Derby: Inter Milan - AC Milan [11/14/10 7:45 PM GMT]

Originally Posted by fLame

Damn it man! You don't have to ask her for permission! You are the man!

It's not like she will give up her interests for you. And none of you have to actually. My GF just browses the internet while I watch

Actually, the thing is that GeoTav is romantic in his hear That is why he does that. Its pretty cool BTW.

Massive win tonight and a great performance to add to it. We did what we had to and even should have made it comfortable, but what was huge was our willingness to dig deep when needed and keep Inter at bay.

We started 4-3-1-2 and Inter started with 4-2-3-1, though with Eto'o on the right and Stankovic on the left. Essentially, they tried to press us high up the pitch, but it backfired desperately as they were extremely vulnerable at the back which lead to 3 huge chances for us, the first being the winning penalty, the second being when Ibra crossed to Flamini and the third being when Ibra tried to cross for Robinho (I think).

The problem for Inter was that we constantly had one forward dropping to support Seedorf, meaning they lacked midfielders to deal with the numbers and we had space in front of the high defence to break through at ease. Had we taken our chances, the match would have been a very comfortable victory for us as we were far superior.

The first half wore on and we didn't hold possession as much, allowing Inter to come back into the game. However, beyond Sneijder's freekick, they never looked close to scoring in a very poor performance.

Benitez set about changing players at half time bringing Coutinho on for Milito to push Eto'o further up closer to goal and Pandev on for Obi meaning they had a shape more closely resembling 4-1-4-1 with Sneijder often dropping back to start moves. This meant they wanted to attack our wide areas, though to be frank they didn't do a great deal. Pirlo came on for us in place of Rino, probably to help us hold the ball better and obviously stop Rino from getting sent off.

Unfortunately for us, Abate got sent off 15 minutes into the second half by allowing Pandev to provoke him. He showed naivity and it cost us. This meant we had to bring off Binho for Antonini, moving to a 4-4-1 shape where Inter had to break 2 lines of 4. This was extremely solid against an Inter team that was struggling for inspiration. Allegri was smart by having Pirlo man mark Sneijder when he tried to come high, which prevented him from running the game. Pirlo would let Sneijder go deep though (where he was less effective), meaning we never lost our 2 banks of 4 and therefore our solidity.

Finally, as the game was heated and getting physical we brought on Boateng for Seedorf, as he added energy and stability in our midfield four.

Overall, a game where Allegri's system won out against Benitez in every respect. We limited ourselves by not taking our chances and letting the game get to our heads, while Inter for all their desperation created little to nothing which was notable.

Players...

Abbiati - Solid in goal, though never asked to actually do much more than collect a few balls from the air.
Abate - Excellent until the sending off. A real shame as he equalled everything that Inter had to offer and had he showed more intelligence, rather than getting sent off he could have actually turned the whole thing onto Pandev.
Nesta - Magnificent, he was dominating at the back and gave the Inter players nothing.
Thiago - Also brilliant. He was a rock at the back and looked unbeatable today.
Zambrotta - Rarely challenged in the first half and well protected in the second. He had a decent game overall.
Rino - Excellent in pressing the Inter players, but too reckless and rightfully taken off at half time.
Ambro - He's really grown into the CM role. He's very reliable on the ball and a wall in front of defence. An excellent game
Flamini - Never stopped running all match, and was up and down the pitch until the last minutes. Solid in defence and showed quality going forward. I feel we're starting to see the real Flamini now.
Seedorf - Caused Inter nightmares in the early minutes as he was quick to find gaps and make important passes. Was more restrained as the match went on until going off.
Ibra - Excellent in running onto through balls and moved very well all match. Very physical all match also, which was needed against Lucio and particularly Matrix.
Robinho - Moved well off the ball and showed flashes of quality.
Antonini - Solid after coming on and a couple of bursts forward. Did struggle with Bibiyani's pace and trickery though.
Pirlo - Whilst not used in the way he was probably desired to, he was excellent in the second half. Was solid and pressed well tactically against Inter and as mentioned above, played one of the most important roles in marking out Sneijder.
Boateng - Added physical solidity and energy in the second half. Arguably could have protected Antonini more (i.e. as Flamini did Zambrotta), but useful nonetheless.

