Hopefully there will be no more lost point against teams we should be winning against from now until the end of the season or we're surely going to miss out on Europe, especially if the Coppa final is no more a gateway to the EL

Completely disinterested about this game.

Meh, I'll watch anyway.

It's Chievo-Milan, btw.

Fixed

We still have a chance, so I'll watch. Match about to start.

Does anyone know what the issue with Monto is? Is he injured?

We're being cornered by Chievo

Yes, Montolivo is injured.

Yep, really terrible so far

Absolutely devoid of any creativity, we can't create a good chance. Bacca has been ineffective and Bona has barely done anything, we miss Niang. No one is bringing what he brought to the team, we were unfortunate to lose him to injury. It has knocked us off of our rhythm.

Whatever happened to Lopez? Abbiati did fine today so far, but really, Lopez is completely off the grid or what?

Anyway, I think the main problem is the inactivity of our flanks. Menez is just like Balotelli all over the place but with not actual build-up plan by the midfield. Bacca is stranded.

I think Antonelli may be out of sprite. He's been completely inactive for most of the last few matches. Only trouble is, I don't think MDS would do a difference.

Terrible first half overall.

Niang? We're missing Monto, not Niang, Niang didn't add much of anything, but Berto and Poli in the centre simply do not cut it, we need Monto back in there, it's clear that we've been struggling offensively ever since he's been out injured

The thing with Niang is that he at least plays at a fix position which creates extra room for Bonaventura. That's the main difference, whereas Balo or Menez drift around.

Menez is completely out of shape.
BErtolacci is sh*t.
If Poli had as much quality as he has grit he'd be a beast.

Of course I agree that Monto is severely missed but Niang also adds speed to our attack, improving our ability to counter attack. Without him in there dropping into the hole it adds pressure to penetrate on our wings. Both of which aren't true wingers and lack pace.

My God!!!

Twice hitting the post now! Come on score FFS!!

Another 2 lost points... All the good work done in the last couple of Months will be ruined in just a couple of weeks

We have 6th place written all over. Sorry guys, but we don't deserve any place higher than what we're currently occupying. It's the blatant truth.

This summer we went for Kucka, Bertolacci, Jose Mauri, Luiz Adriano, not to mention Miha, hoping it would change anything. Well, after 29 games I think it's pretty clear how pointless those signings were, as expected of course.

Be fair.

You intentionally left out the good signings we made in Romagnoli and Bacca. Also, you make it sound like you knew from day one that Berto, Mauri or Miha wouldn't work. In fact the alternatives, Jackson Martinez and Kondogbia, which you advocated, turned out to be complete misses as well.

We did make a slightly better step then the last two season; we reached the Coppa final and probably secured (?) the Euroliga. But yes, you're right. It's not enough and it's sure not satisfying for a club like Milan.

I intentionally left out the good signings because they WERE good signings. But do you honestly believe that after last season's atrocity just Romagnoli and Bacca would be the solution? Come on, now! We needed so much more but in the end we pleased ourselves with free agents and cheap, last minute options. In typical Galliani fashion.

Miha: "With this team it's difficult to achieve more"

At least this guy tells it like it is, unlike Pippo and his unbearable bullshit last season.

I admire Miha for saying that, because it is true, but I think he's also using it as an excuse as well because we should be doing better against the majority of sides we lost points to this season.

I get that we can't have a perfect record, and inconsistency is to be expected when you don't have top players throughout who can give you a good performance week in week out.

But we have bee too inconsistent this season, even with that variable in mind. We have lost too many points to opposition that is inferior to us.

I agree that with this team we're not getting into the CL, but we should be getting into the EL positions imo, failing to do that isn't just down to the level of quality in the team.

I agree x-off about the team and the signings, I don't think anyone was more pissed off than I was about not signing at least 2 quality mids and a creative attacker. Berto was money down the drain as we all expected him to be and Kucka is the mediocre player that we all expected from the very beginning. Monto is our only decent mid atm, how any team could be competitive when that is the situation we're currently in is beyond comprehension.

We didn't make any signings in winter and I honeslty do believe that there is no concrete plan from Galliani as to how he should proceed in the summer, we'll once again have to contend with him making panic buys and scavenging for players out of favour with their clubs.

Yes, Bacca and Romagnoli were good signings, but Bacca without the proper service won't be able to score as much as he potentially could with a proper midfield behind him as we've seen in recent games. No service, no goals from him.

I think Miha has done a pretty decent job, especially when our most recent comparisons come in the form of Allegri, Seedorf and Pippo. But he has also made mistakes imo. Does he deserve another season? I honestly don't know. If the answer for our management is to sack him and get another random mid-table coach, then that would be useless, I'd rather keep Miha and go for some continuity, let him build on the good things he's done this season and see where he can take us.

I think how Miha could perform next season though still depends on whether Galliani can get him better players.

Even if we were to sign a top coach, that could potentially get better result from this group, unless we make the right signings, most importantly in midfield, I can't see us doing much better than what we currently are now.

Thing is, losing points against inferior teams is to be expected when you don't have a competitive squad. That's the main difference between big teams and smaller teams. It's not just about winning against the tougher opposition, but also against the weaker ones. With a squad like ours losing points against the likes of Sassuolo and Chievo away isn't something inexcusable, but it just reflects the current state of affairs: inconsistency.

I think the idea is that if Miha goes, I doubt a bigger coach will arrive. This year has been crazy for vacancies and a lot of the top coaches have found jobs with those bigger teams. If he goes I would think the top options for us would be Donadoni and EDF, who are more or less on the same level as Miha.

