I honestly believe that you may actually blame Allegri for hexing Boat with cramps and a potentially serious collarbone/shoulder injury...Dude....be cool...



First off you know i got your back on the Ambro and rino debate..

That being said i understood the thought behind swapping aquilani with nocerino. Aquilani had left Antonini to dry on more then one occasion. Granted Antonini is no Maldini, but the Konko vs. Antonini matchup was arguably the best head-to-head all game. We were weak on the left, as we all can agree on, but it isn't purely Antonini's fault, Nesta was bested by Cisse off a set piece and Klose's goal IIRC was Aquilani slacking on D but most of all a class turn by a good player who deserved that goal (it hit his chest, not the arm from what i saw)

I'm not the biggest fan of 3 DMs but in Allegri's setup today, he wanted to expose their wingbacks (as he usually does...). That being said Abate had as good a match as we have come to expect from him and Antonini did not have the luxury that abate did knowing that Gattuso/Ambro was behind him for cover. At one point in the game abate was playing as a RW waiting to get the ball and push the backline for Cassano & Ibra. during this 5-10 minute span, he did not once go back into his half, as ambro dropped and nesta went a little wider. Antonini was asked to replicate (not as much, mind you) abate's runs, knowing that he had a slacking LM to cover for him. Mauri (i think he was RM) owned Aquilani all game when it came to possession/ball winning/movement. Essentially with Aquilani taking some defensive duties lightly cause for antonini to have to litterally sprint back and forth all game. Allegri will usually have a more offensive LM fielded as our starting LBs are more defensively oriented (Zambrotta, Taiwo) but he trusted aquilani with providing cover for Antonini when needed. I fell that Aquilani either got complacent with his hand in both goals and didn't work hard, or was just lazy. I realize this sounds like i'm bashing Aquilani, but i feel, today, we've seen the best and worst of what he can offer. With either of our top 2 LBs starting, he would not need to be as acute tracking back but Allegri enforces an all-defend/all-attack mentality that made us Serie A's best defensive team.

In conclusion, I hope Nocerino makes Rino regret not going to Anzhi

Also, in respect to Allegri, we had 3-4 great opportunities that slipped through our fingers that would have won the game for us...

There could have been better solutions then stuffing up the midfield, and what he did made us more narrow rather then exposed Lazio's wings. Once Nocerino went on it was like a switch, we started playing the long ball, passing aimlessly around. It was a huge mistake, there could have been other options, like moving Aquilani to a more adnanced position and moving prince back to help cover Antonini. That being said, when he made the switch the game was in our hands and Lazio weren't getting a sniff. It's not like we were on the back foot and needed a desperate cover for Antonini at that point.

Imo, from the starting 11 he picked, to the changes he made, it was just one big howler from Allegri. Had the right line-up been picked, we would have walked away with 3 points and I'm confident in saying this.

As for Abate, his biggest advantage is his pace, so even if he is very high up the pitch most of the time, and he gets caught when a players runs in behind him, he still makes up for it 99% of the time. Antonini was making gaff after gaff, and blaming it on Aquilani is unfair, I know you said you're not doing that, but you are essentially blaming the weakness on the left side on him, when imo, our weakness was totally down to Antonini. Our system last season with the FBs was simple, Abate bombs up and down while Zambro takes a more cautious approach, only going up to help out when it's absolutely necassary. Plus he's a smarter defender, the pass that assisted Klose was ridiculous, how could Antonini let that pass be made??

I would not go as far as saying it was a howler, he changed thngs around at 0-2 (namely switching abate to RW) which helped us to take control of the game back over. And were it not for a chip by aqua and a decent corner (i was getting tired of us playing it short) we may not have been so lucky. Credit obviously equally due to Ibra and Fantantonio. Also, as good as we are, Lazio came out guns blazing and could have put us away were it not for some timely misses (hernanes) and miracles (nesta on Cisse). They are the reason we caught up, they payed defensively after going up and dropped their high line which was working very well at exposing Cassano & Ibra's pace. As i said in my other post, we had amble chances to score. Aquilani, cassano (x2), Ibra and Pato could have scored goals well within their skill-set but were off the mark. If 2 of those went in, we'd blame the players and credit Reja for the 0-2 beginning. Truth is, after getting off to a rocky start, we held possession (against a much improved Lazio) and created plenty of chances.

