Summer mercato 2009

Just read on football-itallia (formerly of channel4 origin) that Kaladze is staying, becuz we rejected Bayern's approach....

So, while there is some good news on the goal-keeping situation, not so for the CD....

I doubt that anybody has any confidence in Kalac now. It is strange though where Dida is these days. He must be injured, I guess, otherwise, why isn't he playing at all?

I am all for selling Dida if that's going to happen, but I doubt Dida will want to leave. It is not his fault when our senile management gave him that crazy contract. It would be a crime not to take it, I guess. And I don't blame him for not willing to be re-negotiate his contract, after all, a contract is a contract, and not everyone has to bleed black and red.

On a technical note, I think Dida can still make contribution, but his salary does not match his status. IMHO, Storari is just a small version of Dida, anything he can do, Dida can do better (or just slightly better), but Storari probably doesn't earn half of what Dida does. If we were the old Milan when money was not an issue, I say keep Dida and dump Storari. But it is different now.

That's why I am surprised that we bring in Roma. I have watched him too few games to make any valid judgment, but I believe that he was called upon a few times by Lippi, so he must not be too bad. I am just really curious waiting to see what will happen to the three backup keepers we now have. It would be interesting if we offer Roma a one-year contract and fail to offload any of those three, since we will then have four keepers on the exit all at the same time next summer.

Real Madrid Look To Sell Robben, Van der Vaart, Sneijder & Negredo - Report
The Dutch trio are set for the exit as Madrid aim to recoup €80 million...
11 Aug 2009 07:14:02
Arjen Robben - Real Madrid (Goal.com)
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Arjen Robben - Real Madrid (Goal.com)
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* Rafael Van der Vaart
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Real Madrid will place Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael Van der Vaart on the transfer list in a bid to recover some of the millions spent this summer, according to AS.

Robben, who has already expressed his desire to remain at Madrid, was recently singled out for praise by coach Manuel Pellegrini. It appears, however, that despite Pellegrini's wish for him to stay, the winger will now be shown the door.

The Dutch contingent has attracted interest throughout the summer, along with Alvaro Negredo, and it now appears that all four could make way as Los Blancos look to increase their summer transfer revenue.

Florentino Perez's summer spending has so far totalled €254 million, with €33m recovered from the sale of Javi Garcia, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Javier Saviola and Dani Parejo. It appears that the initial plan was to spend €280m and offset €90m in sales.

There have been enquiries about taking the named players on season-long loan deals, but Madrid are not interested in anything other than straightforward transfers.

Paul Madden, Goal.com

-------------------


inter will claim 1, but itll be interesting to see... bundesliga and epl teams r interested but most these playrs want bigger clubs. Just like huntelaar who didnt want stuttgart or tottenham.

I would be shocked if we dont look to swoop 1 late. The fee will only drop as perez' loans really r contingent on sales he hasnt been able to make

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Abbiati
Santacrocce Nesta Thiago
Flamini Gatusso Pirlo Zambrotta
Ronnie
Pato Huntelaar

Mate, were very much on the same channel with the formation. Its flexable and Zambrotta can switch between left and right back.

i hope galliani and leonardo goes to the holland england game so they can see huntelaar perform, but more importantly VDV and Afellay.

Originally Posted by Graeme C

Mate, were very much on the same channel with the formation. Its flexable and Zambrotta can switch between left and right back.

Hey two compliments in one day All we need now is Santa

Galliani sul terzino: "Arriva se piazziamo Oddo"

Galliani: A new full back will arrive once we get rid of Oddo.
http://milannews.it/?action=read&idnotizia=10725

I don't know who wants to buy him.

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Abbiati
Santacrocce Nesta Thiago
Flamini Gatusso Pirlo Zambrotta
Ronnie
Pato Huntelaar

no offense but this is a pretty bad formation. Maybe 5 years ago when zambrotta was in his prime but to plya a 3-4-1-2 requires class wingbacks. Ones who have endless energy to fly up and down the flank.

Flamini may have the energy but he doesn't know how to play like a wingback, nor does he cross. Watch dani alves or maicon or evra... do you see any of that in flamini? Second Zambrotta is getting too old to play attack fullback, moving him up like that would put even more pressure on his aging body.

The last team to play this tactic successfully was brazil WC2002 team and they had roberto carlos and cafu in there prime

lastly a large reason the 3-5-2 has died is because of rise of 4-3-3.... attacking wide players in 4-3-3 keep those wingbacks back.... think if wep layed barca.... theyd be too busy dealing w/ messi and henry to go attack.... all of a sudden there whole midfield and defense and push up and nullify our attack. its an outdated tactic that can really only work with world class talent

Originally Posted by Milano84

no offense but this is a pretty bad formation. Maybe 5 years ago when zambrotta was in his prime but to plya a 3-4-1-2 requires class wingbacks. Ones who have endless energy to fly up and down the flank.

Flamini may have the energy but he doesn't know how to play like a wingback, nor does he cross. Watch dani alves or maicon or evra... do you see any of that in flamini? Second Zambrotta is getting too old to play attack fullback, moving him up like that would put even more pressure on his aging body.

