another relegation team get their chance to climb up

Damn it, I took too long.

For what it's worth, here is table:


Serie A Table:

Pato + Borriello/Inzaghi should start these types of games. Bring Ronnie with 30 min to go if needed.

Two striker formation for this one please. I'd rest Kaka based on yesterday's performance, and would start Ronaldinho.

I can't choose between Kaka and Ronaldinho... both were awful. but I think overall Kaka was more involved in the game..

Since Carlo's ideas of playing the Christmas tree against Lecce turned out to be useless [as usual], he will play with two strikers in this one, only to switch back to the Christmas tree in the next games again.





They've always said, league is won against smaller teams not big team. we're dropping points exactly against these teams.

Carlo has a very wrong idea about the league games. he thinks these are CL matches. starts most of them with lots of midfielders and only one striker... no wonder, except for one season, he has always been a loser in the league. he's one of those coaches who come very close to winning the league but because of lacking that extra bit of courage always lose out.

Kaka should be benched. In my view, Borriello should be there again next to Pato this time.

We're below Inter and they've had a tougher program so far!


...

Excuse me but while I don't rate Carletto that high, I still think he's done very well in the league considering he only lost the league in '05 and '06 because Juventus were cheating with offside goals and retakes of penalties! Whoever has watched those two tournaments from start to finish can tell that gifted points were what gave them the Scudetto.

I think after these two losses he's gone crazy, I can find no other explanation why anyone would field Emerson let alone ask for him to be signed.

What is this Kaka should be benched. you know better than anyone that Carlo doesn't bench Kaka...



Just look at his profile. always second-best in the league. two times with Juve. once with Parma. twice with Milan...
We may be only 1 point short of the top but we haven't been convincing AT ALL except for 1 game - lazio - out of 11 games imo. two controversial penalties and lucky Ronaldinho goal (not to mention our offside derby goal) etc. etc. and a bunch of hard fought 1-0 or 2-1's wins.

I rate Carlo highly: a coach who has proved himself in Europe. that's it. I don't see anything praisable in Carlo's league performances. 1 decade in two top teams and only one Scudetto... no big deal.

Wouldn't it be interesting if we play both Kaka and Ronaldinho AND two strikers? No Seedorf or even better - yes Seedorf + one defensive midfielder, probably Gattuso. There were times when Gattuso was our only midfielder with defensive duties only and we were like... the champions of Europe. Of course, we need Pirlo, but I don't think it's risky to play with 4 potential strikers, 2 of which play as attacking midfielders. Seedorf wasn't any better than Ricky last night. He was good in the first games, but not anymore. The only reason for Kaka not to play, is the break for national duties /friendly matches this time - so pointless!/.

And our two strikers should be Sheva and Borriello. I have a good feeling that they might become something. Pato is just lacking the final touch as he's slowly getting used to Serie A football, while Pippo is more of a "golden sub".

The fans deserve a convincing victory. Something like 4:0 or even 5:0, because Chievo are a disaster so far. Too bad we play in the afternoon. We always suck at San Siro when the sun shines.

I disagree about Carlo being a loser. We deserved to win the league in 2005 and 2006. Ah, well, they gave it to Inter anyway, but in both seasons, Milan played with imagination, scored a lot of goals and only luck tooks the first place away from us. Remember how we scored 85 goald in 38 matches? Not bad for a "defensive coach" with "loser mentality". The past two seasons, it was all about Champios League and I can't really blame Carlo for his failiure to fight for the Scudetto. Our selection was horrible. No forwards, no defenders, degrading Dida, no alternative for Pirlo. It was hard.

Carlo's defensive thoughts are so obvious that I don't even see the need to argue about it...



I'm not sure whether this is a reply to what I said, but if it was I have to say I didn't say 'loser mentality'. I just said loser in the league since he usually finished second in the league. and it's not just about those two seasons...

He's a great coach in knockout games as his Christmas tree works good there, but in the league it's different and it is proven many times that it takes different approaches to beat teams in Italian league...

Agreed, zd, I understand your frustrations with Carlo because I share them, believe me I do. But all these defensive close minded tactics started exactly the season that Sheva left in. When Sheva was here before we ALWAYS played with 2 strikers 3 no 10s and a defensive mid. Even when we played the xmas tree in our Scudetto winning season it was always, Rui, Kaka, Seedorf, Pirlo and Rino behind Sheva. Never did he use both Ambro and Rino together. And back then the xmas tree was considered just as offensive as the usual 4-3-1-2.

It's only when Sheva left that he reverted to his old style of football that he used to deploy at Juve, the type of football that labeled him the 'Almost Man'

Carlo at Milan didn't even try to be defensive because if he would Silvio would lash out at him in the media demanding 'beautiful football'.

