Actually, I disagree. Our defensive line was terrible, especially the positioning. We made sloppy errors.

Our midfield did well in the attacking phase, but the switching from attack to defense and back exhausted us to early, because Boateng was played as AM and Seedorf as midfielder. We let Barcelona way too many space to combine and play it like they wanted. Chances or not, every one of their attack shattered our defensive system.

So, I'm not reluctant to say we should have won.

Zlatan's goal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G56Nwidcoa4

Prince's peach of a goal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnvMlNToiKQ...;feature=colike

Tonight we can hold our heads high because we played the best team in the world and, but for a dodgy penalty, should have come away with a draw. I'm sure uefa are happy that their ref worked to orders tonight, this will help him get some games at Euro 2012.

Three things.

1. I can't understand Allegri and his decision of playing both Aquilani and Seedorf. Spectacular football or not, it was a dumb decision that cost us the game. Nocerino would have provided that much needed cover and aggressiveness which is vital against a team like Barcelona. It was evident in the first half that our defense was in shambles, Aquilani was booked and playing poor. Why not fixed it?

2. I evoked Pato's entrance and I was left so very disappointed. At least Robinho moved a lot and created chances. Pato was a ghost. Really, really disappointed from him.

3. Zambrotta needs to call it a day. His performance was absolutely disgraceful. All he did was lose balls and make fouls.

We tried to play the game and we were defeated. Too many errors in defense and way too much space for Barça. We should have played it safe and easy: tight defending and counterattacks. Yet our genius of a coach thought we could outplay Barcelona. Lesson served.

Our two goal scorers' jerseys side by side:

1-Although,you can't understand it.Normally,I would agree with you.It's not a rational decision.But,Seedorf can still pull that magic that Nocerino or Aquilani can never pull off.What's the point in losing 1-0,or 2-0,or 3-0.He was essential to today's performance.We went out there and played our football,and succeeded.We did some sloppy mistakes,but that doesn't have to do with how Allegri played.Maybe,Nocerino instead of Aquilani,but I don't believe it's that big of a difference either.

2-Pato barely got to the ball,he's a player that depends on others to get the ball to him,and he'll assure you in a high percentage that he can score.So,I'm sure Allegri will find the perfect role for Pato.Like Zed said he needs that pass that Seedorf or even Ibra can supply him.He needs a real attacking midfielder behind him.Not a Boateng type.
I say we buy that midfielder,and say goodbye to some of our old guards.Being sentimental won't be for the good of the team.

3-Zambrotta was bad,but maybe you're overreacting a bit .Who do we have on the flanks?Taiwo?Not much better.

That's like saying planes are better than cars because cars cannot fly...

Pato isn't that type of player and he was brought in to play as a CF. it was a change of tactics not a direct substitute for Robinho. his teammates failed as much as he did if not more because they never provided any chances for him to convert. not even a cross from our FBs.

As for the rest of your post (except the Zambro part) I completely disagree. had we sat back and let them come at us nothing would have changed for better. they would've found a hole in our defense and done their damage anyway. we have tried that before, it doesn't work. not to mention we didn't have what it takes to launch counterattacks on them. I mean with Aquilani and Seedorf and MvB? yeah right. that's blindingly fast!

Well:

On the Pato matter - I fully agree with X-O. I also expected more out of Pato. What did he do? Repeat the same dive style he practiced against Fiorentina. He may have been a tactical change, but in the end, Pato added absolutely nothing to our game, his movement wasn't that important for our offensive play, while his presence was hardly felt. Give it or take it, we all expected Pato to bite! He was supposed to be a starter, Allegri decided for Robinho, yet gave him the chance. I expected him to be fired up, to be more present.

On the Zambrotta matter - I disagree. No one can't say Zambro was very good or excellent, but disgraceful?? I don't get it, if this is disgraceful, the Taiwo and Antonini should start searching for a place in Serie B.

