Winter Mercato

Originally Posted by Sleep

Yeah, it was a hope I had in the summer, when Lippi (not really attacking, but class) was available. And Scolari was also a good choice.

Now, I want Rijkaard. Not really because I like him but I have lost my confidence for Ancelotti. A new coach now is really a big risk, but keeping Ancelotti maybe a bigger risk, considering our form (from the year we last won champion league).

i think aside from scolari... no other coach could get more out of our current squad. Ronaldinho, seedorf think the r above the game. I dont know if they r geniunely out of shape to not run, but there game makes me think they r lazy. Carlo is regarded as 1 of TOP coaches in world. I mean seriousl 3 champions league finals n 5 years. 2 wins. There was a reason chelsea, and barca wanted him. We see the grass as greener on the otherside but there is something to be said.
Now im not saying carlo is blameless by anymeans. But i have a hardtime imagining any coach other than possibly scolari getting our players back to the top. Face it... sheva will at best be a backup striker, dinho and seedorf r lazy and shells of what they could be. Kaka needs to run but has no speed around him, thus rendering him useless. Pato is developing an attitude problem (apparently), Pirlo is overworked and limited by fact he doesnt have a squad that works for him, and lets him make plays for them. and aside from nesta (and zambro), our defense is ****.

All the kool-aid drinkers who praised our mercato, where are you now?! Its always hard to give up on your idols, but thats what milan needs to do. Ronaldinho was my footballing god, but if im really going to be rational, i knew milan should have never signed him. Sheva, man.....the first milan jersey i purchased with my own money when i was 16 years old (I saved from reffereeing youth league games weekends lol). Paolo.... doesnt even need to be said. It hurts, you never want to see the players you loved so much falling this bad. But its reality. If not i'd still want to be watchin maradonna, romario and baggio.

Back to carlo, if you look at it objectively, wht else can he do? WHAT is rijkaard going to do better? Donadoni? These r our only options until offseason. A more attacking coach? Attacking isnt our problem....well it is but its the players, not carlo attempting to attack. Its the fact when we attack our defensive is so slow and errorprone we get murdered on ever counter.

Why are we so hard on R80 all of a sudden?

He did extremely well on the first game, then came back tired from international duty (having play 3 games in 7 days) and produced a terrible performance.

And all of a sudden he has past his best again!? Does it ever make sense to pass such a judgment so quickly!?

***
not sure about Sheva, not hopeful... *sigh*...

I am one of doubters of R80 coming to Milan but seeing how happy he is when he came to Milan, when he trained and how he played vs Bologna, I still have faith in him that he will contribute pretty significantly to Milan in this season.

I didn't watch first half of Genoa's game but from Bologna's game it's clear that he is not finished and he has big desire to start a new life in his football career with Milan.

one of the keys to use and judge if your team is any good is the amount of players in your squad that are in high demand by other top clubs... other than Kaka, who else is wanted?... isnt it a shame?
i also watched the transfer market and decided to make a comparison of big name signings and small name signings...
**Ibagaza to Villareal from Malorca was a very good aquisition... that dude can pass the ball very well and he is just as good as Pirlo or Juninho of Lyon... and the next thing is that he is not under pressure to deliver the goods as a big name player....

** Butt (GK) from benfica to Bayern... excellent GK... formerly of Leverkusen... he could have solved our GK problems... I think we have the worst keepers for a "BIG CLUB"

** Zaccardo and Barzagli from palermo to Wolfsburg... my my... world cup winners... italians... i guess these players didnt want to play for Milan... but they are good aquisitions for wolfsburg... wat a deal.

**Meira from stutgart to galatasaray... excelent defender but i guess he is "Not Milan Quality" but Senderos is????

**Squillaci from Lyon to Sevilla... in the same mold as Mexes of Roma... we didnt even sniff that way.

**Farfan from PSV to Shalke... that kid got loads of Pace...and can finish and assist... of we were going to sign Suazo last year then we could try signing Farfan... he got the job done alot for PSV... ask Maldini...

** Aimar...(argentine...BUT) not that he is needed by milan our milan quality but he is a good aquisition for Benfica and he can get the job done on any stage just as most big name players... i give this Transfer a 4 star.

** Coloccini... we didnt know that with time and pressure the piece of carbon we once had would become a diamond... but Milan are not dogs... we dont eat our vomit... oops sorry we took back Sheva and wanted Panuuci at one stage...

all in all i think these transfers were to satisfy the needs of these clubs... did ours satisfy our needs? GK? Strikers? Defence? too early to judge...
when we finished 5th Gali and Co said that we were going to clean house and rebuild...
we kept the same carpenter and got rid of some old wood but we replaced them with some second hands we got from the transfer scrap yard... (Flamini is good)

i once heard that Goals win matches and good defence wins championships...

