Milan celebrations ignited Liverpool

http://www.sportinglife.com/football...ol_Traore.html

Liverpool's French defender Djimi Traore admitted that the sounds of Milan players celebrating victory in the Champions League final outside the dressing room at half-time spurred the Anfield men on to their Istanbul heroics.

AC Milan had out-played a deflated Liverpool side in the first half at the Ataturk Stadium and were cruising to victory at 3-0 ahead, or so they thought.

But when Liverpool had to listen to the goading and celebrations right outside their dressing room door, it was the turning point on an amazing night in Turkey for Liverpool and their 40,000-plus supporters.

Traore could not have had a worse start to the match, conceding the first minute free-kick that cost Liverpool the opening goal and set the tone for a miserable first half.

But Traore, who almost joined Everton in pre-season and is again a Goodison Park target, believes the sound of the Italian side's celebrations really wound up the Liverpool side.

He said: "Honestly, when I sat listening to the manager at half-time I did not really believe we could do it. Against Milan even less, they are great players.

"But when we were back in the dressing room the Milan players were outside already celebrating that they were champions, celebrating the victory. That really got to us and gave us the hunger to come back at them.

"Once we scored the first one they were scared, and they fell back. When we brought Didi (Hamann) on it gave us a lot of experience in midfield and it really disrupted them.

"I think he is good for the team and I hope that he stays at Liverpool next season."

Traore added: "It is just unbelievable for me, to think we were 3-0 down at half-time.

"But when we got back into the dressing room the manager told us we could still do it if we scored in the first five minutes. He said if we did that we could keep scoring and they would wilt.

"And we had people like Gerrard and (Jamie) Carragher for keeping us going, and we have to say thank you to Jerzy Dudek.

"The two wonderful saves right at the end from (Andriy) Shevchenko were the key, and then when he saved a penalty and made their men miss a couple he can be very happy as we all can with being champions."

Traore now wants to stay at Liverpool for the rest of his career, but insists they have had luck on their side.

He said: "We have had some luck, we have had that fortune all the way through. In the early rounds, then against Olympiacos, it has just been on our side.

"There was a lot of lads who have contributed along the way who were injured and couldn't be involved, Flo (Florent Sinama-Pongolle) and Neil (Mellor) have both played their part and we may not have been here but for what they had done in the very early round.

"As for me I want to continue to play for Liverpool for the rest of my career. I have no doubt about that.

"Now we are going to celebrate for five days, there will be a party in Liverpool and then one in Paris, these are great times."

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which proves all our analyses of the game - milan were overconfident going into the second half, thought the game was over and then got a nice slap in the face. the game lasts 90 mins boys. remember that.

Why the hell were they celebrating? This is exactly what is wrong with this team, that they take things for granted, and then they get scared once they realize that it's not that easy. How ridiculously unprofessional.

wtf man..... dammit. wow real professionalism. and we though that depor game had thaught us a lesson.

i hate to say this but the coach and captain really should have taken control of these "celebrations". Leadership skills were seriously lacking and I REALLY hate to say it but Maldini failed as a leader on the field and, from Djimi Troare's report here, even off it. Someone like Leonardo should have been in the dressing room calming the players down. Costacurta and/or Tassotti should have reminded the players that 45 mins were remaining.

Really, it goes to show that there is no substitute at Milan for the leadership skills exuded by the legend Franco Baresi as he probably would have slapped each and every player on the face if they dared celebrate before the game was over. Even though I am not a big Capello fan, I will give him this - his disciplinarian tactics were legendary and really would have helped this Milan team remain focused and disciplined for the task at hand. If you notice, he NEVER celebrated a single goal in Milan 4 - Barcelona 0. EVERYONE jumped on, he never even SMILED.


