Summer mercato 2009

1- the statement about berlusconi to reflex his recent statements about the transfer market being closed but i have to admit i thought he may of made those comments.
2-with di gennaro injured and a likelyhood of cardacio being loaned out is it really a best use of milan resources to put abate as a left back?
3-antonini has a year more experience of full back football than abate
4-the entire idea of a economically self suffecient club would dictate that we use more youth players in the lineup to cut the cost of transfers hence why albertazzi would be a better opinion
5- we would be leaving the likes of bonera jankulovski( maybe 10 games a season) and oddo on the bench

My conclusions after the match:

- As I had anticipated, with a healthy starting XI we are a very good team.
- Diego's goal came off a deflection; he shouldn't have even celebrated.
- There were two obvious penalties ignored (hand balls). We completely dominated Juve.
- Nesta + Silva is a fantastic partnership
- Antonini sucks. He is far worse than Jank, who was good going forward, but bad in defense. Luckily, Juve did not capitalize on Jank's mistakes.
- Pato showed great potential. Both Pirlo and T Silva made some amazing long passes to him.

However, we clearly do not have any decent backups for any position. And there's no way everyone can stay healthy and play every game for an entire season.

Hail Milan. We finally won! Is that Juventus "Scudetto favorites"?! They're miserable. They scored from the shot that even wasn't on target. Apart from that shot, they weren't able to shoot on target all night. And was that the "great" Felipe Melo who felt down on his ass with Ronaldinho dribbling past him?!

To be serious, Juve isn't a real contender for us. It's only Inter. Their tactic is DEFENSE and only defense, which doesn't surprise considering that Ferrara is Lippi's school.

I've just read that Leonardo is considering Abate for a left-back position (right-back actually). Funny I was going to mention him as a possible solution. He really could fit. He has pace, stamina, will, good cross (which he proved tonight) and he's young, so he can learn to play defense. During that time, he can recover with his pace. Just remember Serginho with awful defensive positioning, he was a great LB for us because he had pace to cover his bad positioning. With Gattuso on this side, I'm beginning to believe that we will finally use at least one player from our youth system, well it was the time, after 15 years.

THANK GOD WE FINALLY WON! GRAZIE DIO CHE ABBIAMO VINCINTO LA PARTITA!

im glad abate played watch out he'll be the future of our club that central attacking midfielder we've been looking for i hope he doesnt play LWB that'll be retarded we STILL DONT HAVE ANY SPARK IN MIDFIELD!, antonini needs more time, be patient people he's very fast just needs to get use to playing,

i wish the fabregas news would have happend, im just happy we won man, i've been so stressed about Milan Forza Milan tutti insieme per Siena!

I think its ridiculous that now that Milan has won, goal.com says "Milan win on pens" but when we lost, on pens, it was not packaged like that, it was LOOK AT RELEGATION-BOUND MILAN, THEY LOST, AGAIN!

I have to say, while Janku might have played well today, I'm not confident that he will continue to play that well the entire season. I kind of wish that Flamini would just play RB for this season, and Zambro played LB, and then we could play a midfield of Abate--Pirlo--Gattuso.

Was it just me, or was Felipe Melo garbage? 21 million Euros, for what? I think Juve better pray for Sissoko to get healthy fast, Ronaldinho made Melo look like a fool today.

Regardless, I really think we need a FB. I think with Ambro and Seedorf yet to return, the midfield is going to take care of itself, especially with Flamini and Abate there to offer the sort of pace to help out Pirlo. I'd love to have a Pancaro-type player for this season, just so that next summer we can get some real additions.

I agree that Abate might be a good option for a FB, but, I hope he doesn't get stuck in that position. He is a great force in the midfield.

I just don't see why we can't even get some players on loan, why can't we grab a Marco Motta-type player on loan? Hell, I'd take Pasqual from Fiorentina on loan for this season.

I totally agree we need backups. Was it me or did you guys notice Zambro and Janku not going forward as much today. It is almost as though we told them to play defense and take your chances going forward. Don't push it every time. Most our attack came from the middle.

Oh, before you guys ravage Juve don't forget what happened when Amauri came on. This guy is class and if he and Diego start clicking withuot injury they are going to be pretty lethal (together they wre pretty potent until Diego was pulled mind you).

I would honestly be satisfied with a FB and for the remaining players to be healthy. A minor injury here and there shouldn't be too much of a set back. Apart from that, I really felt we are getting closer to clicking together and thus being complete. I'm also and optomist

I think most of you are correct.

1.Defense (Goalie too)
2.Striker
3.MF

I think thats the order of things that we need to fill. Ambro, Seedorf are perfect back ups (or starters in some games)

Even if we lost this game in PK (it would not been easy for me ) I was just happy to see Milan play well finally. I was excited, yelling, cheering. This is what i want this year. Hit the crossbar, take shot, shots, and more shots on gol. I hope this gives the lads some much needed confidence.

