^^ In the words of the immortal Michael Jackson, the girl is mine!

F@ck off...play Merkel.

I thought it was just boys he liked?

You shut your mouth right now!!

He was o.k today (should have scored in the fisrt half) but still seems slower than he was at Sampdoria. Wouldn't hurt if he can lose few more kilos.

I rarely watched him with Samp but he didn't look slow to me. as long as you can rely on you technique and dribble like that, speed doesn't matter that much anyway.

I think he had a good game. not great cause he missed that chance, but good.

He does make me laugh sometimes.

Good thing that all 3 other strikers are fit right now so we don't really need him next week. But that was typical FantAntonio.

Still looks like he's carrying a bit too much weight. A good training regime over the summer and we could have some player at our disposal again.

I love Cassano. He might be my favourite player at the moment.

it's a bit puzzling for me to see the way he runs on the pitch. I mean he hasn't even come on yet and he looks like he is having a hard time jogging on with his head stiffly held high as if lifting something heavy, pretty much wobbling his body weight from one foot to the other and breathing heavily after making just a couple half-hearted runs. How can Milan trainers not have this taken care of by now? I don't understand.

He needs to shave his head again

He is becoming the cheaper version of the player he replaced - Ronaldinho. Talk about irony!

I don't think so. Cassano has still a lot to offer and his problems are a bit different.

Yeah, but a fine job he is doing not to eradicate them. It's practically April, and the guy has not improved more than 20% as far as his physical condition is concerned, IMO. Still the chubby old player, still the chubby old performances, dragging himself through the pitch. Oh, well.

The talent is there, undoubtedly. But the talent was there in case of R80 as well. It's what they do with it.

I agree, it's a similar problem, but I think the ending will be different

LOL agreed. The ending, huh? Time will tell. Going by his past behavior and shenanigans, I don't have high hopes, but maybe it will come out good in the end. There is a lot of work to be done to get there, though, starting by getting in peak physical condition. Only then can Cassano translate his talent into performance.

Well I'm sure the Milan trainers will gruel him throughout the summer and hopefully he will come back fitter. He just looks a bit too weighty and lost the match fitness.

As Max said his fitness is terrible, I don't know if that's his style. Well, I do because he was never like that when he was younger. He's still actually only 28, so the weight should come off pretty easily. Hopefully the trainers will earn their money over the summer with him, because if they do we have some player again.

Though I don't think he's as fat as Ronaldinho! It's more a case of terrible, terrible fitness, which is pretty crazy for a professional athlete.

Acid, you're always so quick and careless in your judgments.

Cassano came from two months of inactivity, and so far he's played very few games as starter. In order to get fit, you must play with continuity. This is especially true for Cassano's case. In order to see the best of him, we should wait for next season, when he gets some proper training with the rest of the squad in the pre-season period.

I have my reasons. The man has never done justice to his talents, and it's not like at 28 he is gonna be a a born-again champion. There is nothing in Milan that may tempt him to do otherwise, and become a totally explosive player (a difference maker, in the mold of, say, Totti). Yeah, he may win the league this year and maybe the CL next season, but that's what you get at a top club if everything is going according to plan - the other players will share the bulk of the burden. In our case, Silva, Nesta, Abate, Ibra and Pato are the guys pulling the most weight and the rest of the team follows.

While I agree with you that full fitness takes time (game time and otherwise), still he is open to prove me wrong! My point is that if Cassano still has the heart to do what he has possibly never done (sustainably, at least), then by the end of this season or at the start of the next he will become a valuable member of the team. If not, then he could very well take the ugly route and slack off his responsibilities. That will not mean he becomes a bad player - same goes for Robinho. Guys like these have more than enough talent. It's what they do with it will be what gets written in the story of their careers.

I actually believe this is the first time in years I've seen Robinho happy, obviously he hasn't been with us long and he was like it when he was first at Madrid. I had my doubts about him and I still think he's a tad overhyped but I do love having him in the Milan side, especially when I compare recent players in our strikeforce with players like Gilardino, Huntelaar, Oliveira etc..

No, Robinho isn't a 30 goal man, was he ever? Bar his time in Brazil, I'm still unsure why everyone berates his finishing so much on here. He doesn't really need to do that, as long as he is working hard, pulling defenders out of position and playing his part in goals I'm fine with that, we already have Zlatan & Pato to tuck them away.

As for Cassano as I said a few posts back we should really give him a chance, and that includes giving him the ability to have a full summer to work on his fitness and lose those extra pounds. If he comes back in the same condition then we are all rightly allowed to be somewhat annoyed. Though for a 28/29 year old guy under Milan's fitness instructors it should be a relative easy thing to achieve, it's all down to his motivation.

That, friends and neighbors, is the key. Well said Ash, agree with your post. At the end of the day it all comes down to motivation and desire of individual players, particularly when we are talking about guys who have a bit of a history in these matters. Frankly the ages 20-30 are the absolute peak of football players, if you can't make it in these years then there is little hope.