I won't blame ancelotti for being happy that his team is 3-0 ahead but TONE THE DAMN PARTYING DURING HT DOWN!!!! GEE THE FRIGGING GAME IS NOT OVER!!!!!! UGH!!

update: i just watched a part of Milan 4 - Barcelona 0, 1994 CL final. Just before half time, Massaro scored after a beautiful work up by Milan. The Milan coaching staff jump on Capello. Capello turns around, hands in pocket and looks down without a HINT of joy. It almost looks like he is the Barcelona coach. In SHARP contrast, Ancelotti jumps out of the dug out pumping his fist in sheer ecstacy at going up 1-0 after Maldini scored. No blame on Ancelotti because it does a great coach to take a team to 2 Champions League finals in 3 years but I think the players and the coach are taking success for granted a little too easily these days.

I have new found respect for Capello,

I'm shocked and disgusted. Find the players and staffers who misbehaved. Anyone who was involved; his head comes off.

Originally Posted by Nadir

i hate to say this but the coach and captain really should have taken control of these "celebrations". Leadership skills were seriously lacking and I REALLY hate to say it but Maldini failed as a leader on the field and, from Djimi Troare's report here, even off it. Someone like Leonardo should have been in the dressing room calming the players down. Costacurta and/or Tassotti should have reminded the players that 45 mins were remaining.

Really, it goes to show that there is no substitute at Milan for the leadership skills exuded by the legend Franco Baresi as he probably would have slapped each and every player on the face if they dared celebrate before the game was over. Even though I am not a big Capello fan, I will give him this - his disciplinarian tactics were legendary and really would have helped this Milan team remain focused and disciplined for the task at hand. If you notice, he NEVER celebrated a single goal in Milan 4 - Barcelona 0. EVERYONE jumped on, he never even SMILED.


I won't blame ancelotti for being happy that his team is 3-0 ahead but TONE THE DAMN PARTYING DURING HT DOWN!!!! GEE THE FRIGGING GAME IS NOT OVER!!!!!! UGH!!

update: i just watched a part of Milan 4 - Barcelona 0, 1994 CL final. Just before half time, Massaro scored after a beautiful work up by Milan. The Milan coaching staff jump on Capello. Capello turns around, hands in pocket and looks down without a HINT of joy. It almost looks like he is the Barcelona coach. In SHARP contrast, Ancelotti jumps out of the dug out pumping his fist in sheer ecstacy at going up 1-0 after Maldini scored. No blame on Ancelotti because it does a great coach to take a team to 2 Champions League finals in 3 years but I think the players and the coach are taking success for granted a little too easily these days.

I have new found respect for Capello,

... and I remeber how we two argued regarding Capello's worth as a coach ...
He may have concervative tactics but one thing is for sure - he commands not just respect but to an extent even fear from his players and they would never dare celebrating at halftime for they are well aware this would be there last season on the team, no matter what the result.
If these Traore reports are true, and I don't really have a reason to suspect otherwise, then I am actually a bit relieved - this means that it was our extreme complacency and not some "Riazor-like syndrom" that got us off board. In fact, it was complacency that led to the Depor result too and now it all happened again. It is not that we fall apart because we are scared ****less from losing, it is all because we simply stop playing that made us fall apart last night and in that game in La Coruna. I say relieved for it would be easier to give the players a reallity check than try to heal them psychologically and make an Inter-like attempt to pump up their non-existent self confidence - a hard hand like Capello's or Ferguson's is the best "pill" for overconfident and complacent "pimps" who start celebrations at halftime of a game.

