aah... Okay, he's a smart cookie that one.

Damn, Juve score the winner in the last minute of stoppage!

Inter 1-0 Roma

Good match. Inter are very solid defensively, albeit tonight they got lucky in a few occasions.

Spezia 1-2 Alessandria

I just realized, Alessandria play in the frigging Lega Pro, not even Serie B.

Yeah. What a golden ticket this is to get a trophy.

We'll still have a difficult side in the final, good thing is that the sides in the other potential semi are all in European places if I'm not mistaken, so win or lose in the final, we get into the EL at the very least if we can't make it through the league

A final is a final, a one-time game that anything that can happen. Even if we get Juve, we'd still have a chance to win.

It's a golden ticket, playing against Serie B and lower teams, then facing a stronger side in a one-match final. It's not a gifted trophy or a sure thing, but it's the best next thing.

Well I agree with both of you there

But I'm mostly looking at our track record this season against difficult opposition, which has been really poor. So basically saying that even if that continues, being in that final will still benefit us a lot

Anyone reading about this new investigation called "Offside"? One of the prime suspects should be Galliani.

What's going on?

Not sure. De Laurentiis, Lotito, Galliani and a few others under tax-payment investigation. Gonna make a better research.

Juve totally trashing Chievo now. 0-4 and SO clear what individual talent & class does to a team.

It's been clear for over 4 years now that Juve have by far the best team in this league with no one anywhere close to catching them, even after losing crucial players last summer, there's still a huge gap between them and the rest. Their stuttering start was expected and unexpected at the same time to a lot of people, but I never doubted for a second that they would still win it by the end, even when they were behind us in the standings

Yep. And once again, Allegri proving that he's a really good coach.

How does steam rolling a weak league with a team that is undoubtedly superior to the rest proving anything?

Allegri proved with Milan that he's all fine and good as long as he has the individual talent to bail him out, he proved that this season as well when he lost Tevez, Pirlo and Vidal and some of the top players on his team like Pogba, Morata, etc were not playing up to their usual standards.

It's basically similar to what happened at Milan when we sold Silva and Ibra, only we didn't have any top talent left to fall back on like Juve still do.

First, last year, he was able to reach the champions leauge final which I consider a great feat.


But, the most impressive thing is that he was able to rebuild a team in a relatively short period! No one can argue that Juve lost its key players this season. Pirlo and Vidal were the engine driving the team, and Tevez was there go to guy. Even if he had loads of talent, it's just not enough. He formed a good unit, and it's based around young players..So Juventus can look ahead for a bright future. Yes, the Serie A isn't the strongest leauge around, but it isn't that weak either. Their are lots of teams with great players on paper, but their isn't such a good management. That's what Allegri was able to build. (That's what Napoli have too) Of-course, it also helps when they have a very strong defensive core to begin with.

Juve have a top side, by far the best in the league. They're winning games, so Allegri is a mastermind? Let's not kid ourselves here. Like Han said, Allegri proved all his worth in the seasons following the Scudetto win. There's nothing more left to add that's not already been said.

Indeed. It proves nothing regarding Allegri. We already knew that he's capable of managing a star-filled team if the opposition is weak enough.

So have coaches like Di Matteo for example, where is he now?

Rebuild? I don't think so, the team was already built by Conte and was a solid enough foundation that he really didn't have much of anything to do aside from not screwing up, which he was about to do this season as soon as he lost his match winners.

Lucky for him he still has a good few of them left in his squad, so he didn't really suffer like he did at Milan where he had no one of that calibre to rely on.

I never said he was a mastermind.

Just a good coach who is getting it done!

I don't think he's relying on anyone, but he got the team to play like a unit. Something that is just show for us.

I think Conte was the man who did that, Allegri was just smart enough to not mess with an already good thing

I think you are making it too easy and simple. He is still the coach and no matter how we look at it , it's him who lead Juve to the title. Don't get me wrong , I'm not saying he is a great coach , but to say it's just conte's work and he is like freeloading off his success , that I dont agree with considering Juve also lost some players.

