Agreed. What's baffling though is that, I was watching the game on SkySport, and their spokesperson from the field said Allegri was constantly telling Pato to play out wide. So it's probably Allegri's orders and not Pato's will to play on the wing.

I don't believe Pato is just a great CF. He can be great playing on the wing, but not on the right side. You can clearly see how utterly uncomfortable he is playing there. Which is what we saw on a consistant basis yesterday. Robinho was trying to start from deep but he'll always have the tendency to drift to the wings, thus Pato needs to push out. I don't know why Allegri wants him to do that, he obviosly plays a lot better when closer to goal, so why bother trying to push him away from it...

Allegri needs to figure out a way, to play this attacking combination without compromising Pato's talent in the process. If we're not playing with an AM then Pirlo imo has to be pushed further up, we were lacking that final ball yesterday, Napoli were giving us a lot of space, especially in the first half but we were not exploiting it

We'll see what Allegri does against Juve, I have no problem playing the same exact lineup that we saw today, but he needs to make some big adjustments to it, or it won't work, not in the long run

Can someone open the Juve thread so we can talk about how Krasic (deservedly) will not be playing??


Also, on the fight, while you don't typically want to see that, it was kind of cool to see Prince, Ibra, and Nesta (what a push!) step up and protect their teammates. Even though Robinho flopped. Still.

Be my guest - Milan-Juventus

Nah man, we didn't lack the final ball yesterday, just eagerness in front of the goal. We had plenty of occasions with Pato and Ibra to close the game, but they didn't show much vigor in their attempts.

Shame. Pato should be the main CF, with the freedom (his own freedom) to go wide (I want Pato to be the left sided CF), but not forced and he needs to be in CF position most of the times. The other CF, Ibrahimovic, I want to see everywhere in attack and attacking midfield, helping building up etc. Robinho, the one who plays behind the two CF's has the freedom to go forward/wide, which will give space for Pirlo to go a bit to AMC also sometimes. Boateng and a DM (Gattuso or Flamini) will complete the midfield with both a lot of defensive duties, but Boateng also some attacking duties.

This position should be good for Pato and he still will learn other attributes.

+1

How did most of those chances come along though? Napoli were attacking us and we hit them with a long ball that the front 3 chased and created a chance out of.

In the first half our midifield 3 were completely dominating Napoli but we had no one that could slip the forwards through, Robinho was trying to drift in and out of that position, but he usually ended up taking it to a wing. We were stretched too far, You had Pato stuck wide out on the right, Robinho going from center to far left and Ibra in the middle dropping deep fot the ball.

I was seeing Rino getting involved in the build up play and Pirlo on the other hand was no where to be seen, imo this should not be happening, at least when we're attacking Pirlo needs to be further ahead, if not Pirlo then at least Boateng, but not the DM!

I think a lot of adjustments need to be made in order for this system to work properly, and that will only happen if every player on the pitch is utilised to the max! That means Pirlo no being stuck doing the defnesive work, but actually creating and Pato not on the right

Benching Pato is of course no option since he is our biggest goalscoring threat, therefore Pato needs to play in a position which suits him which obviously should be CF: the position to score goals (see my previous comment).


Of course Pato has got a lot of pace which is important for playing wide, but playing wide is more than just that. Playing wide also requires good passing, crossing, vision and dribbling. These are not Pato's main strengths. Pato's main strengths are shooting/finishing, pace, making runs, heading and possibly also his positioning. These are all attributes which will make you one awesome striker(CF) and not necessary an awesome wide forward.

*Raises fin* This fish has a question for Boban10!

Did Kerr stay up and watch the game with you after all?