FT. Great win at a tough, tough place to do so.

unbeaten in the last 12 in serie A the commentator said

This post has been edited by il_diavolo_mtl: Jan 8 2012, 04:54 PM

It isn't a question about Pato, it's the movement Robs brings in. Before Urby was absolutely invisible, thus both Ibra and Pato were a none factor for the entire game because they rely on balls coming from midfield. Robinho moves a lot and makes himself available as well as picking up the ball in midfield, which is why he should be the one playing behind the strikers.

Had Robinho started Pato and Ibra would have seen a lot more of the ball and would have had more space to work with

Juve win btw. Just scraping it against Lecce

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/king.gif) Not bad at all! hopefully we make that 13 next game and do it in style.

No, he won't. He would be even worse at LB.


We've been through this. I would prefer an actual midfielder at AM.


Agreed.

From today's performance and watching the game against Inter, I believe that we should be able to do that. Our defence is looking great with Thiago back to 100%, and whether it's Nesta or Mexes we know that it's a top class option either way.

My only hope is that we have Abate and Aqui back. Abate will really provide the width we need while Nagatomo is pretty hopeless when he has to track back. Zambro should be fine if we have Abate and he doesn't need to push up, defensively, I will continue to insist that he is still our best FB by far. As long as he stays back and covers his areas than he's ok.

Aquilani back will give us another option from midfield, but still I feel for our attack to really work we need Robinho to be as close to midfield as possible, ie, he needs to play the AM spot. He'd bring Ibra and Pato into the game more, and if we want our attack to finally start working this season than that is what will have to happen. As could easily be seen today, Boateng can still make his late runs into the box from deeper in midfield. In fact it only makes him harder for the opposing team to track should he start his runs from deeper positions

What does that get you when the "actual" midfielder is nowhere to be found is not supporting our 2 strikers. Note that Ibra's only real look in was through a long ball while Pato won the penalty off a set-piece situation. That is just not acceptable. Especially when you have someone like Robinho one the bench who will bring those 2 in beutifully as we've seen him do a million times before.

The important thing is balance not what you would classify an AM as being a midfielder or striker, in all honesty Robinho could be considered a winger, thus a midfielder if that would help you sleep better at night!

My point is I don't care what they're listed as on the official site, or in Fifa or FM. What I care is what they offer to the team when they're on that pitch. For me it's pointless to call Robinho a striker as he's always been a wide man more than anything else, and he's not really known for his goal scoring, in fact the further away we keep him from goal the better. Pato had a single chance today, he smacked that off the post, while winning the penalty as well. He's our most clinical striker and needs to be given the supply, that will not happen if Boateng or Urby are supporting him and Ibra. Ibra's record looks impressive but half of those are penalties, his record from open play is 6 goals, that's the tally that midfielders in the league are on, not strikers.

We have a top class attack yet they're not utilised properly, in all reality we should be hitting more goals than we are.

Ibra is pure class. Without him we'd be lost.

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this was one of the most important wins of the season. Atalanta at home are really strong, and we were missing some important players. Now bring on the derby! Hopefully Abate and Aquilani will be fit for Sunday.

Right on!

And can you imagine if Ibra actually had proper support rather than trying to survive off long balls? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif)

In reality, him and Pato could score 20+ goals. With Ibra's vision, power, etc and Pato's pace and finishing... When Tevez comes I really hope we get to see all three on the pitch

considering for large stretches we were very dodgy, placing Tevez in the role where E-mule was will be amazing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .

Can you imagine him chasing around and exchanging positions with Ibra?? While Pato reaps the benefits of those 2 behind him?

I can't imagine what we'll do when Antonio is back though. That's Allegri's headache though, not ours. As long as he can keep them happy, I think we'll see some great stuff if Tevez comes.

But I think Allegri will more than likely be forced to play 3 attackers. With all that quality you just cannot keep 2/3 top class strikers on the bench

Just imagine the attack of Ibra and Pato with our old midfield under Carlo. It would be invincible.

Ibra is a world class player but he'll always be too dirty for my taste. The small but painful kicks he gave to Schelotto, Manfredini, etc...

We miss Pirlo and the old Seedorf no doubt about that. But what we really lack imo is a proper attacking midfielder. And Robinho is closer to that than either Boateng or Urby. Mentioning Urby in this regard is just funny to me as there is no way in hell he'd be in contention to be playing that position under any other coach. Allegri has some weird ideas imo, and I still don't understand what he's trying to accomplish by playing Urby there. At least with Boateng there is the high energy and running late into the box aspect which he brings in, Urby just stands there and does nothing

I think Ibra was getting frustrated because there were a couple of calls which frustrated him, no doubt this should not be an excuse for kicking out at players, but that's just the way it is.

Until June, yes. But then I want us to sign a proper AM, and sell one between Pato and Robinho.

That would have to be Robinho. Pato is 22 and has his entire future ahead of him with Milan, while Robinho will be turning 28. As I said a couple weeks ago, Ibra, Cassano, even Tevez, they're all great options for the here and now, but the future of the club will also have to be considered and that future is with Pato, not Ibra, not Cassano and certainly not Tevez who will most likely jump ship sooner rather than later.