Had an inauspicious start to life at Milan, hope things pick up for him because he's far better than what he's shown.

"I'm second to none"

http://football-italia.net/70298/cerci-%E2...d-none%E2%80%99

Man, this guy is just full of it.

In English this means you're the best, but clearly the interview means when he's fully fit, he believes he can compete with everyone.

And if he or any of our players didn't have that attitude, I'd frankly want them out the front door!

Also curious is the fact he doesn't see himself as a winger at all, but as a SS.

He's just saying the right things..he knows there is no room for wingers in Miha's system..

Cerci's place until his loan runs out is on the bench, terribly average player that can only cut it for smaller clubs.

Tabula rasa for me under Miha. Everyone.

Not sure sure he is all talk.

Look at this from March last year.



You're not surely going to tell me Immobile was a winger...

Yeah, he did play as SS at Torino.

He didn't impress this afternoon at all, but maybe as SS we'll see the best of him. The next 6 months will define if he has a future at Milan or not.

He really hasn't done it yet.

Nope, not for me. Some players are simply not good enough to be here, no matter who's coach, Cerci imo is one of them. We're stuck with him for this season because of how his deal is. But his place as far as I am concerned is warming the bench, he's not even good enough to come on as a sub and make a difference.

Also, the position he played at Toro doesn't make one iota of difference imo. The counterattacking style they played is what made him look good seeing as he's nothing more than a kick and rush type player. He'll never make it with us no matter where he plays on the pitch because we play a completely different style, one that simply does not suit him

I disagree that he's not good enough, I agree he doesn't fit the style though.

He's had from January up to now to prove otherwise, and imo he has failed terribly. Taraabt made a bigger impact when he came, which says enough imo.

Cerci has had more than enough chances in his career to prove that he can play for a top side, yet he failed every time. He couldn't even cut it at either Roma or Fiorentina...

And I do think that the style argument imo is linked to the first. Most top sides don't play a counter attacking game, which in turn means Cerci cannot fit into the team's system and use his best attributes to the team's advantage

So 6 months is enough time for you to write Cerci off, while circa four and a half years of failure from SES and you still wanted him given chance after chance.

Ye can't make this sh*t up

Style is already changing.

The display v Real was simply a different Milan to the one we suffered last season.

It didn't have stars, and only Niang shone individually, but the team unit was unlike anything we've seen in recent years.

We'll see if Cerci has a place in it.

You've been saying that forever. Truth is, sans one decent season at Torino, he's been poor everywhere he's played.

6 months plus previous knowledge about him is enough. He's always been underwhelming for Italy when given the chance, has been terrible for us and failed at Roma, Fiorentina and Atletico. 1 good season at Toro to his name and that's it. I'd say that's enough.

4 years of failure for SES?

Granted, he only had those 6 months or so when he really did shine. But he's spent 2 of those years basically out injured. His first season he showed some real promise when coming on. Considering we had Ibra et al that first season and he was only considered a youth prospect that was mostly given time in Coppa games.

But yes, let's brand it as 4 years of failure...





We're still not a counter attacking side. We might be more physical, but it's pretty obvious that Miha is still going for a possession game where we continually look to dominate the play ourselves, rather than invite pressure and try to break. Which is the type of style Cerci thrives under

Currently watching the replay of the Real Madrid game, Cerci has so far been anonymous and every touch he has made has been too heavy. Just plain bad.

And he's playing the SS role, still looks very mediocre there as well.

Don't know what else needs to be said about him at this point, he's not even our player, so if it came down to it, I'd rather Suso/Niang/Adriano get the minutes ahead of him.

Quit rolling your eyes every time you disagree. It's rude.

And yes, I will. Let's face it, if he was called Stephan El-Muntari you'd have written him off inside 6 weeks, never mind 6 months!



Suso's not impressing me. I remain unconvinced by him. Niang was great yesterday though, he's continuing to mature.

And yes, Cerci was mediocre.

I only roll them when the post deserves it, and yours did, sorry, but that's how I feel.

His name had absolutely nothing to do with it. SES showed promise in his first season and basically held us a-float on his own in his second season. His goals being instrumental to us getting into the CL when the rest of the team slept through those first 6 months of the season.

His last 2 seasons were injury plagued and he could never really get a decent run of consecutive games to regain form.

