[han2503]

Some crucial players will be back for this one. But our problems have now shifted to the attack. Since we lost Biglia and Bonaventura we have struggled to score regularly. As I said from the beginning, the double pivot of Kessie and Bakayoko won't work long term as there's not enough creativity and we're struggling to bring in the attacking players into the game

After the harrowing midweek venture against Olympiacos it has become even more imperative that we perform in these upcoming games/ We don't have EL to distract us anymore and key players are starting to return from their injuries. So we need to make sure we collect max points from tomorrow to the end of the year

[han2503]

I've been taking a big break from this club, because frankly the toxicity of the disgusting Bonucci and Higuain spells put me off completely.

When we got rid of those two, and brought in Piatek - I felt that was the difference and it made me pay attention again.

Most Milanistis doubted Piatek big time - I was one of the few who were actually excited.

And he's turning into the best striker in the league at the moment. A small club striker who can handle the Milan shirt on his back and become a big club striker.

It's good to see Rino get more out of this team, and fourth in the league and consistently so is impressive. We're a long way off the old Milan but there's more pride now.

Paqueta too is winning me over. Things seem to be building at a more believable level now.

Hi Danny, glad to see you around

I agree about the whole Bonucci and then Higuain situations. In December I honestly thought we wouldn't be able to recover from the demoralizing effect Higuain pushing his way out would create within the group, not to mention the injury crises we were carrying throughout the months of October, November and December and it was a recipe for a disaster end to the season.

But Higuain leaving actually had the opposite effect. It was clear that his negative attitude was effecting the rest of he team. Both him and Bonucci were brought in as players who were winners that can elevate the rest of te squad but their petulance at not always winning like they were at Juve had the opposite effect. Weak characters the both of them.

But the major positive from that entire Bonucci thing the summer previous to last when we bought him is that it lead to Caldara and Piatek in the end. And we'll be the better for it in a couple of years while Juve are showing clear signs of aging and slowing down imo. They might still be stumbling onto wins in the league but they have been terrible all season. Luck and some help from the refs make them look much better than they actually are

Suso was suspended. He doesn't have any physical issues.

Yes I know, but he's been terrible since December imo and I read that he was carrying some sort of physical issue. His consistency is terrible. Look at the game against Lazio, I don't remember him even making one positive action on the play. All his touches and dribbles were bad which lead to us losing possession

At this point I think Rino needs to bench him and play Castillejo who has been very impressive when he's played since the turn of the new year

I understand Rino wanting to give Suso his confidence, just like he did with Hakan which is seemingly paying off now, but even when Hakan was under-performing, he wasn't a liability to the team as Suso is as he still worked his @ss off in the game, and if he wasn't helping in the attack he was contributing to our defensive game. Suso when he's not on, he's a passenger. Against Lazio h probably played one of the worst games I've seen him play for us. It's time for him to sit, this is a point in our season where we cannot afford to carry dead-weight as we need to be practically perfect to stay in the CL positions as Roma keep winning games

Anyway, yeah, things are looking good at the moment. I won't say that we play some brilliant football, cos we don't, but we are looking like a team now. We're solid, the players show a lot of hunger and determination, and that is showing on the pitch. I still think we need a couple of upgrades in midfield and attack, but overall, we're on the right path.

Not finishing in the top 4 this year would be truly devastating.

We don't play brilliant football, but you can see a clear identity starting to form. If we had some more quality on the wings,a more dynamic LB and someone a more dynamic midfielder instead of Kessie, you would probably see the brilliant football we've been lacking for a while. But imo, this is the best football we've played in a long long time. It might not be super silky and tiki taka, but it's effective and at times pleasing to watch as well

I'm looking forward to see what players we bring in this summer. I definately think we need 1 or 2 wingers who are quick and skilfull, a creative mid who can play next to Bakayoko and Paqueta and probably a LB as well. Rodriguez is reliable and generally gives good performances, but imo we need someone who's quicker and better on the ball

True. The thing is we're playing consistently. We are not falling apart in matches. I remember in recent years, we would totally be murdered by some mid-table team. Just because of the lack of consistency.

Gattuso is building a team which is solid defensively, but is also clinical in scoring goals.

I agree that some improvements in quality might be needed, but in my opinion, what is important is to conserve the core of this team. We have a solid core of young players that have been playing together for a few years now. This is massively important imo.

Agreed

Gattuso deserves major props for what he's done with this group. He managed to keep the ship steady even during our worst moments in the season. We drew a few too many games in December during the peak of our injury crises but he still managed to gather a respectable amount of points that allowed us to still be in contention for 4th. He handled the Higuain situation and has integrated 2 new players into the squad seamlessly.

I know people are still very skeptical about him as a coach, and some still don't want to give him the chance because he's not the big name they want, but I think he deserves to be our coach next season imo and if he gets us CL football then that's a major achievement considering all the coaches before him who tried and failed

I'm also liking the new Kessie - the one he was for a while pre-season the summer of 2017. He's looking like that marauding titan mean midfield machine again.

I'm personally very on the fence about him, he can be great one moment and incredibly frustrating the next. I need to see improvements in his decision making, passing and finishing because right now, I feel that replacing him in the starting 11 with someone more dynamic/creative is a priority.

He makes great runs and his physique is a problem for most sides, but his passing decisions are generally bad and his decisions when he gets in front of goal which are to generally shoot and miss are even worse.He's got the attributes to be a great player imo, but the things I mentioned above need to improve greatly. If we're in the CL next season, I don't think he's good enough to be starting games in that competition if his performances remain as they are now

Man, it's a bit frustrating. They are getting lucky quite often. We are clearly not going to get this the easy way, we gotta get out there and earn it!

Yep, but they're not playing all that well, so potential for dropping points is always there even if they are getting lucky, plus Frosinone are the biggest donkey team in the league, so that was expected (can't believe we lost points there - biggest face palm moment of the season for us so far). Hopefully they go past Porto in the CL so they can have that to worry about as well.

Bland match but a clean sheet away in Rome regardless of their form is a good result to take home.

I thought Lazio were going to be missing more players, since the reports before the game was about the major injury crises they had, but they had all their major players on the pitch bar Luis Alberto - who later came on

I expected it to be tough, they were coming off 3 losses, they weren't just going to lay down for us and let us walk it at the Olympico. We better play better in the 2nd leg though, this is the best chance of silverware we've had in a while with Juve out

It is considering how we played.

Yes, we played badly, I was disappointed. But it's still impressive how we've built such an impenetrable defense, that even when we play badly we're still getting results due to our defensive play