02-05-2017, 06:44 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-05-2017, 06:46 PM by ACMILAN1983.)
Nefremo I agree in part of you, but surely these group of players not being up to par with what a club like Milan traditionally expects is no big surprise. We know that push come to shove, our squad is currently a mix of young potential and relatively average senior players, players that might star for smaller sides, but aren't of the quality to lead a club of Milan's stature.
In that respect saying Bertolacci is mediocre is perhaps true (imo a exagerration, but that's fairly minor), but I think for him to be singled out today for his performance when he was our best midfielder is unfair. For his level, not comparing him to players of the past like Kaka or Seedorf, he put in a decent performance. We as fans may see him as a disappointment especially with the price he came at, but I see that as a mistake on the part of the management than I do of Bertolacci, who in fairness did as well as we can expect of him, it's just that it isn't really that good, at least for a club with ambition.
It comes down to one thing, which is I get the frustration of recent results, I'm getting irritated as much as anyone. However, we know this group is limited, and while we can compete with anyone on our day, we're not capable of consistently winning like the best teams. I think for us to have a competitive side (not squad), we need at least 3-4 quality additions to the side. We're suffering as a result of our weaknesses and lack of quality in depth, but we also know that in ability, teams like Juve, Roma, Napoli and Inter are ahead of us and they've been very consistent of late in terms of results.
That's not to say we can't push on to have a decent season, nor do we lack players who we can rebuild around, but we need reinforcement to support their growth. I think barring a disaster, this season is a positive one as Montella's getting us playing the best football I've seen for years and we have a clear identity that feels like Milan again. We're dominating games, regardless of opposition, which is a great sign, imo results this year are less important than progress of the work on the pitch. This is a transition year and with the decline of the club in the past 10 years, we were never going to turn around our fortunes straight away.
We have to accept that we're not really a top team right now, we're in transition and as a result we can't have high expectations of this squad right now. I've said it all year, we're a team that can beat Juve and lose to Udinese, we have great potential, but huge weaknesses that will have an influence on our results. This thought process is why I suggested it might work in our favour to not spend big in January, it avoids unnecessary pressure on the players and coaching staff and also gives Montella a chance to really assess the group he has to understand who he can build with and who he needs to replace.
Edit: On our results, I have no doubt that as long as the players don't give up and keep up this level of performances, results will start returning sooner rather than later. We have some issues to overcome, the biggest imo being confidence at the end of attacking plays, but unlike previous years, I'm not particularly angry at the players as they aren't putting in poor performances.
In that respect saying Bertolacci is mediocre is perhaps true (imo a exagerration, but that's fairly minor), but I think for him to be singled out today for his performance when he was our best midfielder is unfair. For his level, not comparing him to players of the past like Kaka or Seedorf, he put in a decent performance. We as fans may see him as a disappointment especially with the price he came at, but I see that as a mistake on the part of the management than I do of Bertolacci, who in fairness did as well as we can expect of him, it's just that it isn't really that good, at least for a club with ambition.
It comes down to one thing, which is I get the frustration of recent results, I'm getting irritated as much as anyone. However, we know this group is limited, and while we can compete with anyone on our day, we're not capable of consistently winning like the best teams. I think for us to have a competitive side (not squad), we need at least 3-4 quality additions to the side. We're suffering as a result of our weaknesses and lack of quality in depth, but we also know that in ability, teams like Juve, Roma, Napoli and Inter are ahead of us and they've been very consistent of late in terms of results.
That's not to say we can't push on to have a decent season, nor do we lack players who we can rebuild around, but we need reinforcement to support their growth. I think barring a disaster, this season is a positive one as Montella's getting us playing the best football I've seen for years and we have a clear identity that feels like Milan again. We're dominating games, regardless of opposition, which is a great sign, imo results this year are less important than progress of the work on the pitch. This is a transition year and with the decline of the club in the past 10 years, we were never going to turn around our fortunes straight away.
We have to accept that we're not really a top team right now, we're in transition and as a result we can't have high expectations of this squad right now. I've said it all year, we're a team that can beat Juve and lose to Udinese, we have great potential, but huge weaknesses that will have an influence on our results. This thought process is why I suggested it might work in our favour to not spend big in January, it avoids unnecessary pressure on the players and coaching staff and also gives Montella a chance to really assess the group he has to understand who he can build with and who he needs to replace.
Edit: On our results, I have no doubt that as long as the players don't give up and keep up this level of performances, results will start returning sooner rather than later. We have some issues to overcome, the biggest imo being confidence at the end of attacking plays, but unlike previous years, I'm not particularly angry at the players as they aren't putting in poor performances.