So we meet the familiar faces, again. Although I have very little hope for the Scudetto (if any), not because we can't win it, but we don't deserve it, we haven't shown ourselves as worthy champions up till now. Anyway, this match is a 6-pointer and will decide our fate, so no point in explaining how crucial it is. If we win, there may still be a smidgen of a chance for us, if we draw, it's as good as over, and if we lose, better start fighting for the 3rd. I'd have wanted Nesta back for this match, but then again I want a lot of things, including world peace. Anybody knows whether Mourinho's undefeated home record still stands? If so, about time we put it to rest. The battleground:



You guessed it, time for some stats between the two clubs, current rankings, head to head, top scorers, etc. This time again they're not available at the time of going to press. Will be updated once I get my dirty little hands on them, which will probably be tomorrow. Well, what do you know? It was not tomorrow, just got them in hours before the start of the match. Here you go:









Date: Sunday, 15 February, 2009
Time: 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm GMT
Place: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (Milan)

Forza Milan!

(big edit to add the stats images)

A must win. It's as simple as that. Win and we knock their confidence, catch them up, put pressure on them and make them really earn it. Anything else and we may as well give them the title. What's the news on Ricky?

Bonera is suspended and Kaka might not make it. Will we see Senderos start alongside Maldini? Or will Kaladze make his return here? Both options scare me.

Abbiati
Zambrotta Senderos Maldini Jankulovski
Beckham Pirlo Flamini
Ronaldinho Seedorf
Pato

I'm not optimistic.....Without Kaka we will not win. Just remember Palermo...Juventus....

Excactly.
There's no point to pretend that Milan can still do it with a draw or a loss here.

Ricky's foot is sprained and badly bruised but, luckily, is not fractured. At the moment he still won't be fit for sunday

Once again we've made things difficult for us. had we beaten Reggina, even a draw would have done against Inter. now it's clearly win or bust for us.

We can't have Seedorf and Dinho both up there, that will kil whatever attack we have going, both are way to slow. I vote we revert back to the trusted 4-3-1-2 formation

Dinho behind Pato and Pippo or Sheva.

Don't know what to do with Seedorf though. Beckham deserves to start, Pirlo will start of course, and then we need the defensive mid. Although I'm pretty sure Carlo will stick to the xmas tree and Seedorf and Dinho supporting the striker, even though we have lost every game we have started with those 2...

Senderos is what really scares me

No, no, Kaladze over Senderos I pray...


But however the formation turns out to be,..Carletto will be prepared. I
Anyway, it's to early to start thinking about the line-up, many things can happen. Someone could miraculously recoup, on the other side, someone could get injured.

Derby time

Lets Go Milan !

Ricky is definately out for this game

Official site said that he'll be out for 15 days

Is there any chance of Sandro recovering for this one?

If he does,He'll be off-form , but off-form Nesta is still better than Senderos

There's an outside shot, kizo. According to Ancelotti's press conference prior to Reggina, Nesta was due to start training with the team Monday (tomorrow).

I'd prefer Kaladze to Senderos in the middle if it came down to it.

A.C. MILAN COMUNICATO UFFICIALE
08/02/2009
MILANO - L'A.C. Milan comunica che il calciatore Kakà è stato sottoposto oggi ad esami medici strumentali che hanno confermato il trauma distorsivo del piede sinistro, escludendo lesioni complesse. La prognosi è di almeno quindici giorni.

[AC Milan announces that the player Kaka was examined today and tests have confirmed a sprain (Fishdoll note: I think this is the right word; it's definitely NOT broken) to his right foot, excluding complex injuries. The prognosis is at least 15 days.]

No derby for Kaka.

I think this is one of the very few occasions I will ever pray for Kaladze to actually play!

Do you want us to lose that badly????

I would use sprained to...but isn't it his left foot?

Bah. It is his right foot. Missed the easy word by concentrating on the hard one. -1 cookie for me.

+1,000,000,000,000

No Kaka? hmm... I wonder whether it's going to be 4-3-2-1 or 4-3-1-2... (RECOVER BORRIELLO, DAMMIT!!)




or




I think it's more probable that we will see the Christmas tree...



@ han

There's no way Seedorf is going to sit this game out. stop hoping!

(after all, it's a 'big game'. maybe he showed up?)

I think we'll go 4-3-2-1 unfortunately. Abbiati; Zambrotta, Kaladze, Maldini, Jankulovski; Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Seedorf, Ronaldinho; Pato.

I would like to go with the 4-3-1-2, we have to win this game and need t set up that way! Abbiati; Zambrotta, Kaladze, Maldini, Jankulovski; Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini; Ronaldinho; Pato, Inzaghi.

I can't see Carlo leaving Seedorf out, I can't see him starting Pippo and Ambrosini is almost 100% certain to play as I don't think Carlo is most certainly going to play with a DM.

We are fcked with no Kaka

3-1 to merda

Without Kaka and Nesta we are really fucked up! We can not play without Kaka and this has been proven! Even in the Reggina match where he played very bad, after his injury we haven't look on anything!

I am very very sad but i think we can not win the scudetto anymore, because i think we will not win the derby with such a problem Kaka's injury is!

But if we win somehow then we will ruin inters confidence and we could do it, they have some really hard matches in front of them and they can lose some games, but if they don't lose the derby they are champions for shure if any miracle don't happen!!

Now is the time for R80 to prove he's worthy of a starting spot. I thought he was slightly better against Reggina, but he still hasn't got the pace to frighten defenders. My biggest concern is with him and Clarence our attack will be just too slow to cause merda any problems. This is going to be one tough game.

