Thread: Winter Mercato
View Single Post
Old 05-02-2007, 22:45   #1452

rt9

Registered User
 
rt9's Avatar
 
Join Date: 05 2006
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Fave Players: marco van basten, rui costa, kaka, pirlo
rt9 is on a distinguished road
For the record, here are some stats from acmilan.com. I wasnt able to get exact figures for number of starts, but I think the number of minutes do give a pretty decent picture:

Inzaghi 17 Appearances 952 minutes 2 goals

Oliveira 16 Appearances 769 minutes 2 goals

Both have scored only 2 goals in serie a this year, although Inzaghi has been getting more starts and almost 200 more minutes. If you want to look strictly at goal return, then starting INzaghi is certainly no more advantageous than playing RO.

Your logic about comparing Milan with Udinese is warped. If we were a small club with thin resources who are desparate to qualify for a UEFA cup or escape relegation, then we have no choice, we have to keep playing players who are in form and we dont have the "luxury" of giving some of our new signings too much of a chance. On the other hand, if you are a big club with enormous resources, a big squad, then you have no problems rotating your squad, having confidence in new players, and giving them a chance---because the rest of your players are of high enough quality to pick up the slack. For instance, if Kaka was playing for Udinese, they would have to play him every game to stand a chance of qualifying for Europe. Now with Kaka playing for us, we dont have to do that. We can rest him for a few games, play Seedorf in his position, try out Gourcuff there, or even play him for a couple of games when he's off-form---why? Because we have the squad depth to be able to do that. Likewise, we have enough squad depth to play RO for at least five or six games continuous. Your contention about us missing out on a European spot for giving a striker some playing time is way exagerrated to say the least.

Lastly, you ask if the team is better with RO on the pitch. Your opinion may be different to mine, but I dont see the GIla/Pippo partnership working. Pippo does not have the pace or skill to do anything outside the penalty box. Gila can only hold up the ball and pass it back. With RO on the pitch, I see a big difference in the way we play. We are more dynamic, he drops back picks up the ball and adds some pace to our forward line, especially during counter attacks. With a similar goal record in serie a, would it then not be better to start playing RO more consistently? The best case scenario would be that he starts to shine and score goals, then we start getting a return on our heavy investment. The worst---he doesnt do much for 4-5 games, we know he is not suited to our team, and we sell him in the summer after giving him a proper chance and KNOWING that he is not good enough.
rt9 is offline