Some players sure, but they replaced them smartly (that's Moratta's job not Allegri's). And they still have the majority of the backbone players in midfield and defence, the foundation that Conte built his side on is still there and it's still being utilised by Allegri now. The defence, Marchiso, Pogba. They're all still there. Sure he lost 3 important players, but the solid foundation still remained there.

Unlike at Milan where Ibra, Silva and Nesta were sold/left and there was no one of that calibre to step in, and basically after being a one man show under Allegri with Ibra consistently bailing us out throughout his time with us, Allegri simply had no tactical answers to counter the loss of those players.

I still think that shortcoming very obviously still exists with Juve, where we saw this season how he slipped on dry ground (as we Maltese like to say) when he couldn't come up with a solution to losing Tevez who was usually the one coming up with the goals when they were struggling to find a way through, lucky for him he still has a lot of quality in the team now with basically the rest of the league being miles apart in quality so he's able to recovered from that terribly stuttering start and being within touching distance now of taking the top spot back, which realistically speaking, should have never even slipped from his grasp to begin with

Maybe he learned from his mistakes? Look, you know very well I was one of Allegri's fiercest critics, but like Nova said, reducing Allegri's job to simply freeloading on Conte's work is an over-exaggeration. If that's the case, why have a coach at all? Allegri is doing well, we should give him credit. Has he become a top coach? Absolutely not, and he never will be in my honest opinion. But the guy has certainly improved since his disastrous times with us.

Yep, exactly my point here.

BTW, I watched Roma today..for some reason.

Well, I have to say, I feel they're very thin. Given, they have a few injuries, but they just don't impress me at all as a team.

BTW, Sharaawy scored again..but actually the game was almost over. I felt he was a ghost most of the game. Salah did well, but really he had much space which is what a player like him strives on. Not too impressed by him.

Now, Pijanic is the one I'd want. So good.

Inter losing against Verona. Half time.

Time to see whether we have what it takes to climb up the table.

Losing 3-1 atm

This could be a pretty big turning point for us if we take advantage

They tie 3-3. Still a good result for us.

Yep

Capri equalize 1-1!

I have to say Roma are really underwhelming! 😎

Roma win 3-1.

Juventus beating inter tonight while Fiorentina drawing/lossing against Napoli would be ideal!

Milan need not dwell on the table at this juncture, rather keep the momentum going. Milan have a UEFA cup spot all but locked in. Pushing ahead in the final stretch for a team without any midweek commitments gives further emphasis for the team to set the CL as an objective; very much attainable with ten rounds to go.

Roma 53
Fiorentina 53
Inter 48
Milan 47

Roma and Fiorentina play each other on Friday. Hopefully they draw. But we're playing Sassuolo away (who won in Lazio's home tonight) and I can see us losing or drawing.

We'll see. Sassuolo is a must win. Hopefully we'll have Monto.

Roma seems to be in good shape. Sadly, it wasn't a draw and the third spot could elude us definitively very soon.

I think that door just closed today.

Anyway, the EL is a sure thing now that we're in the Coppa final, so really, there sin't much left to play for in terms of the league at this point

Actually, no. We should win the final to get the EL spot.

Indeed. The rules really changed.

Seems like Miha will leave Milan in June [Sky]. Any thoughts? Apparently Berlu tried to bring back Capello, but don Fabio refused.

I read the other day that we should get it... Is there anything official on this?


Way to show how stale and totally void of ideas you truly are Berlu, you senile old fool

Well, in his defense, what idea would you bring? I think what Milan really needs is a seasoned coach, not a debutante, not an experiment.

+1

Certainly one better than Fabio Capello who is a dinosaur that is no longer able to be effective in today's football.

There are many talented and modern coaches around to choose from, restricting ourselves to past players, past coaches and Serie A mid-level coaches is part of the problem, and that's not going to be solves by Capello imo

Agreed.