I guess we will just agree to disagree. I'm not Allegri's fanboy or anything, i just think he should not get solely dumped on for what happened, just as Antonini was not entirely to blame for their all their goals. Nesta got bested by someone MUCH taller then him of a set piece in a dangerous position and Klose's goal could have just as easily been disallowed (although i still maintain that it looked ok).

We came back to draw a very good team, a team that is usually top3 at the first half of every season thanks to Reja*. It's disappointing but considering alot of the factors surrounding this game, it's hardly panic button worthy. If anything, i promise you more people would consider Reja to have had the howler...


*the poster boy for italo-slovenians

Is Robinho injured?

Very recently recovered. Still technically unfit.

My ratings:


Abbiati: 6 Can't be blamed for either goal, had a decent night


Abate: 6.5 Not a bad performance for his first game


Nesta: 5 - I was a little surprised to see nesta get beaten like that, not his best night.

Silva: 5 - For a player who was probably the best defender in the world last season, this one was quite a shocker.

Antonini: 4 Did well push foreward, but he was awful defensively. I'd say both goals could be blamed on his lack of closing down the opposition.


Van bommel: 6 decent night, he needs match fitness

Ambrosini: 6 did relatively well, still lacking match fitness.

Aquilani: 7 wow, he surprised me today. He showed a bit of his class, though I'll remain skeptical for now. He has the quality, now he needs to show it.


Boateng: 6.5 Not a bad game by him, needs match fitness.

Cassano: 8 Probably the best player tonight, showed some touches of class and got more motivated as the game wore on.


Ibra: 7 Not a bad night by him, some quality passing.




Overall the game shows evidence that the strike is going to hurt us on Tuesday. But the squad looks stronger this year, I can already see we are going to be playing some quality football come Nov, december.

Disappointing result, a few points to note...

Nesta was extremely poor, and frankly hasn't been his old self for a long time. Silva has truly taken over from him and we're seeing more and more errors from the Italian in his old age.

Aquilani was actually impressive, and was a lot better than I suspected he'd be.

Cassano showed why we kept him - a great player with plenty of talent who is maybe a bit under appreciated by some fans.

It was an open match and Lazio's attackers caused us problems, and we have to take some credit for not losing this match after such a poor start, but a draw at home wasn't great.

Room for some improvement.

Nesta started shaky, but by the end, he saved our @sses single handedly, still can't wrap my mind around how he stopped that sure goal from Cisse. Nesta just needs time, he's not in his 20s anymore so getting into the swing of things will require more game time and a bit more patience. Him and Thiago are still a top pairing and they complement each other to a T

The thing that should be noted the most is that Lazio only pressured us when Rino and Ambro were on. Once VB was brought in we took the game in our hands, simply because their midfield couldn't get through like they were doing before. Another problem was our left side, Aqui wasn't tracking back much and Antonini was atrocious, and during those first 20 minutes of pressure from Lazio they identified that area as the weakest link. The defensive stability of last season is still not there yet, but we'll regain it as we go along, problem is, we have Barca in 3 days, facing them on the 1st matchday is really bad for us. We've had a disrupted preseason and topped that off with a strike and NT duty. Not the best way to prepare for such a huge match

I wouldn't blame Nesta as much as some do here. Sure, yesterday wasn't his best match, but - he's getting old and lacking speed. Rino and Ambro did little to nothing to help him covering more space and blocking off the still fast-paced Cisse. What's there to expect? Even after van Bommel and Nocerino came on, that wasn't the case. But especially for the first 30 minutes.

And again, yes, Aquilani has to be praised, but at the same time he also takes part of the blame that our left side was under constant pressure. The Hernanes miss was initiated by his poor marking, letting Konko virtually walk through him and comfortably crossing.

As for Antonini, I'm under the impression he should be used as a left midfielder or even left DM rather then fullback, because he's immensely trying to help on the flank, but his defensive covering and positioning suffers allot. While at the same time Abate is becoming better and better, yet still lacks precision. My god, the last time Milan had a proper fullback crosser and shooter was when we had Cafu. Having Antonini and Abate move back and forth, loosing strength and letting much space behind, while being as inefficient as they are is really unproductive as hell.

You sure about the latter? It was only a minor injury, should not affect fitness once recovered.

