Supposing we sign Romagnoli and Witsel but not Ibra.

Romagnoli (25)
Ely (0)
Jose Mauri (0)
Bertolacci (20)
Witsel (35)
Luiz Adriano (8)
Bacca (30)

Amount spent: €118 million, more or less. Good or bad?

Mihajlović was also a mistake, I'm sure. By getting Ancelotti or any big-name coach we could have attracted better caliber players. Now the only players who've been appealed by Milan are either former players like Ibra or Miha's former players like Romagnoli.

Those players ended up costing Atletico and Inter 70M in total.

And you've done nothing but whine about the fact we got Berto and not Kondogbia.

You are SO contradictory!

And La Liga's fifth top scorer and Colombian 20 cap 7 goal international Carlos Bacca.

We'll see come the start of the season if Miha was a mistake. I'll give him a few months for final judgement but will form an opinion after a few matches.

Audi Cup was diabolical.

Please point me to one post where I specifically said we should have gotten Kondogbia instead of Berto?

I was sceptical about Kondogbia from the start, didn't think he was worth what we were going to pay or what Inter ended up paying

Our argument was, and sorry for rehashing this but you're calling my contradictory now and you've also called me someone who doesn't ever change his views, it was about who is the better transfer. And looking at Inter's squad and what they needed for their midfield and then looking at our and what we needed for our midfield, I'd day Inter made the better move, because they signed a player that in theory should be the last piece to complete their midfield, while we on the other hand signed a player who we could still do without as we already have the likes of Bona and Monto to complete our run of the mill average quota.

I never said that Kondogbia would have been the better signing for US. Just that he's the better player with bigger potential and a better fit for Inter's needs than Berto is for ours.

Also, both teams overpaid for both players if you ask me. Kondogbia will only cost Inter 70m when you also add up the wages they'll pay him over the course of his contract

btw, the only thing that p!ssed me off about the Kondogbia deal is that we were made to look like idiots, just like with the Jackson deal

I missed you guys!!!!! <3


There is the Perugia game in 5 minutes!!

Milan: Lopez; De Sciglio, Ely, Romagnoli, Antonelli; Bonaventura, De Jong, Bertolacci; Honda; Bacca, Adriano.

Milan bench: Abbiati, Donnarumma, Abate, Alex, Paletta, Jose Mauri, Montolivo, Nocerino, Poli, Suso, Cerci, Matri, Menez

Goal Honda!!

Felt so dry over the last few days.. Good that we back on the forum..

it is 2-0 as well luiz adriano

bacca 3-0

EDIT: did not count!

Feels good to be back!

You can say that again! I was worried the forums were down for good. Thank you Mike or whoever fixed the problem.

Anyway, 2-0 FT. Good match, I saw a lot of improvements in our game despite the opponent was only Perugia.

Bacca is impressive. He stroke me as a poacher kind of player from the YouTube videos, but the guy has actually a very nice dribbling. The other one that has thoroughly impressed me is Ely. Wow! This kid will become great, mark my words. At such a young age playing with incredible security and authority. I think with him and Romagnoli we have assured a very good and young defensive pairing for the next years to come.

Awesome! Was really impressed with Ely in the previous friendlies. IMO this kid has got it!

Mike, he fixed the problems, thankfully

Really impressive tonight.

I don't care who the opposition were, I care how we played, and I can't really fault any aspect of our game.

It was comfortable, assured, confident, should have been more than two.

Good to see Adriano get his first goal, and Han, you now FINALLY willing to admit Bacca's the real deal and not just a shallow poacher?

PS, word is Romagnoli and Ely is now the official partnership.

This! Ibra is a great player no doubt. but we would become too dependent on him and i dontr want us to be a one man team. would rather buy a good trequartista.

hilights of last nights game. very impressed by Bacca

http://t.co/JUU4pEQMWa

I think Honda would be good for us in that position. We just need someone to control the midfield.

Bacca is awesome. ^^

Honda can control squat. He's just not fit to play in the Serie A.

Oddly enough this pre-season is some of the best he's played for us!

I said a long time ago that he was maybe worth a 100M through shirt sales in the Far East etc, and that stands, but in terms of his ability, in general he's astoundingly mediocre.

He has a good free kick. And that's it!

Hmm, we'll see about it, now he's playing in his best position. I think he can be a success.

Honda has shown all his worth in his time with us. He may feel more comfortable as trequartista, but his overall quality won't change. I'd pick Suso over him any day.

