Diego Miltio scored 4 goals against Palermo what the hell?

oh wow had no diea about this game although it seem good that I missed it but this is not good enough we will lose the serie A at this rate

Lazio have been ugly tonight and non of our players have really stepped up.

Lazio did what they had to and it worked. Simply because it's too easy for a decent team to park the bus against us and hit us on the counter when we get desperate in the 2nd half. When Allegri put out that team with the 3 DMs, everyone knew what would be the result of that. Everyone except for Allegri that is

Yes but too many of our players haven't turned up tonight! Ibra hasn't really done much, neither has Nocerino while Abate hasn't really got forward and Mesbah is still learning. It just wasn't meant to be I'm afraid.

3 Dms is just too much,it didn't help that we don't have any decent midfielders on the bench though...
good night guys.

Mesbah made 13 crosses, Abate made 5. They were %100 INACCURATE.

That's not an excuse. Ibra did not turn up because he got no supply aside from a couple of lucky long balls which hit the target.

We just simply cannot function with that kind of midfield and it should be obvious to everyone, especially a man getting paid to the the job FFS.

Mesbah got on my nerves tonight big time, and it's not completely his fault he just simply cannot put in a decent balls. All he does is float them in for the keeper to catch. And for some reason, we tried the same manoeuvre over and over again. We spent the entire first half going up the left side and then Mesbah crossing it to the keeper or passing it back all the way to the defence.

Also there cannot be any excuses about injuries either, we simply have not shown up for any of the big matches this season. And now we are 4 points behind Juve. It's just ridiculous. And if we lose the Napoli tie we can kiss the title goodbye

One of my points earlier on. We got so many department messed up. Mesbah and Abate doing the crossing all wrong, then Ambrosini trying to do the final touch, then Robinho hanging on the ball slowing almost every attack down, the Emanuelson coming in as "extra creative" force...

We've been a total flop in the big ties this season. Our midfield is a DISASTER, full of overaged players and brainless runners. No creativity whatsoever. Kiss goodbye to the title and to any remote chance of beating Arsenal. Sooooo bad.

This Milan side has not been able to beat the better sides in the league this year.

We looked so uninspired tonight it was depressing to watch.

To be fair to Mesbah it was only his second league game and still has a bit to learn. I would have liked both he and Abate to really push in and cross from the by line rather than turn back or just try to float them in. It didn't help tonight that Binho had areal stinker as well, if we had played Clatence from the start then things might have been different but it's too late for that now.

Abate barely made any of his usual runs today, simply because he was not being used. And the crosses he did manage to put in were when Lazio were locked into their area so tight it was too difficuilt for the crosses to hit the target.

Bringing Urby on was inevitable as there were no other options. What p!ssed me off was the starting line-up as we all knew that the first 45 minutes would simply be wasted with that midfield running into brick walls and passing the ball around with no scope.


I can't wait for Muntari to enter the mix

I wonder why you are so forgiving of Allegri?

Is it because he finally delivered us a Scudetto after 7 years of waiting?

If he loses us this Scudetto then it will be his fault. The CL is already a lost cause imo.

I personally can't wait to see the back of him. Get a top coach who can really do the job, instead of someone who expects others to get the job done for him

Bringing us the Scudetto has given him a bit more time IMO but I still remember the bad days under carlo when we probably would have beaten Lazio then gone on and lost to Siena/Novara etc Now we've turned 180 degrees

And if Allegri was to leave then who would be your choice of manager? MVB? He's not done anything special. Rijkaard was only good with Ten Cate and other than that who else is there? Oh and they won't have any money to spend

Crudeli Reactions: Lazio 2-0 AC Milan http://youtu.be/gWJ4_MoerdE

Intense stuff, man.

I was just about to cry when I saw that

So true! It's like WWE for Italian football. I don't doubt Crudeli as a Milan fan, he drives five gears too fast. Still, I guess that is what makes it all interesting and provides entertainment to people.

