^^
Actually Nova, the point me and my Hija tal-qalb are trying to make is that you're comparing two players on technique, and declaring one to be better.
None of us argue, that Pato's technical skills is 10x greater than Gila's. Pato is at a distinct advantage wherein, Milan's midfield is almost tailor made for him to play whether with a striking partner or without one. For instance...
1. Pato can run onto through balls like the Roadrunner(Meep meep!!) much better than Gila can. And this basically means, he's foil for Pirlo, Seedorf and Kaka.
2. Pato can drift right out deep, and carry the ball up field, leaving Kaka and R99 (
) free to run up into space, and also thus Pato plays the very vital role of our very sorely missed second striker.
3. Pato adds marketability to Milan, as a bright youngster in an 'aging' Milan line up. In 4 matches, Europe doesn't talk of Krkic anymore. More jersey sales...and hopefully one mammoth TV contract. Too bad Nike won't allow a P7- The Mighty Duck clothing line.
In contrast, you're asking a very valid question...wtf can that A-hole B-tard Gilardino do, besides gracing Milan dinners with his lovely girlfriend.
Gila can't do any of the three things Pato does, though he tries like hell for all three (even Point 3- the D&G calendar was superb). But yes Pato does do it better.
Now consider this, Milan's formation 4-3-2-1 is one we're playing out of necessity. It just somehow worked out, with Kaka playing as an SS, and we've stuck to it.
You have to admit, that as a sole striker in that lineup, Gila>>>Pippo. The match against Liverpool..was well two typical Pippo goals, but he contributed very little else to the plan.
The fact is in that X-Mas tree, let's just analyse what Gila's strengths are and how he fits in...
Gila DOES not do stepovers or lane changes or rabonas or sombreros or elasticos or the fanciful unicorn any more than Seedorf runs at defences at full speed. He's an old world Italian centre forward. A goal box player with some target man capabilites.
1. Gila holds up the ball for other players to run on for him to play to. And quite simply after Pirlo, he's the only person in our squad who can come close to staying with the ball longer than 5 seconds in a 5 metre radius. Maybe Seedorf...but you can't tell Clarence to do anything. Just like you can't go tell Da Vinci to paint you an elephant. He'll do what he faackin feels like.
So in connection, Gila's role is not to score, his role is to hold up that freakin ball, and wait for someone to play it onto. His role is also to be in the box as a threat run on and score from crosses (yes...those 'cheesy headers' you mentioned), and keep the other defenders busy or hold onto the ball long enough for Kaka/Seedorf to run onto.
So let us run run through this again...
1. Be a constant presence in and around the box--->Check
Unfortunately this comes out as being in the box doing nothing. When nobody really sees, the 3 defenders on his shirt, leaving Kaka space.
2. Score from crosses---> Check...kinda
From corners, Gila is the best we've got, since Sheva left. As for crosses, Milan's setup unfortunately requires our fullbacks to step up to the plate. And for the last two seasons(including this one), our fullback situation has been cr@p- at least offensively. From corners he's still doing the trick.
3. Hold onto the ball, graft in the field, generally work hard and be the gopher, so our mid-field can do stuff.--->Check.
So all in all, his role in the game plan he is doing pretty well. Now let's check out a few other things he's doing...
1. He does drift back into mid-field trying hard to help our sometimes constipated down the centre approach. When you would hardly expect a 'goal-poacher' to do.
2. He's alert enough to run onto pacy through balls and score. Udinese being the latest one I can think of.
3. If you look at it traditionally the true blue target men were meant to hold the ball for the centre forwards to run onto. Essentially Gila is not a target man. He's a centre forward in the Italian (not English) style. He is meant to be the dude DOING the running onto. In this case from a second striker or from a wing forward. Milan has neither. So Milan force Gila to play the position he cannot and convert Kaka to a centre forward or our main goal scoring threat. It's the same thing with Pato. Pato is not a true SS, he is also a primo punta. That Gila puts his head down and does the job is a big thing.
Coz...and I know misha will kill me for this, but take a look at Sheva when Jose played him out of position. Or Del Piero. Or Raul. None of them could contribute much. In Sheva's case, we make the declaration (is it some kind of favouritism, I dunno), that Sheva's presence pulled defenders off and made Drogba the phenomenon. But in Gila's case...he's useless??
So then, here's what we're doing, we're putting in a nutshell a square nut into a round hole and hammering it as hard as possible till it goes in as much as it can. And then we turn around and say this nut is useless.
Either find a round nut or get a squarer hole.
^^^
That's one way.
The second...you buy Galliani's(at that it seemed to me) BS explanation.
'It's not written anywhere that a striker must score!'. We laughed rather bitterly then. But if you think about it makes sense. Is what we're doing now, any different from say what the Azzuri did in the World Cup??
What was Luca Toni's contribution as opposed to the mid-field's in lieu of attack. A brace in a match, with a school ground header and a kindergarten tap in. To be honest only Gila's and Pippo's goals in that entire tournament required any sort of 'typical forward skill'.
The forwards were there to pull the defenders off, so that mostly the mid-field could hold sway. Pirlo and Rino as motors in the centre and Totti and Camoranesi as spearheads. It worked...even though it was not mostly the mids who scored. The tactic worked. The defenders were pulled off by the strikers and the Azzuri lifted that cup. Of course I'm not saying this was the only thing the Italian NT did right, but it was one of the things.
Well...this has been a huge post, so I'm not gonna summarize a lot.
But I do believe I've answered what I felt were a few anti-Gila points u made.
1. That when he gets the ball, he plays it to Kaka rather than go for the play himself. It's his role. He did it to Paloschi too in that losing Coppa match.
2. Pato the wunderkind (right LaPalma?) can do it all on his own. To an extent...but he'll do it far better with Gila. He'll do it 1000x better than better if Gila is left in peace.
If Gila had been a useless piece of shite in the management's eyes...I have no doubts he would have left by now. The management does not own him anything in terms of sentimentality.Like for instance Cafu or Dida or Sergio. And as for that 17 mill euro deal. Puhleeze...Oli would still be here, if we cared that much for the bill than underperformance.
That is my view...and I understand perfectly why you would feel otherwise. Gila fits a tactical role. And he fits it well. Are there better players..yes...a thousand times yes.
For eg. As a target man...Gila would be better than say Bobo Vieri,except he lacks that vital ability to hold off defenders- turn-and-shoot. Defenders know Gila can't do that, so they can bravely clamber onto him, knowing that all he can do is play off to Kaka, who has meanwhile been nullified by a holding mid. So yes Gila is not perfect for that role. A Drogba or even a Berbatov would be much better.
If you wanna know why I support Gila so much, then this is it. Few strikers have been hated (in the history of Milan as a club!) more than Gilardino for doing the job his team wanted / asked him to do. A player of his talent, doesn't really need Milan much. Last season, a lesser professional would have flipped the bird, said...'Thanks ever so much for the CL...I'm off to Juve'...and we'd be hearing about Iaquinta still being in Udinese and Gila and Trez and Del Piero creating a new Serie A record.
A lesser professional would also not have said...'F@ck Calciopoli...I'll stick with Milan till Serie C2'.
So yes...my reasons for supporting Gila come from the heart and the head. But my reasons are my own, just like yours.
No offence...and please don't flame me. I'm just a talkative wimp.
And then it's Lazio just before Arsenal... for ****'s sake!
, but that was last year and i was in the stands when it happened 
OK then, since you feel that way... now go tell your friends. At least when I have something to say, I don't say it behind your back!
