Milan - Auxerre Match Day 1 September 15 2010 20:45

Originally Posted by OCmilano

Im 99.9% sure that Onyewu is a better player then Bonera. Why don't you guys bash him?

And the wc he was rushed in last month before the wc. I didnt expect him to do anything.

Bonera, bad as he is, still better IMO than Onyewu.

He is not as young as he once was, when it was ok to say he´s not bad, and has "promise"...yet he certainly hasnt lived up to expectations. Onyewu was a purchase to "beef" up our back 4, and while he has the beef, he doesnt have enough brain and as such, has never (as far as I can recall) made a starting 11 during the season.

As I only saw the 1st half of the game, I cant comment on the match as a whole, except to reiterate what I said earlier, which is that I dont think we will get anywhere if we start all the games as we started this, and our recent domestic fixture loss.

We looked quite poor and suspect to conceding on the counter...which is how most of the minnows will play us in the Serie A...and only the giants will play in an attacking manner in the UCL...

So this tendancy to look shaky on the counter, must be fixed, and soon.

A good result though, so we are tied for 1st place with Madrid..not a bad position to be in after the first match day.

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

Bonera, bad as he is, still better IMO than Onyewu.

He is not as young as he once was, when it was ok to say he´s not bad, and has "promise"...yet he certainly hasnt lived up to expectations. Onyewu was a purchase to "beef" up our back 4, and while he has the beef, he doesnt have enough brain and as such, has never (as far as I can recall) made a starting 11 during the season.

As I only saw the 1st half of the game, I cant comment on the match as a whole, except to reiterate what I said earlier, which is that I dont think we will get anywhere if we start all the games as we started this, and our recent domestic fixture loss.

We looked quite poor and suspect to conceding on the counter...which is how most of the minnows will play us in the Serie A...and only the giants will play in an attacking manner in the UCL...

So this tendancy to look shaky on the counter, must be fixed, and soon.

A good result though, so we are tied for 1st place with Madrid..not a bad position to be in after the first match day.

There has got to be some stats on how many min. he has played for us. Im not saying he is a Thiago Silva but I would just love to see him play. I mean even if its coppa Italia. Just see what he is about. Bonera has gotten his chances and more than half the time he sucks.

You give Onyewu 3 full games and If he sucks I would say wow this guy does suck. But to judge him like we judged H11 is not fair. 20min here and there isnt enough to gel with your teammates. Bottomline is Bonera off and anyone else on and Im happy. I just feel bad for a guy who said he would stay for free because he was injured last season to get some chances.

I think what we are seeing with the team is that Ibra has changed the balance and dynamics of the squad. This has made our attacking play less smooth, with Borriello the work horse, and Pato able to do as he pleases.

With Ibra, this smoothness is gone, which is only natural considering how late Ibra came to Milan and the significant difference between Milan's playing style now that he is on the field. This imbalance is particularly important for Milan because we dedicate so much of our resources to attacking, thus, with these hiccups from the attack are putting more pressure on the midfield and leaving us more open to counter attacks.

I'd like to add that this was always going to be an ugly game, and Auxerre obviously tried to use the same tactics as Cesena did against us. Teams will do this to us, the only improvement we need to do is provide the cover against counter attacks. However, as the attack gels, I think we'll see a more solid unit and less mistakes by the whole team.

This was the sort of game we wouldn't win before, I don't think Borriello would have been able to score the second goal and I question whether he would have the speed to have gotten the first, though, I think that goal was more up for grabs.

This is still early in the season and I think we've seen the difference KPB has on our play, imagine what will happen with Flamini. But, I think that Auxerre played a similar tactic to Cesena, and small and big teams know that the second they actually let us play, we will walk all over them, even with a Ambro-Pirlo-Seedorf midfield. The important thing is that we can get past these teams with the 3 points, because in the big games, when someone actually plays openly with us, I'm confident we will crush them.

Originally Posted by #3Forever

Dont disrespect the best player in the history of the world by giving Gattuso number 6. That number is retired. Does Franco Baresi ring a bell?

My G0D the attacks.. It was an honest mistake.. I totally forgot.. haha it was joking around putting the players with diff numbers

Ok.. Overall I agree not a good Game but we got the result, very important....

Zambrotta & Antonini: Compared to what we're used to lately from Wing Backs, good enough, but against teams in knockout Stages (Inter, Barca, RM, Chelsea, Arsenal, ManU, Bayern), they're simply not good enough...Zambrotta sometimes too wild on his tackles.. Antonini good defensively...