I think he will end up leaving, as he and Berlu don't see eye to eye. The point is that we need to bring in better players over the summer. If there is one thing you have to give credit to Miha for, it's his ability to bring along young players. Romagnoli in two years has become one of the best defenders on the peninsula. Donnaruma is firmly entrenched as our starting keeper. Niang has come along this season to play an important role in our team. Not to mention his ability to get the best from Antonelli, Alex, Monto, and especially Honda. Overall he has done well enough to be given another year, but like I said I doubt he will be back with us. Its important to have consistency year to year and without big signings I can see this team taking a step back with a new coach.

Sure he has a plan, the same one he has had for the last few years:
1. Spend most of the summer trying to unload players nobody wants ('cause they are no good and overpaid)
2. Look for players he can get "real cheap", and attract them by offering a ridiculously high salary. At least one of these must be a striker (so Berlu is happy). Factors such as "is this a player we really need" or "is he any good" are secondary.


I tend to agree. Miha has done a little better than I expected, but his limitations are clear. My brother is a Fiorentina fan, when I asked him this summer about Miha his assessment was something to the effect of: "not the coach Milan would want, but about right for our current level." That's how I feel right now. In any case, AFAIAC it will not make much difference if he stays or leaves, as he is not our main problem, and we are unlikely to get anyone much better (Brocchi + Lippi seems to be Berlu's choice right now). FWIW, my guess as he goes, as there is little chemistry with Berlu and he will make a convenient scapegoat.

As much as I think that we don't have a good enough squad to do a lot better than we currently are, I think that the revolving door or players and coaches has contributed a lot to the terrible inconsistency we show. Mihs imo did a pretty good job in getting the players to actually play like a team more than any of his most recent predecessors ever did. Obviously we're no where near teams who have that real chemistry and cohesion between players, but it's much better than the disjointed messes we saw under Allegri, Seedorf and Pippo.

Also, Lippi and Brocchi?? That's as bad as Capello, probably even worse, because I'd take Fabio over Lippi.

The thing with the revolving door of coaches is that it's not going to fix anything unless we sign some quality players.

We made 2 of those last season but I get the feeling that we'll be trying to cover the financial haemorrhages because of those 2 signings for a long while to come, not to mention the wasted money on Bertolacci. We're going to have a hard time getting into the EL at this rate, so that money we could potentially get is hanging in the balance, not to mention the Bee deal seems to have completely crumbled. Not to mention all the contracts of the coaches we've sacked that we're still paying

Galliani and Silvio must be sweating bullets atm

I wonder, if we don't win the Coppa but still end up 6th, do we get to play the EL qualifiers?

I have no clue at this point, is there anywhere we can check what the entry requirements are for the EL?

This is from the Regulations document on the UEFA page

"If the winner of the domestic cup qualifies for the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League via the domestic championship, the highest ranking nonqualified domestic championship club qualifies for the UEFA Europa League at the stage initially reserved for the lowest ranking top domestic championship representative. If the winner of the domestic cup qualifies for UEFA Champions League, the access stage initially reserved for the domestic cup winner is reserved for the club which finishes the domestic championship in the highest position out of all the clubs which qualify for the UEFA Europa League from the association concerned (see Annex A). In both cases each representative of the domestic championship then enters the competition at the stage initially reserved for the domestic championship representative ranked immediately above it."

So from this (if I'm interpreting it correctly) if the winner of the Coppa is already qualified for the CL or EL. Then the team which is ranked first outside of the European places gets that spot.

So by this I'm thinking that if we come in 6th, we get into the group stages since the domestic cup winner gets into the group stages automatically and we'd esspectially be taking that spot.

All this provided I'm understanding what is being said in that paragraph and the access list below which stated that the 5th placed team enters the competition at the 3rd qualifying round, the 4th placed team enters at the group stages and the cup winner enter at the group stages as well

So, it's not automatic through the Coppa (if we lose) but since Juve will qualify for the CL, if we lose the final we could still get into the EL provided we remain in 6th place

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/seaso...list/index.html

Correction, having read that rule again, I think we'd enter at the 3rd qualifying round if we get in through losing the Coppa and finish in 6th place

the highest ranking nonqualified domestic championship club qualifies for the UEFA Europa League at the stage initially reserved for the lowest ranking top domestic championship representative

Actually it's this second part that applies to us mostly but it's mostly saying the same thing, with a slight adjustment in this case, if we finish outside the European places, and the winner of the Coppa qualifies for the CL, the teams all move up a place, thus the 2 teams above us (Inter and Fiorentina) will go into the groups autmotically, leaving us as the only side to qualify through the 3rd round.

"If the winner of the domestic cup qualifies for UEFA Champions League, the access stage initially reserved for the domestic cup winner is reserved for the club which finishes the domestic championship in the highest position out of all the clubs which qualify for the UEFA Europa League from the association concerned (see Annex A). In both cases each representative of the domestic championship then enters the competition at the stage initially reserved for the domestic championship representative ranked immediately above it."

Basically if things remain as they are currently on the table, this is what will happen.

If we get into the European spots, then that extra EL place will be taken by the 6th place team anyway.

So Italy is basically in a good position to have 6 teams in Europe next season. The only way Italy doesn't get those 6 is if we win the Coppa and finish outside of the European places

So, if we win the Coppa we're in the group stages. If we lose but end up 6th then we enter the 3rd qualifying round. Got it. Thanks for looking it up.

Yep, at least that's how I interpreted that.

Basically, let's see if we can manage to ruin those great odds