Perdenti FC - AC Milan (post-game comments)

another beautifull and happy week after WE WON and inter LOST!!!

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

Thank you Milan for ending my sporting jynx Oh and Kudos to Curtis for calling the goalscorer .... and thanks to Gio for teaching me this song that i will now sing .... something that we're all feeling i think ...

*clears throat*


OLE OLE OLE OLE ...
INTEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR MERRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDAAAAAAAAAAA !!!

aww where's gio to join in on the singing...

*INTER MERDAAAAAAAAAA*



mwahahahhaa

Milan are so great!!
Our defense is superb!! if we keep going on like this no-one will stop us
if the other team can't score then there is no way we can loose and now well get sheva back in 2 weeks or so hopefully

Forza Milan!!

Great result and very important too... but let us be honest. We were damn lucky tonight. Neither team derserved to win. Defensively we were world class, but before our goal we had not tested Toldo one single time. Maldini and Nesta were simply outstanding! But in the end of the day, we got 3 points, so I will not complain

Yes but we scored when it mattered again. We have played 2 games this week without the best striker in the world, and won both games. There are not many teams who could do that!

Originally Posted by Stefan

Yes but we scored when it mattered again. We have played 2 games this week without the best striker in the world, and won both games. There are not many teams who could do that!

We did that for quite a while when MVB was injured.

Good to see us keeping it up then and not slacking off! Unlike that lazy vieri!!! Hahaha

not vintage milan tonight in attack but what a performance in defense especially sandro nesta. the one team inter did not want to lose their unbeaten record to!

ps was anyone else amazed how well cristano zannetti played for inter? he is normally hopeless


match report from www.channel4.com

Inter 0 - 1 Milan
Kaka 74 (M)
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza

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Inter's unbeaten run comes to an end as Kaka's lucky strike seals the Derby di Milano and keeps the Rossoneri top of the table

The 259th Derby della Madonnina in all competitions was set to be a decisive moment in the campaign, as Milan needed a win to stay on level terms with Juventus at the top of the table, while anything less than a victory would end Inter's hopes of the Scudetto once and for all.

The Rossoneri were missing Andriy Shevchenko with a fractured cheekbone, Pippo Inzaghi and the suspended Giuseppe Pancaro. They were boosted by the midweek Champions' League victory at Old Trafford and fielded the same Christmas Tree system with Manuel Rui Costa and Kaka supporting ex-Inter star Hernan Crespo.

The most surprising tactical choices were made by Roberto Mancini, who opted to leave Adriano on the bench in favour of Obafemi Martins and Christian Vieri. The Brazilian was without a goal since December 12 and his form since suffering a calf strain has been disappointing.

Inter hadn't won a derby game in Serie A for three years and were without a 'home' victory since April 1997, but they were unbeaten in all competitions so far this season for 20 wins and 20 draws.

Martins was an immediate danger with his pace and exchanged passes with Vieri, but the first save was from Francesco Toldo as Rui Costa charged into the box and saw his angled drive smothered after four minutes.

The young Nigerian was a real danger and a panicked Kakha Kaladze challenge took the ball off his foot as he prepared to shoot, only for it to fall to Vieri and Dida rushed off his line to close it down.

Toldo looked a little uncertain when he punched away a seemingly harmless cross and was fortunate that Andrea Pirlo failed to make the most of it. Kaka tried to break his way through the centre and won a couple of challenges before the defence was able to clear.

Juan Sebastian Veron's long-range strike looped just over the bar, then Dida held a Sinisa Mihajlovic free kick. Nesta was kept on his toes by Martins and plucked the ball off his foot after some good work by Vieri.

There was bad news for the Rossoneri when Kaladze, who was celebrating his birthday, seemed to catch his studs in the turf and limped off in favour of Serginho for an all-attack system.

There was a flurry of activity around the Milan area in first half stoppages. First Vieri hooked down a Martins cross and Nesta nodded it off his foot before he could turn, but the ball went out to the edge of the box for a Veron rocket that Dida somehow managed to push over the crossbar. The goalkeeper had precious little time to spot the strike, but he reacted to make an incredible save.

Dida had to be alert following the restart to prevent a Martins cross reaching Vieri after the young hitman had skipped past Nesta.

