Milan-Catania Sunday 15:00

adiyah should just start a damn game!

Originally Posted by Aficio

So Borri is injured but we suffer from the lack of right winger again, oh, if Cacau was here

Lets just pray he will remain injured till the end of the season. Nothing personal Borrie, just that you are not good enough and we need H11 to get some REAL playing chance

i have been reading all the Catania players' declarations during this week and Mihajlovic's and i think their "over-confidence" should i say, could actually help us win this game easier than expected....they are just stopping short of saying they are the favorites to win this match...i'm not worried about their confidence, on the contrary...

as for us, it seems Borriello will make it, but i am sure Huntelaar will start as well so cheer up mzk
there is even talk that Bonera could be back on the bench this week
I'm just worried which match Thiago will be missing from now till the end of the season because he is still on that 1 yellow card away from suspension. i'm not sure which match to hope for, so i will just hope Bonera would be 100% fit by that time...we have no other choice

Regarding the formation, i think Leo will go on with the 1 DM until the end of the season unless some more injuries or suspensions hit the team.

I'm expecting a loss tomorrow for Inter that will allow us to go level on points with them & that will be enough drive for the players to win all their remaining matches for the season

FORZA MILAN

Inter lost a game and all Milan had to do - under no pressure - was to beat Parma to go top in Serie A... we all know how it ended. That is just unacceptable by all standards.

This team is weak psychologically too and lacks motivation. Since Leo came in he has instilled some sort of motivation but still, they need alot more IMO.

Originally Posted by mzk57

Lets just pray he will remain injured till the end of the season. Nothing personal Borrie, just that you are not good enough and we need H11 to get some REAL playing chance

Well said zeekay, very well said.

Originally Posted by mzk57

Lets just pray he will remain injured till the end of the season. Nothing personal Borrie, just that you are not good enough and we need H11 to get some REAL playing chance

Well said zeekay. Very well said.

On a more serious note, Hunt needs to play against Catania, injured B22 or not.

"Our strikers play too far away from the goal. How can we score goals playing like this?" sulked Papa Berlu.

Great, exactly the kind of comment that we need.

If you decide to leave Leo, I'll understand. The owner's brain is too small for your big ideas.

Originally Posted by Nalx

"Our strikers play too far away from the goal. How can we score goals playing like this?" sulked Papa Berlu.

Great, exactly the kind of comment that we need.

If you decide to leave Leo, I'll understand. The owner's brain is too small for your big ideas.

It's funny Berlu says that given it's obvious our problems of late are down to our squad more than anything, which he is partly responsible for.

Firstly, our midfielders and attackers need to attempt more shots at goal. Dinho rarely seems to try and shoot, which given the shots he can produce is almost criminal he doesn't try more. Then Pirlo and Seedorf rarely shoot from outside the box. Again, both players have good long shots and it's shocking they don't try more. The only midfielder in our side that does seem to try shooting frequently from outside the box is Flamini.

Next we lack a direct replacement for Pato. With Pato we tend to have a player who will get behind defenders and into the box to score frequently during a match. Our other alternatives (Mancini and Abate for example) don't do this much at all, often leaving just the odd player in the box. When 2 strikers are played (i.e. Borriello and Huntelaar) you will see more players in the box.

However, this leads to our next problem. Neither Borriello, Inzaghi and Huntelaar are consistent enough. Borriello has all the qualities we need from our forward, but the number of clear chances he misses isn't good enough. The other two are more reliable in front of goal, but often disappear in matches making it difficult for deeper players to find a reference point up front.

I could keep going on about our problems, but the point is Berlu has no right to complain about our play given what Leo has to work with. Even the players themselves acknowledge we're not a great side. Ambrosini earlier this season made a comment about us lacking what other squads have and Pirlo within the last day or two has said that this season is more of a transition.

Originally Posted by Aficio

Actually, I want CSKA eliminate Inter and Bayern at least advance on par with Inter.

UEFA coeficient after this season will be valid in 11/12, not 10/11 (next season) (1)

Our chance to win Scudetto is very small but the CL spot for next year is almost secured. We have +12 distant with 4th now. (2)

(1) and (2) mean we have the chance to play and earn money in CL next year and must invest to be competitive in Serie A to secure CL spot the year after (when there'd be only 3 spots).

About Catania. Mihajlovic makes this team a very tough opponent. However, away from Sicilia, they can't maintain good form. 5 recent away matches resulted 1 win, 2 draws, 2 losts. With concentration, we can win them in San Siro:

------------------------Dida--------------------------
--Abate--------Fava--------Silva----------Anto--
-----------Pirlo---------------------Ambro----------
-----------------------Seedorf-----------------------
---------------------------------------Dinho---------
--Hunter---------------Borri------------------------


Borri can't dance in Catania's defense like Cagliari, the connection between him and Seedorf may be cut, but we still have Dinho & Hunter. They cant stop all four of them.

I expect a win.

Forza Milan!!!

agree, but sometimes they play like they don't have to be stopped, they're stopping themselves

anyway, think it will be close win for us. FORZA MILAN

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

It's funny Berlu says that given it's obvious our problems of late are down to our squad more than anything, which he is partly responsible for.

