[Danny]

Let's face it, we suck. Pure and simple. It doesn't take 3D glasses to see how utterly terrible this Milan squad and team is, and sadly it's not even a CL contender.

Let's look at each position and judge it.

1: GK - ok we got Lopez. We finally have a decent keeper, it's one area we are now decent in.

2: Defence: fullbacks are good, actually good. Abate, MDS and Armero - it's not quite Zabaleta but then we're not quite Man City. It's still pretty good. CH is absolutely abominable though. There is no clear-cut 'best defender:

We have powerful and aerially dominant Mexes but who lets himself down by being a liability.
We have quick and dynamic Zapata whose concentration could be better.
We have composed and positionally decent Rami who isn't especially good in the air and isn't the strongest.
We have aerially decent Bonera who is good at last-ditch tackles and blocks but is slow and gets caught a lot.
And Alex who is hard to really judge at all.

Impossible to pick the best two or a best pair there.

3: Midfield: De Jong is glorious in DM but that's as good as midfield gets. Essien, Muntari, Cristante, Poli - none of these names excites and some downright terrify. Monto out till November but was absolutely terrible last season anyway.

3: Attacking midfield: Niang keeps showing little signs of improvement, Honda's mince, Menez we haven't a clue about and Saponara is mediocrity personified.

4: Forward: SES - destined to be Pato mark 2 IMO, Balotelli - destined to spunk his talent away with a stinking attitude. Pazzo tries but doesn't fit the Pippo system nor has he been in any sort of form for over a year.

Put this utter mess together and if we can scrape the EL qualifying slot in 6th place I'd be overjoyed. Napoli, Roma, Juve, Fiorentina, Inter and even Parma & Torino are all justifiably ahead of us and half of them are utterly rubbish too.

Pippo has his work cut out but it's abundantly clear his hands are tied and he isn't going to succeed. With that squad, how can he?

[han2503]

I personally think one quality CM and one quality RW will elevate us into the second tier in this league, i.e. behind Roma and Juve but on par with the likes of Napoli, Inter and Fiorentina (who will probably lose Quadrado).

Right now we have a mish mash of individually talented players that haven't really come together to form a proper team unit.

I think Mexes and Rami are probably our best pairing. Zapata is a big liability, we should sell him for some decent cash, especially if Juve want him, recoup some of that cash we gave them for Matri. Alex so far hasn't impressed me in pre-season he's such a slow lumbering player. Abate and DS imo are the best FB pairing in the league

Midfield is where our real issues are, with Monto out probably until December, if not more, only De Jong being good enough to be starting and Pippo seemingly unwilling to try out Honda there, the situation is dire, while our management and coach seem to be obsessed with finding a winger as a flashy signing that we can thank the Presidente for, they're completely ignoring the issue that will make or break our season, that midfield.

Attack I think is pretty good, provided SES and Balo are in good form and Menez or whoever we buy for that RW do well