The last team to play this tactic successfully was brazil WC2002 team and they had roberto carlos and cafu in there prime

lastly a large reason the 3-5-2 has died is because of rise of 4-3-3.... attacking wide players in 4-3-3 keep those wingbacks back.... think if wep layed barca.... theyd be too busy dealing w/ messi and henry to go attack.... all of a sudden there whole midfield and defense and push up and nullify our attack. its an outdated tactic that can really only work with world class talent

No offence taken.

I think Flamini could do pretty well in this role. He broke into the Arsenal team as a fullback and has played his best football for Milan at rightback towards the end of last season. I dont think most Milan fans realise how capable he is at crossing and shooting. Mostly because we havent seen it yet.

About Zambro's age. At the 2002 WC Cafu was 32 years old, the same age Zambro is now.

About dealing with Henry and Messi, You have the two wide centre backs to deal with them and if they drift back then you have Gatusso to help Flamini or Zambro. Then Pirlo to trip them up

I dont know if you remember the Juve match a few years ago when Nedved was the ballondor. Carlo played Rui on the wing and the Nedved had to chase him back and was completely nullified. Well with Pato and Ronnie (Hopefully) tormenting the Barca fullbacks then Messi and Henry would alos need to help out.

But you are right, a system like that requires quality. The only question mark is whether Ronnie can still provide that quality. If so, then Id be happy with this formation.

Originally Posted by K77SH C

No offence taken.

I think Flamini could do pretty well in this role. He broke into the Arsenal team as a fullback and has played his best football for Milan at rightback towards the end of last season. I dont think most Milan fans realise how capable he is at crossing and shooting. Mostly because we havent seen it yet.

About Zambro's age. At the 2002 WC Cafu was 32 years old, the same age Zambro is now.

About dealing with Henry and Messi, You have the two wide centre backs to deal with them and if they drift back then you have Gatusso to help Flamini or Zambro. Then Pirlo to trip them up

I dont know if you remember the Juve match a few years ago when Nedved was the ballondor. Carlo played Rui on the wing and the Nedved had to chase him back and was completely nullified. Well with Pato and Ronnie (Hopefully) tormenting the Barca fullbacks then Messi and Henry would alos need to help out.

But you are right, a system like that requires quality. The only question mark is whether Ronnie can still provide that quality. If so, then Id be happy with this formation.

i like it too but i think the problems arise in this....

yes cafu was 32 but cafu ran like a maniac till he was 35/36. He was atypical to say the least. Now look at zambrotta... you see the fatigue set in, you can see he isn't what he once was. He is still a good fullback, but i think his days of being zambrotta worlds best fb a la 2004-06 r behind him.

2nd cafu and roberto carlos could take on or get by every defender in the world. Flamini can't... he runs but he isnt gonna dribble by someone like dani alves. Zambrotta cant the same way he used to be able to either...

3rd it nullifies pirlo.... he isnt needed as much w/ ronnie right on top of him. In our 4-3-2-1 he had options... optins infront... options side to side, options flying from behind.... in this he has gattuso next to him (real dynamic pass) wings wide or ronaldinho who will sit slightly deeper. Pirlo cant push up too much cause he would need to provide support in defense.

4th on teams that play a 4-3-3 u will need wingbacks dropping because if messi in a 4-3-3 makes a run at your outside CB. u now have a CF running and other winger running + midfielders pushing up... all this and u expect ur cb to take messi on 1 on 1? You will get skinned alive. Gattuso will provide hewlp in stopping counters thru the middle, but he cant possible be on both wings at once, despite what our eyes tell us sometimes.

in short, as soon as zambrotta or flamini overshoot a quick pass to winger and u have 5 or so players running at ur 3 man backline.

I realize of course i am using best example of a 4-3-3 but it still stands....

Originally Posted by K77SH C

No offence taken.

I think Flamini could do pretty well in this role. He broke into the Arsenal team as a fullback and has played his best football for Milan at rightback towards the end of last season. I dont think most Milan fans realise how capable he is at crossing and shooting. Mostly because we havent seen it yet.

About Zambro's age. At the 2002 WC Cafu was 32 years old, the same age Zambro is now.

About dealing with Henry and Messi, You have the two wide centre backs to deal with them and if they drift back then you have Gatusso to help Flamini or Zambro. Then Pirlo to trip them up

I dont know if you remember the Juve match a few years ago when Nedved was the ballondor. Carlo played Rui on the wing and the Nedved had to chase him back and was completely nullified. Well with Pato and Ronnie (Hopefully) tormenting the Barca fullbacks then Messi and Henry would alos need to help out.

But you are right, a system like that requires quality. The only question mark is whether Ronnie can still provide that quality. If so, then Id be happy with this formation.

One more obvious hole in that formation... we don't actually have Santacrocce. I highly doubt anyone else in our defensive lineup could make it in that formation, bar the two other guys already listed in there.

To play with 3 defenders, we need a ridiculously strong defense. I doubt we will ever play in this formation.

Flamini has tremendous quality, both as a crosser, and as someone who can shoot. He has the engine, and the skills to play that position.

