Summer Mercato

Originally Posted by Mystik

Think about it...we play 4 midfielders. Kaka and Pirlo are already two of those 4 and CANNOT defend. Add Ronaldinho and that's THREE than can't defend. Nor will Kaka and Ronaldinho do much tracking back or anything. It wouldn't be a good balance.

Well the only thing we could possibly do is put Ronaldinho as a sub for Kaka or Seedorf. That's how I would see it working with Ronaldinho. But that still doesn't detract from the fact we need a real CF.

Hmmm. Im starting to wonder whether Galliani might be telling the truth. If we get both R10 and Ade, then what happens with Pato, Pippo, and Boriello? Our formation requires 2 AM's and 1 Striker---if R10 signs, then our AM's will invariably be Kaka and R10, with Seedorf maybe slipping to a midfield role or warming the bench. If Ade signs, then he is our lone striker, but then what about the rest of our so-called "champions"? Wouldnt like to see them rot on the bench.

Maybe, just maybe, it might be better to get R10 and play Pato as our lone striker and alternate him with Boriello while reserving Pippo for the "big" moments. Oh well, you gotta love the silly season.

Originally Posted by rt9

Hmmm. Im starting to wonder whether Galliani might be telling the truth. If we get both R10 and Ade, then what happens with Pato, Pippo, and Boriello? Our formation requires 2 AM's and 1 Striker---if R10 signs, then our AM's will invariably be Kaka and R10, with Seedorf maybe slipping to a midfield role or warming the bench. If Ade signs, then he is our lone striker, but then what about the rest of our so-called "champions"? Wouldnt like to see them rot on the bench.

Maybe, just maybe, it might be better to get R10 and play Pato as our lone striker and alternate him with Boriello while reserving Pippo for the "big" moments. Oh well, you gotta love the silly season.

That's not necessarily true. We could play a 4-4-2 formation. Or even the risky 4-3-3 formation... also it's good to have at least 4 strikers (Pato, Borriello, Adebayor and Inzaghi)... so we don't put so much pressure on them all. No one is asking anyone to rot on the bench. If anything, if we don't have enough strikers, if one gets injured, we could have a crisis.

Not only that we'll have enough energy for the three tournaments we should go for (of course the domestic title, coppa italia and UEFA Cup). I mean most other teams have at least four strikers, why shouldn't we?

If we had more forwards we wouldn't have to play 4-5-1. 4-5-1 is risky anyways as the lone striker has to be in good condition... and not only that it puts all the pressure on that one striker to perform. Best to have four strikers, not just three. So if we want to make a substitute and a game isn't working out for us, we could send out another striker, not just Emerson or sometihng.

No more lone striker formations for me. Lets take a risk.

I'm about to go sleep so I won't write a lengthy post but even with a 2 striker system which I believe we'll be playing next season, if we buy Ronaldinho + CF, it's IMPOSSIBLE to keep all our midfielders and strikers happy, unless we do a steroid-enhanced-Benitez-rotation system. Don't forget all our central midfielders plus Ronaldinho and Kaka who won't appreciate being put on the bench too often.

So in your 4-4-2, who are the midfielders and who are the strikers? Same question for the 4-3-3.

Originally Posted by rt9

So in your 4-4-2, who are the midfielders and who are the strikers? Same question for the 4-3-3.

I'm for Adebayor and Pato playing often... and Inzaghi could focus on the UEFA Cup...

I really don't think 4-5-1 is a good idea. I'll have to think about the midfielder question a bit. I have said that our midfield is getting a bit crowded, and we should focus only on a forward right now. Why I only view Ronaldinho as a substitute for Seedorf and nothing more. This also means players like Emerson and Brocchi should be sold because they'll get little playing time.

Seriously, my question is why do we have to keep on playing with only one striker? And why can't we have four strikers? What happens if we get into another injury crisis?

I'd rather go with more players, than just merely adequate... it adds to depth.

I believe Ronaldinho would be a better fit in our team than Ade. I say that because I consider Dinho an inbetweener AM and FW. Dinho would give us much more flexibility in our lineups. We could play with Kaka and Dinho as AMs, with a lone striker of Pato/Borriello/Inzaghi. If Kaka needs a rest, Dinho could play the AM with Pato alongside Borriello/Inzaghi as a second FW. Assuming we have to choose between either Dinho or Ade, then Dinho really gives us something that we sorely lacked last year - depth. We'd have a superstar for every position up front in Carlo's preferred formation of 4-3-2-1 while still having great flexibility to play 4-3-1-2 to help rest players or cover in case of injury.

I wish we could get both Ade and Dinho, but let's be realistic - that's a lot of money devoted to just our striking and I really see us needing to fill in holes at other positions - most importantly GK. Let's sign Dinho (which has to be cheaper than Ade at this point) and spend some money on Boruc (give them money and Simic), sign a left back to cover the always injured Janku, pick up another CB to fill in as a replacement for Simic (Ferrari would be good enough) and get Cigarini for the future.

If we play 2 strikers and 4 defenders then there are 4 midfielders. For this position we have the following(according to your scheme):

Pirlo, Ambro, Gattuso, Flamini, Emerson, Brocchi, Abate(maybe),Seedorf, Kaka, R10

Please tell me how you plan on making that work ? Especially given the fact that Carlo ALWAYS plays Pirlo and Kaka ?

Seedorf is who I see dropping to the bench for R10....

We can play any two (except Boriello + Pippo) strikers, with Kaka and R10 as the 2 AMs, Pirlo as usual, and one of Rino, Flamini or Max.

