Official: Gilardino to Fiorentina

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Icculus, Gila isn't the type of striker who has great technique or the ability to blast past defenders, he's a pure target man. Basically, he's the type of player that will always be available as an option up front when the midfield moves forward. He has good ability to hold the ball up for others to join him in attack and lay it off for people running through from deep. This when he's played well this season he has done superbly much to the advantage of players like Kaka

What more can I say in this regard?? You have already said what I am complaining about. Not because you're a target man means that your techinque shouldn't be great... Look at RVN and Trezuget...they have amazing technique. Why should we settle for a target man with poor technique???

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Firstly, Pippo scored 17 in the season where most of the time he played alone up front, and after Sheva's return his form dropped. However, you could have pointed out Sheva developed his more supporting role after that season to validate your point about how Sheva worked well with Gila

I was responding to the claim that Gila and Sheva were the ONLY strikers to score 17...thanks for backing me up Inzaghi's form didn't drop after Sheva returned...he got injured and we were experimenting with Crespo after that

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

You can't say Kaka is allowed to miss easy chances. I'll be the first to say Kaka is argubly our most important player this season, but to say he's allowed to fail is ridiculous. Kaka has to deliver, and this season though he's excellent, he hasn't provided for forwards as much as he did before. I personally think this lies in other areas of the pitch, and the lack of options Kaka gets when moving forward. Gila when playing is often isolated and marked up front, so how is Kaka supposed to provide?

Of course Kaka is allowed to make mistakes, because as was pointed out earlier his bad is vastly outweighed by the good. Out of all his attempts of necessity most will fail however the good attempts more than compensate. In a similar way, if Maldini or Nesta make a mistake, I'd view it less seriously than if one of our young defenders like Bonera did....Simply because those two have been saving us ever since...and their shortcommings are made insignificant by their contribution.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Also, I don't see precisely what Gila said wrong after missing the penalty. To say he'd take it again takes a lot of courage and that time more than ever he needed to show some backbone, because otherwise he'd get eaten alive

I can't remember exactly the way he said it....but I got the impression that he said and meant that he would do it again exactly the same way. This is insensitive to the fans IMO, because if the shot was saved, surely if it was taken differently another result might have occurred. And this false confidence doesn't fool anyone either....Everyone knows Gila is low on it right now.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Gila may have had more chances to shoot this year and maybe should have, but that doesn't mean the service to him has been good. For a player who requires decent supply of the ball, he's had very little options as often he's been left up front to fight by himself. He's also good with scoring from crosses, which quite frankly on the whole have been atrocious this season.

Again I refuse to blame the whole team for ONE player. Milan have always been playing the ball through the center. If this doesn't suit Gila's game, why should we force the team to play differently from the style that got us a scudetto a CL and a CL final?????

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Seedorf is picked ahead of Gourcuff due to experience and strength he has, this to me seems pretty evident. Carlo plays those who are physically stronger alongside Pirlo to protect him, and aim to give him more freedom.

Playing one striker has a simple reason behind it, our strikers don't forge good partnerships together. Pippo-Gila was tried and completely failed, Gila-Oliveira showed a little promise, but Oliveira simply isn't a supporting forward, same with R99-Oli and Gila-R99 is a partnership between two forwards who play completely different games, it's a case of chalk and cheese.

Oh and just to add, I'm not saying Gila's performances have been good this season. Mostly, he's been poor by his standards, though when he shines he has done very well. He needs a lot more help up front to provide on a regular basis.

To say that Ronaldo Oli doesn't work is amazing since Ronaldo has just reached and though neither scored in the Atalanta game, Milan looked more dangerous than we ever did for a long time. Also don't forget the Ronaldo-Oli-Kaka game where all three scored.

I can't imagine why you would even bother to defend Carlo's tactics of late, when the president sometimes has to force him to change them, for the good of the team. I'm not saying that Seedofr is better than Gorcudd or the converse, just that certain changes appear necessary to our team in order to succeed

Originally Posted by mly

Zlatan's last year, just like Tony29 said, was awful. But look at him now, best player in Serie A (well maybe sharing it with Totti).
.

