AC Milan vs Bologna
fuck fucking


Does it work Big Grin
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It was actually an interesting game. A lot of end to end stuff at times. The tempo was very good for long periods and some desperate defending from both teams at times. Big Grin

I am ecstatic about the 3 points. LET THE CLIMB BEGIN!! Big Grin

It wasn't perfect, but in all honesty, it was much better then what we've seen so far this year in terms of tempo and intensity. As Dev has mentioned several times, our confidence is very low. We are more direct than Montella's Milan, but certain players are still not willing to make a mistake. For example, in the 2nd half, it was Bonucci on several occasions that thread the ball vertically between the lines instead of the midfielders doing that same thing, and that ended up creating dangerous situations. Montolivo and Kessie are hesitant to even attempt something like that. Hopefully the confidence will come back with a couple of wins.

I was glad to see the players trying to cheer up Silva at the end. For the first time this season, I felt like he was part of the team and more importantly part of the locker room. Until now, he has been a separate entity out there. Today, he actually tried to play with others, but not only that...everyone from the group went up to him after the game to let him know that they appreciated his work. Clearly things have been said in the locker room when it comes to Silva. Let's hope that it actually lifts him and improves his performances.
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Agree nefremo. Actually on Bonucci I think he's shown improvement under Gattuso, today Musacchio (and Abate whose defensive work was non existent at times) was the big problem in defence. Looking forward to a Bonucci and Romagnoli pairing at the back.

Also what was that with Silva at the end.
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[Image: DQt0Wz5VQAI4faB.jpg:large]

I love this sight.
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Me too. Forza Milan
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(12-10-2017, 11:10 PM)ACMILAN1983 Wrote:  today Musacchio (and Abate whose defensive work was non existent at times) was the big problem in defence. Looking forward to a Bonucci and Romagnoli pairing at the back.

Agree. With the way Bonucci is performing as of late (he's been really impressive), I really want to see Romagnoli next to him in a 4 man backline. Musacchio was a liability today. He lost almost every single duel with Destro. Still, I don't want to just dump him on the bench because of this one game.....but I do want to see how a Romagnoli-Bonucci partnership will work. The duo that performs better together should be the one going forward. 

The other change I'd make is Locatelli in for Montolivo. Montolivo wasn't bad, but he wasn't great either. Locatelli can (and definitely has) do the same things Montolivo does but at the same time improve and become a pillar in this team. We just need to play the kid.
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(12-10-2017, 10:46 PM)reza Wrote: fuck fucking


Does it work Big Grin

Rez, you're the exception, not the rule here Tongue

That said I managed to follow our game even though I was too busy to watch it last night. 
I'm glad that I'll finally get an In form Milan player to use come next wed in FIFA 18.

Also glad that Andre Silva is getting the proper recognition he deserves. I too felt like he was sort of the odd man out in our team for the last few months, what with how Montella wouldn't let him play in the League much. Can only see more good things from him, Kessie and Cutrone.

Also cannot wait until Conti comes back in, for the first four weeks of our season our right flank was scary as Fuck with Conti, Suso and Kessie bombing forward and creating chances, let's not forget that. Everything sort of fell apart when he got injured and we had to reshuffle. If we manage to get the same sort of combination with Rodriguez, Jack and Cutrone/Silva on the left hand side, we could be in for a great revival here.

Of course, the defense definitely needs some work. I've been saying it for the last two months that our mentality at the back has been fragile, and keep getting shouted down on the football-italia site.  Dodgy

Now that even Rino's calling them out for it, let's hope that the team will be able to move forward to fix this problem.
We got the young 'un's. We take out big gunz  Devilcool
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I actually woke up this morning with a happy feeling with last night's match. Lots of problems were evident, but it was a step forward for everyone, the players, Gattuso and the club. We were in a rut and everyone was suffering, so the result is critical towards getting out of it.

A few bullets on my thoughts:

Negatives:
- The reaction after scoring our goals. This was clearly confidence. After the first goal I was confused on why the team stopped playing their game and conceded control at the first sign Bologna pushed to equalise. It became particularly evident after the second goal, where the team had a brief period of just panic. It's common knowledge teams are often most susceptible to conceding after they take the lead in a match. This is usually due to lack of focus/relaxing after scoring, but for us I think it's fear of not managing the score. I'd like to see Gattuso instil a mentality of when we score, we double our efforts for a period immediately after and become even more aggressive to try and control the match.

- Musacchio. I don't really want to pick on individuals, but this guy looked lost on the pitch and has shown some worrying signs against Napoli and then yesterday. His positioning was all over the place and he was committing too much in position and going in for tackles. This meant Bologna had joy in beating him and having a clear run at our defence/goal. Abate didn't help as defensively he was barely involved in the match.

- Inconsisties of performance throughout the match. At periods we pressed well or really well, but then other periods we were easily dominated by a pretty average Bologna side. Part of this comes down to our defensive organisation and how the team allowed Bologna to bring the ball out too easily from defence, but I think it also comes down to the confidence issues evident in the side.

- Wasting chances. We created a lot of opportunities yesterday, but wasted so many attacking moves either through selfish play, poor decisions and our inability to make the final pass or shot. We can't waste good offensive opportunities and this needs a lot of work.

