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Posted by: han2503 Sep 24 2014, 12:31 PM

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 24 2014, 12:42 PM

MvG is injured.

So I expect Poli to get a start. I think Menez should be rested on the bench and SeS given the start. Also worried if we're not overworking De Jong. Essien should be back but that's cold comfort.

One positive is Torres getting fit and hopefully the return of Lopez. That means I won't have to worry about Abbiati's goal kicks accurately picking an opposing team player to launch an attack. Sometimes I think Abbiati is more a deep lying playmaker for the opposition than our goalkeeper.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 24 2014, 02:29 PM

Very curious about the formation and men Pippo will play. I don't think Lopez has recovered yet but could be wrong, and I would never bench Menez when we only have the Serie A to play. After this game he'll have a whole week to rest.

My personal picks would be, as I mentioned in the Empoli topic, either a 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-1-2.

or



Still undecided about the CBs (except for Boner-head)...

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 24 2014, 09:00 PM

I don't think we'll start with the Guive formation. As said, I don't like the Menez position from your first formation.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 24 2014, 09:19 PM

The first one, definitely, I don't like a 3-man backline personally speaking, and the reason for that is because so many factors have to be right for it to work properly, a 3-man backline for us would create even more confusion and panic in an already unstable defence.

And anyway, with the first formation we could sort of switch to that by having De Jong drop back in between the 2 CBs while the FBs push up and even Poli pushes up, just like what we did in the second half vs Empoli, at certain points Poli was the one very high up and connecting the passes around the box, while Bonaventura dropped a little back and De Jong was level with the CBs.

Btw, I also really liked Jack yesterday, but atm there's so much attacking talent who are all doing so well that I really don't know how we can fit them all in, if only we had an iota of that at the centre of defence...

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 25 2014, 07:05 AM

As long as we don't play that flat 3-man midfield, we'll survive this one.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 25 2014, 07:57 AM

And Bonera. Don't forget Mr. Catastrophe.

Posted by: Danny Sep 25 2014, 08:48 AM

Bonera & Muntari will continue to start.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 25 2014, 09:37 AM

In that case I demand Zaccardo, Essien and Niang start too. If we're going to burn to death, might as well explode rather than roast.

Posted by: KillerMax Sep 25 2014, 10:29 AM

Yep, I have a hunch about that too. And that we will play 4-3-3 again. Pretty much same as previous games.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 25 2014, 01:41 PM

I can see Bonera playing again (apparently he's very good friends with Pippo), but Muntari I doubt it.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 25 2014, 02:04 PM

Agreed on that, the fact that Pippo gave him the hook at HT speaks for itself, the Bonera issue is getting ridiculous, this guy must have some serious dirt on the higher ups. There's just no explanation as to why each coach keeps insisting on him. And with Pippo, good friends or not, he's single handedly responsible for us conceding 4 goals in the last 2 games he played in

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 25 2014, 02:13 PM

With Bonera I think it's that coaches view him as an experienced CB, a senator and one of the last survivors of the Ancelotti golden years. However, both Allegri and Seedorf dropped him when they realized what a fucktard he is. Given time, I think Pippo wil drop him too, unless his attachment to an old friend will overweight the technical choice.

Posted by: Danny Sep 25 2014, 02:23 PM

I explained to Han some time ago regarding a Rangers player called Lee McCulloch. If I say Bonera is Milan's Lee McCulloch I'll leave it to him to explain the rest

Posted by: han2503 Sep 25 2014, 05:25 PM

The 35+ year old striker that plays in defence right?

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 25 2014, 06:46 PM

Say what?

Posted by: Danny Sep 25 2014, 08:49 PM

You heard right. Not only that he's totally washed up. Fans are sick of his uselessness, but his being friends with manager Ally McCoist is why he starts every match.

Sound familiar?

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 25 2014, 09:29 PM

Yeah, it does.

But a striker as defender?

Posted by: Danny Sep 25 2014, 10:36 PM

Yup. Absolutely ridiculous. And to make matters worse McCoist partners him with the most out of form defender we have, and puts puts our joint best defender at RB and the other on the bench.

Basically it's like McCulloch just HAS to play no matter what, and he's totally washed up so McCoist thinks the best solution is put him in defence.

All he does is run around with his arm in the air appealing offside.

