CL Round 3: Real Madrid vs AC Milan

With all my anger with our team today I forgot to say thank you to AMELIA.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for not making us a laughing stock of european football and saving all those shots on goal.


THANK YOU.

Originally Posted by Xudong

that's a good one.

Well, actually I don't hate him that much, at least he tried. I just don't like him as he seems to bring bad luck to us.

I am just amazed at how Seedorf could always smooth his way out. He has such a thick skin that he never seems to feel ashamed of himself no matter how much he gets booed and jeered at. Damn, he is good.

because he knows how much hes done for us in the past. everyone knows hes old. everyone knows he used to be world class, he doesnt have to let those boos bother him its the coach who should be bothered for making him play, its not his decision because im sure seedorf would prefer a nice rest now and then at his age. who should be ashamed is someone like bonera. someone who didnt do anything for our team and keeps doing worst

seedorf will still be useful, but not more than 2 games a month. no matter how much he thinks it.
Today was a wakeup call to the players. Ofcourse we cant expect this lineup to beat madrid at home, unless its in TOP form... which it isn't.

Originally Posted by Brasileiro

I'm confused...

Last year you criticized everyone here that said that about Leonardo, calling it excuses. Now you're contradicting himself trying to defende Allegri with the same arguments you criticized the other coach last season. How?!?! I'm confused?!?!?

Before call a post of another member childish, go back and read all the childish haterism you posted here last season about Leonardo. Seriously, go back and read what you wrote and you will see... You will see all you attack there in the near past, is what you're trying to defend now...

I still remember that after we got trashed by M. United lasts eason, you put all the blame on Leonardo's back. People here told they were a better team and you claimed it was a excuse... and now, you come here to use the same arguments you criticized in the past to defend the actual coach?!?! Wow!!!

Games thread is a place for knee jerk reactions, and thats the reason I rarely post here. I also don't agree that Bonera need to go, he's a Italian squad player(average) and a better defensive RB than a CB, but the coach is the one to blame for starting him there, period.

Back to the rest of your post, it's just show you had an agenda against our former coach. A thing you gave a lot of effort to denny last season...

Would you get off my back PLEASE?

I DON'T hate Brazilians, OK?! Since I made that comment that we shouldn't go for Brazilian players, but for Italians you just can't get off me.

And yes Leonardo is the ****tiest coach we had in years, the only coach I've seen in years worse than Leonardo is Pellegrini.

You seem to not remember to well, because we were MUCH better team than Manchester United in the first half, and somehow we managed to lose the game in the end. WE were better team then and just after Leonardo failed to adjust his tactics after Antonini went out we lost the game.

Against this Real, we were worse team from the beginning until the end. They were too energetic for us, they pressed us very well and we couldn't handle that. Against Manchester we were pressing and somehow lost the game.

Originally Posted by Revolver

Would you get off my back PLEASE?

I DON'T hate Brazilians, OK?! Since I made that comment that we shouldn't go for Brazilian players, but for Italians you just can't get off me.

And yes Leonardo is the ****tiest coach we had in years, the only coach I've seen in years worse than Leonardo is Pellegrini.

You seem to not remember to well, because we were MUCH better team than Manchester United in the first half, and somehow we managed to lose the game in the end. WE were better team then and just after Leonardo failed to adjust his tactics after Antonini went out we lost the game.

Against this Real, we were worse team from the beginning until the end. They were too energetic for us, they pressed us very well and we couldn't handle that. Against Manchester we were pressing and somehow lost the game.

Its not about hating brazilians or brazilian players.
Believe me The way we lost yesterday, was in the same manner we lost last time to Man Utd. Its not only Brasileiro, I really wanted to read your comment on the game, seriously. And I come to see that you say that Real was a better team. Real was the better team because we let them be the better team, because Allegri did not see that Seedorf was absolutely terrible( this is the first time that I criticize Seedorf). We were one man down from the begging. Other than that there isn`t so much you can do against Mourinho with this sensational team that he has in his disposal, but my god Seedorf should not have started the second half at least.

Honestly, I actually think Milan were out done by better teams when they played against ManU and Real today.

You have to remember that during the legs against ManU, Milan was only in control about the first 40 mins of the 120mins played. It might be Scholes fluke goal that woke ManU up, but in all honestly, Rooney was breaking T.Silva and Nesta like they were not even there and Valencia just kept out running Favalli and sending crosses in that Dida did not even bother to punch it out. In the 2nd leg, Milan was just out ran by ManU just like what Real did today.

