i understand that the budget is an issue for galliani. however, despite the occasional unsavory signing (of the mancini/muntari/emerson variety) I think galliani has done a damn decent job of putting a team together for allegri that I believe does have enough quality to beat everyone that we've lost to this season, despite our budget constraints. On paper, we are very good. That said, it's on Max to use what he's got to get us those important results.

As i said in my previous rant about the 3DMs, and as Fillipo pointed out (about how rarely does it seem like we've fielded our best possible side/tactical set up), Allegri doesn't maximize the potential of the quality he has at his disposal.

I supposed I too agree with those that like Spaletti. The guy created a well balanced Roma side with even tighter budgetary constraints. A Roma side that toppled a far more talented Real Madrid side. His side overachieved. Allegri's underachieves given the amount of quality we have currently. I'll give him credit, he returned some form of defensive balance to a team that was COMPLETELY imbalanced under Leonardo (though Leo had WAY less talent to work with, and frankly did well to finish third I thought). Despite our current injuries, we shouldve beaten Lazio. And when we had a full strength side, we shouldn't have lost to Napoli 3-0, Juve 2-0, and Inter 1-0. That's core of my gripe against him.

This is football though. It doesn't matter how good your team is, chances are you aren't going to go unbeaten or anything. It's not like we've lost to bad teams either, when you couple that with the fact we've had big injuries issues in some of those defeats, I hardly think it's a disaster. Juve are better than us, so I see no issue with losing to them, they have a better squad, in my opinion. They have depth that we look (even moreso with our injuries). To make out the Inter defeat was his fault is a little ridiculous I think. We dominated the game and someone made a mistake, a coach can do little to nothing about that.

If football was as predictable as you seem to make it out to be, then we may as well not bother playing games and decide the final standings on who has the best team on paper.

This post has been edited by kurtsimonw: Feb 3 2012, 02:48 AM

It's not about predictability Kurt, to me it's about preparation and what vnata said.

Allegri's big issue is that he's thinking one piece of a time; big coaches, from Ancelotti to Mourinho have a plan in advance - sometimes it backfires, but that's how they work.

Now look Allegri for instance: he began against Lazio with the lineup he could have used against Cagliari earlier on. That's always his thing, one step forward, then two backwards. Now Udine is around the corner, but Juve and Arsenal as well. Do you think he'll use his squad wise enough, that he'll rotate cleverly? Because I don't think so, he barely understands that Ibrahimovic needs rest bar that a 3 DM midfield works when you lead by 3 goals or play against Cagliari at home and not Lazio away. Let's see how he'll do this "big February".

You say so what to loosing to all good teams? Don't you think it's a sign? We've only drawn with Udine and lost against Juventus, Inter and Lazio. And Barcelona of course. I'm not proud of this record, in fact, with such road, winning the scudetto seems very unlike.

And don't tell me Juventus is better. I've been harping Han for a long time, saying Juve is good and a real contender. But better? Hardly. Our central defenders a top class while their are just good, and beside Marchisio and Pirlo they've got nothing special.

Sorry for starting a debate and not staying for the aftermath (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

But Filippo and vnata pretty much said it all.

And kurt, you lost me when you said Juve are better than us... Their first 11 does not even come close to ours, while their overall squad depth isn't anywhere near ours either. Imagine them trying to even function with the kind of injuries we have!!!! They'd be in 7th like last season!

Do you think he won't get criticised if he does. Who does he rotate exacty? Mexes/Nesta/Silva is fine at CB, but seriously, what else can he do? If he drops Abate for Bonera he'll get slaughtered, same if he now drops Mesbah for Zambro/Antonini. God forbid he plays Ambro! How many other options do we have in midfield? If he rests Zlatan and we don't score then not only will he be criticised for resting him but the "Ibra's not here to save Max" BS will start up again. Robinho and El Sha starting up front, really?



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I can't agree there. But then you're someone who's convinced everyone on their team is 'mediocre', despite having great seasons.

I am not getting into any more Allegri debates though. People on here have already made their mind up what their reaction is regarding how we do in both Serie A and the CL. Doesn't matter what happens, or how it happens, it's pretty obvious.

This post has been edited by kurtsimonw: Feb 3 2012, 02:18 PM

Name me the players they have that are actually top quality and not just there to fill up the numbers. Do they have Robinho, Pato, Cassano, Seedorf, Mexes, etc on the bench? No, they have a lot of quantity, but that's just it. They have a bajillion mediocre strikers, smae goes for midfield and defence.

The only area they axceed us by miles imo, is their coach. And that's why they're ahead of us.

Like I said, imagine Juve missing the amount of first 11 players we are missing: Cassano, Pato, Aquilani, Boateng, and then the backups for those being injured as well! Imagine Juve missing Pirlo, Marchisio, Vucinic, Pepe and Vidal at once!

Do you think they'd be able to hang on to 2nd with the backups of the backups playing like we're practically doing atm?

Even Filippo disagreed with you on your point, and he's been defending Juve from the start of the season.

Fact is Allegri simply has no excuses when it comes to squad depth and most importantly the quality of that squad depth. Yes we're very unlucky with injuries but he has certain luxeries that Conte wouldn't have in such a situation. Facts are that we have not won a single game against direct opposition for the title. And that has to be blamed on someone.

