Summer mercato 2009

I ythink another factor that we haven't been able to take into account for is Caciopoli.

Caciopoli's contribution to Inter's 'sudden domination' in Serie A, together with Milan, Juve, and other's downfall, is way too obvious to ignore.

Originally Posted by Jeff

I ythink another factor that we haven't been able to take into account for is Caciopoli.

Caciopoli's contribution to Inter's 'sudden domination' in Serie A, together with Milan, Juve, and other's downfall, is way too obvious to ignore.

yes but barring serie A in 2006-7 shouldnt we have been a beneficiary of a WEAK juve. We won CL in 2007, had money come in. could have reinforced... instead we got 5th with only 1 team (inter) able to match us financially

I'm surprised that there isn't some more praise for Zapata after that game on Saturday. We had 0 shots on goal for the majority of the game, Pato was kept extremely quiet as well. We can't bank all our hopes on Nesta's recovery, we need another CB and I'm sure the management know this.

Originally Posted by Milano84

yes but barring serie A in 2006-7 shouldnt we have been a beneficiary of a WEAK juve. We won CL in 2007, had money come in. could have reinforced... instead we got 5th with only 1 team (inter) able to match us financially

I don't think you need to jump on me like that. And my explanation is far more condemning. It's more than just having one year and than we win in CL 2007 and things get back to normal.

It's like a shakeup in the US economy and you expect them to be power house again once the damage is done. No, the Chinese has become relatively stronger, gained more status (also because US lost status)... etc (note this is not about politics, just an analogy; I apologize if I offend anyone).

Just think about how many players Inter has stolen (e.g., Ibra who has been influential this year) from Juventus, and think about how Milan was crippled both from a reputation perspective but also from a financial perspective. I don't know if Milan has the financial health to invest in the market last year or the year before, but ignoring how Inter has risen to the realm of Serie A which coincides perfectly with Caciopoli is nonsensical.

Isn't it time to also consider factors that influence team performance from a macro perspective?

J

Im back I was out on a trip for 2 weeks and I have missed Udinese game and all the mercato news. Good thing is that I also missed Merda's celebration which was gifted by our "brilliant" approach in a game vs Juve already and then of course in Udine.

We can now expect that on monday, if we beat Roma, Milan will name the new coach. Lets hope the new coach is not the old one. But we cant say more untill monday when we see who is the man. Im guessing it is Marco Van Basten. He quit just before "Carlo to Chelsea" news, and Berlusconi has said Milan plans a new and fresh coach for new circle. I also remember that Thiago was saying how he signed for Milan coz of the plan they told him about, the new squad etc. Also, Gourcuff looks like coming back and we know he will not come back if Carlo is a coach.

About Van Basten I cant say much. As a coach he is a str5ange man. He behaves strange as I can see him. Holland played brilliant on Euro, then he got completely owned by Hiddink ( not a surprise, everyone got ). Ajax wasnt good at all this year...I dont know. But he knows for attacking football and hate towards slow players

Its great to see Gourcuff wants to come back, I hope he will be our player again as it is simply too stupid to let him go for 15mln when we can get great young and now already experienced player for nbothing. He has grown in his game and also phisically as I can see. Seedorf will not be in first plan the moment Carlo leaves Milan. And Pirlo's attitute will change for sure.

While I was away I had a chance to see Dzeko's games twice. He again looks really impressive in his smart movement, strenght and also some good assists. There are also rumors Drogba could be out and Galliani stated we need experienced players for CL... Drogba is top 5 forwards in the world, for sure he can play enywhere he wants.

Nesta started training well. If we can have him it would solve so many things. It doesnt bother me that he hasnt played for one season. One summer of preperations and 3,4 games and Nesta will be great again. He is too good to get rusty.

Maybe our mercato moves will compose of one good CB ( I really wouldnt be surprised if it was Mexes, aldough I dont support that), one good Cf and Gourcuff. All in all that is 3 top class players. And anew coach.

Milito to Inter is better then Drogba to Inter for sure! Milito is a great player, but lets not confuse him to Drogba, Torres etc.

Hearing very much these days that we gonna change the coach, then Silvio saiyng that he can sell Kaka with the right price.
The question, what is the plan for our team from Berlu, to go better or to go worse?

the problem is Milan is unable to compete with real and English teams on a organisational level, most rivals have put new infrastructure into the clubs and as result are able to gain higher returns. I do think inflation in football transfer fee and wages and the cost development is hindering Milan financial position but we should be able the make the tough choices and cut 30 million in expenditure. Football tends to be insulated against economic recession as fans are unwilling to give their season tickets, Macro conditions have had a small affect on the finance of ac milan.

If you consider inter, man utd, liverpool and real our rivals you see that they gear themselves up to the hilt to pay for new players. Milan should done this after the 2007 final for simple reason that it would cost less to entice players to come to AC Milan. even galliani admitted that not signing 3 or 5 players in 2007 was mistake that cost him 40 million euros.

WE'RE ONLY THINKING ABOUT ROMA
5/21/2009 10:15:00 PM
At the 'Sony' event held tonight in Milan, Ricardo Kaká was present and he talked about the team's concentration on the match against Roma and reiterated his attachment to Milan.

