Official: Gilardino to Fiorentina

Originally Posted by icculus

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

A peculiar point. In a good way. Though I dont resent the goal takers (forwards/strikers) I do feel that in many ways, the rest of the squad become the unsung heroes.
I have a liking of the midfield contribution to the squad, especially the greats of the past squads. One is compelled to ask themselves, "Yeah MVB was great, but would he or the squad be that great if it werent for the passes, say... someone like Donadoni would serve him?"
Keep in mind also that with the majority credit laid upon Strikers/Forwards, they also have the potential to get relentlessly attacked as in case of the title subject GILA.

If you don't mind I'll add my 2cents....

Everybody has made valid points, however I have to agree with what MLY and ACMILAN1983 have said.

Gilardino is averaging 1 goal every 3 games. Thierry Henry is averaging 1 goal every 2 games and has done that for a couple of seasons now. Henry is 29/30 while Gila is only 24, strikers are in their prime at 27/28 (apparently) and if his averaging 1 every 3 imagine what it could be when he is 27/28.

In 2004-2005 season at parma he ended the season as the 2nd highest scorer with 23, sheva only managed 17 that season.

In 2005-2006 he scored 17 goals in the league for us and sheva scored 19.
They formed a exellent strike partnership imho and gila thrived. Now his partner is gone and none of replacements are working well with him.

Sheva isn't having a great season at chelsea, with only 4 league goals but his striker partner Drogba is having the best season I've ever seen! He has scored 18 goals this season. Drogba has never performed for Chelsea until Sheva arrived. Imho it shows the impact that Sheva has on a team and what our team is missing.

Everybody goes on about our midfield this season and I have to as well. We all know that Kaka is the future of milan but Pirlo is our "general" and "tactian". If Pirlo plays well, the team plays well. Pirlo hasn't been the same since the World Cup.

Unfortunately Gila has often played as a lone striker(which suits him best) but the midfield don't like the formation. kaka wants to play behind 2 forwards and so does seedorf. Discontent perhaps?

In the first Celtic game, I think Gila played a decent game, he was denied by the goalkeepers outstretched foot. No foot, the ball was in the net. Gila couldn't have done better imho. Everytime he received the ball, there was no midfield supporting him. kaka and gorky preffered to run at celtic (nothing wrong with that) which nullifies the role gila was meant to play. get ball to target man, run off target man. instead they were running from the halfway line - takes ur target man out of the equation.

last nights italy vs scotland game is a classic example of a target man performing and then being starved. in the first 15min luca toni was used correctly. this cause probs for the scots and led to a goal. after the goal, he never got the ball or when he did, he was surrounded by scottish players with no midfield support.

I also think alot of the blame lies with Ancelotti. Ancelotti changes the formation often, one game its 4-3-1-2 then its 4-5-1 then its 4-4-1-1. How are the players suppose to adjust to a lone striker if the next game you play 2 strikers? How are strikers meant to form partnerships?

Imho I thin kcoaches should choose a formation and stick with it no matter what. This whole play attacking formation at home and play defensive formation away is silly. You should play every game with the intention of winning it convincingly.

I look at ManUnited this season with their 4-4-2 formation which they play in everygame, in england or europe and they are playing brilliant football. I think this has a lot to do with consistency of the formation and the same players. Players are used to playing alongside each other and the correct players are being fielded in the correct position/role.

Chelsea are playing the wrong players in the wrong positiond completely yet they are managing to win even though its not their best football. Reason, they play the same formation, game after game even though its new. Its the only way to get used to it.

Every player has a bad season or two in their careers. I'm no Gila fan however I don't think his season has been that bad. His our leadng goal scorer. He scored in the first derby when we were totally outplayed.
Maybe if our defence had been in better shape earlier this season things might have been very different.

I reckon we should give all our players a break, since the xmas break the defence has improved, ronaldo has injected some enthusiasm and goals into the team (shows what new signings can do). we are still in the champions league and still fighting for qualification in UCL.

I reckon that a formation that is used week in and week out, with players performing according to the formation, and milan buying players who suit the formation and not because of their name will improve our performances and gilardinos.

After the summer break imho we will see what Gila can really do. Just a feeling I have. Unless we do a Juventus (Thierry Henry) and sell him to a team who knows how to play with him and uses his strengths. If that happens I wonder which Serie A team or Uefa team will score plenty of goals against us thanks to him?