Originally Posted by Milano84

All the kool-aid drinkers who praised our mercato, where are you now?!

Out of this forum, anyway not participating, just because it's always the same messages that are put here actually ... tired of all these discussions that are like "Ancelotti-lovers vs Ancelotti-haters", "Ronaldinho-lovers vs Ronaldinho-haters", etc ...

Personnally, I said that:
- Zambrotta and Abbiati are very good short-term recruies
- Ronaldinho will certainly come back to a good level, maybe not the one he had in 2005 I think, but something more interesting than he had in Barcelona for the last two years.
- I have doubts about Borriello, I even criticized the fact that we took him to replace Gilardino (as I am one of the only ones to defend him lol) ... but after his 45 minutes against Genoa, I have to say I could be surprised and have to make a mea-culpa ...
- I'm against Sheva being a starter, like 95% of people on this forum ...
- I think Flamini is our best recruie.
- I was ok for Antonini but it seems like he won't play a lot as Favalli started against Genoa, why not Antonini (maybe injured ??) ??
- Nothing to say about Cardaccio and Viudez.
- Wait and see for Senderos.

It's not 2 games, even if they are lost, that will make me change my mind ... I think our recruitment was clearly good. Anyway on paper, we'll see at the end of the season if it was really a good one on the pitch.

Anyway, like I said, we lost 2 games, and of course, the messages that we can read here are the following ones:
- Ancelotti has to be fired
- Ronaldinho and Seedorf are really poor players
- Recruitment is bad
- Management has to be changed
- We have no attack, no defense, and sometimes no midfield
- No good tactics

Those 6 lines are a summary of most of the messages here !!

PS: I remember some people who said at the end of the season, I did too, that Bonera could become one of our starters for defense, but after one game, some of these people who said that already say that he is bad, has to be put on the bench, etc, that has no sense.

Originally Posted by Milano84

All the kool-aid drinkers who praised our mercato, where are you now?!

I watched the game yesterday (and recommend everyone to watch before posting), and everything is not as bad as I thought. I will still say that we had a great mercato, ALL the bought players played above the team's average yesterday, although it still wasn't enough. The problem is partially in Ancelottis tactics and partially in the player's attitude. The 1st half was particularly horrible speaking of the latter. However, if you lose all patience after 2 games of the season you are either a world class football specialist, or you didn't watch the games. (the latter looks more probable).

Regarding the game, our primary problem was defense, it was clear from the first minute, and has nothing to do with individual performances. Yes, I think that Favalli was semi-decent. Anyway, the players lacked attitude, they didn't run, they walked. When attacking, the players didn't run into empty spaces, seemed like they waited for Genoa to score an own goal or something. Terrible movement in attack. The defense was exposed throughout the entire first 45 minutes, because DM were not covering and AM didn't even bother to come back to help out.
Now in regardz with the players:

Abbiati - world class performances, good we got him back
Favalli - a little shaky, but overall solid, terrible tackle that resulted in yellow card
Maldini - very good performance, was the best defender on the pitch before the penalty
Bonera - solid
Zambrotta - solid, good in attack, made some flaws in defence

Ambrosini - DIDNT COVER THE DEFENSE - WATCH THE DAMN GAME
Flamini - DIDNT COVER THE DEFENSE - WATCH THE DAMN GAME

Ronaldinho - good performance, WASNT INVOLVED IN ATTACK MUCH BECAUSE ANCELOTTI PLAYED HIM LOW IN THE FIELD - WATCH THE DAMN GAME
KAKA - seemed unmotivated, kept falling down, didn't try to be creative, lost the ball way to often, one of the worst performers on the field
Pirlo - great player, couldn't show anything BECAUSE HIS TEAMMATES DIDN"T RUN INTO SPACES - WATCH THE DAMN GAME

Sheva - good game, had touches of briliance, in general had little to show because the team was disintegrated and the midfiled didn't know what the fffk was going on

Pato - very good, nice technique - couldn't capitalize on it because the rest of the team WAS DISINTEGRATED
Borrielo - not bad, again suffered because of the midfielders

So, as you can see, the problem lies somewhat in defence, mostly in midfield.
Watch the damn game, then run into conclusions, if you saw something different then I urge you to point my flaws out. Watching football IS NOT watching how the ball hits the net IT IS watching WHY the ball hits the net.

