Don't know, I'm just as confused as you are.

Pippo obviously deems Honda a winger for some strange reason, or he just wants a lefty on the right side and that's his justification for playing Honda there. But I think his dilemma is that he doesn't know how to fit all of Honda, SES, Torres and Menez into the same line-up.

Also, Bonaventura imo has cemented his spot as a starter in my eyes, and I think the same can be said for how Pippo feels about him

So this creates one big dilemma with regards to how you could fit all of them in.

Bonaventura was great today, easily MVP.

Regardless of what formation we play (4-3-3, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1), Pippo always plays Honda and always on the friggin' wing. That's something I'll never be able to understand. My guess is due to a lack of proper wingers, but then you can easily play 4-3-1-2 with him behind Menez and Torres.

The guy is obsessed with using the wings and will even play you out of position. Reminds me of Allegri. He was so fixated on playing 4-3-1-2 at some point that would even play Urby-goddamn-Emanuelson as AM as long as it meant playing that way.

Ratings:

Abbiati: 6 Decent enough, didn't have a lot to do overall.

Abate: 7 Bombing up and down, continuing to have a fine season.

Alex: 8 Cannot be dropped. Our best defender now.

Rami: 5 Accident-ridden and making too many errors. Was bailed out by Alex repeatedly. Kind of a David Luiz player - offers a lot as an attacking defender but he isn't good enough at the back. Jack, you wanted the Alex-Rami defence, well you got it. I am absolute that Alex-Zapata is our best defence, or even Alex-Mexes. Anyone but f*cking Rami. Turning into another Bonera.

DS: 6 Not an expecially good display from him - seems, sadly, to be going backwards a little at the moment.

De Jong: 6 Worked hard in the middle but those around him didn't help him out enough.

Muntari: 5 The 5 is for the goal. Otherwise words fail me on a truly pitiful, lazy, and frustrating display.

Bona: 6 Decent, but not great. Was made impotent by a stubborn Chievo devence.

Honda: 6 Great goal, but this cutting back inside is not helping him or us. He needs to be central FFS.

Menez: 7 Fits and starts of good play. Increasingly involved in the second half, but far far too quiet in the first.

Torres: 5 Bad night for Nino. Didn't work hard enough or get himself into good positions, and showed a lack of appetite.

Subs:

SES: 7 Energetic in his brief cameo. A good run led to the free kick from which Honda scored. Kinda an assist!

Poli: 7 Hard working closure in midfield. Why Muntari keeps starting ahead of him is beyond sanity.

Essien: 5 Meh.

Pippo: 6 He set out a reasonable team, Rami and Muntari aside, but there was absolutely no bite in the team first half. It just did nothing but play the ball around in midfield and defence. Second half was a lot better, and clearly what he said at HT worked so fair play. And the subs worked too. But start that slowly v better teams and we'll have our backsides handed to us.

El-Sharaawy's problem is his first touch. It's just hopeless. He has so much energy and he's quick, but his composure is poor and he also doesn't score goals now. He's also injured too much, meaning no one wants to build their team around him given he'll end up out any moment.

Menez scores goals, and is offering more than SES has been.

Lucky not to concede today. Muntrai created two very good chances for them and even with the occasional goal here and there, he's just not worth it. I'm not concerned about the attack, defensive stability is what we need to improve.

i dont know if it is related to getting ful fit.. or maybe for the time being in order to avoid injuries he is being used an as impact player. Overall he is good yesteday hopefully he is remain fit and improve.

Match threads have become unbearable.

That said he IS bloody awful. I defended him endlessly the past two seasons but his attitude now is truly appalling - doesn't concentrate, has no awareness, has no composure. He absolutely p*ssed me off v Juve and he did the same last night. A goal, welcome though it is, isn't compensation for almost costing us 12 at the other end.

The majority of the squad is poor to be honest. It's easy to hide behind bias and make excuses for players that you like, but the fact is not many are good. All 5 CBs aren't good enough. MDS had an awful season, Armero has consistantly been labelled overrated and not good enough by many on here. NDJ aside, it's a who's who of medicore midfielders. Menez has never been great, Torres is an awful forward and SES has barely played for 18 months.

