Banter 2009/2010

Originally Posted by Samaldinho

The question you have to ask yourself, would you rather be scoring goals left and right, but conceding more (like Roma?) or would you rather have a strong defensive base, with just the attack to figure out? Personally, I'd rather have what we have.

Is our defence really that strong? The only time we've played a top side this season we conceded 4.

Yes Nesta and Thiago look very good, but their backups aren't convincing, and none of our fullbacks are top quality.

So if our defence was as mean as in the 93-94 season (when we conceded just 15 goals), then it wouldn't matter as much if our attack isn't functioning (in the 93-94 season we only scored 36 goals, yet still we won the scudetto). But the way I see it we have huge problems in defence, midfield and attack.

In goal we look set with Marco 'stonewall' Storari .

Originally Posted by pirlofanusa

this team needs width and crossing, which is something that Gattuso and Ambro cant really provide, however Abate and Janks can. If Pirlo is up further he can create better and that with improved crossing should result in more goals

Totally agree.

Gatusso surrounded by quality is the best destroyer around.
Gatusso surrounded by hasbeens and other defensive players is totally useless.

A midfield with Flamini and Jankulovski together would provide some much needed energy.

Siena, Livorno, Bari, Bologna...those were our opponents. We cant say we have good defence after those games. Our defence played great only vs Marseille away. Inter game showed what our defence can be when we open up a bit.

Fullbacks are simply horrible and are completely unsafe for the back line, as well as comical while going forward. Excapt for good cross by Abate now and then. Also from our reserve CB's we have Bonera who is an ok serie a player and Kaladze who is now complete joke for past 18 months or so.

There is no way of "figuning uot" the attack, becouse the players we have simply arent not good enough.

Samaldinho I apologise for the "girls" part.

Also, I onca again claim Pato is not guilty becouse of the reasons I explained already. And if its necessary I can explain them more in a more detail way. those who saw Fio-L'pool match in first 45min saw what a player like PAto ( Jovetic ) needs to play his game - space created by good and sharp movement of his teammates. Pato has nothing and is in "football depression". It happened to a lot of players when they played where they cant play their game.

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Totally agree.

Gatusso surrounded by quality is the best destroyer around.
Gatusso surrounded by hasbeens and other defensive players is totally useless.

A midfield with Flamini and Jankulovski together would provide some much needed energy.

The midfield i would like is Abate-Flamini-Janks, with Pirlo in front. The two outside guys have the ability to run and cross, and Flamini can control the middle of the pitch.

Originally Posted by pirlofanusa

The midfield i would like is Abate-Flamini-Janks, with Pirlo in front. The two outside guys have the ability to run and cross, and Flamini can control the middle of the pitch.

I think Seedorf in the 'deep playmaker' role where he doesnt need to run could be a revelation. But Id pay to see your formation too as it must be an improvement to any side that has Gatusso, Ambrosini, Seedorf and Ronaldhinio in all at the same time

Stoari signing a new deal. he has been great so far

one thing though, with Stoari around for a while can we dump Dida? he takes up space and doesnt contribute. no reason for 4 keepers + our U-21 keeper

You don't consider Marseille a top team?

They say the best defense is a good offense, well, our defense is having to make so many desperate saves and tackles, it's because the offense is not producing any sort of threat, nor are they sustaining pressure on the opposition's defense.

If you take out the game against Inter, we've only conceded two goals. You can talk about how Storari has saved us, but that's his job, plus, if you wanted to use that argument, than our defense is stronger than Juve's, because without Buffon they would have done far worse then they are. Let's not even mention Julio Cesar's heroics.

The defense is not ideal, nothing is ideal, but it is holding very firm. Is it down to just Nesta? Sure, he calms down the situations, but Zambrotta is very tough to beat, and I think he is being criticized like Buffon was last year, he's a victim of his own incredible standards.

I also do not think our midfield is perfect. What I am saying is that it is, at least, able to maintain possession or win it back. The issue is that now that we are playing a 4-3-1-2, without Seedorf as part of that midfield 3, we are becoming a very one dimensional team.

What I'm saying is that the very tough things to figure out: defensive solidity, midfield possession, we have that in spades. Our issue is that our midfield is not making anything happen when it comes to attack. The way Leonardo has setup this Milan team is to try and depend on that trequartista to do everything, rather than putting in players who can actually do something with the ball when they have it.

Look, if Milan can sustain pressure on another team, actually have shots on goal, things will turn around. Milan don't take shots from outside the box, it means that the other teams know that all we want to do is waltz into the box and try and make something. The defense of the other team learns this pattern, sits back, and just soaks up pressure. The fact that they just have disrupt Seedorf or Pato, means that Huntelaar has to run after scraps, and that forces Gattuso and Ambrosini to try and do something, and we all know they can't.

And while Storari is playing great, I don't want to give him a new deal, nothing long term. Maybe a year extension or something. The reason why we're in this mess today is because we give contracts out in times like this. If he plays well enough, let's sell him instead. Get rid of Dida.

Let's buy players who have potential, but aren't playing great, like Montolivo at Fiorentina. Pirlo's style of play, and career are eerily similar to Montolivo's. Why not go after Van der Vaart? Giovinco would be a dream. How about grabbing Santacroce, who even before being injured was hardly playing at Napoli? They're playing poorly, and I doubt that was the plan when they splashed the cash on those players.

However, for now, with the squad we have, I think Leonardo has two choices: He either plays the Christmas tree formation that Ancelotti used, or he has to put in more defensively sound fullbacks and provide more attacking options from midfield.

Play Zambro and Bonera on our sides, or Favalli. Janku has no business in defense, let him start in midfield. Oddo is actually pretty good at defense, his attacking is really letting him down though. Yes, he's not ideal, and I don't want to play him, but you obviously have no other option then. I know, let's try Antonini, and I agree, let's.

