ManU vs MILAN (2nd Leg March 10 )

Originally Posted by Reza

I feel like Blacktop but defending Leonardo instead of Dida

I join you. Leo is the last one to take the blame.

7 goals in two much that is too much a team like Milan to concede. Janku sorry man but you lost it, and leave, Favalli, Oddo should do the same. Other changes in the mis and attack.

Congrats to ManU. Deserved win.

Leo i think did all the right things, it just wasnt ment to be. We all agreed that we needed to play well and have luck to continue in this CL tourny and luck ran out.

Not a problem, In the begining of the year the final 16 was a very goood goal for us, max the final 8 but anyone else logically saying more would me very little.

Now 100% mind body and soul on Seria A. I hope we bounce back well and keep the hunt for our Scudeto alive.

Originally Posted by OCmilano

Congrats to ManU. Deserved win.

Leo i think did all the right things, it just wasnt ment to be. We all agreed that we needed to play well and have luck to continue in this CL tourny and luck ran out.

Not a problem, In the begining of the year the final 16 was a very goood goal for us, max the final 8 but anyone else logically saying more would me very little.

Now 100% mind body and soul on Seria A. I hope we bounce back well and keep the hunt for our Scudeto alive.

I think confidence will be back for next year in CL by winning many games in Serie A (and winning Serie A even if it will be difficult).

Leo can now focus on the championship and do the right choices without thinking about who will have to play on Tuesday/Wednesday.
One game each week-end.

It's the right moment to use each time Abate, Antonini if he can be fit (my first choice for a FB purchase this summer would go for the LB position because of the injuries of Antonini ... Don't want to see Jankulovski again in the starting XI), Flamini in midfield, and continue the rotation with Borriello/Huntelaar, and if they don't perform, put Inzaghi in. With Seedorf back and probably Pato back too, in Serie A, all the chances will be on our side.

PS: Despite this terrible evening, I won't be too pessimistic about our chances in Serie A.
PS1: Because of Fiorentina and Milan being out, I have to admit I will hope that Inter goes in 1/4, and depending on the result of Bayern, why not in semi-finals (which will also deconcentrate them from Serie A), but nothing more, come on, it's Inter, they can't win CL and noone here wants them to win anything actually.

And i just found out RM are out too. WOW now thats a tuff thing to swallow. LMAO. That much money spent and still nothing to show.

Ok guys here's how i see it. Tonight we were simply awful. i have followed Milan for 23 years now and this has been one of the worst performances i have witnessed in Europe. I do however want to make the following points:

Leonardo is not to blame. Best player sold. Requested reinforcements not bought in. Done brilliantly with what was at his disposal.

This time last year we were well out of the league (still don't expect to win the league this year but at least we are still close).

I'm pretty sure every Milan fan was expecting us to win nothing this year, myself included, and to be honest so far we have exceeded my expectations. (Didn't expect us to get past the group stage).

Berlusconi has not invested recently this is true, but i think it is not fair for us to criticise when he is ultimately the person who has bought us such great success over the years. We have to remember he is in charge of Italy and has to be seen to be sensible in times of economic instability. That being said I do believe that if he is a Milan fan and has their best interests at heart then he does need to become more involved again.

The majority of our players are too old or not good enough ANYMORE. I know everyone's list will be different as we all have our favourite players but i would say that Dida, Roma, Storari, Oddo, Jankulovski, Kaladze, Zambrotta Favalli, Inzaghi, all need to move on. The majority of them though have contributed to our successes and this should not be forgotten so quickly.

We need youth to be introduced. Tonight, against Inter (both games) and against Arsenal last year, we showed we have no pace and lose out to the majority of the 50/50 balls.

Unfortunately football goes in cycles and Barcelona were completely dominant last year but this year are not performing as the same team. We have seen this in the past with Milan, Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Galliani is also limited in his role with the funds at his disposal.

We sold our best player and never replaced him. But if UEFA do manage to put a rule in place where teams can only compete in Europe if they are financially sound, then the sale would have been well worth it. This remains to be seen though and i'm hoping Berlusconi and Galliani know something we dont.

Basically what i'm trying to say is that this is not the best time for Milan but i do believe and hope that within a couple of years we will be a force to be reckoned with again.