Suso been linked back to La Liga, Malaga and Villarreal supposedly interested.

Yeah, I know. Hopefully he stays.

Are those links for purchase or loan? I'd be ok with loaning him out but I'd rather we not sell.

Loan, AFAIK.

Poor guy..keeps getting loaned out or sold. Just PLAY him!!

I might be one of the only fans who just doesn't rate him. That he and Honda are the best options for trequartista are pretty slim pickings at best.

I never said he was a simple poacher, I said his movements are what I'd expect of a pocher. I've called him a CF, which imo is what he truely is. And it is why I think that him and Adriano won't work next to each other, especially when we have a workman like midfield and Honda as the "trequartista" behind them. If we had a top notch creative dinamic midfield behind them, I'd be more inclined to believe that they would work with each other, but with things as they are, I think Menez-Bacca would work much better than Adriano-Bacca. Simply because they're too similar. And with the lack of creativity behind then, they will struggle. And you might be undermining the fact that we were playing against a very inferior side to us but I think it's important to note that when we did play against the better side both of them looked very much isolated and this is the problem that I feel we'll have for the majority of next season (unless we sign Ibra or a proper AM that is)

As for Ely, I've been seriously impressed with him, but I feel like both him and Romagnoli are too green/inexperianced to be the starting duo. To tell the whole truth I was more impressed with Ely than Romagnoli, but Romagnoli is the one we spent 25m on so he'll definately start as long as he's fit. Once again, I think the fact that our opposition were who they were is being ignored a bit in this CB convo. I just don't think it's a feasible duo for the long run, mistakes are bound to happen and it could effect both players negatively. Obviously I could be wrong and Miha persists with them and they turn into one of the best duos in the league, but for now I'm a bit weary. Whoever starts the game against Fiorentina will be a clear indication of Mioha's intentions though, and if these two start and they do well it could turn out really great for us.


Ibra is a sure fire certainty for CL football or even a title challenge if we add Witsel into the mix as well. Also, we struggled sop terribly once we sold him last time because we/Allegri simply had no plan B for when we had to play without him. We were solely dependant on him and no one else

In this case I'm thinking Ibra would be a bridge. An instant gateway to the CL while also rebuilding the side. He's and easy solution. And until then the side will be built gradually until it comes time for Ibra to leave and by then we'll (hopefully) have a team that can be strong and competitive without him. That's what Ibra would be. I personally don't understand how anyone wouldn't want him back

Look at PSG for example, they have been very reliant on him, but they also have a team that can play and win without him, the same couldn't be said for Milan when he was playing with us


Honda is what he is. He's average at best. And he might look good occasionaly, especially when he is given time and space like he was given on Monday, but when you see him play regularly especially against good opponents, his shortcomings become very obvious. That's why I think Ibra or a proper AM is crucial for us, especially if Soriano () is who we're going to sign as a "solution" () for our midfield problems


Agreed about Honda, disagree about Suso. He's not ready to be a starter. And when he has played this pre-season he's been underwhelming at best in the AM position.


It's not that I don't rate him, I don't think I've seen enough of him to come to any sort of conclusions. I do think that he's no where near ready to be a starter though

All in all, I don't want to be a negative nancy here. I did enjoy watching a Milan game for the first time in I don't know how long now, I was impressed with how we played, I liked how the team defended as a whole, I like how they also attacked as a whole, not like last season for example where we played in segments (defended with just the 4 at the back, attacked with just the 3 upfront, midfield running around like headless chickens). As I've been saying for a month now, it's pretty obvious what Miha is working on and the system/tactics are very clear to see, which is a releif in and of itself. But we shouldn't lose sight of who we were playing against. I still think we at least need 1 proper great CM/AM to have any hopes of a successful season. Ibra would be the sure thing, although signing him is looking a bit unlikely atm

I'm sure you'll find a way to explain this away

Borh Ibra and Witsel seem very unlikey at this point, especially the latter.

Oddly enough the Bacca debate myself and Han are 'enjoying' - I just happened to pop over to the Sky Sport site and they're doing a piece on FM. Highlighting one player in particular:



http://www.skysports.com/football/news/110...top-footballers

Got me there on the wording, have to admit. But the problem still remains. CF or poacher, he still needs service to truly thrive. I think he can still be relatively good on his own, I admit, I underestimated him a bit going on just YT vids, he looked like an awesome finisher, but watching him live for an entire 90 he definitely has that something extra. He's still not Ibra though, meaning a creative force all on his own as well.