I am not saying Allegri is not a good coach but with the players he got compare to the players Leo got, he should have done a lot better than 2-0 score line which could easily be a 6-0 score line if Dida and not Amelia was in net.

football-italia said it all: It was a combination of Massimiliano Allegri’s inexperience and Milan’s experienced players that let the team down in defeat to Real Madrid.

Allegri had option to refresh the very old midfield plus one super lazy catwalk model aka Ronaldinho but he didn't use it even so late to make change in the second half. IMO Allegri is the first one to blame for the lost against Madrid before the players we have in the squad.

AC Milan’s Capitulation in the hands of Real Madrid.
Who has ever seen a pack of cheetahs race against a collection of snails? Well I saw that last night in the Real Madrid –AC Milan group stage game in the UEFA Champions League and there was no question as to who deservedly won the game.
The Madrid team started off the blocks early and injected some blistering pace to their game from the first minute with apparent specific instructions from the coach to get the ball to their wide men most notably Cristiano Ronaldo who turned out to be the star man of the match.
Like it happened in San Siro when Milan faced Manchester United in the Champions League Semi-finals in 2007, Gennaro Gattuso was given the job of assisting the right back, the ageing Gianluca Zambrotta, in tracking the menacing runs of the tricky Ronaldo. While he did that to near perfection at the San Siro in 2007 when he was aged 29, last night and at the age of 32, it was quite evident that the legs were not there to match the pace of the game.
The Rossoneri captain was turned and twisted time and time again and committed many fouls on the Madrid “superman” and it was only a matter of time before Ronaldo would wreak major havoc on the Milan side.
Backed by the vociferous crowd at the Bernabeu, Madrid won a debatable freekick when Alexandre Pato fouled Xabi Alonso right on the edge of the box. Up stepped the talismanic Ronaldo, a couple steps back by the former Manchester United winger and he blasted the freekick through a gaping hole in the wall exposed by the jump of Zlatan Ibrahimovich and the slight movement by Clarence Seedorf. The goalkeeper was helpless.
No sooner had the ball been passed at the centre circle by Milan, than Madrid had regained possession. The superlative Portuguese international drove the ball at the Milan right back who couldn’t keep up with his pace and trickery and allowed him to get the ball across the box to an unmarked Mesut Oezil whose shot unluckily cannoned off Daniele Bonera and deceived the goalkeeper to loop into the net. It was 2-0 to Madrid in the space of 60 seconds and Massimiliano Allegri’s gameplan had suffered an early setback as from then on Madrid took their foot off the pedal and allowed Milan to drive at them while they waited to hurt the slow Milan team on the counter.
One worrying aspect in terms of Milan’s tactics was the selections. While there was nothing wrong in the formation as it was set up, the choice of personnel to man the midfield 3 has been widely brought into question. With the Regista, Pirlo standing at 31 years of age, Gattuso, 32 and Seedorf 34, there was no way they would have been able to affectively assist the defence with matching pace seeing that the young and agile cheetahs of Madrid had the pace and guile to run rings around them at every opportunity. Allegri can argue that Gattuso and Seedorf have been big game players for many years and possess valuable experience in European competition. But with the energetic Kevin Prince Boateng, Rodney Strasser and Mathieu Flamini available to him to assist in the midfield, he chose to play his 3 wise “old” and lethargic men in the midfield.
Andrea Pirlo showed flashes of brilliance as he was denied a wonderful goal by the combination of the brilliant Iker Casillas and the crossbar. Seedorf blasted over when through on goal but that was about as close as it came for Milan in the first half that was totally dominated by Madrid.
Mesut Oezil was denied a goal by Marco Amelia in the Milan goal and Di Maria’s selfish play on the counter, although credit must be given to Nesta for properly positioning himself, meant that Madrid finished the half with just 2 goals totheir credit but the Red and Black faithful of Milan knew it could have been more.
The Rossoneri had good spells of possession in the second half but credit must be given to the defence of Real Madrid. Marcelo and Carvalho in particular were impressive and limited the spaces the Milan attackers had. Often times, Pirlo was in good positions to pick a pass but could find no movement. Ibrahimovich and Ronaldinho were both very poor on the night and Alexandre Pato was well shackled and tracked all night.
The introduction of Boateng for Gattuso in the second half revealed some of the things I had earlier pointed above that was lacking in the midfield of the 7 time European Champions. He added some steel and energetic drive to the Milan midfield. He pressed better, held and shielded the ball better and was able to bring the attackers into play.
Allegri has major work to do in preparation for the return leg in a fortnight at the San Siro. Hopefully Thiago Silva will be back to help add some reliability to the central defence. However, much will depend on his choices in the midfield and attack. Premature calls already being made for the attacking quartet of Zlatan, Pato, Dinho and Robinho to play together in a 4-2-3-1 formation are unjustified as there are doubts over the discipline of two of the three to consistently track back effectively for 90 minutes when out of possession and this is the only way this can work as failure to that would leave the team unbalanced. Even at that, who partners Pirlo in the midfield? Or should we discard the services of the world class Regista who has looked good this season for 2 hardworking and energetic defensive midfielders who will harry and press the opposing attacking midfielders all night and add nothing to the play creatively? Or should we revert back to the Leonardo style attacking 4-3-3 formation which often exposes us on the counter.
All these are questions that Allegri should find an answer to without respect for names but for present quality that can be offered on the pitch. The important thing is with our precarious situation in the Champions League group presently, we must devise a winning formula to generate goals at the San Siro when Mourinho’s men come calling. We were bruised last night but not battered due to wasteful finishing by Madrid. We must pick up ourselves now and focus on our Serie a campaign which continues with a tricky away tie to the dangerous Sao Paulo Stadium in Naples to face a team with one of the most in form strikers in Europe at the moment, Edinson Cavani in their fold.

