(IMG:http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Sinking_Ship.jpg)

What he said:


Add to that, since you're focusing on stats, look at Ibra's assist and goals, even without the penalties. And then compare that to the mediocre number achieved by Matri and tell me how he can possibly begin to fill in for a player like Ibra.

Matri was one of the biggest reasons why Juve were so impotent in front of goal last season. You really want to bring him here. And pay Juve actual money which would fund their RvP move?


If I were someone who purchsed a season ticket I'd ask for this reimbursement pronto! What a ****. I guess now he's showing his true colors. No more heroic sacrifices for the fans I see. People wanted a statement of intent from the management, nothing can be more clear than this, a literal f u to the fans

Ouch! Just looked at the charts for MediaSet, they were at ~7.5 euro 5 years ago! So if you are one of Berlu's kids, spending 60-80M per year on Milan probably feels like a bad idea right now. Add to that the state of the economy (which means that the stock is unlikely to skyrocket any time soon) and higher taxes in Italy. You can see why the board was a little grumpy.

On related topics:
- I don't think we are the only team worried about FFP, but I agree that FFP is not the main factor in recent decisions
- We have *some* money to spend (not zero money). However, it is not as much as we would want, we have a lot to cover with that money, and other teams know we are in a "must buy" situation. Hence expect Galliani to keep operating in "bargain hunting" mode.

I still think we can still have a competitive team (with slightly reduced ambitions), and can build from there. Let's see what happens between now and the end of the transfer window. And let's keep in mind that other factors (injuries, Pato's performance, Allegri's choices, etc.) will also have a big impact on the outcome of the season.

Yup. Maybe Max thinks he can get him to be more productive. However, I am finding it real hard to get excited about Matri.

Who said anything about assists? Matri as we all know is a finisher and nothing else. You hae a tendancy to do this a lot han, in which to call someone crap you try and compare him with one of the most complete forwards in football.

Take away the penalties and Matri has scored more league goals than Ibra in the past 2 seasons - take into consideration Matri spent a season a Cagliari/crappy-Juve too..

He is not mediocre, that's all I'm saying. In fact he's closer to World class than mediocre, but he's neither.

And, in fact, he was being considered for the Euro squad. So, perhaps I need to keep an open mind. Still ...

You also have to consider that Allegri is the one who put Matri on the map at Cagliari. It also should be considered that the Juventus fans are not sitting outside Juve practice and chanting for him to not exit because he sucks.

If you think we sold Ibra and Silva to replace them with two people who are just as good, then you are going to be sorely disappointed. We replaced them to start a younger and more complete team as well as to clear some debts. Don't expect any big purchases until the end of august. Teams know that our fans are restless and that means the price tag will just go up and up. Once it gets to crunch time and they have a cash bid on the table the day before the market closes and prices will do down.

This post has been edited by Dracoris: Jul 21 2012, 03:36 PM

Are you serious? Have you even bothered looking at the names in our squad right now? We're in deep sh!t, and unless we sign 3-4 quality players in each role (CB, LB, DM and FW) until the end of August, we'll end up like Inter and finish 6th in the league.

The only positions I consider to be a priority are center back and defensive midfielder. The others are not URGENT, and we can wait till 31 August to see if there's a good player to transfer for a fair amount of cash.

We have the GK's position covered, so no need to talk about it.

We have Abate who's overally decent to start in the right flank and we have a backup for him who's already as good as him and if he gets some play time in two or three years can become better than him. We have four left backs, from whom Antonini is mature enough to start (not that we had someone better in previous seasons too) and we have Didac Vila and Taiwo to replace him, who need more time with Milan before we can judge them, and we have Mesbah who isn't not good enough, but at leaste we have someone to cover if there is a need. In the center we have Mexes who has enough experience and skills to be a starter and probably own every striker in Serie A, while we transfered Arcebi who for only 6 months achieved to enter the team of the season in Serie A and has lots of potential to improve in the future too. I admit, we need another CB to be more sure.

