Probable starting 11:



Not too happy about that 11 but it is expected that he will go for the safer route for now.

No reason not to play Calhanoglu. He's in top form. Montella trying to be Allegri.

I think he's just trying to avoid a major "shock to the system" so to speak

He'll ease the new guys in.

Niang is the most worrying, I hope we don't end up duped once again by a good pre-season from him and we're stuck with him again

Absolutely horrified if that's the formation.

Not gutted at seeing Monto, with no Biglia he's fine. Pretty good v Munich in the DM role.

But the XI is pretty woeful. Up front and defence are shite, to put it bluntly.

Romagnoli is still doing specific training in his recovery from the knee injury, same for Suso, Bonucci and Biglia weren't registered in time, Conti and Andre Silva haven't had much time to train with the rest of the team. So all choices are justified imo

We can't expect that Montella will go full blown new age just yet, he has to have the entire team at his disposal to do that.

He doesn't have many options in attack now with Lapa gone and Bacca not being played to avoid him getting cup tied (do you get cup tied if you play the qualifying round?)/having one foot out the door.

Suso is not fit yet either. The only issue is not playing Hakan and using Borini instead who is simply terrible. Why did we get him again? Still the most baffling transfer of the summer for me

I guess we works like a dog and puts in a hard shift whatever role you give him. Remember Dirk Kuyt for Liverpool.

'He'll be used as squad'...

I think it's bound to happen. Yesterday I read Montella wants to convince our management to keep Niang. And I'm sure he'll impress against Craiova, so...

Hey him impressing v the Romanians would already be an improvement. He literally stops once pre-season is over and competitive action starts. I know we've another friendly still to go but the competitive action has begun.

But the main problem with him is that he's a very unintelligent and inadequate player.

He's neither if you ask me. What he is in my book is inconsistent. There are plenty of people for example who have the skills of a Zidane, but can't deliver match-in match-out.

He's quite intelligent, has a good vision, energetic, works hard, maybe not a killer in front of goal however. These would make him a great fit to a squad. Problem is all of this is only when he's SWITCHED ON. And that's why I want him out. I think there are some players who'll never be able to break that mental barrier of being switched on for every game.

Here are the call ups for the game:



No Calhanoglu, Bacca, or Sosa. Conti's there as well as the 2 who didn't go to Asia, Locatelli and Calabria.

Bacca was already confirmed absent. Sosa's no miss. But puzzled by Cal.

It could be conditioning. The guy didn't play the last half of last season and may have some cobwebs.

A low tech qualifier v Romanians we've never heard of doesn't seem too much for a guy who strolled Bayern and Dortmund. Surely it would even help get the lad back to full match sharpness.

I know what you're talking about but Niang isn't one of those players. Inconsistency is only a minor problem with him IMO. I've seen him countless times and can tell you only my assessment: his shooting is poor, his vision is mediocre, he reacts primarily on instinct and strength and neglects intelligence and technique and best of all - he is not aware of his limitations. He has the posture and arrogance of the next Balotelli but isn't half his way yet.

All in all - I'm staying on my prior statement - completely inadequate for Milan and our ambitions this season.

Hmm, I still think that if a good enough offer comes in we'll sell him. If it's not adequate we'll keep him. I doubt Montella is crying his eyes out to keep him, he's the one who wanted him gone last season, let's all remember. One good friendly performance does not a good player make.

Fiorentina are reportedly interested so hopefully we can find him a club and we can get some good money in for him


Niang's problems are that he's clumsy on the ball and a terrible finisher and that's just the footballing side, mentally he's even worse, as soon as he lost his starting place last season he gave up, and when he was given chances he looked as if he'd prefer to be anywhere else but on that pitch, that last game he played for us last season was the final straw with Montella, the indifference he showed is what prompted Montella to publicly say that he needed to go.

I just don't think he'll fit in at a big club, he can't handle being a rotation player and he's simply not good enough to be a starter. A team like Genoa or Torino would be perfect for him imo


Hakan and Sosa were apparently left back for fitness purposes. Bacca and Paletta were left back for transfer market reasons

Yep, completely agree.

Lineup:

MILAN: G. Donnarumma; Abate, Zapata, Musacchio, Rodriguez; Kessie, Montolivo, Bonaventura; Borini, Cutrone, Niang. A disp.: Storari, Mauri, André Silva, Conti, Gomez, Antonelli, Locatelli. All.: Montella

The attack line is atrocious, but hopefully it will do the trick.

Looks atrocious on the pitch as well

Monto nearly assists the Romanians, Donna saves our @sses

Kessie is miles better than Monto in midfield. He is doing the job of two players. Cutrone is moving well up top, and Niang has a good work rate so far. Mussachio is a beast back there will be nice to see him with a real solid partner. RR is also moving well. We lack a spark though.

Take Borini off, push Bona to the wing change Monto for Loca and throw Mauri in there.

Edit: Goalllll RR can take a fk.

Goal! Rodriguez

The new guys are the only ones who are really impressing me tbh. Bonaventura aside that is, he's always good

Don't forget that superstar Borini. He has been a ghost save for that one pass to Cutrone.

The three upfront have been shite, which is no surprise.

Niang keeps proving that he's only good in friendlies btw

Kessie is definitely the most impressive player on the pitch

Monto the worst player on the pitch. Rodriguez is struggling to play out and instead of moving his lazy @ss to give him an easy out ball he just stands still. He's the one that just kills our entire game, the concept of pass and move is totally lost on him

Not the best of game.. struggle for most of 2nd half

I actually thought in the system we played Monto was good! He was only operating in his new role of DM and I thought he did ok one slip up aside.