(ON THE ARCHIVE PHOTO: RICKY KAKÁ)

MILAN - Here are the declarations made by Ricky Kaká on football topics during the 'Motionflow Night' event organised by Sony, of which he is a testimonial, held tonight at the Ippodromo del Galoppo in Milan:

ON THE MATCH AGAINST ROMA
"The week is going well, we are preparing very well and when you train the possibilities of winning on Sunday afternoon against Roma increase strongly."

ON ANCELOTTI'S FUTURE
"In the dressing room the voices on Carlo Ancelotti's future create no problems because there's been talk of a possible departure of his for a long time. Certainly these voices disappoint us, but at the moment we are all concentrated on Sunday's match against Roma, including the coach himself. Let's wait, on Monday we will know everything.
Personally I try not to say anything, there's a lot of speculation, but again, let's wait.
For me Ancelotti remains the best coach Milan could have, the team is happy with him and he is able to handle the dressing room like no one else.

"Juventus have brought in Ferrara, this means they want to give space to a new generation of coaches, it doesn't revalue Italian football. If Milan decided to aim for an emerging coach, it would also an opportunity for us to have a new cycle of young coaches.
In the past Milan have had many cycles of coaches and players, but always with the same president and the same management: this means that certainly there will be another winning cycle.
Just look at the positive example of Guardiola, no one expected much from him because he had only coached the B team of Barcelona, he brought the team into the Champions League final.
Van Basten? I would be happy to be coached by someone like him who made Milan's history. Tassotti? He's been us for many years and after winning so much he has made up a certain experience."

ON HIS FUTURE
"I am close to the club, certainly, also to the coach, but I have a contract with Milan until 2013 and not with Carlo Ancelotti. At the moment my contract says enough, any other transfer news regarding me will be discussed by the club. The offer from Manchester City in January was real, but if in the future the club receives other offers for me, it will be the club themselves who will say it. If they don't say anything it means there is no offer. As for me, I'm happy here. In the future many things can happen, but it's difficult to imagine me not being at Milan.
As I've said many times, as long as Milan and I have the same objectives, we will certainly come to an agreement."

--

acmilan.com

Man, I am not liking the direction this whole mercato is going. Once again, while our rivals are signing players (Inter with Arnautovic, Motta and Milito; Juve with Cannavaro and Diego), we are standing around talking about the this and that. For once, I would like to see Galliani shutting his mouth and actually go out and do his job. We hired this guy to be a GM, not Public Relation director, right?

Although some of you might not agree with some of the signings Inter and Juve did make, they are at least trying to improve their squad. We, on the other hand, are going through the same motion we did the past few seasons. We create some conflicts (coaching changes, Kaka leaving etc) to distract people's attention first; then we will talk about all the big name players we are looking to bring in (Adebayor, Mexes etc); and lastly we will negotiate for months and come out in August to declare us "way too good a team for any new signings".

For the record, I do agree with Milan needing a new organizational structure. This team is now so poorly managed that it is really not possible for us to compete with the big teams in Europe. We overpay for second rated players rather than underpay for good ones because of the tiny price differentials; we pay incredably high salaries to players that no longer deserves them; and we make signings for purely marketing purposes. The focus of a soccer team management is to improve the team first and everything else second. We, on the other hand, consider team improvement the last on our list of priorities. The lack of planning and direction of the management has driven us to the ground and will continue to do so until changes are made.

PS: for the guys who talked about the Lakers being up 30 and losing the game. If you have seen them play this season, and as a Lakers fan, I have, that isn't as impossible as you might think given their habit of blowing huge leads down the stretch. Lol!

Originally Posted by slifersd

Man, I am not liking the direction this whole mercato is going. Once again, while our rivals are signing players (Inter with Arnautovic, Motta and Milito; Juve with Cannavaro and Diego), we are standing around talking about the this and that. For once, I would like to see Galliani shutting his mouth and actually go out and do his job. We hired this guy to be a GM, not Public Relation director, right?

Not that he's doing particularly well at that either...

Originally Posted by Jeff

I don't think you need to jump on me like that. And my explanation is far more condemning. It's more than just having one year and than we win in CL 2007 and things get back to normal.

It's like a shakeup in the US economy and you expect them to be power house again once the damage is done. No, the Chinese has become relatively stronger, gained more status (also because US lost status)... etc (note this is not about politics, just an analogy; I apologize if I offend anyone).

Just think about how many players Inter has stolen (e.g., Ibra who has been influential this year) from Juventus, and think about how Milan was crippled both from a reputation perspective but also from a financial perspective. I don't know if Milan has the financial health to invest in the market last year or the year before, but ignoring how Inter has risen to the realm of Serie A which coincides perfectly with Caciopoli is nonsensical.

Isn't it time to also consider factors that influence team performance from a macro perspective?

J

all your points are accurate, and I apologize if i seemed to jump all over you. (I had alot of coffee this morning at work )but it still seems to me the major problem is we are claiming we have a limited budget to spend with (which is fine, most teams r in same situation because of world economy). Yet we make a) poor purchases and b) wont sell assets to fund more purchases.