So you can't wait to see the back of him before you can't wait to see us playing with a proper midfield and see what Max does with that? why do you assume that every bad result is because of Max and every good result is despite of Max...

And please don't give me the non-argument that is "Max just loves hard workers, he can't handle creative players".

with han on this. also, how can that be a non-argument? please point to the creative players in today's midfield lineup. who did max think would supply the strikers?! Seedorf should have started this match. Ambro shouldve been brought on as his sub at the 60th, if max was so keen on fielding him.

today's lineup was no different from the 3 DM formation that carlo fielded during the frustrating end of his tenure - the ambro-emerson-rino type nonsense. I distinctly remember one ghastly instance of that happening, and we were whipped by palermo. so seeing that line up today, it came as no surprise that we lost. and with a lineup like that, frankly we deserved to. it's matches like today's that make me feel bad for thiago silva and ibrahimovic. they deserved a more competent manager. max is losing me.

So you think if Aquilani was not injured, Max would still bench him in favor of a 3DM midfield?

we had seedorf.

Who was terrible last game.

doesn't matter. a 3 DM - 3 FW lineup doesn't work. didn't work when we had kaka. especially wont work now without a proper attacking mid. if seedorf doesn't play well, then that's beyond allegri. but he should know that ambrosini is not the kind of player that is capable of providing the supply line that is required when fielding 3 strikers. yet time and again ambro was right outside the area, incapable of creating space for himself, playing a telling ball into the strikers, a quick technical one-two..anything. that's not even ambro's fault tho. that's allegris. i would never ask him to be in that position. Ambro should be the alternative for the VB anchor position at this stage of his career, and nothing more. so, max fails to see that. id rather an off form seedorf at the top of the area trying to create than ambro in that situation any day. and then, well if seedorf has a stinker and we end up losing anyways..THEN the loss can be rightly blamed on the injury crisis and seedorf will be duly benched when there is a healthy viable replacement for the creative role in the midfield that is required.

I'd have even accepted Urby and Nocerino on the sides of midfield, with VB holding. Not ideal and still lacking in a true creative spark, but given the injury crisis - acceptable..and certainly less cynical than that stupid 3 DM lineup we saw today.

vnata saved me a bit of typing, I have exactly the same thoughts. I'd say idiotic starting lineup. I know, things would have been overly different had we not had so many injuries, and needless to say results could have been overly different too. But it's things like these that define (and make or break) a coach.

The total lack of creativity in some of our recent matches has been disappointing, if not, overly depressing!

Be interesting to see the opinions on here when we get rid of Max and we are barely qualifying for the CL, forget winning the title.

Barely qualify? Wait, you think Max alone is the reason we're second?


Well, that usually happens to coaches. Not every win is despite him, that's for sure; but growing up with coaches like Sacchi, Capello, Ancelotti and Zaccheroni makes you feel the difference. There were numerous occasions I watched Capello winning the match with his tactical set-up even before kickoff. With Allegri, you don't have that kind of feeling; almost every lineup he picks has obvious flaws and needs to be changed sooner rather then later. His preparation isn't adequate as well; we've lost numerous "big" matches without even trying a shot. I can talk all day about the differences,...

And why not pull out the "creative problem"? Isn't it obvious he has one?

umm. i could just as easily say: imagine the opinions on here when we fire max, hire someone more competent, and don't drop points like we did today.

despite our injury crisis, we had enough talent on our available roster to beat lazio. we have more talent than them, in every department. the fact that we instead got beaten 2-0 says something.

fillipo is right. ive never once felt that allegri has fielded our strongest possible side.

And who's going to be able to do better than Max on a small budget?

Agreed.

Yes, this is the biggest problem. Not a single coach seems to be the ideal solution. We would have to either dig into our past and pull out some old names (Capello after England?) or try someone completely new, like Costacurta.

