[Danny]

It's difficult to know where to begin.

I know we have not dominated Serie A in the past decade, but we always had a team which was there or there abouts in the top 3 or better. Many second place finishes, a couple of Scudettos, and 2 CL finals including one victory.

It may not have been Sacchi's Milan, but it was respected and feared and had taken out Man Utd more than once.

Legends like Kaka, Shevchenko, Nesta, Maldini, Dida, Cafu, Seedorf - integral parts over the years of making Milan great. Maybe not a total European dominating powerhouse, but great.

Now look at us.

A summer of selling off the prized assets following previous summers of similar behaviour, and we're left with a squad which isn't even an average quality Serie A squad.

Our best player, in the right circumstances, is Kevin Prince Boateng - but with this makeshift squad around him he's lost. Pato's as fragile as glass and hopes are low he can ever achieve a sustained run - but that's the best we've got.

Midfield is chock a block full of average players - the generally decent Montolivo has clearly caught 'Milanitis' and he too was woeful on his debut. Just like the rest of the team.

But the issue is not that these players are underperforming - THIS is the quality of the squad. You get what you pay for, and we got Monto for free. There's Zapata, ignored, there's Pazzini, barely used, there's Constant - why was he brought on?

We have a decent Dutchman in Emanuelson but he is no Seedorf and never will be.

We're left with poor to average to decent as the whole squad - and the manager has no idea what to do with them.

Yepes was our best performer yesterday - that gives some idea of where this team is.

Unless the chequebook is brought out between now and the 31st, and we buy at least 6 high quality players, this team will crash and burn into utter oblivion.

Morale is on the floor, and I am almost fearing we might end up in a relegation battle this year.

Sorry for the rambling nature of this, articulating one's thoughts is not easy.

[Milan Are Brilli...]

Morale is on the floor, and I am almost fearing we might end up in a relegation battle this year.

That's the worst case scenario, though at the same time I don't think we will end up much higher than mid-table with this current squad and the way it's working together.

[Danny]

That's the worst case scenario, though at the same time I don't think we will end up much higher than mid-table with this current squad and the way it's working together.

I originally predicted 5th place. I am now optimistically hoping for 7th. If we get top 6 I'll take that.

[Fillipo Simone]

One match is not enough for me to buy into this "disaster scenario".

But just one reminder:

Then / Now
#2 Cafu / De Sciglio
#4 Bommel / Muntari
#7 Shevchenko / Robinho
#8 Gattuso / Nocerino
#10 Seedorf / Boateng
#11 Ibrahimović / Pazzini
#13 Nesta /Acerbi
#21 Pirlo / Constant

[Danny]

Is that agreement or disagreement Fillipo?

[amancik]

I think the management made it clear that this is the start of a new era. There's no point of getting our hopes up because obviously we won't be competitive this season.

[Fillipo Simone]

Is that agreement or disagreement Fillipo?

Resentment, depression and melancholy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Rossoneri7]

I think the management made it clear that this is the start of a new era. There's no point of getting our hopes up because obviously we won't be competitive this season.

This I have to agree with. There is a lot of resentment around and I don't blame anyone one bit.

Sometimes, in the back of my head, I believe that come August 31st and we will have a competitive team again. And that would probably coincide with the belief of every Milan fan. As if it is impossible to have a team of such poor quality, as we do now.

Then again, we have posts like yours that keep our feet on the ground and accepting an inevitable, hoping only for a more competitive Milan in two or three seasons down the line when this new era you talk about starts to gel and become a team of its own.


That said, and with Fillipo's post on the 'Then/Now' ... Looking at this team, after the marvels that played in this stadium, almost like watching Siena vs Messina nowadays (IMG:style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif)

[Danny]

I think the management made it clear that this is the start of a new era. There's no point of getting our hopes up because obviously we won't be competitive this season.

No, they made it clear they wanted to reduce the wage bill.

Can you show me evidence where they say they're 'building for the future' as is the current buzzphrase to defend the dire situation we're in.

[Danny]

Resentment, depression and melancholy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) then I agree wholeheartedly with it.

[amancik]

No, they made it clear they wanted to reduce the wage bill.

Can you show me evidence where they say they're 'building for the future' as is the current buzzphrase to defend the dire situation we're in.

Perhaps if you're looking for evidence right from Galliani's mouth then you should know better that sometimes you can't really believe in what he says or said. God knows what's going on in his mind, but I only judge him by his actions not his words. His actions suggest that our previous project with many champions can no longer co-exist with the current economic situation. So how to remedy the situation?

The first obvious thing to do is try to cut the wages which the management tried to do with many of our players and which started the whole mess to begin with. Since these players are people, normal people rarely accept wage-cuts so they go elsewhere where they can find better wages rather than accepting wage-cuts. I mean I would do it, wouldn't you?

