that's why you do everything to prevent YOUR contributing to it. THAT'S what being professional is about. Did you see Mourinho physically take the defender off the bench and fling him on the pitch after Real drew 2-2 with us?? Wanna know why? because even though we just had a couple of seconds to play again teams are generally vulnerable after scoring and as you rightly pointed out any **** could happen. Mourinho took no unnecessary chances and that charracteristic has contributed to his success. ****** continues to WASTE the embarrassment of riches he has in our squad with GROSS mismanagement. Consider the Sampdoria game....his waiting until the gametime expired to bring in Ronaldinho was utterly idiotic to say the least. He took a gamble that iBra would save his n00b *** again and it didn't work.

Suppose that Silva had gotten injured sometime later down the season as I too think it is kinda inevitable given his history....at least he'd have helped us to a couple more points...those points just might make the difference to winning the scudetto or advancing in the CL. **** happens yeah that's why you don't do it on yourself

I like the way you curse now every single time, gives me much fun in editing your posts.

Not tryin to make trouble....but I thought we were allowed to curse? If not I'll try to reform my inner sailor. Sorry.

I see nothing wrong with Allegri playing Silva... and I'm not a fan of Allegri... not that I don't like him but I don't think he's done anything to make me like him.

edit: besides, I don't think it's something to cry over... I like Silva a lot but we were not going to win the Champions League with him there and we're not going to lose the Scudetto because of him missing.

La Gazzetta mentioned today that both Thiago and Flamini will be out for a month. In the chance that Thiago incurs surgery, his prognosis could be a bit longer than a month. So stop it with the 6 months bullsh*t.

Playing Silva was unnecassary, sure it could have happened on any other day in any other game, but it happened against Ajax, where our players didn't give a sh!t most of the time and the game was useless to us. You also can't say whether he would have gotten injured or not in the future had he not played against Ajax. We have perfectly good subs on the bench who are good enough to play, Sokratis being one of them, who Allegri has chosen to banish to the stands, simply because he made a couple of mistakes, something others on the team have done repeatedly but have been given chance after chance after that.

As for Silva making the difference, I think it makes a lot of difference, a couple of lost points because of defensive errors and we're no longer in the driving seat for the Scudetto. Te CL I agree with, we were never going to win it, with or without Silva, but the Scudetto is something we have a real chance for and it could be comprmised now, especially if Silva is out for a considerable amount of time

Fun fuct: Since Silva joined Milan, we have only lost one League game Alessandro Nesta and the Brazilian have started together – August 2009’s 4-0 home defeat to Inter.

No, I don't think cursing is allowed. It sure wasn't for a long time. And you're not the only one doing it.

I think it's fine during a match or so (things get heated and such). I'm sure Filippo can be a little bit lenient as long as we don't abuse .

You don't know that yet.

Thiago Silva's importance is huge. Now, time will tell how big actually.

He'll be missing max 4-5 games, I don't see it being such a huge impact on our results. We're not playing any important games, except Roma next week.

And you think we will automatic win the other games? Let's see how you think when we only win one of those matches. You don't know, it could happen. Every Serie A match can be tough. Beating Roma is important too, so...

What worries me is that we'll get the usual cr@p from the club, first they'll announce that he'll be out for 4 weeks, then it will get extended by 2 more and another 2 after that. This has become a recurring problem with injuries at Milan. Same thing happened with Kaka, Serginho, Bonera and Nesta in the last few years. We really cannot afford to lose him for longer then the current stipulated time.

That, is true. *fingers crossed*

Milanlab? Lol wut? I remember I came up with the theory on R&B that the lab wasn't **** but they were suffering from an acute lack of funding. At th time the Berlu groupies ran me out of town. Now Nesta goes to the States to see about his back which seems to be holding up pretty well and Silva goes back to Brazil to the evil Dr Runco. The same guy that Milan complained about when Kaka left complaining that they made his knee conditions worse. Not only did BOTH kaka AND Ronaldo both get better in brazil but they recovered quicker too.

^^ Couldn't agree more. I don't think MilanLab is as good as it's made out to be ANYMORE.

Come on now... some of the starters must play... I can't remember a non-significant official game when a coach did not even play one first XI player... in my opinion Allegri is guilty for Milan's display not because he fielded Silva.

We have been talking about resting Thiago Silva (and Zlatan) NOT THE WHOLE starting eleven.

Nesta was out... either him or Silva had to play in my view as I don't trust any of our other CB's... personally I think it's alright that he played. You don't. There's no need to talk about it anymore, we're not going to get anywhere.

Thiago had surgery in Rio, which was perfectly successful. His recovery should vary around one month.

Link

Yes!