Another Veron snapshot was just over the bar, then a Mihajlovic free kick took a deflection off Serginho. The match became increasingly tense and a few scuffles and crunching tackles came flying in around the pitch.

Carlo Ancelotti had considered a number of tactical options going into the game and he adapted to the second choice on 65 minutes. Billy Costacurta replaced Rui Costa, so he took the left-back role and pushed Serginho up to support Kaka and Crespo.

Mancini replaced Veron with Turkish international Emre Belozoglu and moments later Milan took a barely deserved lead.

A corner kick was cleared to the edge of the box where Gennaro Gattuso's wayward shot was redirected into the net off Kaka's toe. The Brazilian was not in an offside position because substitute Emre stayed behind to guard the upright and took his time to push out. Kaka has now scored three goals in his four Milan derbies.

This was the spark the match needed and soon after Crespo nodded a Serginho cross over the bar. Vieri's weak effort was smothered by Dida as the San Siro crowd called for the introduction of Adriano.

Emre tried to make up for his earlier error by rolling a low cross for Martins and Costacurta performed a crucial challenge to prevent the simple tap-in.

Adriano finally came on for the final 11 minutes and Massimo Ambrosini replaced Seedorf to give Milan more height. Andy van der Meyde then came on for Cristiano Zanetti, so Inter had three forwards and three attacking midfielders.

There were four minutes of stoppages and Inter poured forward without ever really maintaining their focus enough to damage their opponents.


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Inter: Toldo; J Zanetti, Cordoba, Mihajlovic, Favalli; Veron (Emre 73), C Zanetti (van der Meyde 85), Cambiasso (Adriano 79), Stankovic; Martins, Vieri

Milan: Dida; Cafu, Nesta, Maldini, Kaladze (Serginho 37); Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf (Ambrosini 80); Kaka, Rui Costa (Costacurta 65); Crespo

Ref: De Santis

Another result that will be remembered forever, I agree with what trini posted 100%

FORZA MILAN

phew that felt great!!! ... almilan i agree with u, cristiano zanetti looked great, however my man of the match was pirlo!!! he was super, then comes nesta, im just worried about kaladze he always gets injured in derbies and thats when hes on top of his game, another player that did well was costacurta, and thank god we have dida in goal, that veron shot is not an easy shot to save. speaking of veron i cannot understand what must he do to get off that field, the poor guy was begging for a red card... what is up his A$$??? that fould on crespo was just nasty, oh and martins could be better off with a little rest, man stop moving... i feel like i wanna punch him, hes like a mosquito!!!

all in all its a great result ... juve play roma while we play atalanta without cafu

Word of the season: Perseverance.

Typical Milan this season..they never caved in and never settled for the draw. Kept pushing till the end. Not the most spectacular performance but it was a derby...we did just come off a tight game in Manchester. Nevertheless, we never missed a beat. Besides staying atop in a game Juve saw as an opportunity to gain some points....besides winning without Sheva once again...what made it ever so sweet was beating "Mancini's Inter" and handing them their first loss of the season.

what a brilliant victory. I thought the title was becoming a distant dream only 4 weeks ago but now we've surely got the upper hand, we're coming through our toughest games and getting the points and Juve look shakey in all but the easiest of games.

also it's about this time last season that we really hit form, I remember not doing to well in the first leg of the sparta game last year then trouncing them on the return and beginning to really fly high. I believe if we get to week 30 equal or near enough the way the fixture list pans out I think we'll have the upper hand.

and we'll beat Juve anyway.

forza milan!