Originally Posted by zlatanov

... and I remeber how we two argued regarding Capello's worth as a coach ...
He may have concervative tactics but one thing is for sure - he commands not just respect but to an extent even fear from his players and they would never dare celebrating at halftime for they are well aware this would be there last season on the team, no matter what the result.
If these Traore reports are true, and I don't really have a reason to suspect otherwise, then I am actually a bit relieved - this means that it was our extreme complacency and not some "Riazor-like syndrom" that got us off board. In fact, it was complacency that led to the Depor result too and now it all happened again. It is not that we fall apart because we are scared ****less from losing, it is all because we simply stop playing that made us fall apart last night and in that game in La Coruna. I say relieved for it would be easier to give the players a reallity check than try to heal them psychologically and make an Inter-like attempt to pump up their non-existent self confidence - a hard hand like Capello's or Ferguson's is the best "pill" for overconfident and complacent "pimps" who start celebrations at halftime of a game.

so who do you blame for this complancy zlatanov?

is it not ancelotti who is supoposed to keep the teams emotions in check?

everyone on the team - coaches, players, especially the more experienced ones. But this doesn't mean that Carlo has to go as you were kindly suggesting in another thread. He is one of the best tacticians out there and there are only a couple of other coaches who could fill in his boots and Capello is not one of them - the time of his concervative tactics is behind us. I am sure that Carlo can cope with this situation and we must not blow it all out of proportions with greenhorn-like statements such as "Ancelotti must go ..." for let's not forget that we have a very strong team that has been at the very top of European foorball for the past 2-3 years and just because we didn't win 2 CLs in three years doesn't take that away from us. Even the Milan of Sacchi didn't win CL and scudetto every year. One bad game, no matter how disappointing it was, must not and cannot change the fact that we have been the team to beat in Europe for the past 2-3 years.
This being said, the complacency problem is what we must address for the future and WHEN we cope with it, we will have a truely, close to perfect team. Right now we are definitely on the right track but still not there although not too far from there either.
The worst thing we could do right now is get rid of Carlo and start from square one just like Real M did when they sacked a successful coach like del Bosque without any legitimate explanation.

Originally Posted by Nadir

I have new found respect for Capello,

so do I...

Originally Posted by zlatanov

... and I remeber how we two argued regarding Capello's worth as a coach ...
He may have concervative tactics but one thing is for sure - he commands not just respect but to an extent even fear from his players and they would never dare celebrating at halftime for they are well aware this would be there last season on the team, no matter what the result.
If these Traore reports are true, and I don't really have a reason to suspect otherwise, then I am actually a bit relieved - this means that it was our extreme complacency and not some "Riazor-like syndrom" that got us off board. In fact, it was complacency that led to the Depor result too and now it all happened again. It is not that we fall apart because we are scared ****less from losing, it is all because we simply stop playing that made us fall apart last night and in that game in La Coruna. I say relieved for it would be easier to give the players a reallity check than try to heal them psychologically and make an Inter-like attempt to pump up their non-existent self confidence - a hard hand like Capello's or Ferguson's is the best "pill" for overconfident and complacent "pimps" who start celebrations at halftime of a game.

i never doubted his disciplinarian measures. i didn't like his tactics at being so rigid, that stifled players like savicevic and lentini. but his discipline would have come a long way here.

getting rid of carlo now would be suicide of the highest calibre. it would take us back 10 years. it would take us back to when we got rid of capello for no reason and we got Tabarez lol.

Originally Posted by zlatanov

everyone on the team - coaches, players, especially the more experienced ones. But this doesn't mean that Carlo has to go as you were kindly suggesting in another thread. He is one of the best tacticians out there and there are only a couple of other coaches who could fill in his boots and Capello is not one of them - the time of his concervative tactics is behind us. I am sure that Carlo can cope with this situation and we must not blow it all out of proportions with greenhorn-like statements such as "Ancelotti must go ..." for let's not forget that we have a very strong team that has been at the very top of European foorball for the past 2-3 years and just because we didn't win 2 CLs in three years doesn't take that away from us. Even the Milan of Sacchi didn't win CL and scudetto every year. One bad game, no matter how disappointing it was, must not and cannot change the fact that we have been the team to beat in Europe for the past 2-3 years.
This being said, the complacency problem is what we must address for the future and WHEN we cope with it, we will have a truely, close to perfect team. Right now we are definitely on the right track but still not there although not too far from there either.
The worst thing we could do right now is get rid of Carlo and start from square one just like Real M did when they sacked a successful coach like del Bosque without any legitimate explanation.

