AC Cesena vs AC Milan -- 11/9/2010

Originally Posted by Xudong

The way I see it though: pato should be a 1st striker while Ibrahimovic despite his big size seems more suitable in a support role.

Wouldn't the problem be solved simply if we were playing a two-top?

Originally Posted by Elmago99

Haha maybe we bought so many CB's so we can weed them out slowly

I'd love to get rid of this Sokratis and buy Mexes.... but,, aint gonna happen...

If we have a lot of energy in Flamini and KPB.. why can't we do this:

Zambrotta/Abate---Nesta----T. Silva----Antonini
-------------------KPB--------Flamini----------------
--------Pato--------Seedorf (Robinho)------Ronaldinho
---------------------Ibrahimovic---------------------------

Can you stop saying Mexes as he has been in poor form for years already....

Originally Posted by brk

Also, what the **** were Cesena on? I demand a total team drug test. They never stopped running! Pirlo was always closed down, and every player had two men on them. What the hell?!

LOLLL!!! The thing about the promoted teams in their first few games is they either overawed by the atmosphere or they simply being charged up by it. We've met the former against Lecce, and the latter tonight.


Cesena made Roma work hard two weeks ago. In Olimpico, mind you. Now that they've tested the water, they played their first home game in serie A after, what, 19 years? No wonder it gave them enough energy to run to the moon and back.


We're the second best tonight. Surprising result but not really unexpected. The int'l games couldn't come at worse timing. They got their (almost?) full squad training for the whole 2 weeks while several of our players only came back days ago.

In short, let us not throw the towel in yet.

I liked Allegri's post-match interview. He at least seems to know the problem but isn't blaming anyone in particular (although there was a strong hint at Sokratis for the second goal).

I'm so glad we don't have to wait two weeks to forget about this game.

Originally Posted by Nalx

LOLLL!!! The thing about the promoted teams in their first few games is they either overawed by the atmosphere or they simply being charged up by it. We've met the former against Lecce, and the latter tonight.


Cesena made Roma work hard two weeks ago. In Olimpico, mind you. Now that they've tested the water, they played their first home game in serie A after, what, 19 years? No wonder it gave them enough energy to run to the moon and back.


We're the second best tonight. Surprising result but not really unexpected. The int'l games couldn't come at worse timing. They got their (almost?) full squad training for the whole 2 weeks while several of our players only came back days ago.

In short, let us not throw the towel in yet.

Fantastic post, I agree completely.

Originally Posted by hwmook

Can you stop saying Mexes as he has been in poor form for years already....

No he hasn't been. He's been worse than that. Living on the hype of a young prospect much like Bonera. Both lucky to be at big clubs, never mind starting games.

I would strongly disagree with the idea that Mexes is a Bonera-level player.

Mexes, like Thiago Silva, is a player whose partner at CB affects his level of play considerably. Mexes's physicality and power would foil Thiago Silva's more technical defensive style.

Confidence does a lot for a player too, look at Inzaghi.

I'm half kidding about Mexes... just I was heavily disappointed with Papastathopoulos...

maybe Onyewu would have been better.. or Yepes...

The absolute most important thing we can take from this game is that:

NESTA, ABBIATI, GATTUSO, PIRLO, AMBROSINI are getting old..

OUR Italians are getting old... WHO will replace them.. because it's time...

Nesta obviously is still a great player, but he cannot go on for ever...and is this Papa a suitable replacement? I think not....

The midfield is poor.. Flamini and KPB need to start playing a lot...

Originally Posted by hwmook

He played like crap in the first half, did nothing on the 2 goals. Abbiati in 1999 would have saved that easily.....

Abbiati in 1999 was the best keeper in Italy


@ Samaldinho

Robinho doesn't create because he can't, and you're right he's more replacement for Pato than for Ronaldinho. I wrote that in Mercato thread but no-one seemed to care. If we lose Ronaldinho the only player who can create would be Pirlo and he's too deep. Seedorf is too old.

But, let's just relax, this is Allegri's second competitive match. Midfield was a liability against Lecce too. KPB must play. The only strong, quick and energetic midfielder. Flamini too, though he's injured and that's why he doesn't play.

Looking at this image from ESPN, our attack was too deep, but I think that's because we had both Ambro and Gattuso and otherwise there would be no connection between midfield and attack. This was probably Allegri's quick move to fix something, which makes me thing KPB was injured or not ready.

Originally Posted by Elmago99

I'm half kidding about Mexes... just I was heavily disappointed with Papastathopoulos...

maybe Onyewu would have been better.. or Yepes...