Let's just hope we don't lose anyone ELSE during the international break midweek. Bunch of guys are going.

Yeah i agree with u.. As we can see Dinho is juz too slow although his ball control is better than seedorf (i think).
I guess this is the time for ancelotti to start thinking for the new formation that suits him well because we all know he (Dinho) also has the abilty to frighten our opponent with his creativity. Why dont ancelotti put him as the left wing instead of putting him together with (kaka/seedorf) in the christmas tree formation.Because its already proven that this formation wont work with him. Gosh its really hard for me to explain with word.. here....
------------------------------------------pato

--------------------------Dinho------------------kaka

-------------------------------------ambro pirlo beckham

-----------------------Janku-------maldini------nesta-------zambrotta

I put him as a winger because his pass/cross is also as great as pirlo and beckham so that he can help more than what he did with the c.tree formation. Also to prevent us from being counter attacked because with Dinho at that side the midfielder or wingback dont really have to overlap everytime we attack so we can make a more solid defends with the midfield fully supporting the back line.

If we plan to use high crosses continually all game like we did vs Reggina i think we should play Pippo with Pato up front.However i just can't see Carlo doing that against Inter.He's always talking about winning/controlling the midfield so i reckon it will probably be Seedorf and R80 behind Pato which means it'll be ambro pirlo and becks in midfield.

Without Kaka we've obviously lost half our speed in attack especially on the counters which i think has always worked wonders for us in Derbys,i'm hoping Beckham will pick up the slack in that department with runs down the flank.

I'm praying for a Nesta miracle but Favalli wouldn't be bad either next to Maldini,actually i'll go one step further and say Favalli would be better than Kaladze next to Maldini,I was shocked and worried when Favalli was named as a Center Back for several games this season but each time i was surprised by his performance in that role so i'm making that assessment from this seasons performances he has been a rock in the centre.

Sadly, I think Favster is still out with injury. I just looked and in the first derby this year, it was Kaladze-Maldini and quite a few people were more terrified at Maldini playing in the center than Kaladze.

I don't think this would be a first choice of line-up for anyone. (especially against Inter)
But if push comes to shove and this is what we have to use, lets hope they step up! *fingers crossed*

I'd play Kaladze over Senderos any day of the week. Senderos is Kaladze without occasional brilliance.

I have no clue who is fit enough to play in defense though.

well mediaset and milannews are talking abt nesta-maldini partnership for this one and pato and seedorf with eithe r80 or pippo

I'd be happy with either Nesta-Maldini or Nesta-Kaladze

+1.

As long as Nesta doesn't hurt himself during the game, forcing him to be out MORE.

So Kaka is out. We still have the quality to win it and we're not so dependent on him, at least not as much as Inter are on Ibra.

I expect AbRoPiPa to win it. That's Abbiati, Ronaldinho, Pirlo and Pato... it will be the young one's first goal in a Derby della Madonnina! From a Ronaldinho through ball. And Pirlo will score a free-kick. After which Abbiati will make two excellent saves.

Wake up, dst!

We mustn't play with Janku and Kaladze, not against Inter, remember the game against juve where their attackers (amauri especially) looked like gods of football by kaladze and janku, they could only watched them scoring 4 times...

It would be a very very hard game, now with Kaka out we are not favorites (at least) and if we don't win everyone here knows what that means!

This game doesn't come at a good time. Either we start with Senderos (not preferable), or go with a player returning from injury (Kaladze & Nesta). We're most likely going to concede, and the attack of Seedorf and R10 is probably the slowest in Serie A

Gazzetta is predicting this early lineup:

Abbiati, Zambrotta, Kaladze, Maldini, Jankulovski, Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf, Ronaldinho, Pato

I'd like to see Flamini play after his performance against Reggina but Carlo likes Ambro for these matches.

seedorf-r80-pato could turn out to be reallyu good if seedorf adn r80 are motivated or could be disaster

I think after being snubbed a lot in the past few weeks, Dinho is motivated enough for this game. Seedorf, on the other hand, has a guaranteed spot in Carlo's book no matter what, so I have a few doubts over him and whether he will give a **** on Sunday...

Seedorf will do good, relax..

like always i hope we win

1-1 I'll go with. We'll be up for this one so I just don't see us losing, even without Kaka'. hat said, I don't think we have enough to win, without Kaka'.

I hope Inter underestimate us now that we aren't going to have Kaka for this game...

Zambrotta got burned much more frequently than Janku, De Ceglie completely tore through him. I am worried about Inter's width and our weakness in those areas. Actually we have no real physical presence in the centre minus Ambrosini, so they may be able to bully us in the centre

Seedorf will be the kingpin and the MVP as this match is THE match of the season




My line-up would be:





I cant touch the backline, I know Zambrotta and Maldini will play, that is for sure .. I am too scared to even think who will fill in the remaining two slots


Another thing; it will be yet another duel Mourinho can't take risks on .. This for him would be the perfect time to open up his yap, eh ? Wonder how much he'll intimidate Carlo. I wonder if Carlo and SAF had spoken recently

I predict a 2 - 0 win Ronnie and Pato scoring !!!!

FORZA MILAN

How about you guys stop this 'Seedorf will be this and that'... there's nothing to brag about a player who shows up only on special occasions, and not throughout the season.

I don't remember him doing anything special in the past derbies anyway.

I don't see any problem with fans of a particular player predicting that he will do well in a game.