But the thing is, there's an evident problem. We had all summer to figure out what's going on, but it seems we'll have yet another injury plagued season.

I honestly came up blank when I saw this until I read the post below. I know you don't particularly like Nocerino, so I knew you weren't talking about him.

De Sciglio is a promising player, and yes he has shown some good stuff in his 2 starts, but honestly speaking here, would you bench Abate for him? Abate might not have the best end product but everything else he does is on a scale from good to great, his only kryptonite is Milito apparently (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

I think if Abate can improve his crossing he could be considered a great FB, so if that improves this season we'll be set in that position for the next 8 years imo. Our problem is on the left, which is also a position where DS proved he could play, atm would I bench Antonini for him? I don't think so, Antonini mght be a very average player but he's racked up the experience over these past few years and I really cannot remember a game where he made a huge mistake or anything of the sort.

I think DS will just need to be given time, imo that should be on the left so ha can adapt there. Plus, I'm sure there will be a lot of chances for him to come into games given our injury history.

Not that Abate is that bad, but he can't get any better than what we've already seen from him. for example, he will never turn into a RB who can regularly create chances with his crosses - good crosses is just not in him. right now we have two choices, continue with Abate's mediocrity or give Mattia the time he needs to improve to a solid RB for the future. I'd go for the latter. I just don't see a good future with Abate but "as of right now" I do see a good future with Mattia.


Two of his corners kicks could have been assists if we'd taken our last shots more accurately (both were low crosses to the near post for Boateng so I don't think they were flukes, we'd clearly tried that in training). he was somehow involved in our 3rd goal and did made important tackles as well. how can you question his contributions? I think they were obvious enough.

This post has been edited by Zed.D: Sep 10 2012, 12:47 PM

Abate has gone from a right winger at Torino to one of the best RBs in the league in a matter of 3 seasons. Maybe last season wasn't vintage for him. But the season we won the Scudetto he was the best RB in the league with guys like Maicon also present.

He's improved in leaps and bounds when it comes to defending, no reasn to assume that he can't improve on his crossing. It's only a matter of how willing he is to work on it, and we've seen with Abate that he has an amazing work ethic.

DS can be trained to play as a LB, because he is still so young and could easily adapt, imo is best performance came when he played on that side against Inter last season, so there is no reason to believe that he wouldn't be able to make it there.

One thing is for sure, Abate simply cannot be benched as he is our current best FB. Calling him mediocre is beyond harsh.

I'm not questioning his contribution, it's just that one needs more concrete things when calling someone "player of the season", even based on 2 matches.

Agreed.

De Sciglio put in some fine crosses, but that simply is not enough, especially not to bench someone like Abate.

@ han

It's fair to say we have a "good enough" RB in Abate and a promising one in DS, it's our LBs that suck. Antonini was great last game but I think that was more like a one-off performance rather than a huge leap in quality on his part. I expect him to return to his mediocre self sooner or later.

I'm all for playing DS in the left side but can he cross with his left foot and will it be as effective as his right foot?

Since Abate can't cross, why not try him out in the left side and let DS remain where he's played well in the last two games? I hope Max gives it a try.

@ Fillipo

Well, I didn't say he's the player of the season so far. it's ridiculous to attempt to find a player of the season after two games anyway!

I think it's easier to adapt for someone who is still young and learning his trade imo. Abate is settled at RB, he's the Azzuri's first choice when they play a flat 4. I think that says enough.

As for the effectivity of his crosses, he'll adapt to use both feet and he can always check back to put them in with his right, which is what we have now with Antonini but a million times better.

Also, I said Antonini has basically settled into a level where he's not bad or not good either. He does a semi decent job at everything. He doesn't make mistakes like he used to which is good considering the other option is Mesbah

Definitely.

Give us a F'ing break!!!

Robinho, Pato, Montolivo and Abate... that's almost a half XI.

Abate is already fully recovered. The other 3 are a week-two away.

I dread to think this could again be the story of the season for us. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) Injured, recovered, week and months away, and all that. And honestly, I never thought it could get much worse than last year. In these first few weeks, it almost has. If this pathetic injury crisis carries on, I am not sure we'll be winning anything again for a long, long time.

It has to do with multiple things.


1) training regiments

2) Diet

3) Player's own decisions

4) schedule

5) stretching

6) proper warm up and cool down


and probably more.

But in our case it has to be one or two things more than the rest. I put my fingers on training regiments and inappropriate medical staff.

How can it be our medical department though. MilanLab is one of the world's most acknowledged and respected facilities in this matter. We are the only club that has been able to consistently prolong a players career until almost 40 years old.



I don't buy it, it has to do with allegri. Carlo and Leo never had injuries like this.