"For ages"? Who is this kid?

Well he's 17, so I don't believe they've been watching him for ages! One of my Pakistani friend who recently left to play in the Swedish League thinks of him as a good talent. The kid is the captain of the Swedish under-17 team.

It's great to see Milan looking to youth! That's the way forward.

Seems like an interesting prospect, too bad he's Swedish.

come on boy (Gunnar NORDAHL 1949-56)
Winner of the Capocannoniere crown five times during his time with Milan, the (Swedish) giant became a legend of the Italian game. Scored 210 goals for the club including 35 League goals in just one season. Nicknamed ‘il pompiere’ – the fireman – due to his profession in his homeland.

Nothing wrong with the swedish

unless you're Norwegian and/or hate Abba.

Nordahl was the exception. The ONLY exception.

Now, who's Abba?


I'd say the who trio was the only exception. All of Gunnar Nordahl, Nils Liedholm, and Gunnar Gren. They kept Milan alive during the 50s. The rest were all average players, yes, like you said.

Gunnar Nordahl
Nils Liedholm
Gunnar Gren
Gre-No-Li @ Wikipedia

Is this a personal thing you have or do all Norwegians feel this way about the Swedish? And does it go the other way around too?


You're can't be serious!

As a matter of pure fact, I am. The only Abba(s) I know of are the Swedish band, but they're usually denoted as ABBA, and then there's a food company named Abba, and finally the word is used to denote father in most languages including mine.

So where am I missing out on, I wonder? My gut feeling is it's the band, but then again I've been wrong before!

Swedish media gets easily excited about young players and they like to exaggerate. Robin Söder is talented but he is not ready to move abroad yet. for his sake he should stay at IFK for a couple of years until he can think of a transfer abroad.

Paloschi is a lot more Talented than Robin Söder.

^^

Ahh..that settles matters nicely. If we are seeking him, it's so we can feed some smaller club, while we get one of their big players. Lisbon? Benfica? The Rui connection?


I meant the Swedish band....oh well ABBA if you insist. Snob!

That's more like it. As I said, I'm all for correct grammear and pronouncinationism.

Nah, it's not ENTIRELY serious.
Swedes and Norwegians have a long history of arguing and occaisionally going to war against each other, and the Swede's feel the same. It's not as openly hostile as, say, Iran-Israel, it's more like Scotland-England.

^^^
That's worse mate. I'd hate to be a Scotsman, and walk into a drunk kurt in downtown Birmingham.

I think scotsmen in general are very well prepared for circumstances that require them to kill or get killed.
Just look at these pictures.

Who said it was gonna be one on one?

Sorry Jack, but two scotsmen and an Irishman is an unbeatable combination that always the same way...total pwnage

So does anybody know what this guy is like?

I don't even know what position he plays.

He's a young striker, aged 17. I haven't seen him play, but one of my friend who lives in Sweden said he's a solid attacking player. I won't mind him once (and if) he improves.

As dst said in another thread, what the point of buying these players to waste them on our bench? We all know that as long as it's Carlo whose coaching the team then these young players would even struggle to make the Coppa Italia first 11.

I don't know why you would say that han ... But isn't Antonini and Pato getting chances to cement their place into the first team ? Borriello also is being highly regarded by Carlo ..

So why couldn't it be that all those youngsters weren't good enough/ had something lacking to play for this team ?! Why does it always have to fall on Carlo ?!

Like I responded to you in another thread regarding this. Neither Boriello nor Antonini are 'youngsters' as you call them. Both are 26 years old, or close to 27 years old. I wouldn't classify them as inexperienced youngsters who Carlo discovered with his keen eye for talent. One of them was competing for the top scorer position in the league and the other was one of Empoli's best players last season, there's a big difference when comparing these 2 guys to players like Viudez/Cardacio/Darmian. So I can't see how you would compare Boriello and Antonini to this Soder kid.

As for Pato, Carlo is pressurised to play him becuase of the price tag he was brought in for and because Silvio and Galliani both love him. If it were up to Carlo Pippo would be the one getting the nod in every game, no matter if he was scoring goals or not.

This is the type of coach Carlo is, he prefers experiance over youth. He doesn't believe that young players such as Gourcuff/Cardacio/Darmian deserve all that time put into them to develop.

I give Carlo the credit only where it's due, for example, Pirlo imo was because of Carlo's genius, if it weren't for him we might be seeing Pirlo playing behind the strikers in some middle table team today. Seedorf was also down to Carlo. He was the one that came up with the idea to play him as a central midfielder rather then a trequartista.

