Very big. In fact, he was just a sample dozer. They did not make more like him after that, so he's one of a kind dozer.

Happy birthday pato...Hope for you to bring us more goals...The more u play the more consistent and dangerous you are...

Happy B-day Pato boy!

19 offically today! damn he's older than me now. but HAPPY BDAY PATO!!

Keep growing kid. Happy birthday!

Happy birthday, Ducky




(And remember to prove doubters wrong)

happy birthday

QUACK QUACK! Happy birthday!

Buon compleanno

Where did that nickname come from? I hadn't heard it before... (but I like it... Patinho )

Patinho means young duck in Portuguese,and Pato means duck

Happy Birthday Alexandre!

Happy Birthday to our wonder boy!

it'll be like kaka a few years back. golden boy was his nick, then he asked the tifosi to no longer refer to him as a boy.

pato really is a boy, even though he doesnt play like one on the pitch. i remember getting the chance to watch him playa couple years back, and during the pre-game warmup he was staring at the crowd in awe, sorta like curious little kid.

Golden boy I hope he turns! After the Olympics I kind of lost faith in him, first he came and said that he'll be top scorer and score in every game then he had an awful tournament! As Dunga said about him he should mature a bit!!!

Happy B kid!

zd's gonna kiiillll you....

Yeah, Jack's speaking from experience. See you in the next world, Morgoth. It was nice knowing you!

(Welcome back!)

Dunga wasn't patient enough with him. I agree he perhaps bit off a bit more than he could chew, but I believe if Dunga hadn't acted like a dork and used him regularly, gave him more time on the pitch and above all showed him a little more faith (instead of publicly criticizing him), he would've scored 2 or 3 goals...

His loss.

Patinho, I'll start to call him by that for the next year or so, is a wonderful player if he is given the opportunity. Dunga was just stupid. It's his own loss. You should never publicly criticize a player on your team... that really hurt Alex... and I'm sure he's more than happy not to represent Brazil especially when someone like Dunga is in charge.

Its kind like how Frey and Trezeguet are treated by Domenech...

Actually it's not. I think we're blowing this thing out of it's proportions. Both Frey and Trez are older and also are in great shape. Both essential to their teams.

Pato is still a youngster - he has to prove himself. Last season showed he has the talent and potential but that's still far from Frey's chase. Espcially Frey's - cause France has now a keeper issue to deal. Brazil on other hand has plenty strikers left even without Pato.

Frankly I don't think any of their strikers come up to par with Pato. Not Sobis (where is he going? Oh yes Qatar or something), not Jo (why Dunga trusts him more than Pato is beyond me)...

I think Pato has matured quite quickly...

But Brazil are playing a senior team match, am I right? That means - Robinho, Luis Fabiano, Jo, Baptista,... more then enough.

Robinho is the only one that you can say has the same type of talent as Pato has, the others apart from being more mature and experianced are not better then Pato.

They don't have as much quality in attack as people have come to expect from Brazil

so true. if you can even consider this a problem, i think brazil's problem is the type of players they have. kaka and dinho are extremely creative players, but their creativity would be accentuated by a hit man. THAT is why they use luis fabiano, whose quite a clinical finisher around the goal..BUT, fabiano doesnt really create for himself, he needs service on a silver platter. Meanwhile, robinho and pato aren't CLINICAL finishers either, but they do create well for themselves and others..yet prefer balls to their feet. They are more creators than finishers and they play the same position, BOTH are support strikers, they can't really play at the same time. I think an on form Adriano, if he were to regain the form of 2004-5, could save them, big, strong, fast, powerful, clinical (drogba-esque)..but if he doesn't they've got some problems. they no longer have that DECISIVE striker that Ronaldo used to be for them..

Edit it before dst see's the post! I'm sure he'll punch you for saying Robinho has any talent at all, let alone anything like Pato's!

Call me fanboy, Pato mad, whatever you want, but I won't write off Pato as a prima punta. I think he can do very well in that position. he's no Shevchenko when it comes to headers? Ronaldo (LNdL) wasn't a good header either. or maybe I should put it this way: he didn't need to use his head because he could do whatever he wanted with his feet, and scored a crazy amount of goals. now Pato is arguably a better header compared to Ronaldo (at the age of 19 he has already scored a handful of well-taken headers and he sure can improve at that). yet he doesn't really need to have that ability to become a world class goal scorer. he just needs experience and time.


//


Robinho as talented as Pato? sure.

Robinho as good as Pato when he was 18-19? never.

Go dst! For some weird reason, I am now a Pato fan cuz of u. I really really want him to do well.
But right now, we have seen a bit what Pato can do. The only barrier that's stopping him from becoming explosive is time and of course, Carlo Ancelotti.

You summed it up in a few words

Seriously, sometimes people forget they're talking about such a young striker; he needs time. he's not a finished article yet. it's easy to find to weak points in him and it's easier to bash him for not being perfect yet. though few footballers have been better than him at this age. few have managed to get their way to the starting XI of a club as big as Milan. there is Messi, who came from Barca's youth system, same goes for Bojan, etc. it's not easy to move from your home country at the age of 17 to a new country, new team with different style of play compared to South American ones, new league (which is head and shoulders above the Brazilian league in every aspect), new teammates, etc. and still manage to do these things; score 9 goals in a few months (not to mention the injury setbacks he went throught), show such promise, etc.
I can't stand people who say he's overrated because he has already proved he is not! he had a bad Olympic, so what? Dunga didn't trust him and his teammates didn't really provide him with gold chances on silver platters through the tournament. he was up there on his own most of times. he's yet to have a few bad games in a row for Milan [which is not really unusual for someone like him] even that is not a worrying sign, let alone that 20 minutes against Bologna, which doesn't mean anything at all.
Anyway... I hope he convinces Carlo to use him as a lone striker in front of Dinho-Kaka against Genoa.

