Just a difference of opinion then. I think it tarnishes the CL win if you don't really compete for the title or win the league the previous season. I'm sure Madrid, United, Chelsea, Barcelona could all just give up on the league in order to win the CL and probably end up doing it. I also believe League > Europe. Yes, it's nice to play in Europe and do well, but ultimately it's the league that decides everything for you and is the one that runs the longest.

3 bad seasons in a row so far for me. But like I said, just a difference of opinion.

What good is being the best team in Europe, when you're not even the best team in your city? Surely, inter has been the better team in Milan for so long it's not even funny.

Since Calciopoli, Acid. Not all that long.

Yes, of course, since Calciopoli. Then again, that's long enough for me. The amount of world beaters we have (or had) in Kaka, Nesta, Pirlo, Seedorf, Ronaldo, and everyone in between, we should have won most of our last encounters. Particularly when you factor in that we were playing against merda and their losing mentality.

The fact that we weren't even good enough to draw, is well, pretty bad.

It's not a difference of opinion pal, you're just being stubborn cause you don't like the CL. But you can't call a season in which you won the CL a bad season, no matter what! And this has nothing to do with one's personal view, you just can't...

I understand what you're saying about winning the CL when not competing for the championship and I agree with you but while it does tarnish your victory, if you win it you have not failed in any sense. I know you're not going to admit it but to me you are just being ridiculously stubborn here.

I don't like the CL? I'm not sure where you get that one from to be honest. And yes, it IS a matter of opinion. For a team like Milan, I think competing for both the league AND Cl should be considered an average season, because that is exactly what we should be doing.

Fail? I never said we failed by winning the CL. I think some people forget that Champions League ISN'T football. The Champions League is just one competition that Milan enter, so the season is judged on how we did as a whole in ALL competitions. I personally feel doing well in the league deserves more 'points' in how good your season in, as you play so many more games and don't get a break. So to fail in the league and the cup, but do well in the Champions League is by no means a success for one of Europes top teams.

That's my opinion, you can say what you like about it, I don't care.

This morning's training has taken place.

As usual, training began with warmups and stretching.

Following this, the players divided into groups.

Gattuso, Brocchi and Filippo Galli played calcio-tennis against Oddo, Emerson e Mauro Tassotti
Flamini, Seedorf, Ambrosini and Cardacio played beach-volley against Pirlo, Favalli, Paloschi and Darmian.

The rest of the team worked in the gym.

There will be another training session this afternoon.

Tennis and volleyball. Training must be awesome in Italy.

acmilan.com ... sucks



Top 3... 4th finish...? please!! anything less than a Scudetto will mean bye-bye Carlo. it's so obvious that there's no question about it.

You did talk about failure Kurt...


You can't call a CL-winning season a failure, period. Was it a good season overall? Certainly not. But a failure? Of course not.

Fine, my bad then. Not a failure, but a bad season. We've had too many lately, Carlo should not be manager.

Should have had a go for gold at the Olympics.

This truly is amusing... calling a team's season poor altough they won the Champions League. It's a bit prepotent. What would then a Palermo fan say? Their club had 108 bad years in a row?

Actually I think its a good season... but that's my opinion. We've had too many? We won countless trophies with Carlo. Fine by me!

Don't be so sure. Last season people said he would be fired if we miss on CL spot...

This is a fair example, but Ferguson has been with ManU for how long? And he had several years that were less impressive than Ancelotti's... give the guy a chance. We increased the depth of our squad this transfer season... I think now we're gonna get better than Inter (after Mourinho flops).

He would still be if he was at another club. No matter what the excuse, not finishing in the top 4 for a club like Milan (in the span of 38 games) is just not acceptable. Those 6-7 million Euros Ancelotti makes have to be accountable. Luckily for him and the 'Milan family atmosphere' they weren't.

Is he a bad coach? Far from it. Will I give him a second chance? Yes, by all means. But one more bad season, and all will agree it's time to move on.

That's the reason I'm so sure he can't continue like this forever. it's shape up or ship out for Carlo this season.

