Week 36: Derby Della Madonnina - (May 4, 2014 - 20:45 CET)
#41
I actually LOLed at one point when Rami was holding his knee in pain and Balo was just walkin near him not even looking at him, let alone checking if he's OK Big Grin
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#42
(05-05-2014, 03:21 AM)Stitch Wrote: I actually LOLed at one point when Rami was holding his knee in pain and Balo was just walkin near him not even looking at him, let alone checking if he's OK Big Grin

Please don't make me love Balo Devilcool
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#43
Statistics:

- 18 Milan players scored this season. 1st in Serie A
- 73855 attendants in stadium. Income about 2.8M Euro
- 12th clean sheet in 36
- 1st time in 10 years Inter don't even have an on target shoot
- Goal from a Dutch player since Seedorf on 28th October 2006
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#44

(05-05-2014, 03:43 AM)Aficio Wrote:
(05-05-2014, 03:21 AM)Stitch Wrote: I actually LOLed at one point when Rami was holding his knee in pain and Balo was just walkin near him not even looking at him, let alone checking if he's OK Big Grin

Please don't make me love Balo Devilcool

why would you love him for being a dick Huh
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#45
Funnier was when he was pulling taarabt's ears when he was strechting his legs (read: stretching time)
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#46
Despite not being happy about the game, I want to clarify I'm happy we beat Inter, but this season's derbies are depressing to watch. I can only describe them as the derbies of mediocrity. I wasn't happy watching last night's match, or rather I wasn't satisfied just barely beating a team that was just pathetic. Honestly, I felt little satisfaction winning, it just felt like a routine win.

As far as the match goes, Kaka hit the bar once, he skied a half volley, De Sciglio wasted a good crossing opportunity and Balotelli crossed on a free kick for De Jong to score. Literally, that's all of the key events of the match. Inter did nothing, while we had a few moments.

Tactically, Seedorf played 4-3-1-2 (4-1-2-1-2 if you want to get granular), which wasn't a bad set up, but totally relies on our individual players winning against their counterparts. Firstly, the positives of the system were that we weren't outnumbered in any department, particularly in midfield. Every player essentially had a direct opponent to cover, as we had Mexes and Rami against Icardi and Palacio, Constant and DS against Jonathan and Nagatomo, Montolivo, Poli and Taarabt against Hernanes, Cambiasso and Kovacic. De Jong was our spare man, while we let Inter have a numerical advantage in defence (Kaka and Balo against their 3).

On the one hand, the system worked wonders, in that Inter had little room to maneuver as they always had someone on each of their players, while De Jong was there to sweep up in the few instances they did look like they might hurt us. That said, we risked tactical suicide had Inter shown anything. We always had a 2 vs 2 situation at the back, while our fullbacks pushed extremely high, meaning there was space to exploit behind them. The instances they didn't press high, we had huge amounts of space either side of De Jong, as Montolivo and Poli played quite a bit higher than him. Frankly, had Palacio moved better in behind the fullbacks and their midfielders looked to drive through, or had their midfielders (Hernanes or Cambiasso) tried to get in behind our fullbacks when they pushed up to meet their wingbacks, we'd have faced real problems. Instead, they did nothing, just trying to take on our individuals one on one and literally getting no where.

Mazzari in this respect was poor. Personally, I've never been a fan of his. He has his approach and that's fine, but he's so rigid in that approach that any coach who shows a little initiative has a tendency to get the better of him. Allegri did it in our scudetto winning year (the 3-0 particularly) and Seedorf did it this time. As for Seedorf, he has got my respect last night, as tactically we were nothing special, but he showed balls with his moves and read Mazzari like a book. Playing the high risk game he did with the players we have could have ended really badly.

I also appreciate his metaphorical slap in our management's face. He played the system Berlu likes, but then 2 of his three moves were imo clear signals to the management. Firstly he ignored everything that was apparently asked of him pre-game (Abate and DS together, Honda playing and Pazzini and Balo up front). Muntari for Poli was a straight switch to replace a tired player for a fresh one. However, he then brought on Abate, who played RB and pushed De Sciglio LB (I'm aware it's being said Constant was risking injury, but I think Seedorf was going to do this anyway). His next sub was Pazzini for Kaka, meaning Balo and Pazzini ended the match up front together. This to me basically says that he's heard what the management wants and he'll placate them, by doing this for the last 10 minutes of the match.

Of course, I worry our management is too stupid to realise that he was simply playing up to them and proved to do his own thing to win the match and instead will think they have a hand in our win. I also worry that this system will be one they try to get us to play regularly, as any team with even a little imagination will work out ways to exploit major holes in the system.

Fundamentally though, despite feeling some hapiness for the result, I can't help but feel this was a mediocre match between two very average looking teams.

Players...

Abbiati - Beside a couple of punches away he had nothing to do.
De Sciglio - Didn't look match sharp and had 3-4 moments were he was slack. He did improve a lot after a very poor start though.
Rami - A very good game, he was dominant at the back.
Mexes - Solid game, which I didn't expect after his ridiculous yellow card.
Constant - Was totally in control of Jonathan. I couldn't help but laugh watching them though, as it was just watching two idiots run directly at each other with no thought.
De Jong - Man of the match for sure. He was the cover in midfield and did his duties really well. The goal was the cherry on top.
Poli - Worked hard and looked dominant over Cambiasso.
Montolivo - Like Poli, was rarely troubled by Hernanes and had a decent game.
Taarabt - His movement was good, but on the ball he wasn't always great. One great throughball for DS, but otherwise wasn't really much in the way of a playmaker. Kind of reminded me of Boeteng, as he did ok to link midfield to attack, but didn't really create.
Kaka - Had some good moments, but overall he doesn't have that little spark to take him past his man, meaning moves would inevitably end with him simply trying to pick a pass or shoot.
Balo - I wasn't impressed. The cross for the goal aside, his performance was all over the place. He never stayed in attack and he would often try something stupid on the ball or release it too late when he had opportunities to cause damage. This is evident as the only memorable attempt he had was the Pazzini offside goal. Kaka, who isn't a striker by any stretch had a few opportunities simply because he moved as a forward. Balo's rabona is a prime example of a moment where he wasn't in a bad position and instead tried something spectacular which ended the move. They may have shown 50 replays to show his moment of skill, but he could have done more damage at that moment.
Muntari - A solid straight swap for Poli
Pazzini - A few dirty moments after coming on to break up Inter's play.
Abate - Didn't really have anything to do.
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#47
(05-05-2014, 08:21 AM)Stitch Wrote:
(05-05-2014, 03:43 AM)Aficio Wrote: Please don't make me love Balo Devilcool

why would you love him for being a dick Huh

I found it funny Big Grin That's the real Balo.

Better than showing a hand and say "Let's make peace"
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#48
Or is it because you love dicks Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin
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#49
Just singular Big Grin

Anyway, a nice win. Hope that Seedorf could get the credit he deserves.
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#50
This conversation has taken a drastic turn of direction. Icon_lol2
aka xudong
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