1: Pirlo was in miserable form for us us in the past 3 years. He could have stayed with us and remained in dire form. He needed a fresh start.

2: It's approaching that time of the season where you agreed that if Juve were still in the hunt for the Scudetto, you'd concede they were contenders. Ready to accept it now?

u aren't.....jealous now are you acid? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif) haha

Didn't see the game (hopping three states today) so I'll keep it brief. Another big team another flop. This team is assuming the character (or lack thereof) of iBra. Won't knock the clueless one because our injury bug is borderline ridiculous, but wasn't this guy supposed to be resourceful and able to scrape up results with minimal resources? Just a thought. There are arguments for and against my opinion so no fire and brimstone today :-)

I think the biggest problem is the way we play. Why can we not play direct? Quick pass up and a run. We pass around the ball and lose it.

El Shaarawy is a light source per sempre.

We have 13 injuries now, which must be taken into consideration almost with T. Silva added to that.

I just wish we changed the entire we we set up and played altogether. I think of any big clubs, we're by far the easiest to play against. Of course our superior quality is usually enough to over-match some club, but the better clubs will generally be able to beat us.

There's a reason most top clubs play with wide players and are very attacking. It stretches the opposition and creates space in the middle, particularly for creative players. I don't see us ever really switching from 4-3-1-2 and it'll hurt us.

+1.

I don't think we'd be any different now if we had Pirlo.

I blame the management for not bringing what they promised which was a world class AM / a creative force. with Aquilani and Montolivo, I can't see us making that move at all anytime soon. they have decided an Ibra-dependent Milan is good enough. Ibra is a great player and can carry a team on his back as long as long balls from way back in defense end up on his feet, but I can see why drucurl is against having him. we're no longer a team. that is not blaming Ibra, it's just the price you pay for having him. you get results but don't play great as a team anymore.

The most important thing is we drop the small team mentality.

Milan vs Big teams: W0-D4-L6 (n)

Record in February 2012: L(2) D(1) W(0)

Allegri signed a new deal on January 14. Eight games were played since then - 4 defeats 1 draw 3 wins.

Next Month from Hell fixtures: Udinese (A), Arsenal (H), Cesena (A), Juventus (H).

Based on our past results, I'd be happy if we get a draw against Udinese, a draw against Arsenal, maybe a win against Cesena and probably a draw against Juventus at home.

(IMG:http://i42.tinypic.com/2ch2wi9.jpg)

I was just stating the obvious. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

I don't think Ibra is essentially the problem here. Ibra has enough intelligence to play in flow with the team. The issue is the mediocrity around him.

Is it Ibra's fault that he is found in a lineups where he is the only one creating. He makes a pass and Robinho misses. Pato is injured or out of touch so he disappears. Nocerino is the only one competent.

And Allegri has miraculously decided that the solution to his troubles is to have the fullbacks push up. Sure they offer the versatility of width which we exploit against average sides...but the top sides just shut us down.

And as for me, I still believe Allegri is out of his league. The top coaches have as good teams, better tactics and better experience. I'm embarassed that the scudetto winning coach is getting his butt handed out to him by a 'n00b' like Conte.

Injuries have hampered our performance and is only expected .. Hence the matter is only temporary, given 8 out of 13 injured are midfielders. The vision is long-term and as such we shouldn't worry too much given the injuries at hand.

this too, goes to FB (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) +1

Well, for better or for worse, any coach worth his salt can read Allegri out like a book. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) That's not to say he's necessarily a bad coach, but Allegri is just too predictable with his tactics. And more than that, too slow to react.

How should he react, though? what is it he should be doing that he's not? we have a first team out injured, his hands are tied. the fact that Ambro gets to play in these games says it all really...

Sure I'll conceed, but they are where they are simply because we have been TERRIBLE this season against any of the decent sides. And that is a FACT!

Juve have lost a lot of points against the smaller sides this season, and the reason they're sill top of the table is because we simply cannot cope anymore, with these injuries as well as a terrible game plan. I never feared them as title contenders because I had faith in our team before. Maybe you can call that over-confidence, but why shouldn't we all feel that way? We have the best team in the league by a mile imo. Yet we've been reduced to this.

I was actually talking about his general laid back demeanor. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) Usually our coach is 5-20 minutes too late in calling his subs, and more often than not when he makes a mistakes in tactics, it takes a few good matches to rectify them and think of something new. A lot of it has got to do with his passive (coaching) nature, I guess.