I feel like asking that question is almost a cliche now. Every year we wait for Pato to emerge from the shadows and realise that potential, and every year he lets us down - either via injuries or poor form.

Now while he's not an old man at 22, he's not the 18 year old we signed either - it is time this lad finally began to show his class regularly because we sure as heck don't appear to be signing a marquee striker to replace Ibrahimovic.

Is this guy going to be a perennial underachiever for us, or are there folks who believe he will finally become what his destiny suggests?

Admittedly there's the Babs baggage as well, which probably means we're 'stuck with him' anyway, but there's no denying on his day he is a scintillating striker. It's just a pity he's as fragile as glass in both form and body.

All my hopes lie on Pato for this season. With his injuries (supposedly) fixed and Ibra gone, he has all the freedom and possibilities to step up and become a world class player for us.

If not now, then when?! He doesn't have to tear down the world, but a season like 2008-09 I expect, at least.

Won't be enough. We need Pato to hit 20 goals this season, with or without a new striker signing.

Pato is not Ibra, he cannot pull goals out of his @ss at will. He will need a strong AM behind him to supply him with constant service and a Cassano or Robinho at his side to support him.

If we can't provide Pato with that than he'll struggle, injuries or no injuries

Is marquee your favorite word? you use it a lot.

+1 @ what X-Off said. with Ibra gone, there can be no "reason" for Pato to under-perform other than possible injuries. I'm using "reason" instead of "excuse" because I think Ibra in fact did have a negative effect on Pato. but as han said, he needs support. IMO Cassano, Prince, El Sha and good full backs will do the trick. add Kaka to that and it'll be perfect for him. in his defense he's a bit more than a tap-in guy. support doesn't mean he needs chances served on a silver platter to score. unless I'm the only one who remembers him in these 4 years...

As always, the only thing I'm worried about is injuries. but that doesn't even seem to be an issue when he's away from Milan...

Next year?

Eh, that'll only give his critics/detractors more ammo. Provided he can shrug off the injuries for extended periods through the season, I expect 200% from Pato, not a percent less. He's practically the face of our club - unless Kaka somehow arrives - and this year, I want him to behave like one.

I do, however, agree with the marquee (ha!) statement Zed.D made about him and Ibra not working together.

I like it. Yes, it might even be my favourite word in this context

Strong AM being Boateng. But end of the day, it all means squat if Pato cannot hit the ground running and remain at sprint level.

I think X Off was making a little joke relating to the fact every year we say 'next year' about this topic.

Think this whole topic should be added to the Pato-thread.

I believe so. But at 22, there is no better time to shoulder some serious responsibility. I wouldn't mind Pato not only scoring goals but setting them up for teammates as well. He's the go-to striker for the time being.

He'll have a slow start, blamed by his Olympic travelling. He'll then get injured. Half way through the season it will be "Pato's 2012 just hasn't been ideal off the field for him to do well on it". He'll probably be okay from Jan-May 2013.

Quoted for reference.

Yeah well I kinda feel the entire structure of the forum should be changed.

I don't mean that in a narky way, I just feel, as others do, the current structure is absolutely crap - and not worth abiding by.

I mean what in God's name is the point of telling posters where they can and can't post threads? There should not be dedicated threads which limit subject detail; nor should anyone need permission to post a new thread.

Ok, way off topic here.

Carry on.

Did I tell you what to do or not? It's just that it's way easier to follow up all these discussions in the basic threads. I almost missed this one out, sheer luck helped me to find it. But do it your, way...it was only meant as a suggestion.

No, but by implication the structure of the forum did.



It's not easier at all. If I want to talk about something specific, I have to find a 'general' thread about things in that vague category.

Which, frankly, is rubbish.

By your/the forum's logic Jack's FFP thread didn't belong in here either.

I'm not having a go at you, just consistently irritated by the format of the board, which no one has any power to alter.

Well, one person has the power to alter it.

