So, what do you guys think? Who was Milan's best signing over the summer 2010 transfer window?

I say Ibrahimovic.

Potential to turn him even better since he came from the dark side.
Plus he may have some drive for revenge in him, to win trophies

IBRA!!!

Zlatan for me.....just because he's proven in Serie A unlike Robinho and is a match winner by himself

Bentiez!

I'm going with Ibra as well.

Our worst or best transfer in the end will prove to be Max Allegri.

I am authorized to award X-Off +1 (just pretend it's a panzerotto, k?) for being the first to notice that.

haha I didn't see Benitez
but yeah. Hopefully he will sink Inter to the ground
and then stay for many years

Ibra with no doubt !

Allegri

kaladze out

got to be Ibra or Robinho. Got to thank Genoa too

Benitez for sure,and then Kaladze and Favalli out

Ibra for pretty much the same reasons mishie said.

There should be a Genoa Friendship option. Because they have done us a lot of favours this summer

My pick is Benitez

I'm waiting to see how they perform over a few games before deciding on this one. We've been burned by "big signings" in the past (Ronaldo, Gila, Huntelaar, and, yes, Dinho).

benitez forsure. That alone has won us the title

How was Dinho a bad signing?

Sokratis for me...he will warm the bench this year but he will form a great partnership with silva no doubt one for the future

Boateng !!

Zlatan.

Amelia !

Competence and depth in Goals,quite a recent development

But i voted for Zlatan,not a fan of the player but the deal was a stroke of genius

Ibracadabra

Not a bad signing, but we got him well after his best years with Barca.

Well we were never going to get him during that time. He was impossible to prize away at that time, being arguably the best player in the World.

Having said that, most Barca fans still think we robbed them on that deal as well, 20m for Dinho is not much considering just a season before that he was worth a LOT more then that.

The only deal Barca have done with us that we came out with the short end of the stick on is Zambrotta. We paid way too much for him when we got him, considering they wanted to get rid of him because of Alves and his age

Benitez, without doubt. He's sent from the heavens to help us win the title!

+10000000

Haha, you know what he may or may not completely fail in his first year at inter. But there was no better coach I would have wanted for our little cousins after Mourinho than this guy. Overrated, has a flawed thought process, even though has been quite (no, make that very) lucky in his career.

Sure we may still have to fight neck and neck with inter and other clubs (its not a done deal after all, the Scudetto), but this guy very much made the job easier. And with no real signings this summer, a new coach that will take time to settle, the other teams faltering along the way, there was no better time than to make a run for the title. At least not one I have seen in the last 10 years. The economic bonuses will certainly help, but more importantly a league win will increase our prestige among European teams.

And Allegri will need to be given two seasons before we judge him,let the guy make his mark on the team. I may still regret saying this, but what the heck: Anything less than a Scudetto this year will be disappointing! Go get it lads!

Hmm....

I can't help but be reminded of Juventus's start last season. They started off spectacularly too.

Ugh Jack. Dang it! Buzz kill!

Sorry! Mea Culpa!!

I know everyone is expecting us to win something now, but I wouldn't mind a trophy-less season as long as we fight till the very end on every front.

I would... that is simply awful....... we should win Scudetto, else season sucks (unless we win CL instead)

Well, we'll probably win it anyway.

Early contender for quote of the month!

Inter are still clear favourites imo. They have a better well rounded squad then we do, yes Rafa is a big hindrance for them but I don't think he'll sink them to the ground in just one season, he'll take longer to undo all the good Mourinho did.

Having said that, it's their's to lose at this point. We can only do our best, we have the team to push them all the way for it so we'll see

Clear favourites? That is simply not true. If anything, it should be very close between AC Milan and Inter. We got 4 awesome forwards, Inter only got 3 good forwards, their backups are average since Balotelli left. We have got the better forward which was our weakness last season. Our starting central defense is really awesome so is our depth in it. Fullbacks Inter of course beats us. Both have a good midfield, but Inter is relying a lot on Sneijder when it comes to creativity. We have more creativity in our squad.

Only positions in which merda has a clear advantage is a keeper and RB. Other than that, we can match them and more. Last season we lacked depth when Pato and Nesta were out, but this sertainly not a problem now. With these new additions Milan made, we shouldn't feel inferior at all, especially when merda became only weaker even if not by much.

