Week 36:

Atalanta - Livorno
Cagliari - Fiorentina
Catania - Reggina
Empoli - Udinese
Lazio - Palermo
Milan - Inter
Parma - Genoa
Sampdoria - Roma
Siena - Juventus
Torino - Napoli

The Long Awaited Milan Derby - can't belive its finaly here!
We could more than take something from this one!
Time to teach inter a lesson! - We are Milan (not them!)

At this point, I'm hopeful about the match. Things seem finally to be working well for Milan -- even Bonera's putting in good crosses -- and Pippo is in blistering form.

The lower-case-m merda are still favourites, but I think things are a little more even than they would've been a month or two ago.

We've got a chance.

so if Milan should level with Fiorentina , we get the 4th spot cause we drew 1-1 at home and we won 0-1 there ... right ??

Definitely!! (wha Tennie said)

Yea i believe so!

It's 50-50 IMO... it's about time we win a derby. Hopefully Milan plays their best...

Kalac
Bonera Nesta Kaladze Jankulovski
Gattuso Pirlo Ambrosini
Kaka Seedorf
Inzaghi

hopefully Pippo can keep up his hot streak. If Janku isn't fit from the start maybe use Favalli (or even Bonera) on the left. Not sure if Oddo can play from the start either.

yep a draw from fio and a win from us will take us forth place!

Forza Cagliari!!!!!!!!!

(and Forza Milan of course!)

no ibra right?

Correct. It's probably Balotelli-Cruz.

This match will prove decisive indeed
I'm going for a 1-0 win to Milan bcuz we simply have to
btw, Pato playing in this game or not?

Here are the projected lineups from Gazzetta. It's early and subject to change, however.

Kalac
Bonera Nesta Kaladze Favalli
Gattuso Pirlo Ambrosini
Kakà Seedorf
Inzaghi

Julio Cesar
Maicon Chivu Materazzi Maxwell
Vieira Cambiasso Zanetti Stankovic
Crespo Cruz

I hope we find a better option for the left back. Favalli nearly died of exhaustion against a relegation zone team yesterday. he won't be able to stop Maicon and others...

Not playing Pato would be a terrible mistake... It's like benching Sheva when he was here. It's laughable. Unless he is still struggling with fitness issues...

Agreed. and I think if we want to win, we MUST kill the game before the half time. otherwise our tiredness and lack of depth will come back to haunt us, like it happened in so many games this season.

+1
We always played a great first half and "let chips fall where they may"
second half.Plus an episode of brilliant tactical changes by Ancelotti,
tired legs, lack of depth from bench,I doubt we'll win this match

For those of you who want to see Pato start, what sort of lineup do you envision?

I really don't think Pato is going to start.
He'll come in either second half or last 20 mins depending on the situation of the game.

This match is being shown on Channel Five's Football Italiano programme (UK'ers only).

The same one we've used the past couple games (Inzaghi up front) which has resulted in a ton of goals. It's the defense I'm worried about.

Usually Ambrosini has to be sacrificed so:



I know we weaken defensively as we're withdrawing a DM, but we'd definitely do better offensively. personally I believe we can succeed with this formation. remember that attack is the best form of defense

Humm, I don't think Carlo is going to risk anything by changing his formation

Pippo is in great shape (8 goals in the last 4 matches) so he'll definitely start, and Carlo has no guts to put 2 strikers, he'll probably wait to be one or two goals down to throw Pato and maybe Gilardino!

Anyway, let's hope for the best. Forza Milan

Arf double post

I would make only a slight change to your tactic zd,



Now, we are good to go!!

If Oddo is match fit, why not?

Kaladze usually does good in big games... And Bonera is in much better shape that Oddo... So I wouldn't change that. Inter's defense is weak and if we exploit them, they will break. And Pato specializes in that, so I would put Pato and Inzaghi upfront with Ambro on the bench. Having an extra defensive midfielder doesn't mean we're going to concede less. If anything, we've learned that it actually is the opposite most of the time if you look back this season. We're at our best when we're attacking and Pato is our most offensive player along with Kaka.

It's true Max.
Unfortunately, Carlo did/do not realize it
I can see R7's point about playing 2DMFs and all
but IMHO Carlo's tactic is always too predictable and lacks of "VOILA' element..

i´m just waiting to see who will be the inter defence that kaka will get injured



i think pato would play from the start, that way we can open inter defence. by the way, we would see how pato response in maybe the most important match of the season (to getting the 4th spot)

I don't think Pato will start. I do, however, think he'll come off the bench at some point.

Juve match is the most obvious example of why we should have more than Inzaghi up front. we could have scored 3 or 4 goals in the first half with more attacking force, but what happened? we conceded the second half like we had done many times before...

+1

Carlo won't go into such game that offensive!

he will probably put in pato (for seedor, if we're plying x-mas tree) if we're up at half time or just replace him for inzaghi.

i just hope pippo can show his form again against the merda!

LOL @ the formations.

this is it no doubt about it.

