[Danny]

Spending 250M Euros is nothing in football any more. When only five years ago spending such sums would be considered fantasy football, now it’s a pretty modest amount of money.

The fact the world had a giggle over Neymar costing what he did rather than being absolutely outraged was a result of it not being bothered by Ronaldo, Kaka, Bale, Suarez, Pogba etc etc.

The harsh reality is it’s not how much you spend, it’s what on. If Everton can chuck near 200M on players, that gives some idea how unimportant the sums really are now. It’s what you get for your buck, that’s what matters.

So when Milan spent around 250M, it was by no means a guarantee of success. What the money was spent on mattered more, and if we look at the first three matches in Serie A that this team has produced, it looks like a complete waste of cash and a squad in the same place it was last season.

Of course, there’s more to it. Montella’s tactics this season have been an absolute comedy, as have many of his selections. Picking the likes of Calabria, Montolivo, Borini and shoving them in an ill-fitting system has been the tactical nous of an amateur.

From praise last season that he was getting the most out of limited resources, he is now managing to reduce Milan’s spending to something well below what we thought it got us.

Milan are playing more or less exactly the same as last season. But why? If we look beyond Montella’s increasingly erratic, unconvincing and poor management, why are the players struggling so badly?

Why has Kessie gone from a monster to out of sorts? Why does Bonucci look so damn awful? And have you ever seen Jack look as plain p*ssed off as he did yesterday? Why are players arguing with each other? Why is no one talking to each other?

There is a weird problem at Milan, and it centres around three players, in my humble opinion:

Donnarumma, Romagnoli and Bonucci.

Donna lost the support of fans with his summer transgressions – the ugliness over the whole thing has still not entirely gone, especially as he got his useless brother a cushy gig based on nothing more than ‘who you know’. He has actually played ok this season at times, with a few very smart saves – but the summer behaviour has left a lingering aftertaste.

Then there’s the bigger issue – BonRom I’ll call it. I am going to state this now – Bonucci was a mistake of a signing. Milan had already established our defensive pairing. It was Musacchio and Romagnoli. I wasn’t hugely fond of it but was ready to give it a chance.

Then we signed Bonucci. That changed everything. Romagnoli is now a benchwarmer despite being our best defender and the Bonucci issue is starting to affect the whole team. Our captain doesn’t lead, he doesn’t communicate, and he has displaced our best defender onto the bench.

Musacchio could be benched? Yes. But then, why sign him? This is the dichotomy the signing of Bonucci has caused. We won’t give our team the three at the back, and with the two one of our defenders has to be ditched. And it’s Romagnoli who on no level deserves to be. It can’t be Musacchio because he’s a new signing and didn’t come here to be benched.

It’s a mess, and it’s completely ruined the potential of a defence which looked like it was on the right track. We were so excited by Bonucci but it’s upset us.

It’s not the only issue but it’s a major one.

Up front is another – why sign Kalinic and Silva to leave them benched? As much as I don’t hate Borini, I concede he offers little beyond running. Well, that’s really not enough.

And midfield is just producing nothing – Kessie has gone from a colossal mid to a meek mess. Montolivo shouldn’t be there. And Biglia looks absolutely passive.

It comes back to the formation, the manager, the defence, and the selections.

There is also that inescapable feeling that our new players actually aren’t that good. Our most impressive two players this season have been Suso and Cutrone – none of the new lads have consistently impressed – whether that’s the system I’m not sure, but is it the system which stops a professional footballer being able to pass to a team mate?

I’ll be honest – the only signing we made I actually knew was Bonucci. I’d never heard of Conti, Kessie, Silva, Kalinic, Rodriguez, Biglia or Calhanoglu. Maybe that’s my inferior football knowledge at play, or maybe it’s that we saw shiny foreign names and assumed they had to be better than what we have. Maybe both. All the criticism from Sheva now seems to have some merit.

Maybe this all needs time to settle. Maybe. Or maybe it’s another false dawn, bad signings, poor management and another season of mid table mediocrity.

Milan didn’t fail our first real test v Lazio, we failed it against Cagliari. Fifth bottom team with 11 men outplayed us and deserved to win.

Against Lazio we were decimated by a team that was fitter, sharper, leaner, quicker, and better organised. And yet they will likely finish around 6th or 7th.

This is all incredibly poor and whether a change in manager will fix it I don’t know. But right now it’s new players, new owners, new staff:

same old Milan.

[d'Arc.LP]

Spending 250M Euros is nothing in football any more. When only five years ago spending such sums would be considered fantasy football, now it’s a pretty modest amount of money.

The fact the world had a giggle over Neymar costing what he did rather than being absolutely outraged was a result of it not being bothered by Ronaldo, Kaka, Bale, Suarez, Pogba etc etc.

The harsh reality is it’s not how much you spend, it’s what on. If Everton can chuck near 200M on players, that gives some idea how unimportant the sums really are now. It’s what you get for your buck, that’s what matters.

I though we all had a concensus that there a difference between leagues when it comes to spending and the quality of players/transfer fees. You can't compare Everton's transfer window to Milan's. It doesn't matter how much they spend, they are able to do so cos of so many external factors. I would only compare our transfer window to Serie A teams and I am sure Milan did best. We also know why we werent able to attract players like Moratta, we are still out of CHL and that is none of new menagament's fault. So, instead of saying that Milan spent nothing, I'd rather say that we spent most in Serie A, got the best players and got rid of trash players like Niang, Bacca and co.