I think him, Seedorf and Zambro were left out as a precaution. VB was also left out but forced in as well. Let's not forget that these players have had NT duty just a few days ago and we don't have the easiest of games coming up as well as Napoli up next in the league.

No use risking them when we have other options. Sure starting with Antonini and Ambro covering the defence was ultimately a mistake but we somehow managed to claw back for a draw against a good Lazio side.

@ Filippo, on Aquilani, let's not forget that our LB usually plays a more defensive game, Zambro is not asked to bomb forward like Abate does, simply becaise he has Seedorf in front of him. Antonini was gallavanting up and down without a thought, which is why he got caught out. Aquilani might not be completely familiar but still, had Seedorf been the one playing, we would have still suffered on the left simply because Antonini wasn't holding his position like Zambro does.

The system in midfield was fairly simple last season. You have Abate on the right he attacks the flank at will but a DM runner in Rino or Flamini on the right, while on the left you had the pure creator in Seedorf or Pirlo and a subdued Zambro who stayed back on the left.

Yesterday, this balance was completely ruined because Antonini did not hold his position, and to add to that, his defending and defensive positioning is woeful, so it contributed greatly to that side being left wide open. Sure Aquilani could have done more to cover, but the sole responsability rests on the LB.

Just my two cents on the game.

First half was obviously awful. Every time we lost ball, Lazio had huge spaces to counterattack. Gattuso and Ambrosini made fools out of themselves, especially Rino proved once again why I can't stand the sight of him anymore. I wouldn't blame as much Antonini on both goals as I'd blame Nesta. His game was poor on many levels, save the fantastic save on Cisse. In the second half, we completely submitted Lazio and should have easily won. That's why I'm not that bothered by this draw. We managed to come back from a difficult result and dominate the game afterwards.

Nothing to say on Antonini? His defending on both goals was terrible and he was mostly as fault since he didn't close down either plays. Both first and second goals came from the left side where he should have easily closed the player down and stopped such crosses from being made.

As for Ambro, he didn't exactly make a fool out of himself since he was no where to be found during the entire match. Just totally inivisable. He was supposed to be covering the defence and it was like he wasn't even playing.

Actually, I thought Antonini a had pretty decent game. He kept pushing forward continuously. OK, he didn't exactly close down Lazio's plays in both goals, but that doesn't exactly amount into a defensive mistake. It was Nesta the one who should have done something more in those circumstances, but instead he got åss-whooped by both Klose and Cisse.

Klose is not some idiot striker, he's got as much experiance as Nesta, I don't believe it's Nesta's mistake, the way he took that down around Nesta was just top class if you ask me, I don't think Silva would have done any better on that either. But look at the way the ball was played into Klose, what was Antonini doing exactly? He didn't even try to stop the player from making the pass

The second goal was both, but no attempt to stop the cross coming in is the first mistake, and shouldn't have been made.

Antonini trying to bomb forward imo was stupid, he knew he had Aquilani ahead of him, imo it was reckless, and why we got stretched so much in the first half

I can't understand how Antonini can get praise after the Lazio game, while Nesta is being pointed as the one who made the crucial mistakes. Work-rate is one thing, but fact stays, both goals did not come from Abate's side, the came from Antonini's. If Hernanes hadn't missed his 100% sitter, we'd had three goals from Antonini's side.

Exactly

Both should have done better. Antonini is just sucks defensively, Nesta of few years ago would have prevented at least on of the goals.

Lets looks at the expectations for Antonini and Nesta on a rating scale of 1-10.

Antonini: 1

Nesta: 10

Antonini, while not perfect, played above expectation, Nesta did not. Thus one receives praise and the other not so much. Based on that scale Antonini had a pretty solid game.

That scale does not make any sense. I mean, Brocchi would have been a 10 most of the time because he tried, wouldn't he?

My expectations for Antonini are that he will hold his side in order and accomplish to cut-off or reduce the pressure from the opponents side. Did he do that? NO. Did we concede 2 goals from our left? YES. Were those 2 goals isolated incidents? NO. How can we rate Antonini positive then?

I agree, Nesta was far from perfect, but that's not the point.

What??

That really doesn't make any sense, so if I expect nothing spectacular from Antonini, should that make me happy that he ran his @ss off without any thought or purpose but f@cked up when it really mattered? I don't think so. If that were the case then we should be happy with Bonera, Gattuso, etc, simply because they tried and we shouldn't expect a certain amount from them...