Originally Posted by jovola

Our first big win this season, though we had to play the merda style lobotomy football, so no supprise their ex excelled in it with a very nice double hit in Materazzi K.O.

I have a feeling we'll be a class above them in our next match so we don't have to play judo with those merdas any more.

That was what we lacked last season. And at the start of this season also. And that's the way Milan should play. Though and entertaining at the same time. It IS Milan, actually.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Allegri was smart by having Pirlo man mark Sneijder when he tried to come high, which prevented him from running the game. Pirlo would let Sneijder go deep though (where he was less effective), meaning we never lost our 2 banks of 4 and therefore our solidity.

I forgot about this... I was always wondering why we never use Pirlo to mark opposition playmakers high, like he's usually marked. Damn, the man is so smart he could play anything a coach wants him to play. Tonight he did a great job. Great idea by Allegri too.

Its interesiting to see how has changed the mentality on MM (or maybe the members have)

I recall when Carlo would use 2 DM we would scream and shout and swear all week long...tonight we played with 3 DM against Inter...and we were all happy, and we were asking for this.

grande allegri!!
his best match till now..
we look transformed,and it's his work!
gr8 subs too..

Originally Posted by M.O.I.

grande allegri!!
his best match till now..
we look transformed,and it's his work!
gr8 subs too..

Yes,finally you could see his work and change of attitude in our players.

Originally Posted by kastriot

Its interesiting to see how has changed the mentality on MM (or maybe the members have)

I recall when Carlo would use 2 DM we would scream and shout and swear all week long...tonight we played with 3 DM against Inter...and we were all happy, and we were asking for this.

When we use Xmas with Sheva, no one complained. But this formation became disaster when he left because without a fantasista, it looks toothless. Kaka couldn't run from AM to FW every match. Now we have Ibra, problem is solved.

Originally Posted by Aficio

When we use Xmas with Sheva, no one complained. But this formation became disaster when he left because without a fantasista, it looks toothless. Kaka couldn't run from AM to FW every match. Now we have Ibra, problem is solved.

Agree with Aficio. its never the type of tactic that makes you complain about a coach, its always whether our players are adapted to using such a tactic.

With the old setup, we simply had too much talent on the attack to waste it on a 2 DM setup, specially since we'd have most of the ball posession anyway due to our technical superiority. Our current setup is much more different from the old one, where our 3 DMs can also run up and play CM/AM football. Versatility at its best, which wasn't the case with our setup in previous years. The lack of a high-positioned fantasista also means less creative posession, which in turn is balanced out by more tough tackling to retain posession.

First thing I gotta say is that I set my alarm clock, but still %#$*% missed the match. I'm glad we won and are now 6 points over Merda, STILL top of the League, AND Ibra proved those insulting Merda fans wrong, he IS a big-game player, just not for them


On a side note, I am so gonna enjoy doing the double on them this year!

Originally Posted by HO-YOUNG

Its been a while since i post anything... but i must say let us all bash Seedorf... after a good bashing seedorf always seem to play great!!! i wonder if he reads these threads... if he does he should know that he is the worst thing to come out of a woman... even worst than period...

Ok now Slowdorf go out there and prove me wrong.

See what a little Seedorf bashing can do... i now knows he reads this thread...
My problem is Ibra's mentality!!! i saw Antonini break into the box and Ibra the closest player in the picture stood there ball watching... i almost shot my TV...

Geo please dont ever write that you need permision from your gf to watch a game again.


Loved the way we were playing in the first 30 min. Im still not happy on how we let them come into the game (even before abate sent off) Im happy he took off Gattuso because he really was trying to get a second yc.

Im veryyyyy happy with the win but I hope in the future we actually try to score a second goal instead of getting defensive.

