Coming off the derby high, this will be a tuff one, but in all honesty should be won. we're still not out of the woods, so we realy cannot afford to lose any points now.

We'll have Zlatan back for this one, any word on whether Pirlo will be back?

Personally I'd like to see us go for



Assuming Pirlo is still out

However, Allegri will most likely play this

Isnt Ibra still banned for this Match?

I think it was just a 2 match ban - Palermo & Inter.

Pirlo is back so I hope we see him from the start.

Oh yes. Pirlo and Boateng with MvB and Rino behind. Any clue on Rino's injury?

It was reduced to 2, so he'll be back for this one

cannot really start with all 3 of robinho,pato and ibra as we wont have any other attacking options lefts on bench thanks to cassano stupid red. si very similar linup to one against inter with ibra and pato to start IMO

Those 2 really don't have any spark between them though, and Boateng is not really someone who can get things going from the AM position like Robinho can due to his runs. Also I prefer Boateng in the midfield.

If Pirlo can play then it woul make more sense to leave Robs on the bench, but without Pirlo or Robinho we wouldn't really have any creative flair in there to support Ibra and Pato

So, this is the game we lose just to make it harder on ourselves again!

Oh shut it!!!

I won us the derby!!!

Ah, it wouldn't be Milan without some needless loss after beating a 'big' side.

Mutu won't play in this game. Picked up his fourth yellow card.

I don't like the new Fiorentina one bit. Especially as Mihailovic as their coach, who is not a good coach in my opinion. I want us to beat them. Beat that ex-interista coach I say!

Same line-up as derby please.

Yeah, like that will ever happen. Apparently, the man in your signature is back, and I don't think he'll come from the bench. And if rumors are to be believed, Pirlo is back too after he was selected as the latest astronaut to travel to Saturn. We can see a totally new look team at the start of the 90.

And who knows, maybe even a totally new results - I don't think Fiorentina will make the same mistakes as inter (or more specifically Leo did), no more easy lunches me fear.

I hope Ibra and Pato don't start we should keep the same attack as the Derby and Ibra come on second half if we need more goals.

Roger that !

Nice!

Fiorentina are rather **** this season and we've done well against them in recent years (especially Pato loves to score over there).

Was just about to say, I think Pato has scored in every game he's played against Fiorentina.

As for the derby line-up, it could be stronger and better, the back 4 that played is untouchable imo, but if Pirlo is back then I'd want him in there, also Flamini played better then Rino did who slows our midfield down way too much, with Van Bommel in there, we really don't need Rino playing

As for Ibra, he's back and he won't be sitting it out that's for sure, he's had a good few weeks to regenerate his strength and regroup mentally. He was running on empty before, thus the reason as to why he sucked @ss big time.

Hm, maybe Rino won't play at all due to his injury in the derby.

Second one is better anyway. No three forwards please, and Boateng as AM please. And where is the creativity in your line-up?

I hope to see:

Boateng imo is a far better midfielder then he is an AM, and part of what he offers is wasted with him playing so high up.

The only reason that we shouldn't play all 3 forwards is because we won't have anyone left on the bench because of Cassano's suspension, other then that I'd prefer Robinho playing there then Boateng, his movement off the ball is very important to us while Boateng will provide a lot more for us playing in the midfield 3

Ideally our midfield should look like this



VB being the holding mid, Pirlo the creative mind and Boateng the box to box guy. Flamini would be a great asset coming off the bench or when we want to play a more compact midfield against big sides, but in all honesty for Serie A those 3 would be the best solution. Playing the 2 DMs is the reason why we usually struggle to score more often then not. Plus all those 3 would help out a lot defensively

Actually the AM will be a midfielder when Boateng plays there. What he has to offer as midfielder he does when playing as AM. He isn't so high up all the time.



Actually there is another reason not to play with 3 forwards. Namely we play better with Boateng as AM / playing with 4 mids instead of 3 forwards. I'm sure if we take a look at all games we played with Boateng as AM and two forwards we were really good. Better than the average 3 forwards game. Often enough we struggled with 3 forwards, lack of midfield, therefore forward also not being that good. More is not always better.