Anyway, I get partially where you're coming from, but still believe this talk belongs to the Pato thread.

@Danny:

The trouble is not in a piece like yours entirely. Which is almost an op-ed in newspaper speak.

It's coz eventually this goes off topic, and people start discussing other matters, resulting in information being all over the place.

For eg. this could go into Pato's relationship with Barbara. Then Barbara's own management. Then from there to possible transfer targets. And so on...

That being said, most of our members are indeed quick to cross post so as to get the discussion in the right thread.

So I don't think you got much to worry about for the moment.

But when you say you wish to change the 'structure' of the forum. What do you mean exactly?

If you get where I'm coming from, you'll understand my disinterest in the last part of your comment.

Jackie boy.

Ah you Indians are so adorable.

Ok, in a nutshell...

I wanted to discuss the issue of Pato and it constantly being a cliche that it's 'his' year. I didn't want to add it as a single post in a 'Pato' thread because it may well get lost in among conversation about other things, as often happens.

Hence I felt it justified to start a thread of its own.

What I am trying to say is the current layout of the forum dictates that there's a finite range of discussion matter - that if you want to chat about Computers, you go into the computing thread. What if you want to discuss general technology, or an iPhone, or bananas? There is no thread which covers these. Or if there is, they get easily lost.

Off Topic is a key example; you don't need 'the official xxx thread' - it should be open ended so people can just start a thread on anything they like rather than feeling obliged to restrict themselves to existing topics, in the hope that the subject they wish to matter is covered by an existing thread.

Then there's the issue of permission to post threads in certain boards. That it's restricted to ranked members is slightly absurd.

I'd accept post count, if someone earned the right to start a thread after maybe having made 20 posts, but that certain people cannot start threads is a bit backwards.

Thing is, I feel like this post will fall on deaf ears in your case because I am under the impression you either aided or supported the current structure during its conception.

But plenty of others really aren't thrilled with this, but why the hell am I on about it again when the only person who can change it is never on or willing to do anything?

I'm stopping now, because I've gone on about this enough times in the past.

Like urinating into a monsoon.

Well, I completely have no problem with your discussion in this case. What I meant about the op-ed thing.

The problem is I see the risk of this thread slowly forking for another thread into Pato information. For eg. Pato gets a contract extension. Or Pato linked to another club. Or something else. It's just gonna come into this discussion.

In such a situation, it just becomes a deluge of forked information. Making it harder to consolidate.

Sure, at some such state, a mod could just merge threads. Which is what we're doing at the moment.

I maintain once again, you're free to open up whatever you like.

Most of the post count limits were coz it was the only way we could keep bots out.

As for the current structure...it was in place a long time ago. The only changes, you see the current crop of members take part in was the pinned, new guidelines thing. That was when we almost had civil war here. Long story.

Boateng is not an AM though. This silly tactic might have worked with a creative force like Ibra upfront but now we'll struggle big time with it.

Allegri's obsession of playing Prince behind the strikers is absurd. Even more now that the guy wears the #10 on his shoulders, he feels like a trequartista more than ever, which he's not!

+1

He's not a treq, I agree, but he surely is an AM? What else is he? You guys aren't going to call him a CM or a striker are you?

Box-to-box mifielder would be the accurate name.

An AM and a trequartista are the same to me. You cannot play behind the strikers if you do not have the qualities of a trequartista, which first and foremost are creativity, vision, touch and great passing technique. Boateng has none of those qualities.

As x-off appropriately called him, he's a box-to-box guy. He's got the energy, pace, shot, eye for goal that would make him a perfect box-to-box solution for us. Instead we use Nocerino to fill that role

I always felt that a treq was more what you said and an AM was just a more advanced box-to-box player. I wouldn't call Lampard a treq, but he can definitely play as an AM. His passing is fine, just not maybe the same as a Sneijder.

Naah, it's the same thing.

Lampard is a top class passer imo, not to mention he has the vision and composure to pull it off.