Like dst said, we deserved the 05 and 06 Scudettos based on merits and the quality of football we displayed, back then we rivaled Barca as one of the best attacking teams in Europe.

dst got it right, Carlo went crazy, simple as that. And after this season we should replace him either with Spalletti or Rijkaard or even Prandelli


Like I said above, Carlo didn't have the so called 'loser mantelity' a couple of seasons ago, we always went out with our most attacking lineup and with the aim to score goals. It's these past 2 seasons (3 including this one) that Carlo has reverted back to his old ways. He's close minded, afraid to stray away from his comfortable zone of first 11 and tactics and too afraid to make neccissary changes in matches, while waiting too long to make subs. And I'm not even going to get into the subs he makes (like for like, putting in Brocchi or Puma ahead of Yoann and so on )

Great post han. I know what you say about Milan pre-Calciopoli. and I agree problems started with Sheva's departure too. but why is Carlo still continuing playing with 1 striker when he has Sheva, Pato, Pippo, Borriello at his disposal? why he continues to field at least 2 DMs against relegation battling teams? etc etc.

I thought this season we'd see no more of this system but I was totally wrong. because the problem was not the squad and lack of attackers. the problem was Carlo.



can't disagree.

Today was a rest day for the players, so no real news to report.

For what it's worth, here's Gazzetta's early projected lineup:

Abbiati
Zambrotta Bonera Kaladze Jankulovski
Gattuso Seedorf Flamini
Kakà Ronaldinho
Borriello

HOW DARE THEY

Because we won the CL while playing it (apperantly he forgets that we were a disgrace in the league that season) so he has an excuse now that it's a great system that won us a big competition.

This is how Carlo's brain works. Look at the line ups he plays. (Not talking about his 'untouchables' ) but if someone scores a goal he gets to play in the next game if he doesn't then he's on the bench. Goal.com's writers who make the player ratings after the matches probably take more notice of the overall performance then he does.

I was a big fan of Ambro in his early days at Milan and even when the proposed Pirlo role was thrown out there back then I objected to it because I considered Ambro a genius that cannot be replaced in the squad, but now I think Carlo has pushed me to dislike the player because of the way he is used.


They might have finally figured out how predictable Carlo is

No Paolo. What's wrong with this coach?


Took them a while then, huh?!

With all due respect to the Carlo-haters, the players are not totally without blame here.

As for the projected lineup, the one printed in Gazzetta usually changes several times over the week as training and other news filters out.

Or it could be that its the best way to play, considering he needs to accommodate Dinho, who plays better when he starts out to the left 30 yards from goal. But then again, what does the idiot know

Yeah insult people. it doesn't make you look any wiser.

(No need for this zd, r7 wasn't insulting anyone) Max

Let's please keep things polite.

He can accomodate Ronaldinho even if we don't use the 2nd DM. This has nothing to do with Dinho, he's suddenly turning into the scapegoat for using the xmas tree with 2 DMs? We have been using this same system for the past 2 seasons now and I don't recall Dinho being a part of the team then...

As for 'the best way to play' bit, 2 seasons of fighting for 4th spot in the league (with one of them coming out unsuccessful) while using the 2 DMs should be your answer to that.

so you'd have 1 dm in front of a Bonera-Favalli CB partnership, han? That'd make me more than a little nervous even if it IS an in-form Gattuso.

As for the rest of it, could someone please wake me up when it's again permissible to say anything at all positive about the head coach of AC Milan?

I think that time would be now, Tennie. So wakey, wakey! Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, including you. So of course, if you have anything good to say about Carlo feel free to chip in and move the discussion forward.

Well since we've still managed to conceed while playing THREE DMs I'd say we should try it. Like I've probably said a million times. more Defensive mids does not automatically mean better defence. Both Seedorf and Pirlo in there will be better at contolling the tempo while Rino is doing the dirty work. There are teams that don't even play a pure DM, Chelsea play Mikeal, who is more of a creative central mid (sort of like Seedorf), While Man U play Carrick and Anderson in the middle. And they play in a much more attacking league while we play against the Cagliari's and Lecce's and go out with 2 DMs. I would be ok if we use the tactic in big games, especially against teams that use wingers since it works like a charm in that scenario, but when it comes to playing it against these teams... I'm sorry but the reason we're losing points against these teams is because of this system that Carlo uses as a security blanket

I don't understand where all this idolisation if the 2 DMs comes from since we;ve traditionally played better with just one under Carlo, even if the defence is weaker then it was back then, we still managed to hold the apponents from even coming near our box before, now we allow at least 5 golden opportunities to the opposition in every match. If we had the control in midfield like we used to do these chances wouldn't be so frequent.

acid dat gif foto in yor sig iz on my nerv!!

