Ronaldo is the greatest striker I have personally seen so it's not a disaster if Pato doesn't turn out to be as good as him. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Thing is, if you go back and look at the stats, Pato used to be quite a goalscoring machine at some parts of the previous seasons when he didn't have to deal with injuries and was played in the right position. I remember he'd even bang at least 1 goal/game for several games, before, of course, losing the momentum for which you could normally blame two things 1. injuries 2. far-from-perfect conditions in which he's supposed to become ah-mazing. remember before this very season Milan was a joke, we were a mediocre team. we couldn't even get the 4th CL spot for crying out loud! can anyone imagine Messi becoming what he is now in those conditions? I can't. that's why I get pissed off when someone compares him to Messi who, while insanely talented, is playing in the most perfect club with the best teammates imaginable. he's had Dani Alveses and Xavis around him. Pato has.. well, you know what I'm on about.

I just can't stand this obsession with making comparisons anymore.

This post has been edited by Zed.D: Dec 5 2010, 12:44 PM

Personally I feel the current setup doesn't suit Pato. As such our team has very few attackers now...so there's an intense focus on them. Robinho runs his guts out and grafts making him hard to mark. Zlatan's a monster so it makes no difference. Pato unfortunately struggles since he's neither.

This is an article from football-italia.

All good points. my post was based on gut feeling. $heva is pretty amazing so you won't see me crying if he becomes the next $heva. Personally (again facts extracted from the nether regions of my gluteus maximus) I believe he'll be better than $heva but not as awesome as Ronaldo- ability-wise. If he was $heva's work ethic he could FAR surpass both.

I don't get the Pato-Sheva comparison at all. I think they are completely different players. Sheva was great in his own way, and Pato will be great in his own way. And maybe it will be difficult for Pato to find his place in the starting team now we have two good performing forwards in Robinho and Ibrahimovic, but that's only a good thing. With the three we can rotate our forwards without the feeling we weaker ourselves. All three are different and I believe all three possible couples should work well. Pato is still very young, so he don't have to be a definite starter already. It would be nice if he is, but it's no must.

It will be difficult to play all three at the same time and I'm not sure if we want to do that. When behind, of course, or maybe against weaker opponents. Robinho behind Pato and Ibrahimovic would makes most sense to me if we would do that. I rather go for rotation and play our 4-3-1-2 with an actual midfielder behind the two forwards.

Pato will turn out great, but let's give him the time. He's still young and developing a lot.

This post has been edited by CHU-LIP: Dec 5 2010, 06:47 PM

That's why I said in two years time, when Pato will be 23, which was when Sheva joined us.



You said it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Alexandre Pato hopes to make his comeback against Cagliari and is enthusiastic about Antonio Cassano’s arrival at Milan.

“I am very happy and relaxed. Now I have to work hard and do my best to get back on the field as soon as possible,” said the Brazilian striker.

Pato has barely featured this season due to a recurring thigh strain, but hopes to make his comeback at the Stadio Sant’Elia on January 6.

“I still need to go through a personalised training regime to get back to full fitness. I hope to be able to play against Cagliari.”

Milan are currently in Dubai for their winter training camp and have been joined by Cassano, who will complete the transfer from Sampdoria once the window opens.

“We are happy that Cassano is here with us,” continued Pato. “He is a lovely lad and a great player. I think he can give us a big hand and help the whole team to win.”

Cassano made a good start to his Rossoneri experience, scoring in the game between ranks from a Zlatan Ibrahimovic assist.

Football-italia.com

I hope he can make it against calgari...

Can't wait to see him back in action. I hope Allegri finds the proper solution for him.

Pato: 'I'd never follow Leo to Inter':http://www.football-italia.net/jan12s.html

I luv you pato:P

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

Blog: Two sides of Pato
Alexandre Pato’s strike rate for Milan is immense but, as Antonio Labbate writes, deficiencies in other areas of his game have cast doubt on his San Siro future
It was in last season’s game against Bologna when Massimo Ambrosini turned to the bench and posed then Milan boss Leonardo a question. With frustration unmistakably etched into every syllable, he said: “Are you going to ask Pato when he’ll start playing?”

