Fiorentina vc Ac milan (Game comment)

mrki....listen bro, I understand your angst...I empathise with you 100%, but yet, I think that he doesnt deserve a sacking just now.

We are not Madrid, who sacks more coaches than the law should allow. We are Milan, and after a run of 8 wins, the time was ripe for a fall, especially when we have a do or die match in Istanbul in a few days time.

Carlo made some mistakes in Florence, but the team as a whole underperformed. How much of an influence did Billy "Verbal Diahorrea" Costacurta have on the mental state of the locker room? Did the international break just come at a bad time for us?

There are many reasons, including the ones in my first post, that could be to blame for this defeat, but, unless we bribe refs a la Juve, there will be a few more before the season is out...and I say, lets keep Carlo, until he proves he no longer can take us where we need to go...Silverware City!

Carlo is a young coach still in progression... this meaning that he'll become great and amass success if he keeps consistently improving... we can see how he's sometimes extraordinarily great and sometimes not so... to reach Capello's greatness Carlo just have to learn consistency... but he can, he's make Milan play at 115%... at full capacity plus the reserve... with spectacular beauty a class above Juve inclusive... so HE CAN!!!... there's just only one little detail and that is... consistency!!!...

I feel like some of you guys are being a little too harsh on Carlo. I mean come on, Nesta literally f***ed up at the 2nd Fiorentina goal, Maldini likewise at either the 1st or the 2nd. Plus Sheva took the day off and Gila's 2nd goal was ruled out by the ref. And this list goes on and on. I don't think it was all Carletto's fault. He might not be the best coach in the whole wide world but sacking our coach would end up in disastrous consequences for the team.

yes, i agree, it would be pretty bad to sack Carlo now, but i want him to leave at the end of the season, he is a young coach but he cant work on his skills by ruining milan's matches. he simply made too many just horrible tactics that every person that knows football can see. Motivation is also a big problem. Yes, refs did damage us, but that is the job of our managment, and aldough we could even win in Florence, we didnt play good. One thing worries me....Pirlo. He was awesome 1,5 year ago..... dribling, passing, fighting, marking, but to be fair - he is not any more. He needs to work harded, or something else, but we have pretty big problem at that position. On second Fio goal their player took a shot from 22-25 m, all alone! unmarked! and that happens all the time. Pirlo doesnt do his job properly, i love this guy playing for milan, but he sucks lately. He did play few great games, but few. Some are saying the internationals made us loose that game....seedorf,rui,sheva,pippo,serginho,maldini,stam were all at Milanello. Im really dissapointed. Im not saying we should sack Carlo now, no. Im just pointing out we do have some actually serious problems with our games and the refs, lets hope Berlusconi can do it all by himself, like things always are at Milanello.

Dont know the source, I got it via email from a friend, but it pretty much sums our position up:

The simple fact of Milan's defeat, or better yet Fiorentina's win, again does not portray correctly the afternoon's proceedings. After Alberto Gilardino equalised Fiorentina's opening goal by Luca Toni, Milan had the home side pinned in their own half until the interval, and it looked as though the combination of their superior ball playing skills and Fiorentina's notoriously suspect defence would tilt the balance in favour of the visitors, who were after all gunning for their ninth Serie A win in a row.

As in the game in Roma the previous evening, a goal close to half-time settled matters. Barely 35 seconds of the second-half had gone when Pasqual's less than perfect, knee high cross was sliced by Milan defender Alessandro Nesta to Martin Jorgensen on the far post, and the Dane placed it inside Dida's right hand post for Fiorentina's lead.

The rest of the game again saw the home side, who had decided to use top scorer Toni as a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1, on the back foot with a limited amount of possession, but Milan could not break their resistance. In a last effort Filippo Inzaghi replaced Kaka, and Gilardino's disallowed goal 5 minutes from time may have been a controversial point of argument since, but his push on defender Di Loreto before heading home falls into the category of actions that may or may not be called for a foul and would generate controversy either way.

The result, which meant Fiorentina joined Milan in second place only a few months after avoiding relegation on the last day of last season, seems to have opened old wounds for Carlo Ancelotti's side. Despite improved offensive power, which has scored 27 goals in 12 matches, Milan keep having trouble defending set pieces, as proved by Toni's opening goal, for which he ghosted in on the weak side of Milan's backline. Serginho failed in his assignment to cover that area in the zone marking system employed by the Rossoneri, plus Nesta made a mistake for the second goal - although he may have been blinded by the strong setting sun.

Granted, a study of the endless string of goals Milan have conceded from free kicks and corner kicks showed midfielders and forwards were at fault more than defenders in covering spaces and opponents, but Milan's destiny is now tied more to their ability to overcome those frequent lapses than to their skills at playing opponents off the park, as they're perfectly capable of doing and, to some extent, did last Sunday.

Whether you count Fiorentina among the serious title contenders or not (their absence from the European scene means they can rest their thin squad during the week), Milan are still the number one chasers behind Juventus, but their chances of a relaxed few days before the Serie A resumes next weekend are nil.

In fact, the focus is now on Wednesday's crucial Champions League tie at Fenerbahce, where the Rossoneri will face a kaleidoscope of trouble. Swiss midfielder Johann Vogel has apparently been reminded by some of the perils of playing in Istanbul just one week after the World Cup playoffs fracas, Jaap Stam (suspended) and Cafu (injured) are missing and Maldini's weak knees will thus have to undergo another 90 minutes.

A result in Istanbul and a win against Schalke 04 a fortnight later would help avoid a disastrous first-round exit, but the clubs' need to stay alive in the Champions League and avoid losing more ground to Juve in the race for the Scudetto mean Milan are already going through a couple of weeks that may define their season.

Can we go to man marking then, as opposed to zonal marking? The zone thing seems to not be working.

PPL where do you think we lose our games?!... in formations?!... in the lack of in-form players?!...due to too old guys?!... by the power of pacey teams?!...on set pieces?!... at zone marking?!... on the Transfer policy?!... In the lack of proper training?!... lack of motivation?!... WHERE?!?!... can somebody tell me where?!?!... well... we lose the games IN OUR HEADS first and foremost... than in the actual physical and technical fight itself... we start thinking that we are gonna lose at some point and then we get all bottled up!!!... the pressure is extremely high and our psychology is tricky... and is a disease that can only be cured... WINNING!!!... there's no shrink in the world that could ever help us... we are the special case!!!

we lose our games mostly on stupid defensive mistakes....also we tend to mess up on set pieces. either our defence dont communicate or nobody does their assignment!! toni's first goal was just awful....he was wide open....you think that someone with his presence and his ability to score would be heavily marked, by nesta or something. nobody saw him, and im finding hard to believe that they forgot about him!
we need to start playing better in set pieces and prevent those costly mistakes in defence!!

forza milan!!