Monday Milan Musings

By: Gianfranco | August 18th, 2008

-The same way we started last week by saying the drubbing from Chelsea was no big deal; we need to say that same thing this week as well. Sure we beat Juventus, sure Ambro played out of his mind, sure Dida looked worse than he ever has, and even Janks played well but it is only a preseason game and there is still a lot of work to do. Our defense still needs work, and our team was missing a fair amount of players who still need time to gel and get some cohesion on the field, but we will talk about that more in a second.

Before we talk about that though, I want to just say that starter or not next season, Ambro is a Rossoneri through and through and someday he should be honored for the type of hard working, role playing, and putting the team first mentality that has made him so special. I can’t help but hope that if Ambro does get a shot at CB that he does it so well that he earns himself a place in the backline game in and game out.

- The next thing I want to talk about is Milan/Carletto’s formation when the Brazilian trident gets back in gear. Some of you may choose to see a the goals and the fairly sound run of play that Brazil is starting to put together, but I see and hear a lot more. I see that Dinho is a anchored in a place around the 30M on the left side and has not do all that much drifting and cutting inside that made him so special. Heck he hasn’t done much running at all and outside a few sharp passes has not really made an impact on any single game against children. I am not pleased and arguing against this point, won’t get any of us very far because the opinion goes across the board, with JP Dellecameran saying that Brazil may as well field 9 players with the way Dinho is playing.

As if that wasn’t enough, to make matters worse the other Milanista on the team is basically getting benched. Dunga has called out Pato and said he needs to develop more as a player which is a fair assumption due to his age, but what hurts more is that Milan is somewhat responsible for the supposed “lack of development” of Brazil’s young superstar. Is playing alongside Dinho and Kaka going to help him?

The bottom line is that Carletto needs to realize that fielding the three them all the time is not a necessity and he has the luxury to use each player to his strengths. Pato with a partner, Kaka next to Seedorf, and Dinho on a bench on the sideline, ok the last one was harsh, but I think until he proves himself it is not required that he starts, and Carletto needs to have the balls to show that.

-Ivanovic and his camp has finally opened his mouth and said that he would prefer Milan over Juve, and even the though last week’s deal fell through due to an issue with the buyout clause it appears that Milan may still be in the running for the CB.

-Lastly, Lippi has named his squad for the Wednesday’s Azzurri friendly, and I was not all that pleased with it. For a guy who said we needed to move forward, it looks like we turned the clock back August 06 with this lineup. It is a friendly and an opportune time to get some young blood into this squad; instead he has chosen Iaquinta and Gila, neither of whom in my opinion deserve to be on this squad. The Azzurri need to move forward and I know the Olympics have recently ended and a lot of young players may be considered unavailable, but the likes of Cassano and Maggio should not be overlooked.