Alberto Gilardino - Life in Firenze

Pardon my language but WTF??? Gila scored a brace in the Champions League today!!! Admittedly I saw it on football italia's website and I didn't actually watch the game so maybe he got lucky.....but this guy couldn't hit the San Siro with the ball if he was standing in the parking lot outside.

I wonder if player morale and the motivations of a new team that has more faith in you can make this much of a different...or did Ancelotti just not get the best out of him...and Prandelli can? Or did he just stop putting in effort in his last few starts for Milan?

Baffling....to say the least...

he wasnt lucky at all, they were two good goals that he would have never scored at milan. problem is not milan, the prob is he is weak psychologically and cant handle pressure, and now that he is not a milan player, i can freely say, he crumbled under pressure just like a little girl just like the F** he is

I think Milan has to be blamed to some extents. Also notice the pressure comes from the fans as well; dida is another victim.

It's interesting how we are still blaming Gila and think that he is too WEAK psychologically to play for Milan; instead, sometimes it's helpful to look INWARD and see what Milan has failed to foster...

just like some of you bashing Carlo for not playing the younger players. There are indeed some truth in it.

Or perhaps, Milan's enviornment is not for him.

But whatever; we have players who left us and played terrible; we have players who left us and moved on. Gila is the second case.

Insulting him won't help us win, now he can be the top scorer or not. The truth is we couldn't afford to wait to see if he can be that here anymore so whatever he does or doesn't from now on shouldn't matter, even if he scores against us its still irrelevant.

I agree with Jeff on some parts on this topic. We can't always be blaming the player when he doesn't perform to his best at certain clubs, there is always the issue of adapting to a new system of play.. forming an understanding with your teammates etc..
But it is also not suprising that he is performing very well under Prandelli as he did before and maybe it was just down to the coach knowing how to bring out the best in him as they had known each others style from the past. Although his constant sulking while in our club didn't really help endear himself to all the supporters, maybe he has a point when he says he didn't really have 100% support from everyone including the fans.

There was something he wasn't happy about while he was at Milan. Maybe he didn't get to play the role he wanted but was just told to hold up the ball and give it to Kaka. You could tell he was unhappy because even when he scored here, he SELDOM celebrated with his trademark violin. I think he only did it in his first season here. Anyway it's good for him and Italy if he can find his scoring boots.

He has always been a great player... even in his dark days with us... something happened between his first and second seasons... he lost confidence in himself... as if he was wearing 2 left boots... he was professional, he wanted to succeed, he tried... he just couldn't find that comfort with his role...

Gila will do great at Firenze, he should be fighting for capocannoniere at the end of the seaon, and I'm happy for him...

Wish he had been the Gila from the last season at Parma...

Just didn't happen.

Gila post match interview. Just wanted to highlight a key point there.

Alberto Gilardino was furious with Lyon over their “lack of sporting behaviour” in the controversial goal.

Fiorentina were leading 2-0 in France when Lyon scored thanks to an offside trap that was sprung because Luciano Zauri was on the ground injured for over a minute.

“I am happy with our performance, but it’s a shame for those two incidents in the second half where the referee could’ve done much better.

“There is so much talk of sporting behaviour and then things like this happen. Clearly we were too gullible.”

Curiously, it was the same referee who allowed a Holland goal against Italy in very similar circumstances in Euro 2008.

“In the first 20 minutes of the second half we tried to hit them on the counter-attack, but we allowed them a bit too much and in those two incidents Lyon managed to recover.

“It was a great performance in terms of organisation and aggression, so it is a shame that we dropped two points, as the result was there for the taking.”

Bayern Munich’s 1-0 victory away to Steaua Bucharest means the Germans top the group on three points.

“We will do everything to play for a place in the knockouts. Now we have a game at home with Steaua and aim to get the three points.

“I want to compliment the whole team, as everyone did so well to come here and get a result against Lyon.”

Gilardino had scored a brace of headers in the first half, added to the goal he got in the preliminary round, proving he is back to his best after a poor spell at Milan.

“It is true that tactically Fiorentina are more aimed at helping the three strikers every week, whereas at Milan I always played with one or two players by my side, so it was different. To have the whole front line to attack is another matter for me.

“I enjoy the way we played tonight, although we have also done very well with some support strikers like Daniel Osvaldo and Mario Santana who can share the field with a centre-forward like me.”

I'm happy that most of you ask themselves why, how, etc, Gila scored and will score plenty goals for Fiorentina and not for us ... and I'm furious about the ones still bashing him, do you see what is/was the problem or are you blind ??

