Juventus - Milan (20h45 - 05/03)

[Mathias]

Ibra has not been utter crap. He's still playing pretty intelligent, it's just that he's tired as hell. He needs some rest so he can regain his shooting strength. Allegri just won't listen to Ibra's body. Without milan labs; ibra would long be injured.

[tim_milan]

Am just hopin that bringing on Seedorf for the last 20 mins or so was not a sign of things to come. I mean there s no way in hell he s playing a single second against tottenham. N just hope Boaetang and PAto will be fit to take us through to the next round in CL.

[ACM2023]

Am just hopin that bringing on Seedorf for the last 20 mins or so was not a sign of things to come. I mean there s no way in hell he s playing a single second against tottenham. N just hope Boaetang and PAto will be fit to take us through to the next round in CL.

like it or not, Seedorf seems sure to play again. all we can do is now to pray for him to have a good game.

forza milan, upward and forward.

[Warro Bantan]

As has been said, an ugly game, but beautiful 3 points....now if Genoa hadn't rolled over for Inter in the 2nd half today, we woiuld have had some breathing space....sigh, ah well it wasn't meant to be....this was an important victory, regardless

Ibra is tired though, and I would rest him vs Tottenham....but I'm not Allegri, and I kno he won't.

FORZA MILAN!!

[ACMILAN1983]

One of the dullest Juve-Milan matches I've ever seen, as it lacked any real quality from either side, played at walking pace much of the match and tactically lacked any real imagination, with the result pretty much decided by mistakes and the difference in quality of the two group of players.

I must say this is the worst Juve side I think I've ever seen (well, maybe last year was worse). The team has no players who add a spark to the side and no one to lift their game. Del Piero can potentially do this, but he's getting on in age and will not be able to do it consistently. Mentally, they are clearly in a bad state as they look nervous and seem unable to really do anything with the ball. Even their star players, like Chiellini and Krasic seem to me like players who can play in the first team of a top side, but will never be the players to lift the side to the top.

The match was set up as expected, Juve with their 4-4-2 and us with 4-3-1-2. Having both Melo and Marchisio in the deep middle meant Boateng (and later Robinho) struggled for space, but our midfielders out numbered Juve in the central midfield. To compensate Juve wingers were forced to come centrally to help defensively, leaving the wide areas exposed. We weren't brilliant at taking advantage of this, as on the right we did very little and on the left it was mainly up to Cassano to try and create. That said, it's no surprise that our best chances were all from the channels in between the CBs and fullbacks, as Juve's fullbacks were forced wide to protect the wings, leaving the CBs stretched in the middle.

On our part, I wasn't impressed with the lack of pace in our game, nor our movement off the ball, but I guess we had an eye on the CL and therefore tried to do as little as possible to win. Defensively though, we were good as we offered nothing to Juve, who in all fairness are atrocious going forward.

I really have little else to say on the match. Juve are a terrible side right now, and we definitely could have won more easily, but in the end, the result is what counts and we were pretty comfortable throughout the match.

Players...

Abbiati - I don't think he had to make a single save. He must be getting bored lately
Abate - Solid as always, offered a few runs forward, but not as much as normal
Nesta - Solid and always alert. Comfortable match on the whole.
Thiago - Same as Nesta.
Jankulovski - Had a few problems with Krasic early on, but rarely ever seemed under real pressure.
Rino - Decent game, good goal, even if Buffon should have stopped it.
Van Bommel - His positional sense is excellent, and his distribution is good too. An great talent and I'm happy for his signing.
Flamini - Had some decent moments, though wasn't great.
Boateng - Struggled for space when on, though found room when pushing higher up. Unlucky to get injured after a great challenge.
Ibra - Very important as we can look for him with higher balls when space is tight in midfield. On the ball he wasn't great, nor his movement brilliant, but his ability to play as a target man was vital in this match. Should have scored early on though.
Cassano - Often moved left to try and create, but rarely did create much. He should have scored on his chance.
Robinho - little influence in the game as he rarely found room. Should have let Flamini shoot, when the Frenchman had a chance but was a little selfish in that move.
Seedorf - Came on to essentially kill the match and didn't really do anything special when on the pitch.

[tim_milan]

like it or not, Seedorf seems sure to play again. all we can do is now to pray for him to have a good game.

forza milan, upward and forward.

I know we do not have many options in our midfield but i dont care if we have to change our formation to not include Seedorf in our team. Even when he came on against Juventus after being rested for so long he seemed pretty useless. If i were Allegri i would never do it. But am almost sure he has something for Seedorf that he will opt him over Merkel. I hope this game against tottenham wont be a disaster.