AC Milan Forums - Unofficial

Given that the season is over and we celebrated Berlusconi's 25 years at the club with a scudetto, I thought it seems fitting to have a thread which is related to Berlusconi's time in charge at Milan.

What I suggest is we post our greatest teams of the Berlu era. It will be interesting to see as some members like me have followed Milan soon after Berlu took charge, whilst others will have followed since later, and so are likely to have completely different teams to me. It's up to you what system you want and if possible it would be nice to read people's explanations about the players they've picked.

Anyway, to get things rolling...

Formation - 4-4-2

GK: Dida - At his peak, he challenged Buffon as the best keeper in football. He was massive for us in those days
RB: Tassotti - The tough tackler and dominating RB just beat out Cafu for me mainly as he provided so much during his time to our defence.
CB: Nesta - One of the true greats in modern history
CB: Baresi - Untouchable, a general on the pitch and the best defender ever (along with a couple others)
LB: Maldini - The greatest LB the game has seen. In his early years, he defined the modern fullback role
RM: Gullit - One of the players who got me supporting Milan. Athletic with a deft touch, Gullit was an unstoppable force during his best years
CM: Pirlo - One of the best playmakers in football history and one who defined the modern playmaker
CM: Rijkaard - A destroyer, but also so much more with his physique, quality on the ball and imposing play
LM: Donadoni - A winger/playmaker in the late 80's, he was critical to Sacchi's side for not only his ability, but also his tactical discipline. For me one of the most underrated players in history
FW: Shevchenko - One of the greatest forwards in history and arguably the best of his generation (well, second to Ronaldo I'd say)
ST: Van Basten - the swan was not only elegant and beautiful to watch, he had pretty much no flaw. Quick, skilled and a deadly finisher, there's plenty of reasons he's often considered the greatest striker in Milan's history

---------------------Dida------------------------
Tassotti----Nesta-------Baresi-------Maldini
-------------Pirlo------------Rijkaard-----------
--------Gullit-------------------------Donadoni-
------------------------------Sheva-------------
--------------------MVB-------------------------

Captain - Baresi
Vice Captain - Maldini

Honourable mentions

Abbiati - Came a close second to Dida with Seba Rossi
Rossi - Our keeper for most of the 90's, he was a tall and imposing figure like Dida
G.Galli
Costacurta - the professor was intelligent at the back, as Sacchi said he'd once finish a game without needing to move (actually close to that near the end of his career)
Cafu - Just lost out to Tassotti as his best years were at Roma. Still for me arguably the best RWB ever.
T.Silva - Still young, but if he continues as this year then he could well take Nesta's position in the lineup above
F.Galli - Often considered the 5th defender of our all time great defence, as he often stepped into the backline with seamless transition.
Desailly - Missed out to Rijkaard due to the dutchman's overall quality, but the octopus never let anyone past him
Gattuso - A bulldog of a midfielder, who frequently hunts down his opponent
Ancelotti - A little like Gattuso, Carlo never stopped running when he played. He was pretty good on the ball too.
Albertini - Il Metronomo was a lot like Pirlo, but a player who wasn't quite as creative.
Savicevic - Il Genio had quality and ability and was hugely fun to watch when playing
Boban - Intelligent on and off the pitch, Boban always had quality and good positioning
Seedorf - Often has mixed opinions, but his ability is undoubted as he's been a key figure for Milan in the past decade
Kaka - Often remembered for his 2007 CL campaign, the Brazilian was always brilliant for Milan ever since joining. An amazing player.
Pato - The diamond of our future, but still too young to get much praise
R.Baggio - One of my favourite players of all time, but sadly never really shined at Milan.
Ronaldo - As with Baggio a personal favourite, but one who'd lost the battle with his body when he joined.
Weah - The King was unstoppable during the 1995-1996 season and was a great player for Milan, offering power, pace and good scoring ability. Sadly played mostly during our unsuccessful years.

Coach
Sacchi - many coaches could be considered, but Sacchi is my pick as he effectively revolutionised football with his Milan side, with an emphasis of team play and off the ball running.

