[han2503]

So, is it now that we can push the panic button Han?

Didn't watch but going by the comments, I guess it is time to start worrying.

There's obviously sill time to make the 2 or 3 signings we still desperately need imo, but I'm just not confident Galliani will get the job done. He's spent too much money already on signings that haven't really improved the squad imo and this has been my fear from the very start. Galliani is simply not good enough to handle transfer business anymore

It's alarming, there's no getting around it. What has really changed from last season? New manager, a few so-so signings and that's it. In the beginning I was thinking we'd spend big time and get important names, but nothing of the sort has happened. The start of the season is 16 days away, and we're in a dire situation.

I think the fact that we actually have a proper coach this season will be an important factor over last. But will it be enough to get us into 3rd place on it's own? Obviously not

Defence = shite. I was dreadfully worried about the state of it, and 5 goals conceded in two games backs that up. We don't have a single CB I completely trust. Mexes = always getting sent off. Alex = always getting injured. Zaps = needs an alpha partner. All our faith is going in some kid from Roma FFS.

Midfield = shite. I am going to concede to Han on this - while I don't fully think a regista is the solution to EVERYTHING, we are in dire need of one. We simply do not have one single player we trust to put his foot on the ball and make a pass. We have no Pirlo, Gerrard, Modric, Turan type player in there. Witsel would be that man but we seem miles away from getting him. We just have no control in the middle.

Attack = it has potential but without supply it's not going to score.

Management = worrying. We looked great first half v Real, but since then it's fallen to pieces. The Audi Cup was utterly embarrassing - every inch the ICC from last summer. It's one thing losing to Greek champions, or a strong Liverpool, or Man City - but f*cking SPURS?!

Thing is, Witsel is not a regista either. He's box-to-box. That's why I'm still so sceptical about the entire thing because we already flushed major money on Bertolacci who's also a box-to-box guy. Witsel imo will bring much needed added quality to the side but he's still not exactly what we need.

If Ibra comes the issue of creativity will be solved. But the fact that we have no orchestrator in our midfield is seriously worrying for me. When we're playing against a side that backs off us it won't be as glaringly problematic, but if we play a team that presses us and gets physical with us we simply have no answer and continually concede possession because our midfielders are all very limited, both creatively and technically

Re the defence. I think Mexes and Zapata is our best bet tbh or Mexes and Romagnoli if we sign him

[Danny]

Thing is, Witsel is not a regista either. He's box-to-box. That's why I'm still so sceptical about the entire thing because we already flushed major money on Bertolacci who's also a box-to-box guy. Witsel imo will bring much needed added quality to the side but he's still not exactly what we need.

If Ibra comes the issue of creativity will be solved. But the fact that we have no orchestrator in our midfield is seriously worrying for me. When we're playing against a side that backs off us it won't be as glaringly problematic, but if we play a team that presses us and gets physical with us we simply have no answer and continually concede possession because our midfielders are all very limited, both creatively and technically

Re the defence. I think Mexes and Zapata is our best bet tbh or Mexes and Romagnoli if we sign him

Berto isn't box to box. Not from his displays this pre-season. He's a sitter. He doesn't move around a hell of a lot. He's a less mobile version of Poli but with more ability to pass simple. He cleans stuff up - not really what we needed but what he does he does fairly well. Did have one absolute zorker of a shot though. Should have been a goal.

Stop relying on Ibra.

I'm going with Alex and Zaps (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[X-Offender]

Witsel might not be Verratti or Modric, but he will still bring much needed quality in midfield. He's like Van Ginkel in a way, only a much better and experienced version of him.

[X-Offender]

By the way, since we're playing 4-3-1-2 this season, has anyone else wondered that we don't even have a proper trequartista to begin with? Honda is crap, Bonaventura is average, Bertolacci will most definitely be played as CM. That leaves only Suso, who's still a big question mark, and Menez, who's way too much indisciplined to be relied on.

We keep talking about CBs and CMs, but the trequartista role is very important too, especially if Ibra won't come.

[Danny]

Weirdly I'm not overly sure the 1 in the 1-2 IS meant to be a trequartista.

I feel like that position is somewhat redundant - it's evolved into the super forward - the Suarez, Ronaldo, Messi who is as goal-providing as they are creative.

I have a suspicion we're looking less for a treq and more for that all-round super forward. And that's where an Ibra type comes in.

We're just not being linked to ANYONE who fits the bill of treq the way we understand.

[X-Offender]

Ronaldo is a pure winger, you rarely see him playing in the traditional "hole". Messi can play there because he's a natural number 10, whereas Suarez is a typical striker.