A short come back in the past:
- 2003/04, Gila is 20yo, he plays in Parma ... it's his second year there, he plays 34 games and scores 23 goals. Sensational Gila is born !!
- 2004/05, Gila is still in Parma ... after his first great year, he scores again 23 goals after 38 games. A star is born.
- 2005/06, Gila comes to Milan, it's one of the biggest transfers, very promising ... he scores 17 goals after 35 games. It's a bit less than the 2 years before, but for a first year in a club with guys like Shevchenko and Kaka' around him that are the stars of this team and shine, it's really good and exactly what we could expect from him ... seems like it's not what everybody expected, he starts to be bashed by "supporters".
- 2006/07, confidence decreased and Sheva left, it's the year of Kaka', everybody in the team plays for Kaka' because he's the best player of the world ... Gila is "sacrified" (has this word any sense ??), he's put alone in front and no ball is given to him except balls in the airs, and the only way to play these balls is to give again the ball to Kaka' ... "supporters" bash him like never. He scores 12 goals after 30 games in Serie A, it's not enough, but knowing all that happened during this year and the way the team plays, it's "good".
- 2007/08, his worst year in Milan, his last year in Milan ... no need to come back on this season, people still remember all that they said.
- 2008/09, he is a Fiorentina player, the team plays for Gila, with Gila, and he scores goals in most of games he plays (for moment), retrieves Italian NT (and scores too), confidence comes back ... we don't know what will happen, but I predict that he will be in Top 3 of scorers in Serie A ... if not the number 1.

And now, what can we read ?? The guy is "weak psychologically" (well said hitmannq8 ) ... so a guy that was bashed for 3 years, even with good/decent prestations, a guy that wasn't able to play last year because his confidence was so low, a guy so weak psychologically scores in every game or almost since he moved to Fiorentina ... it's not what I call "weak psychologically", and it's even the contrary, it's what I call "someone strong psychologically", because most of the players would have been nowhere after what happened to him in Milan ...

GeoTav, the number 1 supporter of Gila who watched Fiorentina just to see him scoring goals (because I don't care about Fiorentina).

I think you are making the conclusion a bit early; I"m not doubting Gila's ability (remember I defended Gila throughout last year) but it's still way to early to say if he is just doing well at this moment or if he will continue to do well.

I certainly hope for the latter.

J

His goals today, though, is the best evidence to show people that he can score in Champion League. You don't need me to tell you how people say that his goals are all unimportant and cannot score in CL. In one game he scored the total amount of goals he scored at Milan.

That says something about Milan; that says something about Ancelotti.

***

Oh wait; his goals didn't make Fiorentina win so he is still loser. Sounds ridiculous? That's exactly how Gila-basher used to say.

Today's Gila performance is just one slap right in these people's face. I hope that he'll continue to be strong on performance but, like i said above, is still a bit early to say.

One last thing: If it is indeed MIlan responsible for Gila's inability to score at Milan, then we need to be very mindful about the situation with Pato...

Originally Posted by Jeff

I think you are making the conclusion a bit early; I"m not doubting Gila's ability (remember I defended Gila throughout last year) but it's still way to early to say if he is just doing well at this moment or if he will continue to do well.

I certainly hope for the latter.

J

The conclusion I made is what I think will happen, it's obvious that the real Gilardino seems (at least seems) to be back ... but I think he is really back.

Only time will say (I like this sentence lol), but I defended this player for 3 years, and I'll still defend him even now that he is not a Milan player anymore ... because he is not to blame, fans who bashed him when the team was playing in San Siro have to be blamed, the coach has to be blamed because he put him in a role that he couldn't assume, management has to be blamed because they never had faith in him (the way they introduced Pato is something that couldn't help Gila for example), ...

Ouch, I feel like mrki when he bashes Ancelotti and management ...

Why cant we just say that he didnt fit in at Milan. Its normal for a player not to gel into the teams/coaches tactics. Ancelotti depends/ bases his team on individual performance over team performance. Kaka, Seedorf, and Know Ronnie are all players who are able to create chances on their own and CAN because they possess great talent. Whereas Gilardino isnt exactly a technical/ or real talented player. Hes a box striker, his greatest strength is his ability to get into goal scoring positions. As he isnt the strongest,fastest, ariely superior, or technical enough to be world class, or even great.

People may say well about Insaghi? The ultimate goal poacher is probably the least talented player on the ball but his ability to read the game is a class above gilardino, and unlike Gilardindo he doesnt depend on his physical attributes.

Watching Gilarindo at Milan, I must admit he was often used as a target man, which isnt his best position. So to really pin- point the problem is difficult. But whats certain is he flopped at Milan. But Ancelotti cant be blamed, more then the people who brought him in without realizing that he doesnt have what it takes to excel at Milan or fit into the coach tactics.