For example?

Anyway.


Gee, I wasn't aware I'd live to see the day someone will lift Sebo Rossi's record without conceding a goal in Serie A. Well, Buffon has only 3 minutes left and another Milan record goes down the drain.

There are many, I personally would have preferred to see us sign someone like Spalletti last summer when he was available and clearly willing.

He wouldn't be the innovative signing that we terribly need but he would have been a good stepping stone to finding that coach.

It's clear that we cannot sign a top coach, most likely not because of the wages but because we cannot promise him a top team, but in these situations you simply have to think outside the box. Miha certainly wasn't thinking outside the box, certainly neither was it with Pippo and Seedorf and with Cappello we'd be so far INSIDE the box we might as well just get buried in it.

I think first and foremost we need to look outside of the league for our next coach.

Then there are coaches like Van Gaal and Hiddink who could become available and I think could be willing to come on board. I still don't think they're what we need but they could make a turn around within the team because of their experience. I know you're going to say then why not Fabio? He's just as experienced if not more so.

You'd be right there but I think our past history with him is also an issue, not to mention that he's the type of coach that is fully set in his ways and imo hasn't really adapted all that much to the modern era of the game. Just my opinion


Well, Juve are breaking all our records in a Serie A that's barely a fraction of what it used to be when we set those records. I think we can take a bit of comfort in the fact that when we set those records we were one of the best sides in Europe playing in the absolute best league in Europe

Did Juve break any other Milan record recently? Anyway, agreed on that part Han, nicely put.

What I don't agree with you is your ageism thing and the answer you gave me.
Yes, Spalletti was a viable option. A loser coach who has nevertheless experience enough to master us through. Agreed. Yet the very fact that you came up with one name shows it all. Then you mention Hiddink and LvG out of no where, what gives you the idea they'd consider Milan or Italy? Hiddink came back to Chelsea because he could easily link up with the environment there he already knew. That's the same we tried with Capello. Now you say trying to bring don Fabio on board is a clueless/idealess try, but at the same time you propose another old coach who's never even coached in Italy?

I fail to see the logic in that, but I know, you're probably gonna say Hiddink is more vital the don Fabio and coached clubs more recently. Well, to me it's hardly enough.

The way I see this is that we have limited option:

A. We sign someone completely unknown who has links with Milan - we've done this twice and it didn't come out good.

B. We sign an more or less ambitious coach who'd consider Milan a next (good) step in his career (like Allegri)

C. We play the emotions card an sign someone respectable, like Rijkaard or Ancelotti (who went unavailable) just based on past ties.

I don't see much space for Hiddink's and van Gaal's landing at Milan in the future. What I would propose is we sign Lippi or Capello on board for a advisory or supervisory role, and bring someone fresh and talented in as head coach. I think Milan needs some reassurance and something of the old charm back. Discarding Capello simply because he hasn't been in club football for a while and is old IMO isn't wise.

Not sure, did they break our unbeaten record or not?

It's not about ageism, not like VG or Hiddink are spring chickens, but it's the type of coach Cappello is, he's too rigid and set in his ways, I don't think it would be a good idea at all to have him on as head coach, and I don't think Lippi is either.

Hiddink accepted the Chelsea bench knowing that he'll most likely be out come summer, so I don't think it would be much of a stretch to think that he'd take on the challenge at Milan. He's a coach with an endless amount of experience in terms of working with more limited teams, I personally think he'd be the perfect kind of coach to lead us out of this rough patch.

Also, I said Spelletti would be a good stepping stone solution, not the solution in and of itself.

And the proposal you're making here about having Fabio and Lippi on in advisory roles is a total different concept to having them as the actual head coach of the side, which I think would be a big mistake.

Also, you're forgetting that there have been other really good coaches available at times when we were looking and we passed them over for the cheaper and easier solutions (like Klopp for example)