No team plays 4-3-1-2 anymore, at least not the big ones. Juve and Inter re-intoduced it last season after a long time, and Juve had to play Vidal there because they had no proper trequartista, which they are looking for now with names like Draxler and Götze being linked with. Inter already have Hernanes and Kovacic who can play there. We used to play Boateng and Robinho under Allegri because we had no better options.

The point is that if we wanna go for 4-3-1-2, we need someone behind the strikers who can be that creative asset whilst at the same time being a dangerous goal man. Suso is the only one that fits the bills perfectly from the players we have, but he's a big question mark at this point. Honda is crap, as I already said, and Bonaventura can barely be defined a "creative asset". Menez is too indisciplined, just like Ibra will be.

If you remember under Ancelotti, Rui Costa and Kaká spent a huge chunk of their time in midfield, collecting balls and helping the mids. That's what a trequartista entails, and it's the only way a 4-3-1-2 can properly work. I don't buy it for a minute that if you put someone like Menez, Suarez, Ibra etc. behind the strikers it will work, especially Ibra who's 34 and doesn't have it in him to be running at full pace for the whole 90 minutes.

[han2503]

Berto isn't box to box. Not from his displays this pre-season. He's a sitter. He doesn't move around a hell of a lot. He's a less mobile version of Poli but with more ability to pass simple. He cleans stuff up - not really what we needed but what he does he does fairly well. Did have one absolute zorker of a shot though. Should have been a goal.

Stop relying on Ibra.

I'm going with Alex and Zaps (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I don't know about Bertolacci. He has certain traits of a box-to-box player like his runs into the box is something that he did a lot at Genoa. But he's not really a great passer and doesn't really track back all that much.

Can't stop, Ibra is the last hope I have for us having a semi-successful season

I think Mexes and Zapata work better together, plus Alex hasn't been all that encouraging this pre-season. His injury issues will also disrupt any continuity we want to get going this season in defence which is something we never had last season and was one of the many factors for our sh!t defence.

Witsel might not be Verratti or Modric, but he will still bring much needed quality in midfield. He's like Van Ginkel in a way, only a much better and experienced version of him.

Yeah, I agree. That's why I said he will bring much needed quality into our midfield, but he's still not exactly what we need

If you give me a choice of Witsel or Gundogan, I'd take the latter without any hesitation. Because I feel we need a regista more than a box-to-box guy. Even if quality wise they're at about the same level

By the way, since we're playing 4-3-1-2 this season, has anyone else wondered that we don't even have a proper trequartista to begin with? Honda is crap, Bonaventura is average, Bertolacci will most definitely be played as CM. That leaves only Suso, who's still a big question mark, and Menez, who's way too much indisciplined to be relied on.

We keep talking about CBs and CMs, but the trequartista role is very important too, especially if Ibra won't come.

If Ibra comes we can do without getting someone really good in there, as he'll make whoever plays behind him great because he does bring others into the game. I think Bonaventura for example would excel with Ibra just like Prince and even Noverino did before. But if Ibra is a no-go, this issue is very worrying. Menez doesn't really provide that link and all our potential mids for that spot are average at best without someone like Ibra to really get the best out of them

I still think a CM is still more important than an AM at this point though. We can make do with the guys you've listed for just this season, but the die situation in central midfield for me is the most pressing issue, one that doesn't seem to be anywhere near at the top of Galliani's list. We've had a sh!t midfield for 4 years now, doesn't look like that's about to change anytime soon

Weirdly I'm not overly sure the 1 in the 1-2 IS meant to be a trequartista.

I feel like that position is somewhat redundant - it's evolved into the super forward - the Suarez, Ronaldo, Messi who is as goal-providing as they are creative.

I have a suspicion we're looking less for a treq and more for that all-round super forward. And that's where an Ibra type comes in.

We're just not being linked to ANYONE who fits the bill of treq the way we understand.

Ronaldo either plays on the wing or as a CF, Suarez is a proper striker, I don't think I've ever seen him being played in the hole behind a front 2, Messi as x-off said is a pure 10, but even he doesn't really play the trequartista position either as Barca play a wide 3 upfront.

Like I've been saying already, if Ibra comes he's the main man in attack, not the guy behind the front 2. And really I don't think Adriano and Bacca should be playing next to each other whether Ibra comes or not. 2 pure CFs like those 2 rarely ever work well together.

If Ibra doesn't come then I think it will be Menez and Bacca

[Fillipo Simone]

You guys give yourself so much effort in analyzing all possible aspects, I gotta say I envy you. But as it looks to me, not much has changed. Milan still does not have the quality or the plan to bring us back in the CL or to the top.