Pirlo will have more defensive duties yes, but if we play with a more conservative WB, like Bonera, who will not join the attack much, and we play an attack minded LB, who does overlap, I think we can maintain the balance we need to secure wins.

Originally Posted by Mystik

If we play 2 strikers and 4 defenders then there are 4 midfielders. For this position we have the following(according to your scheme):

Pirlo, Ambro, Gattuso, Flamini, Emerson, Brocchi, Abate(maybe),Seedorf, Kaka, R10

Please tell me how you plan on making that work ? Especially given the fact that Carlo ALWAYS plays Pirlo and Kaka ?

I'm for selling Emerson and Brocchi. I feel they contribute very little to the team. I think that Seedorf can be substituted by Ronaldinho...

Pirlo, Ambro, Flamini/Gattuso, Kaka... or for a more attack minded line up... Pirlo, Ronaldinho/Seedorf, Flamini, Kaka..

I just don't see why Milan should play with 4-5-1, especially considering this formation did not work for us this previous season.

BTW, as far as Antonini is concerned... he can play as a left back and has shown to be effective with that.

This was what I was expecting you to say all along. Your first formation:

Pirlo on the left flank would be a disaster, he has neither the pace nor the power to play as a winger. The central midfield offers absolutely no creativity (maybe a little with Flamini). And what happens with R10 and Seedorf. Both on the bench?

Your second formation:

Absolutely disastrous. We will lose all games 10-0 with that sort of midfield. All attacking players except for Flamini.

The only solution I see is: a) We get R10 only and play as RUsso-neri very nicely explained, or b) We get Ade only and play with Kaka and Pato as our AM's with Seedorf either slotting in MF or on the bench and Boriello/Pippo as subs for Ade.

Originally Posted by rt9

This was what I was expecting you to say all along. Your first formation:

Pirlo on the left flank would be a disaster, he has neither the pace nor the power to play as a winger. The central midfield offers absolutely no creativity (maybe a little with Flamini). And what happens with R10 and Seedorf. Both on the bench?

Your second formation:

Absolutely disastrous. We will lose all games 10-0 with that sort of midfield. All attacking players except for Flamini.

The only solution I see is: a) We get R10 only and play as RUsso-neri very nicely explained, or b) We get Ade only and play with Kaka and Pato as our AM's with Seedorf either slotting in MF or on the bench and Boriello/Pippo as subs for Ade.

Wow. I did not put those players in any particular order. 10-0? You're criticisms are unjustified, harsh and carry no basis around here. Why the hell should we play 4-5-1 when it was this very formation that failed us badly throughout this season?

What were you expecting me to say all along?

Seriously. Read up some. You can't even get the fact that Pato isn't an attacking midfielder. Playing with one striker simply won't cut it anymore.

With your formation, I won't be surprised if we end up in 7th place or something.

Regarding our MFs, here's how I see our team working. We will play with at least one AM which would leave 3 spots for MFs. We have 4 players that I consider world class for those three spots - Pirlo, Gattuso, Ambro and Flamini. I agree with getting rid of Brocchi or Emerson and making way for a more pure two way MF to rest Pirlo every once in awhile (Cigarini!!!).

We would play with either 1 or 2 AM and we have three players for these positions - Kaka, Dinho and Seedorf. I think we're seeing a phasing out of Seedorf in our starting XI if we sign Dinho.

Then we'd have 4 strikers to choose from to fill our 1 or 2 FW spots - Borriello, Pato, Inzaghi and Paloschi (who can't leave if Dinho comes).

In hindsight, I actually think our biggest mistake this offseason was resigning Borriello. We should have sold him when his stock was so high after the seasion he had at Genoa and used that money to get a player like Ade. Imagine a team with Dinho and Kaka as well as Pato, Ade and Inzaghi!!!

Oh, and did I mention we need to sign Boruc RIGHT AWAY?!?!?

Dude, have you really been following MIlan over the last 5 years? We have been playing 2 basic formations: 4-3-1-2 with Rui Costa or Kaka as the AM and Sheva/Pippo as our strikers. More recently and particularly since the sale of Sheva, Carlo has swapped to the 4-3-2-1 formation with Seedorf and Kaka as the AM's and a lone striker, most effective being Pippo. If Pato plays our formation becomes the above one with Pato stepping in where Sheva left. What's so hard to understand?

If we play a 4-4-2, then we need some solid midfielders in the center plus wingers on the left and right. If Carlo insists on using Pirlo, I can't see how the 4-4-2 would work, as defensively Pirlo is always a liability and without Gattuso/Ambro cleaning up for him, we'd be shipping goals. Personally, I'd love a 4-4-2 with DInho on the left and Kaka on the right and Flamini/Gattuso at the center. But then what do we do with Pirlo? He's too good and too influential to be dropped.

stop worrying about formations..... do you think a team w/ borriello upront can win league? pippo is 35. great and all.but do you really think he can play enough. i agree w/ giancarlo. he's more or less our uefa cup striker + random games. pato is 19. if he can lead the line to win league he is a god.

why do we need 2 dm's? no other top club really plays w/ 2 as consistant as us. it's been proven you cant win league playing so defensive. you cant take 3 points consistantly playing defensive. name the last time who played as defensive as milan who won league?

we need to not worry about the formation and carlos tactics as we do bringing in as many class players to win. he'll make it work. but i am a big fan of abandoning our 4-3-2-1 tactic for most matches..... save it for europe and big matches.... 2 leg ties. not away to siena or home to cagliari...