[TriniKing_CE]

Monster post, indeed, Trini. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

...


What? - No comments?! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[acid911]

What? - No comments?!

Only after I finish reading it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy.gif) Still on the Van Ginkel paragraph! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[TriniKing_CE]

Only after I finish reading it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/happy.gif) Still on the Van Ginkel paragraph! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Hahaha alright then. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif)

I'm off to bed, will check back tomorrow for your feedback! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[acid911]

Shtick, now I have to reply! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) Just kidding, will do, man, will do. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) On the morrow!

[drucurl]

Us Trinis are vastly superior to you mortals
Just make him a mod or president or something (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)
In other news I agree with Danny about Cristante.
He shouldn't have been sold! Very shameful

[Danny]

In other news I agree with Danny about Cristante.
He shouldn't have been sold! Very shameful

Danny and Dru in 'agreement' shocker!

tbh I do see their point to an extent - De Jong he was not. But I saw enough of him in competitive action last season to suggest he did have some real ability and was definitely at least as good as Essien (Ok, he's a hell of a lot better than Essien) at a far lower wage. But then, I too am also as good as Essien (Ok, I too am a hell of a lot better than Essien).

[acid911]

But I saw enough of him in competitive action last season to suggest he did have some real ability and was definitely at least as good as Essien (Ok, he's a hell of a lot better than Essien) at a far lower wage. But then, I too am also as good as Essien (Ok, I too am a hell of a lot better than Essien).

But you probably won't settle for a far lower wage. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Jack Sparrow]

Summer transfer window closes and Galliani zone was in full effect. I loved it. It leads me to believe that we're getting some groove back, some of our old habits are resurfacing. I'm actually optimistic about this season.

My opinions on the transfer window : 7.5 /10 Or I'd give it a B+. It would have been an A if we had sold Balo for around 10 million more.

I don't have too much complaints about Bonaventura. I see no point in keeping Cristante as one for the future when what we need is someone who can come in and deliver in the present. Galliani tried to push him on loan to Benfica or to other Serie A sides. He refused the loan. Also refused a move within Italy.

Instead we got a highly rated 25 year old (That's still relatively young) who has the same name as myself, and who cried with joy when he signed the contract. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

Bonaventura is an excellent player who always f@cks up Inter when they play against him, he can play wide or through the middle. Mostly an AM, not a mezzala, but will give us cover for Honda and SeS besides slotting in the mid-3.

---

On the transfer window, I think it was an excellent garage clean up. We've made two mistakes in purchasing Agazzi and selling Balo for at least 5 million too less. But we've cleared out a lot of dead-wood and made some good acquisitions for players who will only be playing in one tournament.

I still think we could have gotten rid of 2 more players to cut down the squad size. I feel we don't need a squad size of more than 24 and now we have 27. I would prefer to have Essien, Albertazzi and Saponara out , the latter two on loan.

As for Cristante and playing time, I mentioned this before. For the mid-3 we had 8 players.

1. De Jong
2. Montolivo
3. Muntari
4. Poli
5. van Ginkel
6. Essien
7. Saponara
8. Cristante

I'm listing them in the order with which they're picked into the team. And two players in consecutive arrangement are interchangeable. For example, it's an either/or between Muntari and Poli based on fitness and tactics.

Once again 8 players for 3 positions. For argument's sake let me assume that Essien is crap, and Cristante is better than Saponara in the mid three. Even then he moves up at max to position 6 and perhaps competes with van Ginkel?

van Ginkel is definitely a better player than Cristante at this stage- a better passer and a better scorer of goals and 2 years older than Bryan.

So all in all at this rate, Cristante AT BEST doesn't get more than 10-15 games a season with us in this team. He's at an age and a talent level where he needs to play 20+ games to ever develop into something good. But those 20+ games are going to be a series of B-level performances until he builds up skill to be a starter. Perhaps 3 or 4 years down the line?

Milan cannot have B-level performances from someone in the mid-3, because we are playing a 4-3-3 and we'll get screwed AND the rest of the team isn't as strong to compensate for one player not being good enough in that area.

