Arsenal-Milan CL Round of 16 Leg 1

Originally Posted by Ghost

You clearly don't like England and people from here as you think all we do is drink beer and throw abuse at everyone. Just to end this I agree with whatever you say, England has never won a World Cup and doesn't contain a club which has won the CL.

.

we will end the discussio by me saying that this was taken out of context and this is not my oppinion. When I wrote this I was cinical towards a poster that said I only know hord "history" and behave like L'pool fans who talk the same thing all hte time. And dont be sarcastic in that bad tune as I didnt say the things above. I confessed what had been done, but I didnt confess Mialn and Arsenal are equal clubs. England is an Elite football nation, Arsenal is not an elite football club. And I do follow Arsenal a lot, like 80% of this years matches becouse of Da Silva. If our defence leaves him alone for a moment, he doesnt miss.

Assuming we have a full squad, will Ancelotti opt for the xmas tree with Inzaghi or Gila upfront in the away game? Or will he take the aggressive approach and play Ronaldo and Pato upfront?

Defensively, I reckon Bonera will play at right-back in both games in order to deal with Clichy and Rosicky on Arsenal's left side. Oddo will not be able to contain them imo.

Based on Kaladze's recent performances, I am worried about him against Arsenal.

from theguardian´s football section:

Ivory Coast's Toure doubtful for quarter-final
TAKORADI, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Kolo Toure is doubtful for Ivory Coast's African Nations Cup quarter-final against Guinea because of the groin injury that forced him to miss Tuesday's group match, coach Gerard Gili said on Wednesday.
The Arsenal defender injured his groin last week in a 4-1 demolition of Benin and had to pull out of the Mali game, which the Elephants won 3-0 on Tuesday.
"Kolo is now back in the squad," Gili told a news conference at the team's hotel in Takoradi.
"He has trained with the others today but had specific exercises to do. We'll know better later this week if he is fit to play."
If he is not fit, Toure would be replaced by Benfica's Marc Zoro, who deputised against Mali.
Ivory Coast take on Guinea in Sekondi on Sunday. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Sonia Oxley)

Wonder if he will still be knacked by the time we play them?

ancelloti rarely play offensive. I think he likes to play defensively, first to dominate the midfield. So I think he will play the christmas formation, with gattuso and ambro to stop cesc, bonera to mark rosicky, maldini to mark hleb, although i would like to see maldini as central defender and kaladze as fullback.

for the solo striker, I think he will put pato in. but I doubt he can skin toure and gallas like inzaghi would...

but it would be interesting if we put offensive display with Ka Pa Ro upfront, ambro + gattuso + pirlo in midfield, oddo + janku as fullback and nesta + maldini in defence.

Let them score as many as they like as long as we can outscore them
afterall we're going to play at emirates first so away goal is crucial...

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

from theguardian´s football section:

Wonder if he will still be knacked by the time we play them?

Well, the match isn't till the 20th, so there's plenty of time for him to recover, depending on the severity of his injury.

arsenal is a great team....veryy verry fast on the counter attack and adebayor we have to stop him ..and they have one thing that we miss...GOOD CROSSING....sagna and diaby push up alot giving their midfield more space to attack ....we better be ready to stop the crosses or adebayor will get on the end of em everytime..

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

from theguardian´s football section:

Wonder if he will still be knacked by the time we play them?

Wenger has stated Kolo will be out for 7/8 days, so if Ivory Coast were to progress in to the Semi's then most definatly Kolo will be available unless there is a reoccurrence. Also it looks like Persie will be out for at least another 2/3 weeks which I think rules him out for the Milan game.

Can't believe Chelsea and Pool both get mickey mouse teams in the FA Cup, whilst both United and Arsenal have to play each other a few days before their CL games. Reason I say this be because if it was some minor team then both teams could play the reserve sides but in such a big game it will have to be at least half of the first team.

We had some luck there with the FA cup draw... Arsenal will most likely play full squad against United as FA cup in an important event in England.

