My arguements for Pato are valid as far as I'm concerned. Problem is with the majority of people on MF (and I don't include Ash, X-Off and a few others in this) there's for too much of a bias towards most players to the extent they aren't even allowed to be criticised. You'd think after playing a dozen games and being **** in about 10 of them my criticism would be warranted, apparently not. I don't think I'm the one showing any bias here, but being Milan fans the majority on here do show too much bias towards players.

I find it funny you keep picking me up on scoring stats. Throw the stats out of the window then. What do you think of Pato's performances this season? Aside from the Chievo game and maybe 1 other he's been dreadful.

In reality, from the forums I've been on there are very few who are criticising Pato. This is the only place where a couple of bad games suddenly erases all the good he's done, and not just Pato but it applies to a lot of players.

No one is denying that he's in bad form atm, but this is typical Pato, and he went through this phase last season as well. He will pick it up as usual and start scoring for fun for a couple of weeks than he'll get injured, it's a vicious cycle. The problem is not his abilities, or as you are implying the lack of abilities on his part, but the injuries. They've held him back a lot. But giving up on him now is still not the answer. We're lucky and have players like Ibra, Robs and Cassano who can pick up some of the slack when he's injured, we're not dependant on him, thus the management have the chance to give him the time he needs to get over the injuries.

I agree that he's not been in the greatest form,and we've had the argument about reason for that.And,I didn't say he is above criticism.The thing that we disagree about is that you think pato is a hopeless cause,while I don't.

I never said he's a hopeless cause. Why do people think that because I'd sell him for £50m that I think he's hopeless? I'll go on record as saying I would sell any of our players for that amount if it makes people happier. I just wasn't asked whether we'd sell Bonera for £50m, so I never felt the need to mention it.

Um,So I don't know what were arguing on ...XD

I never said I know Pato's future. We've been simply discussing Pato's dreadful season and his possible departure given a potential offer from PSG. But apparently it's prohibited to criticize a fans' favorite player in here.

Gee, Pato's missed more then half of all matches, yet you call it a dreadful season? Can't we actually wait and see till season end? And even more, if it turns out to be a bad season, can't we agree that such seasons happen?

What the genius football pundits of this forum that advocate Pato’s sale conveniently overlook is that a LOT has changed in terms of how Milan is structured AND plays that has affected his performances.

Contrary to Kurt’s claim that top players function no matter the circumstance I can recall the examples of Kaka, iBra, Del Piero, Henry, Messi, $hevchenko etc who are the crème de la crème of football attackers who have looked absolutely abysmal in certain environments. Diego Forlan is perhaps the best example of a player who looked absolutely worthless in his first season for Manure (think Robinho’s finishing coupled with Torres’ luck) only to become a goalscoring fiend in La Liga.

Pato has had the injuries to contend with. This has taken a toll on his overall game. But while adjusting himself back into playing, he has to contend with the living off of iBra’s scraps. Truth is that he’s actually a second striker with good finishing ability….so good that he CAN play an out and out #9. Also let's not forget that neither is iBra a TRUE attacking mid so Pato won't have the service he had off say a Kaka or Ronaldinho

The biggest problem is that Allegri, unlike Ancelotti or Leonardo doesn’t have quite the faith in him as his predecessors. This isn’t entirely Allegri’s fault as Pato’s showing has been consistently inconsistent under Max. However without the, FREEDOM, PATIENCE and SUPPORT of a coach like either of his predecessors Pato won’t flourish. Think Henry at Juve, where ADP and Zidane were the main “go-to” guys and Henry was restricted to be a pure winger. Granted he has this skillset to be a decent to good winger but unless he plays HIS EXACT ROLE (i.e. wing FORWARD (LCF)) he won’t turn in the world class performances consistently.

The same goes for Pato. With the loss of confidence, he becomes overly rushed and it’s a mentally vicious cycle which I think to an extent explains his dramatic deterioration of his passing ability because you can see him rushing them if you watch our games. If you looked at $heva at C#el$ki you'd see the same phenomena. He is becoming worse and worse because if you watch him closely he’s rushing the passes and anticipating one-two’s in the most ridiculous situations because he wants to “get on with it”. Meanwhile iBra’s style is a more thoughtful one, partly because he has the freedom to play however he wants with all of the FREEDOM, PATIENCE, SUPPORT and dare I say FEAR of $#!tlegri.