Whole post was good, but Kaka' is by far the best player in the world, and so, the best player in serie a!

mly gives me hope to see a transformation... heres the Rx:

this summer plenty of rest and a heavy dose of Daily Affirmations With Stuart Smalley

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!

very good post mly.. i kind of changed my mind towards gila after reading your post.. there are other disadvantages that u didnt mention like:

1- not moving at all when he's on the field.. for ex look at pippo how he is all over the pitch even though he's an all-out striker.. gila just sticks to the defender and usually goes for a dive.. its painful to see him doin this everytime instead of simply just opening up and getting the ball..

2- players 2nd seasons are always crap i agree with you and even Seedorf, Kaka spoke about it before.. BUT that is for FOREIGN players who come to Italy.. Gila has played in Serie A for 2 years before he joined Milan.. the 2nd year thing does not apply to him..

3- for the last 2 seasons he has been starting more than any striker and we have always played no matter how bad he plays... but then his agent says something like "Milan have to show more trust in Gila" a few weeks ago.. that just made me go kookoo and wanted him axed as soon as possible..

Originally Posted by hitmannq8

...
2- players 2nd seasons are always crap i agree with you and even Seedorf, Kaka spoke about it before.. BUT that is for FOREIGN players who come to Italy.. Gila has played in Serie A for 2 years before he joined Milan.. the 2nd year thing does not apply to him..
...

changing clubs - and most notably styles of play and level of football - and turning from a main striker into some sort of an apprentice to Sheva and Pippo is more than enough of a change in my book.

I don't necessarily buy this "2nd year" argument as IMO there are two other much more notable reasons for Gila underperforming this year (to say that he had a poor first year at Milan is laughable to say the least ):

1st reason - Milan as a team is underperforming for one reason or another (calciopoli, lack of transfers to refresh the team, lack of proper fitness prep. because of caliopoli, which is also a major reason for the ridiculous number of injuries, you name it).

2nd reason - if you guys give it some thought, you will see that many players, in fact most players, tend to underperform in post-WC years due to lack of proper rest from the psychological and physical pressure of the previous season. Also, the longer a player plays in a WC, the shorter his rest will be and the more this will affect his summer training program when players are supposed to build a base for the rest of the season.
Of course there are exceptions out there but the above is true for the majority of players who have to play summer tournaments for their National teams.

This year, not only did Milan have many important players playing till the end or the later stages of the WC, but we also had to play in rushed CL qualifiers, which deprived those players of virtually any rest at all and took the team's preparation plans off track not allowing the fitness coaches to prep the players for a long season ahead - it is not by chance that Milan players looked so fit/fresh in the beginning of the season but fell off physically with time and struggled vs second-tier teams in Serie A ...
Also, lack of fitness preparation is a major reason for injuries among athletes, hence our depleted bench for most of the first half of the season, which led to many players being over-used and even asked to play with injuries - not easy to perform miracles in a team like that, is it?

For many this second reason may sound like a bunch of made up excuses but if you take some time to read a book or two on football/fitness conditioning, I am sure you change your view .


@mly - nice post and well thought out ... time permitting, you should post more often, you know

In all honesty icculus, it's understandable if you don't particularly like "box" players, but in the end they are there to score goals, and Gila does that with pretty good frequency (even this season where Gila has struggled a lot, his average is around 1 in 3 games in Serie A).

Drucurl, I don't think Van Nistelrooy and Trezeguet have better technique than Gila, and for me Toni is technically less gifted, but they get the results. Technique in that position isn't the most important aspect of the game (look at Pippo for example who we have gladly settled with for more than 5 years).