Forza Milan and best wishes to you all

7th of April 2004: Deportivo 4-0 Milan
Milan is horribly out of the competition.

The following year will see one of the best Milan teams ever (despite that loss in final, we just missed one half in CL and it was in the wrong game), competing on all fronts (even if at the end of the season, there will actually be no title unfortunately), and allowing his fans to see one of the best football ever with a very attacking team.

10th of March 2010: Manchester 4-0 Milan
Milan is horribly out of the competition.

The rest still needs to be written. Let's hope for better days ...

Now it time for Inter to be knocked out.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

7th of April 2004: Deportivo 4-0 Milan
Milan is horribly out of the competition.

The following year will see one of the best Milan teams ever (despite that loss in final, we just missed one half in CL and it was in the wrong game), competing on all fronts (even if at the end of the season, there will actually be no title unfortunately), and allowing his fans to see one of the best football ever with a very attacking team.

10th of March 2010: Manchester 4-0 Milan
Milan is horribly out of the competition.

The rest still needs to be written. Let's hope for better days ...

Thumbs up

We might have been full strength against United at San Siro, but who would have thought that of all the players, Nesta would have a shocking game? Furthermore, in the game against United, once Antonini was injured, and Favalli was our LB, that is when Man Utd started scoring, coincidence? I think not.

If Nesta, Pato, and Antonini were in our lineup today, I think it would have been a very different game. We were just missing critical players, and to say that "we're not good enough" is laughable, because in the first leg, we showed that we were the far superior team, and only shot ourselves in the foot, and again, had to use our FOURTH CHOICE 38 YEAR OLD LB.

So, do we need massive reinforcement? With the return of Astori, Paloschi, Marcus, next year, I would say no (mostly because of Astori and Paloschi), but it is clear that while Flamini will replace Gattuso (FINALLY) I think we need to make peace with the fact that Ambro (who has been pretty good this season, to be honest) is also coming to an end.

The funny thing is, we're talking about our "old squad" when our squad wasn't even that old. Borri 27, Hunt 26, Abate 23, Bonera 28, Thiago 25, Flamini 26, Dinho 29, Pirlo 30, Janku 32, Ambro 32, Abbiati 32.

Clearly the problem today wasn't age, the funny part is that the commentators said Milan was "using youth opposed to Man Utd's experience" and then, the commentator than later said (as we were losing) "Milan is old now.." WHAT THE HELL!?

Today was about who Milan was fielding today. When you are playing 3/4 choice LB, 2/3 choice RB, backup CB, and a ST as a RW, you have problems, no matter WHAT team you are.

We need some new players, that's true, but they wouldn't have made a difference if they were injured, would they? So, to say that Milan is finished, average, or old, is just parroting the arguments of stupid English pundits who don't know jack about football to begin with.

I can't believe that I have to defend Milan from Milan fans. We lost today, and it was a shameful performance, but, Christ Allmighty, any team missing that many players, going against a full strength opponent at this level, will have a tough time.

So I couldn't stomach to watch the entire game, but it seemed Flamini did very well in attack. People complain about Leo's tactics for two DM but Flamini did well to squeeze between Evra and Vidic on many occasions (esp in the first half). I can remember a few times him connecting with a diagonal cross field pass and knocking that ball in front of goal towards Hunter and Borri.

One thing that I really noticed about this match is Hunter and Borri can't create anything for themselves. Whether it be space to shoot or set up the pass. It seems that the only goals they score are when Ronnie kicks the ball at them and they direct it at goal. Anyone else notice this? That is why I think we miss Pato most. He is explosive and can create. Not only does he stretch the defense but tilts the table like Ronnie. You can't leave Pato out there 1v1 or he'll beat his man. While our other strikers (including Pippo) can only kill you in front of goal.

If our squad was deeper, however, one line up that I would have loved is Abate in for Hunter playing Pato's role. This way we could keep our normal 433 lineup and Ronnie vs Neville would have really helped us. The problem was Ronnie ended up playing an old Kaka role and drifting behind the strikers and when that hapens he runs out of space too easily.

All in all, no squad depth combined with age (we did just play on Saturday people) led to the scoreline. I think Ambro's game becomes especially worse after these short rest games. The type of game he plays, you have to be in your mid twenties to play that many games on short rest.

