tasty Swiss cheese have flaws? DAMN IT!!

We'll see, Rino is on 3m so....

the game is on bet365 schedule along with other seire A games

AC Milan have scored in their first league game of the season in every campaign since 1986/87, when they lost 1-0 to Ascoli.

It ll be intresting to see what frame of mind the squad is psychologically after this game. If Milan win, no doubt its a great way to start the season and it ll raise confidence but that could easily turn into 'sluggishness' at the nou camp. I hope we win this game but play with real urgency in the nou camp

that is a very interesting stat

Hmm...Milan have never beaten Lazio with Ibra in the team.

I think this will be a draw or a loss.

AC Milan are unbeaten in the last 26 league games vs Lazio; the Biancocelesti’s last win came back in 1998 (2-1).

F@Ck you....try and be a little pessimistic for a change!

Naah, this is a much much more competitive Lazio. It won't be that easy.

^^

Thank you! At last some proper perspective. We're f@cked people!! Wake up!

I don't see us not winning this one. Lazio is stronger now, but Allegri is not that kind of managers who could slip in first round.

i hope u didnt curse anything

Lazio started very well last season and they have more reason to start better this season. No doubt they will come into this game aiming to win.

Here’s what coach Massimiliano Allegri had to say on the eve of Milan-Lazio.

MILANELLO – In the press room today here’s what the coach told the gathered journalists: We just have to focus on tomorrow’s game. From Saturday on, we can think of Barcelona. Tomorrow’s game will be tough as it’s the opening game and we haven’t played for a while. The difficult thing will be to have the right mental approach. Luckily some of our players were away with their national sides and this is a good thing. Tomorrow will be a tough game and a very important one. We’ll have to play it as best we can mentally and physically. I believe that when you start your preparations, there are certain dates that you work on. It would have been easier to start with Cagliari bacause that was what we worked on. But you have to adapt and we’re ready. Lazio will be fighting for the title, there a strong side and like us they’ve been playing together for a year. Klose and Cisse will bring something new to the team. They’ll come here tomorrow and I expect an open game. I don’t think they’ll play mainly in their own half as they did last season and so I expect a good game. Milan? The club has bought in important players where they were needed. Mexes will be ready to play soon. Taiwo is doing well, El Shaarawy has talent and then there are also Aquilani and Nocerino. I’m happy with the signings, especially in these economically difficult times when the president could easily have thought about selling some big players. Instead, he brought players in and this is important. Tomorrow’s game is the most important game from here to December. Even if it’s the first game, it’ll condition our games against Barcelona and Napoli. We’re favorites on paper, there’s no getting around that. But on paper is one thing and on the pitch is another. The team is more motivated than last year. The players want to show that everything that happened last year was down to hard work and a desire to win. Aquilani and Nocerino are both available and one of them could play from the start. Nocerino comes from a team that plays in a certain way so putting him in the team will be easy.


Still Allegri: The game against Spain was good for Cassano’s morale. Everyone comes to training here to prove themselves every day. I’m happy that he’s in good shape. Inzaghi? I talked to him again the day after he was left out of the team list and I repeated what I had told him over the phone. I was more dissapointed than anyone but I had to make certain valutations and I believe the choices I make are for the good of the team. His place in the history of the club is assured and I’m sure that come Janury he’ll have his chance to get back on the Champions League list. Robinho? He’s had a setback and didn’t join up with the national side. I’ll make my decision this evening but I don’t think he’ll be available tomorrow. After Lazio we’ll have an extra day to think about Barcelona. The club? They’ve worked well by bringing in two internationals. El Shaarawy will be on the bench Tomorrow, he’s still learning and I’m very happy with him. Ibra will play. Aquilani? He and Pirlo have different characteristics. Pirlo was 10 years at Milan and he won a lot. Aquilani just got here and wants to show that he’s a Milan level player. The formation? Two or three players will change between tomorrow and Barcelona. Antonini and Zambrotta are doubtful. I’ll have to decide on Zambrotta’s knee later and Antonini pulled up in training the other day. The team has worked well up until today, we’ll have to be ready mentally tomorrow. It won’t be easy but we’ll have to do it. It’s a really important game for the rest of the championship. I’m underlining this because we haven’t played for a while and also because there’s Barcelona coming up. Tomorrow there’s Lazio and that’s what we have to think about. We won’t fly to Spain until Monday. If we don’t beat Lazio then that’ll be on our minds when we should be focusing on Barcelona.

I'm hoping that Barca isn't the only thing on their minds. I know it must be pre-occupying since that game is a only a mere few days away, but they will need to give their all against Lazio as well, they're not going to come to the San Siro and bend over for us.

