We'll see if it was a masterstroke or a brain fart if he plays him against Juve

Now now han, Muntari had a really good game. It doesn't matter if it was Cesena or Juventus. The important thing is that he's already merged well with our playing style and the rest of the squad. Besides, we had no-one else available in midfield. You know I'm the first to criticize Allegri, but you can't blame him for the line-up considering all the injuries that have plagued our team lately.

You really think Juve are going to afford him all that time to pick out a pass or shot?

It's not just Muntari, but the entire game, it simply cannot be viewed with too much over-confidence as that was probably the easist game we've played this season.

It seems no matter what Allegri does it's still wrong. And why is it that when we win convincingly it's because the other team is poor? Perhaps they are poor because we have dominated them? I can imagine us beating Juve next week and it still not being good enough for some! I suppose haters gotta hate

What would you suggest then, supposing we don't recover any of the injured players in midfield? Play with three strikers. That's out of the question against Juve.

Problem is, I don't think han or me or any other poster hates Allegri. We're all here to criticism, express our feelings and discuss.

Milan won three points today, and Muntari showed that every player deserves a proper chance. Allegri gave it to him, and the time proved to be convenient. Did Allegri's setup win us the match? No, it was rather Cesena's bad display. Does this mean we should prefer a Muntari-Nocerino-Ambro (Bommel) + Emanuelson midfield? No. But, it also does not mean Muntari or even Allegri shouldn't be praised. The only negative thing today was Inzaghi's late sub.

End of story for me

Allegri says that they will know whether Prince can play against Juve on tuesday, fingers crossed.

Nobody said Allegri won us the match. The man simply fielded the best possible line-up given the players we had at disposal. That's why I don't understand han's criticism.

The keyboard managers know more than a manager that won the league last season and is currently top of the league

There's a reason why Cesena are more than three times behind us (sitting at 16 points, while we just became the first to 50, we're at top and they're the bottom most team), and that is because they are absolutely dreadful. Now deciding the merits and demerits of a coach, playing against at team/unit as bad as these guys is just not on.

The real test, as said above, will be against Juventus. And the only cause of concern today would have been if we somehow lost, but even then injuries/suspensions would have had to be factored in to it. As things stand, our victory today does not prove that Allegri is a brilliant coach, neither does it give more credence to his critics. Like I said, too small a team, too regular a victory to make anything out of it.

As for the extra time substitution, well what's so weird about it, I fail to understand?! It's not like Allegri did anything better for other players (Ronaldinho, anyone?) with his 85, 88, even 90th minute appearances. That's his way of telling someone that he is not welcome here. Cheap? You bet. But weird? Now? No.

Here are the post match declarations given by players and management after Cesena-Milan at the Manuzzi stadium:


MASSIMILIANO ALLEGRI

“The players did very well for 60 minutes and then we relaxed a bit. We conceded a goal and risked complicating things even further but in the end we got the three points and I’m happy. There’s no one game easier than another, you have to work to win them al. the players did well as they all helped each other out, getting the most out of their characteristics and qualities.”

“I think we risked taking the score to 3-2 in the last half hour. Games are never over until the final whistle and that should be a lesson for us to do better when these things happen. We’ll see how Aquilani does during the week, I don’t know if he’ll be available against Juventus of not but I have a group of 33 players who are doing well and that gives us hope for the game on Saturday. We showed a lot of respect to Cesena as we do to all the other teams in the league but you need to be good and to play the game they way you have to and we did that again here today.”

“The club did well to get Muntari for me; Galliani did a good job in getting the player not letting the chance get away. I think he can work well as a playmaker but he does better on the wing. Saturday will be a wonderful game, a fascinating game that could decide the title.
We’re only focusing on the next game, the referees are doing well and to give them all the responsibility for the game seems reductive to me. We’re in the chase for the title, and in reality, we’re two points behind Juventus. “

“We have the whole week to train and on Thursday I’ll see if I’ll have Ibrahimovic available or not. The squad understands what we’re going through and most of all that if we don’t play as a team we won’t win any games.”




URBY EMANUELSON

“Finally I’ve scored. I played a good game today and I’m very happy. The coach talked to me and Robinho, he wanted us to show movement and that’s what we did. I’m feeling better in my position as playmaker, the coach changes things a lot for every game but I did well today and I scored as well. Next week we have a big game and today’s win was good to keep us ahead in the league and get to the match against Juventus in the best shape possible.”


SULLEY MUNTARI

“I thank God, my team mates, Adriano Galliani and my agent for having made my dream of being here come true. I trained well on my arrival and I found my way into the team easily because I have fantastic team mates who give me everything I need to play. I was really psyched up. I respect my ex team mates, but I’m very happy to be here and I hope that things will continue to go well and we’ll win lots. We’ll prepare well for the match against Juventus, we have our feet on the ground and that’s important for the group. I believe we’ll do well.”


