A.C. Milan vs. A.C. Cesena {23/1/2011, 20:45} San Siro

Match Day 21

VS.

Fresh off of a Coppa Italia win (3-0 vs. Bari in San Siro) where Ibrahimovic, Merkel, & Robinho scored. Cassano also played very well.

We lost this reverse fixture back in September. I believe this is the game where Sokratis had an atrocious showing, and hasn't played all that much since. We will want our revenge. The big question is if Pato will start. I hope so as he did not play vs. Bari.

We are currently in 1st place in Serie A, 4 points clear of Lazio & Napoli. However, Internazionale have 1 game in hand, and if they are to win that game, then we are only 3 points clear of them. It's important we build a cushion from now until Champions League starts up again, and this will be a game we must win. Pirlo, Flamini, Robinho, Nesta have returned from injury. Thiago Silva hopefully can return as well. Now we also have Merkel and Strasser who have proven they can challenge for Midfield spots.

In terms of the Mercato, we have only purchased Antonio Cassano, and while we're linked daily with Reto Ziegler, Andrea Lazzari, and Domenico Criscito, we are yet to purchase anyone.

My Lineup as of now:

---------Ibrahimovic--------Pato----------------
---------------------Robinho--------------------
--Merkel/Strasser---------------Gattuso---------
--------------------Ambrosini---------------------
Antonini--------------------------------------Abate
---------------T. Silva-----Nesta-------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------Abbiati-----------------------

* I wouldn't mind seeing Nesta rest for Yepes
* Cassano for one of the forwards
* NO SEEDORF, NO SEEDORF, NO SEEDORF
* Flamini to sub for one of midfielders

Forza Milan!

Cesena away, it's 9 games played, 1 win, 2 draws and 6 losses ...
Their last 5 results: WWDLL
Their last 5 results away: LLDWL
Cesena in 2011: WDLL

Milan at home, it's 10 games, 6 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses ...
Our 5 last results: WLWDD
Our 5 last results at home: WWWLD
Milan in 2011: WDD

vs Cesena, at home, should be an easy win. Perfect time to give our impressing youngsters another chance! Merkel and Strasser both deserve it!!

Originally Posted by Filipéz 182

vs Cesena, at home, should be an easy win. Perfect time to give our impressing youngsters another chance! Merkel and Strasser both deserve it!!

Easy win? That must be what Inter fans had in mind after their team lead 2-0 in the first fifteen minutes and guess what happened next. That took place two days ago and Inter were the home team too, so let us not count our chicken yet.

I too would love to see Strasser start, but since Rino and Max are both fit his chance of playing is pretty slim. And didn't Merkel take a knock last night?

I was hoping for Pato to start against Bari. But since he didn't I think he'll play with Ibra up front, leaving Cassano on the bench. Let's hope that Robinho play this time instead of Seedorf.

pirlo i out, boateng also so we will see anather amaizing performans from our campione seedorf with Il capetano , and flamini

gatusso per sempre uno capetano vero

atack ibra and pato


in defense abate or oddo he make more croses than ignacio have done for whole season but he is worse in the defense... one of nesta or silva can rest because Yepes is awesome and antonini on left

Originally Posted by Nalx

Easy win? That must be what Inter fans had in mind after their team lead 2-0 in the first fifteen minutes and guess what happened next. That took place two days ago and Inter were the home team too, so let us not count our chicken yet.

I too would love to see Strasser start, but since Rino and Max are both fit his chance of playing is pretty slim. And didn't Merkel take a knock last night?

.

well if you cant play your youngsters at home vs cesena I dont know when they could ever play?

Merkel was very impressive yesterday and I really hope he plays from the start vs Cesena.

Well, I won't want to take a risk, we need to beat them, to avenge that 2-0 loss.

Pirlo got injured again.....

3 out of 5 will play (Flamini, Ambrosini, Merkel, Gattuso, Strasser)

I really think Seedorf won't play...he'll be a sub from now on... and I think we'll probably play Robinho behind Cassano and Ibra again as that worked well, albeit against Bari.

Hopefully, Pato can start or least play a half to get some minutes under his belt...

Originally Posted by Elmago99

Pirlo got injured again.....

3 out of 5 will play (Flamini, Ambrosini, Merkel, Gattuso, Strasser)

I really think Seedorf won't play...he'll be a sub from now on... and I think we'll probably play Robinho behind Cassano and Ibra again as that worked well, albeit against Bari.

Hopefully, Pato can start or least play a half to get some minutes under his belt...

From what I read, it's just a one week injury this time ...

Milan's squad:

Goalkeepers: Christian Abbiati, Flavio Roma;

Defenders: Ignazio Abate, Luca Antonini, Daniele Bonera, Alessandro Nesta, Massimo Oddo, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Thiago Silva, Mario Yepes;

Midfielders: Massimo Ambrosini, Mathieu Flamini, Gennaro Gattuso, Alexander Merkel;

Forwards: Antonio Cassano, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Pato, Robinho.

Thank God, no Seedorf

I'm with Elmago99's line-up, Merkel should play, we need his passing & tactical awareness.

And the players called for the game against Cesena are ...

Abbiati, Roma - Abate, Antonini, Bonera, Nesta, Oddo, Papastathopoulos, Thiago Silva, Yepes - Ambrosini, Flamini, Gattuso, Merkel - Cassano, Ibrahimovic, Pato, Robinho

I don't think the 4 midfielders will play all together from the first minute, so one between Ambro, Flam, Gattuso and Merkel will be on the bench, with probably Ibra, Pato and Robinho up front.

My 2 cents are that Merkel and Cassano will be on the bench and will play something like 20 minutes in this game.

Ah, Pirlo is injured again. I hate this!

No Strasser? Is this guy injured? Was he on the bench vs Bari?

Good news is Merkel is not injured. Hope to see him play (starter or subs).

Btw where is Seedorf?

Originally Posted by Siregar

Ah, Pirlo is injured again. I hate this!

No Strasser? Is this guy injured? Was he on the bench vs Bari?

Good news is Merkel is not injured. Hope to see him play (starter or subs).

Btw where is Seedorf?

As long as he is not in the list, i don't think anybody cares

As for Strasser, yeah this is weird...can someone confirm if he is injured?

Originally Posted by LebRN

As long as he is not in the list, i don't think anybody cares

As for Strasser, yeah this is weird...can someone confirm if he is injured?

Both must be injured, or for Seedorf, he's maybe given a rest ...
Strasser isn't in the Primavera team, so ?

According to football-italia, Seedorf is out with a knee problem, Pirlo is out with a thigh strain and Strasser is also injured although they didn't give a reason.

http://football-italia.net/jan22k.html