I was soooooooooooo scared they were going to get a lucky pk or something at the end somehow.

Forza Milan my friends.

Great result. Don't remember when the last time was that we were 6 points ahead of Inter on top of the table.

I also like how compact we've looked in the last two games. We are finally protecting the back four in the proper way that we should and the results show. We are still struggling in front of goal however. We have many chances to kill of games but we are too relaxed and miss those chances. Those things always seem to come back and hit you in the as$.

I like Ambrosini in front of the back 4 though. I thought he was a monster there in the first half. And his distribution wasn't bad at all too.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Ambro - He's really grown into the CM role. He's very reliable on the ball and a wall in front of defence. An excellent game

Originally Posted by nefremo

I like Ambrosini in front of the back 4 though. I thought he was a monster there in the first half. And his distribution wasn't bad at all too.

I absolutely agree, he was just great playing in front of our center backs. He did well in Bari and great against Palermo. Allegri should put him there for the next games since it strengthen our defense a lot. Nowadays I don't like seeing Pirlo playing in his usual position since if we failed to distribute the ball to forwards (which is a big chance to happen since we don't have creative midfielder to manage well the ball from Pirlo), we would get trouble. Pirlo can play there if we one creative midfielder, one great DM and good fullbacks. If not, we better play him in more forward or offensive position.

We have done well-great for the last three games by using 3 DMs and I don't think such a good thing should be stopped except for a better result.

Originally Posted by Revolver

And finally Abate. I don't like bashing our players too much, I've always wanted to stay as real as possible, but Abate is simply not good enough at this level. Really. In the first minutes he made one great run through Chivu and made a great cross for Seedorf (the first chance of the game), and I thought "Look at this, the guy can run with the ball and through players actually", but then... A VERY bad defending, he's simply too nervous, and he's running on Eto'o like a headless chicken, and his timing is horrible all the time. But, the worst thing about Abate isn't his (in)ability, it's that he's one of the youngest players in the team, yet he's always first to exchange words with opposition players and the referee. There was no ANY sense nor need to kick the ball that way after the four, and even worse was his reaction on Pandev's provocation, he even didn't wanted to listen Pirlo calming him down. Pandev should get a kick in the face because of what he did, but a professional simply can't act that way, especially since he had a yellow card already.

I disagree in this part, Abate. Surely he looked nervous from the beginning of the game until the peak of it when he got yellow card. But that's all. Since that YC he was getting better and played very well until the second yellow card. He didn't go forward often since I think it was the instruction of Allegri and also because if he ran forward he needs player to support him, the player should be Gattuso. But it was hard since Gattuso couldn't do two-side jobs, defensive and offensive tasks. In the second half when Flamini there he did go forward. I know his offensive ability has not improved as much as his defensive ability but I am satisfied watching him play solid at the side of the defense.

About the second yellow card, I think it is more about his immature because of his age. Actually the referee could give straight red card to Pandev if Abate is a type of Christiano Ronaldo, pretending to be punched so hard and it caused him not able to stay up and need the doctors immediately!

For his idealism it's good what he did but he probably should sacrifice his idealism for the good of the team.

I wonder why there was no player helping him when he was pushed by Pandev. If our legend Maldini were there, he would lift Pandev up and throw him afterwards to the bench! I still remember how our captain reacted in order to protect Pirlo from Legrotalie in the game against Juve. I assume, it was so fast and nobody saw Pandev push Abate.

This game shows alott ... over the last couple of years , we've been disrespected looked down upon , been called broke , people laughed at the idea winning aganst the european 4x italian champions , i dont care if internazionale was injured , they should have attacked us more , inter looked like the team with no flare and fire , i feel like russell crowe in gladiator after the battle is done , goes and gets his sword on a tree in ancient germania , we did that today we should have beat madrid too , now i ask you all , are we really this good ? , let me remind you if we protected a 1 - 0 that means our defense has greatly improved ? .... the sad part we dont miss pato r80 even inzaghi .... forza mlan crack the cork .... milan is marching !!