FORZA MILAN



*An Article i just read on last night's game.. DOes it make any sense?

Originally Posted by kastriot

Its not about hating brazilians or brazilian players.
Believe me The way we lost yesterday, was in the same manner we lost last time to Man Utd. Its not only Brasileiro, I really wanted to read your comment on the game, seriously. And I come to see that you say that Real was a better team. Real was the better team because we let them be the better team, because Allegri did not see that Seedorf was absolutely terrible( this is the first time that I criticize Seedorf). We were one man down from the begging. Other than that there isn`t so much you can do against Mourinho with this sensational team that he has in his disposal, but my god Seedorf should not have started the second half at least.

It's not the same way. It's only many if's. If Seedorf was left out, if Seedorf was replaced in the second. The FACT is, we very much better team against Manchester in the first half, as shown ON THE PITCH. Last night, Real could score whenever they wanted, they're so much better than us. They only play with like 70-80 percent. If Boateng played, say, in place of Seedorf, it would mean a little, because it's not Seedorf, it's Seedorf + Ronaldinho + old and slow Pirlo.

The only thing I can say against Allegri is we would surely play better if Ronaldinho was fielded on the left and not in the center. But it's not Allegri's fault we've lost. Real is much better team. Period.

disappointed, MIlan was awful last night, dont think we can compete with the likes of Real, Barca, Man U or Chelsea. but Amelia was superb, really impressed with young Gollie

The frustrations are easy to understand, but lets not blow this game out of proportion at this point. We were a collective failure, and it all stemmed from a very poor mentality from the outset.

Before I go into details about our faults, I have to credit Real who pressed well all over the pitch and looked sharp.

On the contrary we looked slow and sluggish. The players were extremely slow to react to events on the pitch and we played with a fear against Real's attackers.

Our midfield dropped far too deep numerous times pushing our defensive line a foot in front of Amelia. On top of that, our midfield and defence being so deep meant our side was disjointed and broken, as the attackers stood at their line throughout the match. What's more frustrating is our players stepped off the Real players, giving them a shocking amount of time and space to do what they wanted to.

Prior to the match most people acknowledged Ozil as a major threat, yet throughout the match he was free to move and do as he wished. Ronaldo, someone known as a major threat when he picks up momentum was allowed time and space to run at our defenders. When Gattuso last faced him (Man Utd 2007), he never gave Ronaldo an inch of room, but yesterday was the opposite. Di Maria, a predominantly left foot player on the right was allowed to cut in at will onto his stronger foot. These are just some examples of our mistakes, I could go on all day about these individual mistakes.

Ultimately, focus will go on our individual weaknesses, mistakes and battles. However, many of these could have been avoided had we worked as a well drilled unit, which we didn't.

