Banter 2009/2010

There are plenty of rumours but I wonder what we need to do with our squad to progress now. There are many names being mentioned constantly, but the recent fullback discussion made me wonder whether what we thought we needed at the start of the season is necessary for next season, as the team and many individuals have changed a great deal as the season has progressed.

Personally, right now I think we need rejuvenation, particularly this summer. However, many of the changes I'd propose would be to develop the squad than make major changes to the team. Here is an outline as to what I'm thinking we need:

Goalkeepers: Dida's doing well this season but as his contract ends this summer I think we should end the relationship. Keep Abbiati as first choice with Storari returning as first backup.

Defenders: This is where most work is needed. We have a lot of dead weight and I'd like to see this changed. The current back four should remain, with Abate and Antonini being evaluated whether they can take the responsibility of being first team players full time. If we decide they can't, we need at least one top quality fullback, but otherwise we'd need just one reliable backup, with Abate and Antonini starting and Zambrotta and someone new backing up.

Then we need at least one new CB, someone who can backup Nesta and Thiago. Bonera needs to get fit so we can rely on him.

We should reduce the number of poor defenders we have. Favalli, Oddo, Janku and Kaladze should no longer be a part of the squad imo. I would add Onyewu to the list but I feel there's only so many changes we can make.

Midfield: We need some changes given the average age here, but nothing wholesale I'd argue. Pirlo could retain the role he's played of late rotating with Seedorf. We do need to consider long term replacements for this role (maybe Hernanes?) and if need be I'd be willing to lose Seedorf for this. I would like to believe we have a ready made replacement in Di Gennaro, but he's not shown enough until now to show he's capable.

The DM roles should be rotated between Rino, Ambro and Flamini, with possibly someone new to be considered as a long term replacement for one of the former two. However, I'd be happy to keep Janku as a DM should we not get someone new. Flamini must be rotated with Ambro and Rino to allow him to grow into the side and play a more prominent role. He showed against Siena that he's capable of doing a decent job in Ambro's role.

Attack: We're going to lose Beckham in the summer and there's a fair possibility either Pippo or Huntelaar (maybe both) will leave. Therefore, we need a good alternative to Pato and Dinho (maybe two alternatives). However, I can imagine we'll still have Adiyiah and Di Gennaro, so maybe one good alternative is all that's needed.

Dzeko is rumoured to be coming and I think he'd be really useful. However, given Borriello's form and if he can keep it up (and hopefully score more often against top quality opposition) then I'm not going to lose sleep if Dzeko doesn't come. We would need a player should either Pippo or Hunter leave.

My biggest hope would be that we can continue to see Abate, Antonini and Borriello continue to grow in their roles in the side. If that happens our needs are greatly lessened and we'd need 4-5 good squad players to come in, but not necessarily starters. Compared to the arguments of what we need back in the summer, it's amazing to see how much Leo has turned things around at Milan.

Also, one of my biggest concerns was the average age of our side, but with these considerations and potential changes, we could expect to see an average age of 29 with both Ambro and Rino starting and 28 if Flamini is in place of one of those two. Not bad if you ask me.

come on !! chill out

dzeko is comming firstly and on the other hand consider this year like a year we have to estimate our material better find a new playing style and i believe the tranfers will come when we really know what kind of player we need leonardo knows better than us and i dont believe if he really want a player galiani will stop him, if we had gorcuff on team maybe we wouldnt be on all on these discusions cause is the only piece missing from this years puzzle ,i am very happy with milan at the moment and i believe we will be more happy on sunday the only thing i feel bad for is that this year have to be the year after athens final we lost 2 seasons

ancelotti is good coath but hes team and game was over we lost many chances to built new milan in these 2 years i believe we are in very goood way now and we will built a healthy winning and full of style team just be patient!

Milannews.it reports that we're thinking about swapping Jankulovski with Baptista, even though Braida denied it. I wouldn't mind this at all, even though most people don't rate Baptista anymore. Still, he's a bit like Ronaldinho, can't really forget how great he was back in Sevilla before Real Madrid did what ever they do to destroy players.

If it's a swap with Jankulovski then I don't see why not, he would be a nice alternative to Seedorf up front. He's been pretty good for Brazil when I've seen him play, even though he's been crap in Roma.

everything depends on how much money there is to spend.
IMO we should start with:
1) Right fullback (Antonini is doing great on the left, Abate aint a RB for me, maybe, just maybe when Abate is really making big improvements a backup instead of a starter RB is ok.)
2)Central defender! a good to great central defender as backup for nesta and silva, it would be best if he could also play as a fullback or def mid or something to give him some playing time when nesta and silva are fit.
3)winger backup. a good winger who can replace pato or dinho... we have nobody right now. becks will be gone so...
4) for the rest we just need to replace the players that will leave, flamini? huntelaar?

