Here is a link to a Verdi youtube compilation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3Lwrsb_Zjs

I just don't know.

This is a report on Di Gennaro's match. He looks super awesomet too. Di Gennaro vs Udinese

Meh.

THIS is the kid to watch.

Haha,that's maldini's son right?I understand he is 5 year's old,wow that's a nice tackle he pulled off.

That's the family rebel, Daniel.

He's now 8 and is playing in the youngest group of the Milan youth squads. In MIDFIELD.

Midfield! That is unacceptable, he needs to be pushed into defence immediately

How is Paolo's oldest son doing? last i heard he was one of the stars of his team

There's not a whole lot of news on the kids, but from what I gather he's doing quite well; Christian's squad has done well this year. Valerio Fiori's twin boys are also on that squad.

That was a poor tackle, Seedorf was able to get the ball back right away. Not good enough.

Bad form! -1 cookie!

So Kurt, I've decided to redecorate your room:

Beautiful!!

At least if I had a 'Birmingham City Honours' mirror instead of a Villa one, I'd be able to see myself in the mirror.

fyi there's a VERY short clip on acmilan.com's front page (italian version) showing both goals from yesterday. Need to download silverlight to see the extended clips.

Why have you written Di Gennaro off so soon? He's still only 21.

I don't know. I just don't see that spark in him. He might show up like Antonini when he's 27 or something...but there's nothing there which I think we can use for the immediate future.

There's no spectacular magic. Strasser is the same. I think personally that Verdi needs to grow a lot more and fill out. I think he'd get blown by a really cynical defence.

Paloschi and Albertazzi are two hopes I have. But it's based on a hunch too.

If you want instant magic then your looking in the wrong section the youth players have alot more to do just to develop into good squad members let alone key players etc

if we want magic we need to sign players with cash simple as really we cant rely simply on the youth sector itself and sign a few more freebies

We cant rely on youth?

What about Barca? At one point or another, the following players played for their youth team: Cesc, Xavi, Messi, Pedro, Iniesta etc

They put in a lot of effort into their youth sector and it pays dividends, even R.Madrid's youth sector is brilliant, even if they under utilize players from it

hang on though pedro and bojan have just come through recently and ive realised its when messi has been leading the team

messi came through when ronaldinho was leading the team so basically for the future fair enough but im worried about the present and i doubt we can pull out 4-5 good players just like that to send the taem into a potential title race next season sorry if i wasnt clear enough im just worried about the present

Agreed. We can't expect the youth to all become magical. In fact a large section of them might remain squad players, if we're lucky we'll get 2-3 Bonera class players. Perhaps one magical talent...though with the kind of heavy investment we're doing, some of them are bound to come good.

I'm curious though as to the playing philosophy being implemented. Barca's is that famous Cryuff formation which they implement from their grassroot to the top level.

I would think Milan's should be based on the 4-3-1-2 with two torpedoes for fullbacks. Thoughts?

Nah, not anymore. I think 4-5-1/4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is the modern day way to go (4-4-2 is still used alot too, but I don't think it really suits Serie A). Imagine us using a 4-3-1-2 against a 4-2-3-1? We'd get slaughtered if we played a top team. They can just have their defenders defend and use the 2 wide players in the 3 to give them width, if our full backs get foward they will still have enough players back to defend, but they'd kill us on the counter when our full backs are out of position. They can also pretty much take care of our free role player with the 2 DMs. I just think a 4-3-1-2 is easily outmatched in modern day football, particularly as alot of teams are relying on speed and counter football.

Ah, i see your point now

Investment in youth is a sound long term strategy, unfortunately, instead of being implemented five years ago when we were all crying for it and it was needed, its only being implemented now. But you are right, people like Zigoni etc are not yet ready

I don't exactly mean we use the same formation. Milan's was a flexible 4-3-1-2...occasionally you 'd have the guy in the hole drop deep, and it became a 4-5-1...and then you'd have it morph into the X-Mas tree sometimes. But mostly it was the diamond formation, still revolving around the 'delta' of the mids.

We'd have 2 mids obviously to cover the two wingers they have, and the space ours leave. In fact wait...some of my thoughts are best articulated in this article...

What tactics for Milan? ...except my viewpoint is more on the specifics of training. I also think one of our strongest fop

i.e for fullbacks we look at the fast speedy ones, who can provide support. We need a brilliant treqqie, and two strikers to play off each. A deep lying mid who can make the pass etc.

I think it all started when we were ousted by Arsenal, when the management claimed that the model to go for was the Arsenal model. To shed light on how Arsenal is run, by focusing on the youth sector and on a self-run club. That is what we are going for, and this type of project takes at least five years to show its fruits.

Personally speaking, this approach is not the one taken by the top tier clubs participating in the Champions League, yet with UEFA pushing to implement certain financial criterias for those participating in Europe, we might just be at a better position than our counterparts. Until then, we remain under constraints.

Um.

Barcelona?

well Barca r claimed to be in debt, no?

I don't think Barca have debt, their ownership structure is unique I think and they bring in tonnes of money because of this.

Whether they do or dont, is besides the point, as they have a vertically integrated system, being dependent on their youth sector. Which is my point, as its clear where we are heading.

I wouldn't say they are dependant on their youth system. It's just a case of them having World class youth players so why bother spending? They've already shown in the case of Alves and Zlatan that they're more than happy to throw big money on players if they need to, they just don't need to very often.

True, but having world class youth players, is because they invested in the youth sector. Like bringing in Messi at his early teens for example and nurturing him. I suspect that is the stance/approach we are taking.