If Paolo has been our best defender before the penalty, forward, I would ask you about Sculli first goal? Have you seen the way Paolino has forgot the Genoa boy? Clearly if you watch the goal action, you easily can see Paolo remember a little bit too late that he should have block on Sculli.
I disagree with u with much regret, because simply Maldini should not play now .

playing with R80 Kaka and Sheva up front, 3 players that never came back to defend, may you tell me please what is the meaning of your DIDN'T COVER the DEFENCE....

because, in despair, the "solution" may be a tactical disposition like 4 2 4, seen that the 3 men defence is prohibited at Milanello: the 2 backs will not attack, Gattuso will stay just ahed this blocked line, Flamini (or Ambro) will try to connect with the 4 attackers R80 Kakà Seedorf Pato or $heva (but only if he has learned english language well ).

I know you are in love with $heva, but if you maintain that he played well... ok, friends as before .

Originally Posted by slifersd

I think Ancelotti will be fired sooner or later this season. Maybe not after Sunday's game but when things gets rough (and I believe things will be very rough for this team this season again), the management will have no choice but to sacrifice him. Now whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen because we don't know who the replacement will be. To me, firing Ancelotti may not be as bad a move as many here think it is for several reasons.

First, Ancelotti plays favorites with players. Guys like Seedorf never gets replaced no matter how bad they play. Seedorf seems to have a lot of power behind the scenes for no reason. This is not good for team chemistry because there are guys sitting on the bench who can contribute better but can't get the opportunity to do so.

Secondly, Ancelotti is lousy at developing young players. He has been here for 8 years now, and which young player did he develop over the years? Kaka is the only one jumps to my mind but Ancelotti didn't really develop him because Kaka was ready to play when he came over. With this team currently in the rebuilding mode, the ability to develop young players is one of the biggest key to our coach.

Third of all, Ancelotti has simply been here too long. Look, he is a great coach who has brought us many trophies, but at some point, enough is enough. The playres have simply tuned him out. Some of you guys have been talking about how our players aren't as motivated as they should in games, but isn't it the coach's job to motivate his players? Ancelotti no longer has any tricks up his sleeves to motivate his players and a fresh coach is needed if that is the case.

Lastly, firing Ancelotti will put all the pressure on the management to finally start doing their job right. You guys probably don't need to be reminded of how badly we performed on the market the last few seasons. Even this past summer, with our management supposedly went on a "spending spree", we actually only spent 5 million euros on the market. That is less than our transfer budget for the last few years and even less than some serie B team's budget. With this kind of investment, is it really wonder that our team can't challenge Inter for the Scudetto? Not to me. Sure, we brought in some nice players, but we still didn't deliver on the three positions we needed most, a finisher up front, a world class central defender and a goalkeeper. After all those years of underperforming, this team no longer had the luxury to wait for more investments. They need to make the right signings and they need to make them right now! But with Ancelotti in charge, the management can do whatever they want with the team because Carlo will never say anything. Without him, the new coach will most likely have more backbone and stand up to the management instead of getting pushed around all the time. And that, is better for the future of this team.

Of course, firing Ancelotti has its risk factors, especially if the replacement is Donadoni, who flat out stunk as a coach for the national team. But I just want to say that Ancelotti leaving could be a blessing in disguise and a move we desperately needed to get this team back in shape.

i would give you rep points but I dont know how. If someone knows how please give this man rep points Im my name, thanx.

You are right, if Berlusconi bought 3 players Carlo asked ( Adebayor, Boruc and Mexes/Zapata ), we would have looked different.

But we got dinho, Senderos and Abbiatti ( who looks ok so far, even really good I would say).

As much as we miss some tipes of palyers in this squad, to play like THIs is not possible! This is football for serie B!

Milan needs a new coach right now to shake things up, and new and young/fast players, mostly one central midfielder as we have NONE! We are a team withoiut normal CM player.