Saying he was a failure for 4 and a half years is ridiculous. Especially when you're deliberately discounting all the factors that lead to him not being productive.

Funny you bring up Muntari, one of the worst players to have played in our shirt in the past decade, and that's saying something considering all the fodder Galliani has managed to pick up over these past few years...


Agreed on Suso. I think he'd be better if he's tried in midfield, he's not an AM imo. I think we should try loaning him to a Serie A side.

Niang was impressive, still got terrible aim though... And I don't foresee him getting a lot of time.

If Menez stays and Ibra comes I can't see where that would leave Niang in the pecking order, also considering we still need to offload Matri ASAP.

Cerci has always been mediocre in our shirt. The only time I remember him having a half decent game was in a Coppa match that I can't even remember who it was against atm

Then from now on if you roll your eyes, expect no response from me. Sorry, but that's how I feel. Final warning.



Delusion. You know it, I know it. He had four good months. August to November. His goals won 10 points. Decent. But look where we were during this period.

Worse than we finished last season.



'Stop calling him a failure, it wasn't his fault'.

That's what I call ridiculous. Whatever the reason, he DID fail. Be it injury, form, whatever. He was a waste of money.



I used him as an example. To highlight your bias about SES.



Who the hell was it who told me off about Suso? Who told me off for not rating him? I swear it was you and X!?



Miha seems to feel differently.



I give him 6 months to prove his worth. He has no excuses now.

So now I can't use the similies I want to make a point when I simply think you're being unreasonable about something?

You say I'm biased about SES? Take a look in the mirror pal...


Had it not been his goals that won us those points we would have never been in a position to make it to 3rd, it's not delusion, it's simple mathematics considering how we scraped through to third that season.


Had he been playing consistently and playing badly at that then you would be right, but no, considering the circumstances of his time with us, no, you can't call him a failure based on that


It was a sh!tty example as how cool a player's name is has nothing to do with this


I said don't jump the gun about him as you were labelling him bad already. I also said I would like to see him go on loan countless times as well as I don't think he'll get the time with us to really prove what he can do. I think a season at a Serie A side like Genoa for example would do him a world of good. Somewhere where he would be a first choice and where he would be a focal point of the team.

Also, I didn't say I don't rate him now, just that he hasn't really shown much this pre-season (actually you said it, I agreed with it, can't you even take that one?). That's different from saying you don't rate him. There are a lot of players who haven't really shown much of anything this pre-season as well. But it's only just been 2 proper games so far, it's too early to say about any player imo


How's that?

It's pretty obvious Bacca and Adriano will be ahead, just because he started the last 2 games doesn't say much, Matri started one as well, same goes for Calabria and Ely, I don't think any of them will be starter either.

I mostly get the feeling that Miha is giving certain players more time so he could assess and give his recommendation to Galliani in terms of whether he wants them to stay/be sent on loan/sold


Did he have any legitimate ones before?

You can do what you like. I just won't reply if I see that one it's bitchy and rude.



Damn right I am. He sucked for us



So...from 11th place in November thanks to his goals, and now you're giving him all the credit for the rest of the team finishing third despite the fact he barely scored any goals and lived on the wing during that time.

What mathematics are you adding from, exactly?



Told you this forum would turn into SESfannotfan.com



You're right. It doesn't. I was highlighting his identity, not his name. Could easily have said Stephan El-Bonera. His surname isn't the point, his identity is. The fact you cut him slack after 4 years but never did with others who underperformed. In less time. Like Cerci.



Actually said he has some talent but a diabolical attitude - reminding me of Menez, but not being as good with it. Funnily enough when he was actually more of a team player in the ICC his ability reduced to near-zero.



But why would you judge a player on a weak pre-season given you dismiss friendlies?

That's contradictory?

And yes, I do take that one, but it's a paradox to your own logic. The one time you agree with me here seems to be violating your own principles, illogically.



http://www.calciomercato.com/news/milan-of...i-sinisa-654395

According CM, we did indeed reject a hard offer for Niang. I truly believe Miha sees him as a major part of the squad.



Yes, claimed Pippo wouldn't give him a run in games. Refused to start him more than twice. Which is true. So if he gets a run of five games under Miha that'll sort that one.

Well, I'm bitchy and rude then, can't help it. Sometimes things just bring that out in me I guess...


He didn't...