Bonera: Will get burned against good teams. Without Silva/Nesta, we are very vulnerable in CB

Midfield: Kevin Prince Boateng is what we've needed. The Energy was amazing. He fought like a dog, and almost scored, and flicked on for the goal. Fantastic, and should be a starter as most of you agree. He and Flamini could really be what we need

Pirlo: If he keeps looking slow and lazy, Seedorf can replace him as Regista, but this is a problem Long-Term for Milan... Also.. HE SHOULD NOT TAKE ANYMORE FREEKICKS.. With Ibra and Ronaldinho, Enough of this guy taking the Free Kicks. His Scoring rate is very very low...

Seedorf: Did not do Great, but was the link in midfield we talked about that we lacked in Cesena game. He cannot play twice per week anymore though, and that's a problem

Ibra: Simple. He did his job. I don't care if he played bad, he scored twice. Did was a striker is to do....So happy to see him come thru at CL

Ronaldinho: Milan look to this man for the creativity.. they look to him whenever they want to start something. He either looks bad or Great.... and that's how this game went. Fortunately, last 30 minutes, he was in the zone...

*** If Ronaldinho does not play well, I'd take him out and make it look like this:

---------Ibra----Pato----------
------------Robinho-----------
----Seedorf--Pirlo--KPB------

I would also like to see Pato playing up top as he may not be fully comfortable out wide all the time...

I was very impressed with Robinho, and wouldn't mind him playing sometime instead of Pato... Because Robinho and Ronaldinho can play Joga Bonita alittle better than Pato, who plays more direct, with speed and less 1 touch passes...Robinho looked good to me, and was almost onside if not onside for that shot...

Overall, we'll improve... I promise....

Man of Match: KPB

This what great teams with stars are sposed to do . Win games in which they played bad. However there is still a lack of understanding either with each other or with the system as lots of confusing moments today proved.
I am not sure how people think nesta was solid today. He was clumsy. I understand we are used to seeing amazing def from him but anything less than his 70 % is clumsy i would say. Robinho did a good job. One key factor was his willingness to team play unlike pato's trying to make a dazzling run. The boy's let something go to his head, he seems too desperate to prove himself and me the no.1 attack dog of milan again.

Seedorf should never take a shot at goal or make the final pass.He's just annoying. KPB is the shizzle. I hope he continues with this form or he knows he will back to genoa.

1.
The problem that I see right now with our play is that the movement of the ball is slow....way too slow. It takes a long time for the ball to make its way around the field for us and to exchange legs. Against Lecce, we were much faster with the movement which resulted in plenty of chances....and also goals. Since then, against both Cesena and Auxerre, the movement of the ball has enormously slowed down. At times, there is no options for passes and that slows us down....allowing the opponents to close down the spaces.
2.
The gap between Pirlo and the front 3 is too big. And since every attack/possession starts at the feet of Pirlo, this gap is a problem. The one way to fix that is to have the other 2 CMs be the link between the start of the possession (Pirlo) and the front 3. Which is why Seedorf is an important part of this team. But when he plays like crap (which today is a good example of) then WE look like crap because the ball finds it way too difficult to make its way to the front 3. Another person that should create a secondary link between Pirlo and the front 3 is the other CM (Ambro today at the start). But Ambro was terrible (beyond terrible) in the time that he was playing....which is why we improved a little once Boateng came in (i think he did well and grew as the game went on).
Another option to improve that is through more movement of the front 3 (much more movement). Coming deeper for the ball more often, and Pato/Dinho leaving the sideline more often. Which brings me to the next problem......
3.
And the 3rd problem of the attacking/possession that I see is that we want the fullbacks to push up......yet our "wingers" don't allow that to happen. How exactly??? They stay glued to the sidelines way too many times for way too long.
Let me explain why I say that.....
-in order for the FB to push up and pose a threat, the two wide front players (in our case Pato,Dinho) need to move a little central and pull a defender with them when we are in possession of the ball and are working in around.....which will open space behind them for the FB to move in. When Pato/Dinho stay glued to the side line.....our fullback can still overlap and attack the space, but at the same time there is already defenders at that space because Pato/Dinho are keeping them there by staying wide. Which makes the overlap not as effective.
Having said that, the FBs we have are low in quality anyway and even in the few times that they get into dangerous positions, they don't do much with the ball. (Zambrotta today had his first cross end up at the 2nd tier of the stadium and his second one barely made it to the near post) Sill, I would like to see our FB attack that space much more.......but like I said, that space HAS TO BE created by the movement of the two wide men......otherwise there is simply no space to be attacked.

As for the result...I'm pleased for the 3 points, but not with the performance. We struggled to create and to be dangerous. We just slowly need to keep improving. In this style and system that we are playing right now, IMO Seedorf is probably the most important piece.....and I hope he will show up this year. Or we simply will have replace him or change the way we play because like I said..IMO this formation depends on him/his position. And when he doesn't show up (like today) then we will struggle big time.