Signing Ibra is a last hope, but it's also a easy way out, a shortcut. It's like Allegri's tactic, just pass the ball to Ibra and hope he'll do something. Now it's, just sing Ibra and a couple of nobody's, then hope something will happen.

[X-Offender]

You guys give yourself so much effort in analyzing all possible aspects, I gotta say I envy you. But as it looks to me, not much has changed. Milan still does not have the quality or the plan to bring us back in the CL or to the top.

Signing Ibra is a last hope, but it's also a easy way out, a shortcut. It's like Allegri's tactic, just pass the ball to Ibra and hope he'll do something. Now it's, just sing Ibra and a couple of nobody's, then hope something will happen.

I agree. By now, we should have laid the basis for the so-hoped restructuring. But the only players we've signed so far have been Mauri, Bertolacci, Adriano and Bacca. Very, very disappointing.

[han2503]

I've been weary of Galliani's moves and plan from the start. I was called negative and pessimistic. And I understand why you guys labelled me as that as at the start things looked promising. But the 70m he was about to spend on Jackson and Kondogbia were already insane and imo stupid. I don't think either player is worth what we were about to pay.

In the end we managed to get out of both, but it was an overall embarrassing exercise in showing an amateurish way of conducting business from someone who's been at this for nearly 3 decades.

Silvio and Galliani's relentless fetish with strikers still went on though and we spent 38m on 2 forwards who rely on service we cannot provide to be productive.

Overpaying by around 10m for a Roma player who also has only had one decent season at Genoa and we're about to do the same with Romagnoli. Neither player would have had a sniff in at being a starter at Roma btw.

Witsel would be the only real signing that will get me excited, and still I think that money could have gone into getting us a proper creative CM who's a natural orchestrator in the centre of midfield, something that Witsel simply isn't

Like I said in the other thread, Ibra could be the only redeeming factor of this mercato and even that is looking like a major longshot atm. But without him I can only see us getting a EL spot, even if we sign Witsel and Romagnoli

[X-Offender]

Supposing we sign Romagnoli and Witsel but not Ibra.

Romagnoli (25)
Ely (0)
Jose Mauri (0)
Bertolacci (20)
Witsel (35)
Luiz Adriano (8)
Bacca (30)

Amount spent: €118 million, more or less. Good or bad?

[Fillipo Simone]

Mihajlović was also a mistake, I'm sure. By getting Ancelotti or any big-name coach we could have attracted better caliber players. Now the only players who've been appealed by Milan are either former players like Ibra or Miha's former players like Romagnoli.

[Danny]

But the 70m he was about to spend on Jackson and Kondogbia were already insane and imo stupid.

Those players ended up costing Atletico and Inter 70M in total.

And you've done nothing but whine about the fact we got Berto and not Kondogbia.

You are SO contradictory!

[Danny]

Mihajlović was also a mistake, I'm sure. By getting Ancelotti or any big-name coach we could have attracted better caliber players. Now the only players who've been appealed by Milan are either former players like Ibra or Miha's former players like Romagnoli.

And La Liga's fifth top scorer and Colombian 20 cap 7 goal international Carlos Bacca.

We'll see come the start of the season if Miha was a mistake. I'll give him a few months for final judgement but will form an opinion after a few matches.

Audi Cup was diabolical.

[han2503]

Those players ended up costing Atletico and Inter 70M in total.

And you've done nothing but whine about the fact we got Berto and not Kondogbia.

You are SO contradictory!

Please point me to one post where I specifically said we should have gotten Kondogbia instead of Berto?

I was sceptical about Kondogbia from the start, didn't think he was worth what we were going to pay or what Inter ended up paying

Our argument was, and sorry for rehashing this but you're calling my contradictory now and you've also called me someone who doesn't ever change his views, it was about who is the better transfer. And looking at Inter's squad and what they needed for their midfield and then looking at our and what we needed for our midfield, I'd day Inter made the better move, because they signed a player that in theory should be the last piece to complete their midfield, while we on the other hand signed a player who we could still do without as we already have the likes of Bona and Monto to complete our run of the mill average quota.

I never said that Kondogbia would have been the better signing for US. Just that he's the better player with bigger potential and a better fit for Inter's needs than Berto is for ours.

Also, both teams overpaid for both players if you ask me. Kondogbia will only cost Inter 70m when you also add up the wages they'll pay him over the course of his contract

btw, the only thing that p!ssed me off about the Kondogbia deal is that we were made to look like idiots, just like with the Jackson deal