We are now at a most unfortunate cross road where Pato has to adapt to the new big dog at Milan- iBra. It’s unfortunate because even iBra couldn’t adapt his entire game to fit in at Barca….and in spite of Kurt’s ridiculous definition he is still world class. It’s unfortunate to Pato because this was supposed to be his Milan but the silver lining is that if he does adapt then he will be a truly special player. It’s hard on Max too because you can’t blame him for taking the path of least resistance to success. It’s also heavily management’s fault for being so F()cking myopic and insisting on taking as many shortcuts to success. It isn’t 100% anybody’s fault although I’d blame this situation mostly on Allegri but I also understand his predicament since iBra is delivering the goods now.

So...it's Ibra's fault

Problem solved everybody .

I have him on block, but I imagined his post would be something about defending Pato and then blaming it on Max and Ibra.

The fact he's missed half of all matches adds to the disappointment. We're not annoyed simply because of his inconsistence, but because of his constant injury proneness, too. I read a great article earlier which compared Pato to Ambrosini pre-2006, a player that psychologically suffers the pitch, every minimal trouble or pain, or some important and cumbersome teammate. We have to ask ourselves, what is Pato exactly? An excellent finisher, surely, but what kind of player? A phenomenon alla Ronaldo, an eternal prospect alla Denilson, a prolific goalscorer alla Sheva, or an illusion that's lasting for a few seasons alla Milito? To render a prospect a player, a player a champion and a champion a phenomenon, it's not enough to have an average goalscoring ratio in every two games, a here and there acceleration, a goal scored in some famous stadium, or a brace in a Derby. What's important is the head, the charisma, and the attributes. Is Pato that kind of a player? Think it over carefully.

spot on

Wow such a high level intensity trolling requires a lot of effort to supplement you guys' undoubted natural talent. Kinda the lesson Pato has to learn

LOL such a weak memory on you Pato naysayers. where were you during the 2008-09 season? he performed consistently and brilliantly that season, the season which was coincidentally his only injury-free run. and by injury I mean this chronic thigh problem which started from 2009-10, when he gained weight and became big. you can say all you want, but it's clear as daylight that he was physically mistreated and since then hasn't been able to get back to the player that got everyone excited. and the thing is he was far from terrible last season despite those grave injuries that kept him out for weeks. this is the first season where he truly has failed to make any impact [so far] and some on you have been on the Get Rid of Pato bandwagon for a couple of months already. makes me wonder.

Not impressed. He had a decent season then, but so did Borriello under Leonardo. I've never considered Pato's overall performances so far something to be proud of. What's kept my faith intact was the belief that sooner or later he'd thrive and become a kick-*** player alla Messi and Ronaldo. However, it's not that my patience's reached a limit. It's just that I can't see Pato becoming more than an average striker with a decent goalscoring ratio, and you can find plenty of those in every league. That's why, considering a potential big offer from PSG, I'd sell him on the spot and invest those money on someone else instead.

What kind of reasoning is that?

Pato was 19 then, I never encountered anyone neither on the internet nor outside of it that thought Pato was just 'decent' that year. everyone saw him destined to become a great striker because he was doing amazingly, all things considered. then injuries started and you know the rest of the story...

If you never believed in his potential even during his best season then there's no surprise that you don't believe it in now. and there's no point continuing this argument. just remember this, if Pato, based on what he showed as a teenager, couldn't become a player alla Messi and Ronaldo, no one else can. the circumstances were never that great for Pato to become another Messi or Ronaldo. I don't know if they would've become what they are now had they gone through the path Pato did.

That Rooney lad weren't half bad as a teen.

Just because someone had a good season doesn't reveal the whole picture. And injuries are a part of his problems.



I believed in him because he did decent things at a very young age, and I thought by 22 he would had become a top player. But the guy has regressed in every aspect. I'm not lying when I say that Pato used to be my favorite Milan player after Kaká left. But fanboyism is not my trait. I try to be objective in my reasoning, and when a player I have high hopes for doesn't deliver, then I tell it like it is.