But if Boriello hadn't been loaned out last season and hadn't scored the ammount of goals he did you can rest assured that he won't be a first 11 player in our team.

Pato? If he did not play Pato he would not just be stubborn, he would be retarded.

Antonini is 26 and he is fielded out of place while Borriello is also 26 and when he WAS considered a young player, Ancelotti rarely gave him any chances. These two are not youngsters.

Why does Carlo have to be innocent for anything? Why do you defend him every single time, that's biased. He's a human and he makes mistakes... Every coach makes mistakes and any of us would make mistakes. When you're looking from the outside it's easy to spot the mistakes... we're talking from a safe side now as we would do better but that does not mean we're (always) wrong. Unless you think he's flawless in which case there's no point going on.

Carletto is a MILF Hunter. That's a fact. And it's not a bad thing in itself. The thing is, some times he's unjust towards the younger players and you should be able to see that since you watch Milan regularly. Unless, again, everything he does is positive to you...

han .. How do you know that Carlo is 'pressurised' to play Pato because of his price tag ?

Why can't it be that Pato is proving in training that he is worthy of a chance in teh first team ?

Gourcuff is something else han, when he came to Milan he didn't get much chance playing ... But he got something else, he got experience and learned a lot. Look at him now, all that you see of him, he learned in Milan. Of course the talent is there, but his tactical knowledge and sharpness came from Milanello that is for sure.

Borreillo proved at Genoa that he had more to offer and so he came back ... There is nothing wrong with that move.

Antonini and Borriello I keep considering them babies when paired to this team, I dont know why


Anyways, bottom line is ... This is a club which over the past 20 years has produced a team that is able to win, never has Berlusconi ever stopped and said "alright, we need to build a team for the future with youth players .. " .. Instead he would buy players, quality players and tell the coach "Go get me a trophy" This is the Milan I have grown up knowing.

The Milan is the same R7, with Mr. B and Galliani, but the coach is different this time. Remember how Paolo got his chance at the age of 16, and look where he's ended up. Of course, the coach saw something in him back then, and promoted him to first team football allowing him to develop. Had he not done that or loaned him, there was a big chance he'd have ended at some other club. Juve, comes to mind.

Bottom line is, Carlo failed to do the same with Gorcuff, Darmian and even Paloschi (to an extent). The reason? He doesn't believe too much in youth and unproven talent. When all these guys could have been useful for us, right at this very moment. Don't tell me that Gorcuff, Darmian and Paloschi couldn't have played Copa and UEFA Cup games, as well as being on the standby for Serie A. Okay, not Paloshci, maybe, but we sure as hell could have tried fitting them in our current system, instead of looking at other clubs for new players.

I've said it before, he's a bit of an elitist, so only the best (in this case old, proven players) fit into his system. Be them Brocchi, or Favalli, or Kaladze, or Emerson. I was even afraid he might play Ibrahim Ba when we ran out of options last season, and Gorcuff was no where in sight, not even as a substitute. Pato's case will always be different. Look at Sheva - Carlo and him had their differences in 2005-2006 and they still don't see eye to eye. Anyway, point is, all these stuff doesn't make Carlo look too bad, after all he's done for Milan, but that doesn't make him look great either.

For those boardmembers critical of Ancelotti: do you think he does anything right? Or is he just a bad coach?

For those boardmembers who defend Ancelotti: do you think he does anything wrong? Or is he just a wonderful coach?

I'm pretty sure that he is pressurised, he throws little digs at Pato at times that he doesn't do this wel and that well, almost trying to crush his morale so he wouldn't play well and he has an excuse to bench him. Like I said, he would prefer playing Pippo over him in any game, but he knows he'll get slaughtered if he does that and so he continues to play him. And if you think his price tag has nothing to do with it then you're very mistaken. Galliani would have a coronary after spending that ammount on Pato for him to be constantly on the bench

Gourcuff? We probably lost one of the most promising midfielders around right now thatnks to Carlo. Sure Gourcuff still got some experiance while at Milan but what is that worth to us when he's doing the business for another team? Yoann was never going to stick around for the kind of treatment he recieved for Carlo, not when he's that talented and treated as someone lesser then Brocchi and Emerson, it was never going to happen. Like I said we lost a real jewel in Yoann only thanks to Carlo.

You admitted it yourself regarding Boriello, had he never scored that ammount for Genoa then he surely won't be playing as a starter in Carlo's team. And with your theory, wasn't Boriello's talent always there? If Carlo had such a keen eye like you say wouldn't he have been able to notice that somethng special in Boriello during training and played him? And saved us from having to loan him to a million teams?

han, the last time Carlo Ancelotti mentioned Pato in a press conference, he PRAISED him for working on something that needed to be improved. how is this taking a dig and breaking his spirit?

