Summer mercato 2009

Carlo Ancelotti is a brilliant coach with football vision far greater than people think. He has formed a squad of super stars that has been very successful over the last years winning the CL twice, Lo Scudetto and Super Cups as well.

He is a patient man that believes in the quality of his players. Players that he is training every day which means he knows exactly how their form is. Something no one on this forum has the chance to do which makes it hard to say how and who should play for us.

It is not true to say that he has not asked Berlusconi for the right players. How do you know that? In Milan the management keeps such things secret for the purpose of not revealing things for the opponents in Italy and Europe. I remember reading several interviews on acmilan.com expressing his desire to strengthen his team.

If Carlo, Galliani and Berlusconi went out and said I want this and that player and we don't want that player it would be too easy for Inter and Juve to know our plans. Although sometimes it occurs that they reveal plans for the fans.

When you blame Ancelotti you blame a man that knows football miles better than each and every single of the members here due to his long career as a footballer and coach. He is a football genious and you ought to be more patient in the spirit of AC Milan.

He has made mistakes like we all do. But with the players at hand and the injuries and suspensions he faced he has made quite few mistakes.

Were you not happy in 2003 and 2007 when we won CL?! Were you not happy when we won Lo Scudetto in 2004?! It's not easy to win titles. And Ancelotti has done just that in his coaching career for Milan.

Who is to say that your scathing criticism of him is in line with the truth?? Have you ever considered that you could be wrong because Ancelotti as the coach with all the knowledge of his team knows a lot about our beloved Milan that you simply don't?

Yes. Ancelotti has made mistakes, but he has also giving all of us amazing times with beautiful football, beautiful titles. He is an honest and standup guy who is a football legend and he always will be and saying he should be sacked in the middle of a season is blatantly unpatient.

I hope from the middle of my soul that Ancelotti and Tasotti will stay at Milan and continue the success and stability of the side and win more trophies.

And who knows? Maybe you will take your hard criticism back next Spring if we win Lo Scudetto...

Not going to start an argument here but the yrs that you mentioned, Milan should have won alot more. NOt to mention the 3-0 CL final which ended with us losing. What bothers me about Carlo is that he is horrible at in game situation and not a creative enough coach to lead a championship team. Now I am not saying he should change his formation every game, but he must realise that when something is not working, it is time for a tuneup here and there. Take the most recent example of the Genoa and Regginna game.

In the Genoa game, instead of keep pressing, he began to push back which resulted in Genoa getting the goal. Then when you look at how Roma played, you will know the difference, mind you that Roma played without Totti.
As for the Regginna game, everyone in the world knew what Regginna will do and yet, Carlo still could not get the result. IF Carlo is a new manager or with a lot of new players, I would not blame him one bit for not knowing what to do, but thats not the case and it has been 7 years. 7 years that Milan still struggle against a 9 men defense.
I know people make mistakes but if you don't learn from them, you are useless, and frankly Carlo have 7 years to learn and yet he still fails.

I can't wait for him to leave but certainly not now as there is no proper replacements and not good for the club and players in general.

Originally Posted by Blacktop

With what, another contract reworking?

And if there's one thing we've learned over the years, it's never a sure thing as to who's leaving this club and who isn't.

We please him by forging a competitive team that he believes can win everything. He keeps saying that we will always stay at Milan if they want him to stay and if they always maintain the same goals as him. We need to keep him happy. Maybe that new CB could be Digao?

I don't know if we really do need a new CB anyway. We will already have Nesta, Thiago, Bonera, Kaladze. Most likely Bonera and Thiago will be fit the most, and I wouldn't mind that partnership. We might need some cover for those emergency situations, but those players don't have to be bought, they're in the primavera side or already on loan or co-owned.

A new LB is crucial. Marek is terrible as a defender, but he's a huge asset going forward. We need to stop trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and finally put him where he belongs. Remember when Serginho flirted with LB? What's up with that? I know Zambro started as a winger, and now look at him; but Marek just isn't working for me. He's a liability as a LB.