Ideally our midfield should have four midfielders.



Actually no. Playing 2 DMs is not the reason that we struggled scoring. Reasons are not playing enough players with pace and movement, or playing with an isolated attack, or a three forward attack that doesn't click well, while I have seen Robinho + Zlatan working better than Robinho behind Zlatan + Pato, and last match vs Inter Pato + Robinho worked well. Two forwards with an attacking midfielder - Boateng - makes not only our midfield better, but therefore also our attack. Good strong midfield makes us winning the ball more after and losing it less, midfield and attack are well linked up, surely when not only playing Prince as AM but also Robinho as one of the two forwards, and we attack more, we play better, score more, win more.

I've been thinking about wanting to start with Pato + Robinho in front of Boateng. Looks best to me. No Zlatan? Nah, not going to happen.

- Done reading, han? Go to Robinho's thread for more! -

Everyone's in the mood to write a lot today(also yesterday),what's uP? xP

It will be sooooo nice to comprehensively dispose of Fiornetina. No Pirlo!!! Allegri actually has a system now I'm sick and tired of witnessing his thoudands of back and sideways passes and ppl jizzing at how great this fairy is in possession. Slow as as phuck and gives the ball in dangerous positions. He can play but NOT START until he's fit enough to at least keep up decently witht he pace of the game.

I'm hoping iBra returns majestically because these "lesser" games Milan are notorious for losing after knocking out a champion. All Galliani has to do is pretend Fio are minnows and not play the CL anthem in the dressing room and iBra will definitely score a hattrick

Don't expect Pato to be as good simply because as a youngster, consistency is always an issue so I propose Barbera to show up in the San Siro in an extra-slutty outfit just for insurance. Van Bommel is coming back to form and I think Flaimini is finally improving....what I'm saying is "well done Allegri". And NOTHING would please me more than to see Binho score the guy hasn't been clinical but his luck has been down too.

I'd be tempted to rest one of Nesta or Silva but I'd let caution prevail (omg I'm starting to think like Allegri ) and still start 'em. But taking a gamble and letting Yepes play in Nesta's place would also be nice.

Forza Milan!!!

I wrote a lot, but still forgot to mention how we play a much faster game without Zlatan / with Robinho, Pato and Boateng... no Zlatan who holds up the play, no long balls...

Still, also with Zlatan we can be good, obviously, we have won many games with him. But, surely after last match, the derby(!), with a very good display while playing with Pato + Robinho (and Boateng as AM) up front, I would love to see - and it's only fair - to see that again/also vs Fiorentina.

it is an away game

@ Chu's long post

In regards to Boateng, when he plays in the Am position he's both a part of the attack and the midfield, he has his position to hold, he still needs to be in the attacking third or the attackers get stranded. I agree that we should have 4 mids, and if Robinho is playing behind the strikers he forms part of that midfield.

When I talk of the midfield I'm talking about the 3 directly in front of the defense, the AM is not included in that. And personally I believe that Boateng is a lot better playing there, since it is after all his natural position as a box-to-box player, something we've been craving for a while now and I feel that he's wasted at AM.

As for the 2 DM issue, I stand by what I say, we essesntially have DMs that don't really have any skill on the ball, so obviously the midfield becomes stagnant with so many packed in there, at one point we were playing with 3, so after 45 minutes of trying to go through that god awful midfield and failing over and over again, the long balls to Ibra ensue.

I said it in the other thread and I'll say it again, had the same midfield of 3 DMs we were playing around xmas played behind Pato and Robinho, they could have run a 1000 miles out there and it would have come to nothing. The problem has always been the midfield 3 this season, not the forwards and the combo of forwards that play. The AM is irrelavent, it has to start from that midfield 3 and putting Boateng there and removing a player like Rino would increase the quality 10 fold. Add Pirlo when he's fit again and you'll see great football no matter who the 3 (2 strikers 1 AM) in attack are.