To make matters worse, he's the captain.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 26 2014, 07:19 AM

Really hope they are not wrong.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 26 2014, 08:27 AM

For some reason all of this made me lol hard, especially the arm waving part


Hopefully Honda isn't out wide, but I imagine the 3 behind Torres will be very dynamic and switching positions, which could also explain why it's Jack and not SES.

Posted by: KillerMax Sep 26 2014, 10:00 AM

Mastour is injured?

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 26 2014, 10:45 AM

Nah, Pippo just likes playing Honda on the wing, like Seedorf. And he's definitely playing Bona instead of SES to give more cover to the midfield. Think it more of a 4-4-1-1 than a pure 4-2-3-1.



Yes.

Posted by: Danny Sep 26 2014, 12:41 PM

Is that a predicted team? Interesting to see Pippo change to the Seedorf formation if it is.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 26 2014, 01:27 PM

Yeah, every source is reporting the 4-2-3-1. One reason is because with Monto and MvG out injured, and with Muntari sucking balls we have very few options for a midfield three.

Posted by: Danny Sep 26 2014, 02:32 PM

I still see Bonera and Muntari starting...

Posted by: han2503 Sep 26 2014, 02:55 PM

Don't even say that!!

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 27 2014, 10:54 PM

http://www.football-italia.net/56488/inzaghi-no-milan-scapegoat

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 10:58 AM

Apparently Rami might start instead of Alex and Essien instead of Poli.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 11:41 AM

I'd rather have Alex and Poli out there, but well..

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 12:47 PM

We'll see.

x-off did you get that info off mediaset?

Posted by: William405 Sep 28 2014, 01:19 PM

Milan: Abbiati ; Abate, Rami, Zapata, De Sciglio; De Jong, Poli; Honda, Menez, Bonaventura; Torres

X-Off must be wetting himself now.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 01:29 PM

Hahaha, why?

Posted by: William405 Sep 28 2014, 01:35 PM

Honda in midfield?

Or did Inzaghi change formations?

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 01:36 PM

He's actually using him as winger...

Posted by: William405 Sep 28 2014, 01:40 PM

Ahhh.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 02:01 PM

Anyone got stream? Thought my TV will have a live transmission, but they're showing Inter and handball

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 02:04 PM

http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=277747&part=sports

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 28 2014, 02:09 PM

Great line up.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:10 PM

Abbiati...

But how was he allowed to walk straight through our defence FFS?? Where were Rami and Zapata?

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:11 PM

That was stupid from Abbiati

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:11 PM

No matter how we start we always seem to concede

Just ridiculous defending

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 28 2014, 02:11 PM

Hope Lopez will be back soon.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 02:11 PM

We're doing it again. And this time, without Bonera and Muntari to blame.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 02:12 PM

"Thankfully" there's Abbiati to make up for them...

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:13 PM

Looks like Rami and Zapata are also a nightmare together.

All this while Mexes is on the bench and won't be played for most likely petulant reasons

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:17 PM

To be fair, it was mostly Abbiati's mistake, how he could push that soft shot onto an oncoming player is beyond me.

This is why he's no longer good enough

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:19 PM

RAMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 02:19 PM

RAMI!!!

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 28 2014, 02:19 PM

RAMIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 02:20 PM

Sure. But we've got to many of those. Don't tell me Zapata and Rami convince you. It's just a nightmare. And I really don't think Mexes would help either.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 28 2014, 02:20 PM

Yep, it's 95% on him. Good keeper doesn't concede those.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:24 PM

No, they don't, I don't really rate Zapata all that much, we should have sold him while his price was still high after the World Cup.

And I do think Mexes would help, neither Zapata nor Rami know how to properly lead a defensive line. Alex and Mexes do

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 02:29 PM

That right wing has been non-existent thus far...

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:32 PM

Bonaventura, very impressive so far

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 02:33 PM

Yeah, he's been good. Hard worker. Just lacks some class that would make him a more dangerous player.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:44 PM

As an attacking player yes, but I'd imagine he'd be great as a midfielder

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 02:44 PM

Very unimpressed by MDS again. So slow, so clueless...

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 02:46 PM

Inter 1-4 Cagliari HT

WTF?!

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 02:47 PM

Good first half, but once again, individual mistakes in defence have cost us. We seriously need to get a handle on this

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 28 2014, 02:47 PM

Cagliari is trashing Inter at San Siro 4-1

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 02:47 PM

Clueless is a harsh word though. Let's just say we expect more.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 02:48 PM

Zeman at his best then.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 02:51 PM

I think we're too slow. De Jong and Poli are too detached from the attack. Only Bonaventura has been doing his job properly. Once again Honda is a complete waste on the wing.