I do know for a fact that if Pato was in place of Robinho on the chance that skied, we'd have had 2 goals up at half time. There is a 1% chance he'd have missed that. For all the hustle Robinho brings, his finishing is atrocious. Still I do hope for the day when we can play all three together. I guess, a major chunk of that depends on Senior Ibra.

Oh, and agree what you guys said about Pato. It's goals he scores best, let's get some while we can!

Yeah...Pato was playing on the shoulder of the offensive line....his helping out the team came from making those off the ball runs that iBra doesn't make and that he gets criticised for not making ......He was always going to be less noticeable but one or two quality balls (no homo) and he would have affected the most important thing- the scoreline

that said I too expected far more from him. But if he was going to play a role then he didn't do too bad.
I wonder if Taiwo would have done better than Zambro at left back?

Also though we were outclassed I'm PROUD of my team....it's kinda shameful how we've been subsisting off the scraps of the actual big teams here and there....Barca takes off Alcantra and Brings on Jonathan Dos Santos. They got a Serie star like Sanchez on the bench. Berlu's lack of funds and Galliani/Allegri's failure to get the missing pieces sorely needed by the team hurt far more than any one player.

Are you serious? Nocerino is the perfect box-to-box midfielder needed in these kind of games. Not to mention he's been one of our best players in the last few weeks. He should have started ahead of Aquilani or Seedorf by all means. His tenacity and aggressiveness would have given us a big hand in defending and closing spaces.



Very well Zed, let's blame his friends instead. I think Fillippo said what needed be said about Pato, so I won't comment any further.



I'm not saying we should have parked the bus like we did in the first match. We simply should have played it more safely, by relying on a more physical midfield and not pushing like madmen in attack. Every time they countered us, it was a goal in the making. They had triple the chances of scoring tonight than they did at Camp Nou. Figuratively speaking, our defense was r*ped due to poor help from the midfielders. Who was gonna tackle Xavi and Fabregas? Aquilani and Seedorf? I don't think so.



I didn't say Antonini or Taiwo are any better, nor that they should have played instead. I simply found Zambrotta's performance absolutely dreadful tonight.

Yes, instead of Aqui, who wasn't up to the level of the match and is too slow. Nocerino instead of him could have made a difference, especially defensively.

I must say, to an instance, I agree. Seedorf too is slow and makes clumsy mistakes, but his vision and brilliant passing is what against Barcelona comes more in focus then Aquilani, even if the isn't bad in these departments. So yes, Nocerino should have been the one IMO as well.

Why couldn't Aquilani started and Seedorf come in the 60th minute with fresh legs? It's not that hard a connection to make. Seeing as both him and Zambrotta were (in various amounts) directly and/or indirectly responsible for two of our goals. Yes, I know that he gave the pass for the first one to Ibra, but still.

Good logic.

Yup, and the moment I saw Van Bommel alone in the midfield with the two fairies (let's face it, both Seedorf and Aquilani, the creative players they are, are not rough and tough tacklers), I knew he was in for a bad day personally, and we will be chasing the game once again, as a team. No one can say that this didn't happen.

You need a dog or two in the midfield to tackle and put a leash on the likes of Xavi and friends. Heck, for out-of-nowhere goal that he scored, Boateng was still wasted too up front. He, Nocerino and MVB should have been dictating terms on their own turf, with Robinho/Aquilani/Seedorf in the center and both Ibra and Pato upfront.

Though I can understand why Allegri sacrificed Pato, and brought him at the start of the second half. For the kill.

And apologies for the double post, but the Aquaman was risking the red card (truth be told he almost got one, when the ref mistook him for Nesta when he awarded the penalty) all through the match. Tell me why on earth should he be tackling like a madman when that's clearly not his strongest point. Leave it to those who make a living out of it.

It's small things like this that prove my point that Allegri is still leaving it rough around the edges. I am still not convinced, and surely not confident of the man. He is doing most thing right, but leaving the minor details out, week-in week-out. That's not the way a top-of-the-line coach behaves, and add to it the fact that he is a very slow learner.