We've only played 1 match. We've bought 2 great players, no doubt, but we've also brought in personalties that could clash and we'll have a massive disaster on our hands.

Not to mention that non of them have played with eachother yet, while Inter have an already coherent squad that has won everything playing with eachother.

They also have a better overall squad, yes we have the better attack on paper, but they trump us in both midfield and defence, the starting center back issue is debatable as to who has the better central defenders, while they kill us on the FB front.

Our midfield compared to Inter's is very bare, an injury to Pirlo could easily do us in. Just like an injury to Nesta could be fatal for us. Sure we have better CB cover this season but Nesta is not someone you replace easily and simply go on, especially if we're facing top opposition.

So until we're at least in November and our new players have proved otherwise, I'm going to say there is still a big question mark hanging over us. For me Inter are tte favourites, for now by a good distance. They started with a draw for the last couple of seasons, so I wouldn't read too much into that result for now

Word.

I think you're overshadowing our bench's potential this season, han.

If Nesta gets injured, we have Sokratis, whom is a very, very good CB and a worthy backup for Sandro. We also have Yepes and Bonera, which are not bad.

If Pirlo gets injured, we can easily play Seedorf in his position along with Boateng and Ambro/Flamini - still very good options.

If Pato gets injured, we have your excellency Robinho to substitute him.

You'll see our key players this time around can be easily backed up without the team losing much quality. Now, do I think we're superior to Inter? No, but I think we have both equal chances to winning the scudetto.

Han, where did I mention the first match results (which you keep mentioning in your post)? And I'm shocked what you said about the central defense. Nesta and Thiago Silva FTW,and our first two backups are good that we don't need to worry about Nesta being out. We beat Inter when it comes to central defense, how is that debatable? You talk easily down our good sides while ignoring too easy the downsides Inter got. You talk about Pirlo being out as a problem, but we got a good backup in Seedorf. You don't mention Sneijder, they got Stankovic as backup for him, lol, and they don't got players like Ronaldinho and Zlatan either for creativity.

It's debatable which team is better, but calling Inter clear favourites says more about you than about the teams. You are a pessimist.

edit: I forgot that Coutinho guy when mentioning Stankovic...

Oh, boy, I sense a monster Han post coming straight ahead. Fasten your seat belt guys!

Sokratis may be a very good alternative, but last season when we lost Nesta at a huge part of our season, when we faced Man U, Nesta is a huge loss for these types of games, and Sokratis, no matter how good he is, would be a major step down no matter which way you look at it. He'll be more then good in Serie A, but this is what worries me. Last season was ended in the span of 2 weeks, simply because we lost Nesta and Pato at such a crucial point in the season.

Yes Robinho is a WC player and isn't really even a step down from Pato, we have the same quality no matter who plays imo, but you also ignored what I osted regarding his attitude and how we'll be able to handle him. And the personality clashes that are bound to happen if Allegri is not careful enough.

I personally don't like Seedorf in Pirlo's position, he cannot do what Pirlo does, not in a million years. And yes we do have great backups, but our starting midfield is old. We're going to face problems in this area no doubt, especially id Allegri doesn't find a way to rotate them effectively.

I completely agree that we do have a better overall squad to last season. But we've also added a lot of factors that could turn around and bite us in the @ss. So we'll see


I mentioned the first match once, but imo it's a big reason for all this talk, along with the star signings.

I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist, and while I am hopeful for this season, I am also keeping my feet firmly on the ground. There are a lot of question marks that are yet to be answered, from how the players will gel together to how the dressing room atmosphere will be once all the euphoria dies down and these player get into the nitty gritty of the season.

The center back issue is debatable for many people in fact. I personally think ours is better but it will also depend on how the teams will play, last season Inter were impenatrable, simply because of how the entire team play, if we leave Nesta and Silva exposed, they could be Baresi and Paolo back in the hey days, we'll still conceed.

All of these factors are the reasons why there are question marks, at least for me.

Like I said, we'll see, but I'm going to keep saying that Inter are the clear favourites until this team proves otherwise. And like i said, atm the Scudetto is Inter's to lose

It seems like you are forgetting that Inter have as backups Cordoba, Chivu and Materazzi. I really can't see how Sokratis, Bonera and Yepes can be inferior to them. In fact, I think we have better backups than them.