i still cant accept the fact that ancelotti is still the right man.

other members have pointed out the failures during the season to the minnows when we havent been able to hold onto leads.

i also dont understand why the hell he never rotates his squad?! if there not good enough then get rid of them and find players who are good enough to be squad memebers and play them.
you see his reliance on maldini and nesta etc.. could be the fact that the milan team tends to negate its defensive responsibilities in favour of attacking and therefore needs the exceptional defender as opposed to the squad defender (simic), if the team defended collectively (ala sacchi and capello) then squad players like simic can be utilised. otherwise u just end up having a worn out and tired 13/14 players instead of utilising the full 22 (ala capello)....

i sincerely hope ancelotti makes me eat my own words.....

matnat- listen. if you can find a coach that can bring a team to TWO CL finals in 3 years, winning one of them, and a scudetto and a second placed finish in 2 years, name him. if you don't have an alternative, don't criticise one of the best tacticians in the game right now.

sacchi used a sweeper system and so did capello for a while. it was more zonal defence and not man to man marking. but really, the game has changed. there were more wingers back then. today the only wingers are overlapping fullbacks, leaving the back exposed. what you are proposing is zonal defence where a man marks a "zone" but what are we going to do for wing attacks? we don't hae the players in midfield that can do that. pancaro, kaladze, cafu and maldini are capable of those wing runs and sadly they are all defenders so your plan fails

Capello also doesn't rotate too many players even if he had them at Juve he would still stick with 13-15 players throughout the whole season, just Ancelotti did. I think this is the one single thing I would critisize him for, because I believe that although we had a long bench on paper, we ended up using not more than 15 players on a more regular basis while playing for three cups not to mention that most of our players play for thier national teams too. This resulted in the team being not just physically but also mentally exhausted at the end of a long campaign which included a 20-team Serie A too.
On the other hand, I do understand why he didn't rotate the squad as much as we would have liked for many players on the team are simply not at the same level of the more regular ones and I guess in some cases they didn't manage to gain Carlo's trust - Dhorasoo is one who comes to mind.
I personally think that we need some major reinforcements in all departments if we are to compete for at least 2 titles next season. Getting top-class players, who would create more competition within the team, would allow Carlo to rest Pirlo, Seedorf, Sheva, Kaka, Maldini, Gattuso throughout the season - instead of playing them every other 3 days or so - and when doing so he won't ask himself if those other players would be able to cope with the game or not.
My proposal for next season's Milan squad is in the fantasy signings section.

like i said i hope ancelotti makes me "eat my own words"

Originally Posted by Nadir

matnat- listen. if you can find a coach that can bring a team to TWO CL finals in 3 years, winning one of them, and a scudetto and a second placed finish in 2 years, name him. if you don't have an alternative, don't criticise one of the best tacticians in the game right now.

Truth is there are only a few coaches who have managed to bring similar succes to their teams and still did so by playing some very attractive football too. We also need a coach who has experience on the big scene or at least someone who may not be so experienced but at least has been close to the squad and knows them very well, like Tassoti for example.
As for other alternatives I can only think of three - Hiddink, Mourinho, Hitzfeld. The Chelsea coach is more or less an unthinkable option right now which leaves us with two other possibilities both of which will be more or less a risk for there is no guarantee that they would be able to fill in Carlo's shoes. Both Hiddink and Hitzfeld are immense coaches but there is always a risk when you hire a new coach, no matter how good he is, that things may not go into the desired direction.
As of now, we already have one such coach and he has established himself within the club and among the players. Things are going very very well and the team is winning by playing some great football along the way and this cannot be brushed aside by a freaky loss in a single game, be that a CL final.
Milan's success under Ancelotti is already a certainty free of any ifs - this won't be necessarily the case under Hiddink or Hitzfeld, for example - and to speak of putting a cross over all this and taking the risk of hiring a new coach is anything but wise.