As stated before just my opinion and 2cents worth.

John

Nice commentary John. I liked it.

I agree with the rotated formation problem this year. I don't like that either.

Excellent 2 cents jmacpherson!! Hoping we will be benefit of more of your erudite posts.

Originally Posted by Jeff

I agree with the rotated formation problem this year. I don't like that either.

I'm also against changing formations but in Carlo's defense i can add that he was accused a lot till New Year for using the same formation and for being so predictable.
Changing formations was an atempt to get out of the crisis ( Milan was way behind the 4th place 3 months ago) and although Milan is still inefficient and is getting hard fought wins, at least they're winning and are very close to the so much wanted 4th place !

Originally Posted by jmacpherson

Sheva isn't having a great season at chelsea, with only 4 league goals but his striker partner Drogba is having the best season I've ever seen! He has scored 18 goals this season. Drogba has never performed for Chelsea until Sheva arrived. Imho it shows the impact that Sheva has on a team and what our team is missing.

I disagree here. I don't think you can claim that Drogba's great goalscoring form is down to Shevchenko. He's just having one of those seasons where everything finds the back of the net, like Toni did last year. Shevchenko's part in Drogba's success isn't that big. Drogba has scored around 30 goals this season in all competitions, how many of them are really down to Shevchenko? I would say not many.

I look at ManUnited this season with their 4-4-2 formation which they play in everygame, in england or europe and they are playing brilliant football. I think this has a lot to do with consistency of the formation and the same players. Players are used to playing alongside each other and the correct players are being fielded in the correct position/role.

Chelsea are playing the wrong players in the wrong positiond completely yet they are managing to win even though its not their best football. Reason, they play the same formation, game after game even though its new. Its the only way to get used to it.

With Man Utd you are right to an extent, but they've not played 4-4-2 in every game. In the early part of the season they played 3 up front for a while with Rooney on the left and Ronaldo on the right. But in essence they do for the majority of games stick with 4-4-2.

As for Chelsea they've played numerous systems this season, the standard 4-3-3 that won them so much domestically was ditched to accomodate Ballack which led to the 4-3-1-2 (or the diamond midfield whichever you wish to call it) for long periods and then 4-4-2 at times. Then they went back to the 4-3-3. Sometimes injuries force your hand, as they did in Chelsea's case.

I liked most of your other points though.

Originally Posted by Tony29.

I'm also against changing formations but in Carlo's defense i can add that he was accused a lot till New Year for using the same formation and for being so predictable.
Changing formations was an atempt to get out of the crisis ( Milan was way behind the 4th place 3 months ago) and although Milan is still inefficient and is getting hard fought wins, at least they're winning and are very close to the so much wanted 4th place !

I mean I can understand his decision, but some continuity (in formation) will be important, unless the team is really completely out of shape (due to fitness, injury etc.) In this case, carlo did the right thing and keep rotating, and everyone gotta play.

Some of the MONSTR SIZE post here amazes me Dont u guys have others things to do???
A post should be short and to the point, just like mine
As for Gila, well he is the man who would win 5-6 titles for AC Milan in years to come and the anti-Gila fans should be ned permanently and its as simple as that

i dont think were anti-Gila yet just because he isnt scoring as frequently as he should hes under a bit of fire from the supporters and the media in a similar way to England are under fire for poor results aginst little nations.

Originally Posted by mzk57

Some of the MONSTR SIZE post here amazes me Dont u guys have others things to do???
A post should be short and to the point, just like mine
As for Gila, well he is the man who would win 5-6 titles for AC Milan in years to come and the anti-Gila fans should be ned permanently and its as simple as that

aren’t you the same....xxx .... that bashes dida without any coherent reason?
hypocrisy...
(short and too the point enough?)

Originally Posted by mzk57

the anti-Gila fans should be ned permanently and its as simple as that
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*cough*hypocrite*cough* Further proof that you shouldn't smoke illegal substances before posting.

Gila win 5-6 titles for Milan? He should try scoring 5-6 goals first, then we'll talk.

we possibly then on mzk's theorys ban all anti dida fans?

What a ridiculous miss by Gila today that could of sealed the match.

Originally Posted by Leo85

What a ridiculous miss by Gila today that could of sealed the match.

if it wasnt for him we could have lost the match..