At the end of all this crap that I repeat over and over, Leonardo needs to take more risks. We are not giving the ball away because we're weak in the middle of the park or in defense, it's because you're asking Gattuso and Ambrosini to do something with the ball and that's not their job. Yes, the system Leonardo wants is heavily depdent on fullbacks attacking. They can't attack well, so give it up and adapt your team accordingly.

Honestly, a few players in, and I'm talking like 3-4, and Milan can be a top team again. All we have to hope for is that this team can find the right formula to hold on until January. If nothing happens in the winter, then we're screwed, and I'll wait for the midtable finish with the rest of you guys.

Mrki, thank you for your apology. I'm sorry if I came off in poor taste, I appreciate your respect and I hope to underline that I have the same for you.

if we put a hungry lineup of players that really have a desire to do succeed we area a better team. put Bonera in, give Abate and Janks a shot as widemen in the midfield. Let Pirlo create up top.

TO be fair, I really don't think Milan's defense is rock solid. As they only really played against one side with quality strikers-Inter. Which resulted in 4-0 and it could have been more. Siena and Livino will most likely be relegated or fighting relegation. Bari is a newly promoted side and Udinese and Bolgona are at best mid table clubs. Saying that the defense can hold firm against them and be proud of it is really dropping the expectation of MIlan. Milan should have destroy them all with clean sheet and have 15 pts not 8pts while only scoring 3 goals.

The only good game that Milan played this season was in CL. And I think that had alot to do with being a CL game and trying to show the world that the team is not finish after losing 4-0 to Inter and drawing Livino, on top of that Marseille did not have good strikers.

The defense is weak as it lacks speed on to cover ground in the FB.
Midfield lacks movement and speed-no point having 90% possession in the game if those possession is not in the final 3rd of the opponents half.
Strikers do not have the support or space to play.

The only good thing is Storari, if I am Lippi I would even call him up.

I like your formation pirlofan, that would add a lot of energy to our midfield. Now this whole issue of the team not performing offensively---I think it is something to be expected. Think about it, who was our offense in years past? It was Kaka. Games like these against Bari, etc, Kaka would single-handedly tear apart their defense, feed the ball to Pato/Pippo who would score, and then we scrape through with a 1-0 scoreline.

I blame the management completely for not forseeing this and correcting the situation. Dinho and Kaka are not similar at all, technically. We lost a player like Kaka, least we could do would be to buy a young, fast player to replace him, rather than depend first on Dinho, and now on Seedorf to replace him. This team has no one who can switch gears in attack---this is essentially the problem. So unless the whole team finds a new way to play, I can't see how Seedorf/Pirlo/Dinho can break down stubborn serie A defenses.

Originally Posted by rt9

I like your formation pirlofan, that would add a lot of energy to our midfield. Now this whole issue of the team not performing offensively---I think it is something to be expected. Think about it, who was our offense in years past? It was Kaka. Games like these against Bari, etc, Kaka would single-handedly tear apart their defense, feed the ball to Pato/Pippo who would score, and then we scrape through with a 1-0 scoreline.

I blame the management completely for not forseeing this and correcting the situation. Dinho and Kaka are not similar at all, technically. We lost a player like Kaka, least we could do would be to buy a young, fast player to replace him, rather than depend first on Dinho, and now on Seedorf to replace him. This team has no one who can switch gears in attack---this is essentially the problem. So unless the whole team finds a new way to play, I can't see how Seedorf/Pirlo/Dinho can break down stubborn serie A defenses.

thanks, I feel that the added energy should allow for more chances on offense and more scores. It would hopefully give us width and crossing, which can make a world of difference. I still think we need a few more players to become a great team, but we can be good with our current players if used properly.

And I dont know who said it, but if I was Lippi, Stoari would be my third choice keeper right now. He has been very good, he should remain first choice for the remainder 0f the season. We need to find a way to dump Dida and his wages, we have too many keepers right now, and he is at best our third best keeper

Look, Milan can only play against those in front of us. Saying that the only reason we beat Marseille, is because their strikers our poor, we could say the same thing. If Pato and Dinho could actually do something with the ball, besides lose it, then we probably could have beat Udinese, Livorno, and Bari.

Have you noticed that we haven't been conceding from set plays anymore? Sure, there is every chance that Zurich will now score on a setplay, but, honestly, in comparison to our pre-season methods, things are very different.

The issue is that we've yet to have a settled formation, and our attack has changed continuously even this early in the season.

We are inconsistent, but so are our formations and tactics. The only constant tactic is that teams know that they simply have to cut off the line from midfield to Seedorf/Dinho and it will ultimately isolate our strikers.

Our lack of speed is not exactly the issue. Even when Flamini and Abate are in the midfield, with Pato upfront, there still isn't some sudden openness to Milan's play. We lack a central midfielder with the ability to pass, and no, I'm not talking about Pirlo's stupid lobs over the back four.

Now we are seeing Milan when they are playing constantly, and that Leonardo is pretty conservative, and doesn't take any risks in the game. He trusts his gameplan to work, I think he knows how to close out games, but he does not know how to chase a win properly.

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Totally agree.

Gatusso surrounded by quality is the best destroyer around.
Gatusso surrounded by hasbeens and other defensive players is totally useless.

A midfield with Flamini and Jankulovski together would provide some much needed energy.

It's worth a try but I don't think there is a formation that will magically make us a winning team. We have too many weaknesses.

3-5-2 could be great. But who would be the third world class defender alongside Nesta and Silva? Also, we don't really have good wingers.

When Beckham and Rafinha arrives, perhaps we can give it a shot.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/ac-mil...targets-347741

Just fly to Madrid, and check if we could sign VdV at lower price OR at least loan him for remaining of season !!!!