We have a goal poacher. We have a lightning fast second striker. We have a skillful second striker. We have a strong all-around ball holding striker. We need a battering ram. Someone to spearhead a 433, like Adriano back in Parma. Throw him on against Reggina in a cold rainy night and get him to crash into every Beckham or Pirlo cross. Not someone for every situation, but strictly for those times when nothing else would work. Who could that person be? Luca Toni is the best, in my opinion, but Drogba and Adriano fit as well. Is there a younger, cheaper option i'm not seeing?

Originally Posted by brk

A new LB is crucial. Marek is terrible as a defender, but he's a huge asset going forward. We need to stop trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and finally put him where he belongs. Remember when Serginho flirted with LB? What's up with that? I know Zambro started as a winger, and now look at him; but Marek just isn't working for me. He's a liability as a LB.

I agree, and I would also say that Marek is good only in the transition phase of the play, due to huis great running capacity. But he almost completely lacks crossing ability and play on smaller spaces. To put it together: he is not a technical LB/LM.

Milan needs LB of supreme quality, as our 4-3-2-1 game hugely depends on fullbacks. We gained ALOT with Zambrotta, as most of us expected from this WC player. But we are not affective on the left side, specially when Ambrosini anmd Marek combine. For that you dont even need to defend as rthey can cross once in 20 attempts.

Sergio is a different story. He had a light foot and touch, and was twice as hast on his first step then Marek, and also had good or great cross. Specially on the first post. I would dare to say that Serginho was a player class above jankulovski.

And I never understood why we stopped using Kaladze as a LB as he is capable of playing some good defence in that place.

I'd go with Taiwio as you mentioned before Mrki. Awesome vs Bordeaux.

Taiwo plays well every 3-4 games ...

Replacing Jankulovski because he doesn't know how to defend by Taiwo is like replacing a chicken by a no-wings duck ... umh, quite stupid comparison

What I wanted to say is that Taiwo can't defend, he's maybe a bit better than Jankulovski at crossing (and I'm not sure about that because what Taiwo does the best is shooting in the ball in a way that if someone touches the ball with his head, he can die ), but the problem with Jankulovski is especially the fact that he can't defend.

So the only improvement as a replacement of Jankulovski is a LB who knows how to defend, and the best improvement would be a LB who can defend and cross ...

we can also think about a RB. As Zambrotta is perfectly capable of playing LB.

Taiwo? I've never mentioned him... he is not needed in Milan at this point.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Scolari is a very good coach, but at European club level he's an unknown quantity for me. I'm not sure what went wrong when he was at Chelsea, and certainly he can do better, but at this point I think he'd be a big risk.



I was thinking exactly the same thing this morning. Rafa Benitez is a highly underrated coach by many people and is tactically brilliant. Let's not forget he's familiar with the Milan environment having studied under Sacchi who was his greatest influence. His high pressing game and well organised sides would be interesting at Milan. Plus he's not in charge of transfers at Milan (not his strongest area), so he'll be utilized to his strengths. With his contract negotiations and such it would be a reasonable idea to try and snare him away from Liverpool.

I'm not a big fan of Benitez after he moved to Liverpool. He was good at Valencia and played good passing attacking football but since he's come to Liverpool, he's been poor in my opinion. Liverpool used be an attack minded team under Houllier and produced many good strikers and attacking midfielders. That has dried up after Benitez. He's also guilty of playing negative football, exactly of the kind that we blame Carlo for. Though tactically he's good, it's often a drag to watch Liverpool who play defensive minded football with not losing a bigger objective than winning. His transfer record is also very poor.

But one thing very good about Benitez is that he tends to bring the best out of talented players. Like most of the Valencia squad in his time (they were never the same club after he left) and Gerrard and Carragher in his Pool stint.

Although I still have confidence in his abilities, I think he's too similar to Carlo and not the disciplinarian and motivator say Ferguson or Capello are.

