Very simple and composed for a debut display last night. Seemed more impressive than Antonini and Taiwo put together. And before anyone says, Zambrotta is an RB, has been playing out of position for ages.

Age has just simply creeped up on Zambro, like with the rest of our old gaurd. These players are not eternal, and I think this season it's being made very obvious for everyone to see. Not even Seedorf can keep a regular spot in the 11.

Mesbah was good, solid, nothing spectacular. He did his job without any fuss, I barely noticed him at times. And sometimes this is a good thing for a defender. Antonini for example hustles and bustles on that left flank with no result aside from some screw up.

Even when you are referring to Zambrotta you blame Ambro han...

Nice one noticing that, I'll fix it before Filippo or kurt see

But I swear, that was a typo...

Freudian slip

He's doing very good up till now. Sure not the classy fullback I hoped for, but his defensive abilities are way beyond Antonini's as it seems.

But the thumbs-up thing he does all the time irritates me.

All the time? I've only seen him do it once...

No, just yesterday he did it like three times. He's doing it constantly.

The guy is just probably overwhelmed to finally be playing at a great club, and trying to show his teammates gratitude.

Antonini has to play every single game from now on. Last game they had no threat down our left at all.

While Mesbah was far from good tonight, I'm a bit uncertain as to if Antonnini would have done much better.

Tonight was a completely different game from the first leg, so there's no use comparing.

His positioning was out a lot, he went for headers he shouldn't have been going for exposing us at the back. At one point he literally let Walcott run through then chased him.

It was a disastrous performance and I'm not one to react immediately ott, all too often but Mesbah today was quite frankly appaling.

He's just not cut out for this level. But in Serie A he's been more than ok. He hasn't made any mistakes in the league.

I think it was just a combination of the occasion getting to him and just not being cut out for this level

Yes. Like I said in the match thread, the occasion and atmosphere got to a lot of our players. That and a little arrogance from the coach (team selection and formation), and more importantly the players. Oh well, all's well the ends in a well. Before the match started, I was secretly hoping for a 0-3 loss.

Taking it oh, so close for Arsenal, and then stopping them at the last hurdle. Cruel, cruel, I know.

All in all, Zambrotta is miles better then Mesbah and Antonini, I think this should be clear now.

And it was foolish to expect a good performance out of a 27 year old Algerian fullback who priory to that played for the likes of Avellino and Lecce.

Abate is mediocre and a good sub to have and Antonini is below average at best. we're miles behind every other powerhouse when it comes to our full backs.

We need 2 new, Milan-wrothy FBs. end of story.

Abate was one of the few who actually played well today. No mistakes, cool head and made some decent runs. Sure his crossing leaves a lot to be desired, but give me 3 top class RBs around right now. And name me one of them we could realistically afford.

Abate is a good player, a good athlete and still in the learning phase of his career. 2 seasons ago I wouldn't trust him anywhere near the pitch, but he's progressed in leaps and bounds and is still doing so. He's still very young for a defender.

The LB is still a problematic area. But again, same with the RB situation. Name me 3 top class LBs and give name one of them we could realistically afford.

Those are 2 positions which are becoming rare breads when talking about top class FBs. There are no longer Cafu, Maldini, R. Carlos, A. Cole (when he was still top class), etc

These days I can only mention 3 right off the top of my head that really stand out, Alves, Maicon and Evra. And even Maicon has been shocking this season

I don't think Allegri trusts Zambrotta anymore after his Inter debacle. Unlike Mesbah, who's just not good, Zambrotta cannot cut it anymore because of his age. So yeah, Antonini gets the priority for the rest of the season, but we really need to sign a quality LB this summer.

Cut him some slack, we went through in the end... its not like he did something like an OG at 3-0 in the 2nd half, he kept his head... antonini against walcott and chamberlain - could have been worse you never know.

It would have been a decent idea to play emanuelson at lb but oh welll

Good joke.

I guess im the only one that has some sympathy for him in the end.

It's not about sympathy, it's about being objective.

I do feel a little sympathy for him. It's not often a player is so bad in a game that you have the commentators practically laughing at you.

In his defense, it was his first match, and every next can only be better. But he was terrible.

So Amero as priority number one for the summer?

Speaking of which...I'm tired of those supposedly offensively aware fullbacks alla Oddo, Taiwo, Mesbah and Abate. How good is Armero when it comes to defense?

Because I've seen players like Oddo and Taiwo, who had a certain offensive flare at Lazio/Marseille cloud people's judgment.

And finally, they proved to be fair/not so good defenders but also not so good in offensive business either (at least in Oddo's case)...

