Can't believe we won this! Udinese away is probably the hardest game in serie A (they have won all their home games bar one draw till today) and we have about 13-14 players unavailable which must be some kind of a record. This can be a scudetto worthy comeback.

Nocerino should have started, I meant he should have started Seedorf on the left and Maxi in attack. Our attack with Robinho and El Shaa up front was never going to work, even as you say, we have no midfield. How do you expect to get 2 players like that involved into the game when you don't have anyone to hold the ball up since our midfield was never going to play the ball to their feet like they need to get into the game.

I said before the game we should start with 3 upfront (robs behind the strikers) and Seedorf on the left. And that's what he ended up doing to change the game around.

It's not rocket science. We've seen Seedorf struggling for weeks now behind the strikers. While Robinho and El Shaa would never have gotten the better of Udine's tough midfield without a reference point player who would hold the ball up for them and get them involved in the game.

How can you defend his starting line-up when we were one big mess in the first half as a result of that???

positivity bro positivity

He is. Him, Maxi and Mesbah added instead of Taiwo, Cassano and Rino.

If I remember correctly SES was added to the CL squad along with Mesbah so we should get some magic against Arsenal. I think El Sha will be my next jersey purchase. Star in the making.

This is why we love football. after the 1st half I felt disgusted. right now I feel like I'm in heaven.

I still love Pato, but El Sha when Maxi made that pass and El Sha readied to take his shot, in a split second, I thought no way this would go in. I still can't believe how masterfully he took his shot. Pato-level finishing

And Maxi... most people ridiculed his signing but I knew something like this might happen so I kept my mouth shut. good thing we have him now cause I can't stand Binho anymore. hope he starts the next game.



OMG you turned me on with this post, Jack!







We have already beaten Roma. just sayin'

Yes, luck wasnt on their side, as they could have closed the game a long time ago with two or three .. Allegri needs to consider alternatives, despite our injury situation, he should squeeze more out of this team.

Maxi and El Sharaawy gave us three points thanks to a very strong display from our backline, hope that backline can get better as that is where you win games.

Seedorf was played as a CM, he was pressed whenever he had the ball .. Allegri should consider the best position for him. Injuries is clearly the issue, but no excuse for either Allegri or Seedorf!

I feel that this is his turning point just as much as the team's turning point. He pushed them forward when they all had their heads down and about to accept another loss.

I feel that this game will push the players forward until we get back out injured players, give them a huge mental boost.


Yep, as well as Maxi and Mesbah.

Since I'm mentioning Mesbah, he also put in a great performance in the second half, as well as saved our @sses from a sure goal when he took the ball off Armero(?) on that counter.


I feel that it is. Juve have 2 games in hand now, so it's still a pretty significant gap. But I really do feel that this is our turning point now. If we win the Juve game than I'm 90% sure that we'll retain this title.

The proper wording would be: "We've finally beaten a top 4 team"

Best possible european lineup Way too offensive for Allegri, but how nice is this on paper...
I do realize this is fantacalcio, but it looks pretty pretty.

Considering we are in top 4, that leaves 3 teams or a 33.3% winning record. not that bad!

The same goes for Madrid. Of course they're having a dreadful season too because they can't beat the top teams.

Kurt has been taking too much sarcasm pills

too offensive for any coach.

Well that won't matter much as long as Barcelona keep their away performances up! The chinks in their armors are exposed for everyone to see. Suddenly they don't look invincible. Oh, I sure would love a new CL champion this year. Totally new even. Instead of the usual suspects, and surely not Barcelona again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMahX5IzVEc

Kurt infected you with his jibber jabber stats

Turning point? Not yet there. But, I feel the urge to close a big debate that's going on here for days and weeks.

Can Allegri be responsible for everything? No. Surely. Objective excuses don't lack: we have a serious of bizarre injuries followed up by another series of injuries that depleted our midfield. This must be taken in consideration.

Of course there is also the fact that we're technically broke, so no big signings can be made.

Yet, Allegri takes also part of the blame for not preparing his team better, both mentally and tactical. We need more flexibility and more tactical awareness. Ibrahimovic made the coach and the players look a bit lazy; Milan has to have a plan B, and has to have more then just one formation used under all circumstances. Capello and Ancelotti have been mentioned on and on; Capello may have played boring and efficient football, but he created a system that was brought to technical and strategic perfection. Capello's system IMO cannot be compared to Allegri's preferred 4-3-1-2, at least not for a while.