What I would do is bring Honda in the hole, so he can act like a glue between midfield and attack. Backtrack, take the ball, open up play etc. Menez should be brought on the right and cover more spaces when we don't have the ball. If we don't score, bring SES for Bona.

Oh, and Armero for the very disappointing MDS.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 03:00 PM

I though DS was okay today

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 03:17 PM

Why are we so static?

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 03:20 PM

Yes, I don't get what you see X-O. MDS started slowly but he's coming around and getting more effective.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 03:25 PM

Disagree. I think he's been very poor.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 03:26 PM

Menez needs to release the ball quicker, holds onto it for too long

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 03:27 PM

He's been getting on my nerves for the entire second half.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 03:28 PM

Why Essien and Pazzini FFS Pippo???

They won't add anything to our game

Bring on SES!

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 03:31 PM

Zapata sent off

I still do not understand the point of the changes Pippo made, Essien and Pazzo will make us even more static and slow

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 03:35 PM

Cesena are incredibly poor, and the fact we're struggling so much against shows how poor we are in turn.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 03:37 PM

I simply don't understand Honda on the wing. Granted, he was poor today and I don't think he would have been any better in the center. But on the wing he's 10x more useless. Don't play him at all if so!

Posted by: amancik Sep 28 2014, 03:38 PM

SES has not played for 2 games now. Not even as a sub.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 28 2014, 03:38 PM

We should have scored earlier when we were playing well and creating chances. Now, after the red and the (poor) subs, I don't think we can.

Posted by: Jack Bauer Sep 28 2014, 03:43 PM

Pazzini is useless.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 03:50 PM

Another 2 points lost here

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 03:52 PM

Think Essien made a solid outing, he was strong and present. Pazzini? Hmh, he seems completely faded.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 03:55 PM

This season has so far been a compilation of hilarity.

The Parma game, 2 red cards, an own goal, goal keeping errors. Just not good enough

The subs Pippo made today were terrible, absolutely did nothing to improve our game and didn't take off the correct players

It seems like he does one thing wrong and one thing right in each game. I though he started with the correct 11 then made some terrible subs, same thing can be said of the Empoli game only switch things around, started with a terrible 11 and corrected that with the right subs. On both occasion we should have done more and should have won both games.

Posted by: CrazyMilanFan Sep 28 2014, 03:55 PM

Our crossing is so good

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 04:02 PM

And what's the final conclusion out of this? We've got a terrible team and a rookie coach.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 04:04 PM

Pathetic performance.

I have to say, the players were clearly tired today, which is mind-boggling in itself considering we have no European competitions. Is a mid-week game sufficient enough to tire these players? Juve and Roma have been playing non-stop and they look like trains.

But besides that, this team is just poor. I don't want to be delusional. I recognize that Honda is very average by "big team" standards. Same goes for Poli, Rami, Zapata, Pazzini, Bonaventura etc. And Torres. He can only cut it in Serie A, where the rhythm is slow and opponents not so tough. Menez is the only player who's shown in these five games that he stands one step above everyone else. But he was out of gas today. Gotta give it to Jack S, he should have rested.

Then there's Pippo and his choices, which have proved to be a complete failure so far. Terrible pre-season, hilarious defending (9 goals conceded in 5 games), poor man selection, lack of ideas, players out of position etc.

I just don't know what to expect from this season. We can only hope to make 3rd place because Inter and Napoli have been poor as well, which actually shows in what state Serie A is nowadays...

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 04:27 PM

We don't have a terrible team, let's not use the kurt and some others excuse that we have a terrible team so we can defend the coach jig just because it suites us now

Our team is miles better than Cesena's no matter what spin you want to put on the quality of our players, you can't deny the fact that we had better players than our opposition today in every area of the pitch, there were tactical mistakes that were made, and Pippo needs to work hard to fix them.

The defending is still comical while we were to slow and lethargic in attack.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 05:14 PM

We've always had better players except for against Juve, but it's not as simple as having the better players. Those players also have to perform, and in all honesty ours don't. The defense is a nightmare, midfield is too rusty and attack is, well, very inconsistent.