No player in the modern day has the patience to sit around and wait. All our players who have left the team left because we couldn't give them space. And all of them took their own period of playing 20 games a season before they shone elsewhere.

For e.g. Aubameyang? 4 years in the wilderness of Ligue 1(playing an average of 20 games a season) before he broke big into St.Etienne and subsequently into Dortmund.
The same with Matteo Darmian, who spent the same 4 years in Serie A wilderness before breaking big last year with Torino.


Cristante did not want a loan. He didn't want Serie A for reasons I respect. He's joined Benfica, probably under Rui Costa's wing. I dearly hope we have got a buy back option for sentimental reasons. I don't see him becoming much more than a starter for tier-2 teams at the current rate. For context, we bought SeS at the exact same age as Cristante is now, for more than double the price. And we hardly consider SeS to be a world class athlete.

The last player who I can think of, who did stick with the team through this growing up period as a part-timer before establishing himself fully was Ambrosini. Of course he got the benefits of it, but that's very rare that a player will sacrifice his early years plying along as a substitute.

---

This youth project thing everyone harps about - comes at a cost. The cost being present performances. Our youth players at the moment are not at the level of Bayern Munich or Barcelona (the gold standards), at the same time it's not too bad, since our players are actually finding playing time in the top leagues. We shall improve gradually of course. But it's impossible to have a 2-3 year turn around time of youth products.

Even Chelsea and Man City with near infinite resources have failed at this.

We shall probably be some time till we get prodigies who in their teens can walk into the first team. Until then be patient on the youth project.

[Danny]

We signed basically a new team and got rid of a lot of deadwood.

We didn't sign any Falcaos, Kompanies or Toures, but overall I am actually very pleased with the business we've done.

We sorted out a long-standing problem area in goal, and while Lopez' start has been mixed, as he gets used to his new surroundings we'll see the consistent Real Madrid keeper we signed. Agazzi is just squad filler.

Armero is an odd one - why would Bonera start at LB when we'd signed a full Colombian international LB who played at the world cup? He looks half decent but a bit odd Pippo preferred Bonera.

Alex had a bloody awful pre-season but soon as the real business started on Sunday he looked the part. I was happy with this signing and I remain so. He's absolutely incredible in the air.

van Ginkel I've never watched but my Chelsea-supporting chums really really rate him and think he'll do very well for us. He's a great age and if he does well for us could become a permanent fixture.

Bonaventura - won't lie, had barely heard of him but again I've only heard good things now we've signed him and it clearly means the world to him to sign for us. He's apparently a bit of a utility player but his best position is the trequartista/wing zone.

Menez - comes from a good stable but I'm not convinced yet. His display V Lazio was lauded by all but all I saw was an ineffectual attack with no end product and lots of diving.

Torres - here's hoping Pippo can reinvigorate him. We'll never get the Liverpool Torres back, but if we can get more out of him than Chelsea did then it's good business. Chelsea just didn't use him right, he's all about pace. And it was that goal V Barca which saw the old Torres - bursting through and finishing comfortably. This Milan can use that type of Torres as opposed to the Drogba type they seemed to play him as.

8 new signings, 9 if you include the permanency of Rami.

It's a good window, with badly needed new blood. We got the CM we needed - MVG. We got the goalie we needed - Lopez. We got more attacking options - Torres, Bonaventura, Menez. And we solidified defence with Alex & Almero.

It's not the market we used to be involved in, but I think Galliani, with 0 pence to spend, did extremely well and I for one am pleased with the business.

We have an OUTSIDE chance now of third spot - something I wouldn't have believed before kick off on Sunday.

1. De Jong
2. Montolivo
3. Muntari
4. Poli
5. van Ginkel
6. Essien
7. Saponara
8. Cristante

For now I'd be astounded if our midfield 3 is not Poli, MVG & De Jong. December onwards it'll be De Jong, MVG & Monto.

And tbh that's a pretty f*ckin' good midfield.

[littlechris]

Overall I think we had a really good transfer window; all things considered.

That being said, I (along with many of you) would've liked some things to be done differently if given the chance.

