So far Zlatan has been nothing but good for us. He keeps pushing our team, he keeps us moving and we're attacking overall much better. Now I also could be down to the fact that we played weak opposition, I agree. We'll see in the coming few games..

Lautaro out for the Madonnina? And Inter in a small crisis mode?

No we didn't, we beat Cagliari! Top 6 when we played them!

I think you underestimate the circumstances under which Paqueta operates. He's only been in Italy a full year this month. He's always going to find it much harder than an Italian player for example, especially when going through a difficult moment.

But the fact is that he is one of our most naturally gifted players and we're wasting him. All while we're seeing players like Hakan, Kessie, Conti, etc get endless chances even when they've been p!ss poor all season.

The fact is that we're most likely going to sell Suso and Paqueta this month (at least that's what they seem to be working on). Those are our only creative players on the team (Ibra aside). We're playing a flat 4-4-2, honestly, I worry a lot about when we have to face the decent teams, because this run hasn't come against any of the top sides and we're barely scraping wins

And I disagree re Pioli, I'm 90% sure he will not be our coach next season

i actually think we looked a lot better in he 4-3-3. Our defense since we've switched has looked very vulnerable and we always seem to be out-numbered in midfield with just the 2 in the center and the 2 fake wingers on the sides


No, you're not. Ibra is doing the job we've brought him in to do. And he's been pivotal for us in the attack imo

I agree about Bennacer. He's been great throughout the season imo. Disagree about Hakan though


Agreed, and I feel the 4-4-2 greatly plays into this

Cagliari have been on the slide for a while though...



Man, Rebic! Why have we been sleeping on his guy??


Anyone watching the Coppa game?

Yeah caught it all, wasn't sure why he got hooked off, but it was a slow burning match then just came alive in extra time.

Deserved the win, Piatek was God awful, Ibra was barely better till he scored, but hey we got 4 goals and I'll take that!

Maybe we'll win this thing...

I watched. First half we were pretty good, in the second we switched off and were all over the place. Then after the equaliser we managed to get the game back in our fist.

Anyway, that's 5 wins in the last 5 games between Serie A and Coppa. If you ask me that's pretty incredible considering where we were only a month ago.

Next up Verona at home and then the derby. We need to win at all cost vs Verona to go into the derby fully charged.

This upturn in fortune coincides with my return

I don't think he was hooked, he was getting leggy there at the end after running so much from the start

Piatek just looks like a shadow of the player we had last season. He was so sharp last year. I really wonder what happened to kill all of that for him.

Ibra, imo is doing exactly what we need him to do, he holds up play and brings in the other attackers into the game, he gives us an added dimension in attack which we didn't have before. Anything above that is a bonus imo


Ohh, So the IZBack campaign has been referring to you all along


Btw, big shout out to Hakan, who turned the game on its head when he came on. This guy is so infuriating because he's so inconsistent. The fact that we never found a position that really suits him also doesn't help though. He looked very good yesterday roaming the center areas and pulling wide

Some transfer news: Suso is gone to Seville on an 18 month loan with option to buy at 27m (If I'm not mistaken) which will become mandatory if they make the CL

Honestly, don't really know how to feel about this.

He's been having a terrible season, but he's been one of our very few shining lights through these very dark last few years. Did he deserve to get the boot after just a few bad months? Not so sure...

Add to that this is not a sure thing, if Seville don't qualify we're right back to square one with a player who's value has probably plummeted in those 18 months. Not to mention that we have no replacement for him, Samu imo has been doing well, but surely we don't intend to play the rest of the season with him as our starter...

Dude, are you serious? You and everyone else have been bashing Suso like the plague, and now that he's gone you're not sure about it? Give me a break, will ya.

I've always rated Suso and I still do. I would have kept him, but perhaps it was time for both parties to part ways as things weren't exactly working anymore.

If we also sold Piatek..that means a significant amount of money that we will cash in..Caldara, Suso and Piatek..

Hope we spend it wisely..

He's as good as sold to Hertha. 27M.

Come again? Suso and Caldara are on 18 months loans. What significant amount are you talking about?

Oh well..yes that is true. Excuse me..

At least we managed to sell Piatek. I hope we are getting replacements, or there is a plan in place..

We only got Saelemaekers and Laxalt. Terrible signings.

Looks like we were very close to a Bernardeschi-Paqueta swap, but Gazidis stopped everything.

I don't really rate Bernardeschi that much, but at this moment we could have used him.

I appreciate the change in fortune with such a good run as of late, due in most part by the influence Ibra is having on the squad.

The next match against Verona is no walkover, the are only 2 points behind Milan with 1 less match played than Milan. So I expect a tough fixture here. Then next up is inter, who I do not see Milan taking more than a point if Milan were successful.

Ibra not available for tomorrow due to flu. Krunic as well. Bennacer is disqualified.

This will be a tough one.

It's Verona. We should win nonetheless.

We have no striker for this one. Unless I'm missing someone?

Leao!

He's not a striker.

What do you mean he's not a striker? He played as CF his entire year at Lille.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/rafael-leao/p.../spieler/357164

Anyone watching?

We are playing with some nice intensity..I like it.

The problem with Leao is that his finishing is piss poor. Haven't seen a player struggle like this in a while now.

Yes, I had the same thought today. It's not only his finishing, but he doesn't have this Inzaghi'esque instinct.

Yes. I mean Inzaghi was a monster. Leao is miles away from Piatek as well. You just have that feeling that he's gonna play for days and not score. And that makes me worry.

