[Jack Sparrow]

^^

True. The good news is that Montella has noticed it and pointed it out in the post game speech. These things aren't as easy to get rid of. Esp. mentality issues.

[Forza Milan!]

^^

True. The good news is that Montella has noticed it and pointed it out in the post game speech. These things aren't as easy to get rid of. Esp. mentality issues.

Yeah, I think Montella deserves credit for acknowledging that we have problems, which is not what his predecessors would have done. In fairness to him, there are mentality issues (that will take time to heal) and we have no midfield to speak of. I see posts blaming Montella for not emulating Miha's strategy and posts complaining about his settling for a draw towards the end of the game. I don't completely disagree, but I appreciate the fact that Montella is at least trying to play a more attractive style (it's what I liked about Seedorf), and given what we currently have at midfield I cannot blame him for "circling the wagons" towards the end.

[X-Offender]

We are at home. We should be less timid. I think at this stage, the team starts off looking to make sure the defence is on point and then gradually looks to be more expansive. However, we don't seem to have the true leaders in midfield and defence that mean we can take on sustained pressure and defend comfortably.

But one point I seem to notice is that Locatelli coming on significantly improves Montolivo's play. Do you guys who saw the match think Locatelli has done enough to start? Because it looks like Niang had a stinker and I think if we played:

De Sciglio---Romagnoli---Paletta---Calabria
----Montolivo----Locatelli----Sosa-----------
Suso-----------Bacca------------Bonaventura

We would have a very well balanced side with some attacking guile. Admittedly left flank is a bit weak defensively, and Calabria and Sosa have never played on the same side.

Btw, was Honda not even on the bench in the last game?

Calabria plays on the right, Jack.

Honestly, it is not so provincial. He added balance to the team, and he removed someone who wasn't performing well at all. (aka Niang)

Antonelli for Bona wasn't provincial? I disagree. In the end, our only two attacking players were Bacca/Adriano and Suso. May I remind you that we were playing with a 4-man midfield comprised of Locatelli, Kucka, Montolivo and Antonelli? Even Bologna have a better midfield.

[Forza Milan!]

Antonelli for Bona wasn't provincial? I disagree. In the end, our only two attacking players were Bacca/Adriano and Suso. May I remind you that we were playing with a 4-man midfield comprised of Locatelli, Kucka, Montolivo and Antonelli? Even Bologna have a better midfield.

It is not as if we have that great options in midfield, especially when it comes time to "cover" the defense. Yeah, I would prefer to see us fight until the end, but I am not overly unhappy with what was done.

[X-Offender]

It is not as if we have that great options in midfield, especially when it comes time to "cover" the defense. Yeah, I would prefer to see us fight until the end, but I am not overly unhappy with what was done.

Sosa? Pasalic? What did we sign them for? Hell, even Poli or Honda would do. Playing the likes of Locatelli and Antonelli is unacceptable. Locatelli should be playing for the Primavera, he doesn't have what it takes to take the reigns of our shitty midfield. And Antonelli is a frigging leftback, not a winger.

[han2503]

Berardi or not, Sassuolo is a must-win game. I hope the team will display a different approach.

We need to take all that we can get at this point. And them missing Berardi is a big positive for us as we usually struggle to defend against him.

I agree about the different approach comment, we're playing at home so I expect that we won't display the kind of cowardly attitude we showed in Florence.

That being said, losing points here won't be a major catastrophe. Sassuolo are a very tricky opponent to play against and they've sort of been a bit of a soar spot for us over the last few years as we've struggled against them in recent history.

As I said, we were never going to get maximum points from the 4 fixtures that we had coming up, we now have Fiorentina away from home out of the way and we got a point off of that, and could have even stolen all 3 had luck smiled on us twice. I'd say the Chievo game is more must-win, a draw against Sassuolo won't be the end of the world, but obviously winning would put us in a great position going into the Chievo match having to face Juve after that

We are at home. We should be less timid. I think at this stage, the team starts off looking to make sure the defence is on point and then gradually looks to be more expansive. However, we don't seem to have the true leaders in midfield and defence that mean we can take on sustained pressure and defend comfortably.