How about the simple equation of removing those 10 points and seeing where that would have left us in the table. Certainly not in the CL places


I prefer the Muntari forum, it was much more fun


How you can compare Bonera and Muntati ro Stephan is beyond me. Those 2 have been diabolical for us for a while now. Both being culpable for countless goals conceded as well which led to dropped points. It's not the same


And again, I don't think what we've seen of him is enough for us to draw any hard conclusions. I personally don't see that terrible selfish streak in him that Menez continually displays. And if he was selfish last season that probably had to do with Pippo rarely ever giving him a chance and him being desperate to prove himself


Not contradictory imo. Just trying to keep all the options open before coming to a conclusion

Yes, I agree that he hasn't shown much of anything in pre-season yet. But I personally still haven't come to any sort of conclusion on his abilities yet, and I certainly won't come to them based on pre-season games. Even if they have so far been underwhelming performances. I still say it's not enough yet.

Also, I have been advocating for him to go on loan for a while now, before pre-season started, so that opinion isn't based on anything that's happened in these friendlies


I don't think they want to sell him. Pretty sure on that. But I do believe that they could still loan him

Like I said, if we have an attacking 4 of Ibra, Menez, Adriano and Bacca, do you honestly see Niang getting any sort of meaningful playing time?

It would be waste to keep him imo


Meh, poor excuse, had he performed well he would have gotten more time. Not like Pippo had a multitude of options to pick from. Also important to note that Pippo was the one who desperately wanted him to begin with

Indeed, but the mathematics you're working with aren't making sense. Are you seriously attributing 11th to third to SES? Despite the fact he scored no goals. His 10 points-contributing goals got us to 11th. August to November. Around four months. Roughly 16 potential matches. 16x3=48 points. He managed to help us to 10 of them. Are you truly claiming that as evidence of his brilliance. Is that proof he 'carried us'? Or is it more realistic that he peaked during this period, looked promising, then faded absolutely revoltingly from December onwards as the team finally sparked into life, mostly carried it has to be said by Balo?



We do seem to be arguing a lot.



Feck sake. I am NOT comparing SES to ANYONE! I am saying if he WASN'T SES you wouldn't have cut him this slack. THAT IS ALL!



Failed then, didn't he.



I see nothing he can bring to the team.



You can't run a season with just four attackers, especially if you play three at any given time. What do you put on the bench? Niang is still slightly green, he's getting there, but he is certainly a very useful piece of squad depth. And what happens with injuries and suspensions. Oh no, we loaned Niang out, let's play ... who the hell do we have left? That's why you hold onto guys like him.



Not true. Pippo never started anyone based on form. It's why so much rotation ruined our season.



He was also an absolutely horrendous coach, the worst in our history. I refuse to use his judgement or selections as an indication of anything.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012%E2%80%9313_Serie_A

Take a look at the final Serie A standing from that season. Without the 10 points you calculate that SES won us during that stretch we would have dropped from 3rd to 7th. We would have tied with Roma on 62 points but without SES's 16 goals our differential drops below theirs. That alone is the difference between Champions League and no European football. That is before any consideration of any contribution he made outside of scoring which I think you drastically underrate.

I'm not denying SES his ten points, hell I pointed them out. I highlighted that was his peak, and he did look good.

But the point is you cannot any more say HE was responsible for us making the UCL than any other player.

Look at it this way - if you take away his 10 points during that period, yes, that removes UCL. But equally why not remove the contribution of Balo between January and May. Or remove this goal or that goal.

Or remove De Jong's dominating presence in midfield from late 2012 onwards.

But no, there's a weird fixation between you two that you wish to attribute us making the UCL down to one man. He contributed towards us getting towards the UCL, but so did De Jong, Balo, and critically Mexes' whose goal actually got us there.

Without THAT goal SES' contribution would helped us towards 4th and UEL.

In conclusion: let him go. Let it go. Let the guy enjoy life in France and can we just move the heck on from arguing about him

Of course he's not 100% responsible for getting us CL football that year. Its a team sport with 11 men on the field. However he was one of the most important players for us that season along side Balo and De Jong. It isn't a weird fixation and I'm not attributing the entire accomplishment to his performance. I'm simply pointing out what you seem hellbent on denying. You're the one who keeps making the ridiculous claim that he was a failure. I'm just fine with his departure. I wish we would have gotten more money for him but I think he has more than adequately been replaced by Bacca and Adriano. I wish him the best and as an Azzuri fan I hope he finds his footing in Monaco.