Where they the only team last season to take points from us in both rounds?

Oh wait, there was Udine as well, but we had already won the league when we played them in the second round

I don't think we beat Roma either.

Oh yeah, but the 2nd match we only needed a draw against them as well. So that factors into it. Both the Lazio games where very important for us but we couldn't break through

Coach Massimiliano Allegri then picked the following squad to face Lazio:
Abbiati, Amelia, Roma, Abate, Antonini, Bonera, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Yepes, Ambrosini, Aquilani, Kevin Prince Boateng, Emanuelson, Gattuso, Nocerino, Van Bommel, Cassano, El Shaarawy, Ibrahimovic and Pato.

http://www.acmilan.com/en/news/show/135864

Looks pretty strong to me!

Excited to get underway tomorrow night, looking forward to it, and i believe we can win.

I really fear that we'll see a Rino, Ambro, Seedorf, Boateng midfield...

Read his press conference interview. He said that either Aquilani or Nocerino will start.

He said that they could start

Am I the only one who noticed that Seedorf is not in the squad for this game? Zambro and Robs are also out, all not 100% fit.

So we probably gonna see:



Also, wouldn't surprise me if Cassano starts as he's in a better shape lately.

Ambrosini instead of Van Bommel?

Otherwise,this is the formation I expect Allegri will play.

Van Bommel returned with some small problem after the international break and wasn't expected to be in the squad in the beginning. I think we gonna save him for Barca.

Who is gonna be our left back?? :-/

Maybe VB will start and get subbed off if we're somehow winning by the 60th. I'm really not looking forward to seeing a Rino-Ambro combo...

@ Jack, I think we might see Bonera on the left since every LB we have is injured

Great. Ok...and thus we shall begin our campaign on a not so good note!!

Now it's funny, but in a few hours this place will be full of "****** Bonera" etc.

So true

Well this is mediaset's lineup

Milan (4-3-1-2): Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, T. Silva, Antonini; Gattuso, Ambrosini, Aquilani; K. P. Boateng; Cassano, Ibrahimovic

Still insisting on the Rino Ambro duo. Oh my. Allegri will obviously go with this... Why not push Boateng back and let Cassano play behind Ibra and Pato? His fixation with the 2DM system, especially 2 DMs that have been poorer then poor in the last few years, has gotten to the point of ridiculous

antonini defintely ahead of bonera (bonera at LB makes me )... nocerino-ambro-aqualani/KPB (both can play behind stiker or at CM) ..

What makes you think Cassano is a good fit at AM? Cassano plays excellent for both Milan and Azzurri as forward (along Rossi or a Milan striker like Ibrahimovic). Unlike players like Kevin-Prince, Cassano is not a midfielder and Cassano lacks the immense energy plus workrate Robinho has to make up for that. When exactly has Cassano played as AM behind two forwards anyway?

He's more of a creative outlet then Boateng ever is. Cassano has played that position multiple times for the Azzuri in the past, Samp, etc. Also Boateng is not an AM, and I'd rather have Cassano who might not track back, then a ghost on that right side

I believe our AM tracking back is one of the key things in Allegri's formation. An AM should not only be just creative. With Aquilani we got creativity elsewhere in midfield, and in attack there's also creativity.

But I don't think his creativity, Boatengs that is, will suffice. Long term speaking. And also, to me it's a complete nonsense. The AM has to track back because you have two invalid DM's fielded; that's Allegri's system. If it were two proper DM's, the AM would naturally be more free, but since it's Ambro and Rino together, yes, it's the Allegri system.

I don't think it's a matter of how many DMs and how good, but having four mids playing being an advantage.

Boateng as AM worked well for us last season, much better than Cassano/Robinho there. We won't play them there unless we have an injury crisis or are are behind during the match. Anyway, it will be less of an issue after Aquilani and Nocerino will settle in.

We need Boateng working his @ss off because we've got an almost-man on the right, also note that things started going well for us, regardless of where Boateng played, when VB was brought in. Boateng has nothing to do with stability. Had we continued to play with Ambro and Rino there we wouldn't have done so well in the second part of the season. Boateng will still do a top notch job of covering the midfield from a deeper position, him playing behind the strikers is unnecassary, and imo, he does not provide the creative support that our strikers need.


Completely agreed with you


It's a huge issue. The right sided DM shouldn't be there, and Allegri tops it off by playing a combative player behind the strikers instead of a creative player. VB is more then enough, play Boateng in his natural position and a proper AM and we'll see some really good things this season, but Allegri seems dead set on it. In Serie A we might be able to bulldoze over some sides, mostly thanks to Zlatan. But in Europe we need more, we need too keep possesion, control the tempo, etc. And we won't be able to do this with Rino in that midfield and a player like Boateng supporting the strikers.