I wish ronaldo can be fit for 60 min of good football, and also Marek and Oddo can come back to some form as Arsenal is extremly dangerous on the flanks with speed double passes on the flanks. Also, with Maldini looking ok even on the Lb, I dont see any reason why he, at this moment not injured and quite fit, cant play Cb alongside NEsta. Kaladze is in quite bad shape and Paolo could paly CB nicely as always. I hope this will be our team in Emirates.

-------------dida-----------
oddo---nesta--maldini--marek--
-----------pirlo--------
---gattuso-----ambrosini-----
------kaka'---seedorf------
----------ronaldo----------

I dont see Pippo being phisically ready for the game, aldough he started working well in Milanello. And Pato is too young for these games. With Ronaldo-KAka'-Seedorf- Pirlo we can create well. It would be a HUGR mistake just to defend against Arsenal.

I want Inzaghi to play this match.

How about this? -->

Kalac

Oddo - Nesta - Maldini - Jankulovski

Gattuso - Pirlo - Ambrosini

Seedorf - Kaka

Inzaghi

I doubt that even as defensive as Carlo is, that he will be stupid enough to try to go to Arsenal to defend.

Outscoring them for me, seems the best bet.

i am just waiting for this game... i have a lot of arsenal frenz and i am waiting to collect their money... Arsenal dont have the quality and experience to beat us over two legs... they play an open game which is best for our attackers... it will be a repeat of last years semi vs ManU.

I think Carlo will pack the midfield up in the first game, making a lot of possession and trying to keep Arsenal out of the game. He will try to snick a goal. I expect a match like the first Utd- Milan (2004-05).

At the San Siro, the music will be totally different. A Requiem for Arsenal will be sung as the Curva will roar his first chants, and the young, talented but less experienced Arsenal guys will find very hard to cope with the atmosphere down there. This game will be played more openly.

I do hope to attend the second game.

Out here, I regularly see Arsenal shirts. During the '06 CL final, it seemed like every other person was wearing Arsenal stuff (in contrast, there was a fraction of Barca merchandise).

Gattuso Out Of Arsenal Clash

AC Milan have received a huge blow after Gennaro Gattuso was ruled out for around 50 days with injury, meaning that he will miss both legs of the Champions League tie with Arsenal.
Gattuso Out Of Arsenal Clash
zoom - galleria
Gattuso has picked up a serious muscle strain and has immediately been withdrawn from the Milan squad set to travel to Florence for this Sunday’s crucial trip to Fiorentina.

The 30-year-old hardman had struggled at times this season for form, but it seemed as though he was returning to something near his very best after an improved performance against Genoa last weekend, and a rampaging display in the midweek win at Reggina.
Gattuso will also miss the Serie A matches with Siena, Parma, Livorno, Palermo, Catania, Lazio and Empoli.

If estimates are correct he should return in time for the week 28 trip to the Stadio Olimpico to face Roma.

Most worrying for Milan will be his absence from the Champions League knockout tie with Arsenal. The first leg in London is on February 20, with the return on March 4.

Gattuso will also naturally be ruled out of Italy’s international friendly with Portugal in Zurich next week.

The ex-Rangers man is a notoriously fast healer and Milan fans will be hoping for a miraculous recovery in time for the super-clash with Arsenal.

_____________________________

Not sure how reliable the above source is but I'm upset at the fact that he's injured, I'm hoping he's fully fit for both legs because I want the full teams out.

The CL-squad for the rest of the season:

Dida, Kalac, Fiori.

Cafu, Maldini, Kaladze, Nesta, Simic, Jankulovski, Favalli, Bonera, Darmian, Oddo;

Emerson, Gattuso, Seedorf, Gourcuff, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Brocchi;

Inzaghi, Gilardino, Kakà, Ronaldo, Pato.


Paloschi has been added to the B-list.

Pato and Paloschi have been added, while Serginho and Willy Aubameyang have been removed.