When Cristiano Ronaldo was 22 years old he was known as the one trick poney who replaced Beckham at Man U.

Of course Ronaldo never had the injury set-backs that Pato did, but some players just need some time before they can come into the potential they once had as teens.

@ Kurt

That Rooney lad didn't play for Milan last time I checked

(What's wrong with him anyway? I haven't watched him in action a lot regularly. isn't he awesome anymore?)

@ X-Off

Pato did well in his debut season as a kid, had a great sophomore season and was far from terrible in the following two seasons where his goalscoring outputs at least, were respectable. you talk as if he's a 28yo who's only had one promising season among many mediocre ones. I can't agree with this kind of reasoning.

We neither said he hasn't regressed nor did we say injuries aren't his problem. we're just trying to be patient, hoping his physical condition and following that his performances will improve. you've already made it abundantly clear that you think otherwise. OK, we can move on. consider me on your side the day Pato managed to go through a season without injury setbacks but failed put stellar performances.

Say what? When Cristiano Ronaldo was 22, he was already a top player. It was the season when we beat United in the semi-finals, clearly you must remember everyone praising Ronaldo for his amazing season. He would win the Champions League and Ballon d'Or one year later.

On MF maybe, with anyone with an ounce of sense and non biased hate to anyone playing in England, especially United didn't think that.

Ok so when he was 21, I thought he was 23 in the 06/07 season not 22, my mistake. It's still around the same age range though.

@ MAB, what I said was not to undermine Ronaldo, he's a great player, one of the best in the world, and someone blind or a complete idiot would deny that. But you can't deny that before the 06/07 season the one after returning from that disaster WC, Ronaldo was still mostly considered as a showboter with no end product

And? You never said anything to do with that. Messi and Ronaldo never played for Milan either. You said that Pato showed potential as a teenager that he could possibly rival Messi/Ronaldo and that if he doesn't, nobody will. All I pointed out is that Rooney as a teen was carrying his country at a tournement as well as his superb club form. Yet he still hasn't been able to rival them (though he did have 1 season where he was up there with them, but that's just 1 season).


He is. But even though he's probably the best player as a teen in God knows how long, he isn't going to be as good as Messi/Ronaldo are.

Exactly. One year won't make a difference. The fact of the matter is that Ronaldo at Pato's age was a top quality player.

Maybe it's immature to ask Pato to become the next Ronaldo or Messi, even though those were my initial expectations from him. I'd be happy if Pato played regularly, showed a consistent form and scored a lot, without those annoying injuries. Yet I can't see him become even that type of a player.

Still it only takes that one magical season for someone to go from beinga prospect to being one of the best players around. Just because Cristiano did it at 22 does not mean Pato will do it at 22 because it's some magic number that has to be followed by all players with potential.

Pato could have that kind of breakthrough next season, or the one after that. But imagine having sold him for 35m or 40m and him performing for another team. It would probably be one of the biggest mistakes the management has made, while affording him another 2 years to give him the time he needs to get over his issues is not much of stretch as we already have top players who can carry the extra load. If a team like PSG wants to hand over 40m for Pato when he's probably having one of his worst seasons ever, than he would still be worth a lot after those 2 years as well.

My main point in regards to Pato is that any decision to sell him now would be a very pre-mature one, and only forced to bring in someone like Tevez. A player who will most likely turn his back on us at the first sign of discontent on his part.

If we signed Tevez as his substitute, I wouldn't really care if Pato explodes elsewhere. Yes, sure, Pato is 22 and Tevez is 27 yadda yadda, but thinking that far ahead is premature, IMO.

Yes I said nobody will... AT MILAN. what's Rooney got to do with it?

I've always said Pato could be a whole different player now (especially mentally) if he was developed under SAF or Mourinho (AT MILAN!). there's a reason why we can't make world class players out of such bright talents as Pato if our lives depended on it. if we failed with Pato, we will fail with everyone else unless some things change drastically in this club. but as of now the circumstances are not right.

Just wait and see what happens to El Sharaawy and whether he becomes what most people think he's capable of or not.

You never said at Milan, Zed. Which is why I bought Rooney up. Here's the part I responded to:

.