[Zed.D]

Calcio Debate: Is Gilardino Good Enough For Milan?


Following Milan’s disappointing 2-1 defeat at Atalanta last night – Carlo Garganese highlights the individual performance of Alberto Gilardino and asks whether the player is good enough to play for the Rossoneri…


Anyone who watched the game in Bergamo last night will tell you that Alberto Gilardino was not the only Milan player to disappoint. Daniele Bonera and Alessandro Nesta had rings run round them by Antonio Langella, Kakha Kaladze made a disastrous error that resulted in Atalanta’s winner, Giuseppe Favalli was awful as usual, while Alexandre Pato looked like a school-kid and missed a glorious one-on-one.


Gilardino has been under-fire for quite some now and it has become increasingly obvious for the past two years now that the striker is just simply not good enough for a club of the stature of Milan.


This does not mean that Gilardino is a bad player – he proved at Parma when he scored 23 times in consecutive Serie A seasons that at smaller and mid-table teams (even those fighting for UEFA Cup qualification) he can be a superbly useful player.


The biggest problem of all is that Gila just does not have the technical ability required to play for one of Europe’s giants, more so a team like Milan who base their game on these qualities.


The 25-year-old has no skill, he cannot create an opportunity for himself and in simple terms he is what in England is called a “lumbering centre forward”. Filippo Inzaghi has none of these attributes either, but what he does have, or did in his prime, is brilliant striker intelligence.


This is not the case for Gilardino. His movement is abysmal, in fact he is almost always static. His anticipation is poor, and so are his reactions. In order to be a penalty-box striker, these things are vital and this explains why Inzaghi is the most prolific goalscorer in the history of European competition.


We often hear arguments from Gilardino-supporters of how he scored 17 goals in Serie A in his first season at Milan, that he hit 12 last campaign, and that he has six to his name this year.


However, how many of these goals were against the top teams?


Well I will tell you.


In 2005/06, of Gilardino’s 17 goals, none were scored against the Big Four. Gila failed to hit the back of the net in both games against Juve, Inter and Roma. All of his strikes were against mid-table and relegation-threatened opposition such as Treviso, Reggina, Messina and Cagliari.


In 2006/07 he scored just twice in six games against the three other teams in the Champions League places (Inter, Roma and Lazio). And one of these, against Inter, came when Milan were already being thumped 4-1 by their city rivals and had nothing to play for but pride.


Finally this season Gila has failed to hit the back of the net against any of the big teams; Inter, Roma and Juve.


His record in the Champions League is even worse. In 2005/06 he failed to hit the back of the net in 10 games as Milan reached the semi-final. He scored just twice in 11 matches last year, while there has been a very slight improvement this term with two strikes in the group stages.


What this surely tells us is that Gilardino, when faced by stronger opposition and better defenders, is simply not up to the task.


When he plays against smaller Serie A sides he can hold his own, and it is against these teams that he accumulates all of his goals. However against top-class and world-class players it just doesn’t look like the 25-year-old has the ability.


Quite why Milan continue to insist that Gilardino is the right player for them I simply don’t understand.


Carlo Garganese

[vnata001]

im tired of people defending this guy. ive heard all there is to hear about him - he's a poacher. he needs a partner. he needs service. blah, blah. Has Gila ever scored a goal for milan from outside the penalty box? the bottom line is gilardino needs to be served the ball on a silver platter to score goals. Ocassionally hell turn in a beautifully flicked header, but thats maybe 1 out of 10 times.

- He is not a supporting striker..'hes more like pippo'. Gilardino has not shown HALF the intelligence pippo has. Gila has average size, average speed, and less heart than pippo. Pippo is Europes all time leading scorer. Gilardino does not have the qualities to achieve that stature..When Pippo leads the line, he may not create pathways for himself to goal, but he makes intelligent runs..plays the offside line..creates problems for defenders..wins fouls for us. GILA ALWAYS GETS THE BALL CAUGHT UNDER HIS FEET, gets bumped lightly, falls down, and hold his leg. Do you realize how many times a game that happens?

- Sure, Gila may have scored a few more goals when ronnie showed up next to him, and sheva partnered him before..but wouldn't a VAST majority of halfway decent strikers? picture a rocchi, boriello, bianchi type player where Gila is..they would score just as much as he has.

- Bottom line for me is look at the alternatives. Sure Gila plays better with a support striker. Has anyone seen Benzema play? He has the qualities a center forward needs and OFTEN leads the line for Lyon alone, with no supporting striker. Now if you had a choice: Gila next to ronaldo/pato or Benzema next to Ronaldo/Pato. Is there any question?

