Ancelotti is doing it again... Playing with a player's confidence... I don't like this. This is one of the areas he truly lacks knowledge.

Ancelotti's steps:

1) Let the player start a couple of games.

2) Bench him for no apparent reason in the next games even though he has been good.

3) Give him a couple late 2nd half appearances.

4) Wait for him to lose his confidence and make a couple of mistakes...

5) Congratulations! You are now justified to glue that player's @ss to the bench forever...

I disagreed with that assessment of Ancelotti-Gourcuff and I disagree with the assessment of Ancelotti-Pato.

What the above neglects to take into account is Pato's injury - and I'm told thigh/groin injuries are particularly icky for guys - and the fact that Pippo has been on fire.

Carletto seems wedded to the Xmas Tree formation so he's only been fielding one striker for most games (and yeah, even I agree he should be reamed for that one) -- and frankly until the Napoli disaster, Pippo's been on fire for the last month +.

This in no way means there's no confidence in Pato or that Ancelotti wants to bench him, etc.

Sorry, Max. I think you've got this one wrong.

One of the main reasons Pato didn't start against Napoli was the bad impression he made after he came on against Inter. I want to get this straight, before his injury, he is our starting attacker, our savior week in, week out. He gets injured, then he gets back to fitness, Inzaghi all of a sudden shows up, Pato stays on the bench, we play against Inter with 1 forward, Pato comes on in the dying moments of the second half, makes a couple nervy passes, he loses his place as a starting player against Napoli? Ancelotti doesn't LOVE... the 4-5-1 formation... He mostly uses that formation when he doesn't have an abundance of attackers at his disposal, or if we're playing a big team. Pato is being wasted on the bench. He is healthy, he obviously wants to play as he said himself, Ancelotti just doesn't trust him as much all of a sudden. I'm not worried about it. Pato is different than Gourcuff. He'll be a starter again next season. But, Ancelotti has a record of doing this. He even did it to Paloschi. Even though Paloschi was our best and most effective attacker, if not player, at one point, Carletto did the same to him. Paloschi broke into the first team by some great performances. Got a couple starts, played very good football. Got benched for no reason after, then got introduced late in the second half a couple times, wasn't as effective as before, got cut out and hasn't played since..

pKillerTruth (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/king.gif)

I disagree still with what you think Carletto's doing. You seem determined to blame him no matter what.

The only reason Pippo's been starting over the kid is because - until the Napoli disaster - Pippo's been on a hell of a scoring run. If he hadn't been, Pato would almost certainly have started.


Paloschi is still a primavera and he's been regularly playing and scoring goals there. The primavera competition is still going on (milan-zebra primavera is being shown live on sky calcio this weekend, for example) and it's IMPORTANT to the club for the primavera to do well. When he came onto the senior team and shocked everyone, Ancelotti said AT THE TIME that Paloschi would only be with the senior team while other strikers were hurt and that when they recovered, he'd go back to the Primavera. That's just what happened.

I think Ancelotti could not have done worse in the Gourcuff issue. In my opinion, he has truly ****ed up on this!

And he has done some mistakes with Pato I believe.

But I don't think he's done wrong with Paloschi. I mean... he did not have a chance to do wrong; the kid was introduced because we had no other forward available and I think it's right he was left out when our forwards were available again... he's too young for this I think.

Anyway... Ancelotti is terrible in this. Not only because of the above... but also because he finds it easy to play it tough with the youngsters and let the out when they do not do well but when Kaladze, Seedorf or Pirlo underperform every week he keeps fielding them...

Ancelotti is my only favorite coach. I don't particularly like any other coach out there. He is stubborn though, and not always in the good way. A lot of times that means his decisions are not in the best interest of the team. And he has a knack for benching younger players and giving endless chances to older ones. Bonera anyone?

Well, Bonera is starting ahead of Oddo now ... So I guess it's a matter of form really

There's no doubt for me Carlo IN GENERAL prefers old players. he could easily continue benching Pato and playing Pippo until Pippo's 40 years old. he destroyed Gourcuff by benching him in favor or Seedorf and Brocchi, with the former usually playing like sh1t against smaller teams (talking about last season) and the latter... well, you know it.

I'm not worried about Pato, because I'm sure he will become a great player one day. I'm worried about Milan's Pato, because I fear if this silly confidence killing habit of Carlo continues we won't be seeing Pato [and other gifted youngsters like Paloschi] in Milan for a very long time...




Anyhow... Pato's been called up for the Selecao again. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/96.gif)


Brazil recall Adriano for World Cup qualifiers

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 15 (Reuters) - Adriano was recalled by Brazil for next month's World Cup qualifiers on Thursday, only the second time he has been picked by his country since the 2006 World Cup.

