The team is in a such big psychological hole that with delying the inevitable we will keep digging even a bigger hole.
I hope Galliani and Berlu like what we have become - a big (not funny) joke. They have a big part in it.

One last match for Allegri. Then it's time to maybe beat a dignified retreat.

Apparently Allegri says resigning is not his style. Of course not, it's all about ethics and sticking to your duty and totally not the fact that resigning means you forego your severance pay.

But, I did say we were NOT playing a 3 at the back and I really wish people would stop saying we're going to play one. IT ISN'T HAPPENING!

Huh? Of course we were playing with a 3-man defense. And Allegri said we might continue to play with such formation again, so what exactly are you trying to say?

We were 4 at the back! Bonera and Mexes with Acerbi LB and DS RB.

If both you and Allegri think that's 3 at the back we're in a shitload of trouble.

And if you're trying to say Acerbi was on the left of a bank of 3 then it was the worst attempt at a back 3 that I've ever seen.

Nah Dan-O...it was a 3-5-2 sort of formation with 2 wingbacks.

In attack:

----Bonera------Mexes-----Acerbi-----
--DS--------------------------Constant--
---------Montolivo------Ambro------
---------------------SES-----------------
--------------Pazzini------------------

Massimiliano Allegri’s declarations to Sky Italia after the 1-0 defeat to Malaga at the Rosaleda stadium:

“I don’t think that there’s anything to throw away from this match. Currently, it’s the result that counts. We weren’t attentive when they scored. Their goal happened during a moment where they were pressing but they didn’t have any shots on goal before the goal. On those occasions we need to be better at keeping the ball and passing it around. We need to be more direct and clever in the final 30 metres of the pitch.”

“I’m not thinking about being at risk. I must analyse the performance and now we need to the simple things and try to get a result despite a bad performance. We had some great chances today, and they only had long shots in the first half, while we had at least 3 or 4 good chances, but we failed when making the final pass. But Malaga is a good team and if you leave them too much space, then they will punish you.”

“We have been thinking about using a 3-man defence for a while now. We’ve also tried it in the past, but then I went off it. I thought that we could be better at passing the ball around with this formation seeing as Malaga were pressing very well. We did well in the first half but in the second half we made too many misplaced passes.”

“The strikers? I can only make them as calm as possible by pointing out the good things that they did tonight, but we need to improve offensively. It was the first time that we played this way, but we will improve.”

“On Saturday we have a very important match in Serie A against a club who’s not in the same position as we are and who will give us a hard time.”

“If I want to leave Milan? Absolutely not. I’m not the type that leaves when it gets difficult. I have a lot of faith in my players. I believe that we will rise again in the Serie A. In the Champions League, we’re still in the race to qualify for the knock-out stage, but like I already said: it’s a very balanced group.
We’re optimistic with regard to Serie A. We have delivered some great performances and we will get back on the right track, because things must get better.”

“We will continue with the 3-man defence, which is also because we need more security and coverage defensively, but we could change the tactical set-up during the match. We can do better with this tactical set-up than we’ve done before”, declared Allegri.

You forgot Constant. He was acting as LB, not Acerbi. We were intended to play 3-4-3, but because Malaga crushed us in our own half and because we suck so much, we ended up playing 5-4-1.

And no, it's not just me and Allegri who think that. Mediaset's title after the game was "Joaquin sinks Milan. Allegri's 3-man defense doesn't hold. Malaga win 1-0". And a shitload of articles mention it as well.

Tbh...I don't think it was our defence that failed X-Off.

It has been as in the past our offence that's failing. As an Italian coach, Allegri's got our defence drilled pretty decently as far as the timespan of the team and our quality allows. The problem is the same problem he has always had.

The transitions from the zones of defence to mid-field to attack are just not there anymore and well we can't make anything to score.

I really do miss Seedorf.

I didn't forget him, he just appeared to do nothing on the left of midfield.



This pdf makes for interesting viewing:

http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/ucl/2013/2009525_tl.pdf

It agrees with you all that we did play a 3 at the back but disagrees with you regarding Constant. And so do I.

Still, it looked quite clearly to me like a 4. Which gives some idea of how badly our backline is organised these days. That said I still thought it had a good game, no matter what formation we disagree on.

It disagrees with me about Constant? I'd say it fully agrees with what I said. From those schemes, you can clearly see that Constant is playing on the same line with De Sciglio, even more retracted for that matter. Come on man, it's a clear 3-4-3! Look more closely. Sheesh...

I logged in again to agree with han's comment

"It's not first class but it's certainly not as bad as Allegri is making it look."

i was thinking - ok ok 1 month or 2 months and team will be formed which will play more or less as a Team, but no sh!t - Allegri and especially Galiani and Berlusconi absolutely don't care about the team..

I really do miss Seedorf.

Hah, when I said LB, I obviously meant as part of the midfield wingers. Call it WB if you like. Little misunderstanding there.

I miss Ibra and Thiago, not Seedorf.

Nah Dan-O...it was a 3-5-2 sort of formation with 2 wingbacks.

In attack:

----Bonera------Mexes-----Acerbi-----
--DS--------------------------Constant--
---------Montolivo------Ambro------
---------------------SES-----------------
--------------Pazzini------------------


But it wasn't exactly like this. In defending, we were defending with 5 as usual. So 3-5-2 in attack, and 5-3-2 in defence. Your usual traditional way.

Things changed a lot in the second half I think. It was almost a 4-2-4. Which is basically Allegri's way of throwing the kitchen sink.

Of course this meant our bank of 3 CBs sometimes spread out a bit. In a way I feel sorry, I mean he's doing everything he can to play to the strengths of Pazzini with more crosses and stuff like that...but...well... nothing's working.

I miss Ibra and Thiago, not Seedorf.

Really Jack, 12 players?

He's making up for that time he forgot one (Urby), I guess.

Really Jack, 12 players?