But, to be perfectly clear, IMO Allegri still has room and time to learn and evolve. In a heated debate we all tend to take extreme or more extreme positions and sometimes it gets out of hand. We all should conclude that it is a multicausal problem and that there is no strict/onesided answer to the questions one asks after he's seen Milan loosing to Juventus or Inter. Patience should help: let's give Allegri till end of this season and judge then, not merely by impression, finished rank or stats, but also by how much did he help to improve the team and evolve.

Kurt, why the bitterness?

Saw this mentioned on twitter few times: Ambrosini did the MOST ACCURATE PASSES (74), MOST TACKLES (6) & MOST BALL INTERCEPTIONS (8) .

Ambrosini did some good stuff,and some very bad stuff as well.

The top 4 teams are the most important. By your analogy Udinese should not count as historically they're not a big club. And by your analogy it would look worse as we've only beaten Roma from the big clubs while failing to beat Inter, Napoli and Juve.

@ kurt, Madrid have only not managed to beat Barca. And are you seriously comparing our situation of not beating team like Inter, Juve and Napoli to Real's of not beating Barca? Arguably the best team in Europe to Inter and a 2nd rate Italian player collecter like Juve?


That just shows how really bad we were overall in this game imo. Even in the second half when we finally started pressing them we did nothing but get caught out on counter attacks.

We only started playing in that last 10 to 20 minutes.

Ambrosini and Seedorf have simply become a huge liability to this team and if any of their contracts are renewed in the summer, especially for the stupidly high wages we're still giving them, it would be an absolute disgrace from the management's part.

In the first half it was mostly Ambro, in the second it was mostly Seedorf making huge mistakes that could have cost us. This is just not acceptable anymore

I dont know is this just me... but Maxi Lopez plays with a real passion and fighting spirit... whilst people like Robinho just take playing for Milan for granted.

It's a Brazilian/Argentinian thing IMO. Brazilians usually have a lazy, careless attitude while Argies plays passionately and give their all. of course, generally speaking. there are exceptions to both sides.



OK han boy, let's drop this big club/strong team thing

Well you can't deny what I pointed out

Still if we win the Juve match, I think all of this talk would be forgotten and everyone would be back behind Allegri 100%.

To say that Robinho doesn't give a sh!t is wrong imo. He played decently in the second half, made some great passes that spread play. In the first half he was completely lost, as was the rest of the team.

Still, he's been in bad form this season, as have the other top performers from last season which is another factor that has effected us this season.

Players like Pato, Robinho, Thiago, Nesta, Abate, Seedorf, VB. They were all top notch last season. While this season they've struggled. And when you're like Robinho and you miss the chances he's missed, than it's bound to weigh heavily on him, thus hindering his performances even more.

That being said, I think we'll be seeing this attack next season

Ibra, Pato, El Shaarawy, Maxi and Tevez.

Robinho and Pippo will undoubtedly make way imo based on what we've seen this season. And the summer after the next, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ibra on his way out and Balotelli making his way in

Not bitter as such. Just don't like how people use arguements that in the big picture really don't have much relevance.


I didn't think he played well, but this proves me wrong. Good for him.


La Liga top 4:

Madrid
Barca
Valencia
Levante

Madrid 1-3 Barca
Levante 1-0 Madrid
Valencia 2-3 Madrid

So they've lost all but 1 of the games against the top 4. So I'm not sure why such a relevance is being put on this.

Getting results in 6 games is pretty irrelevant in a 38 game season.

Well, we'll see how Madrid will end their season and how ours is gonna end.

And any result will essentially prove my point.

Either they win the title and we don't - which shows that how you do vs other top teams doesn't matter as it has mixed results. Or we both win the title and it shows how you do against teams around you is pretty irrelevant and it's how you do over the whole season. You'd think the latter was obviousl, but apparently not.

When it's a close race than the ones that matter become those games against the teams around you, and imo this is the most apparent issue in any closely fought title race. No matter which way you try to spin it.

In the end for Real it might not matter seeing how Barca have been aweful on the road this season. But since we're so close with Juve, these big games could easily decide who wins the title

as much as id like to agree, I dont see us selling two creative strikers in Cassano and Robinho and keeping Maxi-Pato and Tevez who are almost like poachers in a sense.

Ibra,Cassano, El Shaarawy and Robinho with the addition of Maxi or Tevez sounds more realistic to me. - although i want Robinho gone so much.

