becomes infectious to the rest of the club.
Alessio, shoot me an email if you get this at acmilan@theoffside.com, see if you want to cook something up together for the real derby d’italia
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United States -
Samuel, your formation is a midfield diamond, or a 4-1-2-1-2, and for me it leaves Dinho to far back with far too much defensive responsibility and on the flipside giving Rino far to much offensive responsibility on the right flank regardless of the wingback.
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United States -
Gianfranco – Ronaldinho smiles all the time when playing for Milan. Please be open to the possibility that he can play well together with Kaka; it is just a question of tweaking the formation for this to happen.
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United States -
fifaguy, can you suggest the tweak? Carletto is a very good coach, and so was Perraira who was leading Brazil in 06. I am not the biggest fan of either of them, but respect them enough to know that if someone could make those two guys work together, one of those two guys is capable of it…
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United States -
When Kaka got the Ballon D’or, he was playing in the x-mas tree formation, alongside Seedorf, behind one striker. Kaka says:
“There are some problems, we run so much and are not compact. I was accustomed to being by Seedorf, just behind a single striker, usually Inzaghi. Ronaldinho? Before I could move from side to side and had more opportunities in attack. Now, I don’t like the way I’m playing.”
Well the question, what’s the difference between Seedorf in the past 2 years and Dinho now? Personally, I don’t know, but maybe he can let Dinho and Kaka alternate roles as to who goes forward everytime, and who stays back?
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United States -
I have truly missed Kaka and what he used to do for us in 06/07. Today gave me hope that he is in there someplace and is just waiting to come out again, hopefully it isn’t to long before he is what he used to be because we need him to do what he was doing all those years ago.
Another quote by Kaká recently in an interview I translated is: “I know what my responsibility is at Milan and it is very important, everyone is waiting for something different from me, an assist or a goal and if I don’t succeed in doing everything, they criticize me.”
He’s right isn’t he?
He then goes on to say:
“It is a positive thing for me though because it gives me more motivation.”We’ll at least he likes pressure I would have a mental break down if I had everyone breathing down my neck like he and a lot of players at Milan have had. I guess that’s the difference between me and them.
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United States -
moka, the version of kaka’s interview that you have posted horribly changes what kaka’ was trying to say:
Kaka’ said
“During my press conference last week I made some declarations which were certainly not intended to create unease within the team. My team mates and I know that if I have to make a sacrifice for the team I’ll be the first one to do it and accept it. I simply said that I could be more useful to the team if I play closer to the goal, but if it’s necessary I can also be the fourth man in midfield without any problem.
I hope that in the future my words are accepted in a positive way, when I talk I always put the team’s good before mine, I never just think about myself.”This is what he said post-match today.
as long as the fullbacks are pushing up, which they did relatively well today, we’ll have a decent chance of creating chances. but we still need a lot more movement up front, and more movement when we turnover the ball.
two things we can try are more diagonal balls to ronaldinho from our RB, and getting kaka’ to run into space left by an attacking fullback. but again, these mechanisms require quick turnovers of the ball, something which pirlo is quite good at (releasing players with pinpoint long passes).
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Shehan, the reason the backs could move up today was because Catania was content to absorb pressure, however they fullbacks were defended well and pushed out wide as much of the attack did not come via crosses from them but from one channel in like Kaka, Sheva and Pato.
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United States -
gian, i understand your comments regarding adebayor but do not want the player in question. he is over hyped and not worth £30mill. i agree we are missing confidence, pace, swagger and alternative plans in our team.
also can’t believe we missed on torres as we talked to a.madrid. would love him here
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peter b, we were a team feared and repsected in the transfer market, now we are a whipping boy for everysingle team we go up against in the transfer window…we cant lure a single sole…
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United States -
I agree with you Gian. The 3 mistakes we made were signing Ronaldinho,Sheva and Senderos. Instead I would rather have preferred seeing Gourcuff staying,a powerful striker joining(Adebayor,Amauri etc) and Zapata or Santacroce.
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I don’t think a return to the Xmas tree is the best course of action for Milan. It incorporates two CAMs, which Milan have a wealth of, but like Spaletti’s 4-2-3-1 you can tactically jam it up pretty well.
It’s funny how many attacking midfielders Milan have (Juve have 1/2 of one…..Giovinco) and the best deep-lying playmaker in the world, Pirlo! Most teams use one or the other, I wonder if Pirlo+kaka+dinho is just not feasible.