GOOD
Out: Amelia, Robinho, Birsa, Constant, Kaká, Emanuelson, Coppola, Matri, Nocerino, Gabriel, Dídac Vilà
In: Diego Lopez, Menez, Torres, Armero, Alex, Bonaventura, Van Ginkel


Note however....
Robinho (only a loan), Birsa (only a loan), Matri (only a loan), Nocerino (only a loan)

These are possibly problems we will have to face again in the future, unless they have a good loan spell and decide to part ways easily (hopefully this is the case)

Van Ginkel is a decent loan deal, given that we lacked quality in the midfield. However, the fact that we were willing to give up on Cristante so easily and acquire one of Chelsea's instead is a bit worrying. Van Ginkel may be better, and more equipped to play right away, but we gave up to quickly on one of our few great (if not the best) prospects for the future.

(They are however many angles to look at it from so I'll leave it at that)

Torres I'm sure has many us leaning more towards the side of pessimism, rather than being hopeful, and who can blame us, the guy has demonstrated for a series of consecutive years what the meaning of 'washed up' looks like.
I for one was not rooting for the transfer, but if we can get anything at all out of it, it just might make sense (and hopefully can turn into something special *fingers crossed*)

I should have probably created a neutral section, but I choose to leave Torres in the 'GOOD' section, because I want to remain optimistic and this is just my take on things, so...



BAD
In: Agazzi, Albertazzi
Out: Cristante, Balotelli

Aggazi is a sh!t keeper anyway you look at it. If we wanted to have an untrustworthy keeper we already had Gabriel
Anyway, at least he is only 3rd string. Albertazzi seems as a need less acquisition to me (however, he is relatively cheap to afford us some 'depth' I guess).. Bottom line is we could have done better than him, but it a non issue atm.

Cristante may have asked to been sold, but this is just bad for business if you ask me. Here we are preaching a youth project loud and strong, only to sell arguably our most capable youth at the moment, and likely our most promising (bar maybe Mastour). The right decision would have been to either convince him to stay or convince him to go on loan (its the last day of the market, it wouldn't have been that hard to keep him)

Trying to understand it from all angles I guess Pippo didn't have much faith in him, as I believe han pointed out, yesterday when time for Muntari to come off Essien was the one to take to the pitch. That in itself speaks volumes, and let's not kid ourselves, Pippo knew Cristante very well having coached him already and whatnot, if he had much faith in the kid's qualities he could've spoken against the transfer (I take it that did not take place, as he is now gone)

By acquiring Bonaventura however we have improved (at the very least in the short term). It's quite possible Cristante can develop into something better in the future, but as things stand with this departure & arrival, we are now stronger.

Many of you might argue that Balotelli's departure was necessary and a good move by management to part ways.
Time will tell if this was the case. One thing remains certain in my mind (and I've said this countless times before), we rushed his sale, and if we truly thought it to be necessary in order to get some funds then fine, but not for a pittance of £16 (in this market). We largely undersold our most valuable asset at the time. Again if I had a neutral section (together with the Torres transfer I would've though about placing it in there, but I am more against this sale than I was for it, so 'BAD' business for me!)


This rant seems to be sufficiently long enough to bore people, while confusing them with my disjointed style of writing, so I'll end here!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif)



FORZA MILAN (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devilsmiley.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devilsmiley.gif)

Spot on! Milan should have waited for Balo value to rise again before selling, That could be as early as January. Also am unhappy with the sale of Cristante but have feeling Bonaventura will turn good for us (reminds me of the humble Noccerino signing). Finally, a bit disappointed we didn't sign Cerci, though Menez look promising. Anyway looking forward to the season with optimism. Its been a while I feel this way after match day one.. Pippo show!

[han2503]

Kinda funny how those screaming about the absence of a youth project 'aren't too bothered' about us selling one of the few half decent youth players we had!

If they were selling DS I'd be screaming bloody murder on here.

Half decent is not what we need if want to build on our youth. The reaction of some people on the internet to us selling Cristante would make someone who's never watched him think we sold the next Xavi or Iniesta.

