I lived through the dark days too (and no old person jokes!). I love Milan as a team - always have - and I'll support them no matter how disappointing the results are.

Thing is, the team is playing poorly right now. The elements are all there and lord knows the talent is, but it's not combining the way it should. Something is wrong, and it makes me very sad.

Never in my whole 2 years here I complained about a ref-decision. But this one was clear, it should have been a penalty.

I really can say that Milan did not play bad at all. Sure, it wasn't a brilliant match, and we had big mistakes in the defense and our strikers missed big also, but..guys, I do remember the 1997 season. I do remember some of the darkest Milan moments. And this play today does not fit in. Empoli just played awfully tuff. They defended with 9 men, Pozzi was a real midfielder. And we had the indisponed Pippo-Gila pair and no alternative on the bench. No alternative...

That's what I don't understand...why doesn't someone use this Willy youngster once? Even if he is the worst player in our history, maybe, just maybe, he would do something.

But today, Carlo's subs were rational. Brocchi in fact did real good, he was active and dangerous from time to time. Gourcuff?? Never did anything when he came on. Maybe he is the new Platini or Zidane or whatever, but a super sub he isn't. He really should start one match. I do not expect anything big of him when he gets the last 20m but still - I've seen Dos Santos, Krkic or Messi (in his first match) play. They all knew that they have Ronaldinho, Iniesta, Henry, etc. infront so they did use their 10m to show themself. Yohann just usually fit's into our lethargy.

Nesta? I think his positioning was overall bad and he was below the usual level - that means still better then everyone else in our defense. Maldini? Played but still with pain. He was very good,...


Only thing I have to say: this season is, in german said a misch-masch and life goes on. Till Ronaldo and Pato start to play we'll have to get used to such ups and downs and disappointing results. Oh, even Milan can make a break,..

If you play bad and lose, fair enough, you know you can play better.

But if you lose to an average side while playing good? That's the time to panic.

These are the games to win and today we just failed against Empoli.

I agree with tennie . But i will wait untill ronaldo is back and when pato can play. If Milan still cant win by then ... (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

Great post man (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

For maybe the 15th millionth time in forum history, I'm agreeing with R7 here.

I really haven't posted anything in the threads regarding the loss, because it's pointless. Everytime we lose, the forum is divided into two sections, the guys who feel we're sh!t, and the guys who think all is not over yet.

I think R7 hit the nail on the head. Sure it feels bad to lose to Empoli. But then are we really presuming that no alarm bells are ringing. All of you are smart people, you know we've never targetted the scudetto this season or the last. Is that a fault? A lot of you think so, and while I can't blame you, you also know why we're not targetting it. We don't have the depth. Let's be clear, we all agree we don't have the depth to compete on two fronts.

So then is it the management's fault? Ok in this explanation, you'll also see the reason, why a bunch of 'deluded idiots' like myself, R7, Nova and Tennie(I'm including u, so that way we have female representation) don't go out of their way to criticize the hell out of Milan.

R7 hit the nail on the head. He was a part of the great Milan of MvB and so on. For me MvB is a superstar I see in videos.

I'll tell you what though, from the days of Capello in 95 I've seen us plunge to the depths of not even being in the top 10. It was in such a state that I saw Carlo walk in, and just work sheer magic. I was watching a Milan crumble into becoming a shell, kinda like the Newcastle today, and this guy with a paunch, a Milan hero walks in and hauls us up to the pinnacle of European football. We're still ranked number 1 club in the world. Do you know what that means to be, to see your club from 11th in Italy, to being number 1 in the world. And now what? You want me to start a war chant (yeah you're included too, u yank (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) ) about carlo needing to get fired, coz he lost one match 1-0?

Or maybe it's coz he doesn't play Yoann enough? Well, he uncovered Andrea Pirlo (unabased fanboy I'am, but that's not the point), he made Gatusso what he is, Sheva was the number 1 striker post Ancelotti, Pippo was a has-been when he came to Milan. And of course there was Kaka (ok, let's assume he was great enough to shine anywhere). So you know what , nostalgic that I'am I WILL forgive him if Yoann doesn't turn out to be Zidane II, and if it is Carlo's fault.

And as for the management, bigmac, you've said it yourself, you couldn't fault our transfers till two years ago. You think in the space of two years something has gone wrong? Maybe it's something we don't know of. Or maybe we need time to make those transfers happen. We stopped buying players for the sake of it, it was what got us in that hell hole pre Ancelotti in the first place. I'm not judging it, I simply don't know enough. But I refuse to believe that a team who's never ever compromised on getting players to improve their squad, would do so without any reason, in two years.

And as for Mourinho, look I love good football. It's why I chose Milan among all the teams in Italy. It's why against all rationality I loved Newcastle. And it's why as much as I despise that they have no nationals, I like Arsenal. For some people results and points in the league are the be-all-and-end-all. But I'd rather watch my team finish fourth and still have played the best football, than have reached the first place with a lot of 1-nils. Maybe I'm not as competitive a person as some of you, but a club that compromises the beautiful game for points is not a football club. It's about how beautifully you play, not in the points. This is football, not the stock market.