It's clear that Ambrosini can't play in front of the decense and we need someone there, quickly. With him as a backup and Montolivo playing on the right and Nocerino on the left, we actually have a better midfield than we had last year, knowing that Montolivo is better than Aquilani and I expect to transfer someone better than Muntari or the 35 years old Bommel. We have good players to replace the first team, the likes of Flamini, Toure and Constant are great runners who have four lungs. I know there is no creativity, that hurts and kills me, cos I'm somone who loves the type of Pirlo players, but at least we have Montolivo and Cassano to create something from nothing.

In the attack, we are still the best in Serie A. We have four great strikers, but we lack a typical finisher, who's physically better than them. I trust Pato, Cassano, Robinho and El Shaarawy will do a good job and I see a very dynamic attack with them forward. I wouldn't mind somone like Matri, but in the other hand I don't consider it to be a serious matter, to go crazy and pour lots of cash on.

First team: Abbiati, Abate, Mexes, Arcebi, Antonini, Montolivo, ??? , Nocerino, Boateng, Cassano and Pato.
Second team: Amelia, De Sciglio, Bonera, ???, Didac Villa, Flamini, Amborsini, Toure, Emanuelson, El Shaarawy, Robinho.
Others: Gabriel, Yepes, Taiwo, Mesbah, Constant, Valoti, Ganz.

EDIT:

I forgot to add, I think that this team is strong enough to get us to the 3rd place and get over this crysis, if Allegri forgets about ChampionsLeague and concentrates on Serie A.

This post has been edited by d'Arc.LP: Jul 21 2012, 04:48 PM

+1 Can't understand the optimism guys.

Quite frankly, at this point in the current proceedings, I'll be surprised if we qualify for the Europa League next year. Unless we go out and start making deals, we are about as screwed as the Argentine National side would be without Lionel Messi. I say the lads in the offices should call up Arsene Wenger's boss, offer to match whatever Man U offer for RvP plus we throw in Mesbah, and shell out whatever cash we have left and see if we can't pick up someone like Sergio Ramos, who I've wanted to see in a red and black uniform for some time now. Trying to follow up what Ibra did for Milan would make Matri and Pazzini look even worse than I do on the pitch, and we'd still have to worry about Juve getting RvP and ripping us to shreds with him 2+ times a year. I'd like to see Bendtner here, but for the love of God, Galliani, grow some balls and spend some money! I do NOT want to watch us fail this year.

Very nice .. Will you be going down with it? Or will you jump ship?

+1 (for the entire post), though I am still hoping we can get through the group stage in CL.

Also agree 100% with Dracoris "If you think we sold Ibra and Silva to replace them with two people who are just as good, then you are going to be sorely disappointed. We replaced them to start a younger and more complete team as well as to clear some debts. Don't expect any big purchases until the end of august. Teams know that our fans are restless and that means the price tag will just go up and up. Once it gets to crunch time and they have a cash bid on the table the day before the market closes and prices will do down."

(Sorry, still need to figure out how to include multiple quotes.)

I am still not fully convinced about Matri, though (I have seen some "Robinho-like" misses from him, he is not that young, I don't want us to give money to Juve right now, plus I believe we need a quality mid more, and probably a decent CB as well).

You're being very optimistic, but I don't see it the same way. I must admit, that if we at least sign one quality CB and DM, and if we have as few injuries as possible, then we might field a decent enough starting eleven. However, our back-ups stink, to say the least, and our coach has proven to be an absolute n00b in these past two years. So, yeah, unless we get lucky and only play our best men day in and day out, we might actually grab that 3rd place. That's me being optimistic.



LOL, Galliani has got nothing to do with this. He only operates on what budget the club provides to him.



He already mentioned a few days ago that he'd follow Milan to Serie C1 if it came down to that, so you already have your answer. We're all pledged milanisti here.

This post has been edited by X-Offender: Jul 21 2012, 08:13 PM

That was Fillipo I think(or my memory sucks) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)