AC Milan vs Manchester United: 17 Feb

Yea Geo I noticed that too, but I don't think we should return to the past. Kaka seems to be a very different player kinda like when Sheva left.

I don't agree with you on one thing though, in the other thread you claim that Pato will make a fool of Evra. Honestly, last night Evra was the one who stopped Pato for most of the time and Pato was inexistent...and when he managed to dribble, he just gave them back the ball with a stupid silly pass. Pato needs to step up his game more than most of the other players because he is our rising star. I hope we have Oddo and Zambrotta back for the return leg, and a fresh Pippo and Seedorf to start.

Someone should open a thread for the next game I'm not going to... I can't handle the responsibility!

Pato should lern to dribble left. Two times, two times the same thing. Run - dribling- and go right. And every time Evra was ready for that. So, by the second chance, if he just went left, Evra would be out, because Evra was on his left foot to go left (Pato right side) and the only way how he could stop then Pato would be a foul for yellow and penalty.

Originally Posted by hitmannq8

Yea Geo I noticed that too, but I don't think we should return to the past. Kaka seems to be a very different player kinda like when Sheva left.

I don't agree with you on one thing though, in the other thread you claim that Pato will make a fool of Evra. Honestly, last night Evra was the one who stopped Pato for most of the time and Pato was inexistent...and when he managed to dribble, he just gave them back the ball with a stupid silly pass. Pato needs to step up his game more than most of the other players because he is our rising star. I hope we have Oddo and Zambrotta back for the return leg, and a fresh Pippo and Seedorf to start.

Someone should open a thread for the next game I'm not going to... I can't handle the responsibility!

It's because for me, it's not Evra who stopped Pato but Pato who had a bad game and was probably not fit enough to be decisive in this game ...

Anyway, for the return leg, maybe Leo should use the "old" Christmas Tree (not exactly the same as Ronaldinho would go on the left), just for once, with Ronaldinho and Seedorf behind Pato + Borriello and/or Huntelaar ready on the bench to come helping Pato up front if needed (which means if MU score before us or if we lead 1-0/2-1 or if the scoreline is 2/2/3/3/... at 10 minutes of the end of the game).

Originally Posted by ensar7

First of all, we need a 50 YEARS younger squad!!! This is the primary target of Milan.

fun fact. With the starting lineups our average age was 28,5 and uniteds 28,6

Originally Posted by Iggy

fun fact. With the starting lineups our average age was 28,5 and uniteds 28,6

Erm, I dunno where you got that from but Man U's average age of starting lineup was 27.5 and Milan's was 29. We had one player under 25, and they had four, Van der Sar alone pushes up their average coz he's 39.

One positive at least for the game at Old Trafford is that we'll both be at 4 days rest. I think that hurt us especially with the high intensity game that ManU play. Also we had Pato just starting to get back into the rhythm of first team and you could tell he was rusty losing the ball more often than he normally does and not connecting with JKH.

All in all, it'll definately be a tough away but with our boots tied a bit tighter we can put them to rest at home. Funny how teams always seem to come back when the other team doesn't capitalize on their easy chances. That always happens. Arrrgggh!

I hope to never see Dida in our goal again!!!

Originally Posted by Baggio10

the cancer is the same of years before DIDA, WTH is Dida doing in the team, and he won about 3-4 millions Gimme a "·$·% break.

I'm sick of reading immature crap like this. He wasn't great last night but Nesta screwed up more often than he did, but as we all know it's anathema to criticize him in any manner.

If Abbiatti pulled the exact same s--t last night he'd be getting a free pass.

Originally Posted by Blacktop

I'm sick of reading immature crap like this. He wasn't great last night but Nesta screwed up more often than he did, but as we all know it's anathema to criticize him in any manner.

If Abbiatti pulled the exact same s--t last night he'd be getting a free pass.

Mate, people are frustrated for a good reason. Nesta made mistake at two goals, well Silva and him are guilty for a third because they let Rooney sneak in between them, but at the second goal, Dida should come of his line and punch the ball (did anyone saw Frey tonight?), and at the first goal his reaction was miserable. Nesta wasn't good, yes, but that was his first bad game this season, a everybody has the right for bad day.

But Dida cost us too many times this season, in almost every CL game. I will not mention first match against Real, because we won, but his bad handling cost us two points against Real in second match, his mistake cost as two points against Marseille, too.

The thing is, a keeper like Dida has nothing to do in a team like Milan, even on the bench (Storari is MUCH better, btw.), let alone starting 11.

Originally Posted by Iggy

fun fact. With the starting lineups our average age was 28,5 and uniteds 28,6

We have Over30: Abiatti, Dida, Roma; Oddo, Zambro, Nesta, Favalli, Kaladze, Jankulovski; Ambrosini, Ringhio, Pirlo, Seedorf, Beckham, Mancini; Pippo.

Now, who is Under30: GK - 0; defense: Abate, Antonini, Bonera, Oniewu(out for whole season), Thiago; Midfield: Flamini, Dinho; Attack: Pato, Klaas, Marco.
16 : 9
http://www.lega-calcio.it/it/Serie-A...n/Squadra.page

Do you still think that we have a young team? Do you now understand what does it mean 50 years younger team?

Thanks.

Just to clear out this average age thing, I thought I'd actually calculate it myself.

Dida - 36
Bonera - 28
Nesta - 33
Thiago - 25
Antonini - 27
Beckham - 34
Pirlo - 30
Ambrosini - 32
Pato - 20
Hunter - 26
Dinho - 29

Milan Average (mean): 29.1
Median: 29


VDS - 39
Rafael - 19
Ferdinand - 31
Evans - 22
Evra - 28
Nani - 23
Carrick - 28
Scholes - 35
Fletcher - 26
Park - 28
Rooney - 24

Manchester Utd Average (mean): 27.5
Median: 28

Which ever way you go about to calculate average, we were the older side. And I think that if we were to count in all of our players, we would be even older.