A Diamon midfield of



Is the best midfield we could put out there and would produce our best football without loosing our defensive balance

dont expect robinho to start there, Had cassano been available then yes but him suspended i dont think that will happen although I do like the diamond midfield we can keep rotating it a lot as well

Play merkel ?

I agree that he shouldn't play there against Fiorentina, to give us an option from the bench, but on other occasion that shoud be the starting midfield imo

+1

Boateng is good at both AM and in deeper midfield. Even if you're right he's better in deeper midfield, we have no one who is as good as option as Boateng is as AM, nor close to it. While we do have plenty of non-AM midfield options. Robinho I don't find as good as Boateng as AM option, but I have to say Robinho is the best option for that when it comes to forwards because of his energy, work rate, pace, dropping back, building up, linking up, and so.

I prefer:
Robinho, Pato(vs good teams who gives us space)/Zlatan(vs weak teams that park the bus against us)*
Boateng
Pirlo or Seedorf, Van Bommel or Ambrosini, Gattuso or Flamini
Zambrotta, Thiago Silva, Nesta, Abate
Abbiati

Oh and I forgot to say, I agree about 3 DM's being too much... but I'm okay with two DM's

*or Pato and Zlatan up front - if anything, hard to choose who to bench of them... very, very tough decision

I agree with CHU-LIP. Till we buy better AM, Boateng is better there than Robinho. With Boateng there, we don't have huge gaps between midfield and attack and the linkage is much better.

+1

Why in the name of the good lord would you rest Nesta or Silva? We play only one game per week now, there's plenty of time to rest for everyone. If one or both of them should rest, that's against Palermo in Coppa Italia, not against friggin' Fiorentina in friggin' Serie A!!!

Sorry for the rant, but sometimes I find certain comments very peculiar.



+1

+1

+2

+3

I think we're overrating the importance of players getting a rest a little bit. when we had to play two games a week, yes, maybe Nesta because of his age and physical condition needed to rest sometimes. but that's about it. Silva is a young beast with great physical condition, he's one of the last ones on our team who needs to "rest".

Can't say Zed. There's also the mental burnout of it.

I think both line-ups depend on the opposition imo.

As for the 2DMs, I think it depends on who we're playing, against a top team 2 are needed, against run of the mill Serie A sides where it is much more difficuilt to break them down due to their defensive set-up, Van Bommel is enough

Oh, as for resting players, we've just come off a 2 weeks break FFS! And the players have had an entire weeks rest between games for a while now! Don't see any reason as to why we shouldn't play the best team possible in all the upcoming games, especially considering the importance of all of them and getting max points out of them

I don't think resting really helps "mental burnout". there should be psychiatrists for that.

Obviously the opponent matters. Against stronger teams 2 DMs are needed and 4 mids also, so Boateng as AM. Against smaller teams 2 DMs / 4 mids may not be necessary (so then Robinho as AM could be an option)*, and Zlatan will be needed unlike in big games where I think we are better with Robinho and Pato in front of Boateng.

*but only if the third forward (AM) is Robinho, while all of Cassano, Pato and Zlatan can't do what Robinho can do. Robinho comes the closest to a midfielder from them all. But I've said this before, so I kept this short.

Probable line-up (Sportmediaset):

Milan (4-3-1-2): Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta; Flamini, Van Bommel, Seedorf; Boateng; Ibrahimovic, Pato.

I like.

Me too.

Me three

I like how Allegri has allowed abate to develop by offering him cover by having a defense minded mid cover for him all year. So long as Flamini/gattuso play ahead of him, our right flank should continue to be a viable attacking option. I also like how Allegri's calling out of Robinho resulted in his benching; another example of him not being a "small club manager". He stands up to the ego's of the team, post derby alone, he called out Cassano and Robinho instead of over-saturating the fact we won. He has developed nicely into a very good coach.

As Craig Ferguson would say, " I look forward to your letters."

You watch him? He is my favorite comedian.