Guys, our squad is good but it's just old. If we had 1 week rest like ManU in the first leg, I have a feeling this would have been very different. That's the game we love though.

We need to reorganize the defense line.
ACM always lost goals to the lower portion of Series A.
How come our defense line may against MU??????????

No way!!!

I feel that Flamini has all the potential to be a big name, if developed right. He can run, he can pass and he can shoot. He just needs to improve on some details and avoid reckless tackles, he could become a very useful member in the team, but I am annoyed that Leonardo hasn't shown much interest in using him.

I read that Aly Cissokho was the MoM against Real Madrid. Amazing how we tried to skimp on 3 million (if I remember correctly, Galliani would take him with a reduced transfer fee of 12M?) and ended up losing a gem. Lol at Real Madrid crushing out of CL as well.

I don't think that we could win the Scudetto. We should definitely try, but it will be harder than overturning the 2-3 deficit against ManU. After all, it was only one game and the serie A has so many left. But we should definitely give our best efforts. speaking of which, I am disappointed that many Milan players today didn't seem to care that much today.

I have mixed feelings about Leonardo. I don't think Guardiola is particulary better than Leonardo. I think he is blessed with many greater players, while Leonardo has to play Abate, Antonini, Bonera and worse, Favalli, Janku and Kaladze. Maybe Guardiola is still better, but I wouldn't know. That's an unfair comparison to even start with. But I don't like the fact that Leonardo is so mellow. He seems to listen to everyone and tries to please everyone. Also, I agree with GeoTav that I couldn't understand why he would substitute Seedorf for Bonera. I would rather that he took off Borriello, or Ambrosini, or even Pirlo, but Bonera had to stay on pitch. Bonera wasn't great at all today, but considering the two fullbacks we had on pitch, we had to have at least someone that remotely knows how to defend, other than Silva. That second goal killed off any suspense that still remained. Also, seeing the lack of enthusiasm, he should've inserted Inzaghi and Beckham earlier. If the scoreline was still 0-1, I really think we stood some chance. When it was 0-2, it was basically over already, but I really thought Man United wouldn't extend the lead. Was I wrong.

I was disappointed in the absences of Pato and Nesta. I almost thought (even though I knew it wasn't possible) that they were deliberatly avoiding to play. We somehow just "magically" missed both these two players when we needed them the most, against Inter and against ManU. We had no real chance without them.

Still, Huntelaar's mistake was costly. How come he didn't shoot was beyond me; he tried to control the ball yet ended up passing the ball to van der Sar; if it was Rooney, it would be a totally different story. Had we been 1-0 up, we might be able to steal another goal, and you never know how it would end. This is football, and football is crazy. But I don't want to be too harsh on him, as I do know that even he did score and we had 0-1, we still need much luck to eliminate Man United. Huntelaar seems to have some potential, but he just can't settle into the system. I feel that he would be sold, that is, if Milan was to be ambitious again.

Ambrosini disappointed me very much. Janku didn't exactly. He was invisible, but I knew that he was completely done, so no expectation, no disappointment. We were like playing like one man down with Janku.

Abbiati didn't exactly pull of any fantastic save either. I can't help wondering what if Dida got to play tonight? Could he have helped us through? Just curious.

Borriello just doesn't have what it takes to be a big star, but somehow I felt that if Ancelotti was still at helm and Kaka was still in the team, that he would have done much better. I still want Dzeko.

I think players like Seedorf, Beckham, Pirlo still have a few (good) years in them if used properly, but if Milan wanted to start a new era, big changes must be made, however painful that might be. Galliani is useless anyway, but Berlusconi should know better. If he however has lost the passion, I think he should do the right thing and sell the club. I am sure that Milan has a lot of sincere buyers.

I think I am going to support Chelsea for the rest of the tournament, but they are having some difficult time with Essien, A. Cole, Cech out. I just don't want Barcelona or ManU closing up on our record of 7. Lol again at Real Madrid after spending 230 million this summer. I visited some of their forums, and you can imagine how vile they are cursing Kaka.

