General play was very good. Means nothing though, because we'll switch back to 4-3-2-1 next week. Carlo doesn't seem to pay attention to this.

Lacked a cutting edge. Needed a better striker than Shevchenko up there.

Given who was played in midfield, I thought we were actually rather good this game.

3 points. That's what matters.

Though Kaladze tried to ruin everything in the dying minutes...

Fishdoll suggests sending Kaladze on a honeymoon vacation (he got married this week). Hope to see Bonera back against the gobbi next week.

Forza 4-3-1-2 !

Man, what a relief. It's not an overstatement to say this is the best game we've seen since Milan - Lazio.
When Shevchenko was switched with Antonini, we were playing with 4 full-backs!

Pato
Kaka'
Jankulovski-Gattuso-Flamini-Antonini
Favalli-Kaladze-Maldini-Zambrotta

Shevchenko, he still got the legs, a bit slower but his movement is there. His crossing and finishing were woeful though. and then there's this kid, who deserved a goal in this game, absolutely amazing. He got a cut on his knee and yet he still carried on playing, it shows you he has the spirit.

I forgot to mention Kaka', did we see a glimpse of the best player in 2007?
His long-range shots were simply brilliant, he could've scored 3 goals if they were a little more accurate.

4 full back / 6 defenders... speaks for itself

All in all it was a interesting game we won thats all that counts now im looking to Juve game i dont see the point in analysing this game other then we got the 3 points !!!!!!!!!!!!!! TO JUVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a point to analyse actually, we need to play with 2 strikers against Juve, play Ronaldinho or Seedorf, don't play both of them. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

He was proving a point

That he's not inferior to Ronaldinho?

Yeah but tbh im hearing the same messages each time Emerson must go , we must play with two strikers we know this we can copy and paste it all we want

+1

But we know it'll be 4-3-2-1. who are we kidding?

No. that he is limited when Dinho plays.

However, he has to change. we can't bench Dinho because he wants to play the way he wishes.

you're right, screw Ancelotti!

And thats my que to go !

I think he still can play the way he wishes, but it must be a diamond formation, that way it'll work best.

LOOOL Kaka is worth 100 R80's

That formation works against teams that come to play football, so it should work against Juve.

Let's recap our injury list:
Nesta
Pirlo
Seedorf
Ronaldinho
Boriello

That's 5 first-team players not playing. I kinda miss Nesta. Where are you?

Juve play football?

Take Nesta, Pirlo and Borriello out of that as they have been injured for quite a long time now.

Yes, they'll try to play and not just to keep 10 men behind the ball.

No thanks. Not my type.

+1

+1

i was quite impressed with pato set pieces and he is always a threat

Rino got yellow carded - does that mean he's suspended?

yea he is suspended

That really was a stupid card.

Good result. I'm hoping Ancellotti wakes up and realizes that we should do our best to go up by at least two goals before he switches to a defensive formation. Was glad he took emerson off at the beginning of the 2nd half allowing Flamini to play a more active role.

Lastly, for all the doubters, I really think Sheva is making a contribution. Again, I saw him make a lot of intelligent runs and although he didn't hit the back of the net, he had some good chances... the goals will come the more confident he gets, the more game experience he gets. I really hope he's not relegated to the bench as I see some promise.

I had to come off at half time so when I checked back I was a couple of pages behind, and zd wrote this before the sub, I love Carlo's unpredictablity!!

Some comments about the game

The ref, yes he missed a sure penalty on Kala's handbal (that idiot has already had something like 4 handballs in that area, he should learn how to not stick his hands out in that area, he nearly cost us another 3 point) but we had 2 shouts that should have imo resulted in penalties. Then he yellow's Rino for a good challenge just after Mascara kicks the ball out of frustration to the other end of the pitch, but he doesn't give him the second yellow, I was more p!ssed off about that then the actual yellow to Rino. Also giving Pato the yellow for the suppoed dive, he was pushed and he fell, but he didn't dramatize the fall or make a call for the penalty, IIRC the should not deserve a yellow. This ref should read his rule book

Sheva, like I've been saying looks to have regained his pace and touch, he made some really great touches and runs, he's still got it, but the finishing has a lot to improve on, it's all a matter of confidence, in the first half when Kaka played him in, the old Sheva would have blasted that into the roof of the net, yet today he tried to square it to Kaka. If he gets his confidence back we'll probably see 90% of the old Sheva. As for the goal, don't know if he touched it but some sites are giving it to him some others to Kaka...

Kaka showed some of his old form today, the way he cuts through the middle and releases the strikers was one of his biggest assets before an we saw that again today, with that being said, Dinho coming in should not mean that we jeopardise Kaka's influence, if Carlo would play Dinho as a second striker and let Kaka roam through the middle rather then the wings while Dinho pushes forward, both players could be used to their full potential. But that's Carlo's call if he wants to still insist on playing both of them on the wing then there is nothing to do but watch Kaka give half of what he can when he plays in the center

He-he-he! Never.

Carletto just have to use Dinho in start. that is why we will not play as today. It's a pity.

Indeed it was, Gattuso didn't have to argue to that extent to get carded, now we will miss him against Juventus! *sigh*

+1 - Nice post (Agreed)

Btw...sheva didn't get a touch of the ball, its Kaka's goal, imo at least.

And concerning the formation, just check the Serie A thread - I posted what Carlo said concerning the matter...
Needless to say his comment didn't seem to favorable to those who prefer a 4-4-2.
[Be warned it was sourced from goal.com though ]

We kept expressing our fears yesterday on R&B about the possibility of Gattuso getting yellowed. Badabing.

You're on other imitation milan forums!

OFF TOPIC:

Miz - I now realised the Willy Wonka reference in your sig. [Never took note of the words below b4]

I loved that show when I was much younger; admitedly I'll still give it a look or two when its on!
Classic Old School Children's Movie - Don't make them like that anymore!

I didn't see the game, only the result. So can anyone that saw the game, to save me from going over 30 pages, just give a brief description on how we were, who was good/okay/bad and the usual. Thanks.

Well, given that the starting midfield was Gattuso-Emerson-Flamini, the passing Milan showed was remarkable. This game was a huge improvement from the Palermo game. The defense looked generally good (save the fortunately not called Kaladze handball at the death), Abbiati did well the few times Catania had shots on goal, and there were periods when the Catania goal was pretty much under siege. The biggest problem was the finishing - that could certainly have been better. Both strikers (and yes, it was marvellous to see two strikers on at once) had chances that they didn't finish, though Sheva's misses seemed worse to me than Pato's. Kaka looked better in this game than he has in a while, but it took time for him to get the goal (and there's some debate as to whether he should be credited with it, whether it's a Catania own goal, or whether Sheva got the final touch. It was credited to Kaka, however). Funky substitutions in the end (Favalli for Emerson, Antonini for Shevchenko) but we got the result.

Thanks Tennie.


Two strikers? Has Carlo started his Christmas drinking already or something!?

Injuries. Normal service will resume next week, along with the defeat.

I thought you knew already that I had an account over there. I joined over three years ago, when civility still reigned supreme.

OT, but the pic in my sig was done in a nice Wonka purple.


Nice.

They have since the Calciopoli.



Quote of the funking year!!

I think I know what you mean but... what do you mean?

It was in response to the two strikers comment made by Kurt. What I mean is that we'll be back to playing one striker next week because Ronaldinho will be included (so 4-3-2-1), and we'll lose.