So, here we go.

The press confrence for tomorrow's game:

http://football-italia.net/73127/miha-%E2%...points%E2%80%99
http://football-italia.net/73126/mihajlovi...excuse%E2%80%99

So you can infer that Miha will either play De Jong or Montolivo. I posted my thoughts in milanobessesion so I'll copy and paste them here and maybe we can discuss them:

"So, I think Palermo will be a very important game to see whether we've gained some consistency! We were pretty good against Inter, but was that the "Big game syndrome", honestly, I don't know! If we show the same drive against Palermo then that would be an awesome indicator. ^^

I'd keep playing Zapata and Romagnoli in the central defence. These two have seemed to harbor some good understanding. Playing De Sciglio as a LB and Abate as a RB is a must. I really have no idea why everyone thinks De Sciglio is better as a RB. He's always had his good game where Abate was at RB and he was at LB. Though, most coaches have wanted to play him as a RB. I believe Allegri was the only one who got it right! Even Tassoti mentioned the other day in an interview that he sees De Sciglio working out more as a RB. Just downright wierd.

The midfield is a tricky area imo. We found ourselves during the derby controlling the midfield pretty well. Now, a certainty as always is that De Jong should be playing. But should we play Montolivo who had a decent performance against Inter? I was thinking maybe we should play Montolivo in a Pirlo'esque role in the center of midfield so pretty much as a deep lying playmaker and De Jong beside him in a Rino role. ^^

I think it could work, Juve were employing Pirlo, their main creative outlet and pacemaker, in that position. And, we all know Pirlo isn't all about defending at all. It might be worth a shot perhaps?

The last spot imo should be between Bonaventura/Kucka. Kucka while not being the player everyone wanted gave our midfield so much physicality and power imo. I like him!! Bertolacci is just so weak, I don't know what to do with him.

I would love to see the Balotelli-Bacca-Adriano trident, but that would depend on who's behind them! Or else play Honda in the AM spot!"

Would love to hear yours thoughts about it...specially for the bolded part

Pretty accurate analysis, I agree about the defence it should stay as it was in the derby, we need continuity there, and even though I have made my thoughts on Zapata's abilities clear, I think for right now we should try to keep things as consistent as possible, having Zapata playing still gives me a bit of the heeby jeebies as you never know with him, but with Alex not being in the best of shape and Mexes just coming from injury, as long as Zapata and Romagnoli are doing fine next to each other things should stay as is.

Agreed about the FB situation as well, I seriously do not understand this incessant need all our coaches have had to play DS on the right, he usually has very mediocre performances on that side, while -as you rightly said - his best performances for us and Italy as well have come on the left imo

With regards to the midfield, I agree, that De Jong has to play, but Monto made a great case for himself against Inter and imo we desperately need someone with his attributes in that mid, without him we have no orchestrator and we struggle to really win any of the midfield battles, even against notably weaker opponents. Obviously Monto isn't fit to clean Pirlo's boots but I get the comparison you made there. And it's what I've been talking about all summer. Our failure to get a proper top notch regista will be what really hurts us in the long run this season.

And yeah, I've been floating around the De Jong in the Rino role idea for a few weeks now and I think it could really work, and he'd really take the pressure off Monto as well. Problem is that I don't think Miha sees it this way. For him it's either De Jong or Monto, not both. He sees them as anchors but with different characteristics so my guess is that he'll use them interchangeably depending on who he thinks would suite best in a particular game or scenario.

As for Berto, I honestly don't know, maybe we could try him out in the AM position, he's mostly a direct runner. He's not really a passer, and he did well at Genoa by making late runs into the box. Maybe he's looked bad because Miha was trying to force him to play a more possession type passing game which he's not suited for but now that Monto is back in the fold that will free up Berto. Don't know, what I'm sure of is that if he's fit he'll be used. Mostly to save Galliani's blushes for throwing away 20m on this guy when he wasn't worth half that and he's very obviously a mid-table dweller type player.

As for the attack, yeah, I think this would be a great time to test that trio, but I don't think Miha will really risk it. Also, please no Honda, just absolutely shocking against Inter. Just stick Bona there for now and when Menez is back we use him.

As for the game in general, I agree. This could really be a kick starter to our season, if we struggle in this one as well I really do think that it could be an indicator that we're bound to see last season being repeated

Bertolacci played alongside Kucka in the double pivot of Gasperini's 3-4-3. It wouldn't make any sense playing him in the AM position simply because he makes runs inside the box. With that logic, we could also play Nocerino there.