Which brings to the second thing to do is selling. Like it or not, the only way to finance our operations, liabilities etc ... is if we have enough money. Since we didn't, we had to sell our prized-possessions.

So the management may not have exactly said that we're building for the future. I'm pretty sure the management does not want to see Milan fall far from grace but what else can they do in this situation? Sometimes you have to cut an arm to save the body, or sometimes downward is the only forward. We may accuse the management by being stingy or cheap, but refusing to accept Kaka's fee of what; 10 or 15 million, is not what we call cheap. It is what we call financial crisis.

All I am saying is that, we have to stick together and endure these difficult times.

This post has been edited by amancik: Aug 28 2012, 12:53 PM

[Rossoneri7]

Perhaps if you're looking for evidence right from Galliani's mouth then you should know better that sometimes you can't really believe in what he says or said. God knows what's going on in his mind, but I only judge him by his actions not his words. His actions suggest that our previous project with many champions can no longer co-exist with the current economic situation. So how to remedy the situation?

The first obvious thing to do is try to cut the wages which the management tried to do with many of our players and which started the whole mess to begin with. Since these players are people, normal people rarely accept wage-cuts so they go elsewhere where they can find better wages rather than accepting wage-cuts. I mean I would do it, wouldn't you?

Which brings to the second thing to do is selling. Like it or not, the only way to finance our operations, liabilities etc ... is if we have enough money. Since we didn't, we had to sell our prized-possessions.

So the management may not have exactly said that we're building for the future. I'm pretty sure the management does not want to see Milan fall far from grace but what else can they do in this situation? Sometimes you have to cut an arm to save the body, or sometimes downward is the only forward. We may accuse the management by being stingy or cheap, but refusing to accept Kaka's fee of what; 10 or 15 million, is not what we call cheap. It is what we call financial crisis.

All I am saying is that, we have to stick together and endure these difficult times.

Again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/king.gif)

[X-Offender]

Perhaps if you're looking for evidence right from Galliani's mouth then you should know better that sometimes you can't really believe in what he says or said. God knows what's going on in his mind, but I only judge him by his actions not his words. His actions suggest that our previous project with many champions can no longer co-exist with the current economic situation. So how to remedy the situation?

The first obvious thing to do is try to cut the wages which the management tried to do with many of our players and which started the whole mess to begin with. Since these players are people, normal people rarely accept wage-cuts so they go elsewhere where they can find better wages rather than accepting wage-cuts. I mean I would do it, wouldn't you?

Which brings to the second thing to do is selling. Like it or not, the only way to finance our operations, liabilities etc ... is if we have enough money. Since we didn't, we had to sell our prized-possessions.

So the management may not have exactly said that we're building for the future. I'm pretty sure the management does not want to see Milan fall far from grace but what else can they do in this situation? Sometimes you have to cut an arm to save the body, or sometimes downward is the only forward. We may accuse the management by being stingy or cheap, but refusing to accept Kaka's fee of what; 10 or 15 million, is not what we call cheap. It is what we call financial crisis.

All I am saying is that, we have to stick together and endure these difficult times.

That's one way of looking at it. The problem is that the management have not made any declarations about where this club is going. All they seem to care about is reduce expenses as much as possible, but this could be interpreted in various ways. One might bring up the argument of FFP, another might say that we're being cheap this year so we can heavily invest next summer, yet another one might say that Silvio doesn't give a crap about Milan anymore. He's about to enter into politics again, he officially welcomed for the first time foreign investors in the club, Fininvest has no intentions any more to cover our losses every year. It all looks very grim from my perspective. I personally believe that Berlusconi's era at this club is about to reach a conclusion, and that Silvio can't wait to dump us at the first chance. Problem is, nobody's shown interest in purchasing this club, so far.

[amancik]

The problem is that the management have not made any declarations about where this club is going.

While I still look at the situation in my own perspective, you're right about this though. The least they can do is be clear to the fans about the direction that they're taking.

[han2503]

The only way I would believe for a second that the current situation points towards the management "building for the future" is if they had shown that they had any sort of plan or strategy as to how to go about that re-building. Instead of a plan they've shown that they have no clue as to how to go about things aside from picking up every mediocre free agent option out there.

Traore, Taiwo, Mesbah. These are all guys who we've gotten for free and will be difficuilt to offload. They've already had a difficuilt time getting rid of Mesbah and the same goes with Traore. I mean how can anyone who has eyes that actually see say that getting Traore is a good idea?? I can't even begin to comprehend what type of player he is from watching him multiple times, all he does is stand around and misplace passes.

This is the grand plan Galliani has.