The central defence can be fixed...and it can be fixed easily and with not a lot of money. But there has to be the will by the club to make some serious changes, like it's been said here.

Astori can be brought in instead of Kaladze. Santacroce can come in instead of Favalli. Santacroce has been outside of the headlines and outside of people's minds because he's been injured this whole season. But that doesn't mean that he lost his quality. Everyone that has watched him play knows that he has what's needed to eventually star in a great club. He should be back in the next few weeks so we'll see how this injury affected him. One thing is for sure though....his pricetag has gone down and Napoli won't take a lot of convincing to sell this summer. Also, there are the stories of the season in Ranocchia and Bonucci who are both co-owned by Genoa. Ranocchia is co-owned with Arezzo and Bonucci with Bari. Add to that Boccheti and Genoa owns 3 of the most promising CBs in the Italian game at the moment. I'm sure we can do something about at least one of them if we are not sold on Santacroce. We obviously saw this past summer that Genoa doesn't mind selling their best players. However, I am usually never for buying players after one good season or so.....but I am not asking for any of these players to be our starters. We have our starters (Nesta + Silva). So we can definitely use one of these to come in and slowly integrate in the team.

But with these two additions we'll have a CD consisting of : Nesta, Silva, Bonera, Santacroce(or one of the Bari CBs), Astori. You can add Onyewu in there, but what's the point. It's better if we let him leave so he can continue his career or maybe even use him to lower a price of another player. I just don't see a point of keeping him when we already have 5 CBs on the book. If there is ever a need for another one we can always turn to our youth system (Albertazzi as an example). After all that's the whole point of having a youth team anyway.

The fullback positions are different. A better evaluation should be done later on in the season. That's when we'll know if we need 1 or 2. Whether we need 1 of the highest quality or just a solid back up.....etc.......just like Dev said in his post. So I don't want to talk about them too much right now. It would obviously be great if we can get a world beater on one of the fullback spots....but who out there with that quality is available. (And I mean quality that would significantly make improvement over the performances of our current fullbacks and not just anyone that sounds good) Also, how much will we have to spend on that. There is a lot of questions for the fullbacks so even the speculations need to wait for this.

The midfield is tricky. We have quality there. It's obvious that when our midfielders feel like playing (motivated, in form) they can dominate a game against anyone. But then age comes into place and there is always that factor of what happens next year when they'll be 1 year older.....or what happens if the motivation is not there.....etc. So the best way for the midfield is to wait and see what'll be available out there and at what price.

About the forward positions. It's come out in the light that Rossi may leave Spain so he can be a great alternative, yet he will probably be expensive and a bit overpriced. But anyhow....someone that's been going around in my head is Barreto from Bari. Dzeko, I'm split on and I want to see what Boriello can do for the rest of this year. If he continues.....then as much as I really like Dzeko and think he is a great striker, what's the point of spending so much money on him. I mean, we will obviously need another CF if Huntelaar leaves but what I'm trying to say is that if Borriello continues this form then we don''t need to spend all our cash on a striker and maybe we can use some of that money to strengthen other areas of the team.



Just a thought.......Everyone likes Marchetti. And that's fine, I agree that he is a great GK. But someone that has been stealing the show this year (at least IMO is Bari's Gillet). This man has been impressive whenever I have seen Bari play this year. And the way it's worked out for me this season.....my channels tend to show Bari almost every weekend so I've seen a lot of footbal from them.

Astori will return FOR SURE,he is young(24)and does a good job in defence for Cagliari,and i think he will improve allot if he trains with our team(especially Nesta).Anyway i agree totally with Nefremo on the CB situation,the MGT has to fix it for once and for all.The best option is to get one of the Bari-players,Bonucci or Ranocchia.

I prefer Bonucci,i dont know why but i think he is more flexibel then Ranocchia.Ranocchia is a tall powerfull defender who is great in the air.But Bonucci is beter at building up the play despite also being great physiqual despite his young age.He really impressed me against Inter.

Dzeko should not come,if he comes it would the mercato would be over.I prefer getting a young CB,fullback and maybe young midfielder then one striker.Borriello is doing great,and yet we have to see what Huntelaar is REALLY capable off.