A campaign later and the disappointing 1-1 draw at Lecce on Sunday is remembered for two incidents. The first, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s latest invention in front of goal and, secondly, a heated discussion between Gennaro Gattuso and Alexandre Pato.

The San Siro giants subsequently played down the confrontation between the two Milanisti. Clarence Seedorf, who took on the role as the on-the-field peacemaker, insisted the episode was simply blown out of proportion.

Gattuso added that all was fine between himself and the Brazilian, but refused to go into detail about why the youngster had grated him so much at the Via Del Mare. “What we spoke about is my business,” he noted. Understandably, nobody pushed him on the matter.

The 72 minutes Pato was afforded by boss Massimiliano Allegri were not the finest of his career. It was an evening where those who argue that the Ibra-Pato strike partnership doesn’t and won’t work could use the encounter as key evidence to such an allegation. It also, inevitably, led to questions over Pato’s long-term future at the club.

It seems inappropriate to even contemplate a Milan without Pato when you consider the boy’s astonishing scoring statistics in Italy. In 88 Serie A matches to date, he has rippled the net on 44 occasions. Before his blank at Lecce, he was averaging 0.8 goals per top-flight tie this term.

No Rossonero of the past has proved so prolific, while of the players with at least 100 Serie A goals in history, only four – legends Felice Borel, Silvio Piola, Giuseppe Meazza and Giampiero Boniperti – had scored more than Pato at his 21-years-of-age.

If football was purely a numbers game then Pato could feel secure in his role within Milan. However, the club, one hungry to return to the highest echelons of the European game, expect and require more than just a great goal scorer, they need a great player, a fuoriclasse as Italians would say.

“Pato has it all to become a champion, but he has to learn to take advantage of situations,” Ambrosini noted last November. “He has enormous potential and he must express them in an important manner. He needs to find the right mentality which will allow him to continue maturing. That’ll be difficult and it’s not to be taken for granted. He needs to learn as much and it’s our job to help him.”

Pato, as the Milan captain claimed, clearly has the technical abilities required, but is struggling to deliver in a number of other areas. His work rate, in training and in games, especially off the ball, is questionable and that’s not been lost on demanding sergeant Allegri. “He needs to start pedalling,” the Coach said publicly at the start of this month.

Physically, Pato has suffered a number of injury setbacks. Having arrived on the peninsula with the body of a boy, his Christian Vieri silk-like muscles have concerned the club to such a degree that they sent him to see a specialist in America to undergo a series of tests.

Then there are also his personal problems. His marriage came to an end after less than a year, even if it’s alleged that his love for the nightlife – ala Ronaldinho? – contributed to the breakdown in his relationship with Sthefany Brito, the girl he used to dedicate every goal to with that adolescent love heart celebration of his.

Pato now rejoices in a different manner given the landscape changes in his private life, but he has to make modifications on the pitch too. Competition for a place in Allegri’s starting line-up is fierce with the surprisingly hard-working Robinho and Antonio Cassano, the January replacement for the often static Ronaldinho, challenging him for that spot alongside the untouchable Ibra.

As a result, a player who few once doubted, now has to prove himself all over again. Allegri believes that the Selecao star can play alongside the super Swede, but it’ll be up to Pato to heed his tactical advice and prove him right. Get it wrong and, with a big money offer on the table from a foreign club, we could be six or 18 months away from Pato being the latest Brazilian – after Ronaldo, Kaka, Leonardo and Dinho – to be heading through the San Siro exit.


Nice/Brief write up about Pato's problems at Milan.(Source:Football-italia)

This post has been edited by William405: Jan 20 2011, 02:28 PM

very interesting its true he needs to step it up boyo !!

Hypothetically he continues his run of poor form and we sell him for 50m. Who then do we replace him with?

Balotelli most likely.

Balotelli might be most likely, but I was hoping along the lines of G. Rossi. I feel like he'd be a better replacement, he's on fire.

Selling Pato wil be a big mistake IMO. I think he will be maybe the best striker in the world in a few years.
We need to remember that he's only 21 y.o and we didn't see his best yet. To give up on him now when we "suffered" through his growing pains while some other team would enjoy the fruitage?
Balotelli is not worth that sacrifice. Let him grew up (mainly mentally) in some other club and maybe buy him in afew years if he's become more stable.