Imo, this is Allegri's real test, Serie A has gotten stronger after last season, and he has to do better then the humiliation of last season in Europe. I don't care about last season, that is done. Like Filippo says, this will be the season that determines whether he's a Zaccheroni or Ancelotti


The most significant aspect of last season was VB, not where Boateng played. We were lucky to get out of jams such as the Chievo games thanks to individual brilliance from our strikers. Boateng does not provide the support our strikers should have. And playing Rino on the right is useless, especially when there is a much better player in Boateng who can play there and we have different options for the AM position.

Robinho, Cassano, Aquilani or Seedorf can all play that position and support Pato and Zlatan better, while Boateng is sill putting a lot of hard work from deeper

That is exactly why 4 mids is better than 3 mids. So I don't get why you then prefer Cassano over Kevin.

Cassano is probably 1 of the top 5 passers in our team, and I don't specifcally prefer him, it could be Robinho or Aquilani there. I don't prefer them over Kevin, I prefer them over Rino. And that is the biggest issue in our midfield. Rino.

Only just realised the game's today. Any reason why it's a Friday game?

You confuse a good passer with a good AM. If we play with Cassano at AM, we play with 3 fwd's, a 4-3-3 it will turn out to be on the pitch. It will make our midfield only weaker, and our midfield is already our weakest area.

at kurt: cuz of CL / Barça

Because we have a CL game (that too against one of the "giants" Barcelona) coming up on the 13th. Simple!

We started playing with Boateng as AM before VB arrived and it worked better than Robingo there. The 4-3-3 wasn't a good fit at the beginning of last season. Aquilani and Seedorf are better in the left side.

I don't mind playing Boateng on the right but we gotta get a real AM first. Now that we have aslo Nocerino, I think Allegri will player either him or Rino at the right almost all the time. He won't bench both of them for Boateng and go back to Cassano/Robinho as AM. Next season it might be different if Rino leaves and a real AM arrives.

I'm curious to see how we would play with Nocerino in the lene up. He should push Rino out of the starting 11.

Surprising. I could see them pushing it to a Saturday, but Friday seems a bit much. Let's hope it works..

Yeah, well I couldn't have asked for a much tougher opening schedule, really. Lazio, Barcelona and then Napoli, holy mamma of all things good in this world. We can potentially lose all three matches.

Well, few Serie A matches used to be played Friday evenings, a long time ago

We weren't comparing an AM to a good passer, we were talking about keeping posession, and to do that you need someone who will know what to do with the ball once he gets it. Boateng is not the smartest midfielder we have, sure he does well at making the insertions, but he can do that from a deeper spot.

The main point was possession, and having a midfield containing all 3 of VB, Rino and Boateng won't help that.

Like I said, the AM could be anyone from Cassano, Aqui or Robinho. It really doesn't matter to me. Our right side is basically being wasted by playing that runner. And we'll see the true result of this not this weekend, or even in Serie A, but in the CL, and that could be as soon as next Tuesday when we face Barca. That could be one loooooooooooooooooooong @ss night


We were doing badly at the beginning of the season because Allegri had to somehow fit in all of Seedorf, Pirlo, Dinho, Zlatan and Pato into a starting 11 and then make room for Robs as well. Boateng only started playing there around the xmas break IIRC, maybe a couple of weeks before that.

My point is that we really started to find our true identity on the pitch once we had VB. Because we didn't have to depend on a useless Rino running aimlessly or Ambro anymore. He brought stability to the midfield and covered the defence amazingly well. Boateng could have still done all that he did from where Rino played and helped out the midfield 3 more then Rino ever did.

Yes we don't have a pure AM, and that should have been addressed this summer, I agree. But Aquilani played that position, Cassano as well, Seedorf also, and then there is Robinho. All of these 4 would support the 2 upfront better imo. Boateng does not provide the incisive pass to the strikers and that's why we sometimes struggle. Have you watched Cassano for Italy lately? He's amazing at supporting the frontman, some of the balls he feeds Rossi or the runners from midfield are amazing.

Anyways, you have a point about Nocerino, the thing that mostly irritates me is having a shadow on the right, and we tend to get vulnerable on that side, which is ironic really considering that the right side should be our stronest since we play a pure creative player on the left...

All said and done, my problem is Allegri's fixation with playing Gattuso. fOr God's sake, even a basketball fan can see that Rino and Ambro is about the worst midfield pairing in Europe's top football. It is lethargic, dead and dull.

Thank you!!