I believe it's best to leave this result behind and move on. In recent weeks we've made good progress, so shouldn't let this stop us, merely an experience to learn from.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

The frustrations are easy to understand, but lets not blow this game out of proportion at this point. We were a collective failure, and it all stemmed from a very poor mentality from the outset.

Before I go into details about our faults, I have to credit Real who pressed well all over the pitch and looked sharp.

On the contrary we looked slow and sluggish. The players were extremely slow to react to events on the pitch and we played with a fear against Real's attackers.

Our midfield dropped far too deep numerous times pushing our defensive line a foot in front of Amelia. On top of that, our midfield and defence being so deep meant our side was disjointed and broken, as the attackers stood at their line throughout the match. What's more frustrating is our players stepped off the Real players, giving them a shocking amount of time and space to do what they wanted to.

Prior to the match most people acknowledged Ozil as a major threat, yet throughout the match he was free to move and do as he wished. Ronaldo, someone known as a major threat when he picks up momentum was allowed time and space to run at our defenders. When Gattuso last faced him (Man Utd 2007), he never gave Ronaldo an inch of room, but yesterday was the opposite. Di Maria, a predominantly left foot player on the right was allowed to cut in at will onto his stronger foot. These are just some examples of our mistakes, I could go on all day about these individual mistakes.

Ultimately, focus will go on our individual weaknesses, mistakes and battles. However, many of these could have been avoided had we worked as a well drilled unit, which we didn't.

I believe it's best to leave this result behind and move on. In recent weeks we've made good progress, so shouldn't let this stop us, merely an experience to learn from.

Only the coach needs to learn from cos he fielded experienced players. I don't know if he can learn or not, he seems so stubborn, more than Ancelotti and Leonardo. If he continues like this we won't do well, we can only win against small team and will be trashed by good and big teams, in Serie A and Champions League.

No creativity on strategy from Allegri. He just sticks with what Ancelotti and Leonardo have done.

It's hard not to blow this loss off... it was very embarrassing. I'm most shocked that Allegri fielded the lineup he did. Against Chievo ok, but 3 days later against RM???

I'm very disappointed. Allegri must change Immediately or Rijkaard will be hired before January.

Goal ONE
C7 shot, as usual, he shot it to the defenders. At this moment, Seedorf was so afraid
of the ball, which had fast speed, he hided away.....
and it turned to a goal.

Goal TWO
Lucky one!!!!!

The problem is, AC Milan can't compete with England BIG 3. We lost to Arsenal,
we lost to MU .............. We can't follow their rhythm and pace...........

Originally Posted by thresics

Goal ONE
C7 shot, as usual, he shot it to the defenders. At this moment, Seedorf was so afraid
of the ball, which had fast speed, he hided away.....
and it turned to a goal.

Goal TWO
Lucky one!!!!!

The problem is, AC Milan can't compete with England BIG 3. We lost to Arsenal,
we lost to MU .............. We can't follow their rhythm and pace...........

Don't think thats the main problem mate.... Flams and Prince are both from the Prem, doing excellent for their respective teams during their time there. Allegri just flat out refuses to use them properly. THAT is the problem.

We can talk all we like about how we didn't have the right mentality, how we didn't have all the best players on the pitch, but the one fact remains, how we play is dictated by the coach, not the players, the coach!

Just a year ago, we were heading into this same clash on the back of some poor results (not to mention a 4-0 thrashing by Merda in the derby led by the Special One :P), and we still managed to come away with a 3-2 win against this side.

Flash forward exactly one year later. Allegri has a better, deeper squad with a fabulous attack, moreso than Leo was ever provided with. We're in much better form in Serie A, and it isn't one injury crisis to next injury crisis.

Whats the difference? Our esteemed coach got the tactics wrong, got the players mentality all wrong.
He's playing to sentiments and hoping for a miracle instead of managing with his head. I don't give a rats a$$ if Seedorf used to play for Madrid, if he's playing like shytee, we take him off! We don't leave him in for the entire match!
If things aren't working in the first half, you make your changes in the second half EARLY and wait for results. You can play the waiting game of 70-80 minute substitutions when you're 0-0 and the opponents are tired out. You do NOT play that game when you're already 2-0 down by 45 minutes AND you're being totally outplayed in the midfield!
That just speaks of how inept you are at reading the game, how poorly you are at making game-changing decisions, and how undeserving you are to sit on the Milan bench!

I rest my case.

I swear, we have ALL the elements to win ANY game against ANY opponents.... all EXCEPT for a decent COACH!