Like I said to R7, I credit Carlo where he deserves it, for example Pirlo and Seedorf reached their full potential under Carlo's guidence.

The CL of 02/03 and the Scudetto of 03/04 were both in thanks to Carlo. Milan played attacking football with a never say die attitude in both those tournaments, and that is thanks to Carlo. But as for the CL in 07, I don't see it as Carlo's achievment and he certainly has his set of faults, particularly now that he has reverted back to that Carletto that managed Juve, the cowardly one known as an almost man.

Its pointless han ... You are just convinced that Carlo is a youth-player killer and Galliani is as stingy as a ...


Yes Borriello had the talent, he showed it once or twice when he was given a chance the season before he was shipped out. The reason he was brought back is that he showed his worth and thus he came back.

Milan didn't loose Gourcuff, Milan loaned him out to get a chance at first team football. For all we know, he could be a first team starter next season

And Pato ... Dunga benched him, Carlo benched him ... Does that me they want to kill his motivation ?! I mean, both Dunga and Carlo pointed out that the kid lacks something and in that aspect we know very little about, as THEY are the experts while all we see is 30 or 90 mins of the kid per week.

Don't go overboard han, if you feel that you want to stick with your assumptions that Galliani is stingy and Carlo is out to get rid of every youth player there is in his team then I'm not stopping you, just telling you as a friend that there might be something that we all are missing

As every other coach there is, he is not all right or all wrong. Whoever thinks the opposite is retarded.

He does praise him at times I'm not saying he's not but he does take small jibes at him at times, today he doesn't work for the team as much as he should, tomorrow he comes out and says that he should finish better. I'm sure if you'll ask zd he'll present to you the entire repertoire of Carlo digs towards Pato.

Sure he sometimes takes some time to praise him on improving something but it always starts with a negative, "he couldn't to this right but now he's working to improve it"

Imo these types of comments should be made 1 on 1 with the kid. Take him aside during training and give him the advice, not announce it to the media.

Yes but if Carlo is as you say so good at noticing the talent in players then why didn't he play him before he was shipped out for a co-ownership deal and we had to cough up 10mil to get him back?

Clearly they didn't even expect him to do anything worthwhile at Genoa, otherwise they would have loaned him instead of selling half of his contract.

You even saw the talent, so why couldn't Carlo see it and give him more time? Rather then playing Pippo or Gila who both were firing blanks all season long during the season before he was shipped out


BordoueX have an option to buy, thus this gives them first dibs on the player. Why in their right minds would they let him head back to Milan for free when the could keep him for another season or 2 to continue upping his price tag then sell him for a much larger sum?


Dunga wuld prefer playing a lazy @ss Adriano or the worthless Jo ahead of Pato. While Dunga's problem with Pato was that he wasn't aware of the offside line as he'd like him to be. I don't beleive for a second his reasonings and even if Pato is missing that something he sure as hell has a lot more to offer then those two combined no matter what is said about him.

Let's just say that a Pato with a low morale will surely put him back when it comes to performances, therefore Carlo can bench him.


There might be something we are missing but there is also a chance that I myself and several others on here are right and we'll see some things change for the positive once Carlo's stint as Milan's coach is over. Mainly youth finally being given a decent chance to break through

How do you explain Paloschi?

A very big stroke of luck, perhaps? I still can't forget Carlo's impression when the kid scored, it's like something unimaginable happened. This time last year, I know for a fact that that Aubameyang fella was ahead of Paloschi in the pecking order.

Still, this does not mean Carlo is a bad coach. For me, he's one of the very best coaches of Milan, right up there at the top. It's just that he's not perfect. Like dst said. He can't be. Neither can anybody else. Or else they'd be Maldini.

Like acid said, a big stroke of luck. We had no strikers at the time. Paloschi was the only option and we were really desperate for a goal, Carlo decided to throw him on. He was just as surprisd by it as everyone else

Exactly. It was almost as if fate wanted him to start for the senior side. That's not to say he didn't earn it, those couple of goals he scored before helped his cause. But yeah, as han put it, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised by his goal. So was Carlo.

The constant injuries to Ronaldo also helped his cause, as we had a serious striker shortage at that time. Had Paloschi not scored that goal, and shown good display in other matches, I can be very sure he'd either still be in the youth team, or at least not loaned out to Parma. It's just how things work at Milan, for better or for worse.