I'm not happy about it just to be clear, but I'm not angry either. I really do not think that Cristante was all that good, certainly not good enough to earn us 6m when he's only ever started one game and had another small handful of substitute appearances.

There's a difference between wanting a good youth system that could sustain the club and desperately hoping for one, so much so, that we cling on to every half decent player coming out of there that makes a couple of showings for the club. So many here have gone crazy over so many kids that played in the Primavera and had time with the first team, yet the majority of those players have disappeared into obscurity. Paloschi is probably the only one out of all of them who's carved a career out for himself, but he's still not good enough to be anything but second or 3rd choice for us.

I just want to add that if I am wrong about Cristante, then I will admit to it and be sad that we gave up on someone who turned into a top quality player, but from what I've seen of him, I don't think that will be the case.

[Jack Sparrow]

.
.
.

Armero is an odd one - why would Bonera start at LB when we'd signed a full Colombian international LB who played at the world cup? He looks half decent but a bit odd Pippo preferred Bonera.

.

Bonaventura - won't lie, had barely heard of him but again I've only heard good things now we've signed him and it clearly means the world to him to sign for us. He's apparently a bit of a utility player but his best position is the trequartista/wing zone.

Menez - comes from a good stable but I'm not convinced yet. His display V Lazio was lauded by all but all I saw was an ineffectual attack with no end product and lots of diving.

Torres - here's hoping Pippo can reinvigorate him. We'll never get the Liverpool Torres back, but if we can get more out of him than Chelsea did then it's good business. Chelsea just didn't use him right, he's all about pace. And it was that goal V Barca which saw the old Torres - bursting through and finishing comfortably. This Milan can use that type of Torres as opposed to the Drogba type they seemed to play him as.

.
We have an OUTSIDE chance now of third spot - something I wouldn't have believed before kick off on Sunday.



For now I'd be astounded if our midfield 3 is not Poli, MVG & De Jong. December onwards it'll be De Jong, MVG & Monto.

And tbh that's a pretty f*ckin' good midfield.

So I'm in agreement with a lot of things.

Alex was a pleasant surprise. I actually think the way the game folded out was that , Lazio banked on sending in aerial balls to expose our defence- either with runs or , while we banked on pace and counter. Pippo playing our best backline for aerial attacks nullified them, while we were Pippo-level clinical in finishing our chances on the counter.

So on Bonera - I think he plays because he is the best I've seen in the current squad at organizing an off-side trap. His downside is the risk to get beaten on one-on-ones coz of pace.

So for me, getting CL this season hinges on one person - Torres. If he fires (20+ goals) we are ploughing through the league like a Welshman in a sheep farm, if he doesn't and performs as I expect him to (8 to 12 goals), we will probably end up in Europa league thanks to efforts from Menez, Honda and SeS.

---

About van Ginkel, surprisingly I expect him to replace Poli actually.This is where we differ. Because I think vGinkel is more of the pass and move and tackle player than Poli is. Muntari is a battering ram in the midfield on attack and assistant custodian of our left flank in defence. I don't see MvG doing this.

I have to say though, I risk jinxing things, but I haven't had a positive feel about the team in some years now. I'm very hopeful for improvement this season. I no longer feel we have a bunch of outcasts and mercenaries in the squad.

[Jack Sparrow]

Now there's a story running that the Zaccardo talks broke down, because Parma refused to pay Zaccardo money that was owed from his prior stint at Parma. There was a credit of 400,000 Euros out of which 150,000 Euros is still to be paid to Zaccardo.

[Fillipo Simone]

If Milan wanted Bianbiany so bad, we should have payed instead of Parma. Anyway, now that this is out, I can understand Zaccardo staying better, and I'm more happy with Bonaventura anyway.

[han2503]

If Milan wanted Bianbiany so bad, we should have payed instead of Parma. Anyway, now that this is out, I can understand Zaccardo staying better, and I'm more happy with Bonaventura anyway.

Agreed about Bonaventura.

The only reason I wanted Biabiany is because that meant Zaccardo going the other way