Lampard was a box-to-box guy earlier in his carreer but he has the finess to pull of playing the position because he's not just that anymore.

Let's just say that a trequartista is always an AM, but not all AMs are trequartistas. Being an attacking midfielder is pretty much the basic requirement of the trequartista position.

Nocerino is a better box-to-box midfielder than Boateng. Everything you say, Nocerino got that as well.

Boateng is an attacking midfielder or even forward to me, not a box-to-box midfielder. He is hopeless when playing too deep. Nocerino at times as well, but Boateng even worse. They lose possession way too easily, and are very bad in conquering the ball (tackling included). Nocerino against Real Madrid, after his beautiful assist, when in midfield position he was a disaster. He couldn't even receive the ball properly. What's that for a first touch? Boateng when he was deep also looked bad. It seems like their heads are on tilt when they play deep.

Boateng has been always at his best when being a part as the most three advanced players (the forwards, as one of the forwards thus). Am I the only one who sees him fail when playing (deeper) in midfield (than AM)?

All in all it's just sad to see the number 10 going to someone who clearly isn't up to it, behavior included. I remember my dad telling me how special the 10 is at Milan and how it creates a wonderful circle; how it is important to select the right bearer. It was worn by Savičević, then Boban, then handed to Rui Costa. It seems it all ends with Seedorf.

Numbers don't mean what they used to though. Remember Bergkamp retired and Gallas took the #10.

Well, at Milan they did. Which is sad.

So far since Prince took number 10, so I'm referring to our pre-season, he has been poor. Nocerino, Robinho, Emanuelson and Cassano all look better in our attacks, even though the latter may get worse from now on.

I believe the combination Prince and Zlatan was perfect. It's going to get a lot tougher for Prince to do as well. With Zlatan, Prince didn't have to be that creative attacking midfielder. Now we do need one. (We can't rely on Cassano.)

I wouldn't call Prince a BTB mid either tbh - I disagree he covers that much ground.

He's not a trequartista, because he doesn't have the vision for the pass or indeed dribbling skill. But he does a brilliant job of supporting attacks and linkup play at that end of the field. And scores plenty goals.

Lampard is a good comparison actually.

Exactly like that. Not a trequartiste, neither a box-to-box, but one who supports attack. We had a very dynamic attacking trio existing of Ibrahimovic, Cassano/Robinho and Boateng. On paper Boateng is put as AM, but meh, it was more like three forwards being everywhere. When put deeper (for box-to-box role) Boateng is not one of the three most advanced players which hurts his preformance (way more defensive duties - not good), also when he was in great form not only he failed in deeper midfield (for some reason put there during a match), but also our attack was nowhere close to what it was with Boateng. So why should we even want to move Boateng to a real midfield role?

Whilst I agree that Boateng has been rather poor when played as CM, I also say that most of his success as AM came from Ibra's presence. The guy (Ibra) played as striker, movement forward and playmaker for us, all at the same time, during his stay, and it was all thanks to him that the various Boateng, Nocerino and Robinho could thrive. Without him around any longer, I seriously question if Prince can do what he's done as AM in the past two seasons. It's a quite pickle, really. Maybe we should just sell him.

100% agreed. That all is what I've been thinking too.

Boateng is a quality player, but if a team offers 28 mio, and we now need a creative AM...

Yep, for that kind of money I'd sell him. Gee, we could have sold Ibra and Boateng. I'd be happy with almost anyone leaving other then Silva and Pato. Silva especially, he really showed love, passion and class which is rare nowadays at AC.

+1

+1000

+3

Gee, we really need a 'Like' button. Really, we do!

I wouldn't sell KPB, not even for that amount. Not all down to his ability but also the way our transfer deals have gone this summer, no chance. It would be another colossal loss and another where we see barely any return on the sale going on new talent.

Agreed

Don't know about this finally being Pato's year but I think it might be his final year.