DANIELE BONERA

“We played a good game, an excellent first half, then we suffered a bit in the second half but what counts is the win. Their league position is a lie. We didn’t manage to score immediately but after the first goal, thinsg got easier. We’re a healthy squad regardless of what other people have been saying. Half an hour from the end against Udinese we looked like a team resigned to our fate but we turned that game around, we beat Arsenal and now Cesena as well. Now we have Juventus, another tough match and we’ll do everything to win it.”

i stopped reading past this point...

...Allegri on Muntari




The hard part isknowing that he is not kidding!

Ok so he can pass the ball well; this doesn't qualify a player of Sully's characteristics to become a playmaker Damn it!

*sigh*

Thing is though beating any team is not a fluke, it takes preparation and skill to pick the correct team and tactics, and that becomes even harder when you can't pick your strongest team due to injury and suspension. You can also factor in there that we put in another solid performance as well, I mean Juve struggled last night although their final score was also 3-1 and they were at home!

I agree that the big test will be against Juve, even Allegri himself has said it will probably be a title decider, and hopefully we'll win. But if we were to win 6-0 it would be because Juve were crap, if we were to win 1-0 Allegri would be lucky and if we lost Allegri would be crap! We've had some excellent results recently and I think it would be nice if Allegri were to get just a little bit of credit for it.

True enough. I was about to write this in my earlier post, really. Injuries aren't helping, and Allegri has had to make his way around the absent players. That's good management. Still it could be much worse. Just imagine how we'd have done without players like Van Bommel and Thiago Silva among our first XI.

Or what would have been the case if we did not have Zlatan in our midst. That's a face of the club, right there.


I know, and well you know my opinion on this too. I'm pro-against-Allegri, that is 50-50. And I still believe, Arsenal were beyond bad, and Allegri did well against them. He didn't have to think too much out of the box, and a good coach that he is, he played his cards well. Against both Real Madrid and Barcelona he did not.

Now, if we were to win against other big club, say Bayern, Manchester United, City, or the Spanish bigwigs, then all credit to the guy. That's how a legend is built, winning and winning good against other heavyweights. The coaches before him did this, and I'll be the first to give credit (and raise my rating in his favor) when he does that.

Also, one can never discount the chaps on the pitch, they have to take a major part of the blame, anyway, every time we put in a less-than-stellar performance. And I mean less-than-stellar performance. Because, win or lose, the display on the pitch should be worthy of a team like Milan. Results can happen, but a spirited performance has to be always there, 100%. If it isn't, either the guys or the coach is at fault.

I personally can't wait for the Juventus match, as well as finding out who our QF opponents are in Europe!

Watched the whole match. So it would seem that Muntari isn't actually our Pirlo replacement.

But to win against teams like Bayern, Real and Man U you need the necessary players which is what we don't have. We have a squad built to fight for the title but not for the CL but we cannot compete financially with the heavyweight teams so you can't really blame him for that.

Now regarding Allegri, I'm not his greatest admirer and realise that he has his faults, but he won the league last season in his first attempt and is currently top of the Serie A(for now) and we are still in the CL. He also seems to be learning and that is why I'm willing to give him more time. He's also not afraid to let the younger players play and doesn't seem to have his favourites yet like Carlo did. Another thing I like is that not once have I heard him moan about our injury situation, instead he just quietly gets on with it.

Are you sure about that? I think, Real and Barça apart, we are as strong, if not stronger than the rest of the European powerhouses. Bayern, City, United, Chelsea etc. Yep, we're right in there. If we have our most important players at disposal, we can go head-to-head and toe-to-toe with anyone, Spaniards aside.

Well we do have some pretty AWESOME players, but yeah. Underrated ones, apart from Ibrahimović, and if our first XI played to their maximum potential, we could beat any given team (save for NT ones), anywhere. The only thing lacking here is the coach, which while pretty good, still has a long way to go, a lot to learn.


All valid points, and these are exactly my views too! I don't care much for CL this year, but not winning another league title would be pretty bad. More so, if Juventus win it instead of us. Fingers crossed, we see more good days from now on, less tactical mistakes from the coach, less off days from the players.

And more importantly, get our core group of players back from injury and in form for the final stretch!

Or this. I say, Spaniards included, but anyway, if we were to lose against Barcelona and Real Madrid, I can understand. Still deep down inside me I feel they do have enough defensive weakness, and we enough defensive stability that we can match these two budgers head-on. The rest of the bunch? We're right up there!