Positives:
- Our play in the first period of the match. We pressed Bologna really well early on and pinned them back into their box from the outset until Bonaventura scored his first. I think movement of the ball could have been quicker during this time, but really the team deserve credit for this period of the game.

- Our response to Bologna scoring. Bologna's equaliser came after a negative period, but the team's response after the goal was positive as they regained their composure and started pressing more like they did early in the match. It was set up to struggle until half time, but instead the players showed some character by taking back the match themselves without needing to contain the opponents until half time.

- The performances of some important individuals such as Bonucci, Montolivo, Bonaventura and Kessie. We needed some of the experienced heads to step up and lead the side and to an extent we saw that yesterday. Kessie and Bonucci under Gattuso look somewhat revitalised, while we finally saw the Bonaventura of previous years yesterday. Montolivo, while I wasn't satisfied with his performance on the ball, off it he showed a lot of character and determination. There's obviously his block in the first half to cover for his defence, but through the match he threw himself at the ball to block long distance attempts from Bologna and his willingness and sacrifice should be commended.

- Gattuso's changes through the match. There's a huge number of questionmarks over Gattuso's tactical ability, but I think he did well yesterday. Starting with 4-3-3 helped the side find it easier to push high and not be drawn too deep when the wingbacks drop back. However, not just this, he made smart changes through the match, initially introducing Cutrone to switch to 4-4-2, serving both a purpose to have a second man pressing high up field during a period we were getting pushed back, but also disorientate Bologna with Cutrone's workrate and movement. Andre Silva for Kalinic made sense as while Kalinic did ok with bring others into the game, he took no chances to try and score, something Andre Silva is naturally better at. Finally, bringing on Calabria for Borini (who had a good game too) was actually very smart. Borini was starting to struggle at RB and Calabria came on and gave some assurances at the back. It wasn't a tactical mastermind, but a common sense logical interpretation of the game and showed Gattuso is able to read the game from the touchline.

- Our attitude on the pitch. We seem to be playing with more heart. Under Montella, while I think the team played with the same fear they showed yesterday, to the viewer it often seemed to be apathetic and that we'd just switch off mentally. I've never really doubted that the team wanted to do better, but it just wasn't there to see. Yesterday, I think we saw many of the same problems manifest themselves, but the emotions of the team were much clearer to see and it seemed they wore their hearts on the sleeves. This is a big step forward, because you can see the team looks much more invested in working together to do everything to turn this season around, whereas before it seemed they'd given up.

- The more direct approach. I like when we hold possession, but at no moment should possession be held for the sake of holding it, which is what seemed to be the case with Montella this season. Gattuso's shown a more direct approach (I'm generally for quick transitions), but it wasn't at the cost of seeing a big drop in possession stats, as we still had around 60% possession. Moving upfield more quickly showed as with 21 attempts, we saw we had more clear cut opportunities than we've shown under Montella because opponents don't have time to retreat. Where we really need to improve though is ensuring our counter press is set up better. There were periods of play yesterday (and vs Benevento) where the game became stretched and end to end, which we want to avoid.

I think yesterday showed one step forward after a handful of dark weeks for us. Gattuso's right to immediately state that this doesn't mean anything, we can't think our problems are close to being solved, but it offers a small branch to allow us to pull ourselves out of the problems we're in. It's also a match which gives a little more optimism about Gattuso's ability as a coach. He's got a huge amount to prove, but it's also one step forward for him.
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Just some food for thought.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/gennaro-ga...2017-11-27

The link above shows Gattuso's games in charge of our Primavera. He lost the first two matches badly, but then turned things around with a decent run (8 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss). What's interesting to note is probably the changes he made to the formations when against various opponents. Also important to note is that he uses 4 at the back more often than not, which is probably what our current template will start to follow.
We got the young 'un's. We take out big gunz  Devilcool
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Well noted Ryo. While I've not watched the Primavera too often this season, I was following their performances and results closely. Gattuso's tactical approach to the side is of interest, but the performances and trajectory in results were very much related to his mental work there. They started off not working very well and he was very forthright the attitude was totally wrong after the early defeats. Results improved, but the key for him was always about the attitude the players took to the field with.

In terms of tactics, he seems to shift formation to adjust to opponents like you mentioned, but I think the core principles of his game always remain.

As for Gattuso, he's portrayed in the media as unintelligent and someone who has no tactical acumen and is all about his testosterone filled brute mentality. There's no denying that a huge part of his character is his boxer mentality and living on the edge with determination and aggression. However, I don't think that's all there is to him and I don't think we're talking about a guy who is clueless about tactics. Maybe I'm wrong and he is clueless, but until I see more of his work, I don't feel I can judge. As mentioned in my previous post, his changes in this match were shrewd.

I do feel the media jump to conclusions very quickly on coaches. I remember Simeone wasn't acknowledged for his tactics before and was only recognised for his character and aggression. This is a guy who was apparently obsessive about tactics ever since he was a player and this was acknowledged by former teammates. It's only prolonged success with Atletico that gets this recognised.

Others, like Martinez and Koeman, were initially assumed to be great tacticians in the media after initial successes in their managerial career, but have never been able to maintain any success. Same with Peter Bosz at Dortmund, initial success was hailed in the media as he was thought to be the next coaching mastermind in Germany, now he's sacked.
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