I'm a bit sad we wasted this Verona game. If only we've won and put even more pressure on Roma and Atalanta who seem to be out of shape currently.

Next is Inter. Martinez and Handanović out, dare I say we have a shot at them?

I'm aware, it's just patently obvious he's better running with the ball than finishing with it.

He's better as a winger - he has the pace.

We played ok in patches, but lacked direction and a focal point.

In short, we utterly missed Ibra, and look a completely different team with him around.

Even if his own form is questionable, and it is, his leadership and reputation lifts everyone else up.

We need him for psychological reasons as much as anything.

Yep, no Ibra no party.

Couldn't watch the game but it's 2 points thrown away. We could have gone into the derby fully charged and closed the gap on Roma and Atalanta, and be only 5 points from the 4th spot. Shame.

Milan this past 7 years are a constant 'if only we'd...'

The problem is we're just not good enough to take that step above 'what ifs'.

Are you saying Suso has been any good this season? There is a reason why so many have been critical. But replacing him with someone who is described as "average" in Belgium is not ideal

We're basically going to play through the rest of the season with just Samu for that right side. Suso might have been dogsh!t this season but at least we could still rotate him with Samu.

Now we're basically depending on Ibra for all the creativity in attack, which is just stupid imo. Add to that selling Piatek and not bringing in someone in that position either

Personally I think we've shot ourselves in the foot this winter.

I didn't say Suso has been good this season. Just that I've rated always rated him, and it's sad to have someone mediocre like Castillejo replace him.

I would have used Ibra to get Suso and Paqueta back on track. Instead, we decided to rely on mediocrity.

I agree with you on that point 100%. I never said Castillejo was better, I think Suso is much more naturally gifted. I just wanted Pioli to use Samu as a needle for Suso, to get him going, give him some challenge to that starting spot so he could get his @ss in gear.

I never wanted to see us let go the much more technically gifted and creative player. Especially when the only alternative is Samu and when we have very little options in creative outlets

Suso was never going to be a player we could build on if we want to be better. He's too slow and predictable which limits us, but if my choice is him or Samu, Suso would always be my pick

That's why I was not happy with this sale, we did not replace him with someone better, which is frustrating considering how much we've relied on Suso for the last few years. Even if he wasn't a world beater, he was important to the squad and to not replace him is a grave error imo

As for Paqueta, we'll see how Pioli continues to handle him, becase atm, he's being managed poorly and we'll most likely lose him if things keep going as they are. To play Krunic ahead of him has to be a slap in the face

Milan derby tonight - it's the first in a while we have a chance of losing by a reasonably respectable scoreline.

Forza Milan!

Wow..lively start

Best performance I've seen from us in a good long while

So quick and vertical


Hopefully we can see this through

Yes, really nice football. Direct and confident like you said.

I just re-subscribed to Bein sports to continue the match because streams are bad XD

As usual, we simply can't

What a total meltdown. This is why you pay up for a coach like Conte

Damn, this is the derby..you can't control it.

Anyway, I still we played a good game. Of-course still lots of things to improve on, but you can understand our base.

The problem is..Ibra..we will never find someone like him.

I think we played a good 45 minutes

We completely blacked out in the second half. As soon as Inter put pressure on us, we crumbled.

This game just simply shows how far behind we are.

And it shows what shitty team we have.

You know, in the first half I actually couldn't believe we were playing like we were. I hadn't seen that kind of quick incisive play in years.

But at the back of my mind, I just knew that we'd fumble it at some point, and sure enough we did

Can you imagine that Inter dressing room at HT. I can assure you that none of those Inter players wanted to go in and face Conte and none of them wanted to go back in at the end with a loss.

Our players don't have that fear. They just go out there, muck about for a bit and go back in. Ibra can only do so much, but when the entirety of your squad is poisoned with a weak mentality it takes much more than just one player

We need to make some major changes to the playing personnel, but first and foremost, we need to bring in a proper coach who knows how to win. And until that changes we can keep chopping and changing this squad repeatedly, but nothing will change

There are only a handful of players I'd keep going forward as well. Very few have shown that they have what it takes and it's time for them to play at clubs where such mental weakness is acceptable

What absolute nonsense. We crumbled?

No we didn't.

We lost to a stunning volley (which we scored ourselves two matches ago), an incredible timed run from Sanchez (played on by a slightly naive Conti) and one of the best headers I've ever seen. It floored us, and had NOTHING to do with Conte.

This is the difference between a good team, which we seem to be starting to edge towards, and one which pays megamillions for their players.

With fans like you guys, who needs enemies.

PS even 3-2 down we kept fighting. Difference was they strangled Ibra and Hakan which was the one tactical shift we didn't deal with.

I'm really disappointed with the reaction in this thread.

That was the best 4-2 defeat I've seen in a long time.

PPS I've come to accept we're not the old Milan any more, we're just a team in progress and the way you guys act is as if we're still supposed to be a top 3 or 4 team and we're having a disgraceful season.

We simply aren't a top 3/4 team any more but you guys talk like you think we are.

I agree with Danny here. 100%

Who said anything about being a top team? We repeat this over and over again but in all honesty no one of the few people left here thinks we're even close to being a top team.

Yet we played very well for the first 45 minutes and it was on us to lose this kind of advantage. Just read what Ibra said:

"We stopped playing, the team stopped believing, we stopped pressing, didn’t pass it around enough. From the equaliser onwards, everything collapsed"

It shows you how weak, fragile and unprepared our team is. Pioli also didn't react accordingly.