It's not about hating Allegri or not hating him. Are you telling me Cesena are brilliant and we simply made them look bad?

What worries me is not that he fielded that atrocious line-up against the Cesena's of the league, but there could be a possibility of them being fielded against Juve.

Pardon me but I want to win the game, and a midfield of Muntari, Ambro, Nocerino and Urby simply won't take us anywhere


Urby, VB, Nocerino and Robhino in midfield. It's still a very defensive midfield, and have you seen Robinho playing lately, he works so hard and most of the times he's more in the midfield than in attack, even against Arsenal the majority of the time Prince was ahead of him on the field.

The most important thing is the right balance, and playing a midfield like today's against Juve is certainly not the right balance. I admit that I made a big deal about the chosen line-up today and in the end it did not matter, but that is simply because I did not expect Cesena to lie down and take it like that. Don't expect the same out of Juve

As I've said a couple of time, my main worry is that we're coming off 2 games where we barely even had to exert any effort to win both games with such scorelines. But it won't be the same against Juve, and my worry is that Allegri could easily play the same sh!tty midfield because it "worked" against bottom of the league Cesena



I really do hope so because than he might play Muntari of all people behind the strikers...

Just read an interesting interview with Ibra at goal.com and one of the questions was about Allegri:

With these injuries and the results that have come on the back of the injuries, some people have asked questions about Massimiliano Allegri. How would you rate him in the list of coaches you’ve played for?

If you think of him like a book, he is at the beginning because he has a lot of pages in front of him to fill up. He has won the league, he has won the Supercoppa, but I think he’s at the beginning of his career as a coach with a big team. You have coaches that have been with many big teams and have been there many years, but this is just the second year for him with a big team. So he is still in a learning phase and is still to develop, but still I rank him very high because you have to be a very good coach to win the league. It is not easy to be at a top club, especially in Italy. I heard Jose Mourinho say it’s better to be a coach in England than in Italy because in England you can be a coach for 20 years without winning anything, but in Italy you can be a coach for three months without winning and you are out. So, I think he is questioned every day depending on the result on a Sunday or Wednesday.

If Ibra ranks him highly then so do I

You can read the article here

Naah, han, always the pessimist talking with you ha? Firstly, I don't think our team is that stupid to underestimate Juventus, even after two wins. Secondly, admit it, you'd be skeptical no matter how things developed - either it's this situation or it's you're worried because we're in a streak of lost matches

I for one think the recent victories will give us needed confidence. If any of the recovering player will be fit, Milan should have a real chance to defeat Juventus at San Siro. I think we should maintain our more offensive and aggressive approach of the last two matches. IMO we should aim high and fight for a win against the Zebras.

Well, I seriously hope he's just boosting his confidence

Ha, if only...

Weird...it's weird because it isn't necessary any more. With Dinho Allegri proved his point soon enough; but Pippo obviously stayed. And I think his 200th Milan appearance could have been handled differently. In my eyes, Pippo is bigger the Ronaldinho when it comes to Milan, and what he at least deserves is a graceful end.

Pippo stopped making trouble, if he ever did. He seems to be accepting with his faith, not voicing his objections or displeasure like earlier on. At this point, Allegri should drop his attitude towards him and prove he's big enough to move on.

That was exactly my point, we know Allegri likes to pull off these cheap stunts. Little new in it. And agreed Inzaghi may not be as big a player/name Ronaldinho was, but no one can question his position as a Milan legend. Uncalled for, yes. Weird, no. Many a coaches do have this thing where they want to tell someone they don't like, who's boss.


Agreed. While we don't know what Inzaghi did (maybe he said something to Allegri early on), or what the coach's motive behind this cold war is, it's time to end it. The CL record thing probably is done and dusted, and well Messi in all probability take over everybody, let's bury the hatchet and move on.

Messi

Well, I think it goes like this: B&G still have immense respect for Pippo, so Allegri was ordered to give Pippo his 200th cap if Milan has a nice score he couldn't scr@w up. Then Allegri want's to say who's the boss and gives Pippo 3 straight minutes. A funny little story which sadly IMO could be true. But it has to stop.

That would still mean playing with three strikers, something which we've rarely done this season. And besides, I honestly don't see what changes Robinho could bring to the table by playing as AM. In your eyes, we'd be playing a very defensive midfield with Van Bommel, Nocerino, Muntari and Emanuelson, but I digress. Muntari is not a DM. He's a typical box-to-box mid that really impressed yesterday. Nocerino, we're all aware of his capabilities, and Emanuelson has been doing great as of lately. His speed and passing have improved a lot. So you see, it's not your typical 3 DMs midfield Allegri-style, like Gattuso-Ambro-Flamini of last season, comprised of people who couldn't even pass the ball to each-other. Personally, I think, in case of forfeiture from Boateng and Aquilani, that we should play the same line-up of Cesena. It's not the maximum we can offer, but it's a solid line-up nevertheless to face a team like Juventus.

