Barcelona -vs- AC Milan (ALL comments)

So said, so done....IMO, we cannot play defensive vs the likes of Barca...worse in their own stadium...what do we think we are, Juve?



http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...lia/nov3j.html

Ancelotti blamed for Barca setback Wednesday 3 November, 2004

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Milan’s defeat at the Nou Camp has brought back the criticism of their tactics from President Silvio Berlusconi and Andriy Shevchenko, while Jaap Stam requires surgery.


The Rossoneri were leading 1-0 through Shevchenko’s strike, but Barcelona pushed back and eventually won with a last-minute Ronaldinho goal. Some say the key was Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to field Kaka and Serginho in support of the lone centre-forward.


“President Berlusconi was watching the game on television and said it was unacceptable that Milan were playing with only one striker,” a close aide was quoted as saying in the press.


The patron – who is also Prime Minister of Italy and a multi-millionaire businessman – had already publicly ordered Ancelotti to field two forwards at all times over the last couple of years.


Ancelotti’s decision against Barca was dictated mainly by fitness worries, as Hernan Crespo and Jon Dahl Tomasson are struggling with injury, while Pippo Inzaghi did not even make the trip.


“Even if the tactical system was a different shape,” added Vice-President Adriano Galliani, “we were still playing with three attack-minded men upfront. I think that on Sunday against Roma we’ll go back to the more traditional two strikers.”


Shevchenko gave his analysis of the match after scoring his second in as many games against Barcelona.


“It’s a shame we were unable to win,” said the Balon d’Or candidate, “but in the second half Barca played great football and deserved this result. We could have done so much better, as after a while it became clear Barca didn’t know what else to do. We should have taken advantage at the time, but our mistake was thinking we could win it 1-0. You can’t try to defend against this side, but a few more piercing counter-attacks would have sunk them.”

Ancelotti himself revealed the reasoning behind this switch back to the 4-3-2-1, a system that had proved very successful in the early stages of Milan’s Champions’ League winning campaign of 2003.


“I had Serginho play slightly wider in order to stop Belletti bombing forward on that flank,” he explained. “It worked well for the first 30 minutes, but we weren’t aggressive enough in midfield and that’s where the game was lost.”


Nonetheless, the Rossoneri need just one point from their remaining two matches against Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic to be sure of qualifying for the knockout stage after winning their first three encounters.


Meanwhile, there was more bad news for Milan, as this evening specialists have told Jaap Stam he could require surgery for a recurring tendon problem in his left ankle.

Originally Posted by Henrik

It is not so much who he played as how Milan played. My primary complaint is still that it was wrong to try out a new formation against a team of Barcelonas calibre.

- and I do not disagree with you, Henrik, as such.

Nor do I disagree with Jeff's philosophy lesson on the whole, btw.

Originally Posted by Smoje

Milan in January needs fresh legs on the midfield...

Barcelona will win the Liga and probably the CL

Ok, Barca is a good team, we know.
What has won Barca?
A game, a single game.
BUT, i want to recall that the result of the 2 matches put out Barca,
if it played with direct elimination.
1 to no at San Siro
1 to 2 at Nou Camp.
Barca would be out.

Yes, Milan played not at the best: now, imo, we suffer the lack of Inzaghi and Stam.
Superpippo is the last touch man, beside Sheva.
The concentration of the dutch rock for our last line.

Anyway, we have had a clear ball to finish the game with Kakà.
It was a ball absolutely to score, just because we was playing against a "real" Barca's football substance.

Serginho played only for 45 minutes, Carlo changed him too late.
But no process 4 Carlo, now.
We are in the middle of the season: will we improve our play or not?
I think, better, I'm sure: YES



MILAN

Originally Posted by Jeff

Not funny either.

And can you please take a look, it's Sheva who scores first. I don't see any tactical error in the beginning. The idea is OK. And how do you see that we would eventually end up conceding a goal. I don't see how Barca can score actually until Ronaldinho's flash of glory, and can't you see that Barca just CAN"T do it in the second half. They may have plenty of chances but it's not LUCK that they didn't score more goal. After all, Dida saves us a number of occasions and you called Dida's save as luck?

I partly agree with your comments on the "tactical error" although the choice of players can be questioned if they were to (and did!) play for more than 70 minutes. Ambrosini and Serginho as opposed to Seerdof and Tomasson or Rui Costa? Maybe Ancellotti did not really want to win this game as how he said he did?

As for Barcelona's scoring opportunities, I had that awful feeling that it would come sooner or later, and even more than the two they had. After 20 minutes, Milan seemed to be okay with the idea of absorbing Barcelona's attacks. But Giuly, Xavi, Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto'o was running at them non-stop, and so I thought, if this goes on for the next 70 minutes, Milan will lose the game. And they did. Ronaldinho's goal wasn't luck, it was just waiting to arrive. Personally, I believe his goal was the epitome of their victory over a non-playing Milan side.