This was as good a chance as any to carve a legend for himself, we put in two, we could have sneaked in four into Barcelona had a covered the bases well. They had no Pique and Iniesta, were playing away, and all that. But it seems when we get the attack working, the defense falls apart. When the defense gets their shtick together, the attack goes sterile. When both are working, the midfield is disconnected. And when all three are online, our goalkeeper decides to have one of his days, and make things interesting.

As a team, we aren't very developed from the day Allegri put his stamp on the team, and that's 1 year back.

is it just me or have referees for our games been poorly inconsistent all season.

Another game barca struggles to dominate and the ref has to step in and save them. Enough is enough, mourinho was right. Something is going on behind the scenes. Its happened way too many times for it to be a coincidence.


I hate barca with a passion, they dive, cheat and do anything to get things to go their way.

Bravo! Read my second post in this thread, that's exactly how we should have played. We needed to play a rough midfield in order to allow Xavi and co. as few spaces as possible, yet Allegri decides to play it the other way around. Boateng is a top midfielder, but he's no trequartista. A trequartista is someone with class and vision, someone who receives the ball and makes that assist happen. Prince is very strong physically, he's got great footing and speed. He's suited to a tee to play the box-to-box midfielder. Yet he's being wasted in attack. I don't get how we wanted to win this game. It really seemed like an attempt to show the world we still can produce quality football, but the cost was leave huge spaces to a team like Barcelona, and we got punished for that. Perhaps Allegri forgot that Nesta, Zambrotta, Van Bommel and Seedorf are all 35 years old.



Hahaha, I knew your post would be about bashing the referee/Barça/UEFA/UNICEF/whatever as soon as I noticed it on the main page.

Its the truth. Look at xavi's dive, its sickening.

Yes, it was a dive, but there was another penalty on Fabregas the referee didn't concede.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL7JVJoFvNI


Uefalona. F*ck Villar and platini

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4_KUczbX8M

Totally agreed. And if you and I can see that, let's hope the man in your signature can too. When I was in 5th grade school, our teacher used to say a term "silly mistakes", for students who knew the answer but ruined their marks by stupid errors and trivial omissions. Bad thing to have. And surely they didn't get top positions or honors.

That's the same vibe I get from our coach, and as long as he doesn't sort these out, I'll be in your camp. If anything, I'd say that the two things that are holding us from reaching our potential are: Injuries and Allegri. We have a darn fine team, with enough class on the pitch (not many clubs can say that). If we can sort this out, we'd be in the top 3 of Europe easily. We may not decimate anything and everything in our path only to lose to a smaller team the next (like City for instance). But we'd be consistent with our results, and confident in the way we play.

And that's not happening, folks, as long as these minor details are not sorted out. To separate us from the "good" group and place us in the "great" one, where the elite hang out. That's what I felt when we played Real Madrid last year twice, and now Barcelona this year twice. So close, yet so far. It was there for the taking in all four matches.

So I guess, we can say that, it's not what we are that concerns me. It's what we could be!

I hope we don't play them again. Barcelona are a disgrace to football. Only one player on their team is respectable and thats Messi. The rest are a bunch of cheaters.

Respectable is a relative word, oye! Sure Messi isn't a meele-mouthed-basturd like others, but I've seen him do sneaky stuff when he gets a chance. A dive here, a kick to the opponent there. I guess, that's just how they are making them these days. Long gone are the days of Paolo, Ronaldo and Baggio. They sure were blessed!

I mean, Silva is as gentle a man you can sign these days, Pato too isn't an aggressor nor a cheater.

haven't posted for a while but just like to add that

i thought Messi getting a 2nd go at that penalty because he took the first 1 illegally is a pretty dumb rule


"sry ref i cldn't fool you, let me do that again real quick"

Nah, yellow card is punishment enough.

I don't get how Zambrotta and Seedorf are pointed out as the problems and blamed partially for goals, while no one mentions Abate especially, and Thiago+Nesta as well. None of them were on level as well, and while Abate may have made a few better runs upwards then Zambrotta, his mistakes were even more obvious - one of them resulting the first goal.