Nefremo on youre thoughts about Bari players: Barreto isnt Milan quality,i agree he is underrated,he could play at better teams at anytime,although Bari is already one of the best teams in Serie A.But he is nothing for us.About Gillet: The man is amazing!Everytime i saw him he made outstanding saves....but look at his age,already in the thirties.

I see no point of buying Gillet,and his age isnt the big factor,i prefer Abbiati.

Dutchie, you are right aboug Gillet. I just wanted to point out the fact that he's probably been Serie A's best GK this year, yet not many people have ever mentioned him in here and even on other websites.
So I wasn't really talking about buying him, although for me that's not because of his age. But because I believe that we already have a solid GK in Abbiati for next year. As for Gillet's age, I don't see an issue anyway. He's a GK and at 30, (31 in May) and in the form that he's in, he can easily give us another 3 years. Of course, assuming that he won't cost a lot. But anyhow, I don't think we should be looking at him as a purchase in the summer so it doesn't matter.

About Barreto....I only look to him as an alternative to Pato and Ronaldinho. Those two RIGHT NOW (of course everything changes with time and who knows what things will be like next September) are sure starters in their positions. So we should be looking at alternatives. Players that won't cost a fortune yet be reliable when called upon. Players that won't makes us shake in our pants if one of Pato or Ronaldinho is unavailable or we simply need to rotate. Right no it seems like Beckham is doing the job, but what happens when he leaves? We have NO players that can come in at those positions without significantly dropping our level of play. That's why I threw Barreto's name out there......because it would be ideal to sign a world beater to rotate with Pato and Ronaldinho (just an ex: Rossi), but we live in the real world and that won't happen.

So I agree with you again that Baretto is probably not the player that can go to a top club and set the world alight, but he is definitely the type of player that we can use on our flanks as an alternative. Someone that will play 10-15 games a year.

Adiyiah: "My idol is Inzaghi"
To be honest, from what I've seen of Adiyiah, he looks more like an Inzaghi type of player rather than a R80/Pato type of player. He has speed and good positional sense, but thats about it (after downloading games from the U20 world cup). However he really is nothing special at all.

Ljunberg rejects Livorno loan and reveals interest from several clubs.
I like this rumour and I think Ljunburg on loan till the rest of the season can be a very useful signing. He can play on either flank instead of Dinho and Pato and is more offensive than Beckham. He is also has great character and has had a very positive season in the MLS.

ljungberg is trash please no.....

GK, DIda will be finally gone, and Abbiatti and Stoari will be No.1 and No.2.

FB-Abate and Antonini are both doing great under the current system and thats what count. Yes, Abate might make a mistake here and there, but thats what young players do. Cesc, INesita, Ramos, Pato, Santon, they all make mistakes but that does not mean they are not good players. I think the FB position for Milan is fine, esp since Bonera(when fit), Zambro and Janku can all cover that area.
As for CB. We all know Favalli is retiring, Kala just lost interest in playing football, and Gouch-still don't know why he is with Milan but he will end up being in Milan. As Astori will come back as a backup, while the other backup is Bonera. I doubt the MGT will spend money on another backup CB as it just does not make sense. Since there are also Darmian and Albertazzi coming through the ranks.
DM-with the current system, MIlan needs two DM. As I see it, Gattuso, Ambro, Flamini and Janku already given Milan all they need in that area. Ofcourse, Flamini and Janku might leave this summer, and if that happens, I am sure there are plenty of younger and cheaper DMs out there who is willing to sit on the bench for MIlan and learn from Gattuso and Ambro.
CM-Seedorf and Pirlo, no need to do anything here as I doubt any of the two will be leaving in the summer.
The front three- Pato, Dinho and Borriello are locks in that area. I think the backup for the front three are where Milan needs to really look at. Personally, I am against the Dzeko move as it really takes away what Borriello is doing with Milan. I think Milan only need to sign someone who is capable of doing what Borriello is doing for the team, not necessary a big time striker but someone who is good enough to rotate with Borreillo.

At the moment, i don't think Milan will sign anyone(although i hope they sign a CB) in january..but if they did,(with Berlusconi you never knows) I hope they will sign a player that can play more than one position.In our defence scenario i think Criscito is the best solution for our defence.he can play CB,LB,even LM.If we can get him,i'm sure our defence will be well covered.

Originally Posted by slifersd

On the bright side, Filipez 182, we can't make bad signings when we don't sign anyone.

damn, can't really argue with that.

It is a good sign that we do not need to sign anyone ^^

Originally Posted by Aficio

It is a good sign that we do not need to sign anyone ^^

You are so wrong, it makes my wanna cry a little bit

Babel in Milano,Hunti in Liverpool this is good move.