Arsenal-Milan CL Round of 16 Leg 1

Originally Posted by outlaw_member

Why is it so bad? I always assume as Italy has a better climate than England, that most Italian teams would good pitches. Is this the case for most teams? I watch Serie A games, here and there but I don't distinctly remember the pitch quality. Like you said though it will affect both teams.

I am aware of the Christmas tree, but in England those AM's are considered as midfielders, so they just say 5. I don't know why though.

It would be interesting to see whether it's the 2 upfront for you and a lone striker. Personally I think 2 strikers may suit you better, give us more to think about. Lone strikers are much easier to nullify, especially if the midifield is not making up the ground to help.

The thing is about Arsenal is,the bigger the team, the better we play. Last season was our worst season under Wenger ever since he joined 11 years ago, yet we still had the best head to head record out of the Big 4, beating the champions United twice. Don't let the last game against United cloud your judgement. You could see one thing on the minds on the players in that game and that was Milan. This team we have is very very hungry, for us playing you is our biggest game ever in the CL ever alongside the game's against Madrid. The players want to prove, that they can mix it up with the big boys, and there's none better than doing it against a team of your calibre.

Also we dominated, Juventus and Madrid not too long ago, and we kept the better possesion in both legs. Obviously those two are not Milan but the point is that we have done it against other big teams. Against your team it will be harder, which is why we need to be on the top of our game.

About the high balls and such, like I said in my previous post. It was more down to our inexperience, over eagerness, we were not patient but than again it could have been deliberate, so we will never know for sure.

Maybe but we have a great record against Italians, so were the perfect match.

1) yes, the pitch is not very well nurtured...

2) 4-3-2-1 is quite distinctive; I don't know why is called 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 either; Kaka and Seedorf obviously play in front of Ambro and Gattuso, while Pirlo is definitely deeper than Ambro and Gattuso. Maybe the Englishmen are not attentive to tactics so to them it doesn't make a difference ?

3) I bet 90% will start with 4-3-2-1. The reason is simple: Milan doesn't want to lose the midfield to the opponent. On one hand, it is easy to see that Milan will be more threatening in with 4-3-1-2, but it's also obvious (darn obvious) Milan is more exposed in midfield and is more prone to counterattack with 4-3-1-2, on the expense of a stronger attack of course.

Knowing Carlo for so many years, his tactics, his philosophies etc., I don't think he is going for a 4-3-2-1. But he may well surprise all of us .

4) We all know that Arsenal is very very hungry (so was Man U and they put in a brilliant performance at Old Trafford; not sure what happened to them at San Siro). But being hungry is one thing and being calm is another. To reach Milan's level (in UCL, not in Serie A) you need both hunger (i.e., motivation) and calm (i.e., experience). Milan is blessed to have a group of players who are well-motivated, for one reason (e.g., the football scandal) to another (e.g., Maldini is retiring), and have vast amount of experiences. Milan players know when they did not play well (i.e., against Man U last year, Arsenal, Bayern Munich at home, Deportivo etc.), but they also know when and how to pull the triggers when needed (e.g., against Bayern Munich at Germany; against Man U at home; against Liverpool [finally] at Athen).

And if they pull the trigger and still didn't win, then it's fair to say that our opponent deserves to go through (e.g., Barcelona).

5) For any team playing against milan should feel the same hunger. Celtic did a pretty good job last year until the extra time... And I don't think Arsenal has anything to prove; they are strong, fast, quick; what they need now is a sense of quality of mind and confidence in themselves that will exude. Sometimes it comes from winning trophies, but sometimes it also comes from knowing thyself. Eventually, even if Arsenal lose, I still think they have proven a point already.

6) I'm not surprised that Arsenal keeps possession well. Fast, accurate passing etc. But I also think that you have not seen how Milan has kept possession. Real and Juve are nowhere near Milan in terms of ball possession. Unfortunately, Milan was way too slow on Wednesday and seemed to be unprepared for Arsenal's aggressiveness. A better preparation and a better mindset from the Milan players are needed to counteract the young and aggressive Arsenal team.

Trust me, most Milan players are used to be pressed like Arsenal pressed Milan on Wed and Milan players did much better than that. We'll see how it goes in the second league.

7) Final note: Milan also plays better against bigger team (although such recent trends have stopped in Italy with Inter dominating and the emphasis on CL only gets larger). You don't need me to give you examples, but we do usually suffer against the smaller teams.

Fortunately, Milan will never make the mistake of treating Arsenal as one.

Peace,
J