Spalletti has a very lucrative contract with Zenit, I doubt we could ever afford him.

Anyway, Fillipo and vnata said pretty much everything there is to say about Allegri. The point is, can he do better with a better squad? Of course. If he had the right players, like De Rossi, Eriksen, Tevez etc. he'd get the results. However, a good coach is also evaluated in moments of crises, and Allegri has proved several times his incompetence in managing an inconvenient group of players during the course of a season.

Don't agree with anything you've put in your entirely contradictory post, but this bit is just silly.

I find it funny people are saying we have quality squad depth. The only positions that is true are CB and SS and even at SS our back ups are injured. Other than that our back ups are poor at best. Bonera would struggle to make it anywhere but at a relegation contender. Antonini is clueless. Zambro is decent but he can't play more than once a week. Ambro and Seedorf are shadows of their former selves. Seedorf is good for about 60 minutes once a week. Robinho can't finish. Not to mention all of our injuries. Even Merkel who was supposed to be our creative reinforcement until Aqua can get back next month got injured. What do you expect the guy to do? Instead of whining EVERY SINGLE TIME we lose a game why don't we look at this realistically and realize that we are going to have a rough time until we get healthy. We are going to need some special moments from Ibra/El Sha and not to give up too many chances to survive this period.

Why so?

The failures have to be blamed on someone, but why is it always Max? I wouldn't mind if he got praise for success, but he does not. That's why it's silly. It's difficult to take those seriously that blamed the Inter loss on him though.

Really?

So I guess there's no point in arguing then.

I dunno why you guys pay so much attention to this non-Milanista. The guy knows and cares nothing for our tradition. Just another gloryhunter (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)

The facts are even with Shevchenko at his peak we were hardly ever a one man team. Heck not even with Van Basten. BUT NOW $#!tlegri has INSTITUTIONALIZED the "play the ball to iBra" tactic with an endless supply of goons behind him. Yeah we might win the league again but I'd rather lose it and keep our identity than be some kinda inter ripoff

Glad I decided to read that. I'll be the bigger man and not respond to an attack on my character. Cool story bro.

This post has been edited by kurtsimonw: Feb 4 2012, 03:59 AM

you make it out to seem given our injuries we were destined to lose to lazio regardless of who we fielded. as far as this lazio match is concerned, are you willing to blame and chastise ambrosini for being the complete hindrance to our fluidity in the final third that he was? or do you think, well, ambrosini shouldn't be asked to play in that position, and perhaps the coach misplaced him in his team sheet. im certainly not willing to blame ambrosini. Is it his fault he's not a great box to box mid at this point? I grit my teeth with frustration when I see him played in the box to box role, but not because i dislike him as a player. in fact, when MvB is rested and ambro is played in his position, im generally satisfied with what he does there. ALLEGRI shouldn't have played him there to begin with. Invoke the injury situation all you want as a defense. Perhaps you're right, and we were bound to lose to lazio regardless. But some of us would have liked to see some shred of tactical knowhow and field seedorf there regardless, that midfield CLEARLY did NOT need another defensive midfielder!

and yes, the inter loss is allegri's fault, because urby should NEVER be played as a trequartista. that is just simply not what hes good at..and I can even cut allegri a break and allow him to do that against say, lecce or siena (like milanbuff88 said - in small matches/injury crisis it's fine once in a while if that's what he chooses to do). but not F'ing inter milan. An inter milan team that is clinical in the defensive phase, and not much else. And those who say the 'creativity' problem isn't a viable criticism of Allegri. PLEASE - point out the creativity in a van bommel, nocerino, boateng, urby midfield?! Yes, you're right in saying that we had all the possession in that match - cuz that's bound to happen against Inter. The only way to find a way to goal is with some attacking ingenuity in the side! Yet Allegri started with both El Sha and Seedorf on the bench. Tactics wrong.

AND THEN...in the one match we ought to employ a destructive midfield - against Barca..Allegri fields a seedorf, aquilani, mvb midfield! who is supposed to cover ground against Barca's pacy/tricky players?! arsene wenger was as naive against barca with his midfield selection, and he got ripped to shreds because his defense sucks and they couldn't cope. the ONLY reason Allegri didn't was because of Thiago Silva and Nesta. again, tactics - incorrect.

And generally speaking, Kevin Prince-Boateng is not a trequartista! He is a box to box midfielder and ought to be fielded in the midfield. I've been begging for a Boateng-MvB-Aqua mid + Robi-Pato-Ibra attack. Boateng has worked behind the strikers in serie a in the past..yes. However we have European ambitions. And every opponent that we've faced with any chance of competing in Europe within Serie A, we've lost to this season. That should be our measuring stick. sorry, Juve and Inter were awful last year, and we were better than Napoli this season. We won a weak Serie A last year.

Our Scudetto last season has not instilled blind faith in Allegri. I guess that's all i can say for myself - and a few others here.

PS - be easy dru, he's not an inter fan for f*cks sake. lol geez.

This post has been edited by vnata001: Feb 4 2012, 04:54 AM