I am not calling for a change of coach, but I think if we have to, the Cagliari coach Allegri seems intelligent and tactically savvy. It is worth a try. I would certainly not feel happy if we try to bring people like Donadoni, Sacchi, or Lippi, especially Donadoni. On the managerial level, I think Galliani is useless, and my only recommendation could be a totally inappropriate and unethical candidate – Moggi.

Today’s game was so depressing that after 70 minutes, even a blind man could see that we couldn’t turn it around already. I finished watching the whole game only because that it is a fan’s moral obligation.

How many more years should we wait before we can go back to old times like 1988-1997, 2003-2007? It could be really long even if we started this summer, but it definitely would be never if we didn’t start; unfortunately, after the many summers, I start to believe that Berlusconi and co might not do anything still. If we are lucky, we might have Kaka back on loan (OK, that was sarcastic, I don’t think even Real Madrid would be that crazy and stupid).

Now, cheers.

Originally Posted by Samaldinho

We might have been full strength against United at San Siro, but who would have thought that of all the players, Nesta would have a shocking game? Furthermore, in the game against United, once Antonini was injured, and Favalli was our LB, that is when Man Utd started scoring, coincidence? I think not.

If Nesta, Pato, and Antonini were in our lineup today, I think it would have been a very different game. We were just missing critical players, and to say that "we're not good enough" is laughable, because in the first leg, we showed that we were the far superior team, and only shot ourselves in the foot, and again, had to use our FOURTH CHOICE 38 YEAR OLD LB.

So, do we need massive reinforcement? With the return of Astori, Paloschi, Marcus, next year, I would say no (mostly because of Astori and Paloschi), but it is clear that while Flamini will replace Gattuso (FINALLY) I think we need to make peace with the fact that Ambro (who has been pretty good this season, to be honest) is also coming to an end.

The funny thing is, we're talking about our "old squad" when our squad wasn't even that old. Borri 27, Hunt 26, Abate 23, Bonera 28, Thiago 25, Flamini 26, Dinho 29, Pirlo 30, Janku 32, Ambro 32, Abbiati 32.

Clearly the problem today wasn't age, the funny part is that the commentators said Milan was "using youth opposed to Man Utd's experience" and then, the commentator than later said (as we were losing) "Milan is old now.." WHAT THE HELL!?

Today was about who Milan was fielding today. When you are playing 3/4 choice LB, 2/3 choice RB, backup CB, and a ST as a RW, you have problems, no matter WHAT team you are.

We need some new players, that's true, but they wouldn't have made a difference if they were injured, would they? So, to say that Milan is finished, average, or old, is just parroting the arguments of stupid English pundits who don't know jack about football to begin with.

I can't believe that I have to defend Milan from Milan fans. We lost today, and it was a shameful performance, but, Christ Allmighty, any team missing that many players, going against a full strength opponent at this level, will have a tough time.

Injuries are normal things in professional sports.

2007, we played MU without Rio & Vidic in OT, and a just recovered Vidic in San Siro. So we can not complain about injuries now.

MU, Arsenal, Inter are better club than us. Our first team might have some advantages but in general, not. And there are Barca, Real, Chelsea, Bayern.

They have good squad, good plan for future, wise in investment.

And begin from this season, we do have good plan, tying the wage budget, introduction of young players (Italian, too), preparing for the 6/5 rule. Late is better than never.

Looking in the future, I am hopeful. However, watching Milan lose like this, I can't help but feel bitter.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

7th of April 2004: Deportivo 4-0 Milan
Milan is horribly out of the competition.

The following year will see one of the best Milan teams ever (despite that loss in final, we just missed one half in CL and it was in the wrong game), competing on all fronts (even if at the end of the season, there will actually be no title unfortunately), and allowing his fans to see one of the best football ever with a very attacking team.

10th of March 2010: Manchester 4-0 Milan
Milan is horribly out of the competition.

The rest still needs to be written. Let's hope for better days ...

There is a difference. The loss at Deportive was actually shocking and totally unexpected, while we had a huge squad to kill them 4-0 even at their home, so there wasn't really any rebuilding necessary. In that summer, we only bought Gilardino and Stam. Today's loss was kind of expected, and if we wanted to rebuild, that would be a huge task.

But I appreciate your optimism.