Honourable Mentions
Capello - Largely different to Sacchi in ideas, but a coach that demands respect with his achievements.
Zaccheroni - Played against Berlu's ideals, but was a decent coach in the late 90's. His scudetto is memorable given the odds against us that season.
Ancelotti - His side was inspired by heavy use of creative players. He was a great coach.
Allegri - Still relatively new, but his strong will and decision making were critical this season to our success. Hopefully he'll join our other elite coaches in the not too distant future.

This is my choice:

------------------------------Dida--------------------------------
---Tassotti---------Nesta----------Baresi-----------Maldini---
---------------------------Rijkaard------------------------------
-----------Albertini------------------------Gullit-----------------
------------------------------Kaka-------------------------------
---------------Van Basten---------Sheva-----------------------

Coach: Sacchi

- It is hard to not mention all the three Flying Dutchmen.
- The great back 4 is there, I replace Costacurta with Nesta only because the latter is 5cm taller
- I like Pirlo very much, but my favourite Sacchi tactics suits other players more.
- I can't think of any forwards played and contributed for Milan like Van Basten and Sheva.
- Dida is the luckiest with his NT among GKs

GK: Rossi/Dida
RB: Cafu/Tassotti
CB: Nesta
CB: Costacurta
LB: Maldini
DM: Gattuso
CM: Pirlo/Albertini
CM: Rijkaard
RF: Gullit
LF: Shevchenko
CF: Van Basten

Honorable mentions to a lot of players: Weah, Kaka, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Ambrosini, Serginho, Cafu, Boban, Savicevic etc etc etc. Not to mention current players like Thiago Silva and Pato, who are our future.

(05-26-2011, 02:53 PM)ACMILAN1983 Wrote: [ -> ]Given that the season is over and we celebrated Berlusconi's 25 years at the club with a scudetto, I thought it seems fitting to have a thread which is related to Berlusconi's time in charge at Milan.

What I suggest is we post our greatest teams of the Berlu era. It will be interesting to see as some members like me have followed Milan soon after Berlu took charge, whilst others will have followed since later, and so are likely to have completely different teams to me. It's up to you what system you want and if possible it would be nice to read people's explanations about the players they've picked.

Anyway, to get things rolling...

Formation - 4-4-2

GK: Dida - At his peak, he challenged Buffon as the best keeper in football. He was massive for us in those days
RB: Tassotti - The tough tackler and dominating RB just beat out Cafu for me mainly as he provided so much during his time to our defence.
CB: Nesta - One of the true greats in modern history
CB: Baresi - Untouchable, a general on the pitch and the best defender ever (along with a couple others)
LB: Maldini - The greatest LB the game has seen. In his early years, he defined the modern fullback role
RM: Gullit - One of the players who got me supporting Milan. Athletic with a deft touch, Gullit was an unstoppable force during his best years
CM: Pirlo - One of the best playmakers in football history and one who defined the modern playmaker
CM: Rijkaard - A destroyer, but also so much more with his physique, quality on the ball and imposing play
LM: Donadoni - A winger/playmaker in the late 80's, he was critical to Sacchi's side for not only his ability, but also his tactical discipline. For me one of the most underrated players in history
FW: Shevchenko - One of the greatest forwards in history and arguably the best of his generation (well, second to Ronaldo I'd say)
ST: Van Basten - the swan was not only elegant and beautiful to watch, he had pretty much no flaw. Quick, skilled and a deadly finisher, there's plenty of reasons he's often considered the greatest striker in Milan's history

---------------------Dida------------------------
Tassotti----Nesta-------Baresi-------Maldini
-------------Pirlo------------Rijkaard-----------
--------Gullit-------------------------Donadoni-
------------------------------Sheva-------------
--------------------MVB-------------------------

