Summer Mercato 2010

Originally Posted by tim_milan

It would be really nice to see if Allegri uses Merkel and Verdi this season more often than not coz they ve really impressed me in pre season so far. They need more playing time and if our bosses think that their pockets are torn, i say use these lads. We save money n also we get the reputation of using our youth which in my opinion would be fantastic.

P.S. Verdi would be a better striker than Boriello any day

we already know boriello is garbage. maybe we can give him back to genoa for someone. and for verdi and merkel we only saw them in two games, which were offensive games. miland doesnt really play like that. lets seee them vs pan..kos first before we decided that they are the future.

They looked good they are both only 18 Verdi just 18 and that is young , while against Inter Juve or Roma in the san siro with 85,000 thousand would be different but against Lecce and Cesna and Catania in our opening fixtures use tham, Im not saying play them for 90+ minutes but use them.

Originally Posted by Jay Crisp

They looked good they are both only 18 Verdi just 18 and that is young , while against Inter Juve or Roma in the san siro with 85,000 thousand would be different but against Lecce and Cesna and Catania in our opening fixtures use tham, Im not saying play them for 90+ minutes but use them.

agreed. take time an integrate them into the team.

Originally Posted by Aficio

ACMILAN1983: I like the idea of signing Kevin Prince Boateng not only because of his strength, but also his overall technique. However, raw strength is still something to regard.

Barcelona & Spain's successes have proved that technique dominance can win, but it is not undefeatable, no strategy or line-up is. If Holland have better attacking force with both Robben & Van Persi at 100% form, things might be different. Barcelona have had difficult against physical team like Chelsea or Inter.

But a team has it own character, it can not be both Barcelona & Inter at the same time.

It is good to be versatile, but you can not attack & defense at world class level at the same time, you can not have both the strength of Gattuso & skills of Pirlo. Sometimes, the cooperation of different specialists is better than some individual versatile ones.

Too versatile = none at best. 2, 3 positions most.

Of course, I like K.P. Boateng because he is versatile, too. But specialist is welcome, IMO.

I think, the biggest problem is not how many specialists or versatile players you have in a team, but how they can play as a team to bring the best our of the team.

If the coach has a good strategy & his players are at good form when working in it, he can win any match at his team's level.

PS: K.P. Boateng is OK with 7M.

I just want to clarify I wasn't saying you wanted Boateng for purely physical reasons and appreciate that he does have other qualities you like (and I agree with you). However, when you mentioned about his strength, it touched a subject which I have a lot of thoughts about.

Also, I agree that the physical preparation and strength of a player is very important to the balance of a team. My point was simply that this shouldn't be the most important factor when looking at a player (again, I'm not saying you did this).

No strategy is undefeatable, but my point was well prepared technically adept teams will generally come out on top of physical teams. Holland, Inter and Chelsea may not be as technically gifted as Spain or Barca, but let's not ignore the fact that all three teams have a lot of gifted players in their ranks. One reason I brought about this whole technique vs physique debate was in recent years there's been a trend in recent years to look for athletic players, at times at the expense of technical ability. Again, to use Sacchi's Milan as an example, people often said how strong and dominant that team was, and while from a perspective of fitness they were right, if you take out the dutch trio that team wasn't that big. Sacchi himself spoke about this and has said it was the ability of the players to press and squeeze space that made them seem so strong.

About specialists and versatile players, I'm not suggesting players should be a "Jack of all trades", as each player is unique and therefore will be better in some areas than others. I was suggesting that in the modern game, it's important to find players who can perform multiple tasks to a competent level, so we're not limited to playing in a single method with little flexibility in the system. I think the term "specialist" is a little misleading, as it might seem I'm saying players shouldn't have specialist qualities. Gattuso is a midfield destroyer and one of the greatest in the modern era. He is a player who will break down an opponents attacking move and retrieve the ball. However, I believe in the modern game, a player like Essien is more important than Gattuso. Essien is an excellent destroyer, but is also able to then play on the ball, unlike Gattuso who is quite limited in this respect.

You hit on a very good debate in terms of how important a coach is to a team. I agree that a coach with a good strategy can beat any team on his team's level, but at the same time I believe that coach needs flexibility to be able to play against different opponents.

Going back to the Pirlo - Rino example I used above. If Pirlo has been man marked and cannot play the role of regista due to the opposition, then a coach needs to change the system to work around this problem.

However, if we had someone more technically adept in Rino's role, it means an opponent can't just press us by marking out Pirlo.

A good example was in the World Cup final where Spain initially had Xabi Alonso alongside Busquets with Xavi in front. Alonso doesn't push forward much and therefore always had a Dutch player marking him (I think Sneijder but I can't be sure). Fabregas came on for him and immediately frequently switched with Xavi, which made it difficult for the dutch players to mark them as they would keep getting dragged out of position (Van Bommel marked Xavi and would be forced to push up when Xavi dropped deep). It was because both Xavi and Fabregas have the ability to act as registas as well as trequartistas (well kind of) due to their multi-use skill sets that made this possible. It's this kind of versatility that we need in our midfield, so we can change systems during matches against different opponents.