Sooo......bring on Ganso.


*By the way, I also saw the Real Madrid and Arsenal games today and both these teams looked great. Ozil played great for Real and he did the "Seedorf job" incredibly well. But regardless of that, I think Ajax made Real look much better then they are. I thought Ajax will do better then that, but there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't beat them twice.
-Arsenal just looked out of this world at times against Braga, but again it was a really poor showing from the Portuguese. But regardless, the movement of the ball by Arsenal was great.
-I also saw parts of the Shakhtar-Partizan game and the Brazilians at Shakhtar looked impressive....especially Douglas Costa.

Originally Posted by nefremo

1.
The problem that I see right now with our play is that the movement of the ball is slow....way too slow. It takes a long time for the ball to make its way around the field for us and to exchange legs. Against Lecce, we were much faster with the movement which resulted in plenty of chances....and also goals. Since then, against both Cesena and Auxerre, the movement of the ball has enormously slowed down. At times, there is no options for passes and that slows us down....allowing the opponents to close down the spaces.
2.
The gap between Pirlo and the front 3 is too big. And since every attack/possession starts at the feet of Pirlo, this gap is a problem. The one way to fix that is to have the other 2 CMs be the link between the start of the possession (Pirlo) and the front 3. Which is why Seedorf is an important part of this team. But when he plays like crap (which today is a good example of) then WE look like crap because the ball finds it way too difficult to make its way to the front 3. Another person that should create a secondary link between Pirlo and the front 3 is the other CM (Ambro today at the start). But Ambro was terrible (beyond terrible) in the time that he was playing....which is why we improved a little once Boateng came in (i think he did well and grew as the game went on).
Another option to improve that is through more movement of the front 3 (much more movement). Coming deeper for the ball more often, and Pato/Dinho leaving the sideline more often. Which brings me to the next problem......
3.
And the 3rd problem of the attacking/possession that I see is that we want the fullbacks to push up......yet our "wingers" don't allow that to happen. How exactly??? They stay glued to the sidelines way too many times for way too long.
Let me explain why I say that.....
-in order for the FB to push up and pose a threat, the two wide front players (in our case Pato,Dinho) need to move a little central and pull a defender with them when we are in possession of the ball and are working in around.....which will open space behind them for the FB to move in. When Pato/Dinho stay glued to the side line.....our fullback can still overlap and attack the space, but at the same time there is already defenders at that space because Pato/Dinho are keeping them there by staying wide. Which makes the overlap not as effective.
Having said that, the FBs we have are low in quality anyway and even in the few times that they get into dangerous positions, they don't do much with the ball. (Zambrotta today had his first cross end up at the 2nd tier of the stadium and his second one barely made it to the near post) Sill, I would like to see our FB attack that space much more.......but like I said, that space HAS TO BE created by the movement of the two wide men......otherwise there is simply no space to be attacked.

As for the result...I'm pleased for the 3 points, but not with the performance. We struggled to create and to be dangerous. We just slowly need to keep improving. In this style and system that we are playing right now, IMO Seedorf is probably the most important piece.....and I hope he will show up this year. Or we simply will have replace him or change the way we play because like I said..IMO this formation depends on him/his position. And when he doesn't show up (like today) then we will struggle big time.

Sooo......bring on Ganso.

yes i think ganso will be the replacement there,,,

him along with KPB and Flamini can be very nice indeed

for me yesterday our play was horrible as usual and the fact that we are susceptible on the counter is sickening.

I only saw the second half of the game. Ancelotti always used to say "Whenever Seedorf plays well, Milan plays well" yesterday was a classic display of horrible play from Clarence which affected the whole attacking set up.

For me i feel KPB has more potential going forward than defending so a midfield of Pirlo,Seedorf and KPB may not be able to retirve enough balls in the midfield. However, with Seedorf's ****ty showing last night, Flamini, KPB and Pirlo (i think he"s still fundamental) looks like a long term bet if Flamini can regain fitness and form. I think we need KPB as he looks like he has the ability to drive thru the middle of the park and attack instead of our predictable way of puttin the ball out wide to Dinho for the majority of yday cuz Dinho is inconsistent.

Antonini did well defensively and Zambrotta, especially when moved to left back was crap and should be disposed of as soon as Silva gets better or Abate shoild be managed at right back. We need to scout our squad Yepes, Onyewu, Papa (second chance) for a reliable cover in the absence of Nesta or Silva.

And when the fullbacks push up why cant some of our CM's stay flat to avert us being exposed from the counter?