Captain - Baresi
Vice Captain - Maldini

Honourable mentions

Abbiati - Came a close second to Dida with Seba Rossi
Rossi - Our keeper for most of the 90's, he was a tall and imposing figure like Dida
G.Galli
Costacurta - the professor was intelligent at the back, as Sacchi said he'd once finish a game without needing to move (actually close to that near the end of his career)
Cafu - Just lost out to Tassotti as his best years were at Roma. Still for me arguably the best RWB ever.
T.Silva - Still young, but if he continues as this year then he could well take Nesta's position in the lineup above
F.Galli - Often considered the 5th defender of our all time great defence, as he often stepped into the backline with seamless transition.
Desailly - Missed out to Rijkaard due to the dutchman's overall quality, but the octopus never let anyone past him
Gattuso - A bulldog of a midfielder, who frequently hunts down his opponent
Ancelotti - A little like Gattuso, Carlo never stopped running when he played. He was pretty good on the ball too.
Albertini - Il Metronomo was a lot like Pirlo, but a player who wasn't quite as creative.
Savicevic - Il Genio had quality and ability and was hugely fun to watch when playing
Boban - Intelligent on and off the pitch, Boban always had quality and good positioning
Seedorf - Often has mixed opinions, but his ability is undoubted as he's been a key figure for Milan in the past decade
Kaka - Often remembered for his 2007 CL campaign, the Brazilian was always brilliant for Milan ever since joining. An amazing player.
Pato - The diamond of our future, but still too young to get much praise
R.Baggio - One of my favourite players of all time, but sadly never really shined at Milan.
Ronaldo - As with Baggio a personal favourite, but one who'd lost the battle with his body when he joined.
Weah - The King was unstoppable during the 1995-1996 season and was a great player for Milan, offering power, pace and good scoring ability. Sadly played mostly during our unsuccessful years.

Coach
Sacchi - many coaches could be considered, but Sacchi is my pick as he effectively revolutionised football with his Milan side, with an emphasis of team play and off the ball running.

Honourable Mentions
Capello - Largely different to Sacchi in ideas, but a coach that demands respect with his achievements.
Zaccheroni - Played against Berlu's ideals, but was a decent coach in the late 90's. His scudetto is memorable given the odds against us that season.
Ancelotti - His side was inspired by heavy use of creative players. He was a great coach.
Allegri - Still relatively new, but his strong will and decision making were critical this season to our success. Hopefully he'll join our other elite coaches in the not too distant future.

So DEV you basically mentioned everybody !!!!

What about Pippo

LOL.. Agreed with Kastriot. We could easily make at least two teams. That shows just how many great players we have the last 25 years.

If we pick team from the past 25 years, then it will be the same team repeating itself, with Rjkaard-Gattuso, Albertini-Pirlo or Kaka-Gullit swops. That would be so boring. The better idea would be to make a team which one has seen playing live. That in my opinion would be more interesting.

GK: Any one other than loser d!da

God damn ..... I miss this attacting trio. Now we have to cheer for Ibrahimovic & Robinho ...... Depressing really ..............

Kaka please come back to home .........

I get your point mzk, but that exactly what Dev meant too with his team since he, like me and some other members here too, have been seeing those players live exactly since Berlu took over. Or we can make a team of unsung heroes...

(05-26-2011, 05:44 PM)theaxeofpain Wrote: [ -> ]GK: Rossi/Dida
RB: Cafu/Tassotti
CB: Nesta
CB: Costacurta
LB: Maldini
DM: Gattuso
CM: Pirlo/Albertini
CM: Rijkaard
RF: Gullit
LF: Shevchenko
CF: Van Basten

Honorable mentions to a lot of players: Weah, Kaka, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Ambrosini, Serginho, Cafu, Boban, Savicevic etc etc etc. Not to mention current players like Thiago Silva and Pato, who are our future.

No Baresi?

(05-26-2011, 05:58 PM)Kastriot Wrote: [ -> ]So DEV you basically mentioned everybody !!!!

lol, let's just say I have a soft spot for many players. Actually, I did leave out others I'd love to write about like Rui Costa, Ambrosini and Stam etc.

(05-26-2011, 06:47 PM)Jovola Wrote: [ -> ]What about Pippo

I can't believe I forgot to mention him in my honourable mentions. He should be in that list actually.

(05-27-2011, 09:58 AM)ACMILAN1983 Wrote: [ -> ][quote='theaxeofpain' pid='7561' dateline='1306428294']
GK: Rossi/Dida
RB: Cafu/Tassotti
CB: Nesta
CB: Costacurta
LB: Maldini
DM: Gattuso
CM: Pirlo/Albertini
CM: Rijkaard
RF: Gullit
LF: Shevchenko
CF: Van Basten

Honorable mentions to a lot of players: Weah, Kaka, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Ambrosini, Serginho, Cafu, Boban, Savicevic etc etc etc. Not to mention current players like Thiago Silva and Pato, who are our future.

No Baresi?

*facepalm* Sorry for my mistake on my behalf.