And about Juve. They were not themsleves tonight. And i respect that team, they will do just fine. Diego is a great signing. Melo did not impress me, Amauri was good too.

for first team, the only think thats imperative is 1 fb..... i would suggest we need an extra creative mid and creative striker, along w/ a viable extra fb and goalie. The sad thing to me is this squad is not too far off from being able to win league and challenge deep into serie A, it'd require a few additional moves... picking up a hernanes... swapping boriello for another creative attacker like pastore or lavezzi etc etc. Signing a bale and criscito.

I mean if u think about it thats what barca did last year... brought in a new coach, promoted some youth (busquets), signed 1 star (dani alves) sold a star (ronnie) and signed a bunch of young or promising players to fill squad (pique, keita, hleb) to give them the depth they need.

My biggest fear is what happens when ron gets hurt? Even off form he's better than alternatives. What happens if pato goes down... a bori-hunt partnership is terrible in terms of creativity. what if pirlo gets hurt? And god forbid we lose silva or nesta. Injuries happen.... on top of 38 league matches a potential dozen more european fixtures u need a full squad. And while we may have 15 or 16 players i feel comfortable playing, we r razor thin at some important ones.... no trequarista or support striker depth, no good center backs after our starters.

Most of you here seem to be suggesting Abate or Flamini for the fullback position. I'm against it.
They look so good in their own natural positions in the middle of the field. Why don't we let them grow into those positions? Pirlo and Rino won't be here forever, you know.

Also, I think the amount of running you do down a flank conversely affects the quality of the crossing. Most of the fullbacks we purchase tend to look good for the first yrar or half year, but eventually their crossing starts going downhill when they've been bombing up and down the line for a few months. Players with good engines run out slower, but it doesn't mean that they won't eventually either. Just think of all the fullbacks we've used up over the years.

So I say, if Abate can cross like that playing in the middle of the field, then why not just leave him be? He'll run out of quality a heck of a lot slower than if he were made to run that extra 50 yards every attack.

Agreed. Jank was fine today going forward. At the back, not so much. Abate with his stature and inexperience definitely won't be a defensive improvement as a FB/WB. Obviously we all prefer signing a Silvestri/Criscito in the next week, but if we can't, better to wait until we can.

Of course, both Flamini and Abate can be used as a FB/WB if we have injuries to Zambro or Jank... but until then, I prefer not making this change.

the thing is i'm still not sold on abate in a 3man midfield, and we dont play a 4-4-2 so where exactly does he fit in.... in our tactics fb's need to essentially be cafu types bombing up the flank crossing... abate is fast, can cross, big and not afraid of challenges, works his ass off... i'm not saying overnight he'll be like this.... but zambrotta was a winger first too...

Nice to finally see a Milan win. as others have posted with the starting 11 that played today we will be fine. buying another fullback (who we desperately need to replace Janku) and another midfielder would really make this team contenders for the scudetto.

However i have 2 concerns; the bench and if this will be the team that starts for us every game. if anyone who started today goes down for a long period of time we're in trouble. Seedorf, Ambro, Antonini, Onyewu, Bonera, Kaladze, Boriello all look horrible. Inzaghi and Abate are the only two on the bench I have confidence in. The other worry is whether Flamini/Abate will play every game or if Leonardo will sit them for the "captain" Ambrosini or Seedorf. Hopefully he wont be as loyal to them as Carlo was and will realize our best players should be on the pitch.

Anyway we'll see next saturday when the season starts. Even though I think we had a bad transfer campaign thus far I'm still excited for the new season after watching them play tonight. I thought we looked real good against Juve.

Putting Abate at FB would get him on the field which is important due to the raw speed he brings to the team. he would also add pace to the right side of the field that Gattuso (our real captain) doesnt, and Flamini would bring pace that Zambro doesnt have on the left.

Our center defense is very strong, I think Bonera could step up if he has to play. I think the Gooch is basicly Senderos, but i think he would work for a game or two if he has to

No, I think Abate does pretty well on the right side of the 3. It's not a problem. He's very versatile, evidenced by his positions throughout his career.

I think we need another Seedorf as backup and a starting full back. Other than that, I think we're set. An injury to Pato and R80 would mean a forward line of Seedorf, Pippo and Borri, which is just fine for a few games. Don't forget Pirlo is an emergency Trequartista, and we can always play a makeshift 442.

I have a feeling we'll be getting an AM from Real, and a FB. I'd love to see Abate as a RB before they make a move for De Silvestre. Maybe it works out, who knows...

Originally Posted by Samaldinho

I think its ridiculous that now that Milan has won, goal.com says "Milan win on pens" but when we lost, on pens, it was not packaged like that, it was LOOK AT RELEGATION-BOUND MILAN, THEY LOST, AGAIN!

yeah just give up on that pathetic excuse of a website, they have no skill on how to write articles.

BTW, sweet blog!