In terms of Zambro, I'm sorry, to say he some sort of finished player is a bit harsh. He was one of the most underrated and unappreciated players for Milan last year, and he still has a fantastic work rate. Watching him against Benfica, I don't see what he's lost, to be honest.

Yes, we obviously don't have Santacroce, but that formation has him, and if we did have him, I would have to say, that would be one of the best defenses in the world.

Plus, Chelsea showed how to nullify Messi. It's pretty simple, push him to the byline, isolate him. Man Utd should have learned from Chelsea, but they obviously didn't.

Plus, Barca's 4-3-3 has yet to be tested against a quality Italian side. If Inter gets Sneijder, or Cassano, someone to play in place of Stankovic, then I will truly fear them. However, until then, they will be the "all most right" team.

Barca's 4-3-3 depends on the inability for the other team to hold onto possession as much as it can. Chelsea tried to out-hustle Barca, and frankly, they probably should have had a penalty in their second leg semi, and Barca had a bit of luck (every champion does), but I think the only way to truly beat them is to do the counterintuitive thing, and that is to maintain possession. Why? While Henry, Messi, and Eto'o (now Ibra) are instructed to hustle back for the ball, they problem is that their midfield is not designed to deal with the other team having continued possession of the ball.

Yaya is the anchor to the team, and without him, Iniesta and Xavi are lost.

If Milan got a real top-class LB, and Ronaldinho played like he could, I would be confident against playing Barca. The thing is, Ronaldinho is going to be the big "what if."

The brilliant part of Barca is that the way they play, forces to other team to try and play things quickly. It's instinct to many, try and play forward, quickly, catch them off-guard. The reality is quite the opposite.

Hold onto the ball, let Messi and Henry run their hearts out, and if they win the ball back, see how much running they have left in them.

If you play smart, you can overcome Barca. Think of the George Forman, Muhammad Ali fight and you'll get what I mean.

And to add more - to this 3-4-3/3-5-2 discussion, playing with such a formation would be out of our identity.

Milan has always played with a formation looking like 4-3-1-2, and with Ancelotti and his Christmas Tree, 4-3-2-1 which was a kind of more defensive 4-3-1-2 ... or a modified 4-3-3 (instead of the wingers, we had two "central" attacking midfielders) depending on your point of view.

So I think we need to keep our identity on the pitch, and don't forget too that we have some players who have been there for years now (from Nesta to Pirlo without forgetting the likes of Gattuso and co), and telling them that finally, we'll play with 3 defenders, I don't know how they would accept it ... and how they would adapt.

About Flamini, if you want him to request to be sold next year, put him in the RB position ... he said before the pre-season that he doesn't want to play in this RB position too often because he is a midfielder. If that can help, he can play there for some games, but he doesn't want to be counted as a RB. And if you put Flamini in the RB position (let's imagine he is ok with that), then, what will happen ? Instead of a quality FB, we'll need another quality midfielder, and I don't think I'll be wrong that for an equal quality, the midfielder will be more expensive than the RB/LB ...

Originally Posted by Ryo

Home from a hard and rough days work, and still nothing new on the market.

But hey! Ho! a message to reply to! Hurray!




rt, for one thing, the conversation I had with Filipéz ended like 3 pages back (to your post at least). I've already accepted that he portrays himself to be a fan who doesn't rate our elder players based on their recent performances and not their past history. For me, it was over and I'd already started ignoring him the minute he started cussing. In my opinion, thats already appropriate and mature enough of a response for him. You may think otherwise, but thats your opinion.

You ask me how I can formulate an opinion of someone based on what he writes? I ask you, how can I NOT?
I don't know him personally, and I don't feel I have an obligation to either. So I base my impressions and responses on what people post up on the forum. Whats so wrong with that??? He comes out with a post slanting a player we've had on our books for nearly a decade, whose won everything with and for us that there is to be won. I'm not a big fan of the current Kaladze, but as a poster on this forum, I would expect that I have my own right to take offense. Thats my right. The way I react to that post is also up to me. I'm not as submissive as you as in that I have to accept everything that I don't like quietly. That too is my right.


You talk about me passing personal judgment? Oh, thats fresh, from someone who just came by and called me immature and inappropriate for having a difference in opinion with someone, who I might add, has nothing to do with you, rt. The conversation was between me and Filipéz. You butting in three pages after everything has been settled just portrays you to be a busybody and a hypocrite who enjoys picking fights with other people. Seriously, this had nothing to do with you in the first place, unless you're like Filipézs' closet lover or something, so why bother butting in at all? Real mature, man, real mature....

The things I say may offend you, but, seriously, I'm entitled to my own opinion and my own impression of you (which is none too good right now), and if you really do feel offended, I don't give a rats @ss, because you butting into someone else's conversation just goes to show how "mature" you are. In my humble opinion, you totally deserved being told off.

Wow, more personal attacks! I won't waste my time responding to you suffice to say that when I see something unfair or wrong I am not the type of person to sit back and just let it pass. What you wrote many pages ago was wrong, it was a personal attack and it's against forum rules. I merely pointed it out. If that has resulted in more personal attacks on me, then that's fine. It simply reflects back to your level of maturity (or lack thereof).