The 26-year-old was included in a 25-man squad for the matches away to Paraguay in Asuncion on June 15 and at home to arch-rivals Argentina in Belo Horizonte three days later.

Paraguay lead the 10-team South American qualifying group with 10 points from four games, one ahead of Argentina and two ahead of Brazil.

The same squad will face Canada in a friendly in Seattle on May 31 and Venezuela in Boston on June 6, minus Adriano who has club commitments with Sao Paulo.

As expected, there was no place for troubled forward Ronaldinho, who has been out of action with Barcelona because of fitness and weight problems.

Adriano, plagued by physical and reported alcohol problems last year with Inter Milan, has refound his form since joining Sao Paulo on loan in December and has scored 16 goals in all competitions.

"Everyone knows his potential and he has shown great willpower and capability to come back," Dunga told reporters. "His footballing talent was never in doubt. He deserves to return to the national team."

"Great players like important games. That's where we see their potential," Dunga added.

"He has been under a lot of pressure for a long time and a striker gets back his form by scoring goals. We have been watching him and hoping for his recovery."

IMPORTANT TITLES

There were no major surprises as Ronaldinho was left out while AC Milan pair Kaka and Alexandre Pato were included.

Dunga asked for understanding for Ronaldinho, saying his recent problems should not cloud his previous years with Barcelona.

"There's a lot of sensationalism with Ronaldinho," said Dunga. "He gave Barcelona back their soul, winning important titles. Now we have to leave him in peace so he can get back his form."

"We know we can count on him in the future."

Dunga reiterated that he wanted Kaka to take part in the Olympic Games as an over-age player but said it would depend on negotiations with Milan, who are not obliged to release him for the tournament.

He also asked for patience with 18-year-old Pato, who scored a stunning goal against Sweden on his international debut after coming on as a substitute.

"I want to protect Pato as much as possible and I can't put the expectations of millions of people on his shoulders," said Dunga.

"Things have to happen naturally. We have to deposit confidence in him, give him incentives. There's no point in doing things in a hurry, we have to let him play his football."


Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Doni (AS Roma), Diego Alves (Almeria)

Defenders: Daniel Alves (Sevilla), Maicon (Inter Milan), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Kleber (Santos), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Alex Costa (Chelsea), Juan (AS Roma), Luisao (Benfica)

Midfielders: Elano (Manchester City), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Mineiro (Hertha Berlin), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), Anderson (Manchester United), Diego (Werder Bremen), Kaka (AC Milan)

Forwards: Adriano (Sao Paulo), Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Julio Baptista (Real Madrid), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Rafael Sobis (Real Betis), Robinho (Real Madrid)

reuters

I can't wait to see Kaka' & Pato playing together in yellow shirt, it's been awhile since Kaka played for Brazil. I suspect after Lucio, Kaka' will be made captain

Wish Carlo knew how to deal with youngsters as much as Dunga knows! you either introduce a young player naturally and gradually, little by little, or take the risk and play him in every match from the start, Carlo played him in 10-12 games from the start and then all of a sudden relegated him to a bench warmer status. that's murdering a youngster's confidence (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

I don't know why are you guts complaining? This is Carlo and everybody knows that, he hates to play with 2 strikers and it's old news. Actually he doesn't play the youngsters because he doesn't have nay guts at all (I said that before) he's under pressure and doesn't want to be blamed for playing with inexperienced players, so instead he puts in his usual team and gets no motivation, the youngsters get loaned or sold and we keep showing up only when for the big matches with the likes of Seedorf and R10 now. This **** will end when he goes away from Milan ... in 2 years time!

18 Games, 9 Goals
Not bad for an 18 year old, so you guys think the transfer was a successful one?

Not bad? I say it's great (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) . an inexperienced 18yo on his first ever Italian league adventure, surrounded by stars he used to play with on PS3 or watch on television, and of course with SO MUCH hype and pressure around him... he did GREAT! name one other South American teenager that performed like this in his first ever European season with a big club... only Ronaldo comes to mind, but he played for PSV and Pato played for a troubled Milan side and yet was the most consistent scorer. the biggest gap between two games he scored on was 2 games. that's something to be proud of. like I said he really was an inexperienced kid when he signed for us. those 5 months did only good to him, but that doesn't quite explain his success. I guess scoring goals is in his blood! like his idol!

Absolutely he was a good transfer.

He's still got some maturing to do, but the raw talent is immense.

Anyway, I like being able to say QUACK QUACK. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/96.gif)