Lopez, MDJ and Abate are the only players who play well and even Lopez has barely played. People can say I'm bias, underrate players, etc. but that's just an excuse. I say it as I see it. han has criticised me for not liking Abate, but he's been good for a while, so I'll say as much.

Just my opinion.

No, I completely agree with you. This team, for what's worth it, is only average to decent. Aside from a few individuals, the rest are very average players that would never start in a big club. The fact that we have a rookie coach doesn't help either.

That being said, it doesn't mean that we can't demand the maximum in every match, and starting players like Bonera and Muntari is not doing that. I don't know if you saw the game last night, but Muntari was abysmal, so we have every right to criticize him. If that makes the match thread unbearable to you, that's your own problem.

No I agree with you, but it's the same every game. We've had games where nobody has shown up and it's still the same "It's all Muntari's/Bonera's fault" nonsense. Players like Zapata consistantly put in Serie Z performances and barely get a mantion.

Not true. Many other players have been criticized as well. Abbiati, MDS, Rami, Poli, Torres, SES etc. Zapata has been severely bashed by Han, I criticized Honda in this very thread. Muntari and Bonera will obviously be mentioned more often because they are 5x worse than any other player we have in our roster, but that doesn't mean we use them as scapegoats. When they are directly responsible for goals conceded, like Bonera has been so far, or Muntari nearly was last night, then there's nothing you can say about it.

Are you saying he was good and we should have been praising him?

He almost assisted Chievo twice, had they not been utterly awful in the final third, this could have easily been a draw all thanks to Muntari

As I said above, I wasn't just talking about this game but in general. Even when he's far from the worst player on the pitch he's the one that gets all the stick and it's getting very old and boring. But it's easily solvable.

He's the easy target because he's consistently bad and for some strange reason always gets picked, that's why people focus on him so much

I put out a tweet highlighting our starting XI yesterday cost 15.5M and while many agreed with my summary of 'embarrassing' some seemed to suggest this was genius on Galliani's part.

I admit it seemed it at the time, but a Milan team that only cost us 15.5M is absurd.

Torres, one goal aside, has been shite.

Menez, one performance V Parma aside has been patchy at best.

Bona hasn't been given enough time in his best slot.

MvG looked great till injury so cannot yet be judged.

Lopez has been cr*p. One penalty save and that's it.

Armero's signing was praised at the time - I was the only one who said it was pointless and I stand by that.

Alex HAS been good. He's the one genuine window success and he's only had two fucking matches for God's sake.

Point is this Milan is made up of other teams' rejects or young prospects. The only outright signing we've made in recent years, NDJ aside, at the peak of his career, is Bonaventura.

As Kurt says, the only players to impress are De Jong & Abate. I just think this Milan team is going nowhere. We're a midtable team and show no ambition to improve upon that.

They call that a scapegoat. Yeah he's sh*t, and I don't deny it, but he is NOT the reason Milan are sh*t. That's down to the lack of investment in the team and use of other clubs' cast offs.

I completely disagree with you about Menez. If anything, I think in these few games he's shown he stands one step above everyone else. The guy has too much class, but he's not Ibra so he can't win alone and be decisive. Sometimes I feel he's a bit individualistic, but his teammates also have to step up and give him a hand.

I think you over-rate him massively but I don't deny he was our best performer last night.

But you're basically saying he's our best player overall?

Yes, absolutely. Him and De Jong.

Abate and De Jong are our best players. That is without question IMO.

Menez hasn't done consistently well enough in his appearances to be classed, after a few games, as our best player.

If he can improve his level of performance, in terms of doing it frequently (when played), like De Jong, like Abate, like Alex, like even Honda is starting to, then I too will subscribe to him being one of our best.

But even that loser Balotelli could produce it now and then. It's doing it at least every other match - that's what separates the average/good from the best.

But this is where we disagree, as I think Menez has been very consistent. Except for the game against Cesena, where he looked tired, in every other game he's been very involved. He's always at the center of all our attacks. He's very energetic, moves a lot, rarely loses the ball, and more than often successfully takes multiple opponents by himself leading to a dangerous ball or scoring opportunity. That's why I think he's the best player we have.

He should be less individualistic and pass the ball a bit more often, but then again his teammates end up losing it afterwards or do something stupid, so in a way I can understand his behavior.