If you want a competitive full squas sometimes you have to sell a player for 2-3 top prospects. Secondly, if you can only afford 1-2 big players, y buy ronaldinho when we have kaka(?!). I'm a realist, I dont think we can just go buy benzema, vidic and fabregas (for ex) but if you're going to limit your spending, spend wisely. Would a man who only makes 40k a year go out and lease a mercedes?

Sadly we got a dictomy of belief going on here. The thing is, milan claims to be a business and a family. You can't do both. If you want a family environment sometimes you lose money, because u want to keep seedorf happy, gattuso happy etc. But then you can't claim we lack money to make changes (because those players are absorbing it all). Especially if you're unwilling to change the players!

personally i love kaka, but i think he is overrated (by milan fans) too. I know most people will jump on me, but if we got a 100 mil euro offer I'd sell him. If we could recoup our ronaldinho money, i'd sell him. Use that money plus other profits. Rebuild. As great as kaka is, if we cant surround him with the necessary pieces to win (defense, a CF, some width!) then whats the point? More than half the games he plays poorly cause our tactics r so predictable and easy to stop. And its not fun to watch anymore. It wouldnt be first time milan has changed or the last. And to a degree I find it fitting, with il capitano retiring time for a new era.

Originally Posted by Mystik

I'm surprised that there isn't some more praise for Zapata after that game on Saturday. We had 0 shots on goal for the majority of the game, Pato was kept extremely quiet as well. We can't bank all our hopes on Nesta's recovery, we need another CB and I'm sure the management know this.

Totally, as much as we'd ike to think Thiago and Nesta could play 40-50 games next year its really not going to happen. Zapata would be such an easy grab. If we are gambling on a young brazilian who hasn't played any top flight football, why not go for a trusted serie a defender in Zapata?

ITs funny how most of you are already jumping on Galli and Berlu before the transfer season. Now I am now going to be like GianCarlo and say the MGT has a great plan.....b/c they don't. What they like to do is to piss us off, kind of like now, then they will come in with one great signing-most likely someone we don't really need, like Dinho last year, or keeping Kaka like in Jan, and all of us will be happy and this and that and think they are GODS..... The truth is, once that happens, we all forget that, the team is still the same old team with the same old problems.

Ofcourse, I would like nothing better than the MGT proving me wrong.

I think part of the reason INter is dominating is due to the scandal, but we did won CL in 2007 and finished behind two teams that were in Series B in the previous year in 2008.

Like you said, we should have signed players after our 2007 CL win, but we didn't. And with no CL in 08-09, it was impossible to sign anyone after 2008. ANd then it is now. If we manage to get into CL, I expect at least 4-5 signings, actually with T.Silva already signed and Gourcuff coming back. There should be at least 3 more signings with about 4-5 departures.

Having Van Basten as a coach is interesting, as he prefers movment. He is a modern coach and if the Dutch actually have a better defense, that team could have gone all the way. It will be interesting to see how players like Gattuso, Ambro and Pirlo reacts to his style, as Van Basten likes his midfield to push up to take shots.

Originally Posted by Milano84

all your points are accurate, and I apologize if i seemed to jump all over you. (I had alot of coffee this morning at work )but it still seems to me the major problem is we are claiming we have a limited budget to spend with (which is fine, most teams r in same situation because of world economy). Yet we make a) poor purchases and b) wont sell assets to fund more purchases.

If you want a competitive full squas sometimes you have to sell a player for 2-3 top prospects. Secondly, if you can only afford 1-2 big players, y buy ronaldinho when we have kaka(?!). I'm a realist, I dont think we can just go buy benzema, vidic and fabregas (for ex) but if you're going to limit your spending, spend wisely. Would a man who only makes 40k a year go out and lease a mercedes?

Sadly we got a dictomy of belief going on here. The thing is, milan claims to be a business and a family. You can't do both. If you want a family environment sometimes you lose money, because u want to keep seedorf happy, gattuso happy etc. But then you can't claim we lack money to make changes (because those players are absorbing it all). Especially if you're unwilling to change the players!

personally i love kaka, but i think he is overrated (by milan fans) too. I know most people will jump on me, but if we got a 100 mil euro offer I'd sell him. If we could recoup our ronaldinho money, i'd sell him. Use that money plus other profits. Rebuild. As great as kaka is, if we cant surround him with the necessary pieces to win (defense, a CF, some width!) then whats the point? More than half the games he plays poorly cause our tactics r so predictable and easy to stop. And its not fun to watch anymore. It wouldnt be first time milan has changed or the last. And to a degree I find it fitting, with il capitano retiring time for a new era.

Coffee (and caffeine) is bad .

I do agree with what you say about our management, except the piece about Kaka`. I don't think selling him is wise; there are players that you just should not sell. Having said, the management was actually ready to sell if Kaka` wanted to go. so I'm not sure 100% if you are accurate here re: the manageemtn of Kaka` by Berlu and Galliani.

IT seems to me (and I'm guessing here) that the problem is more of the management, not the players nor the coach. Or am I getting the wrong impression?

j

Well, I doubt the MGT demand Carlo to play Seedorf all the time.