But one point I seem to notice is that Locatelli coming on significantly improves Montolivo's play. Do you guys who saw the match think Locatelli has done enough to start? Because it looks like Niang had a stinker and I think if we played:

De Sciglio---Romagnoli---Paletta---Calabria
----Montolivo----Locatelli----Sosa-----------
Suso-----------Bacca------------Bonaventura

We would have a very well balanced side with some attacking guile. Admittedly left flank is a bit weak defensively, and Calabria and Sosa have never played on the same side.

Btw, was Honda not even on the bench in the last game?

Nah Jack, definitely wouldn't start with Locatelli or make him a regular. Monto does better when Locatelli comes on because his position is shifted and he's no longer being given the responsibilities of the regista/orchestrator in the middle of the pitch.

I actually like the formation you posted, I'd just play Kucka instead of Locatelli and have him play a more old fashioned DM role, giving Monto and Sosa more freedom to attack and create. This system of having to rely on a sole player to dictate our game simply won't work for us as we don't have anyone good enough to do that or has the personality to carry the team forward

Also, switch DS and Calabria ;)

Yeah, although you guys seem to think that the changes Montella made were provencial. I think after the changes we showed a more balanced performance.

I think we are still lacking something in the midfield, as we leave a lot of space in the middle. Fiorentina exploited that well yesterday. It is also important to note that De Sciglio was terrible yesterday. I have no idea why he is defending so deep. He let in crosses by the dozen..

Overall, I think it is impressive that we still didn't conceed any goal in three matches. Yes, if you look at the games, you will see that we got lucky on more than one occasion. Though, I think it's a good indicator.

The formation that you put seems good Jack. I think Montella will try it soon. Locatelli hasn't "wow'ed" me, but he certainly is putting an okay performance till now.

I think removing Bona to put on Antonelli was the biggest example of provincial we've seen in a while. I understand going for a more compact system. But that could have been done without totally killing our left flank, which is what happened once Antonelli came on as he struggled to get into the game from that position and looked completely awkward playing so high up when the only thing he could do was put in wayward crosses.

And to take off Bona when he was finally coming into the game and creating dangerous situations imo was also a big mistake as he took all the spark that we'd managed to build from our game once Bona came off

Honestly, it is not so provincial. He added balance to the team, and he removed someone who wasn't performing well at all. (aka Niang)

By the way, it seems that our matches are unfolding in the same manner lately. We start slow in the first half, and by a miracle..we don't conceed. Then, usually in the second half, we get much better chances. The difference today was that Bacca wasn't as deadly as usual.

I didn't disagree with the Niang sub, he needed to come off, and I didn't disagree with putting in a CM instead either as Bona can easily shift to that position while still helping out the midfield when needed. In fact, we started to really get into the game once that change was made, what I think was a provincial move was bringing on Antonelli to replace Bona. At least bring in Sosa or heck even Poli or Honda who would have been fresh and still able to help out in the defensive phase while giving us something different in attack

Yeah, I think Montella deserves credit for acknowledging that we have problems, which is not what his predecessors would have done. In fairness to him, there are mentality issues (that will take time to heal) and we have no midfield to speak of. I see posts blaming Montella for not emulating Miha's strategy and posts complaining about his settling for a draw towards the end of the game. I don't completely disagree, but I appreciate the fact that Montella is at least trying to play a more attractive style (it's what I liked about Seedorf), and given what we currently have at midfield I cannot blame him for "circling the wagons" towards the end.

Like I said, I don't disagree with him going for a more balanced/compact system to retain what we had, but that Bona for Antonelli move totally killed our attacking game. It was just a very negative move. I'm not saying he should have pushed in Lapadula and Adriano along with Bacca while taking off Kucka and Monto. I'm just saying he could have still gone for a more compact system while still maintaining the effectiveness in our attacking game

[William405]

Yeah, honestly, I wasn't a big fan of the Antonelli change too. But, it is a small detail..I think.

[han2503]

Yeah, honestly, I wasn't a big fan of the Antonelli change too. But, it is a small detail..I think.

For me it's the biggest negative from the game because with that move we simply showed all our cards. We were ready to settle for a draw and were happy with it