Afternoon training has taken place.

The first part was, as usual, focused on warmups. This time it included running a ball around cones.

Following this the team was divided into 3 groups and worked on tactical/technical exercises.

Kakà, Kaladze, Inzaghi and Borriello worked in the gym.

The team has tomorrow off due to the holiday (so do the Zebras). Training will resume Saturday.

I think this might be his last

He might have already agreed with Chelsea ... And he might leave if he fails to win with this team.

But if he wins, dst will have to have more tolerance

Different teams have different objectives. So if Palermo were to have finishined in the same places and won the same things Milan had won these last few years, they would have been incredible for them, since their expectations are obviously much lower.


I think 1 league title isn't enough with the players he's had.


I do think it will be his last year myself, but I don't think he'll be fired. It'll be more of a mutual parting thing.

Yeah he will most probably leave at the end of the season no matter what he achieves.

After the 0-5 to Chelsea I'm pretty sure Carlo will be fired at some point.

That's when his contract ends right ? yeah kurt, I don't think that is how Milan treats one of its most successful coaches.

It will be a sad day when he leaves, that is for sure ... I just hope that he leaves for a better club than Chelsea !

He's one of the most successful coaches we've ever had, and one of the most successful in the world. It will be sad when we lose him and I think some in here will want to take back things they said about him later on.

Oh Carlo's a semi-god here, we all agree on that one..

I don't think he'll go to Chelsea, not after getting Scolari. IF Roma were to have a bad season, and he became available, I think they may look into getting him. Or maybe he'll go and coach the NT.

lippi is already signed on for the road to 2010

How on earth did I forget he was coach. I still thought it was Donadoni for some reason.

1-cookie penalty to Kurt. (or a case of Irn Bru)

Ancelotti if Leaves Milan will go To Roma( now that the NT spot is impossible) he has repeated that several times!
I Hope Cardacio and Viudez would play in the game against Juve...We should give them a Chance!
Even if Ancelotti leaves and we put Alex Ferguson instead of him(fergie since he is one of the best)we would still be very close to what Ancelotti did...It's all the Fault of our Administration and thier Transfers Policies!Maybe w ecan get better with a great coach, but definetly not Much!

This is also Carlo's fault as he does come accross as a bit of a sheep, he wouldn't seem to care if we bought anyone in. He also backs all of our signings, which suggests he's happy with them.

For one, the transfer policy of Milan is far more adequate than what I've seen go on in Juventus or Roma. Roma while getting Julio Baptista, paid an absurd amount for him...

Milan's transfers this particular window have been very good, yes. We do still need a centerback, though.

Roma paid 9MM for Baptista - I don't think that's particularly unreasonable for him.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/aug14t.html

That's what they would paid initially... and on top of that there would be additional fees paid if Roma reaches the champions league. In reality, I think they should have looked elsewhere.

I still don't think it's unreasonable for the player.

--

A reminder for folks: today's a holiday in Italy (Ferragosto) and as such both Milan and the Zebras have the day off.

Carletto's given his prematch press conference. (original on acmilan.com's italian page.link My translation and apologies for any errors)

On tomorrow's game
It's not an official game but it's an important tournament because it's named after the father o four preisdent and it's important to us, especially because of previous match results. We'll try to play well knowing that we're playing against a team that's in form. Milan has grown a lot in the past week of work and we count on seeing it Sunday on the pitch.

Tomorrow, Inzaghi will be available, he's recuperated. He's a valuable striker who could give a hand. Nesta, Kaladze, and Maldini aren't available. As regards the defense (fishdoll note - I wish I was making this up) Favalli and Bonera will play in the middle while Zambrotta and Jankulovski will play on the wings. Abbiati and Dida will each play a half in goal.


On Milan
We've worked on the defensive part of our game and on recovering the ball. I hope that we could see something more than the most recent results and hope we play a game with attention on the defense. Not having strikers at our disposition in the moment means we can only really work with the defense and the midfielders.

Ambrosini will play in midfield, we're not in an emergency situation and we're not yet playing official games. Massimo has shown that he's available to play centerback in case there's an emergency situation.

