Famous last words?

Does anyone recall Carlos saying that Inter were effectively out of the scudetto race?

Now they are within a win away from second place, and I am wondering if Mancini didnt paste the article quoting Ancelotti saying this in the locker room, and insisting that players read it before going out to play every home game, and even taking it to the away locker room when playing as guests of other Serie A teams.

While many here are questioning Carlo´s ability to take us to the "land of silverware" this term, I think, when at my optimistic best, that it is waaay too early to write off any team except those staving off relegation from an assault on the title.

However, at my pessimistic worst, I see us capitulating to the aggression of the Germans tomorrow, and being drummed out of the UCL, thus ensuring that the ghosts of Istanbul will continue to haunt us....while continuing our inconsistent performances, ensuring that we finish behind Inter, and out of the UCL qualifying places domestically.

But it is no surprise to me, that Inter have reached where they are now in the table, and face us when we are at our most vulnerable, with our aging backline creaking under the strain of matches every 3 days. With the amount of talent they have in their squad, it is ludicrous to rule them out of the scudetto chase before even the half way point of the season.

No doubt we will be up for the derby...but so will they, and with their adrenalin levels skyrocketing...and with the pre-match news article to further incense them, who knows what the derby will have as its outcome..not to mention that statistically, they are due to beat us.

I am still amazed that Carlo could have the gall to make a statement like that...and now, its about to bite him in the A**.

I was going to end my post here, but another thought just crossed the great expanse of emptiness that poses for my mind:

In September, one of my friends from the football pitch asked me if I thought that we would win anything this season.

Well I thought about it, and my honest reaction was: No, we wont.

Then I got caught up in the Marek and Gilardino hype...and started to believe that we probably could...and look where we are now! A game away from expulsion from the UCL, and 8 points off the pace, with Inter and Fiorentina breathing down our necks.

Not a good place to be, and not a good feeling to have...

But FORZA MIIIIIIIIILAN anyway...

hello to all..been busy with uni and lack of internet access in halls...back for now to argue away on here..lol back to the topic..

ive watched milan stutter this season in serie a and its not been good. i said we should have got rid of ancelotti in the summer and i still stand with that statement..why you ask?

well i think hes taken milan as far as they can go. ancelotti cannot improve this team (i.e ancelotti cannot use tactical acumen, motivational team talks etc... to improve this team anymore).
8 points behind juve (who are a machine and i stated this at the start of the season in another post describing how solid they seemed) whom we loaned our keeper too (rememeber I was berrating berlos for letting abbiati go and everyone else thought it wouldnt make a difference..where are you lot now?) and they aint going to lose serie a because there defence is phenomenal..and remember its defences that win you trophies and not fancy dan attacks....

this milan team has no real character. character that shows when defending 1-0 leads, character that is evident in less technically gifted teams such as chelsea and juventus. personally we need to go back to basics, stop this free flowing all out attacking football and learn how to defend as a back four and as a team. this milan team is starting to remind me of real madrid and to a lesser extent arsenal. i do appreciate what ancelotti has done but the fact is it aint good enough to be the very best because the very best know how to defend and know how not to give 3 and 4 goals leads away. you dont even have to have millions of pounds as porto have showed you just need to do teh basics properly and not become complacent (which is what milan have become)

the seeds of milans demise was sown on that wet night in the riazor i stated then to my friends that a team with nestas, maldinis etc..that give away a 3 goal lead is not normal and that can only lie with the coach and the way he prepares his players for the match... i could write more but i have to go to lectures... let me know what you think, i`m sure ive rubbed someone up the wrong way and i hope i have..just let us know what u think..

Cant disagree with most of what you have said here MANTAT...with the sole exception that...having seen Milan play under several coaches, from Zaccerphony, to Maldini, to Terim...we have always seemed to have the tendancy to underperform when facing the "minnows" of Serie A.

So, to say that this failure is a phenomenon of Carlo´s creation, or one that Carlo has allowed to continue isnt really fair..but, hey, thats just my opinion...

I think our major failing is in keeping Maldini as a CB for so long, despite all the defensive lapses that have occured during his tenure, and not buying a second CB of Nesta´s pedigree.

Nesta ends up playing waaay too many minutes, and with that will come errors which, if there isnt someone covering for him, will result in goals.

What Maldini brings to the team in terms of experience, he subtracts in not being as strong in the air, and tends to get lost during set pieces..the same set pieces that tend to cost us so dearly. (Mind you this is a generalisation, and I am not blaming him directly for our current situation...who should take the blame for this IMO is management).

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

Then I got caught up in the Marek and Gilardino hype...and started to believe that we probably could...and look where we are now! A game away from expulsion from the UCL, and 8 points off the pace, with Inter and Fiorentina breathing down our necks.

Not a good place to be, and not a good feeling to have...

But FORZA MIIIIIIIIILAN anyway...

Now of all people to start getting pessimistic. From last season I had implored people to realize that the hype that was being generated by the acquisition of Gila would come and bite us in the butt. I didnt want this to happen but here we are at the end of the year with just that. I think if anything the hype and expectation is the real culprit in all of this as we had thought to be way better if that we paid all this money for a few players who really werent key in the aspects of success.
Do any of you recall me saying that while are giving each other the proverbial "bl0wjob" to each other, we might not realize we were getting screwed in the a$$ over this Gila transfer??? When I said this I had meant to express the over zealousness of the hype while at the same time no one was noticing the real deeper problems with the team. SO we get Gila with mucho $$$ and pretty much exhaust any other big deals and so we have what we have.... a player who is only doing average in my opinion and an aging defense.
So now we are back to square one with everyone claiming to be experts again with demands on who to buy and for whatever reason. I honestly can claim no solution to our underlying problems these past few games and I honestly think no one else can or has the knowledge to do so as well. Maybe we really dont have a quagmire and anything including possitive results is still yet possible.

The defence is the part that needs some changes IMO

Originally Posted by Kui

Now of all people to start getting pessimistic.

Kui, maybe you havent realised it, (or maybe you are being sarcastic ) but I am one of the most pragmatic (read pessimistic) fans you will ever meet.

Right now, I am still so depressed it was hard to eat lunch...and this after not eating breakfast...as all I see in my mind´s eyes is Adriano scoring unmolested from virtually the last kick of the game, (which I couldnt bring myself to watch, as I felt we would concede).

I am a shadow of myself, worse with me not being able to play any ball (no boots, still waiting on the one my brother is to send).

I will get over this loss, I am sure, but right now, its weighing me down...so much so that I am toying with the idea of not watching the Messina game on Wednesday(Sike..I wouldnt miss it for the world!)

FORZA Milan anyway!