Milan - Lazio (01/02/11 - 20:45)

Aaaaaah ... our first very important game of the 2011 part of the season !!

We're first, they're third.
They beat Fiorentina, we beat Catania.

1st - Milan (47 points)
2nd - Napoli (43 points)
3rd - Lazio (40 points)
4th - Inter (38 points) -1
5th - Roma (38 points) -1
6th - Juventus (35 points) -1
7th - Palermo (34 points)
8th - Udinese (33 points) -1

Juventus and Udinese will play against each other tonight (my bet: Udinese winning).


Anyway, back to Lazio and Milan ...

Last time we played against Lazio, it was the 4th game of the season and it ended with a 1-1 score in Roma.

Our last 5 results: WDDWW (11 points)
Our last 5 results at home: WWLDW (10 points)
Our results overall: 14-5-3
Our results at home: 7-2-2

Their last 5 results: DLWLW (7 points)
Their last 5 results away: LDLDL (2 points)
Their results overall: 12-4-6
Their results away: 4-2-4

Lately, Lazio has showed a drop of form, and they've not been that good away from Roma, so I think this game could really launch our second part of season and give us some fresh air as by winning, Lazio will be 10 points behind us (one competitor far from us, we would still have to be careful because of Napoli, 4 points behind us, Inter and Roma, potentially 6 points behind us) ...

During the week, the other games will be:
Palermo - Juventus
Chievo - Napoli
Udinese - Bologna
Roma - Brescia
Bari - Inter

Among the Top 5 of Serie A, we'll have the toughest game, so it's of course a "must win" game, but all the games are now "must win" games !!

About our players: Ambro is out (injury), Van Bommel is out (red card), Flamini is back
So we should expect Emmanuelson, Thiago Silva, Merkel and Flamini (one of them on the bench) for our midfield !!

Abate is back too, so he could start in mid, but should be at rb. I expect Allegri to go with the 3 more exp players dep on how fit Flamini is.

Pato should start as Cassano wasn't that good vs Catania.

Originally Posted by Tony75

Abate is back too, so he could start in mid, but should be at rb. I expect Allegri to go with the 3 more exp players dep on how fit Flamini is.

Pato should start as Cassano wasn't that good vs Catania.

Well, Cassano wasn't worse than his partners ... Against Catania, it was a terrible performance for almost all our players in midfield and attack !!

I guess:

------------------------------Abbi--------------------------------
---Abate----------Yepes---------Sokratis------------Nini---
------------------------------Silva-------------------------------
-----------Flamini----------------------------Urby--------------
------------------------------Binho------------------------------
---------------------Pato-----------Ibra------------------------

I'm a fan of Silva the DM

Originally Posted by GeoTav

Well, Cassano wasn't worse than his partners ... Against Catania, it was a terrible performance for almost all our players in midfield and attack !!

Ibra scored a goal and forced the other from his free-kick whilst Robinho scored and assisted. Think Cassano done a little worse.

We need Pato's pace vs nazio. him, Robinho & Ibra should see us win well, even with our missing mids as we now have a larger squad to use.

Also Vila can play in the middle too, and poss in cb as he's tall enough too.

App we are signing Legrottagallie on loan.

Geo, your bet has turned into gold

Nice win for Udi. I really don't want to see a strong Juve, and they can't be strong with this kind of management.

at home against Lazio? I think we are fine.

Hernanes' performance has taken a dip lately and no wonder so have Lazio's. He was benched several times, played as a sub against Viola and looked rusty. Their other two central midfielders are Ledesma and Brocchi, neither can be deemed creative so I see no reason why we should play T. Silva as a DM this time. But let's see if Flamini is fit enough to start, and Ambro since he took a knock last night. Damn, we could field another team with our injured players now.

Originally Posted by Tony75

Ibra scored a goal and forced the other from his free-kick whilst Robinho scored and assisted. Think Cassano done a little worse.

We need Pato's pace vs nazio. him, Robinho & Ibra should see us win well, even with our missing mids as we now have a larger squad to use.

Also Vila can play in the middle too, and poss in cb as he's tall enough too.

App we are signing Legrottagallie on loan.

this is out of blue. I thought he was heading back to Bari?

Originally Posted by Nalx

Hernanes' performance has taken a dip lately and no wonder so have Lazio's. He was benched several times, played as a sub against Viola and looked rusty. Their other two central midfielders are Ledesma and Brocchi, neither can be deemed creative so I see no reason why we should play T. Silva as a DM this time. But let's see if Flamini is fit enough to start, and Ambro since he took a knock last night. Damn, we could field another team with our injured players now.

Agree with the bold part

I think Silva should play as we still lack some good passing in the middle and the other CBs must prepare for CL match against Tottenham.

Originally Posted by Aficio

Agree with the bold part

I think Silva should play as we still lack some good passing in the middle and the other CBs must prepare for CL match against Tottenham.

Amelia
Abate/Nesta/Zambrotta
Gattuso/Pirlo/Flamini/Ambrosini
Seedorf/Boateng
Inzaghi

Somehow I thought we had more injured players than those? OK, I am not wishing for more, so don't attack me please.

We should see Flamini back in the lineup for Lazio.... Xudong, you forgot Strasser.

What's happening with Strasser anyway? He could be very useful for us at this time.... WHen's he back, anyone know?


My prediction:

ABBIATI; ODDO, SOKRATIS, YEPES, NINI; FLAMINI, SILVA, URBY; MERKEL; ROBINHO, IBRA

I would play Pato ahead of Urby though and push Merkel back to midfield.

Originally Posted by hitmannq8

We should see Flamini back in the lineup for Lazio.... Xudong, you forgot Strasser.

What's happening with Strasser anyway? He could be very useful for us at this time.... WHen's he back, anyone know?


My prediction:

ABBIATI; ODDO, SOKRATIS, YEPES, NINI; FLAMINI, SILVA, URBY; MERKEL; ROBINHO, IBRA

I would play Pato ahead of Urby though and push Merkel back to midfield.

that's right, Strasser was the one I was thinking about. Thanks, my friend.

according to Gazzetta, he is out for 7 days, so he should be back after Lazio's game.

Big Game, very Excited ( A TUESDAY GAME ?!?!)

My Lineup:

-------------Ibrahimovic---------Pato-------------------
--------------------------Robinho------------------------
------Emmanuelson-------------------Flamini-----------
-------------------------T. Silva---------------------------
Antonini---------------------------------------------Abate
------------------Yepes----------Sokratis------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------Abbiati----------------------------


* Cassano to sub for one of the forwards
* Merkel to sub for one of the midfielders (Flamini)
* Obviously not at full strength but I think we can get the job done!


When is Gattuso returning? Boateng? Pirlo?
Strasser 7 days, also Ambrosini....

Pato will start this game, coz he didn't start against Catania, Ibra will be too tired to be pulled back, so it will be huge job for AM.