And as for being the master motivator, why wasn't Mourinho able to 'motivate' Sheva and Ballack. Don't for one moment say, it was because these guys had lost it. Don't say they're not good enough for the EPL either. Football is football. If Obafemi Martins can do well, Sheva should have stomped all over the EPL like a Colossus.

R7 had a point, given Sheva and Ballack, I strongly believe Ancelotti would have done much better. We know what he can do with Sheva, and I've seen enough of Ancelotti over the years to say with complete conviction that
Rino---Pirlo---Ballack
--Turtle-----Kaka
-----Pippo/Gila---

would obliterate anything.


And as for making excuses....lemme just once look at it from the player's point of view. They've just be roundly booed by their 'home' fans. Ok maybe deservedly, and I don't think the players are retards to not know they haven't played well. If I were in a player's shoes, knowing that the management was refusing to hang me out to dry as a scapegoat, instead steadily defending me all along (even THOUGH it's my fault), only motivates me to push much harder and do well to repay that trust.

Ok, so suppose this is a bad season, what's the worst that can happen? We get knocked out of CL? And we finish 5th or lower in the Serie A. Well guess what I've seen worse..MUCH worse. And I've seen enough of Milan, that we're not some psycho Chelsea to jump around screaming 'heads must roll!' and fire everything in sight. We'll do what's needed. Milan have always been very very clinical about their targets. And they've already told us what they are for this season. 1 down two more to go. CWC and CL. If they reach the targets they've set this season, I'm satisfied.

We'll challenge for the Serie A when we're ready. And that satisfies me. But then when you love a club so much, you get satisfied easily.

And @ R7....Tennie for admin..(IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Tennie for U.N Peace Corps. Send her off to Baghdad, with her fish doll. She'd set things right in a jiffy.

I saw Scheva in London at Stamford Bridge and actually in Calfornia. IMO its not that Mourinhos problem is motivation with Scheva, in England you don't get the space at the top of the box that you do in Italy. Scheva is just slow in a fast moving rollercoaster as Totti called the EPL. He doesn't get the space. Mourinho gave Scheva change after chance. Even the new coach started with the Scheva tipped formation and immediately moved to Mourinhos tactics with Drogba up top. With Ballack, he was a starter through the season and one of Mourinh's stated key players. Like Ronaldo, Ballack is injury prone and since Levrksn he has been injured pretty consistently. Bayern are at the top of their game now.

With this club it was a sinking ship when Scheva left and no replacement came in. To me it was simple tactics. We have very minimal dangerous attackers. I was right when this event happened. The only peak we are at is in the form of the force know as Kaka( and quality from Pirlo), it was his world class play that beat Man U, Celtic and others in the champions league last season.

Pretty much our interpretations with the coaching, reinforcements and everything have been correct. My prediction is that we would tank in the league without reinforcements up top. At this moment we haven't even played the big guns yet Inter, Roma, and Juventus are we are 10 points out of first place with no real change in sight. Galliani and Silvio have come out to state that Milan are in a crisis. Thus I think we were right to criticize the coaching and everything because we foresaw this happening. And its easier from our end because we are not responsible but if you have watched the past 3 years our play has gotten worse and worse. Our champions league win had really nothing IMO to do with us being the best of Europe but really a large force know as Kaka.

The game today shows how reliant we are on him and how our plan B can't beat bottom of the table dwelling Empoli or at least show bad.

IMO you have reached the lowest possible point when you accuse referees for bad calls instead of looking in the mirror. The majority of Kaka's goals have come from penalties thus showing we are getting calls.

This post has been edited by jbryant1: Oct 22 2007, 06:28 AM

Great post Jack ... I'm glade u see the light too (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)




(IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) She would bring them together alright (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)


Send Tennie to Iraq !!! (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif) (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I only can agree. Very good post,.. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/king.gif)

Best post so far. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Those highlighted points have always been my opinion. We may continue to deceive ourselves but fact is the handwriting was there on the wall for the past 2 seasons. It is a team in decline, ageing. Yes, we will continue to support Milan, no matter what, but truth is the mgt had blundered in believing we're okay as is. While Ancelloti is not the type of coach to lift a team in crisis. He simply lack that personality, or motivational and technical ability to.

(IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) Omfg.....I cannot believe this!!! On what basis are you coming up with this observation?

Before Ancelotti there was a bloke called Faith Terim. And before him Zacheroni. If you'd remember what Milan were like then and in what position, maybe you wouldn't have made that previous statement.

But my fish doll doesn't speak Arabic!!!!!

(IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Funny Tennie. You think a lot of talking goes on in Iraq?

Anyway here's what a majority in the forum wanted...



It's from goal.com.

This post has been edited by Jack Sparrow: Oct 22 2007, 03:33 PM

(It's a generally accurate translation of his post-match comments).

And the fish doll doesn't like sharp pointies or things that fire bullets. He's a bit of a coward, he is.

A couple of stiff Jack Daniels and he'll be fine.