Firstly, our midfielders and attackers need to attempt more shots at goal. Dinho rarely seems to try and shoot, which given the shots he can produce is almost criminal he doesn't try more. Then Pirlo and Seedorf rarely shoot from outside the box. Again, both players have good long shots and it's shocking they don't try more. The only midfielder in our side that does seem to try shooting frequently from outside the box is Flamini.

Next we lack a direct replacement for Pato. With Pato we tend to have a player who will get behind defenders and into the box to score frequently during a match. Our other alternatives (Mancini and Abate for example) don't do this much at all, often leaving just the odd player in the box. When 2 strikers are played (i.e. Borriello and Huntelaar) you will see more players in the box.

However, this leads to our next problem. Neither Borriello, Inzaghi and Huntelaar are consistent enough. Borriello has all the qualities we need from our forward, but the number of clear chances he misses isn't good enough. The other two are more reliable in front of goal, but often disappear in matches making it difficult for deeper players to find a reference point up front.

I could keep going on about our problems, but the point is Berlu has no right to complain about our play given what Leo has to work with. Even the players themselves acknowledge we're not a great side. Ambrosini earlier this season made a comment about us lacking what other squads have and Pirlo within the last day or two has said that this season is more of a transition.

Agree with you 100% bro.

Berlu must have already signed a pre-contract with Allegri....

For me, a tough match this, and the pressure of winning when we need to, is a major issue for this team....so I think, especially if we know Inter had dropped/is dropping points, then we will as well....the steel, the nerve, the backbone of this side is absent....so we win when there is no pressure.....

While I hope we win, I will remain with a pragmatic outlook and think that we will drop points, if not lose...

Unless Catania are brave and play an open attacking game (which I doubt will happen) and as such leave some space for our forwards, we wont score, or score enough to compensate for our blunder or two which prevents us from keeping the clean sheets we should.

An early goal is what we need to force them to play this way....but...how often do we do that, and keep a clean sheet?



FORZA MIIIILAN!!! (regardless )

From football-italia.com:

Serie A Week 33 - 11/4/10 (14.00 UK)
Milan - Catania

Stadio Meazza

“We have six Finals to play!” That was Ronaldinho’s midweek comment and the first of those for Milan comes against a Catania side full of enthusiasm.

Despite their recent wobbles, the win in Sardinia last weekend has really boosted morale in the Milan camp. Still in third, the Rossoneri realise they have nothing left to lose and they need to go for broke if they are to achieve top-spot by the end of the season.

With this in mind Coach Leonardo is likely to deploy a similar attacking formation to the one that defeated Cagliari. On Thursday he conducted extensive tactical training that again featured a front line of Marco Borriello with Klaas Huntelaar and Ronaldinho either side of him. Behind them there should be a roaming Clarence Seedorf, and further back Andrea Pirlo and Massimo Ambrosini.

The defensive department remains the biggest problem for the Rossoneri because of the numerous injuries. With Dida in goal, Giuseppe Favalli will once again feature alongside Thiago Silva. Gianluca Zambrotta is currently favoured for the right above Ignazio Abate, and Luca Antonini should conserve his position at left-back. An encouraging note could be the return of Daniele Bonera to the bench.

Catania are currently on cloud nine! Their victory against Palermo in the Sicilian Derby will almost undoubtedly be the most memorable moment of the season – but not to forget that the Rossazzurri have also recently defeated Inter and Fiorentina. They are in excellent form coming into this weekend and need just a few more points to ensure safety.

One man they will be missing is Jorge Martinez who left the derby with an injury. From the side’s midweek friendly we can expect Mariano Izco to move forwards from his usual midfield position and act as a replacement. This will be facilitated by the return of Ezequiel Carboni who should start in central midfield with Marco Biagianti moving to the left side and Adrian Ricchiuti retaining his position on the right.

Changes of personal at the back too with Matias Silvestre banned. Nicolas Spolli should join Christian Terlizzi in the middle and Alessandro Potenza looks likely to replace Pablo Alvarez in the right-back position.

Keep an eye on: Maxi Lopez (Catania) – Two goals against Palermo have made the Argentine the talk of Catania and with Martinez out inured the side will look to him to produce the goods again. He has already scored against Inter this season and this week expressed a firm desire to get an important goal at San Siro, so he’ll be undoubtedly looking to take advantage of the frail Milan back-line.

Last five in Serie A: Milan (W D L D W) Catania (W D W L W)

Last season: Milan 1-0 Catania


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Milan (probable): Dida; Zambrotta; Thiago Silva; Favalli; Antonini; Pirlo; Ambrosini; Seedorf; Huntelaar; Borriello; Ronaldinho

Catania (probable): Andujar; Potenza; Spolli; Terlizzi; Capuano; Ricchiuti; Carboni; Biagianti; Izco; Maxi Lopez; Mascara

Ref: Orsato

Is Pato back? Seems like if our doctors are not shown the door, he'll never be back.

I had a totally weird dream last night
Merda lost 3-1
Roma lost 2-1
We were drawn 1-1 and at the stroke of half-time Dinho scores a wondergoal.

The only other time I'd had a dream like this, we won the CL in 2007, I wonder what it means.....?

Originally Posted by Ryo

I had a totally weird dream last night
Merda lost 3-1
Roma lost 2-1
We were drawn 1-1 and at the stroke of half-time Dinho scores a wondergoal.

The only other time I'd had a dream like this, we won the CL in 2007, I wonder what it means.....?

sorry to dissapoint you mate but were already out of CL