Here’s the formation I’d play if I was Ancelotti
Dida (kidding)
Zambrotta Kaladze Maldini Janks
Gattuso Pirlo Ambrosini
Kaka
Pato BorrielloI can’t see Dinho+Kaka working well in the same lineup, a 4-2-2-2 is too exposed, and like Kaka has mentioned it stiffs them both with playing deeper/defending more, which neither seem to like.
Ancelotti has a real headache selection, that’s for sure.
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United States -
By the way, Ancelotti offered Thuram a contract at Milan after he had retired!? Boy, you guys must be glad that fell through.
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United States -
LOL Alessio, poor Giovinco that wasn’t very nice, funny but not very nice.
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United States -
I think Kaka should just shut the hell up and interchange with Dinho and Pato if Carletto opts to play CT. I would like to see fluid interchanging of positions, both at the start of plays and during, by those three. Have Kaka at the point occasionally and Pato dropping deeper, Kaka playing on the wing and allowing Dinho to drift inside…etc.
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Australia -
…there’s no reason why a 4-3-2-1 cannot seamlessly morph into a 4-3-1-2 or a 4-3-3 mid-game with players like Kaka, Ronaldinho, and Pato there. Kaka has height and agility so use him as a target man for 10 or 15 mins each game and let Pato roam. Are these guys Brazilian or what, starting positions should mean jack to them.
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Australia -
Gianfranco – I think that “A” has answered your question in large part. The two Brazilians can play better together if both have the freedom to roam a bit more and do what needs to be done on each individual push up the field. That said, I also think that the underlying problem is more a reflection of Ronaldinho’s current lack of pace than a clash of styles. Hopefully that will change like real sooon…
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United States -
gian the christmas tree just isn’t working and hasn’t been working kaka and dinho could can work together if ancelotti fields two defensive midfielders vs juventus and pulls seedorf out wide alongside them. and only leaves one of them with the playmaker job for me kaka should do it while dinho supports Pato up front like he did in torino. gattusso is out, so maybe we can use a 4-3-1-2 with kaka being the playmaker in the middle, seedorf, flamini and ambrosini should form the three in the midfield to block out the likes of nedved, delpierro and giovinco whom i know is unlikely to start. for the back kaladhza has been inconsistent so far, lets just give senderos a run he’s been solid so far in the uefa cup i say he is a much better fit vs that strong monster named amauri.
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United States -
fifaguy your point is good but they will still clash over who should be the maestro that dictates, carries ou the attacks and becomes the playmaker for the team. dinho is used to that cause that was his role in Barca and kaka we all know has had fenomenal success being that man for us since the departure od rui-costa thats where ancelotti has to set his foot in and say im the boss tell kaka and dinho thier roles and what he wants from them on the pitch, which is where parriera failed and 06 which led to the selecao crashing out of the competition.
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United States -
lots of typo’s sorry guess thats what happens when we are having an intruiging discussion.
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United States -
thanks, Samuel. good point, but keep in mind that the attack can be carried by either of these two players; the key is to get the other to do something useful while that is happening.
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United States -
I said it before, and I’ll say it again – both of the current formations can work so long as the players in offensive third are running consistently throughout the entire game, stretching defenders and creating space.
The problem, I feel, is just a lack of effort? attention? being paid to fitness in training. The guys have the technique, but so do teams like Inter, Barca, Man Utd, and all of the other clubs in the top tier of Europe. The difference being that most of these other clubs can physically outlast Milan. I think that it is pretty evident that this current squad is transitional – Dinho’s future at Milan is very much based on his ability to get back to 100%. Realistically, I think management’s goal is Champions League qualification, which will allow them to recruit the experience players in defense, and a target man up front. I don’t really believe that an overhaul is needed, but as I have said many times before, we need the personnel that will allow us to use multiple different formations. Given that all of our strikers are pretty much of the same physical mold (3 slow, 1 quick, all fairly weak, not so good in the air), there is too much pressure on our midfield to create everything, which basically forces us to use 2 strikers.
when I say our front line needs strength, I don’t mean they have to be 6′5, 200 pounds. What I’m talking about are players that can fight off strong challenges from defenders – look at Messi; the dude gets hacked all of the time, but he fights to keep his feet and he makes good plays. Which of our strikers can do that? which of our strikers can hold up the ball and fend someone off? Look, the service is there – I can forgive poor finishing (for so long), but strikers that can’t create their own chances, who can’t beat a defender on their own are useless in the long run.
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United States -
how about carlos tevez?
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United States -
yeah fifaguy maybe dinho should be that other one drift him out on the wing as he has lost a good amount of his magic but can be occasionally crucial and win a game at an instant with his jaw dropping skills.
Posted from
United States
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