Originally Posted by forward

Abbiati - world class performances, good we got him back
Favalli - a little shaky, but overall solid, terrible tackle that resulted in yellow card
Maldini - very good performance, was the best defender on the pitch before the penaltyBonera - solid
Zambrotta - solid, good in attack, made some flaws in defence

Ambrosini - DIDNT COVER THE DEFENSE - WATCH THE DAMN GAME
Flamini - DIDNT COVER THE DEFENSE - WATCH THE DAMN GAME

Ronaldinho - good performance, WASNT INVOLVED IN ATTACK MUCH BECAUSE ANCELOTTI PLAYED HIM LOW IN THE FIELD - WATCH THE DAMN GAME
KAKA - seemed unmotivated, kept falling down, didn't try to be creative, lost the ball way to often, one of the worst performers on the field
Pirlo - great player, couldn't show anything BECAUSE HIS TEAMMATES DIDN"T RUN INTO SPACES - WATCH THE DAMN GAMESheva - good game, had touches of briliance, in general had little to show because the team was disintegrated and the midfiled didn't know what the fffk was going on

Pato - very good, nice technique - couldn't capitalize on it because the rest of the team WAS DISINTEGRATED
Borrielo - not bad, again suffered because of the midfielders

So, as you can see, the problem lies somewhat in defence, mostly in midfield.
Watch the damn game, then run into conclusions, if you saw something different then I urge you to point my flaws out. Watching football IS NOT watching how the ball hits the net IT IS watching WHY the ball hits the net.

Favalli - got yellow card becouse is slow and in 50% of tackles a bit late. Played very poor on his flank defensively and hadnt crossed a single ball in. Has nothing to do in AC Milan.

Maldini - both goals are his fault. Too slow and should not make a fool out of his self as our legend like that. Some brilliant tackles made on experience do not make up for the fact that Maldini cant play serious football any more.

Pirlo - he is not God and is not made only for passing. Pirlo is completely out of shape.

Kka' - being injured and also completely out of shape, he is motivated, but legs are not here yet.

Originally Posted by ginoformaggino

If Paolo has been our best defender before the penalty, forward, I would ask you about Sculli first goal? Have you seen the way Paolino has forgot the Genoa boy?

That play involved 2 players, one gave a pass another made a run and scored. Another defender (zambrotta me thinks) had to do a better job at not letting him receive the ball AND make that pass.
Maldini is past his prime, he can still be a solid sub, nothing more, nothing less.

Originally Posted by ginoformaggino

playing with R80 Kaka and Sheva up front, 3 players that never came back to defend, may you tell me please what is the meaning of your DIDN'T COVER the DEFENCE....

I mean that they WEREN"T F*KING THERE IN FRONT OF THE DEFENSE LINE!! Most of the Genoa's dangerous attacks went at our 4 defenders directly, I don't know where our DM were. maybe somewhere higher up the field

In regardz to everything else, as soon as we get our defense together, we can start playing again with the many creative attackers we have.
Sheva will be useful for us.

Originally Posted by mrki

Favalli - got yellow card becouse is slow and in 50% of tackles a bit late. Played very poor on his flank defensively and hadnt crossed a single ball in. Has nothing to do in AC Milan.

Favalli CAN play against a team like Genoa, although in other AC Milan matches we shouldn't field him. He was poor but NOT any worse than the rest of the team.

Originally Posted by mrki

Maldini - both goals are his fault. Too slow and should not make a fool out of his self as our legend like that. Some brilliant tackles made on experience do not make up for the fact that Maldini cant play serious football any more.

First goal is partially his fault. Second goal, he was unlucky and had no choice.

Originally Posted by mrki

Pirlo - he is not God and is not made only for passing. Pirlo is completely out of shape.

His direct responsibility in Milan is distributing the ball, and it's only possible when teammates are moving.

Originally Posted by mrki

Kka' - being injured and also completely out of shape, he is motivated, but legs are not here yet.

if you saw his face during the game, there was no motivation in there, seemed like he waited for the whole thing to end

The main problem of our team is the way the players play. Our players try things that are very difficult to do ... look at the way Bologna or Genoa played ... simply, easily: running, passing and a shot.

For moment, our team plays like that: walking, passing, dribbling, passing, passing, passing, dribbling, and losing ball (instead of a shot).

And actually, the problem is not the players, it's their physical condition, when the start of our actions will be done by running, then all will be easier ...

i'd like us to buy zhirkov & rafinha in January, but obviously we can't because of non-eu places

Originally Posted by forward

I watched the game yesterday (and recommend everyone to watch before posting), and everything is not as bad as I thought. I will still say that we had a great mercato, .

Stopped reading there .....please click here you'll be all set for the winter mercato

Originally Posted by drucurl on the 3rd of September 2008

I'd give the Mercato a 7.5 too but it could have soooo easily been an "8" or 9

I thought that 7.5 was a rating for a good (or almost great) mercato ??
So funny to see how you kid on forward now that we lost 2 games ...