[misha]

Luca Manes looks to the San Siro to cast a keen eye over the goalscoring issues at AC Milan...

Carlo Ancelotti should treat Super Pippo Inzaghi to dinner quite often.

Not only because his terrific performance in Athens – complete with two more-than-vital goals – secured him his second Champions League as AC Milan manager, but also because the former Juventus player is the only one of the Rossoneri's supposedly impressive striking force to be in a decent vein of form at the moment.
Gilardino, Ronaldo and Pato are all a different story, each providinga different degree of frustration.

Alberto Gilardino is arguably the worst of the bunch at present. No wonder Donadoni hasn’t picked him for the France and Ukraine Euro 2008 qualifying games: he’s fit to play but many Milan fans wish he was out due to an injury or, failing that, was  a mere fixture on the bench.

His poor performance in Genoa in Milan's league opener did not go down too well with the Milanisti, especially if you consider that last season Gilardino was often harshly criticized for his unconvincing standard of play. That was bad enough; to see that nothing had changed was worse.

Last Monday, during the Fiorentina game, the San Siro fanatics proved unusually hostile to poor Gilardino, who was booed as soon as he touched the ball. OK, he had yet another bad day at the office, but in this case he could be excused for lacking concentration. Let’s say he didn’t feel exactly at home at La Scala of football.

Ancelotti came to rescue. The Milan manager admitted that in the summer his number 11 urged the Milan executives to transfer list him, but he underlined that this was a hasty decision that Gilardino almost immediately retracted.

And the coach welcomed him back. “I need him and I’m sure he’ll help us to win in the future” he said, putting a metaphorical arm around Gilardino's shoulders.

Meanwhile in the Italian press, speculations surfaced about a possible swap between Milan and Inter, with the pair switching training camps. The Italian would go to la Pinetina and the Brazilian would show up at Milanello. A done deal, apparently.

In fact, it's surely more some sort of fantasy football. It looks like the relationship between the two Milan clubs are not as close as it used to be in the past, so I doubt very much such an occurrence might happen. But with Inter president Moratti you can never know, especially if Mancini convinces his to get rid of Adriano.

Right now Gilardino has to show he can play in a top flight team and that he’s worth the price tag Parma put on him when they sold him to Milan. That was quite a hefty one: almost 24 million euros. And he needs to repay it.

It’s not just a question of how many goals he can score – in fact, he hit the back of the net 17 times in 2005-06 but a mere 12 in 2006-07 – it’s a also question of when he manages to score, that being in important games. To put it simply, in two seasons at Milan he has scored only two goals in Champions League. That's a poor record which needs to be improved dramatically soon.

Ronaldo has got a totally different range of problems to deal with. He doesn’t need to prove he’s a superstar, a very skilful player who can shoot past a goalkeeper whenever he pleases. He is.

Well, at least he is whenever his tormented legs allow him to be on a football pitch. Unfortunately, over the years the phenomenon has grown synonymous of injury. So far he hasn’t played a single minute of any game of the new campaign. That’s got to be pretty annoying, even if you’re used to being on the sidelines.

There were rumors the Brazilian didn’t trust Milan medical staff – he thought they were not treating him properly – and so it should be hardly a surprise that he went to Belgium as he wanted to have a medical examination by illustrious Professor Martens.

It seems to have done the trick. For the next Serie A game at Siena ,Ronnie should be finally available, according to Martens. But he was supposed to be available for the European Super-Cup, too, and he wasn’t even on the bench…

If Ronaldo does recover over the coming week, that's a massive boost. And it could get better yet. There’s no doubt that, in January, Ancelotti will have more options thanks to Pato’s eligibility to play senior football in Europe.

Right now, due to age constraints, he can perform along his new team mates only in friendly games – he scored the other day in the 2-2 draw Milan snatched in Kiev against Dynamo

Once he can grace the San Siro pitch, we’ll see if Berlusconi & Galliani spent their money wisely. For sure, if Pato is a real cracker another Milan player will be feeling even more pressure. And I’m not talking about Ronaldo or Inzaghi…

True...

[Jack Sparrow]

And I’m not talking about Ronaldo or Inzaghi…

You guys have a point. Why the hell is he picking on Willy...I bet the summbitch hasn't even seen Willy play. (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/realmad.gif)