I think you're taking my "he got us into the CL spots" phrasing too literally. I never said that other players didn't contribute, even when I say Ibra won us the Scudetto in 10/11, I'm not saying that the other players had nothing to do with it, or when I say Kaka won us the CL in 2007, I'm not saying the others didn't make crucial contributions as well. But there are certain players that are crucial to your season and how it ends up going, for me, SES was that during that season, especially his goals against Napoli for example which really was the game that kick started the season for the rest of the players.

Also, you're completely discrediting his contributions after December that weren't goals, he still provided important assists, off the top of my head like the one vs Udinese to Balo. And his incredible work rate on the left wing which actually made Constant look like a decent FB.


Probably the summer heat, well for me at least.


His identity simply has nothing to do with this. I don't get what's the point of this argument here.

In certain players you see that something special and I do in SES and did with Pato back in the day as well for example, in others it's clearly not there and not only are they very limited they become liabilities to the team, which is what Bonera and Muntari were, which is why I never afforded them the same slack.


Once again, I think you're being too hard on someone who's barely had the time to really show us what he can do.


That's why I think it's important that he's sent out on loan. He won't get the time with us and loaning him would mean him getting that time in Serie A and us being able to see whether he can truly cut it or not


We're not going to be playing 3 of the 4. It's 4 strikers for 2 positions. And imo that is enough when you're only playing one major competition.

Mihajlovic already said that the AM spot will be for Honda, Bonaventura, Suso and Menez in certain situations. So it will be Ibra (if he comes) and Bacca/Adriano upfront with Honda or Bonaventura behind them most of the time

If Niang stays he'll be wasting a lot of time on the bench which imo is counterproductive to him continuing to develop. His time at Genoa really helped a lot, getting a full season there would be great for him


True, but I guess given the fact that it was he who wanted Cerci so much he would have been far more inclined to give him that extra chance. But let's face it, Cerci didn't do any favour for himself with the way he played since he's been with us


True as well...


I don't think you get where I'm coming from with me defence of SES. I think selling him was the right thing to do at this point, I'm not sad or angry that he's gone, I wish him well and all that jazz. I'm not and never have been a fanboy. But as I said above, I just saw that something in him that made me believe that he will make it in the future, he just needed to overcome all these fitness issues he's been having (probably was never going to happen had he stayed at Milan anyway).

I just don't agree with the way you constantly put him down especially for things that were very much out of his control, and didn't come about because he was slacking off and partying every night


This

I didn't deny his importance that season - I just denied it was all 10 months of it. He had a crucial period of four months which helped keep us afloat. After that was he was rotten.

But I'm sorry, to use those four months as evidence he wasn't a failure when we signed him 48 months ago is weak.

He was a failure for us. We paid near 15M for him and got four good months in 48. If you want to deny that as a failure, both of you, then feel free.

I'm done here

@Han - we'll never agree on SES, but we at least agree we're arguing a lot (paradox there) and Pippo was a terrible manager.

Let's part ways on that one

Also, past players...

Thankfully!!

Always was and always will be an average player not fit to play for big clubs.

Moved

Funny that he scored against us today.

Somehow it was bound to happen.

Yep, especially when he only hit row Z when playing for us

Typical of him though to completely look utter cr@p when at a bigger team but can instantly make an impact at a smaller club

It's quite sad when you consider that his only two goals in over a year came from messy accidents (remember his goal against Palermo?).

There seem to be that type of player who can only shine when he's given an absolute free run and is the star of the show. Players at the level of Cerci etc. are like that. They will get that freedom only in the smaller teams, hence they perform better.

He's 28, and he's had one good season in his entire career. I think he's just crap.

For a top team sure. I think he will do well at a lower level team. Be a 'guarantee' for them so to speak.

You know who I've always wondered should have played at a larger club. Di Natale. I would have loved for us to swoop on him instead of Ricardo Oliveira. Anyone remember that dude? Apparently he's had an onset of mid-life crisis and is tearing it up in Brazil.

I think we were linked to Di Natale at that time and some of us didn't want him because of his age...

Not to mention that back then he hadn't really hit his best stride yet, considering that he did bloom late on in his career

Di Natale and Toni are rare players.