Why not Seedorf as a sub? Allegri wanted Milan to be offensively on pair. Do you think Aquilani and Boateng + Robinho are creative enough? Well, the problem lies in Aquilani. Even though he made by now many good efforts and has a nice number of assists in Serie A, we are still waiting for him to link with us. Aquilani alone would be a gamble just like the one Allegri decided for; and we'd lack creativity IMO.

Seedorf to me was always a starter against Barcelona, but not in the position he was fielded. Playing Aquilani and Seedorf on the midfield sides allowed way too many space and mistakes. So, it should have been Boateng and Nocerino, then Seedorf up front IMO.

what a miserable game. we really shud changeour coach. allegri sucks. his vissioon of 'no brain, only brawn' is gona send us back to stone age, while all the other teams flourish with skill and speed.

had nocerino played from the start this might have been a different game. playing aqua and seedorf together n trying to emulate barca is just stupid

yes pato's role is different to robinho's. i miss cassano

and believe me it's going to be the same next year if allegri continues with us. you guys made good points and its quite sad and frustrating the situation we are in.

I think I hate Barca now tbh. And Messi might be able to play but he's not honorable. Tried to break the rules on the penalty and .... well he just plain annoys me.

It's not so much the Bara players as the now towering empirical evidence of support they receive. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Pep are fantastic footballing personalities imho. But EVERYTHING they do can't be right as is often portrayed. For instance I saw Aquilani get hustled off the ball by a Barca player....as soon as he wins it back it becomes a foul

Zambro wasn't very good but the few good challenges he did make were to no avail because the Barca players got the ball back (from the Ref). There is no reason for this to exist. Barca are too good to need this much help as were the pre Calciopoli JuBe who turned out to be PROVEN cheats

On Allegri he was his usual mediocre self. Didn't make any glaring mistakes that would make you say "Wow that coach is $#!t" but didn't impress with what he did have.

If he was willing to unbalance the team that much with Seedorf and Aqua, why not with Robinho behind Pato and iBra? To me we've rarely ever seen this and those three creative forwards (not so much Pato) in front of a compact midfield to me (a n00b it muct be said) seems to be avalid option

I'm really not that surprised it's kind of where my dislike came for them, which some people called just 'jealousy' on here. It's why I really can't get behind them, they're one of the worst teams for all the extra shenanigans which come with modern football sadly. As they're at the pinnacle (no doubt) other teams will no doubt follow suit.

Ok,no doubt we have a very good squad.And,maybe Allegri did make a mistake by playing Aquilani instead of Nocerino.But,the critcisms of him having a small club mentality by Fillipo and co turned out not to be true at all.We went head to head with Barca for god's sake,and they didn't hurt us that much.Yes,our flanks were exposed,due to amateur/unusual mistakes from Abate,and Zambrotta doesn't have the legs anymore.How many times has Mourinho failed against Barcalona?It doesn't indicate that it's an easy job.Yet,all I hear is criticism,it's annoying imo.
As for the playing three strikers thingy,I think that Aquilani-Boateng-Seedorf-Van Bommel would cover more than
Nocerino-Van Bommel-Aquilani.It's a viable option,if Allegri can make it work,but it isn't definitely not the obvious best decision.

I don't get how one match can be proof for us that Allegri surpassed his mentality?

It wouldn't hurt my feelings to see Ibra play as a CAM, or CF supporting Pato and Robinho. Pull Boateng back to the midfield. Might be crazy enough to work.

+1 If anything it even sheds insight into why he plays it safe first and foremost.
At least Leo (not saying he was superior) provided some thrills for his thrills and spills when he went gung-ho.
The fundamental mistakes he made in his attempt to "go for it" were symptomatic of someone not quite used to the approach, no matter how admirable the intent was.

Actually the argument arises that if we indeed played "Allegri style" then we'd have fared better which in turn would imply that he can only play that way

Real Madrid 2 - 3 Milan. Ah, the sweet smell of success!