As for the Monto-De Jong argument, I'm not in favor of the latter in the Rino role. That worked for Rino mainly because he had a team of world class players who knew how to keep possession and not lose the ball. With the midfield of dimwits we have, losing one CM spot to a "destroyer" like De Jong would only make things worse. If De Jong must play, it should be as anchor with Monto as CM. But I'm not in favor of the opposite.

Defense shouldn't be touched, yes.

I really think we lack one good midfielder in there, and that's counting Bertolacci as well. Poli, Nocerino, Kucka and Honda are all mediocre to terrible players that don't deserve a starting spot.



Now that Bertolacci is out as well, we have two vacant midfield positions that will be filled by unworthy players. Thanks again, baldy.

Has anyone else thought about changing things a bit to accommodate De Jong, Monto, Berto, and Bona? I don't think with the system we have that playing a midfield 3 and a play maker suits any one of them. What if we transitioned to a 4-2-2-2. I've never really seen it in practice but in theory it might work.

The defense would be left alone from the last game, and IMO Abate should even be the captain. Ideally we'd play a double pivot with NDJ and Monto filling those roles, the forward two midfielders would ideally interchange with one another, in support of the two forwards. I would imagine that the team would be a little too lopsided with players being forward, but neither Bona nor Berto are play makers, so they would essentially be box to box players set further forward to accommodate their lack of play making skill.

It's an idea that kind of just hit me and I don't know if it would work, but its food for thought. I doubt Miha will change the system but unfortunately we don't have the proper players to fit the system.

As far as Kucka and Poli go I think they are good bench players. Kucka showed some fire and skill against an Inter midfield which is being lauded as one of the best in the league (I don't buy it). The guy looks hungry, and despite not having skill I'd rather guys like him and Poli on the bench who give it all when their number is called.

As far as the forwards go I would rather have Adriano start from the bench with Balo getting the start alongside Bacca. For some reason Adriano reminds me so much of Robinho when he was here. A good player to have on the bench and can put in a great performance now and then, but frustrates me to no end with his finishing.

I already said in another thread that 4-4-2 is the best formation we can play on paper given our players, though I'm not sure it can actually work in practice. Bonaventura has played that role at Atalanta, but Bertolacci is more of a CM than a winger.

I really want Miha to give Suso a few games before he discards him completely. He's doing the same mistake Pippo made. Play him once, and if he has a bad game then bench him for the rest of the season. Everyone was crap against Empoli in the first half, it's not fair to take it out on Suso.

I don't think that's the case. He's willing to give Ely another chance even after his disastrous start. I think he'll give Suso a chance soon.

Hopefully you're right.

We played Urby and Boateng there...

I just don't think Berto is a good enough CM to play the type of role we need him to in our 3-man midfield.

As for De Jond and Monto, I don't get what the dilemma is here if we shift De Jong to the side and play Monto in the centre we'd gain a proper regista playing in his best position and give him someone who can really recover balls for him quickly while also helping out the defence.

You're saying if we play De Jong on the side we'd be losing out on a CM there, true, but isn't it the same case as when we play him in the centre and lose out on having someone who's the centre figure that can really control the game?

Also, what would it benefit us to bench one of our best midfielders when we're not really swimming in quality in that position?

For me our best trio in midfield would be



The trequartista for me depends on who we're playing. Against a top side we should go for the extra mid, meaning Bona playing there. Against smaller sides I'd go with Menez or Balo


I personally don't agree about a 4-4-2 type formation, we don't have the players for it either. Bona imo is not a winger, sure he can pull off a left mid type role but to what end? In that type of formation I personally think that the creativity and cutting edge need to come from the wings and we don't have the players for it.

We have a bunch of central mids atm, none of them are all that good, but we can make a diamond midfield work if Miha find the right formula in terms of both personnel and tactics/approach

Also, agree about Balo and Adriano. Balo imo as born to be a SS, not a lone striker fighting for crossed balls or playing with his back to goal as a lamp post. Give him the freedom to play a supporting role to Bacca and I think we could see something really great from him


The problem with Suso is he doesn't seem to fit in. For me he's not an AM, doesn't have the vision or creative genius in him to pull it off. His constant shooting is also a problem.

Maybe we could try him out in a Di Maria type role, but aside from that I don't think he can make much of an impact for us playing behind the strikers

http://Milanfan.better-than.tv:5005/stream.flv

Open with Vlc . Channel is Sky Sport Italia.

thanks bro

is it large in size? it's got to 20mb and still downloading

nvm got it to work..great quality!

It stops working for me after 1 minutes 15 seconds. How'd you get it to work?

i thought i got it to work..then it stopped

just use the url given and open network stream in vlc

Just copy the link in vlc and It should work normally...