Originally Posted by acmilan89

As for Barcelona's scoring opportunities, I had that awful feeling that it would come sooner or later, and even more than the two they had. After 20 minutes, Milan seemed to be okay with the idea of absorbing Barcelona's attacks. But Giuly, Xavi, Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto'o was running at them non-stop, and so I thought, if this goes on for the next 70 minutes, Milan will lose the game. And they did. Ronaldinho's goal wasn't luck, it was just waiting to arrive. Personally, I believe his goal was the epitome of their victory over a non-playing Milan side.

But putting that in such a wording is just another way of expressing the fact that Milan would definitely lose.

I am not saying tht Ronaldinho's goal is luck. Of course it's not. It's a magic. But the thing I concern is: if you say, 'if this goes on for the next 70minutes, milan will lose the game' is far too general. At what time will Milan lost the game, and this is crucial, because you (and not just u, of course) sound like Milan is heading for a 4-1 lose or something. The fact is, Milan drew it (yes, they defended like crazy BUT) all the way until this moment.

Yes, milan played bad, no doubt about that, but is just that some people here are expecting too much. This is always the difference. When you play CM, u lose, u can always load. When, in real life, you don't expect to win always. Barca don't expect to win always too.

You are right though... the midfield are running at our midfield non-stop, and that's probably why we lost the ball possession so easily. I see an intimidated Milan side, and it's Barca's sheer determination that wins the game.

And talking about determinaton. Do you think Milan will be as determined as Barca to win the game? This is one that remained to be answered.

After games like this one I always have the feeling that Milan's next coach is among us.
Of course we cannot be happy that we lost after we tried to mostly defend and wait for Barca to attack, however we must not forget that Milan had very little insentive to give their best given our group position i.e. that was a game we could afford losing. As for Barca they didn't have that luxury. I believe that right now Milan is concentrating on the Serie A for we cannot let a team like Juve (and Capello as its coach) to run away by more than the 5 points advantage they have right now.
The game vs Roma is a must win one while that at the Camp Nou was far from that. After all, we played for a draw and came very close to getting it and only a moment of brilliance from Ronaldinho spoiled it for us.

moreover..Barca is @ the top of their League..no1 to chase..nothing to fear (so far)...unlike us..we still have Juve to catch up..soo its not too bad..Milan did gr8 defending for the whole 80 plus mins...considering the fact tt Barca's attack was very viscious( prone to scoring) and relentless...our defence held out very well...soo

so let this rest n head towards the showdown with the Roman Badboys!!

However, that night milan's totally undercontol of barca.
Ancelloti decision for 1 striker is so unproductive. Like contemplating suicide.
There's no pressing to Barca's defender. They could build the offence from defender. puyol played the ball from back area, so did marquez in defence midfield. Xavi and Deco had posession well then dinho n giuly destroy backside of Milan. Eto'o ? Damn... too fast for maldini (1st goal) !!
Sexy footaball from Barca.
But That's not the real MILAN !!
No Stam (much stronger in 1st clash), another striker for sheva's partner n without enough order from coach to grab 3 pts at all !
I suppose that Milan will face BArca in Final in neutral place !!
The best team will get the trophy and The best team will get the best player!! (dinho)

Barca will play the final unless they meet Juve or Chelsea in the later stages - their football is too sexy and they don't have the ballance and sturdiness of Milan, Juve, Chelsea. You and many others speak of how Barca outplayed Milan but you just seem to always forget that game for Milan had little significance - it was a game we could afford to lose, we tried and PLAYED to get a draw and were seconds away from it but it was not to be. A game we MUST win is the one with Roma and we cannot afford to even draw it - now, if we lose on Sunday then I will be worried. As for the game with Barca, for us, it was a game we had to get out of the way, for them - a must win one. We just didn't have a major reason to give and show our best AT THE MOMENT as for our best at all - Barca would have been blown away, here or there, simply doesn't matter when we have a determined Milan.

Originally Posted by zlatanov

Barca will play the final unless they meet Juve or Chelsea in the later stages - their football is too sexy and they don't have the ballance and sturdiness of Milan, Juve, Chelsea. You and many others speak of how Barca outplayed Milan but you just seem to always forget that game for Milan had little significance - it was a game we could afford to lose, we tried and PLAYED to get a draw and were seconds away from it but it was not to be. A game we MUST win is the one with Roma and we cannot afford to even draw it - now, if we lose on Sunday then I will be worried. As for the game with Barca, for us, it was a game we had to get out of the way, for them - a must win one. We just didn't have a major reason to give and show our best AT THE MOMENT as for our best at all - Barca would have been blown away, here or there, simply doesn't matter when we have a determined Milan.

More than agree.

We need better central midfielders.
Starting a full Italian central midfield is suicide as shown that day.
Ambro is nowhere near Milan class....

yes i think we should get rid of ambro try and get a few bob for him, he is awful!!!!!

Or better yet - we should get rid of you two.
FCS, some people never seem to adapt their way of thinking. One and the same BS all the way, no matter what.