Milan would be 1st without refereeing errors

Originally Posted by Christian

I don't think you can compare our situation to Manchester United having Cristiano Ronaldo or whoever gone for a month doesn't really compare with having Nesta gone the whole season, Gattuso gone 2/3 of the season, Borriello gone the whole season, and then minor injuries that have seen Kaka miss probably around a third of the games and then Ronaldinho, Bonera etc, etc, etc. Our situation is extreme, and i dare to say that you can't expect us to be running on full steam when missing 4 or 5 starters, and our abosolutly best players which we basicly have been since this crises started. I don't think any teams would be able to deal with that kind of injuries, look at Real Madrid earlier in the season when they had an injury crises, they got knocked out of the cup by an amatuer team.

I don't think things are as bad as some people want to make them, don't forget that we're still one of the most scoring teams in serie A. Our squad is still good, and I don't think we're more than a couple of signings away to being back among the best of Europe. This ofcoarse requires us to be more lucky with injuries, since the team also need some gelling. Our problem is still the defence, and with Thiago Silva coming in the summer, we would be perfectly set with one more defender, perhaps a LB and depending on Borriello a center forward.

I take your point, but even if we are missing 3-4 starters, we still have the quality to beat teams like Torino, Cagliari, Reggina. Why are we still losing to the so-called minnows? And out of all the players you mention Gattuso and Kaka are probably the most relevant. But please, we should not be feeling the loss of Boriello or Bonera who himself is a back up so much.

If this squad is so flimsy thin that a couple of injuries will cause our season to collapse, then something is wrong. There is no defending management in this case. Every team goes through injuries---a good management will make sure we have enough cover, even in the worst possible scenario, and a good coach will make sure that he has the tactical know-how to reshuffle his players and make the most out of the players available.

Originally Posted by rt9

I take your point, but even if we are missing 3-4 starters, we still have the quality to beat teams like Torino, Cagliari, Reggina. Why are we still losing to the so-called minnows? And out of all the players you mention Gattuso and Kaka are probably the most relevant. But please, we should not be feeling the loss of Boriello or Bonera who himself is a back up so much.

If this squad is so flimsy thin that a couple of injuries will cause our season to collapse, then something is wrong. There is no defending management in this case. Every team goes through injuries---a good management will make sure we have enough cover, even in the worst possible scenario, and a good coach will make sure that he has the tactical know-how to reshuffle his players and make the most out of the players available.

you are right about the situation, but blame it to the management then to the coach who is short on tactics. if you cant defend then attack, don't try defending when you don't have the proper cover for that.

rt9 its not just some players injured, its the backbone of your team
Nesta, Gattuso, kaka and borriello. those players are irreplaceable. i mean with 4321 you need a power forward borriello. you need kaka to break fast, gattuso to break their attack and offcourse nesta. when borriello is injured ancelotti needs to find an alternative formation, because of all milan player only borriello is physically capable. pato is a second striker you cant just throw him there and expect him to work wonders though he is the only guy who is saving our asses. and the flanks are not working as they are supposed to do.

Originally Posted by rt9

I take your point, but even if we are missing 3-4 starters, we still have the quality to beat teams like Torino, Cagliari, Reggina. Why are we still losing to the so-called minnows? And out of all the players you mention Gattuso and Kaka are probably the most relevant. But please, we should not be feeling the loss of Boriello or Bonera who himself is a back up so much.

I'm sorry to say that, but these teams, with their first team players, are clearly better than our team without our key players ...

Look at the Lazio: fit first team against fit first team, we kill them, but second team against second team, they kill us ... and there is something wrong there !! Injuries or no injuries, first or second team, we should be better than them, no matter our players !!

Theoretically we should, but our the depth of our bench has been problematic since day 1 I think.

Geo Tav, our so-called second string, or let's put it this way---the team we are fielding without our so-called injured stars is still stronger than Lazio, Calgliari, Reggina, etc, etc,

Think about it: This would be our line-up (or there abouts):

Abbiati, Janku, Zambro, Maldini, Senderos, Pirlo, Ambro/Flamini, Beckham, Seedorf, Pato, Pippo/Sheva/R80

Dude, this team is still good!! We should be beating the socalled smaller sides with this line up shouldnt we? I think it is a question of how Carlo motivates the players and what formation he plays.

Lebanese, I hear you. But Nesta was out since start of the season---why was he not adequately replaced? There are plenty of possible Gattuso replacements in the squad (although no one can really take his place)---Ambro, Flamini. If Flamini was not capable of replacing Gattuso, then why did we buy him?

And lastly, if Boriello is the power forward we absolutely need to function and if he is so critical to our formation, then why didn't we buy a potential replacemnt over the summer? Management clearly thought Pippo could replace him, but they're probably wrong.