Kaka is allowed to make mistakes yes, but I don't see we can allow it anymore than Gila. Gila since he came hasn't had a bad scoring return by any means and still has a lot of potential. Kaka this season has been as wasteful if not moreso than anyone in the side. Though I acknowledge he's done superbly, there are many times he could have done better and had he done so I'm sure we wouldn't be complaining so much about this season. Fact is, Kaka has contributed a lot this year, but he's also wasted a lot. Gila has contributed less (though he's scored some pretty important goals), but he's been much less wasteful than Kaka. It's not the same for someone like Seedorf, who for me hasn't contributed a great deal and has been a weak link for us too.

As for Gila's penalty miss, it hit the inside of the post. It wasn't badly struck and in the end if it was an inch further in it was a goal. To say he'd take it exactly the same to me sounds like he wasn't particularly disappointed with how he took the penalty (which he shouldn't have been as he struck it well), even though he missed and he was under so much pressure. I don't see any disrespect to the fans at all.

I also don't see how you got the opinion Milan haven't had good width in the past. We never pushed as wide as we could have, but in the past Cafu always pushed out wide well. Also, Serginho has done this role very effectively. Even Seedorf before would push out well to the left, as would Sheva move onto both flanks. Now we've not only lost Sheva and Seedorf isn't doing a great on the left anymore, but we've only just gotten Oddo who strengthened the right instead of a "past his best" Cafu and take away Janku's few highly important goals this season and you find he really hasn't done a great deal on the left when providing support on the left (especially with crossing).

Personally, when watching the Atalanta game I didn't see Ronie and Oliveira working too well together. They got in each other's way a couple of times and neither played for each other, but rather as individuals. In reality, I can think of one goal where they actually did well together (Ronie set up Oli's goal), but otherwise I've not seen them work too well together.

Carlo's tactics of late aren't my cup of tea, but I don't think he's doing a great deal wrong. Berlu I don't remember complaining about them much and Galliani I think only really said he wants to see Gourcuff more. In the end, we've just come through the hardest period of our season so far with almost maximum points, which to me says Carlo isn't doing too badly.

oh, before I forget, very good post mly, but please leave out the swearing next time, I'd rather not have to touch it

Thanks for the positive replies and sorry for the swearing It was just that the b word that Morfeo said was textual .

Just to say I understand most of the points made by the everyone. And I understand is easy to lose patience on a guy one has many expectations on, or a guy just simply don't like and isn't doing things. Is just that sometimes, I think there's too much criticism surrounding him, even more than what he should get, and its not even constructive criticism.

Besides, I don't remember the last time a pure box striker didn't make people lose patience in him, most of them look fragile, inmovile, they are often in offside position, they miss the easiest of shots, and many times, it seems the team is playing with a man less. Name him, Trezeguet, RVN, Inzaghi, Crespo, Montella, Vieri (Vieri to a lesser extent). Maybe the only one I save from this is Batistuta, but he was Batistuta. Well all that's IMO.

Finally give Gila one more year, if we have a propper squad, and he isn't showing signs of improvement at all, then yes by all means let him go, it would be the best for both parties.

Originally Posted by hitmannq8

3- for the last 2 seasons he has been starting more than any striker and we have always played no matter how bad he plays... but then his agent says something like "Milan have to show more trust in Gila" a few weeks ago.. that just made me go kookoo and wanted him axed as soon as possible..

I know, agents

Originally Posted by mrki

Whole post was good, but Kaka' is by far the best player in the world, and so, the best player in serie a!

Thanks. It was a honest mistake I made...to not look so Milan biased which of course I am.

how much did milan buy him for, was it 24m euro? or 24m pounds?

it was 24 mil euros

I hold firmly to my points...but I do agree that all of this criticism is counter productive...after all at the end of the day he still is one of us
I think the main thing that pisses the snti-Gila camp is the way his fanboys overrate him...

Originally Posted by drucurl

I think the main thing that pisses the snti-Gila camp is the way his fanboys overrate him...

Are we back on this guy again?

fanboys... umm... just learn to ignore them then.

Actually drucurl...maybe there are fanboys here, but i know Dev, jeff, kui, zlat, warro and many others aren't protecting Gila because they are his fans, or they like him so much and prefer him over the other Milan players.
That's not their point and it certanly isn't my point to defend him.