. . . I calculated based on their age, not on the year of birth. So maybe we just happen to have several players born january and february in comparison to Man Utd. This could theoretically even out the age gap. But the probability of this being the case isn't so elevated.

29 versus 27.5 is, honestly,hardly a big difference.

A very frustrating match. We should have won 4 or 5-0, but obviously things didn't workout as planned. It's not so much the players or the lineup that's at fault, I think our luck really was down, and the difference to a great victory and this loss was marginal.

We played a fantastic first half, we completely dominated right from the start and Dinho's goal, though a little fortunate was due to Utd's inability to handle our attack. We should have been 3-4 up at half time as we simply outplayed them in every department. Instead, we didn't take our chances and Utd scored the luckiest goal imaginable. As people said, it wasn't just the finish that was lucky, but the fact that Antonini's injury stretched us at that point in time badly.

The second half was very much us looking deflated. We didn't look as determined and mentally as strong as we had during the first half and we didn't look as dangerous. We conceded a weak second goal and after that I was really afraid things would go downhill. Obviously it got worse with Rooney's second, but we did improve and could have easily finished the match at 3-3, but again our finishing is what cost us.

Players..

Dida - I think we could have avoided the first two goals had he been more decisive.
Bonera - Solid at RB, a good performance and a good choice by Leo
Nesta - Not at his best, he particularly looked affected mentally when Utd scored and he had his mistakes
Thiago - Excellent, everywhere and was very dangerous going forward
Antonini - Great when he was on, unfortunately got injured
Pirlo - Controlled our game and limited Utd well
Ambro - Continued his form from this season, very well played
Beckham - Not always in the match, but his hard work and effort was useful. I still don't think he was a necessity to start.
Dinho - Unfortunate not to score more than 1, he was a big threat
Pato - Quiet game from him. I think he would benefit more if he had more movement around him as he often doesn't get much support and it's rare to see anyone ever moving to open up spaces for him
Hunter - Should have scored and wasn't always in the match. A little disappointing given we were such a threat
Seedorf - Great goal and worthy input in the side
Favalli - He struggled with Utd's wingers, unfortunately he couldn't take Antonini's place

We need to take our chances in matches like this. Utd had very few chances but they took almost every one. We had enough chances to score 10 goals yet didn't kill off the match when we should have. Also mentally we can't let ourselves drop in these matches. Like against Inter we became overwhelmed when things went badly and it took too long to recover.

I haven't given up on this tie though. We were excellent for much of the match and things simply didn't go our way. We were guilty of mistakes which Utd capitalized on, but we showed we're more than capable of pulling an upset in this tie.

This tie reminds me a lot of the last time we played Utd. They beat us 2-1 in the first leg back then capitalizing on injuries to Rino and Maldini. This time it was an injury to Antonini. However that time, like this time, we showed enough in the first match to believe we could go through. Another similarity is the press seem to have completely written us off again, just like last time, acting as though Utd are far superior than us following this win, despite the match being a very different affair. I believe the conclusion to this tie could be similar to last time too.

Dev, just a slight correction, last time it was a 3-2 win for them not a 2-1..however at that time, it meant 2 away goals for us and a 1-0 result in the return leg at the San Siro would suffice. This time we need to go to OT and win by 2 goals.

I do like the fact that we are completely written off. That's the fuel that this Milan works on. The more they underestimate us, the better for us.

Carrick's red card isn't a huge blow for them, they will simply play Park in midfield and play Nani and Valencia on the wings. They will also have Vidic back (major upgrade on Evans) and Giggs. Hopefully we will have Oddo, Zambrotta, Seedorf and Boriello back too (though I'd rather Inzaghi).

Game is in 3 weeks, let's hope we don't have any injured players by then. I definitely think we can do it. 2 goals against this Man U side isn't impossible, we could have scored 6 or 7 on Tuesday. I dont think they are better than us. If there is any team that can beat United at OT it is Milan (we are the last team to beat them there, I think). All we need to do as fans, is pretend Man U has already won it...that way - you can be certain of a great response by Milan.

Originally Posted by hitmannq8

Dev, just a slight correction, last time it was a 3-2 win for them not a 2-1..however at that time, it meant 2 away goals for us and a 1-0 result in the return leg at the San Siro would suffice. This time we need to go to OT and win by 2 goals.

I do like the fact that we are completely written off. That's the fuel that this Milan works on. The more they underestimate us, the better for us.

Carrick's red card isn't a huge blow for them, they will simply play Park in midfield and play Nani and Valencia on the wings. They will also have Vidic back (major upgrade on Evans) and Giggs. Hopefully we will have Oddo, Zambrotta, Seedorf and Boriello back too (though I'd rather Inzaghi).

Game is in 3 weeks, let's hope we don't have any injured players by then. I definitely think we can do it. 2 goals against this Man U side isn't impossible, we could have scored 6 or 7 on Tuesday. I dont think they are better than us. If there is any team that can beat United at OT it is Milan (we are the last team to beat them there, I think). All we need to do as fans, is pretend Man U has already won it...that way - you can be certain of a great response by Milan.

Sorry my mistake. Yes we have to go away and win this time, but I think we showed we are more than capable of it.

I found these statistics interesting, worth a look...

http://www.xtratime.org/forum/attach...2&d=1266358647

players' efforts in the game versus Manchester
http://www.voteplayers.com/Matches/A...2010-6882.aspx