Our injuries are injuries that every team gets, I don't think there is anything extraordinary about it, but the fact that we can't cope with it indicates poor planning (Galliani) and perhaps poor execution (Carlo).

Originally Posted by rt9

Lebanese, I hear you. But Nesta was out since start of the season---why was he not adequately replaced? There are plenty of possible Gattuso replacements in the squad (although no one can really take his place)---Ambro, Flamini. If Flamini was not capable of replacing Gattuso, then why did we buy him?

And lastly, if Boriello is the power forward we absolutely need to function and if he is so critical to our formation, then why didn't we buy a potential replacemnt over the summer? Management clearly thought Pippo could replace him, but they're probably wrong.

Our injuries are injuries that every team gets, I don't think there is anything extraordinary about it, but the fact that we can't cope with it indicates poor planning (Galliani) and Exrhaps poor execution (Carlo).

Exactly, and i think Galliani should be punished for ruining the squad, 2006/2007 we suffered a huge decline but we managed to win UCL, thewe were a 1000 signs that we need rebuilding and many players should be forced out, but looks the management realized the problem very late.

every mercato pier silvio comes up and publically criticises the way galliani is handling transfer, but you cant blame their actions as our prisdent lost intreset in football.

Originally Posted by Lebanese

every mercato pier silvio comes up and publically criticises the way galliani is handling transfer, but you cant blame their actions as our prisdent lost intreset in football.

And the last mercato, he said that selling Kaka' wasn't bad if I remember ... Berlu's family also told him not to spend millions anymore, the thing why he is criticised the most here !! So I don't have any trust for Berlu's family !!

Originally Posted by rt9

I take your point, but even if we are missing 3-4 starters, we still have the quality to beat teams like Torino, Cagliari, Reggina. Why are we still losing to the so-called minnows? And out of all the players you mention Gattuso and Kaka are probably the most relevant. But please, we should not be feeling the loss of Boriello or Bonera who himself is a back up so much.

If this squad is so flimsy thin that a couple of injuries will cause our season to collapse, then something is wrong. There is no defending management in this case. Every team goes through injuries---a good management will make sure we have enough cover, even in the worst possible scenario, and a good coach will make sure that he has the tactical know-how to reshuffle his players and make the most out of the players available.

I see what you mean, and ofcourse we should be able to beat Reggina etc. even with our second string. But I still only think our team is thin in the defense, and with Thiago Silva coming, one more signing would fix that. That's the main thing we can blame management for in my opinion, not signing a CB in the winter or in the summer. Playing Favalli/Kaladze in central defence is a distaster, and it's embarresing having the 20th ranked team field a CB pair better than ours.

And I think you can also blame management for not getting reliable forwards. The only one we have who is reliable and consistent is Pato---if he gets injured, we're dead. Look at the other options: Boriello (injured), Pippo (cannot play consecutive games), Sheva (out of shape/out of form, returning from injury, injury prone). How the hell do you plan for a season with forwards like that? Trezeguet was out injured for Juve---so what did they do? They bought Amauri and had Iaquinta on the bench plus Giovinco. We would fall apart if Pato and Boriello got injured---remember the games Ambrosini started as a forward? That's really pathetic.

Now on a more positive note, if only we could find more space for R80, Kaka, Pato to play behind a strong target man (hope we sign Adebayor or someone of that caliber), we could have an unbelievable attack with both speed and power. Too bad we didnt get Amauri this summer, he may have fixed most of our problems.

What from Galliani said in summer, we actually could afford to buy R80 and Adebayor but he said something like we can't have Ade, R80, Kaka all together in one team (which I don't agree).

Originally Posted by Siregar

What from Galliani said in summer, we actually could afford to buy R80 and Adebayor but he said something like we can't have Ade, R80, Kaka all together in one team (which I don't agree).

All depends on what you want to do with Pato. It's pretty sure we won't play with R80, Kaka', Ade and Pato all together on the pitch if behind them, we have players like Seedorf and Pirlo who won't defend a lot. It's possible only with Flamini and Gattuso behind them.

So, by knowing that Seedorf and Pirlo would be some of our key players this season, Galliani just said something realistic ...

Of course, with all the injuries, now, we would be happy to have another good striker to play alongside Pato, but at the start of the season, having fit Kaka', Seedorf, Pato, Pirlo, R80, Adebayor, Gattuso, ...

About next year, we'll need a striker but, I said it sometimes, we won't have to bring a striker who is already a star, just someone at the level of Pato but older (so Pato will be prefered). Why ? Just because in a formation with 2 strikers, we can really say goodbye to Gourcuff, even if Seedorf leaves, and also, Pato needs to be our starter.