He does get some credit for things, such as.. selecting Pippo in the starting lineup in Athens. But in his time at Milan I am very disappointed. I don't dislike Carlo for no reason, that wouldn't make sense. I dislike him for the fact that I feel he has had alot of very, very gifted players and not done enough with them. People may use the arguement that great players don't make a great team, but I think a great coach can make great players into a great team, Carlo hasn't done this, so I don't consider him a great coach. It's not just at Milan, his record at Juve was hardly tremendous.

Um, he actually wanted Gilardino. It was Mr. B who wanted and insisted to play Inzaghi. At least that's the version of the story I heard right after our CL win in Athens.

If that's the case, then the list of things I can praise him for is getting really short. Err.. he didn't get us relegated? I suppose that's a good thing.

You really don't like him too much, huh, Kurt?

Don't have an opinion on him as a person, but as a coach I think he's below average at best.

People like to say he's won the world with AC Milan. Scudetto, Champion Leagues, World Club Cups, Super Cups, and what not. And he's not that bad a tactician, either. It's just his man management skills that give me the creeps, however.

Actually, I think it was the other way around in Athens, acid. Mr. B. wanted Gila and Carletto insisted on Pippo.

In any event, it's nice to get explanations for the various opinions held without the 'he sucks' or 'he's perfect' rhetoric muddying the picture.

Thanks, guys.

That's why I said version. As there are two different versions floating around the news outlets. I can vividly recall Berlusconi coming out and saying that he insisted on Inzaghi, hours after our win. But I know better than to trust Mr. B in any case, let alone this. It could very well be loop-sided for all I know. He's the Presidente, not many people can argue with him.


Exactly. I wholeheartedly believe that no one sucks completely (unless it's Moratti), and no one's completely perfect (unless it's Paolo we're talking about). Everyone's got strong and weak points, and they're there to be celebrated.


Anytime. Besides as long as Carlo's the coach, I'll be behind him. He still heads my club!

Since he came out of the womb, perhaps?

Channel 4 is giving Goal.com a run for their money in the Most Idiotic Stories sweepstakes.

Praised him?

He didn't do a Dunga to him, but he didn't praise him either... just mentioned some obvious facts [that he played better against Siena compared to the previous games] and added that 'I'm sorry Pato can't play more'...

Well, at the time Milan had Ronaldo, Pato (who played in Jan), Gilardino, Inzaghi and Paloschi.

And just like Gourcuff is getting a chance to express himself at another team, Borriello took his chance and earned a call back to San Siro.

Carlo chose to send him out for reasons we don't really know. Hence, i would rather not 'assume' anything, considering Carlo has him playing as a starter in almost every game he is available for.



I dont know if they can buy him, but even so ... Whats the problem ? If Gourcuff proves to the Milan technical staff that he is worthy, then he will remain in Milan.

Keep in mind han, this is not football manager



Pato is great. But you just need to draw a line between what you 'assume' and what 'might' be the case. And when i say what might be the case, i am giving Dunga the benefit of the doubt.

Pato is 18 (or 19) years old, he plays for the number 1 team in the world and is selected to represent the number 1 national team in the world. His morale is higher than that of every player his age around the world !!

He has his whole career to showcase his talent, but at the moment, he needs to listen to his trainers cause they know exactly what he is missing.



So you are convinced Carlo is a youth-killer

Ah well, dont hold your breath buddy, Milan wont have an average age of 25

I'm not going to reply to your entire post because if I do the cycle will never end. So let's agree to deisagree on the subject.


I'm not saying he's a youth killer, but rather that he believes that a club as big as Milan does not have any time to invest in these players.

I don't even want an everage age that low, I don't want us to be Arsenal. But to see players like Emerson or Favalli who can barely jog 2 meters without nearly falling, over talented kids such as Albertazzi/Darmian/Cardacio, really p!sses me off. And I'm not even saying I want them to play in a CL semi. But to give these kids chances in games such as these early UEFA Cup ties, which let's face it, we're walking through with our second string teams and in the Coppa games.

As for the Football Manager comment, Yoann's value has already gone up twice if not 3 times to what it was when he was loaned out. If Bordeoux make the loan deal permanent with him, and he keeps playing the way he is for them, you can rest assured that he will be sold for a large sum

I'm very tempted to frame you for this one, but just found out that I have to do something now that I shan't be able to do tomorrow, so congrats you got away this time! Jokes aside, gotta say top post. The way player prices are rising around the football world, investing in youth is the only real alternative for a cheapskate like Galliani.

Even Pato wasn't anywhere cheap an option when we bought him from Brazil. I'm not blaming him as long as we win, but a little more show of youth instead of old hags is the order of the day!