Week 21: Empoli - Milan (Saturday, January 23 - 20:45 CET)

[devoted_dm]

I also think there's a real problem in central midfield, in that none of the midfielders we have show any chemistry together. I think Bertolacci is a very good player, but he's having to massively sacrifice his game to try and play in this team. Last year, he thrived in Genoa with the freedom given to him to push up and join the attack. However, Kucka will generally play box to box regardless of who's alongside him and doesn't hold at all, while Montolivo in theory should be able to hold well, yet we saw on the first Empoli goal that he too will get caught too far forward leaving the defenders exposed. Bertolacci for me is our first choice CM, because he is a player who will collect the ball and keep it moving consistently, but he needs to be alongside a player who will let him push up with freedom to actually make use of his abilities.

You have to wonder if Bertolacci would do better with someone like De Jong alongside him, rather than Montolivo or Kucka.

Regardless I think you are right. The midfield is just not well composed. It's almost as if we picked players without having a clear idea of how the team should play...

[Ace]

I agree with Dev, a Monotlivo - Bertolacci will not work in a 4-4-2 formation as like we saw last night, they would both push up the field leaving the defense behind them exposed.
They are more suited to a 4-3-2-1/4-3-1-2 like a Pirlo-Seedorf-Gattuso midfield. with Montolivo sitting back cutting balls and distributing play, Bertolacci being more of an advanced playmaker and Kucka offering an extra man on both ends of the field.

@Devoted: I don't think De Jong will be of any help at this stage in the season, as he hasn't played since forever and he's certainly out of the club in the summer.

As for Bacca not connecting well with his team-mates, it was evident that when he played slightly behind Adriano he linked up well with those around him and created chances both for himself and others, and I believe he assisted Boateng's goal?
it's just Niang doesn't offer any help upfront.
He can't be a target-man, because clearly his ball control is equal to null.
he can't dribble past any player.
his vision and passing is worse than Inzaghi's!

in shorter words, Bacca needs a more capable partner upfront, say a Menez type of player with Bonaventura playing behind them.

[devoted_dm]

Well, don't think that yesterday's result should be any sort of cause for despair. Fiorentina and Napoli only managed to draw at the Carlo Castellani this season too, and the only two teams to have won there are Juve and Inter. Honestly, given Empoli's current form it's one of the trickiest away games in Serie A. They are not in the relegation zone, but fighting for a place in Europe, and they've done very well against some pretty good teams this year. We're obviously a bit disappointed by the team's performance, not to mention that we took the lead twice and still didn't win, but at the end of the day I think 4 out of 6 points against this season's Empoli is quite good.

[ACMILAN1983]

A good article pointing out the difficulties we showed in midfield in this match.

http://gazzettaworld.gazzetta.it/feature...tactics/1/

Isn't it the main mission of a coach in a team sport ?

True, but it's a case of trying to put square pegs in round holes, the coach can only do so much. I don't think Miha's faultless, but I think he's certainly one of the least of the problems.

devoted_dm, while De Jong offers more cover and doesn't push up, I honestly think he's too limited to play in the role. It's why I like Allan so much, because he offers qualities similar to De Jong (imo he's got better ball winning qualities), but he's so much more complete overall and can drive forward if asked to. I've mentioned Xhaka in the past and he's a player I really like and think could excel at Milan. However, it's bigger than just the central midfield, we need the whole midfield to work together, as I said, imo Bonaventura doesn't always work well with his teammates.

Of the players that have been linked this winter, Imbula was a name that interested me. While I was against signing Witsel and still feel we'd be well overpaying, he'd fit in this system quite well imo.

[ACM1899]

Jose starting. come on baby show some good signs and get into the starting 11