We'll see if it was a masterstroke or a brain fart if he plays him against Juve (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)

Now now han, Muntari had a really good game. It doesn't matter if it was Cesena or Juventus. The important thing is that he's already merged well with our playing style and the rest of the squad. Besides, we had no-one else available in midfield. You know I'm the first to criticize Allegri, but you can't blame him for the line-up considering all the injuries that have plagued our team lately.

You really think Juve are going to afford him all that time to pick out a pass or shot?

It's not just Muntari, but the entire game, it simply cannot be viewed with too much over-confidence as that was probably the easist game we've played this season.

It seems no matter what Allegri does it's still wrong. And why is it that when we win convincingly it's because the other team is poor? Perhaps they are poor because we have dominated them? I can imagine us beating Juve next week and it still not being good enough for some! I suppose haters gotta hate (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

What would you suggest then, supposing we don't recover any of the injured players in midfield? Play with three strikers. That's out of the question against Juve.

Problem is, I don't think han or me or any other poster hates Allegri. We're all here to criticism, express our feelings and discuss.

Milan won three points today, and Muntari showed that every player deserves a proper chance. Allegri gave it to him, and the time proved to be convenient. Did Allegri's setup win us the match? No, it was rather Cesena's bad display. Does this mean we should prefer a Muntari-Nocerino-Ambro (Bommel) + Emanuelson midfield? No. But, it also does not mean Muntari or even Allegri shouldn't be praised. The only negative thing today was Inzaghi's late sub.

End of story for me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Allegri says that they will know whether Prince can play against Juve on tuesday, fingers crossed.

Nobody said Allegri won us the match. The man simply fielded the best possible line-up given the players we had at disposal. That's why I don't understand han's criticism.

The keyboard managers know more than a manager that won the league last season and is currently top of the league (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

There's a reason why Cesena are more than three times behind us (sitting at 16 points, while we just became the first to 50, we're at top and they're the bottom most team), and that is because they are absolutely dreadful. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Now deciding the merits and demerits of a coach, playing against at team/unit as bad as these guys is just not on.

The real test, as said above, will be against Juventus. And the only cause of concern today would have been if we somehow lost, but even then injuries/suspensions would have had to be factored in to it. As things stand, our victory today does not prove that Allegri is a brilliant coach, neither does it give more credence to his critics. Like I said, too small a team, too regular a victory to make anything out of it.

As for the extra time substitution, well what's so weird about it, I fail to understand?! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif) It's not like Allegri did anything better for other players (Ronaldinho, anyone?) with his 85, 88, even 90th minute appearances. That's his way of telling someone that he is not welcome here. Cheap? You bet. But weird? Now? No.

Here are the post match declarations given by players and management after Cesena-Milan at the Manuzzi stadium:


MASSIMILIANO ALLEGRI

“The players did very well for 60 minutes and then we relaxed a bit. We conceded a goal and risked complicating things even further but in the end we got the three points and I’m happy. There’s no one game easier than another, you have to work to win them al. the players did well as they all helped each other out, getting the most out of their characteristics and qualities.”

“I think we risked taking the score to 3-2 in the last half hour. Games are never over until the final whistle and that should be a lesson for us to do better when these things happen. We’ll see how Aquilani does during the week, I don’t know if he’ll be available against Juventus of not but I have a group of 33 players who are doing well and that gives us hope for the game on Saturday. We showed a lot of respect to Cesena as we do to all the other teams in the league but you need to be good and to play the game they way you have to and we did that again here today.”

“The club did well to get Muntari for me; Galliani did a good job in getting the player not letting the chance get away. I think he can work well as a playmaker but he does better on the wing. Saturday will be a wonderful game, a fascinating game that could decide the title.
We’re only focusing on the next game, the referees are doing well and to give them all the responsibility for the game seems reductive to me. We’re in the chase for the title, and in reality, we’re two points behind Juventus. “

“We have the whole week to train and on Thursday I’ll see if I’ll have Ibrahimovic available or not. The squad understands what we’re going through and most of all that if we don’t play as a team we won’t win any games.”




URBY EMANUELSON

“Finally I’ve scored. I played a good game today and I’m very happy. The coach talked to me and Robinho, he wanted us to show movement and that’s what we did. I’m feeling better in my position as playmaker, the coach changes things a lot for every game but I did well today and I scored as well. Next week we have a big game and today’s win was good to keep us ahead in the league and get to the match against Juventus in the best shape possible.”


SULLEY MUNTARI

“I thank God, my team mates, Adriano Galliani and my agent for having made my dream of being here come true. I trained well on my arrival and I found my way into the team easily because I have fantastic team mates who give me everything I need to play. I was really psyched up. I respect my ex team mates, but I’m very happy to be here and I hope that things will continue to go well and we’ll win lots. We’ll prepare well for the match against Juventus, we have our feet on the ground and that’s important for the group. I believe we’ll do well.”


DANIELE BONERA

“We played a good game, an excellent first half, then we suffered a bit in the second half but what counts is the win. Their league position is a lie. We didn’t manage to score immediately but after the first goal, thinsg got easier. We’re a healthy squad regardless of what other people have been saying. Half an hour from the end against Udinese we looked like a team resigned to our fate but we turned that game around, we beat Arsenal and now Cesena as well. Now we have Juventus, another tough match and we’ll do everything to win it.”

i stopped reading past this point... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

...Allegri on Muntari


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

The hard part isknowing that he is not kidding!

Ok so he can pass the ball well; this doesn't qualify a player of Sully's characteristics to become a playmaker Damn it!

*sigh* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)

Thing is though beating any team is not a fluke, it takes preparation and skill to pick the correct team and tactics, and that becomes even harder when you can't pick your strongest team due to injury and suspension. You can also factor in there that we put in another solid performance as well, I mean Juve struggled last night although their final score was also 3-1 and they were at home!

I agree that the big test will be against Juve, even Allegri himself has said it will probably be a title decider, and hopefully we'll win. But if we were to win 6-0 it would be because Juve were crap, if we were to win 1-0 Allegri would be lucky and if we lost Allegri would be crap! We've had some excellent results recently and I think it would be nice if Allegri were to get just a little bit of credit for it.

True enough. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) I was about to write this in my earlier post, really. Injuries aren't helping, and Allegri has had to make his way around the absent players. That's good management. Still it could be much worse. Just imagine how we'd have done without players like Van Bommel and Thiago Silva among our first XI.

Or what would have been the case if we did not have Zlatan in our midst. That's a face of the club, right there.


I know, and well you know my opinion on this too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I'm pro-against-Allegri, that is 50-50. And I still believe, Arsenal were beyond bad, and Allegri did well against them. He didn't have to think too much out of the box, and a good coach that he is, he played his cards well. Against both Real Madrid and Barcelona he did not.

Now, if we were to win against other big club, say Bayern, Manchester United, City, or the Spanish bigwigs, then all credit to the guy. That's how a legend is built, winning and winning good against other heavyweights. The coaches before him did this, and I'll be the first to give credit (and raise my rating in his favor) when he does that.

Also, one can never discount the chaps on the pitch, they have to take a major part of the blame, anyway, every time we put in a less-than-stellar performance. And I mean less-than-stellar performance. Because, win or lose, the display on the pitch should be worthy of a team like Milan. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Results can happen, but a spirited performance has to be always there, 100%. If it isn't, either the guys or the coach is at fault.

I personally can't wait for the Juventus match, as well as finding out who our QF opponents are in Europe!