No, Shambalsnidjac from Romanian Crytek was the best.

Can we pay someone to take Montolivo and Niang away, please? they were disastrous.

Only saw part of the game on a bad stream but was not too impressed, esp with those two. Kessie again impressing as well as Musacchio and Rodriguez.

I think that this Silva was shiet tonight.

What??

Sorry but no, and this is no new role for him it's what he's played throughout his time with us. The man is simply finished. The fact that we pay him 3.5m a year hurts my brain. Another thanks to Galliani for renewing him last season. The amount of face palms required for all the bad moves Galliani has done and will continue to have a negative impact on us are endless


One important observation though, this 11 we started is, imo, worse than the best 11 we could have fielded from last season. So I'm not too shocked we donkey assed it. We played pretty badly. Monto is basically a zombie on the pitch, simply not good enough to even be a sub for Biglia at this point imo. That being said, the entire team looked just about dead by the 55 minute mark. Obviously they're not ready for a full 90 just yet. But even when we were more alive in the first half and had the upper hand, we still looked as we did last season, simply clueless in how to create chances. Obviously we're missing a lot of creative players and that attacking line will only see the light of day again this season in the 2nd leg.

Mostly I'm happy that the new boys are all impressing. Conti and Silva looked out of sorts for the few minutes they came on. Hopefully Montella just gives them the start in the next game and won't subject us to the horror that is a Niang/Borini wing show that we saw today


Side note: Cutrone has a lot of potential, we should really look into loaning him to a team that will give him regular time

My god!

This fast judging of players gets on my nerves so much!! He looked out of sorts, no two ways about it, but an iffy 15 minutes when our team had basically stopped playing does not make a player shite!

Conti also looked like he couldn't settle in, but I have absolutely no doubts about his abilities. With Silva I'm not as confident because I haven't watched him much while at Porto, but I'm definitely going to give him the appropriate amount of time to settle in and show us what he can do.

You used to be his biggest fan too

You called?

Dude I said he looked bad tonight, not that he is bad in general. You wanna say that he was good or what ? He lost all his duels and didnt even complet 1 pass.

I agree. Silva was very bad tonight. Didn't do one single thing right.

As for the game, it was what I was expecting. Half of these players will never start for us once we have the full team at disposal. Niang and Borini are absolutely useless. Borini has a lot of determination but he's just not good enough, whereas Niang was just being Niang for most of the game.

From the new guys, Kessie was great as usual, but I thought Musacchio was fantastic. His reading of the game, his interceptions and anticipations, they are those of a great defender.

I really hope Montella starts a bunch of new players next game. Bonucci, Biglia, Calhanoglu and even Silva have to start.

My understanding is that registration issue I alluded to applies to the whole tie, not just the first leg. But the dispensation is managers can select one last-minute wildcard, which would give us a choice OF Bonucci or Biglia.

I have to admit my stream tonight was rubbish, so it was hard to fully judge the performances. But Kessie was titanic, Jack industrious, Niang energetic but completely ineffective (usual competitive Niang again), Musacchio strolled it, Crotone was excellent, Borini a waste of a shirt, and I THOUGHT Monto did well in terms of being a DM but apparently everyone else hated him!

PS: no comment on Silva.

"Crotone"

That's his new name didn't you know

(my best ever typo and it was only one letter)

I thought Conti when he came on brought a lot of energy on that right wing. He played slightly differently than Abate (more advanced) and as a winger but I thought he was good. I'm excited to see how he does going forward.

Musacchio, Kessie, RR, Cutrone were the best for me

Monto, Borini and to some extent Niang the worst - hopefully their replacements can really bring up the quality of the team.

Does seem like we need another creative player to create chances for the forwards because the wingers that we do have are not promising.

Also Montella needs to drop the 4-3-3 and find a better system to suit the team

I have a horrid feeling Borini is a starter.

Over Suso? Very Doubtful, I think it will be (if he persists with the 4-3-3):

Donna; Conti, Romag/Musacchio, Bonucci, RR; Kessie, Biglia, Bona/ Hakan; Suso, Silva/Mr. X, Hakan/Bona

With this team, I think we look pretty solid. I think the forwards if we don't get someone good will happen by committee. I would rather we switch formations to something like the Christmas tree, which prioritizes overlapping WBs and playmakers who drift inside. It also requires a complete forward, which atm we don't have. I see Silva as occupying more of the SS role.

Don't forget that with Biglia, Calhanoglu and Suso our ball possession will increase significantly and we'll be able to create more chances. The latter two are especially known for making many assists.

The formation you put is perfect, but rather than a Christmas tree it needs to a be a 4-2-3-1. 3-5-2 would be suitable as well, but I'm not a fan of it and we'd have to sacrifice both Suso and Bona.

Weirdly I'd actually argue that we're far better when we have less possession and simply use what we have better.

The Sacchi Milan didn't exactly horde the ball and neither did Carlo's, and they're two of the best in our history.

The possession based tiki tika is done, and Milan are best when we use our possession carefully, strangle opponents, and smack the b*stards on the break.

Hence I don't really think it's about possession = chances = goals.

Our victory over Bayern only saw us have 30% of the ball in the whole match. But what we did with that possession was clinical.

OK with your reasoning, but the bold part, what??? Ball possession was one of Carlo-Milan's strongest traits. We used to dominate in that respect.