I put the crazy milanfan commentator on.

Any feedback is welcome as im trying to finetune the settings...

Woooo , Zap playing it Dangerous At the back

Abate out ... Calabria in

Bacca!!!! Great pass by Bona!

Bacca!!! Great unselfish layoff by Jack!!

Jackkkkkk!!!!

Good free-kick by Jack.

Solid first half, we could've done without conceding that goal!

Zapata had his brainfart so I'm hoping no more from him! I mean seriously, is not giving the opponent the ball that hard of a concept to grasp...I don't care give punt it anywhere. He wasn't under pressure too..

Our midfield and attack are doing their job. Bacca has a great finish on him. Bona was just great, epic free kick.

sorry dude, couldn't continue using it, i think it has to do with my terrible internet.

yep..Zapata has some brainfart moments.

How ridiculous it would be should Gilardino score tonight

No worries , Thanks for the info

Bacca is amazing!

FT 3-2 Milan! Phewww..we barely scrapped the 3 points there IMO

We played good football overall, but some problems are still glaring obvious! Like how the players were just jogging around in the last 10 minutes. At 2-1 Miha should've inserted a more defensive player. The goals that we conceded were pretty stupid, but at the other end..Bacca was amazing! This guy just has an amazing finish and work ethic. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite players.

We need that extra something in midfield, and we could be more physical, but we're climbing that ladder I guess.

Abate's recurring injuries are worrying though, doesn't seem like we can depend on him anymore :3

He has such a great finish, I'm in love.

Positives:

Bacca - He reminds me of Shevchenko, enough said
Calabria - He needs to work on his positioning, other than that, he's a fantastic prospect, only 18!
Bonaventura - He needs to be playing behind the strikers, not Honda
Kucka - Provides much needed physicality in the midfield, good with the ball, surprisingly industrious too
Montolivo - Provided good cover for defense at times, but apart from some nice distributions, he's still no Pirlo in terms of vision

Negatives:

De Sciglio - He plays far better on the left than on the right, but today was not one of his best games. I wouldn't criticize him too much because he is only 22, wouldn't want to destroy his confidence. He's still a good full-back.
Honda - I don't think he's up to the task; playing behind the strikers. His decision-making isn't the best and not the quickest player on the ball either.
Zapata - Still prone to occasional errors. Not as calm as Romagnoli on the ball.

Agreed with most of this. I know we need much more than this. This was still Palermo and we couldn't control the game too well!

Missed the majority of the game, only watched the last 20 minutes, and those weren't all that encouraging...

The highlights on sky though showed that we were much better in the first half, but again the recurring theme of us scoring and then completely losing focus is worrying.

Both goals were avoidable and both came from silly errors. Also, the playing around with the ball at the back has to stop. I see from your comments that Zapata was as prolific with his passing as usual

And I spotted Romagnoli trying to dribble the ball out of defence in the last few minutes and losing it. Was seriously about to chew my arm off at that one.

And man, Abate can't seem to catch a break, he's been so injury prone these past 2/3 seasons. At least Calabria looked pretty impressive, more than DS tbh who had a bit of a mare from what I could see from highlights and the last 20 minutes or so.

Will try to catch a replay of the game tomorrow

To be fair, we've struggled against Palermo in the past more than once, so to get the 3 points is a pretty big positive.

But the midfield issues still persist.

Leaving De Jong and his physicality on the bench for me is a mistake. He should be in that midfield nest to Monto and Berto when he returns with Bona occupying the AM slot.

Nova!!! Great to see you back on

Well, I'll give that to Palermo surely. It's not like Palermo were absolute sh!t and we couldn't capitalize on it. No, Palermo kept pushing and pushing and made life very hard for us.

The problem in midfield still persists, I agree. There are sides of our midfield play that is slightly improved. We're able to get the ball forward much these days. In the first half, it worked very well..specially since we were putting high pressure on Palermo. They barely had any chances aside from that stupid goal..btw let's give everyone their fair share of criticism, that was bad goalkeeping by Diego Lopez.

However, when we pulled back during the second half, we found ourselves facing a bunch of more problems. What I'm loving about Miha is that he totally knows this and has mentioned it in the press conference. (http://www.acmilan.com/en/news/show/158802)

This shows it's not just about the coaches..the coach can scream as much he want on the touchline, but if the player's mentality is still the same then that needs to be worked on. He coined it exactly by saying the players are "afraid" to win!

In terms of names, I still don't see us having a shot at the first three places(we need at least one top CM and one top CB), but if we can cross that mentality barrier then that would be a big boost for us.