Yesss!! Fight the power!!!!

I'm not too sure I'm in the mood to be pilloried for trying to defend the coach right now, acid. Seems a number of people are quite clear about their dislike for the man. If minds are that made up, there seems little point in attempting a dialog. I'll leave folks to it and content myself with translating and moderating.

+1

I don't know how to thank you

It'll be here through the week, thank you. Or unless, Mike raises my signature image limits as I want to put 3 or more sidebars as a signature. But yeah, I've queued my next signature image, will change it after our next match.

Oh come on Tennie say what you feel.

I promise, me and zd won't say a word regarding Carlo

It's not that we hate him, it's that we hate his decisions, which imo are harming the team atm. I've got another 2 guys in my class that are big Milan fans, and I'm not even going to try to translate the profanities that were hurld towards Carlo in Maltese this morning. So it's not just some that are on here that feel aggrevated by Carlo's decisions. I think everyone is getting fed up by him now

A couple of Tennie's cookies? Because I get the feeling she's about to take some of mine away

And I see her Fishdoll eyeing up my penguins

I'd like to see this lineup:

Abbiati
Zambrotta Bonera Kaladze Jankulovski
Flamini Gattuso Seedorf
Kaka
Borriello Pato


Just because Ronnie is scoring goals doesn't mean his performances are great. Kaka has to start because he adds some pace to our attack, while Ronnie and Seedorf only know how to walk. Pato should definitely start, he demonstrated his quality immediately against Lecce. If the game is still tied at HT and we haven't created much, then bring on Ronnie for Flamini or Seedorf. Give Pato 90 minutes for once...

Well, you don't like Gourcuff and your mind is made up too. So we are not really that different. Just difference in opinion.

Same argument, Max. Many people seem convinced Ancelotti is a Bad Coach because he didn't give Gourcuff a chance. I'm not interested in being beaten up over that aspect of the argument either.

With Ronnie Scoring now maybe we should try

--------------------Abbiati
---Zambrotta Bonera Kaladze Jankulovski
-----------Flamini Gattuso Seedorf
---------------------Kaka
--------------Pato----Ronaldinho

We could see the connection between pato and Ronnie so maybe we should try it like this rather than 4-3-2-1

Today's training has taken place.

The Brazilians didn't take part at all as they were guests of Belrusconi for his reception for the visiting president of Brazil.

The training was standard: warmups, drills, practice games.

Individuals of note: Senderos did some work on the pitch and some in the gym. Both Il Capitano and Ambrosini worked in the gym.

Tomorrow there will be 2 training sessions.

The meeting.

Pato feeling like a million dollars

Good snap. Though I will use PhotoShop to edit Emerson out of the photo. Don't ask!

LOL! Lula's looking at Dida like, "Who the hell are you?"

Kaka is such a dork...

haha is it me or does Ronnie look like Chris Rock , they have a similar cheeky smile

http://assets.mog.com/pictures/wikipedia/1.../Chris_rock.jpg

No, it's certainly not you. They look similar when smiling.


Since you're so desperate for war, be aware that I've got Tennie and Miz on my side, ready to correct your every English mistake. You may have zd, but your pirate friend's seems like he got lost in open sea.

Kaka looks like the preppy school boy from some cheap cheak flick. That hair with the side parting finishes off the look


I think he's wondering where his body ends. Such a height difference there





I think there's another one of those grammatical errors there. You need to watch out for those acid if you want to keep your place on the good side of the grammatical spectrum

Morning training has taken place. Lots of specific work today.

After warmups the team divided into groups.

Pirlo, Ambrosini, Maldini e Jankulovski ran 100x100 meters.
Senderos, Seedorf e Kaladze ran 50x50 meters.
Zambrotta e Bonera worked on changing direction.
Favalli, Emerson, Dida, Pato e Ronaldinho worked in the Sand Pit Of Doom.
Shevchenko e Cardacio ran in the woods (there's a small forest on the grounds at Milanello).
Abbiati worked with goalkeeping coach Villiam Vecchi.
Flamini, Kakà e Gattuso worked on changing rhythm.
Inzaghi worked in the gym.

There will be another training session later today.

Afternoon training has taken place.

After warmups, there were ball possessioin drills. Following this, the team divided up into 3 groups for more ball possession drills (a sort of 3-way keep away game as I understood it). Finally, there was a practice game with Abbiati and Dida in goal.

Senderos followed the entire training session with the team.

Tomorrow, there will be one training session.

Kaka looks like a Brazilian Ferris Bueller.

Spelling Wars continued: What's a cheak flick, han?

Are you really sure you want to know, Miz? Maltese can be scary!

Maybe it's Maltese for "porno"?