But all said and done, they have not done too badly here in their time in Milan. And besides, most players kick into high gear in their second year. I may only like 80% of what I am see, but there have been players who have done far worse than these two. Let's just hope they can keep it together for the remaining 7 games and bag the Scudetto.

Scudetto Celebrations (Cassano & Oddo):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfHhfNlXYKI&hd=1

Cassano is crazy.

and a absolute hero of mine...but sadly he will depart this summer i fear for lack of playing time and with Prandelli saying only players playing regular football will be considered for the Azzuri squad he will move

+1

I'm really hoping something can work out; and if not I really do hope at his expense someone truly needed (world class MF / AM) is brought in and not some extra squad player.

I've wanted to to see the best of Cassano for so long.

New hairstyle

Dang it Bauer! I was just about to post that picture!


We have to keep him now, he looks like a professional football player again, instead of a professional serial killer.

Napoli also interested in Cassano. I think he'll leave Milan by the end of this summer.

About time.

The tricky thing is that we have Pato and Ibra, two sure starters. Otherwise, if fit, Cassano could become a regular starter for Milan in no time.

Pato is not a sure starter. He has been benched before to play Robinho instead. Next season won't be easy for Pato to bench Robinho either. So Cassano as three forwards in front of him actually. But even then, Cassano won't be a regular starter, but he had and will get regular playing time. That should be enough?

I think Prandelli is talking out of his @ss. What other top class strikers do Italy have at this point? Gilardino? Matri? Di Natale?

Cassano is the only really tp class attacker Italy have at this point, these are not te days when we have Totti, DP, Pippo, etc all in their prime. Di Natale never did pull it off for the Azzurri imo, while Cassano does. He's a sure pick imo if Italy want to go anywhere. Me thinks Prandelli is trying to get Antonio to go to Florence by telling him that if he doesn't play regularly, he won't get called up.

Anyways, playing time is not much an issue imo. Ibra will get his fare share of suspensions, Pato will get injured, Pippo is not considered a starter either. It's between him and Robinho, and if Robs keeps shooting blanks again next season then Cassano will jump ahead of him in the pecking order

I don't think Cassano will have any problem being a starter once his fitness picks up. We are really going to be playing a lot of games this season, and I think Allegri is smart with his rotation.

4 goals and 8 assists in 2 months is no joke.

The big thing here is the Cassano must get fit! Lose all that excess weight etc.

I have this urge of punching Cassano in the face !!

Let's not get funny, Pato is a sure starter. He's our best striker, and Allegri knows that well.



2 months? Where did you hide the other 3 months?

Pato is a sure starter if he's fit. Which isn't a constant state.

I think Cassano will stay. He loves it at Milan. Or am I just being naive...

It all depends on his will to play Euro 2012 as a protagonist. Han may be right though, perhaps Prandelli's declarations were just a stunt to push him to Florence. I wouldn't mind if he leaves, as long as we cash-in €15 million.

You know it baby!!

But seriously here! Italy is probably at this point is at it's poorest state in terms of talent. Casting Cassano aside would be ridiculous. He along with Pirlo and that nut case Balotelli are the only really raw talented players on that team. And looking at the current crop of strikers compared to the riches of the past, one has to be an idiot to leave Cassano behind no matter how much he's played. I'm sure Cassano knows this. He got left behind in the past even when he had good seasons, just because of his tag as a bad seed in the dressing room.

Who are the strikers called up for the Azzurri atm? Whoever they are Cassano is the best one no matter which way you look at it.

Don't forget G. Rossi, the soon-to-be a Barça player.

G.Rossi yes, who didn't even come through the Italian academies.

But yes, G.Rossi, Cassano, Mario. Then it's downhill from there. Gila, Matri, Quagliarella, Di Natale, etc. None are good enough for an international team of Italy's calibre imo

Just went to get the list from the NT thread



Balo: Great talent, unreliable due to his crazy streak and seems to be inured a lot lately as well
Cassano: Great, always pulled it out for Italy when it mattered imo
Gilardino: Mediocre
Giovinco: Good, but I don't concider him a striker and we'll see how he turns out for Italy
Matri: Mediocre
Pazzini: Choker but decent
Rossi: Great

That's only 3 really top class players in there, for a NT of Italy's stature in world football, that's really bad, and to drop Cassano would be just madness imo

I think Italy has a bunch of interesting players, and Prandelli is doing a good job. Of course, the names of big caliber are almost absent, but as Germany teaches, sometimes you don't need big names to become successful.

I think it's harsh to call Matri mediocre. Some players can't cope with the pressure of a big club, yet he's carried Juve single-handedly for the last 5 months. Without him they'd have finished bottom half.

That set of players is fine. Not many countries have a tonne of top class forwards anymore, 3 is alot. England only have 2.

What about Iaquinta these days?

No idea what's happened to him.

+1.


No more John Travolta


I know I'm probably the only one but I'd exchange him with Hamsik.

you're right you are the only one!

Hamsik isn't really the type of player we need imo. If we're going to waste Cassano away then give him to Palermo for Pastore. I think that's more on par then to Hamsik and Cassano.