There are better players out there than Gila. Sure Gila shows promise with some nice goals occassionally that fool us into thinking hes turning it around..but usually he always just follows it up with more bad performances, only to restart the cycle, score..and trick us all again into defending him before he F***s up some other great opportunity..an inconsistent player like this would not be given this long an opportunity at any other top club..louis saha at united is better than gila, and even he barely plays..i say he has overstayed his welcome. There are strikers out there that would come into our team and IMMEDIATELY outperform Gila. Pato is one example. Now lets sign another and not worry about this halfway decent player.

sorry, but thats my take.

[kurtsimonw]

Has Gila ever scored a goal for milan from outside the penalty box? the bottom line is gilardino needs to be served the ball on a silver platter to score goals.

In my opinion, Ruud van Nistelrooy is the best striker in the World in the last 5 or so years. He can't create goals for himself and very rarely scores from outside the box (Only 1 goal of his 150+ was outside the box for MU). Does this make him a bad player? No.

But yes, he does need a partner. You can't just say that it's an 'excuse', it's not. That's the type of player he is. That's like saying Kaka' is a midfielder, so why don't we play him at DM and see how he does? Everybody has their certain attributes and need a certain system to play in. As proven by Gila and Sheva in recent years. From top players, to bad players, all because they play in the wrong system.

[vnata001]

In my opinion, Ruud van Nistelrooy is the best striker in the World in the last 5 or so years. He can't create goals for himself and very rarely scores from outside the box (Only 1 goal of his 150+ was outside the box for MU). Does this make him a bad player? No.

But yes, he does need a partner. You can't just say that it's an 'excuse', it's not. That's the type of player he is. That's like saying Kaka' is a midfielder, so why don't we play him at DM and see how he does? Everybody has their certain attributes and need a certain system to play in. As proven by Gila and Sheva in recent years. From top players, to bad players, all because they play in the wrong system.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ltLPzu8wBwI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6U07IO-WFCc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RNBBYHB1mLM&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6ywUAAzK9pU

he definitely scores from outside the box. and he definitely sets himself up for goals, if not be taking defenders on by making the perfect passes and getting him in positions for his finishing attempts. ruud and gila should not be compared nor mentioned in the same sentence after this one.

...and its not an excuse..its a statement of fact. i agree with that. he sucks unless he has a strike partner..and even when he does i dont think he scores as much as someone else would while playing in his position. He doesnt have the strength, power, and presence on the ball to be a center forward at a big club. a better player would not only take more of the chances..he could make himself useful and create for others too..AND kaka is an attacker not a defender so of course it wouldnt make sense. GILA is an attacker too, its not like were asking him to play center back next to nesta. were playing him in attack where hes supposed to play..any reason for why he can't handle the role is an excuse, cuz he should..do you honestly in your heart believe the good center forwards at other big clubs would suck this badly if they came to milan? (we do this too much) but do you think didier, ruud, even amari would come onto the team and forget how control a ball?..do you think our management bought gila to come in and play well only when he has a partner to do everything for him? or did we buy him with the hopes he would turn into a ruthless finisher and stand on his own as trezeguet and countless other poachers have..hes been given AMPLE opportunity to show his worth..and hes showing impotence. him being played out of position? hes a striker isnt he?

[vnata001]

it bares saying that the frustration you may sense in my tone when reading my post is in no way directed towards you kurt, its definitely all for gilardino..sadly

- and if a player doesnt fit into the system that AC Milan plays..then why should AC Milan change their system for him, especially when he hasnt proven much worth? When we buy players, we don't buy players that fit into certain systems and not others. We buy players that we think will produce..and the players in reality have two paths - produce or not produce. gila has done the latter. We gladly shipped off Amoroso, Boriello, and oliviera and we BARELY gave them a chance. Yet after watching him play this long and not find any HINT of consistent form..we should weigh our options. Sure we could wait and pray for him..or we could realize not every purchase is an amazing one..and make up for it by making a purchase that will count. we gave up on rico after splurging close to 17 mil for him. im missing the logic or reason behind keeping him around this long..if he turns it up and earns his spot then by all means its his and i will cheer for him..but he hasnt earned anything..and i think its fair to say hes been given a lot of time to show it.

[kurtsimonw]

- and if a player doesnt fit into the system that AC Milan plays..then why should AC Milan change their system for him, especially when he hasnt proven much worth?

I agree with this bit.

Gila had a fantastic first season in Milan. But with the departure of Sheva, Milan changed it's system to accomodate him leaving.

Gila no longer fits into the system and therefore should be sold.