Two notices:

1) There's more to that. Obviously you forgot the third possibility. What about us not winning and them not winning? What about Madrid winning the CL? When I say "big matches" I count games against Barcelona or Arsenal especially also.

2) I must say, your comparisons are driving me wild. Allegri to Capello and Sacchi, then this years Milan to Real Madrid,...why? Sure, you can do whatever you like and in the end making parallels isn't that harmful, but why try to box in Allegri with WC teams and WC coaches when he still isn't in that department? And why mix apples and pineapples again: Primera and Serie A last time I checked have almost nothing in common.

OOPPPSS

I totally forgot Cassano in that list!!!!!

One of my favourites and I forget him!

What I meant was: Ibra, Pato, Cassano, Maxi, El Shaarawy and Tevez.

6 strikers for 2 or 3 positions, but with the way we get injuries it probably won't be enough

No, I can't see Robinho staying. I think that if we do get Tevez, we'll sell him to a team like PSG or Anzhi. Where we can get a decent price for him to pay off the Tevez transfer.

Indeed. Yet, we forget that Cassano had problems in terms of condition and fitness already prior to the condition he had. Now that he skipped almost the whole season, and considering his, well, unique medical condition - I'm not 100% sure everything will be back to normal when he returns. We'll see.

Fact: Milan players have been injured for 146 days, more than any other team in Italy; Juve's have only been 33 days less than any other team.

Juve have miracle workers behind the scenes I swear.

If I envy anything from that club, it's their medical team.

Well, maybe it comes to sheer luck. Just remember last year. And those are the same guys.

Still nothing close to our kind of mess imo. Just the usual. What we're dealing with is simply not normal

Define normal

Not really. Juve had a shitload of injuries in the last 2-3 years, much worse than our current situation. The fact they've had a healthy team this season must be either sheer luck, as Fillipo said, or something has changed inside their medical team.

Or the fact that have a new stadium. A good turf plays a big role in minimizing injuries!

There is only one Paolo Maldini

San Siro is a man's turf !!

But now your giving han another alibi

Thank you! Truer words have never been said. Though I still don't know why you said this, hehe.

Instead of the lame DP, i thought I put something of value for you to read

Ah, creative thinking! Nice.

Now that the euphoria of this fantastic victory has worn off it must be said that Al is an extremely slow learner and worryingly reactive. In essence I agree with han in that we spent the entire second half correcting the problems brought on by the n00b lineup. All things considered however he did a creditable job considering the quality of the opposition

Well...look...none of the times that I've been pissed with Allegri have I actually literally wanted his head. He's a smart man, but I love creative inventive football...and that's something he's not good at. He seems to be an old-school Italian drillmaster type. Like Capello without that same drilling ability or the flexibility.

There is no secret that Max's job isn't easy. He has managed to use the captains of the team to drive a team full of superstars in the right direction. Managing a heavyweight team is as difficult as managing a weak team. More coz of the expectations.

But without the smart tactical moves, he will not prosper for long. Not in Europe where year on year you're dealing with teams who change personnel, tactics and so on. In a league it remains more consistent. Milan are a team who have the CL in their DNA...and by connection the fans too. We cannot tolerate CL mediocrity..and this is why in a parallel reason for eg. in a club like Madrid the coach's job is not safe even if he wins La Liga( I mean Schuster so don't shove that Portuguese ego-with-a-body in my face).

Why was I so pissed with Allegri? I'm gonna put aside my suspicion that our injuries are due in part to the new physical regimen put in place by the coach...also about the way he has cold bloodedly treated some seniors..

- I like creative flowing football. Possession is not the same thing. Running around is not the same thing. He doesn't exactly play that way.

- He cannot handle creative/gifted players. He is unable to squeeze them into the formation. I grant that it's not easy to play Mozart with an electric guitar but some melody would be nice.

- When I have a big f@cking gun...I shoot the cr@p outta whoever is in my way. When my gun runs out of ammo, I pick a weapon that will work...a pistol or a knife even. Allegri still carries the big f@ckin gun, coz if it can't shoot maybe he can throw it at his opponent and kill them with the weight. I'm of course referring to his rigid tactics.

This post is so good (no homo) that I'm going to print it on a placard sandwich and march around Milanello until either I get arrested or Berlu listens

"in a club like Madrid the coach's job is not safe even if he wins La Liga( I mean Schuster so don't shove that Portuguese ego-with-a-body in my face)."

Allegri gained a lot of respect in my book for the way he yelled and screamed and pushed the players in those last 20 minutes. I want to see that in every match from now till end of season.