Although, one must say, Leonardo to me awakes the bitter stench of humiliation (Inter and Man Utd.)

That he does, and I was only talking about his winning swagger, the confidence and belief he put in his team. When you are talking about the full picture, you've always got to remember the team he had (basically the same stagnant team form past seasons, and without Paolo and Kaka). And the injuries at the wrong time. Nesta? Man United?

That's not to say he was all gold, though, that would be as wrong a statement as any! He had his good point, and his bad points, same goes for Allegri, and same went for Ancelotti. No coach is perfect, and if were, he'd probably not be coaching football, but doing something much bigger and better with life. But like I said, no coach is perfect.

Even the biggest ones have certain flaws, and even the smaller ones have a bunch of good points. Leonardo's more glaring fault was that he wasn't even a coach, more of a motivator. But he could have done a lot worse for us while he was here, more experienced coaches have had worse results with better teams (Juve, anyone?) during that time.

Not just Milan, but he did good with our blue neighbors too. At one time they had the mosts points on a stretch.

Yeah, no coach is perfect, but Ancelotti and Leo/Allegri are still different worlds IMO.

OMG another Ancelotti fan would you marry me? (no homo )

I've been Missing Carlo ever since he left. Pretty sure he'd have had us fired up in Europe too (and possibly relaxing in the league and losing to the minnows ....aaah the good old days )

Carlo's two CL's in the noughties means that he kept Milan on par with Real and Bartha who also won two each in the decade.

Carlo did what worked. Defend well and use your chances. Allegri is implementing a similar system.

The differences between them:

Carlo has far better man management skills.

Tactically i'd say they are about the same. Technically I'd say Carlo beats him, but not by much. Mentally, Carlo beats him by quite a margin. He's got a winners mentality and thats not an easy thing to acquire.

Overall Carlo is a much a better manager than him. I'd label carlo as world class. Allegri is not quite there yet, but he will be soon enough. He's got the right ideas and the right environment to develop.

Yes..I'm sure Allegri will improve. But his lack of mojo in Europe is a worry...and he will not get more than a couple of seasons to remedy it I think.

One of the biggest differences is that, while both are stubborn and have their favorites some time, Carletto was a planner and a detailed preparationist. In big matches you could see some of his ideas and prepared traps; that's why Milan mostly was very dangerous at a knock-out phase. Allegri on the other hand does not do the small details, like trailing a special player with one of our own players, or like the corner-kicks that we waste against Fiorentina and against Barcelona.

Yeah I agree. He lacks the risk taking nature that carlo, jose, pep and other top level managers have. He tends to play it safe and that will cost you in the long run.


Imo Allegri's biggest problem is that he is afraid to make changes in case he fails and loses the dressing room's faith. Its a tough spot to be in. Do what works and what the staff/team/fans are used to and if you fail, you can divert the blame to refs/fatigue/etc. Try something new and if it works you'll be a hero and ultimately be given a new level of respect but if it doesn't, you might lose your job.


Take leo as an example. He's the type that has no fear and why should he, he's already a legend of the game unlike allegri so his respect is already established.

He took some big risks and we beat real madrid 3-2. He also took some big risks and we lost 4-0 to Man Utd.

Its a game of russian roullette. The best know how to play the game, the rest are in the learning stage.

Not to mention Nesta decided to well, do what he does second best, before that match. Had he been there, and not injured, we'd have had a respectable results. We almost had one in San Siro, with the Ronaldinho goal, and then a very close miss by Huntelaar. Ultimately it was not enough, of course, it was not enough against the likes of Man U.

But he had two options in Old Trafford, try to win it and die laughing, or play it safe, and still lose it.

Carlo was loved by EVERYBODY....the players, the Coach, Galliani etc. Leo had his fans and critics (moreso after he left for printer) Allegri as well.

Carlo is the guy that got away with throwing on a CDM (as that copycat n00b Allegri tries) on when we're a goal down and winning. Carlo to me is the best combination of charisma, tactical acumen and man management