I personally want to stay with Max, but if he were to lose his job, Capello I'd like the most.

Spalletti. He achieved something with the old Roma. And we sure as hell have more money than them. But then..I don't know how his man management will be.

Luci is my main pick also if Max is to leave. That being said, with Inter controlling the Milan lab, and with the team of 30+ year olds in midfield, i believe he is doing the best he can, at some point it can't be 100% his fault for a loss.

It usually isn't, man. Unless you're the coach of Roma.

Well there's a reasonable expectation that if you play a 2-5-3 in serie A that you will lose more games then not...

Exactly. And to think the guy wanted a little display of arrogance from his team. The man should have known Roma and arrogance don't go together that well. And beside, you better be winning a bit before you can show off. The way they are losing left and right, I have no words for them.

Let's just say I'm more surprised if I see a Roma win at the end of a week, than a draw or a bad loss. They've climbed up the table a little, but their real test is the next few months. I have a bunch of Roma fans (or should I say Totti worshipers), and you've got to see their face to get an idea of the stress they're in every week.

But anyway, like I said, rarely, very rarely should a coach get 100% of the blame. Almost never, really.

I agree there! I have a feeling if we get Roma old coach who was a very good coach, he will probably end up like Benitez or like how it did for Inter. Isn't Spaletti a coach for a russian team right now?

Welcome! Been a while since you've posted here in the forums.

i understand that the budget is an issue for galliani. however, despite the occasional unsavory signing (of the mancini/muntari/emerson variety) I think galliani has done a damn decent job of putting a team together for allegri that I believe does have enough quality to beat everyone that we've lost to this season, despite our budget constraints. On paper, we are very good. That said, it's on Max to use what he's got to get us those important results.

As i said in my previous rant about the 3DMs, and as Fillipo pointed out (about how rarely does it seem like we've fielded our best possible side/tactical set up), Allegri doesn't maximize the potential of the quality he has at his disposal.

I supposed I too agree with those that like Spaletti. The guy created a well balanced Roma side with even tighter budgetary constraints. A Roma side that toppled a far more talented Real Madrid side. His side overachieved. Allegri's underachieves given the amount of quality we have currently. I'll give him credit, he returned some form of defensive balance to a team that was COMPLETELY imbalanced under Leonardo (though Leo had WAY less talent to work with, and frankly did well to finish third I thought). Despite our current injuries, we shouldve beaten Lazio. And when we had a full strength side, we shouldn't have lost to Napoli 3-0, Juve 2-0, and Inter 1-0. That's core of my gripe against him.

This is football though. It doesn't matter how good your team is, chances are you aren't going to go unbeaten or anything. It's not like we've lost to bad teams either, when you couple that with the fact we've had big injuries issues in some of those defeats, I hardly think it's a disaster. Juve are better than us, so I see no issue with losing to them, they have a better squad, in my opinion. They have depth that we look (even moreso with our injuries). To make out the Inter defeat was his fault is a little ridiculous I think. We dominated the game and someone made a mistake, a coach can do little to nothing about that.

If football was as predictable as you seem to make it out to be, then we may as well not bother playing games and decide the final standings on who has the best team on paper.

It's not about predictability Kurt, to me it's about preparation and what vnata said.

Allegri's big issue is that he's thinking one piece of a time; big coaches, from Ancelotti to Mourinho have a plan in advance - sometimes it backfires, but that's how they work.

Now look Allegri for instance: he began against Lazio with the lineup he could have used against Cagliari earlier on. That's always his thing, one step forward, then two backwards. Now Udine is around the corner, but Juve and Arsenal as well. Do you think he'll use his squad wise enough, that he'll rotate cleverly? Because I don't think so, he barely understands that Ibrahimovic needs rest bar that a 3 DM midfield works when you lead by 3 goals or play against Cagliari at home and not Lazio away. Let's see how he'll do this "big February".

