Napoli-Milan 28/10/09

Showdown in San Paolo.

We are doing great,win over Roma,win over Real(!!!) and win over Chievo(Nesta=Great),now again a very hard game against a Napoli side who looks much better in shape then under Donadoni.

The stadium full of fans always gives them a extra boost,last year we managed a 0-0 draw,despite them getting a goal wrongly dissallowed.

Its clear,we have to win...again(well thanx to our bad start we have to win everything now...),looking at the games this round,if we win we can really get a hold on the Cl-spots: Inter-Palermo,Juve-Samp,Genoa-Viola,they are all playing each other,we have to win this one!

I hope we can score early this time,and not concede a goal in the first minute like previous games and a comeback in second,for once i want a comfortable win,but maybe i am asking to much because playing Napoli in San Paolo....is very hard.

I hope Dinho and Pato will be hot on the wings,and Huntelaar(i want him to play)will finally score for ****!

My formation:

Dida;Oddo,Nesta,Silva,Zambrotta;Seedorf,Ambrosini,Pirlo;Pato,Huntelaar,Dinho


If Hunter plays crap again,sub him halftime for Borrie who is making great impressions.

If we win it would be great and we would be pushing for Scudetto if Inter fails to beat Palermo....SO FORZA MILAN!!!!!

We need some rotation for this game. Its gonna be a tuff game, since Napoli are a quality team, although they havent really expressed themselves 100% yet.

My thoughts on the lineup:

Defence - Nestagol and Silva are obvious starters. On the left I was impressed by Antonini, so definitely him there. For the right flank it would have to be one between Abate and Oddo. Abate is more dangerous in attack, but I trust Oddo more at the back, and he has been improving lately. Zambro can be a valid sub.

Midfield - rotation is most necessary here. who should be rested, Seedorf or Pirlo? cant make up my mind. We are going to play with two mediani, assuming one of Seedorf/Pirlo are rested, and also because we need more cover compared to the game vs Chievo... Napoli are more dangerous. One of the two mediani should be Flamini, because he has proven to be useful in the creative and offensive phase of the game. Maybe Abate could play as the second mediano, dunno... he surely has the spirit and can also contribute in attack.

Attack - Pato, Ronnie and Borrigol. The latter has proven to be more important up front than Huntelaar or Pippo. (and Pippo more than Huntelaar).

I think Borrigol should come in second half, when the opponent get more tired, his physical advantage become more significant.

The 3 recently match proved that.

Borrigol and Nestagol Love it.

I think Seedorf in particular must be really out of breath by now. The many games that he plays really seems to take a toll on him, the thing is that we don't have a replacement for him, the alternative is to play with two DM's, and I don't know if that would be the best. It's amazing that we have a squad as big as Inter's, and still have lack of depth.

I think that perhaps Antonini could get a start again, Jankulovski is injured as we know, and Zambrotta has had a tough time as a LB, furthermore, I for one was really impresed, in particular by Antonini's offensive qualities, namely his speed, against Chievo. It's been a loooooooong time since he played for us before that, so it's hard to say how good he really is though.

Also will Borriello get to play? He has certainly performed well lately, although he's really not that great of a goalscorer, luckely Pato is though (And Nestagol) I was really dissapointed with Huntelaar against Chievo, he's a great finisher, but I haven't seen anything of the movement that should characterise a player like him. To be fair it seems that he still hasn't blended in with the team yet, he probably doesn't know Italian, and he hasn't gotten the experience playing with players like Pirlo, Seedorf and Ronaldinho yet.

FORZA MILAN

after these three games, I really cant see us wining this one, especially if we go down a goal, Napoli has too much quality, and they will rip us apart. If a Chievo side like that riped us apart, imagine what will Lavezzi, Hamshik and co do to us. I hope for the opposite.

I'm trying not to be too pessimistic for this game, but based on how we are starting games, especially vs quality, or( in Chievo and Zurich's case) not so strong opposition, in conceding early, as soon as they make a concerted effort on our goal, its hard to see us doing any different away to Napoli, who despite their position in the table, are a quality outfit.

That said, our selection dilemma, in terms of who to play in the midfield, may end up giving us the defensive solidity we tend to lack, by resting one, (or both, which I doubt will happen) of Pirlo and Seedorf.

Its simply for me, impossible for both of them to start, but I'm not Leo, and am no certified coach...so

Abate is really the only option, now that Marek is out, who would have been my choice for LM, either of Pirlo or Seedorf as CM, and Flamini as RM...though Zambrotta could be also be moved into midfield over Abate.

Suffice it to say that the lineup for this game is one which I await with bated breath.

The forward 3 really have picked themselves, Pato and R80 are automatic starters, and for me, Boriello to start over Hunter...hopefully the (all too invisible) Flying Dutchman can come on in the 2nd half and scare the opponents into conceding, after being battered by Boriello's physical play....though if I read Leo's selection policy correctly, if Hunter doesn't start he won't feature at all.