Great news! Yes ... we should have everyone back in new year bar Inzaghi.

so if he comes back in a month the main imortant game he would miss would be the next week roma... lets hope we get him back around 15th jan

When a player "recovers" he (or she) needs time to re-integrate themselves into the team in terms of training and getting match fit etc.

When we're talking about 5-6 month injuries, yes. One month injuries are nothing.

I dont think any of the starting eleven should have seen the pitch. The risk is huge and the reward is absolutely zero. It's a gamble that can't be afforded. We have bench players, this is one of the purposes of having so many on a squad.

If there was say, a long break between games, so some players needed to stay fit or something, fine. But the opposite was true in this situation.

Am I the only who thinks we should try this guy at RB? He's great whenever he goes forward and he's played there at Fluminense... there are no decent fullbacks we could buy anywhere and he looks like he could be great while at the same time there quite a few decent CB's. I think it's worth a try.

Said this a year ago. I'd be on board. I'd also play him at DM he's a hell of a player, one of our best recent signings. This is assuming we have an overflow of strong, reliable CBs one day, which we don't atm.

DM is a good shout, he'd be a great fit for that position.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday.

Jari Litmanen could barely breathe. The Finnish No 10 huffed and puffed, his hollow cheeks now red, the contours of his face wet with perspiration. Louis Van Gaal had no choice but to haul him off. It was the 69th minute of the 1995 Champions League Final and Ajax were playing Fabio Capello's all-consuming Milan. “I suffer from asthma,” Litmanen sighed. When asked to explain what that had anything to do with it, he replied: “They put Desailly on me and Desailly is a tough marker.”

For over an hour, one of the most talented playmakers in Europe had toiled away but to no avail. Litmanen simply couldn't find a way past the tentacles of Milan's No 8. No sooner had he got the ball than it was gone. At the time Desailly was known in Italy simply as the Octopus. It was a particularly fitting description. When told of his nickname during an interview with Il Corriere della Sera, the Frenchman smiled typically and said: “I like it. That's my role in the middle of the pitch, just like an Octopus.”

Of course, Desailly hadn't started his career in a sentinel-like holding role, screening the defence. He was by trade a centre-back even if playing further forward wasn't completely unfamiliar. “It hasn't been that difficult changing position,” Desailly explained. “As a youngster, I played an entire season in midfield for Nantes and it frequently happened to me at Marseille in case of emergency. On my first day at Milanello, Capello placed me there. He assigned me a definitive position and explained to me the movements that I'd have to make.”

Desailly was a revelation. In his first season at the club Milan won the Scudetto and the Champions League. Philosophically speaking, he effectively became the point at which the Milan degli Olandesi ended and the Milan degli Italiani returned. Out went Total Football. In came Catenaccio. “Let's not forget the turning point,” Capello said. “That is Desailly's signing.”

Indeed, there is no greater indicator of this shift in emphasis than a comparison made between the amount of League goals Milan scored in the '92-93 season and the following campaign. Staggeringly, it declined by more than half from 75 to just 36. “Marcel replaced Frank Rijkaard who had more quality and would get forward more,” recalled Stefano Eranio. “Now we had a guy who did a disproportionate amount of defensive work. This took some of the defensive pressure off the other players, who felt more free to push on.”

Why then is this at all relevant today? Well, when Rino Gattuso pulled up with a muscle injury before Milan's match against Cesena on Sunday evening, Massimiliano Allegri went back to the future with his tactics. He decided to partner Mario Yepes with Alessandro Nesta in defence and then took a leaf out of Capello's book by moving Thiago Silva, the Brazil international centre-back, into midfield à la Desailly. It was an intriguing success and one that was borne out by the statistics.

Thiago Silva completed more passes than anyone else on the pitch [67], recovered more balls than anyone other than Yepes [25] and managed three shots on goal [3] as well in a precious 2-0 victory for the League leaders. Interviewed after the game, Milan Vice-President Adriano Galliani was moved to say: “He reminded me of the old Desailly.” Il Corriere della Sera even went so far as to call Thiago Silva a “complete champion,” such was the aptitude with which he performed the role.

Despite being a couple of inches shorter, there are similarities between Thiago Silva's style of play and that of Desailly. He is very fast and strong too, excellent in the air, as well as a fine tackler and a brilliant reader of the game. If anything the Brazilian is more elegant in possession than his French counterpart.

So the question is does he have a future in the position? Well, in the short-term, yes. Allegri has told reporters that Thiago Silva “will play again in the role that he occupied against Cesena” in tonight's Coppa Italia quarter-final away to Sampdoria as long as club captain Massimo Ambrosini doesn't pass a fitness test. New signings Urby Emanuelson and Mark Van Bommel are “90 per cent” likely to start and if they do, La Gazzetta delo Sport understands their positions will be either side of Thiago Silva in midfield. Even Alessandro Nesta's shoulder injury has yet to herald his return to the defence. Sokratis is mooted to partner Yepes, who was excellent against Cesena.