You say so what to loosing to all good teams? Don't you think it's a sign? We've only drawn with Udine and lost against Juventus, Inter and Lazio. And Barcelona of course. I'm not proud of this record, in fact, with such road, winning the scudetto seems very unlike.

And don't tell me Juventus is better. I've been harping Han for a long time, saying Juve is good and a real contender. But better? Hardly. Our central defenders a top class while their are just good, and beside Marchisio and Pirlo they've got nothing special.

Sorry for starting a debate and not staying for the aftermath

But Filippo and vnata pretty much said it all.

And kurt, you lost me when you said Juve are better than us... Their first 11 does not even come close to ours, while their overall squad depth isn't anywhere near ours either. Imagine them trying to even function with the kind of injuries we have!!!! They'd be in 7th like last season!

Do you think he won't get criticised if he does. Who does he rotate exacty? Mexes/Nesta/Silva is fine at CB, but seriously, what else can he do? If he drops Abate for Bonera he'll get slaughtered, same if he now drops Mesbah for Zambro/Antonini. God forbid he plays Ambro! How many other options do we have in midfield? If he rests Zlatan and we don't score then not only will he be criticised for resting him but the "Ibra's not here to save Max" BS will start up again. Robinho and El Sha starting up front, really?





I can't agree there. But then you're someone who's convinced everyone on their team is 'mediocre', despite having great seasons.

I am not getting into any more Allegri debates though. People on here have already made their mind up what their reaction is regarding how we do in both Serie A and the CL. Doesn't matter what happens, or how it happens, it's pretty obvious.

Name me the players they have that are actually top quality and not just there to fill up the numbers. Do they have Robinho, Pato, Cassano, Seedorf, Mexes, etc on the bench? No, they have a lot of quantity, but that's just it. They have a bajillion mediocre strikers, smae goes for midfield and defence.

The only area they axceed us by miles imo, is their coach. And that's why they're ahead of us.

Like I said, imagine Juve missing the amount of first 11 players we are missing: Cassano, Pato, Aquilani, Boateng, and then the backups for those being injured as well! Imagine Juve missing Pirlo, Marchisio, Vucinic, Pepe and Vidal at once!

Do you think they'd be able to hang on to 2nd with the backups of the backups playing like we're practically doing atm?

Even Filippo disagreed with you on your point, and he's been defending Juve from the start of the season.

Fact is Allegri simply has no excuses when it comes to squad depth and most importantly the quality of that squad depth. Yes we're very unlucky with injuries but he has certain luxeries that Conte wouldn't have in such a situation. Facts are that we have not won a single game against direct opposition for the title. And that has to be blamed on someone.

Spalletti has a very lucrative contract with Zenit, I doubt we could ever afford him.

Anyway, Fillipo and vnata said pretty much everything there is to say about Allegri. The point is, can he do better with a better squad? Of course. If he had the right players, like De Rossi, Eriksen, Tevez etc. he'd get the results. However, a good coach is also evaluated in moments of crises, and Allegri has proved several times his incompetence in managing an inconvenient group of players during the course of a season.

Don't agree with anything you've put in your entirely contradictory post, but this bit is just silly.

I find it funny people are saying we have quality squad depth. The only positions that is true are CB and SS and even at SS our back ups are injured. Other than that our back ups are poor at best. Bonera would struggle to make it anywhere but at a relegation contender. Antonini is clueless. Zambro is decent but he can't play more than once a week. Ambro and Seedorf are shadows of their former selves. Seedorf is good for about 60 minutes once a week. Robinho can't finish. Not to mention all of our injuries. Even Merkel who was supposed to be our creative reinforcement until Aqua can get back next month got injured. What do you expect the guy to do? Instead of whining EVERY SINGLE TIME we lose a game why don't we look at this realistically and realize that we are going to have a rough time until we get healthy. We are going to need some special moments from Ibra/El Sha and not to give up too many chances to survive this period.

Why so?