I reeeeally hope we don't concede early again this game, as away to Napoli, it will be a very difficult position to reverse...

I guess most here have made valid comments and this also has to be a must win for us. Even if we can salvage a draw, it would be fine considering we are playing at San Paulo, but neverthless this team has shone some brillance even though its only been in patches.

Well as far as the team goes, mine would be:

Dida--Oddo--Nesta--Silva--Antonini--Ambrossini/Abate--Pirlo/Seedorf--Flamini--Pato--Huntlaar/Boriello--Ronaldhino

Oddo deserves to play, with regards to his perfomances in the past few games, i think he s improving. Abate/Ambrosini--Abate cause he s got pace and can trouble both the attackers and the defenders while Ambrossini is a commited player. And as someone had already mentioned earlier, use Huntlaar in the start, if he doesnt click, we have to bring on Boriello coz he s been impressive and can trouble the tired defenders with his strength. We must win this one too. So FORZA MILAN!!

And also Anotnini deserves that spot as LFB, coz in the game against Cheivo i found him very impressive. Zambrotta is not the Zomby of ol times, he s been committing too many errors of late and i think we can substitute him maybe in the later half of the second half.

--------------Dida------------
-Zambro-Nesta-Silva-Antonini-
----Abate--Pirlo--Flamini-----
------------Borriello----------
-----Pato----------Huntelaar-----


Zambrotta is better than Oddo. There are just greater expectations on Zambro because he was once worldclass, while we expect Oddo to struggle.

Abate and Flamini add some pace to the midfield, and that, combined with letting Pirlo push up, should great some chances.

Borri is strong, passes well, and wins a lot of balls and would be a good link between our attack and midfield.

Huntelaar should get a full 90 minutes

Napoli have a really dangerous squad, and are starting to click under the guidance of their new coach. This will not be easy, especially away from the San Siro with tired legs. But when Alessandro Nesta plays, anything is possible =). I'll miss this match AGAIN because of class :| but I'll wish us all the best as always.

Originally Posted by Mystik

I'll miss this match AGAIN because of class :| but I'll wish us all the best as always.

Seriously dude, drop school!!!

Originally Posted by tim_milan

... Even if we can salvage a draw, it would be fine considering we are playing at San Paulo...

well, usually a draw away against Napoli is not that disastrous of a result (especially that we are not in our best form), but i'm afraid we are in no position to afford accepting draws against "tough opponents" because that is all we have left for our remaining 10 matches of the 1st half of the season...
interestingly, we have played 9 matches so far, 7 were against teams who are currently ranked below 10th in the league and only 2 against upper-10 opponents (Inter & Bari) which means that we still have to play 7 of the top 10 teams (us being the 8th) starting with Napoli...and if we have to consider that getting a draw against all of these teams in our away matches is an acceptable result then we probably won't get into Europa League next season...

i would just like to add that this must be the most competitive Serie A i have seen for years...cheers to that

Since he doesn't have his own thread, I'll mention this here.

It turns out that Marco Storari put himself out of action for a month after he badly botched an attempt at Rene Higuita's scorpion kick at the end of practice just hours before the Roma match. Needless to say, he landed wrong and couldn't get up.

http://goal.com/en/news/10/italy/200...n-keeper-marco

First Nesta's unexpected nasal surgery, then this. We can only laugh at Milan's injury problems at this point.

Originally Posted by Blacktop

Since he doesn't have his own thread, I'll mention this here.

It turns out that Marco Storari put himself out of action for a month after he badly botched an attempt at Rene Higuita's scorpion kick at the end of practice just hours before the Roma match. Needless to say, he landed wrong and couldn't get up.

http://goal.com/en/news/10/italy/200...n-keeper-marco

First Nesta's unexpected nasal surgery, then this. We can only laugh at Milan's injury problems at this point.

I think Nesta's injury was picked up against Chievo during the first goal. He was definitely holding his nose after the goal as though he hurt it. Either, shouldn't stop him being available for Napoli which is good.

according to tuttomercatoweb.com,
(http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=177119) this is the formation that will be used:

"Milan (4-3-3): Dida; Zambrotta, Nesta, T. Silva, Antonini; Flamini, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Pato, Borriello, Ronaldinho. A disposizione: Roma, Oddo, Favalli, Seedorf, Gattuso, Huntelaar, Inzaghi. All.: Leonardo Squalificati: nessuno
Indisponibili: Bonera, Di Gennaro, Abbiati, Onyewu, Storari, Abate, Jankulovski

Le ultime: Leonardo reinserisce Zambrotta sulla fascia, mentre al posto di Huntelaar ci sarà Borriello. Ambrosini per Seedorf a centrocampo."

& i cannot agree more