Pippo is the coach, he takes half the responsibility of such dreadful performances. But the players also have to step up, and recognize that they are not wearing a casual shirt, but that of AC Milan. The only thing we have left is our history, and if these players won't respect that then they can go fudge themselves.

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 05:22 PM

I think it's oversimplified when you talk about how much better our players are han.

Because look, how many times did this occur now? How many times did we got beaten or took a blow against a small team? Empoli, Sassuolo, Sampdoria, Verona, Bologna,... it's repeating year after year. So I honestly don't think it's just due to tactical errors.

I think it's this:

1) We must get a new management. This one is out of ideas and out of line. Keeping the status quo is okay if you still have a direction and if you concentrate the remaining forces on good aspects. But we don't. We make too many miscalculations and too many hazardous moves which turn out to be wrong.

2) We need an experienced coach. But this happens only with a change in management.

3) We need to change certain segments of our team. It's clearly something wrong with the mentality and the body language.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 05:23 PM

What do you mean by this?

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 05:27 PM

On paper we are better. Yet we struggle and struggle. Only when we concede we wake up (Parma, Empoli, Cesena...). But then we somehow fall into a slump again.

Our players seems disjointed and not focused. My take is this goes beyond Pippo. This is a bigger problem, so the only right thing to do is to locate the players who don't put their best performances in and eliminate them.

We also need desperately a leader. We need someone to guide and pamper this team, someone who'd be respected. This is certainly not Abbiati nor Montolivo.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 28 2014, 05:49 PM

Motivation, preparation, tactical competence and making the right choices are all key factors that all of Allegri, Seedorf and now Pippo have failed to master imo, sometimes all of them at once under Allegri.

No we don't have a top class side, but what I was looking for this season is winning the points that we should be on paper and we're still not doing that

Today the game plan was wrong, we once again let in a goal because of an individual error which has happened in basically every game so far this season

I said this under all of our recent coaches, what they do matters a lot, trying to underplay the influence of a coach is a ridiculous notion imo

Pippo is obviously a rookie, and I don't want to seem like I don't want to give him a chance or that I'm already getting on his back but it's been 5 matches now and the very obvious issues we have are still very prevalent. As you rightly mentioned, the complete and utter lack of defensive stability, no matter who's playing in defence, the disjointedness of the midfield from BOTH the defence and attack.

For me, these are all tactical problems not personnel ones.

Pippo is playing 2 central players on the wing and the actual winger in the centre, for me that exemplifies the current issues we have

He leaves our best CB on the bench for whatever personal reasons and we struggle more than we really need to in that area. Another example of how he needs to improve in terms of coaching and selection


1) I don't think the management have anything to do with this here. The problems we have on the pitch are all of a tactical nature imo. Yes our management is a disgrace but imo that's irrelevant to what happens on the pitch

2) I agree, but we have Pippo now, and I want to support him, just as long as I see that he's improving and correcting errors as each game passes

3) I don't think we have any real bad apples in the side anymore, certainly not on the level of Balo or Cassano.

The problem is that we don't have the best squad, quality wise, so we need to make up for that issue in other ways. When Conte took on Juve he didn't have the best side around but he turned them into this machine that swept all before them. That's the kind of difference a great coach can make, and as of right now we do not have that

Posted by: Fillipo Simone Sep 28 2014, 05:55 PM

But Han, it's all interconnected. Our management is stubbornly appointing rookie coaches, one after another: Leonardo, Inzaghi, Seedorf. Allegri coached only Cagliari in Serie A and still counts as a veteran in comparison to the other three. So, unless the management doesn't change, we're stuck with rookie coaches.

If we're stuck with them, give them space and time to turn things around (assuming the can do that). For that to do, they simply have to locate the problems in our team. And as said, I think this teams mentality problems go beyond just sheer selection and preparation. Somethings evidently wrong.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 28 2014, 07:37 PM

I would say Pippo is a great motivator, but then you read his post-match interviews and you just wanna facepalm yourself. What he said after today's game was nonsensical - http://football-italia.net/56533/inzaghi-milan-wasted-chances.

I hate such behavior. If you're not admitting to the public that your team played bad it's like saying it to your players. And of course they'll lose concentration and motivation, because apparently what they're doing right now is fine for Pippo.

Posted by: Danny Sep 28 2014, 09:33 PM

In his defence X, you made your mind up after the Juve game he's a failure and that's it, so whatever he says now you're going to take apart.