Juve
It's a team in form that's starting to show it's force. It's a compact group that's much improved from last year. Juve has an attack that did well last year. This year, they've also got Amauri who will add to the strength of the attack.

On the market
It's hard to find a defender now with specific characteristics. Milan needs a strong defender and not a quick fix. Marquez (fishdoll says ack, Carletto, how could you?) is a player that has great experience and is an optimal defender and a player with these characteristics but I don't think Barcelona will sell him.

The club wants to reinforce the defense, we can recover Nesta and Kaladze in a hurry and I'm optimistic about their recovery.

Other comments
I don't now if the medal awards (fishdoll note: medal winners get cash prizes from the Italian government) should be tax free but I think the argument should be listened to. Footballers have always paid taxes. I don't think it's the fault of the footballers for earning a lot of money because it's one of the most popular sports in the worlds and I don't know why they should be involved in this discussion.

I hope the defenders trained a bit and are getting in better condition... and Abbiati will play in one half and Dida in the other? That seems appropriate.

I'd have preferred Dida playing this full game, and Abbiati starting off the season. Oh, well can't have everything in life.

Me too, but there are still 2 friendlies left , why does it mean Abbiati won't start off the season?

Here are the Milan call ups (from acmilan.com's italian page):

Abbiati, Dida, Kalac;
Antonini, Bonera, Darmian, Favalli, Jankulovski, Oddo, Zambrotta
Ambrosini, Brocchi, Cardacio, Flamini, Gattuso, Pirlo
Inzaghi, Paloschi, Seedorf, Viudez.

Unavailable players: Kaladze, Maldini, Nesta, Emerson, Borriello and Kakà

Today's training has taken place.

After warmups the players worked on high and low obstacles and then 10 and 20 meter sprints.

After this, the team was divided into groups to work on ball possession drills. The last part of trainign was as usual a practice game.

Inzaghi took part in the entire training session with his teammates.

Abbiati, Dida and Kalac, as usual, trained separately with Villiam Vecchi and Valerio Fiori. Abbiati and Dida were n goal for the practice game while Kalac continued to train separately.

Emerson took part in all the training except the practice game.

Maldini and Kaladze, after warming up with the team, trained in the gym. Nesta was also present at training as an observer. He did not train.

darmain shall start looking at that list or are we thinking ambro

In his press conference (see above), Carletto said that Favalli and Bonera would start in the center. God help us.

Yup he did ... This is going to be one big test for them, but they are all not so bad, I mean what is inter's current central pairing made of

IMO this pairing might not be on par with the quality that they will face, but they would give us the decider between choosing Abiatti or Dida. Which makes this an important test to see how Milan might coupe with the new Season.

oh i would have liked darmain having some playing time i still hope he mite get some atleast

What I personally would like to see as far as our formation goes

----------------Abbiati----------------
Zambro--Bonera--Darmain--Janku
------Flamini---Pirlo---Gattuso------
----------Seedorf--Viudez-----------
-----------------Pippo----------------

With Cardacio coming in for Pirlo or Rino at some point and Paloschi coming in for Pippo in the second half

But we all know that Carlo will come out with something like this

--------------Abbiati---------------
Zambro--Bonera--Favalli--Janku
--Flamini--Ambro--Pirlo--Rino---
--------------Seedorf--------------
----------------Pippo---------------

With Brocchi coming in for Gattuso at some point and MAYBE if we're luck Cardacio and Viudez coming in for the last ten minutes, that classic Carlo for you




This really makes me want to tear my hair out


You mean because the defence would be so bad thus giving the gk 3x the work to do, so it would be a contest of who makes the most saves

I don't really agree with this at all. I see the youngsters at least getting a good 45 minutes.

This game should be.. interesting.

I just had a random thought while reading this edition of Tennie dello Sport; only when Dida was under hell for the derby did Gazzetta and the other sport rags make note of his giving up X-amount of goals in the Dubai training session. Not a single peep since about any other training session he's had since then. God bless the media.