Inevitably, though, one expects that when all of Milan's midfielders are back available again, Thiago Silva would naturally reprise his old position. The context is slightly different to when Desailly played at San Siro. Capello's Milan was in possession of arguably the best defence of all time in Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Billy Costacurta and Mauro Tassotti. As of now, Allegri doesn't have the same luxury nor the same depth at the back perhaps to persist with the experiment he first tried during Milan's winter training camp in Dubai.

Still, it gives Allegri plenty of food for thought. Meanwhile, Thiago Silva is just happy to lend a hand. “I'd also play goalkeeper if it helps the team,” he said. Hopefully it won't come to that.


football-italia

Surprising story about Thiago Silva from football-italia.


Milan defender Thiago Silva reveals the reason he wanted to quit football after rejection in Brazil and contracting TB in Russia. “I almost died.”

The Brazilian is one of the most sought-after young talents in Serie A right now and has been linked with Real Madrid, but it was almost a very different story.

“In 2005 I was sent out on loan to Dinamo Moscow, but the city was horrible, I was cold and got ill,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport magazine Sport Week.

“I was in hospital for six months. I was 10kg overweight and, despite everyone else in the hospital being so skinny and not wanting to eat, I was always hungry. My mother said I didn’t look ill, but I couldn’t move.

“The doctors would tell me to get up and go for a walk, but I couldn’t do it. This disease is also contagious, so I was put in isolation, only able to play computer games and go on the internet.

“Every now and then a doctor would come in and give me an injection, three or four times a day, plus 10-15 pills.

“I eventually found out that I’d had tuberculosis for six months. The doctors said if another two weeks had passed, I might not have been able to recover. I almost died. This is why, whenever I play, I think back to those moments in Russia.

“I had thought of quitting football altogether. There was another occasion when I went to Flamengo for a trial and after two sessions they said I could go, as I was no better than any of the players they already had,” revealed Thiago Silva.

“I told my mother I didn’t want to play football anymore, as nobody wanted me. However, she said in that case I’d have to go work for my brother, so I immediately changed my mind and looked for another club!”

Now read this there myself... Talk about a turn around!

Bravo Thaigo!!!

Interesting!!

Not for Nothing but I would like to point out of Thiago Silva uses Jedi mind tricks in our favor. He rarely makes announcements in the media but when he does...well, i'll let you judge the outcomes.


Statement #1: "Nesta will leave at the end of this year"

This little ounce of reverse psychology may be to thank for This.

Secondly, during what most could call the closest moment INTER were to securing Ganso, Thiago Silva came out to say Statement #2 Ganso will join Leo at INTER. Near the end of this report he subtly questions Leo's authenticity by saying "...it won't be easy to convince Ganso to turn down Inter with Leonardo there. He always has the right words."

Although this has yet to be determined, it looks more and more like INTER have lost ground of the brazilian starlet and we are closing in for the proverbial kill. I might be ahead of myself but i honestly belief we will secure him.

Thirdly, if one starts believing in Thiaguninho's voodoo, he dropped the Kobash on the, until then, irreproachable Leonardo by rationalizing his departure to inter. While Statement #3: this article holds little malice, this jinx came right before the 2 horrendous games which may have cost Leo his job.

Not saying Thiago is a voodoo warlock or anything...but the evidence is there

Interesting thoughts, mtl
I don't know what to say except I hope that in the end Ganso doesn't end up at Inter and Nesta doesn't hang his boots!

I don't know about Ganso, but Nesta said in an interview today that he will play for another season.

but the quote from Thiago goes back a month or so about Nesta

There was a poll on La Gazzetta which asked people whether they would include Thiago Silva in the deal for Cristiano Ronaldo. Well, 79% of voters said "no".

that about answers it

Genuis, il_diavolo_mtl! I was sold on the guy from the beginning (even before he came here), but nice to see Thiago winning people over. More importantly he has to keep this up and improve further in the coming 4-5 years, so when he hits his absolute peak at 30 he is the undoubted best worldwide.

If he improves any more beyond his current form we can field a 1-5-4 formation.

How f@cking consistent is this guy?

We really should offer him a better contract soon.

And do something nice for his wife.

like a street after her everytime she does This

Yeah, I had that article in mind

Well judging by what Ricky and Thiago Silva have done regarding their respective Real interest, it would seem Isabele supersedes "God" as the resident advice giving divinity

She isn't very pretty you know. I mean not like those supermodel types these footballers always seem to end up with. She's rather plain. Someone Thiago might have met while growing up.

Well, not all footballers are engaged to supermodels, y'know.