Catania - Milan (03/05/09)

Originally Posted by GeoTav

And IF we only had wins, we would already be champions ...
Let's stop with the "if", it's the word for regrets, and regrets are the worst thing in sports as that means you look at your past instead of looking at your future.

Past is something that you can't change, that's very true BUT we must learn from the past and not just forget the past so easily.

Originally Posted by Gabriel489

TO be honest, if we had a better start, say, instead of losing the first two games of the season. There's 6 pts.
Then the Adriano's handball, lets say thats a tie-1pt
And then the Lecce and Genoa games, where they tied up at the very end-4 pts.
Lastly, the most recent Napoli game where we tied-2 pts.

We should have been 6 pts above Inter and not 7 pts under them

Actually, I just noticed that, but the way you counted is false !! ^^
Against Inter, if you have a draw instead of a win from Inter, it's "-3" and not "-1" only, as we earn 1 point, but Inter loses 2 points the same day. So, if we lose the championship for 2 or 3 points, then we will be able to have some regrets as our season will be lost for a hand from Adriano who leaded to a goal that should have been disallowed.

Anyway, what is sure is that we need to play the way we played the last games for a complete season (of course, one or two bad games are allowed, you can't be perfect from September to May) and I think this Scudetto will be ours. If we can also compete in CL, it's also very good, but I don't have too many high hopes for next year in CL (this way, if we win it again, I'll be more than happy !! ).

Catania, be careful, Milan is back !!

Originally Posted by Siregar

Past is something that you can't change, that's very true BUT we must learn from the past and not just forget the past so easily.

Not having regrets doesn't mean not learning from the past ...

Our players probably learned that to win, they need to be motivated and run, our coach probably learned that we have a team that is good enough to compete for the Scudetto if he plays an attacking football, our management probably learned that we need some fresh blood in the team, some balance between old and young not to be too touched by injuries when a year like this one happens again, etc, but if you only look at the past by saying "if we did that there, we could have ...", it's not what I call learning from the past !! ^^

How much time was needed to learn that its not wise to close the matches at 60th minute? 5 years?

Originally Posted by mrki

How much time was needed to learn that its not wise to close the matches at 60th minute? 5 years?

Yea it's true. We haven't been able to hold on to leads since forever, and imo this has been the major flaw of the last part of Carlo's reign, and also the reason why we haven't done better in the league...

I remember the team that won the Champions League in 2003, back then we could really hold on to a lead, and it wasn't in a boring Anglonoccio way, we simply just kept possession. Now we switch to formations the team simply doesn't know how to play and let the other team play on our half. It usually only takes 5 mins after Carlo changes to his 4-4-1-1 before the other team gets a big chance. Good thing we've closed the games early lately though

2003-2004: Scudetto won (82 points, +11 over Juventus, championship with 18 clubs) by Milan + Quarter-finals in CL
2004-2005: Runner-up (79 points, -7 from Juventus) + final in CL
2005-2006: Runner-up before the Calciopoli (88 points, -3 from Juventus) but third after Calciopoli (58 points, -18 from Inter) + Semi-finals in CL
2006-2007: Fourth (61 points, -36 from Inter, but really 69 points and -28 from Inter if we don't count the -8 points from Calciopoli, it was a special year, without the retired points for all the teams, we would have finished fourth too) + CL won
2007-2008: Fifth (64 points, -19 from Inter) + 1/8 Finals in CL <= Horrible year

2008-2009: Second for moment (67 points, -7 from Inter, still 5 games to play)

I wanted to make it clear, but we only had one very bad year and it was the last one. Of course, we didn't play well all the time during all these years, but the results were good and some people seem to forget it quickly I think when they want to bash our management and especially Ancelotti.

And seriously, I don't really count 2006-2007 as we gave all for the CL this year and it was obvious, so we ended really far from Inter only once (twice for people who count 2006-2007). Anyway, because of Calciopoli, Inter was untouchable this year, even without retired points, they ended with 97 points and only one defeat, something that no team will do again soon I think ...