--------kalac----------
bonera-nesta-kaladze-favali-

-gattuso-pirlo--ambro--seedorf-

---------kaka------------------
-------------------inzaghii------

4-4-1-1

janku is terrrible these days he wont start. ODDO wil come in when favalli will get tried and bonera will slot to LB.

Seedorf will also play a defencive role until we counter. kaka and inzaghi will be up front alone.

It may be best to throw on a super motivated, quick direct Pato late in the game (60th Min maybe) at a probably tired, slow Inter defence, that will most certainly scare them

Carlo knows what he is doing

I agree. Stick with the same formation, that the players are comfortable in and are used to, and then throw on boy wonder, when it's around the 60th or 70th.

Besides this is a big game. I trust Pippo implicitly. And Pato-Pippo is an untested combination, which I don't want to try out, not against the merda especially. It's not quite the same as benching Sheva, because Sheva-Pippo was something else.

Check out Bonera at RB though... Wow...is he really growing into a Stam replacement??

btw Pato still havnt proved how good he is against the big teams.
remember Arsenal? I hope he proves me wrong...

Pato (alongside God) was the only one that actually did something in those two nights. If our midfield was not on vacation he could have done more.

We need this win more than inter!

Lets hope Pirlo is hungry...

FORZA MILAN!!!

Pato was very good against Arsenal, and he already gave us 3 points against la Fiorentina. I believe he can be very good against any team, and reacts very well to the pressure

I think it will be the tree formation. It has nothing to do with guts, this formation won a lot for Milan. I mean the tree formation shifts during the game to a 442 when possession is with Milan, hence there will always be two strikers

And with Pippo upfront, there is no need to worry

He reacts very well to pressure, yes, but he'll need to brush up on his teamwork skills, which come across as lacking when compared with someone like, say, Ronaldo. Sometimes it's a good idea to keep the ball, and create something for the rest of the team, as opposed to shooting long shots. He's got the skills and speed to do just that. That's his only apparent weakness, which he can improve upon.

But of course, he'll learn more with time and experience. He isn't even 20 yet!

Not vacation ... Seedorf and Kaka' seemed injured ... They didn't look close to being at 80% on the night!

I actually think it has to do with guts, playing with one striker is obviously more defensive than playing with two, especially since we don't have wingers!

Oh, and don't tell me you count Kaka as a striker because he's not and never will be, actually we don't shift to a 4-4-2 formation but to 4-4-1-1 if we face a team with strong full backs/wide midfielders/wingers, it's an equilibrium we must find or we get destroyed, so it's more a defensive reaction than something else.

He is not even 19 yet...


What about Pirlo, Gattuso and Ambrosini then?

Carlo Ancelotti has the experience and tactical knowledge, above all other Serie A coaches at the moment. The formation; 4321 is one which he is notorious for, hence it has nothing to do with guts, but how he can bring out the best his side has to offer on the pitch.

Then it depends on how you see it. A 4411 or a 442 ... Kaka' is no striker, but he has been used by Ancelotti as a second punta/attacking midfielder in most of the crucial games. He has integrated him into a new role as to give Clarence more freedom.

Those guys were really off form


Please dont bring this game up again. Had our midfield been of form, who knows *sniff*

I don't agree with that but it's another story!



Changing his formation is having the guts, I'm not talking about the way he likes to play but about taking risks! As for bringing the best out of his players, I think he lacks a lot in that department, I'm 100% convinced that he has no motivation skills at all and therefore can't bring out the best of any player, Pirlo and Seedorf are a very good example The fisrt one is doing exactly what he did two years ago (before the WC) and the second plays whenever he feels to ...



Yes, but he doesn't give Seedorf any freedom when he puts him on the left side, Seedorf has more freedom and expresses himself in a better way when he plays behind the striker(s) ...

Guts is when you take a team who's average age is well above 30 and go beyond all expectations and criticism to achieve something, that made Europe stand up and applaud.

Motivation ?! He brought the team back to life after Istanbul, that night the team was shattered, the season after that the team only got stronger. What more ?! Oh another ?! He took the team last season to European glory, when most other coaches and their teams would have not withstood the pressure.

What Andrea Pirlo is today, is because of Carlo Ancelotti. And Seedorf ? I mean, I cant criticize him, the man is (as Desailly dubbed him) a junction in the heart of the Milan midfield, most team would kill for a midfielder like him.

It is always easy to criticize my friend, seeing has hindsight is always 50-50. And I am not one to tell you agree with me or don't, I just hope you can see that there are different aspects that you need to consider.



Of course Seedorf has more freedom when he is behind the strikers ... With that said, you need to take into account that there is a balance in midfield that the coach needs to pay heed to. Something us fans don't necessarily comprehend.

Today's training note: there wasn't any. The team had the day off and will train tomorrow afternoon.

The lower-case-m merda have two days off and will resume training on Wednesday.

MILAN-INTER: SOLD OUT

4/28/2008

MILAN - A.C. Milan communicates that at 18.00 on 28 April 2008 the tickets for the match Milan-Inter programmed for Sunday afternoon at 15.00 at San Siro have been sold out. 38.626 tickets were sold which, added to the 43.140 subscribers, bring the total data to: 81.766 tickets for a total of 1.801.467,00 euros.