Originally posted by brk

We have a goal poacher. We have a lightning fast second striker. We have a skillful second striker. We have a strong all-around ball holding striker. We need a battering ram. Someone to spearhead a 433, like Adriano back in Parma. Throw him on against Reggina in a cold rainy night and get him to crash into every Beckham or Pirlo cross. Not someone for every situation, but strictly for those times when nothing else would work. Who could that person be? Luca Toni is the best, in my opinion, but Drogba and Adriano fit as well. Is there a younger, cheaper option i'm not seeing?

Adebayor! not cheaper but younger,ready to play once in our uniform.not only a spearhead,he offers more in counter attacks and transition.very strong on the ball,can create space for midfield.very physical despite his mince stature and blessed with excetional endurance,press defence well.the only weak spot is his finish, not elite level but decent(goalsheet in epl last year is impressive).

Originally posted by mrki

And I never understood why we stopped using Kaladze as a LB as he is capable of playing some good defence in that place.

Agree! make him leftback if we don't find quality replacement.bring lucio ,he will strengthen our much needed anti-air arsenal plus he mightbe a bargain for us.

Adebayor and Clichy if Arsenal don't make CL.


Did I imagine it, or did Carlo ever mention Clichy?

What's wrong with this?:

---------------Abbiati

Felipe----Thiago---Nesta---Zambrotta

-------------Pirlo------Flamini
Beckham
---------------------Gourcuff
------------Kaka
------------------Pato

^^ Felipe who? Mattioni? A little optimistic aren't we...considering the kid has only played one game for us.

I'd take Clichy in a heartbeat if he becomes available. After a couple training sessions with Zambrotta, Silva and Nesta he'll become less erratic in defense. He's made some shocking decisions at times but IMO still remains a great player with a lot of potential.

P.S. Although Beckham hasn't disappointed us thus far, I personally wouldn't include him in any long term plan for our team. If we could get someone similar to Iniesta for that position it would be more than perfect. What's Cigarini's status? Anyone know how he has performed since his injury? He did well in a box to box role for the U-21 whenever I saw him. Or if Cesc is available.......=)

We would also do well to reinvent Pirlo's position in the team and get him to do some more attacking in the final third. He's really selling himself (and the team) short by sticking in our own half and spraying long balls around the pitch. We saw how dangerous he can be around the box during the '06 WC. Here's a team I wouldn't mind for next season and I don't think we need many additions to do it. We might still need a CD depending on Nesta's condition. We also need someone to pick up the slack if Pato gets injured...is Borriello up to it? That's stuff we can evaluate at the end of this season I guess. Also if Pippo decides to pack up, we could bring Paloschi back in his place.

Abbiati; Zambrotta, Nesta, Silva, Clichy; Flamini/Gattuso; Pirlo, Cigarini; Ronaldinho/Gourcuff; Kaka, Pato

GK: Abbiati, ?, ?

LB: Clichy, Antonini
CB: Silva, Nesta, Bonera, Kaladze + mystery guy
RB: Zambrotta, Mattioni

MF: Pirlo, Cigarini, Flamini, Gattuso(C), Jankulovski, Ambrosini, Seedorf(once he's a sub)

AM: Kaka, Gourcuff, Ronaldinho

ST: Pato, Pippo(?)/Paloschi, Borriello

25 member squad...not bad I'd say and doesn't require too many purchases.

Originally Posted by Aficio

It is weird, but I'm satisfy with the current team ^^

Me too. Aiming for 4th place then playing in UEFA once in every 4 year as a change are good enough for me. After all, if polished well the TIM trophy can be just as shiny as the Big Ear, right?

The problems with that squad is that we need at least 4 players who've came from our youths to be regiestered in Europe.
Seedorf will never accept sub, so I'd sell him, with Kaladze, & Janku too.

I'd return Abate, Paloschi as mentioned, Di Gennaro, and promote Strasser & Albertazzi, who are still young enough to play in youth too.

I'd get Zapata & Taiwio for def. We really need players with a more physical prescence.

Personally I'd love to see Afellay wear our colours. We lack a box to box player imo.

And of course a WC box striker, with a broad range of skills as opposed to someone who stands waiting for midfielders to do all the work.