So our bilan with Ancelotti in Serie A is often around 80 points, and with reinforcements from this year, he should end again around 80 points ...

Grande Ancelotti. He will bench Pato for Seedorf. Really, sometimes I just don't know what is going on in that head of his...

Originally Posted by gregapenny

Grande Ancelotti. He will bench Pato for Seedorf. Really, sometimes I just don't know what is going on in that head of his...

Where did you read that ?
And anyway, that means he wants Pato to be rested after his injury (if what you say is true, Pato will probably get 15-20 minutes on the pitch).

Again, I think it's smarter like that: Catania is our easiest game before a final run against 4 good/very good teams.

Of course, if we don't think about that and if we just want the best team for the next game, no matter what could happen then, yeah, let's put Gattuso, Pato and Borriello all together against Catania, oh, and let's call Nesta, now he can run 20 minutes, he has to be able to defend.

Called up players:
Dida, Kalac, Perucchini; Zambrotta, Maldini, Favalli, Jankuloski, Senderos, Mattioni, Darmian, Bonera; Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Kakà, Seedorf, Ronaldinho; Pato, Inzaghi, Shevchenko.

Come on man, Pato has been training with the team all week and besides he is 19 years old, why does he need to be rested... Besides he didn't play against Palermo...

Carlo is just looking for all kind of reasons to play Seedorf and I really don't get that...

Originally Posted by gregapenny

Come on man, Pato has been training with the team all week and besides he is 19 years old, why does he need to be rested... Besides he didn't play against Palermo...

Carlo is just looking for all kind of reasons to play Seedorf and I really don't get that...

Pato got an injury, it's why he didn't play against Palermo. He didn't train normally for all week, he came back in the main group 2-3 days ago.

Of course, he is 19, so this guy doesn't need any rest ...

You seem to be one of these Carlo haters who will blame him for everything. If Carlo said that there was a doubt about Pato starting, there is a reason ...

Carlo finally said something encouraging about Gourcuff. During today press conference he said that Gourcuff is doing very well at Bordeaux, that he matured and if Bordeaux do not use the option to buy him, Ancelotti said he will be very happy to have him back.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

Where did you read that ?
And anyway, that means he wants Pato to be rested after his injury (if what you say is true, Pato will probably get 15-20 minutes on the pitch).

Again, I think it's smarter like that: Catania is our easiest game before a final run against 4 good/very good teams.

Of course, if we don't think about that and if we just want the best team for the next game, no matter what could happen then, yeah, let's put Gattuso, Pato and Borriello all together against Catania, oh, and let's call Nesta, now he can run 20 minutes, he has to be able to defend.

Called up players:
Dida, Kalac, Perucchini; Zambrotta, Maldini, Favalli, Jankuloski, Senderos, Mattioni, Darmian, Bonera; Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Kakà, Seedorf, Ronaldinho; Pato, Inzaghi, Shevchenko.

Ancelotti said he'll decide between Pato and Seedorf, a lot of which rests on the condition of Pato.

Either way, I expect Seedorf to start.

Question is what is Carlo gonna do about the one Full Back position? We're missing Jankulovski to injury, Flamini is suspended and Antonini is injured aswell.

Options are; Favalli on the left, and Zambrotta on the right; Mattioni on the right, Darmian on the right or Bonera on the right. I think Favalli is the most likely to start as a full back, but you never know... Wouldn't mind Mattioni playing though.

Seedorf responsible for creating game? Please, kill me.

Originally Posted by Christian

Question is what is Carlo gonna do about the one Full Back position? We're missing Jankulovski to injury, Flamini is suspended and Antonini is injured aswell.

Options are; Favalli on the left, and Zambrotta on the right; Mattioni on the right, Darmian on the right or Bonera on the right. I think Favalli is the most likely to start as a full back, but you never know... Wouldn't mind Mattioni playing though.

It is much better to play Favalli in centre. Milan didn't loose a match with Favalli as a CB. I think Janku plays on the left.