I think him and Adriano against better sides would struggle, especially with that very average midfield behind them.

All I kept thinking while watching the match though was, man, if we had Ibra next to Bacca... With his smart movement, pace, quick thinking and Ibra's genius, that could be one truly explosive duo. Too bad it won't happen. That's why I still say best way to go is Menez-Bacca to start, Honda behind them. It's far from amazing but it should be enough against most Serie A sides. I can see us struggling to create against the top tier sides though

His pace and passing was what really got me thinking "Wow" tbh.

I concede that pre-season is not the best barometer of judgement, be it a player or a team, but at the same time it's not the worst either.

Last pre-season was diabolical - and that was spot on regarding how our season went.

This one has been patchy, but with signs now and again that it's going in the right direction.

And Bacca has really stood out, as I hoped he would. Adriano not quite as much, and it took him till the Coppa match to finally spring to life a bit.

And re: Bacca - I think a lot of folks (me smugly excluded) underestimated how good he is and fixated on the price.

As for Ibra Bacca - would be nice - Adriano hasn't quite won folk over yet, but nevertheless those three would be half decent up top.

Re: Menez Miha's said if he doesn't play the way he (Miha) wants him to, aka unselfishly and creatively, he'll spend most his time on the bench. And I am for that. Menez with the right attitude could be explosive. He could be the best treq we've got, but we've not seen that part of him because he plays for himself.

I remember reading that he played for the team when he entered in the Coppa match. I don't know cause my stream pretty much died in a huge chunk of the second half.

Still he's having back problems, and it's recurring. So, that's a major issue at the moment.

Honestly, I don't agree with y'all about Honda. I know he is not a spectacular player, but if he works in the system then why not. His pass leading to Luiz Adriano was pretty cool. He also always has a goal in him. So IDK.

I'm more than sure Miha prefers Menez, and sees him as a big part of the team, it's just the injury issues that's stopping us from seeing what he could do for Miha's Milan.

We won the Trofeo Tim last summer as well...

I think it all depends. Pre-season nowadays is mostly used to earn the club some extra cash. When you play a Bayern or Spurs side who are a week away from kicking off their season while we still have a month to go, it does have a huge impact on how we do, not to mention it could be a bit of a hit to morale, even if it is just a friendly.

I think it's been an overall good pre-season tbh. Only game where I was really disappointed was against Lyon.

I never really judged whether Bacca was good enough or not. I have mostly judged the supporting cast. And while I may have underestimated how good he can be without proper service, he would be far more fruitful if he had it. And playing another pure CF in Adriano next to him for me won't work long term. That's why I think that Menez should partner him. With Adriano being a direct sub for either one.

As for Menez, I didn't say he should play in the trequartista position, but the SS position. I personally don't think we should go for a pure attacker in that trequartista position. Ideally that player is a midfielder, both for the balance of the team and because 3 forwards in there will make it more messy rather than give us more attacking power imo.


I think having a top AM instead of Honda would take this team to another level. Yes we can do with Honda for now, but he's really not good enough if you have higher aspirations than just fighting for 3rd

Agreed. The treq should be a midfielder. Forwards in that position rarely work because they don't have the discipline nor the tactical awareness.

Someone oughta open the Fio thread.

Yep! ^^ Come on Han, you can do it, there's nothing to it!

I shall

He did!

No way!

WAY

We're playing Mantova today at 7PM. Balo is expected to start.

I can honestly say I probably won't be watching this one. I usually watch absolutely every second of Milan, even pointless friendlies, but that window killed a great deal of my enthusiasm.

Only Milan could spend as much as PSG and Man City etc yet end up with a weaker and worse squad than they had at the start.

I'll probably keep up to speed on Twitter if I'm not busy, but I probably will be.

Will be going out. Will check out a repay if we do well (which should be a given here)

Balotelli playing behind the two strikers. I must say, so far not bad at all.

Don't forget who the opponent is. We destroyed Perugia, but sucked @ss when we faced a real opponent in Fiorentina.

He looks good physically. Working tirelessly, always ready to receive the ball. Hope he continues this attitude throughout the season.

Balotelli, Donnarumma and Adriano aside, our midfield can't do sh*t. If we have better midfielders we would have buried Mantova.