I don't think dst is coming back. At least not so early from his trip to distant galazies. So no reason to worry, Han.

For better or for worse, I don't believe Carlo believes in being convinced. He'll bench you if he feels so, and in my honest opinion that's one of the down points of our coach.

(Thanks )

I don't think it's a patience issue, Dunga gave full confidence in the beginning, but I saw him playing and honestly he didn't suit the tactic at all, he wasn't enough mobile up front and deserted his position more than once, maybe he has the characteristics of a prima punta but he can't play in that position yet, he needs time! The other thing that worries me about him is his work rate, he may has class but if he doesn't run for the ball and just wait for it he'll become a burden for the team (the way R9 was at times even though he's a better finisher), he must improve a lot!
I agree though that Dunga shouldn't have criticized him publicly . By the way, this story about him being kind of careless started last year when some medias said that it was the reason Carlo benched him ... hope it's not true!

Edit. Il Corriere is reporting that kaka, dida and puma dined with him lately and are very engaged and concerned about him ... nice

He has a point, he is just 19 has time a lot of time, and considering he is training with players like Kaka', Ronnie, and S7 .. He will learn a lot

Like acid said, dst can't do anything to me since he's still in a galazy far away


Don't gang up on me now.

My view was un-biased, Robinho wasn't as good as Pato is during that age, but he had a remarkable goal tally at Santos before his move to Real.

Regarding pure talent, Pato wins out imo, but in terms of the strikers Brazil have right now, Robinho and Pato are the only ones that you can say have the talent to rival the strikers Brazil had in the past

Far, far, away. As in Star Wars.


Hey, where does that leave Rafael Sobis?

He's not very talented at all. If he was, why the move to the UAE was it? Though I heard the move fell through...

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/overs...Real_Betis.html

He's a poor striker at best... dunno why Dunga relies on him.

I didn't mean anything! sorry!...

Don't lie I'm pretty sure your head nearly blew off when I said that Robinho and Pato are equal talent wise

True story.

Leonardo: Pato's too lazy

Milan legend Leonardo warns Alexandre Pato he’ll never break into the first team unless he works hard in every training session.

The 18-year-old was a sensation when completing his £10m move from Internacional, but disappointed at the Beijing Olympics and in pre-season.

“He has all the quality of a champion, but he must understand that in Italian football if you want to last for 10 years you’ve got to give 100 per cent every single day,” said Milan director Leonardo.

“He has to run, fight, sweat in training and listen carefully to the advice of Coach and teammates.”

Pato’s poor fitness has prompted concern, but Leonardo insists it is more an issue of form.

“He has no physical problems, nor psychological ones. He is happy within the squad and working hard. The directors are very close to him, both in terms of his sporting career and his private life.

“Pato is a valuable member of the club and we have absolute faith in him.”

‘The Duck’ faces increased competition this season with the arrival of Ronaldinho, Andriy Shevchenko and Marco Borriello.

“I think this will be good for him, just as it will motivate our other strikers,” added Leonardo.

“We don’t have too many forwards, as Carlo Ancelotti knows how to handle them and Milan, thanks to this wider group, will be able to entertain the crowds and achieve great results.”

Link

Well, well. Leonardo is, unfortunately in this case, the one person who I'd actually believe. Fingers crossed Pato can come out of this phase soon. He's needed.

It's an interesting statement there, but it's not sourced -- ie, where did Channel 4 get the interview? I can't find it anywhere in the Italian press.

Leo is 100% right about what he said and it's the exact feeling I had after the Olympics!

I've noticed that too

But I still believe he's lazy

Leonardo never said Pato is "too lazy" (just the damned media's creation) he just said he has to improve his fighting spirit and I for one agree with that. there's nothing unusual about it as no 19yo has ever been 'prefect'. and I don't see a cause for alarm about Pato's "poor fitness". he just played bad for 20 minutes and the Olympic's form has nothing to do at all with his Milan form. people are too quick to bash...

To be fair, Leonardo never actually says the words 'he is too lazy' he only says what it takes to be successful in the Italian game and that Pato can work harder in training then he already does.

We can thank our friends over at Channel4 for the great headline though. Now I can't wait to see what they write on goal.com 'Pato getting fat and doesn't do anything during training: It's the Dinho effect'

Yeah no kidding... I used to trust Channel4... but not so much anymore. They have a bit of a mistranslation problem.

Goal.com has already taken up on this... they print a lot of rubbish...

http://www.goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=853110

Surprisingly they didn't do anything too outrageous..

It's true I'm quick to bash, but in my opinion a 19 yo kid should have more work rate and runs more than a 30 yo man, compare him to Paloschi for example and you see two different players. I agree though that the physical form has nothing to do in here, it's just media bs!

It's just media rubbish and I think people should move on from this. The kid is fine shape... he doesn't have physical problems at all.

I didn't mean you I meant the people, the media, etc.
But as I said he still has to learn many things. I don't get all this. he's not supposed to be complete in every aspect yet!