As for this match, it's starting to get VERY frustrating. We're on a horrible slide of two points in 3 games, with those two points v teams we should comfortably beat.

Pippo doesn't seem to want to quite pick his best team, always going for a flaw or two here or there which seems to undermine the rest of the team.

Today it was the CB partnership - I don't give a f*ck what anyone says, Rami's goal aside he was a shambles, especially inside the first half an hour. Zapata was better but his red card was foolish.

It was also the continued wasting of Honda as a RW and putting Menez behind the strikers, while simply switching them around would work infinitely better.

Alex being on the bench after giving, IMO, the best defensive display this season from any Milan defender (v Lazio) is just f*cking ridiculous. He's a titan in the air, he's strong on the ground, and he puts himself in where it hurts. Yet he's just sitting, rotting away on the bench.

As for the display, yeah, it wasn't terrible, especially going forward, but it's just not clicking. Defence is poorly-organised, and every time opponents run at us our backline looks terrified and has a panic attack.

This team is currently far far less than the sum of its parts, and the subs today kinda summed up the frustration. Why exactly sub off Poli & Torres for Essien and Pazzo. Two better models removed for two weaker ones. It made no sense.

I just feel like the team is much better than its points tally suggests, but the truth is, and here's a blunt way of looking at it; if you discount Lazio & Parma, we haven't won in 90 minutes since pre-season at Monza.

Something is dreadfully wrong.

Posted by: han2503 Sep 29 2014, 09:21 AM

That's why I said I'm not turning against him and I don't won't to seem like I'm getting completely on his back. But for me I need to at least see some form of improvements as the weeks go by.

The defence is still a horrific mess, no matter who's playing, as Danny said, it was panic stations any time a Cesena player managed to get himself into a position to run at our CBs. I think Rami and Zapata is just an ill fated pairing, just like Bonera and Zapata, all 3 of those players need to be next to someone who can basically hold their hand throughout a game. Mexes and Alex know how to do that, so for me either one of them needs to be on the pitch at all times. Also our defending as a collective has just not improved, our midfield is simply detached from both the attack and defence.

As for our attack, so far we haven't gone a game without scoring (Juve aside), I think we're okay in that department, we're not going to be scoring 5 goals in each game, which is why we need our defence to be solid and be able to hold onto a clean sheet so when we do only score 1 goal, it won't mean we're losing points

Posted by: Danny Sep 29 2014, 10:27 AM

Indeed Han, for all our disagreements on Mexes I admit he's at least a leader. As you know I'd prefer Alex but the defence is a bunch of cooks and no chef as things stand. Which is also why I wouldn't give Abate the armband. He is miles off captain/leader material, as brilliant a RB as he is.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 29 2014, 10:58 AM

No one is captain material in this team, except for maybe De Jong.

Posted by: Danny Sep 29 2014, 12:10 PM

Agree on this too. I also wouldn't want to burden De Jong - it ruined Monto, I don't want the same happening to essentially our prize asset.

Posted by: Jack Sparrow Sep 29 2014, 01:05 PM

Another typical confused match. I see the resolve and morale are high, but more results like this and we're back in the crapper.

I've always been against the 4-2-3-1 for this team, I don't think we have the double pivot kind of midfielders. We should play with the 4-3-3 that doesn't involve a flat midfield, but has De Jong in control of his area without having to run into other people.

So a 4-3-3 that becomes a 4-1-2-3 or a 4-1-2-1-2 or a 4-1-4-1 even. De Jong flies solo it would seem.

Granted our goal was an Abbiati howler, but it's about time we were done chopping around the defence. Pippo was out of options, I understand Alex has just recovered from injury and couldn't play 90 minutes in the heat, but let's keep it simple. Our lineup going forward for the backline is:

--Abate---Rami--Alex--De Sciglio---

That's fixed.

Menez looks more and more tired as he seems to be required to do everything on his own. This is a problem. I would like to see SeS get a start. Admittedly the red card forced Alex on, instead of the initial plan of SeS again forcing us into a corner in terms of tactical changes.

It wasn't a horrible match, but we're stuck in a rut and need to change things around.

Having just 4 fit players for 3 positions in midfield doesn't help either.

I'll give the team a 6 on 10 for performance.

Posted by: X-Offender Sep 29 2014, 01:45 PM

If we're going to play 4-3-3, then Pippo must play either Honda or Bonaventura in midfield.