PS: I think we're not in the right topic

Originally Posted by GeoTav

All depends on what you want to do with Pato. It's pretty sure we won't play with R80, Kaka', Ade and Pato all together on the pitch if behind them, we have players like Seedorf and Pirlo who won't defend a lot. It's possible only with Flamini and Gattuso behind them.

So, by knowing that Seedorf and Pirlo would be some of our key players this season, Galliani just said something realistic ...

It's actually a bit not realistic what Galliani said. We had only Pato as a real striker (fit and realiable). Other are either not fit or not WC (great) striker we need : Boriello (won't count his goals in preivous season so highly), Inzaghi and Paloschi. We really need other high-level striker which could be Adebayor. Forget about Ronaldinho, he was not on form (thousand miles away from fit). So, it would be certain that we could play Kaka with two strikers (Pato and Ade). Inzaghi and Bori could be back up.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

About next year, we'll need a striker but, I said it sometimes, we won't have to bring a striker who is already a star, just someone at the level of Pato but older (so Pato will be prefered). Why ? Just because in a formation with 2 strikers, we can really say goodbye to Gourcuff, even if Seedorf leaves, and also, Pato needs to be our starter.

PS: I think we're not in the right topic

Next year we need a high-rated striker to accompany Pato as one striker formation is not effective in Serie A based on our results since 2001/02 when Ancelotti took Milan. Either Ronaldinho or Gourcuff is sold.

Originally Posted by Siregar

It's actually a bit not realistic what Galliani said. We had only Pato as a real striker (fit and realiable). Other are either not fit or not WC (great) striker we need : Boriello (won't count his goals in preivous season so highly), Inzaghi and Paloschi. We really need other high-level striker which could be Adebayor. Forget about Ronaldinho, he was not on form (thousand miles away from fit). So, it would be certain that we could play Kaka with two strikers (Pato and Ade). Inzaghi and Bori could be back up.

I'm sorry but Ronaldinho had to be fit sooner or later (seems like it will be later, but who would have been able to predict that ?!) ...

We also weren't able to know that Borriello would be out for the whole season ... ok, he's actually the kind of player we needed: motivated, confident after his last year (if you don't count highly his goals of the previous season, I don't know how you can then value highly the season of Gourcuff, say Ancelotti did a mistake with him and say he has to return for example), and of course, a different kind of player than Pato.

So, for me, again, Galliani said something realistic (he said many unrealistic/funny/not funny/ironic things, but for me, he is right with this declaration): you take R80 and, if he is fit again, you have plenty solutions of formations (he never was fit, but again, who could have known ?! And it is something we can say only without injuries, because with all these injuries ...), OR, you take Adebayor, and we mainly play with 2 strikers. The two solutions could have been good.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

I'm sorry but Ronaldinho had to be fit sooner or later (seems like it will be later, but who would have been able to predict that ?!) ...

We also weren't able to know that Borriello would be out for the whole season ... ok, he's actually the kind of player we needed: motivated, confident after his last year (if you don't count highly his goals of the previous season, I don't know how you can then value highly the season of Gourcuff, say Ancelotti did a mistake with him and say he has to return for example), and of course, a different kind of player than Pato.

So, for me, again, Galliani said something realistic (he said many unrealistic/funny/not funny/ironic things, but for me, he is right with this declaration): you take R80 and, if he is fit again, you have plenty solutions of formations (he never was fit, but again, who could have known ?! And it is something we can say only without injuries, because with all these injuries ...), OR, you take Adebayor, and we mainly play with 2 strikers. The two solutions could have been good.

About R80

His performance dropped since 2006/07 (after Barca won CL 2006) and drastically last season. It would be extremly difficult for Ronaldinho to be fit this season. I was one of fans who doubt he would be fit soon. That was a huge gamble.

R80 or Adebayor

Ancelotti was 'forced' to play 2-striker formation by Berlusconi in the past and why on earth we bought R80 then? I know the answer , it's only because of Berlu's love for R80 as we chased him since last years. But in tactical point of view, it would be safer and wiser to buy a striker than a AMC like R80 as we need striker, not attacking midfielder. And Ancelotti has already said it : we need Eto'o not Ronaldinho (not in this sentence of course but the point is same).

About Boriello

He was not top scorer in Serie A and only managed to score that many in one season (with no proof of continuity). He was also loaned in previous seasons (of course he was younger) but the result was far from last season. The case is just like many strikers in european league have done : making ton of goals even top-scorer (which Borri wasn't) and flopped in the next season (one season wonder). The funniest thing for me is that we took Bori and sold Gila which for me no value added took a place (it's like to change 45 pounds for 40 euros or even less LOL).

ps : 4 pounds = 4,5 euros