The time when i loved certain players and i watched football mostly because of them passed long ( long long long) ago and now i love the team only, no matter who plays or who doesn't.

I think you're ignoring the possibility some people here defend Gilardino only because they think he's a great player, not because he's their poster boy.

P.S : In one of my previous post, when i said You defend Kaka and attack Gilardino...."You" goes for "You guys" not for "you Drucurl"

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Actually drucurl...maybe there are fanboys here, but i know Dev, jeff, kui, zlat, warro and many others aren't protecting Gila because they are his fans, or they like him so much and prefer him over the other Milan players.
That's not their point and it certanly isn't my point to defend him.

The time when i loved certain players and i watched football mostly because of them passed long ( long long long) ago and now i love the team only, no matter who plays or who doesn't.

I think you're ignoring the possibility some people here defend Gilardino only because they think he's a great player, not because he's their poster boy.

P.S : In one of my previous post, when i said You defend Kaka and attack Gilardino...."You" goes for "You guys" not for "you Drucurl"

I know that those guys aren't fanboys Tony ( but I'm sure you have heard his fanboys already ) and thanks for clearing up what you meant by "you"

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

In all honesty icculus, it's understandable if you don't particularly like "box" players, but in the end they are there to score goals, and Gila does that with pretty good frequency (even this season where Gila has struggled a lot, his average is around 1 in 3 games in Serie A).

your right, being a midfielder for the last 30 yrs, i have always resented these showboats that get... no take ...all the glory.

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Actually drucurl...maybe there are fanboys here, but i know Dev, jeff, kui, zlat, warro and many others aren't protecting Gila because they are his fans, or they like him so much and prefer him over the other Milan players.
That's not their point and it certanly isn't my point to defend him.

Thanks for pointing this out Tony. For my friend drucurl, I hope you hadnt confused me as being his "fanboy" whatever that is supposed to mean.
Let me make it clear. Anyone who currently plays for this team, I am by that fact (because they play for this team) their fan. Even the player on our squad who is the weakest link, I will support 100%. That is what I personally as a fan follow. Some call this arrogant as that is the going word that is getting attatched to me here. As I've said many times before, fair criticism can be laid on any player, coach, and staff we have in this club. What I go after and put to the fire are all those who unjustly attack our own players for this great team. In doing so I'm called arrogant. Never mind the relentless attacks "fans" lay on their own team! I guess that means if I'm arrogant, those who attack their own team must be modest. Go figure. Some of you may have a different opinion on this. That is fine.
Being the subject is about Gila, let me give you my spiel about Gila. He has my 100% support for as long as he plays with us. My fair critique of Gila is that with a 25 Million Euro pricetag we got for him, such a price should have been accompanied with 25 Million Euro results. Where is the equity in the purchase of him in comparison to his contribution? This is not a Gila problem, it was a calciomercato problem. Now some have laid the argument that he was bought for the future of this club. Did it have to cost the club 25 million Euros? When is this future we are talking about going to happen? Has it been 2 years now??? Again my support of him is the hope that we do get a return on his investment. I hope it comes to fruition. You also have those who expect him to do all, score all and win all. Even when he does score people criticise him. Some of it is fair, but a good bunch are not. What is duplicitous with some of these relentless attackers of Gila is that many of these were the very ones who were ardent "BUY HIM NOW" lot of folks. Clearly both sides of the Gila argument have wrongly speculated this guy, what he's all about and what his contribution is and what is yet to come of him while in our club.
Now that he is with us, the least anyone should do is support and hope the best for him. Anything short of that serves no useful purpose for this club. I had my reservations about his acquisition to this squad, but that is over and done with. I have no interest at using that reservation of him to prove myself right at the expense of this club. I've had many reservations about many players we brought into this club, but once that step was taken, I ardently back them and this great club 100%. Looks like a bunch of people here already made up their minds about this guy and that is unfortunate. I'll say... how modest!.
FORZA GILA!
FORZA MILAN!