It's not about just this game, Abate has been at fault on many delicate occasions before. he's just not good enough. think his errors against Inter for example. last night he was at fault for leaving the near post/not covering it where the ball went in. he also didn't even try to mark Koscielny (though it probably wasn't his duty) or block the ball (passing him by by a meter), if anything he ducked it (a header not a Roberto Carlos rocket for crying out loud!) shamelessly. it's not his fault, he's not smart enough. he just runs and runs and runs and make a blind crosses that rarely even end up in the box. to be fair to him he sometimes makes great defensive interventions but his bad mistakes undo that all for me. he'd make a decent sub, but we clearly need someone better. who? I don't know. it doesn't have to be a big name. our scouts need to open their eyes and find someone who's still fairly unknown but with the potential to make it to our XI and do better than the duds we call our FBs. there are plenty of those talents in Europe and South America and we can find one or two IF ONLY we stop acting so ****ing cheap and don't sign any more useless Mattioni's and Grimi's.

-

Not an ounce. It's hard to feel sorry for professional footballers, their lifestyle and salaries. If any one of us turned up in our respective jobs and performed that badly, well, none of us would have jobs.

I can't answer that, but I definitely prefer good defensive full backs over good attacking ones.

Well it's true his positioning as part of the defensive line requires a lot of work, but his tracking back etc had improved a lot.

I for one am in favour of giving him time to improve.

Isn't he already 27?

No, he's 25.

Yeah...but it's a positioning thing. Match intelligence is not hampered by your age. It improves actually. I'm sure he will be much better next season for instance.

Don't forget that along with Silva, he has been playing almost every match without a break. But yep...defending in a formation is something he needs to put on his to-do list.

I don't have a problem with Abate. I thought he was one of the better players last night. The first goal was van Bommel's fault, nothing to do with him. In the last two years, the guy has made huge steps forward, and I think he's a very decent RB for Serie A and CL levels. He's no Maicon nor Dani Alves, true, but I'd trust him the RB position any day of the week against any opponent. What really needs some attention is the other side, the LB position. There we only have below par to mediocre alternatives, and it needs to be dealt with this summer at all cost. Armero? Kolarov? Cissokho? I'd take any of them at this point.

Cissokho has been laughed out of Lyon and kolarov doesn't really commit to his defensive responsibilities at City. Armero is the best pick. He is likely the most underrated LB in the game. I just hope Udinese stick to their standard 10-15M range.

Never seen Armero play. Is he a converted CB? Or is he good defensively?

Well i couldn't say i've seen pre-udinese, but while Udinese will usually attack from their stronger right side with Basta+Isla (and next year Cuadrado), he has single-handedly owned the left providing great cover, tantalizing runs, good dribbling and a hell of a left boot. While i feel he is the best LB in a league with a few good ones, De Ceglie, Del Grosso, Zuniga, his talent is undeniable, he almost beat arsenal by himself in the early group stages of the CL this year and is usually a focal point in big games. He does play as a LWB for udinese in their standard 3-5-1-1but they do sometimes switch into a 5-3-2 and they have played a 4-4-2 in europe (against weaker teams). He does however play
lb for colombia within a set 4-4-2 and has done very well there.

He has?

Comepletely with you.

@ zeddie. Yes this season he's made a couple of mistakes, but then again, so has Silva, point being last night and against Juve. Last season Abate was the best RB in the league by a mile imo, and this has been said by fans of other teams as well, so it's not bias on our part. He just improved that much from his season under Leo to last under Max.

He hasn't been in top form this season, and there have been a couple of mistakes, yes. But all in all, he's one of our best players when talking about consistancy throughout an entire league season. He's just 25, there is still so much time for him to improve. I personally see him as one of the stalwarts in the Milan team for a long time to come; him, Silva, Pato, El Shaa, Nocerino, Aqui. Those are the only few players we have that are still young and have more than just a maximum of 4 to 5 seasons left in them

Silva is a CB, he has to deal with more defensive tasks than a RB...

If Abate was offensively sound I'd have no problem with his occasional brain farts. problem is he contributes little to none when going forward. what was his last assist? anyone even remembers? he poses absolutely no threats with his shots and very little threat with his crosses. he'd make a very good sub/rotation player for less important games but rarely gives you that extra in bigger games.

But then again, Antonini is 3 times worse. I agree that LB should be the priority.

Against Cesena two weeks ago, Robinho's goal.

Two assists this season, one assist last season. You would expect better from him.

Well, in my defense I missed that game!

Move to past players please.

+1

We should make a 'Past Mistakes' sub-forum for players like him.