Stop bringing last season's example. Last season we didn't have alternatives. When Nesta go injured, we played Favalli. When Pato got injured, we played Beckham/Huntelaar/Seedorf. This time around we have no problems of such nature.

Personally, I think the attitude matter some of your bring up every now and then is a lame excuse. Milan's locker room has never had personality issues over the course of the years, regardless of the various players who've played for us. The only negative rumor I can think of is Kaladze's recent one, and that had only to do with the board, not with the players/coach.

Of course, playing Seedorf in front of the defense is not the same as playing Pirlo, they're both different players. But Clarence has proved during his career he can adapt to almost every position on the pitch. Our game might lose some brilliance, but the quality is still there.

Nesta out is of course a step down. But so is every big player, so also Inter's big players like Sneijder, Maicon, Milito, Lucio, J.César, Zanetti, etc..... but it looks like you don't see the difference with last season.. last season our central defense depth sucked very hard.. now it's very good.. Sokratis is a very good central defender.. of course no Nesta, but he is very good, also for CL matches.. and now we got Robinho as backup for Pato, instead of playing Huntelaar as RW... I see a HUGE difference with last season.. while Inter LOST Balotelli and didn't get a proper forward backup instead.. they are now the one relying on their starting forwards, not AC Milan anymore.
You just are looking for things to worry about. Time will tell, it doesn't has to become a problem. We got a good environment, and 4 good players for 3 players and a whole lot of matches. It see it as a good thing we got 4 players who should start for 3 positions instead of just 3 like last season and Huntelaar backing up Pato's RW position.
Seedorf played very good in Pirlo's role pre-season and also before. Of course you can keep saying that if one of our starters is out that the backup can't do the same, but EVERY club has that too. That's why one is a starter, the other is not. Seedorf is a good backup.

We got Prince and Flamini who add pace etc. Start Boateng and midfield is not old and slow. I hope Allegri finds the right rotation, but of course you are thinking about it might not happen, since you are pessimistic IMO.

Call yourself a realist, but you are very good in making AC Milan looking bad, while easily could done the same with Inter but you don't. You are really good at finding things to concern about while they don't have to come out that way.
Both Inter and AC Milan should feel like losers when not winning the Scudetto.

Last season is a valid example. The dip in quality between Nesta and Sokratis will be felt in the huge games. Maybe not against mid-table opposition in the league but against really good teams it will show. Cordoba and Matrix you have a point, but Chivu is a great CB who often is wasted a FB at Inter, and imo is better then any of our backups...

It's not an e excuse really, it's reality. Milan have never had such problems because we don't usually have players with such personalities. Robinho can be a serious problem if he's not well disciplines. While Ibra has a huge ego and if that ego is bruised he'll cause trouble. A lot of this will fall on Allegri and whether or not he can handle them.

Imo, Seedorf is best played on the left of the midfield. Flamini or Boateng could take the central spot and it would produce better results then playing Seedorf as a regista

han, you talk as if all the things above are a sure thing to happen - as if Nesta will get injured exactly when we'll play against a big side, as if Robinho and Ibra will surely screw our locker room and as if Pirlo will miss most of the season. The same could very well happen to Inter as far as I'm concerned. No disrespect, but I'm with CHU-LIP one this one - you are just trying to make look bad what's possibly the most competitive team we've had in years.

@ Chu and x-off

I'm not finding ways to make milan look bad, I'm discussing these things with fellow Milan fans, and imo, all the concerns I have listed are real ones. That a lot are choosing to ignore.

Would I like to be proved wrong? YES a million times over. But I'm choosing not to let all this hype lead me to thinking that all is perfect and that the Scudetto is already ours, because I could easily be in for a massive cold shower

Han, I never said we are perfect, and I also didn't say that Scudetto is already ours. I said Inter and AC Milan are both challenging for it, and finally I see AC Milan as favourites, so I did predict we will win it (that's fun), but it will be close, I expect, between the two.

Like X-Offender said that you keep saying that when Nesta is out, but why not mention that when Sneijder is out in a crucial game Inter are ****ed? Sokratis is actually starting material, their Sneijder backup, not so much. Of course, we will miss Nesta for several reasons, but we still have a good central defense then (unlike last season). But seriously, this is such a BS reason since you can say the same about all clubs, while this season we actually got good backups for Pato and Nesta. Sokratis and Robinho. Wow!