Actually RM's youth sector is in Segunda B and has been for the past couple of years. Plus, RM has never truly utilized their players to their full extent. They have enough depth and sources to not have to us the youth teams.

The best way we could rebuild this team for cheap would be to sign a bunch of young prospects and let the primavera squad become a ubber-competitive team (more-so then they are now) and just replace our elderly with the hottest kid in our ranks. make the players fight for the first team, let them know their hard work will payoff. sign all the U-20 stars around the world and make this team of the effort of it's youth....

The downside is you go the Arsenal route. Running out of enough experience, balls and steel in the side. Regardless of how we might diss motivation of players like Pirlo, Pippo, Zee, Rino etc. in some cases you need the been there - done that level of experience to really take the rest of the team to the next level.

Verdi Goal

Zigoni Goal (Verdi Assist)

Drop kick Mancini from the senior squad, promote Verdi. Problem sorted

Edit: Goals from the Primavera Final Cup at the San Siro

Edit 2: Who is Meregalli? Primavera player?

Yep, Meregalli is a defender (rb?) on the Primavera who was injured and unable to play in the coppa final. hence the jersey thing.

Thanks for sharing the links.

wow the way you guys bash on Di gennaro, it's almost as if he wasn't just as good if not better then verdi 2 years ago...oh yeah, also...he's freaking 21yo. We all want the next young star but we can't see/encourage that which we have... Urg

Not directed to anyone specifically...just ranting

Verdi really looks like he can be a first team player.From what I have seen,he can dribble good and run fast and create chances,just the player we need.2 wings,1dm preferably flamini and an attack midfield and 1 striker.

i will definately get in trouble for this but i'd actually loan him out next season to a recently promoted team, that being said none of this Co-own BS.

As noted in the transfer thread, there's talk of loaning Zigoni out to Cagliari.

Why do we loan out players on a position we're clearly shorthanded in? =/

I mean, Zigoni doesn't seem entirely impressive... yet. We keep loaning out these kids, wait til they turn 30 and then bring them back? Just look at Antonini!

Looks like they'll live. FT Italy 1-0 Switzerland, Zigoni with the goal.

So, today the Primavera played against Vicenza - without 5 regular starters who got to go to Palermo with the grownups.

FT Vicenza 0-6 Milan

Goals by Oduamani, Ghiringhelli (2), Pedrocchi (2), and Palibrk.


+1 to the ragazzi!

are we still second if so by how many points

We're 6 points behind the bad team...to whom we have lost twice.

I guess the Senior Team are truly their idols!

Milan won 3-0 at the weekend and ended up their division in second place. This qualifies them for the primavera scudetto playoffs (round of 16). The draw was made today and they play Catania.

Here's the rest of the draw:

Atalanta-Sampdoria, Bari-Genoa, Brescia-Juventus, Chievo-Roma, Empoli-Inter, Parma-Lazio, Udinese-Palermo

EDIT: And the Berretti won the first leg of the Berretti scudetto semi against the baby gobbi, 2-1. Goals by Ferreri and Conti.

Albertazzi and Zigoni have been called up to the U19s for their next round of qualifying games, to be played May 21-26 in Russia. (For those doing the math, this means that these two will not be part of the US/Canada summer tour).

The Primavera play Catania tomorrow in Sicily in the first leg of their round-of-16 playoffs for the Primavera scudetto. The game will be played on astroturf.

Here's the call up list:
Donnarumma, Perucchini;
De Sciglio, De Vito, Ghiringhelli, Motta, Romagnoli, Pirovano;
Hottor, Merkel, Novinic, Pedrocchi, Scampini, Strasser;
Gaeta, Oduamadi, Schenetti, Verdi, Zigoni.

Albertazzi not on the list. Unsure as to whether he's injured or if he's playing with the grownups.

Also on Saturday, the berretti (next group down in age) play the baby gobbi in the second leg of the berretti scudetto semi (Milan won the first leg 2-1).

Not directly relevant to the Primavera, but is the Yepes signing official? If so it is a huge slap in the face to Albertazzi. What more must these Primavera players do to get a chance with the seniors? I am still fuming that the useless Mancini is played ahead of the infinitely more promising Verdi

Im not gonna rant against the management because quite frankly there is nothing more i can say. Their leadership is erratic at the best of times. I hope they can sort their act out asap

Dude, Yepes is a gazillion times better than Albertazzi.

So, there were several teams in scudetto playoffs for their age groups. Here's how everyone did (from acmilan.com):

PRIMAVERA
Quarterfinals, first leg
Catania – Milan 1-0
Milan lose the first leg of the quarters against Catania, with Nicastro scoring for Catania in the 81st minute. Milan should be able to turn over the defeat in the second leg (which will be played Thursday. the first leg was played on synthetic turf).

BERRETTI
Semifinals, second leg
Juventus-Milan 1-1 - Goal rossonera: Palibrk (61’)
The Berretti, holders of the scudetto for their age group, reach their second final in a row, where they will face Atalanta. They won the first leg semifinal 2-1. The final games (home and away) will be played the 15th and 22nd of May.

ALLIEVI NAZIONALI
Round of 16, first leg
Sampdoria-Milan 0-1 (De Respinis)
The Allievi Nazionali won the first leg against Sampdoria due to a goal from De Respinis. The game was played on a pitch in bad condition (barely playable). The second leg will be played next Sunday.


GIOVANISSIMI NAZIONALI
Round of 16, first leg
Bologna-Milan 1-3 - Rossoneri goals: Petagna (37' 57), Cristante (80')
The Giovanissimi Nazionali scored 3 on Bologna in the first leg. Petagna's goals were both headers; Cristante's goal was a penalty. The second leg will be played next Sunday.