Congratulations for all Milanisti . A very tough and hard fought victory proving our complete superiority over Inter in recent years and condemning them to their first defeat of the season . Most importantly we have once again jumped to joint top even with the horrible outside circumstances like Sheva's injury and playing just four days after another physical battle against Man Utd . Actually when it looked things are not going our way we demonstrated the champions spirit and character pulling off a late victory in one of our most important matches of the season . Firstly Sheva's injury left a huge impact on our attack and made us very short in attacking options with the recent poor form of Thomasson . Carlo deployed exactly the same line-up and format of our midweek CL clash playing with a 4-3-2-1 format with Crespo as a lone forward supported by Rui Costa and Kaka operating behind him . On the other hand Inter were at full strength playing with their traditional 4-4-2 with Mancini relegating Adriano their most prolific striker to the bench a preferring a partnership of Martins and Vieri . During the whole of the first half there were no dangerous attempts on goal or clear opportunities for either side apart from a bullet from Veron in stoppage time that was magnificently blocked by a superb Dida in his best form . They cotrolled the ball more but without any efficiency as our defence didn't allow any spaces with Maldini and Nesta marking tightly Martins and Vieri , full-backs Cafu and Kaladze protecting our flanks completely and our three man midfield fircely pressing and recovering the ball . Likewise their defence and defensive midfelders completely stopped our attacks as Rui Costa , Kaka and Crespo failed t cause any danger and the support coming from the flanks and the midfield was missing . Near the end of the half Kaladze limped off and was replaced by Serginho a player who always shines in derbies and has been in a very good form lately to play as a left-back . The second half was no different with us completely absent in the final third of the pitch and Inter getting the edge in ball possession without chances missed . After a quarter nearly Carlo made a brilliant intervention from outside pushing in veteran defender Billy at the expense of the completely out of form Rui Costa with a lot of tactical changes . Billy stepped in at left-back and who else than one of our greatest defenders ever we can trust while Serginho moved up the pitch to play in his favoured position as a left winger getting released a little from the restrictions of the full-back to provide a badly needed width on the left and the format was switched to a 4-4-1-1 . From that point onwards we pushed forward and finally got into the match and managed to score through Kaka . A corner was won after one of Serginho's runs and crossed from the left , half cleared from their defence to find Gatusso on the edge of the box firing a low on ground shot that was turned in from close range after a magic touch from the Brazilian Kaka . He promised to score and lived up to his word . That are the promises we always like . Inter throw everything forward fielding Adriano and playing with three forwards and immediately Carlo pushed in the solid defensively Ambrosini at the expense of the exhausted Seedorf . Veteran defender Billy cleared Inter's most dangerous attack in a very cruical time while Dida saved a low shot from Vieri confidently . Our players prevailed in the final minutes to defend our lead till the end . At our current circumstances victory is the only thing we are looking for and we couldn't ask for more than that . We are heading perfectly on all fronts domestically and continentally . A special thanks to our coach Carlo Ancelotti for his efforts and superb match management . Finally If I comment on player by player I would say :
1-Dida : A super match and one of his best pulling off a very difficult save that could have been a twist in the match .
2-Cafu : As usual a performance of a hero closing our right-flank and supportng the attack all the time . May be this time his crossing wasn't at its best .
3-Nesta : One of our best players prevailing defensively and without any mistakes and in overall completely stopped Vieri .
4-Maldini : Another great match from our legendary captain . Completely stopping Martins and winning most of the aerial challenges ad standing firm at the difficult times .
5-Kaladze : Wasn't much in action in the minutes he played with little forward runs but no danger was coming from his side .
6-Gatusso : He takes credit for the goal as it was his shot that was deflected to the net and showing maximum fighting spirit all the time . Indispensable .
7-Pirlo : Not at his best offensively but was fine defensively but still has much better than that .
8-Seedorf : I didn't like his performance today . Looking very exhausted and losing ball possession and ineffective on goal .
9-Rui Costa : Very poor in overall rarely supporting Crespo and not holding ball possession much and his substitution was imminent .
10-Kaka : A moderate match but his level has improved a lot near the end of the match contributing defensively and trying to counter attack almost on his own . Scored our winner and that is enough .
11-Crespo : Invisible all the time lacking support and too slow to shake off their defence at his own .
12-Serginho : A very good match from the lively Brazilian winger . Once again throwng him on the left wing proves instrumental in our victory . Solid defensively when he was deployed at left-back and putting in some fine efforts .
13-Billy : No words will give him credit . Always trusted to play anywhere in defence central ,right or left . Even if he is 39 years old he remains one of our most reliable players . Was deployed at left-back and did a marvelous job stopping Stankovic who was switched to the right at the last quarter and clearing their most dangerous opportunity . Full credit to him .
14-Ambrosini : Did well in the few minutes he played . Solid defensively .
Finally congratulations again and forza Milan forever .

Great win, somehow we stopped Martins

Im really happy with the way Pirlo is playing, he is starting to reproduce the form that forced Carlo to invent the deep playmaker position for him Some of his turns and little dribbles were down right cheeky