Yeah, what about him?! I don't like the guy, and how he is raking up goals playing in a powerful engine behind him, but at 24 years of age, what more is there to be said. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with 100 CL goals by the time he is done. Another six, eight years of top flight football should do it for him.

Very little can be argued about this kids talent, but a lot of criticism is poured his way about not making it work at the WC and the likes. It can be argued that with a strong team you can achieve immense success, as is the case with Barca. But it can not be overlooked that at NT level the player Messi is the same as the player in club football, for many reasons - and I suspect you all could name a couple.

Having said that, as an individual, he is one of the most sought after players in modern football ... I wouldn't blink an eye to think twice about signing him for my beloved Milan if I had the chance; as acid stated, I also wouldn't be surprised if he did set an all-time record in the CL.

Aye. It's no fault of the player, I suppose I wouldn't get bored and ask for a newer challenge, if I were the guy. Things are working so well for him, few people care about the NT, or a tougher league. At least, Maradona played in the Italian league, which sets him apart even from Pele.

Same goes for CRON - he played and won it all with Manchester, and now with Real Madrid.

Urby has improved when he's played in the midfield 3. Are we really going to compare him playing in the AM position against Cesena to against Juve?

Just watch his previous games in that position and it should be enough incentive to not do it. Urby did well in the AM postion against Cesena because he literally had all the time and space to do what he wants. I don't think we'll be seeing either Aqui or Prince start tbh honest. So getting the best out of Urby is crucial, and that has to be in the midfield 3.

That midfield you posted would get ridiculed by Juve, their only edge on us is their midfield, so why play into their hands by playing such a midfield? Sure Muntari was impressive, but he's still Muntari and what he did against Cesena could easily be eclipsed by a complete screw up against Juve. And now Allegri has the brilliant idea of playing him behind the strikers...

I think a midfield with Robinho as AM would get screwed against Juventus, you think otherwise. Fair enough.

So you'd prefer Muntari as AM?

I'd prefer Emanuelson as AM.

Hasn't aquilani been training regularly?

He has, but the guy hasn't played a match in a long time. Can't see him being played immediately against Juve.

I'm really diasppointed to see that a match against Cesena has convinced you of the travesty that is Urby behind the strikers. He just cannot play the position, doing it against Cesena means nothing.

How would a midfield with Robs behind the strikers get screwed. The most important aspect of the midfield is the 3 behind the AM, yes the AM in our system contributes a lot, but the difference between Urby and Robinho in terms of workrate and tracking back is null imo.

The most important thing here is to play smart, quick football, not get caught out on the counter. Imo, we cannot achieve this with such a mediocre midfield. Which yes, looked promising against Cesena, but would be a completely different story against Juve

Honestly, I don't consider that midfield mediocre. Van Bommel and Nocerino are starters, Muntari seems in top form (remember, he played in the ACN) and Emanuelson has been doing great as of lately. Not only against Cesena, but against Arsenal and Udinese as well. Whether he plays as LCM or AM doesn't really change much IMO. If a player is having a good moment he'll do well regardless of where he's played.

Why would a midfield with Robinho get screwed? Because Robinho is no midfielder. Even if he tracks back quite often, we'd be exposed way too much to Juve's counters. It's an unbalanced line-up, something we've rarely tried this season and not a good thing to experiment in such an important game. That's how I see it anyway.

I'm sure we'll see your preferred midfield in the Juve game, we'll see if it works then

Well, ain't that a bit hasty, saying Muntari is top form right now? Based on what? ANC and Cesena can hardly be enough to be sure. Just a few weeks ago we were all laughing and making face palms.

And honestly, I don't think it's irrelevant whether Emanuelson plays AM or LCM; I prefer him on a side, preferably left. To me it seems quite obvious he isn't an attacking midfielder and shouldn't be played there, especially against Juventus in of the decisive games this season.

But like han said, we'll see soon enough.

You can easily spot whether a player is in form or not. What games he plays doesn't really matter. Allegri saw Muntrai's conditions in training, and that's why he played him from the start against Cesena. Otherwise he would have played Van Bommel and Ambrosini.

And yes, ideally I'd also prefer Emanuelson as LCM. However, we have no AM available at the moment, and I don't like the idea of Robinho playing there.

Laptop was down and didn't see the game. Only saw the goals on ESPN. Good win.