Hmm, if you only watched 20 minutes and spotted so much. ^^

I hope you can watch the full game so we can discuss this further.

Honestly, I barely ever notice Romagnoli in games, but for a CB, I think that's a good thing!

Yep, Calabria was directly involved in one of the goals. Miha mentioned him in addition to Ely and De Sciglio as having a bright future.

Did I mention that I'm also in love with Mihajlovic.

Say about him what you will..ex- Interista or whatever. He's a fine individual and coach. He says things like he sees and I love that directness about him.

Goals: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x37bgf8_a...ie-a-2015_music

Like I said, I haven't watched the full match yet but I plan to this afternoon, so I can't really say all that much about the general performance aside from the last 20 minutes or so and extended highlights, and they were worrying. We simply cannot hold onto a lead comfortably. And I don't think it matters whether it's a big lead or a small one, they simply lose concentration and invite pressure on themselves. I think Miha is doing well in terms of tactics and what not, there are clear improvements over last season, but mentally we're very fragile, and I'm happy as well that he's acknowledging this fault. Hopefully he can really work on it and turn these bunch of p*ssies into lions, or else it won't matter much who we bring in or what he does tactically.


Yeah, Calabria looked good from what I could see. Bacca is an obvious shining light in the squad. This guy seems to have it all. If only we had a really good midfield behind him, he'd be lethal and a sure fire top scorer imo

As for Romagnoli, yeah, I've generally been impressed. He's obviously a very talented player. Just noticed that bit where he tried to dribble the guy just outside out area and imo that is something no defender should do. We already got Zapata pulling off stupid sh!t we don't need to add Romagnoli to that

Didn't watch the match, but I heard that Palermo had like only two shots in goal all game and that we played pretty well. Calabria apparently was great, and MDS was crap.

Does anyone know when Bertolacci is coming back?

Nope...

Full match here

http://www.latestfootballvideo.com/watch-a...e-a-full-match/

Btw, just checked Gazzetta and they have Berto as uncertain for week 5 (next Tuesday against Udine). They still have Mexes listed as still to be assessed though...

Re this part, I'm currently watching the replay and I've just watched this goal again, and for me that has to go down to De Sciglio. He not only failed to attack the ball but he also backed into Lopez as he was falling on his @ss and threw him off

De Sciglio was the main culprit on both goals.

Yeah, have to agree with that

He had some decent plays overall, but really had some terrible moments, including lapses on both goals

As for the game in general, having watched the first half completely and now in the 10th of the second. I have to say that my major sore point so far has to be Honda. It's like we're playing with a ghost in that position. As I said, just try Bona there or if we're short in midfield and playing a smaller side just give Balo a try, he certainly can't do worse.

Also regarding Kucka, I think he's doing very well, obviously nothing spectacular and I still think we need someone really great to play in the position he's currently occupying (Witsel anyone ). But he's doing a good job so far imo. And comparing his performances to the utter mediocrity that Bertolacci showed in his first 2 outings and I say we should probably keep the mid as is for now.

Honda put in a lot of work defensively from that position but he was pretty invisible going forward. Just not strong enough and gets knocked off the ball too easily.

Yeah, sorry I forgot to update on that. I rewatched the goals again, and saw that too. He was too weak.

I think Kucka while not being a flashy player..is doing a pretty great job too. He just adds so much physicality to the midfield while also being technical.

Honda did really good defensively which was very important in some cases. But, that is not his main job here. Although, he does help a lot in giving the team balance. I would think putting Balo there would make us too vulnerable.

Yeah, Witsel would have really given us that something extra in midfield, especially now with Monto doing so well as anchor.



With that midfield we could seriously challenge for the 3rd spot. That's why, come January, baldie has to sign Witsel at all cost.

Sure, he puts in a lot of work, but to what end? Poli runs and works a lot, but as far as helping the midfield, he falls short imo, so does Honda.

I was an avid defender of Honda last season. He was being played on the wing and his weaknesses were even more exposed in that position. But now he's being used in his supposed natural position and he's still falling short.

Bonaventura can easily put in all the work rate that Honda can while also supporting the attackers with his movement and passing. Honda is simply not cutting it.


Well I wouldn't play Balo there in a big match but I seriously do see him as an option in games against smaller opponents.

Totally agree that we would be a bit unbalanced but I think this would mostly be evident against tougher opponents which is why I wouldn't risk it in more difficult matches.


Meh, don't bet on it. Galliani is an idiot through and through. He failed to address our weakest position given 3 months and nearly a 100m budget. I can't see him doing much better in the winter when options are more limited and budget is more constricted