And that's a big problem for a striker, even for a winger.

Yeah, I was going to add that as well, but I thought it sort of came directly with the punch line

Must be the only one watching this!

Diabolical pitch and our defence is predictably terrible but the attack isn't actually too bad and Niang scored one while Balo scored with a 25 yard screamer.

We look...a tiny bit better...and our opponents Chivas just want to assault us all the time.

Half time 2-0.

Started watching the game earlier as well, but I fell asleep (after not getting more than 3 hours the night prior)

Anyway... I woke up just in time to realize that I missed the entire game! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

After checking to see the score at FT: 3-0 Milan (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devilsmiley.gif)

Here are some decent Highlights I came across showing each of the goals & a bit more...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmMkb3K_jnE

Please tell me this Alex, Mexes thing looks like it can last a season. Our CB pairing really worries me, and I'm not certain if Pippo is a coach who can fix it.

Predictably the attack seems to be gelling a lot faster than the defence.

I think Rami and Mexes are still our best pairing. Alex is a good back up but I don't think he should be a regular starter.

At least we managed to keep a clean sheet against a decent team.

I only watched the highlights but the build-up on the 2 goals from open play looked good

My assumption was that we have two centre backs who are athletic but prone to brain farts. So why not have complementary centre backs. It's standard practise everywhere.

Yeah this was a hard watch , have not seen a worse pitch in a while...

Our attack was very fast which was a nice change.

We don't have a best pairing.

If we start with Abate & MDS it makes our defence so much better, but we just don't seem to have a partnership in the middle we can trust.

No because the last 2 coaches we had thought it was fun to continuously rotate the back 4 as if it was a sport in and of itself.

But it's a fact backed by stats that our best runs in the last 2 seasons in terms of clean sheets/least amount of goals conceded came when we played the Mexes/Zapata pairing for an extended run under Allegri (best defence in the league in the second half of the season under Allegri) and when we played Mexes/Rami for an extended period under Seedorf last season.

I know you don't like him much, but the common denominator is Mexes in our best defensive runs since we lost Silva and Nesta.

I do think Mexes, Alex AND Rami are all very similar which is a bit of a problem, but they can adapt to playing each other just like Mexes and Rami were doing last season. Because quite frankly I don't trust Zapata all that much and Bonera should be kept very far away from the centre of defence.

Current one is doing the same so far.

I agree that all our CBs are average to decent at best. We don't have someone who stands out, someone who can lead the defense. But I also agree with Han that Rami and Mexes is the best pairing we can field.

As of now we can't really come to that conclusion as Pippo is mostly testing things out and we're still in pre-season, but I'm hoping that this merry-go-round in defence stops once the season starts

My worry is in midfield. Are we really gonna play Muntari as starter on the left? Obviously De Jong and Poli are more than fine, but we need someone who's good on the ball in that midfield trio, someone who can circulate possession and make that final pass happen. In other words, someone with quality. With Monto injured (not that Monto excels in any of those aspects anyway), we either play Honda or sign someone else instead. Playing with either Muntari or Essien, or even Cristante is out of the question. Hopefully Pippo understands this.