Sorry for the long post, will try to keep it shorter next time.

Genoa have a very good transfer...

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/edi...-them-a-serie-

They will fail miserably like Juve last year, believe me.

ACMILAN1983: Well, thank you for your post. I only want to clariry my point of view about players & tactics in general because it is interesting, not because of any misunderstanding between us.

Milan really lack the physical strength, thanks to the majority of old players (decreasing) and the youngsters (it seems we train mostly technique, not like Arsenal who focus on fitness a lot), so it is the aspect I pay attention when observe new potential player.

Originally Posted by Aficio

ACMILAN1983: Well, thank you for your post. I only want to clariry my point of view about players & tactics in general because it is interesting, not because of any misunderstanding between us.

Milan really lack the physical strength, thanks to the majority of old players (decreasing) and the youngsters (it seems we train mostly technique, not like Arsenal who focus on fitness a lot), so it is the aspect I pay attention when observe new potential player.

Thanks, it's been an interesting decision indeed. Just a quick question, do you think Milan lack physical strength due to age or fitness? You see, I think we lack fitness, as players can't be as fit as they used to be. Physical strength on the other hand I classify differently and isn't something I view as hugely important.

You mention Arsenal's fitness, which I agree on. Arsenal aren't a physical side, but a very fit side which is what allows them to run a lot.

Not sure why everybody is so against Boriello. He isn't that bad, considering the lack of service he has. He may not be good enough to be our first choice centre forward, but he is a great 3rd choice. We just need a 2st choice, and that isn't his fault.

He has lots of good points:
Under 30
Italian
Strong
Okay not that many, but some

It's not just fitness that's the issue, it's effort and desire. We all saw Ronaldinho running around chasing the ball around the end of last season, when he still had hope of getting to the WC. Pato doesn't have that desire in him. Dirk Kuyt, Etoo, Milito, Rooney, Teves, they all have that desire. I don't think it's just that they're fitter, they simply work harder.

Seedorf has days where he has the desire and days where he just doesn't give a ****.


BTW, I think Borriello is one of the best strikers in the world. I'd only replace him with a handful of players, Dzeko being one of them. He works really, really hard for the team, and his contribution is much more than his (lack of) goals.

Kaka' out for 3-4 months ... so if we wanted VdV, I think that won't happen now.

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Not sure why everybody is so against Boriello. He isn't that bad, considering the lack of service he has. He may not be good enough to be our first choice centre forward, but he is a great 3rd choice. We just need a 2st choice, and that isn't his fault.

He has lots of good points:
Under 30
Italian
Strong
Okay not that many, but some

you see that is exactly the problem, he is a good 3rd choice, but he places as a first choice.

Originally Posted by Aficio

ACMILAN1983: Well, thank you for your post. I only want to clariry my point of view about players & tactics in general because it is interesting, not because of any misunderstanding between us.

Milan really lack the physical strength, thanks to the majority of old players (decreasing) and the youngsters (it seems we train mostly technique, not like Arsenal who focus on fitness a lot), so it is the aspect I pay attention when observe new potential player.

We train them physical strength after they are 18-19 years old. Thats why our and most Italy based prospects develop later. (Verdi, Giovinco etc.). They tend to mature on their later stages of their career but last longer IMO.

I really love the way Pato developed both physically and technically. Same goes for Kaka and Sheva(especially Sheva, he developed a lot physically)

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Not sure why everybody is so against Boriello. He isn't that bad, considering the lack of service he has. He may not be good enough to be our first choice centre forward, but he is a great 3rd choice. We just need a 2st choice, and that isn't his fault.

He has lots of good points:
Under 30
Italian
Strong
Okay not that many, but some

I agree, Boriello is one of the most underrated strikers in the world. He is quite agile but also strong, and inside the area he comes alive, kind of like Pippo. I wouldn't quite call him a clinical finisher, but he knows how to put the ball in the back of the net.

Pirlo simply has to play the trequartista role. He is inventive, excellant passes, good vision and can shoot from distance. I think playing him in that position, Huntelaar, Pato and Boriello will all do very well.

I have a feeling that Huntelaar can do very well under Allegri and I reallly hope we don't get rid of him. If we play with two strikers Pato and Huntelaar should start with Borrielo on the bench. Thats a quality combination and with service from Pirlo our offense is set. We also have Pippo and Verdi as reserves. We don't need another striker.

I think Dinho can deputize for Pirlo as trequartista, I believe he has the skills to play AM, but normally Pirlo is quite fit. What we need is 1 midfielder and 1 fullback. Thats all. Tell me if its not realistic to get Van Der Wiel for 10 million and Poli for 10 million. Without joking, I would really like to see if you guys think we can afford it. That is a quality team I believe.

What formations does Allegri like I want to make some possivble realistic lineups

Originally Posted by payne

you see that is exactly the problem, he is a good 3rd choice, but he places as a first choice.

We will maybe see the Pato-Huntelaar association with Allegri and Borriello to replace one or the other ?