So when Milan spent around 250M, it was by no means a guarantee of success. What the money was spent on mattered more, and if we look at the first three matches in Serie A that this team has produced, it looks like a complete waste of cash and a squad in the same place it was last season.

This is true, even 1bln doesnt guarantee success, cos there are planty of other factors to take into consideration - like i will mention later, that is why you dont get to judge a team that made 11 transfers in one transfer window. There is a complete difference between on what we spent and on how the team is looking currently. Fassone can't look in the future, he can bring a great player, but he can't know for sure that a certain player will succeed or not. It's a matter of investment/risk, so in most of the transfers the risk is worth for the summ.

Of course, there’s more to it. Montella’s tactics this season have been an absolute comedy, as have many of his selections. Picking the likes of Calabria, Montolivo, Borini and shoving them in an ill-fitting system has been the tactical nous of an amateur.

From praise last season that he was getting the most out of limited resources, he is now managing to reduce Milan’s spending to something well below what we thought it got us.

I agree 100% with this assesment. To hell, I had this opinion about his system even when most of the friends here said I was wrong to ask for a 3man defense.

Milan are playing more or less exactly the same as last season. But why? If we look beyond Montella’s increasingly erratic, unconvincing and poor management, why are the players struggling so badly?

Why has Kessie gone from a monster to out of sorts? Why does Bonucci look so damn awful? And have you ever seen Jack look as plain p*ssed off as he did yesterday? Why are players arguing with each other? Why is no one talking to each other?

Hmmm I agree partially, we are playing the same cos of Montella is insisting in his old system yet we are playing the way we are playing also cos we have 7-8 new players in the starting formation. I dont think players are arguining in general, it just happened 1 time and it's not strange for that to happen when u are down 4 to Lazio. Dont make it seem like the general rule is that the team is arguing and not talking to each other.

There is a weird problem at Milan, and it centres around three players, in my humble opinion:

Donnarumma, Romagnoli and Bonucci.

Donna lost the support of fans with his summer transgressions – the ugliness over the whole thing has still not entirely gone, especially as he got his useless brother a cushy gig based on nothing more than ‘who you know’. He has actually played ok this season at times, with a few very smart saves – but the summer behaviour has left a lingering aftertaste.

Then there’s the bigger issue – BonRom I’ll call it. I am going to state this now – Bonucci was a mistake of a signing. Milan had already established our defensive pairing. It was Musacchio and Romagnoli. I wasn’t hugely fond of it but was ready to give it a chance.

Then we signed Bonucci. That changed everything. Romagnoli is now a benchwarmer despite being our best defender and the Bonucci issue is starting to affect the whole team. Our captain doesn’t lead, he doesn’t communicate, and he has displaced our best defender onto the bench.

Musacchio could be benched? Yes. But then, why sign him? This is the dichotomy the signing of Bonucci has caused. We won’t give our team the three at the back, and with the two one of our defenders has to be ditched. And it’s Romagnoli who on no level deserves to be. It can’t be Musacchio because he’s a new signing and didn’t come here to be benched.

It’s a mess, and it’s completely ruined the potential of a defence which looked like it was on the right track. We were so excited by Bonucci but it’s upset us.

It’s not the only issue but it’s a major one.

As for Donna, we all know what happened, but as soon as he renewed, he was recieved with a warm heart at San Siro in the 1st game, you cant really deny that. And the fact is he is performing better than he was performing in the ending part of the last season ergo the situation created with the renewal didnt really influence his performance in the pitch this season, at least not for bad. So there is no issue here.

LOL, Bonnuci a mistake. So, from the best signing he now goes to a mistake kind of signing, ok. So when you are saying that Bonucci not only wasnt necessary, he was a mistake too. Well I dont know if you know but the plan was for Paletta and Zapata to get sold, so do you really honestly think that Gomez and Vergara could actually replace Romagnoli or Musacchio if - no ifs there, Romagnoli is quite often injured, replace one of them ?! Interesting. Now imagine if we actually played 3-5-2 and we all knew that could happen even since we got Conti and Rodriguez and got rid of the wingers cos they play as wingers not fullbacks, we would have a defence of Musacchio - Gomez - Romagnoli. Better than the one with Bonucci in it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Romagnoli is not our best defender, I would argue that even Musacchio is better than him, he isnt in bench cos of Bonucci, he is in bench cos he was injured, not 100% ready and cos Montella doesnt have the balls to play 3 man defense.

You can only talk about yourself buddy, I still believe in Bonucci and that he will lead this team, this defence and will help Romagnoli grow. But as I said, we need time to prove you wrong cos you will judge even the best players by only 1 game.

If anything Bonucci will change things for the best, but I can't argue with you cos you like to judge players, even best ones by 1 game only, while I think time will make you repent and withdraw your words.

Up front is another – why sign Kalinic and Silva to leave them benched? As much as I don’t hate Borini, I concede he offers little beyond running. Well, that’s really not enough.

And midfield is just producing nothing – Kessie has gone from a colossal mid to a meek mess. Montolivo shouldn’t be there. And Biglia looks absolutely passive.

It comes back to the formation, the manager, the defence, and the selections.

The problem is not why we signed Kalinic and Silva, the problem was why Montella benches them.

This was Biglias 1st game with Montolivo as his partner, that is enough of a reason if you thought he wasnt that good. Yet everyone saw that he is a decent improvement to our old midfield. Well not everyone, not you.

It all comes back to the formation, manager and the selections. True.