Originally Posted by nefremo

1.
The problem that I see right now with our play is that the movement of the ball is slow....way too slow. It takes a long time for the ball to make its way around the field for us and to exchange legs. Against Lecce, we were much faster with the movement which resulted in plenty of chances....and also goals. Since then, against both Cesena and Auxerre, the movement of the ball has enormously slowed down. At times, there is no options for passes and that slows us down....allowing the opponents to close down the spaces.

The worst is that our players are more than able to do it the good way !!
They managed to do it against Lecce, and against Auxerre, it happened once, just after Auxerre hit the post: we went really quickly forward, Antonini moved well, gave a good cross, and it ended with Pato shooting but the ball was touched and we earned a corner. These 2 minutes of attack were simply amazing, and that's the way Milan should "always" play (I don't mean during 90 minutes each time, it's not possible, but if we can repeat this kind of play at least for 15-20 minutes in each game, we're almost sure to score each time).

And guys, how do you feel after seeing our Milan score a goal on a counter ?! When was the last time it happened ?

Originally Posted by Samaldinho

I think what we are seeing with the team is that Ibra has changed the balance and dynamics of the squad. This has made our attacking play less smooth, with Borriello the work horse, and Pato able to do as he pleases.

With Ibra, this smoothness is gone, which is only natural considering how late Ibra came to Milan and the significant difference between Milan's playing style now that he is on the field. This imbalance is particularly important for Milan because we dedicate so much of our resources to attacking, thus, with these hiccups from the attack are putting more pressure on the midfield and leaving us more open to counter attacks.

I'd like to add that this was always going to be an ugly game, and Auxerre obviously tried to use the same tactics as Cesena did against us. Teams will do this to us, the only improvement we need to do is provide the cover against counter attacks. However, as the attack gels, I think we'll see a more solid unit and less mistakes by the whole team.

This was the sort of game we wouldn't win before, I don't think Borriello would have been able to score the second goal and I question whether he would have the speed to have gotten the first, though, I think that goal was more up for grabs.

This is still early in the season and I think we've seen the difference KPB has on our play, imagine what will happen with Flamini. But, I think that Auxerre played a similar tactic to Cesena, and small and big teams know that the second they actually let us play, we will walk all over them, even with a Ambro-Pirlo-Seedorf midfield. The important thing is that we can get past these teams with the 3 points, because in the big games, when someone actually plays openly with us, I'm confident we will crush them.

excellent post. completely agree.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

And guys, how do you feel after seeing our Milan score a goal on a counter ?! When was the last time it happened ?

George Weah?

Yesterday i really liked KPB. We need an explosive player in the midfield. He gives the assist for the 1st goal and he almost scored a fantastic goal.
Also, he is the guy who starts the counter for the 2nd goal when he forwards the ball to Dinho who was free. I think he is the MVP. Next to Ibra. Because he scored twice. That's what he does and i really hope he continues like that.

I am sad to say, i believe Ambro is not a starter anymore. We really need a fit Flamini back. Maybe him and KPB can be the tight midfield we dream of.

All this team needs is a spark that can lead to a series of good results and a bit more courage from Allegri.
Forget Cesena.
Ibra already did.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

And guys, how do you feel after seeing our Milan score a goal on a counter ?! When was the last time it happened ?

Yeah that totally came out of nowhere.
1. Ronnie outran their midfielders!
2. And Ibra finished from a difficult position.

P.S. if you missed the game checkout these awesome videos by maestro21

http://www.youtube.com/user/Maestro21UCL

Like you said, Boateng is explosive, he had an assist for first goal, he started the second, he had plently of chance to score, unfortunately he was unable to score a goal. Whatsoever he did well, showed strong signals he is what we need in midfield. he is good on going forward, just look at his movement off the ball, how he moves the box, he did it much. he did his job on team defence well. i think that Flamini, Boateng and Seedorf/Pirlo midfield is ideal. Ambro is good yet he is not enough anymore.

Regarding the game, we were slow yet our movement was good, just remember last season we had low offensive power, Pato, when in form Borriello, vs solid sides he was invisible, we didnt have much offensive power. now we have ibrahimovic, Pato,
Ronaldinho who is in better form, Robinho, Boateng... now we have a great offensive power. lets focus on defensive power. Right wing back and solid CB problem is still hurt us. We gave many counters, off course we are missing Silva, Bonera is not a solid defenders, we need Nesta for always to organize the defence, and Silva help him on his job.

We say that we played badly, may i ask that how many scoring oppurtunies we found? i mean we can find that much when we play.

ibra's dribbling was nice, he dribbled past 4 players, that something Borriello just can do his dreams...