The absolute most important thing we can take from this game is that:

NESTA, ABBIATI, GATTUSO, PIRLO, AMBROSINI are getting old..

OUR Italians are getting old... WHO will replace them.. because it's time...

Nesta obviously is still a great player, but he cannot go on for ever...and is this Papa a suitable replacement? I think not....

The midfield is poor.. Flamini and KPB need to start playing a lot...

Thank God we have the foreigners who are getting younger.

I still think that Papa will be a very good player for us.
We have some very good youngsters who need games to develop - Albertazzi, Merkel, Fossati, Verdi, Calvano, Beretta, Strasser, De Vito, Donnarumma.

I'm sure a few of these could unearth 4-5 players for the squad and maybe 2-3 starters, esp in midfield or wb.

Whats the matter with everyone attacking Papa, take it easy the guy a bad game lets move on look to the future. The guy is 22 years old. Take it easy boys

I couldn't watch this match.

A lost is not welcome, but it is good for us to realize the problems. We need time to know what is the best. However, It will not cost much time like last season.

Originally Posted by Aficio

I couldn't watch this match.

A lost is not welcome, but it is good for us to realize the problems. We need time to know what is the best. However, It will not cost much time like last season.

Here, here. You learn more from defeat than victory, but I'd prefer if we weren't educated any more this season.

Originally Posted by brk

I liked Allegri's post-match interview. He at least seems to know the problem but isn't blaming anyone in particular (although there was a strong hint at Sokratis for the second goal).

I'm so glad we don't have to wait two weeks to forget about this game.

I think Allegri should take a big chunk of the blame

wtf was he thinking playing the slowest midfield possible against one of the fastest counter attacks in the league?

Not only that the 2 supposed DEFENSIVE mids spent more time in the opposition penalty box than they did defending.

NO ONE pressed the opposition they were all just standing off.

A poor result, but one that could have been very different if not for some refereeing errors (actually, there were a lot of poor decisions, mostly against us). We didn't play too well, but I wasn't expecting us to be as good as against Lecce.

We started the game relatively well, as we settled after a minute or two and took the game to Cesena. Ironically, their goal came against the run of play and we lost control somewhat. As for the goal, I was surprised that the player who crossed was completely left alone, someone should have been covering. Sokratis was terrible on the goal as he was poorly positioned and to boot he lost his man, which cost us a goal.

After Cesena scored we seemed to panic to try and get back into the match and had a lot of rushed attacks, which resulted in nothing. Cesena on the other hand played a good deep pressing game and hit us on the break with their pace. This was how the second goal was scored and again it was Sokratis who was poorly positioned to allow his position to be exploited.

The second half wasn't much different as we started relatively well, controlling the game and creating chances, but it soon became a panicked attack that resulted in very little.

Tactically, we set out with a 4-3-3 which was much like last year, with the same problems as last year. A broken team that doesn't work as a single unit and therefore struggles against a well disciplined side. Ronaldinho and Pato were particularly frustrating as neither ever wanted to track back and help defensively, while Ibra started out doing so, but didn't maintain his duties consistently.

Cesena broke through our side on multiple occasions, because the lines between defence, midfield and attack weren't tight and therefore they had plenty of space to exploit. There were multiple reasons for this, primarily our defence didn't hold a high enough line often enough (particularly when we went forward) and our attack didn't track back at all.

Going forward our problem lay in a few areas. It was obvious our attacking players weren't used to each other as Ibra and Pato frequently worked individually. Our defence often held the ball too long too, which is pointless against a side that wants to drop deep and press in their half. Ultimately, our scoring chances came from individual moments rather than good team play.

This showing was the opposite to how we played against Lecce. In that match, we were tight with the team attacking with great movement and defending as a unit. Today we were open with a reliance on individual talents.

Players...

Abbiati - A poor showing as he looked slow to react today. He's been good in recent years, so I'm not too concerned about this showing.
Bonera - A poor performance, showing again how he struggles with speed.
Sokratis - A poor performance. Played a huge part in both goals and struggled to mark Bogdani throughout.
Thiago - The only defender who seemed to hold his position in the first half. I fear his injury.
Antonini - Not bad, but some mistakes at the back.
Gattuso - Struggled to play in a role that requires depth of abilities going forward and defensively.
Pirlo - Not a bad performance by any means, but couldn't dictate play when the team lacks proper structure.
Ambro - Poor game. Added little going forward and looked reckless defensively.
Dinho - Very poor. didn't help at the back and did nothing up front.
Pato - our best player and should have had 2 goals to his name. However, it was a performance of a great individual, not a team player.
Ibra - a disappointing debut. Showed talent, but his penalty summed up his night.