Bleh, the mid-day kick-off. Absolutely despise this fixture, I don't know why they introduced it to begin with and it should be abolished

Anyways, I think we've reached the make or brake point of our season (if we haven't already been through that in the Udine match that is) Lost point here and we can kiss any hopes for Europe goodbye. Win this and the Bologna game and we could be back in business

I've read that Sosa will most likely start in the centre instead of Locatelli, I personally think Montella should play them next to each other, I don't think Locatelli has the technical ability or vision to be a regista, but he's an excellent reader of the game. Imo, he could be a modern day Redondo, but he's certainly no heir to Pirlo as we've been hoping he'd be

We also have a major crises in defence as well. Abate and Calabria are both called up but neither is fit enough to start. DS is injured thanks to that super tool De Paul. Antonelli is also injured so we basically don't have any FBs available

Zapata is captain... Oh the downfall...

Well we're in an injury crises. But yes that makes me seriously cringe!

This messing about with trying to pass out from the back has landed us in hot water so many times! I don't know why they keep bothering with it when it's currently costing us more than it's benefitting us

I'm not impressed ...

Oh dear, penalty for Samp ... And goal ...

Stupid, stupid, stupid

Very stupid , but that's what you get for cheap players.

This is why you don't play Zapata.

And Paletta can be such a brainless idiot at times

The thug pitbull is coming on for Bacca, just in time... Because Bacca was having the game of his life

Suso for me has just been bad, he was playing so well there for a stretch but now everything he does is easy to read.

Bacca is such a pr!ck. Seriously starting to not like him at all

He was doing absolutely nothing on the pitch, shouldn't even be starting at this point yet he still complains

Another loss? -.-

We're in free fall. An I honestly don't see anything that could stop this

I can't believe Lapadula missed that. I can't believe anyone would miss that ...
And red card for Sosa ... The mighty Sampdoria

This is what you get when you try to build a team around ex-Genoa players

Thank you Galliani for bringing in the players we need in January. Really top notch work

Zapata, we actually, voluntarily renewed this guy's contract...

We signed Storari ...

I skiped this match, but it seems we are headed for mid-table.

And its over ... What a horrible squad

It's just so depressing

We were on the right track before the new year. Had we made the right moves we would have been able to compete this season, now it's all fallen apart and we're just spiralling

I think at this rate and if the injuries persist, we'll finish even lower than last season

It just gets worse and worse...

It just gets worse and worse...

Feel totally vindicated for doing something else today. The freefall is speeding up going by the posts in this thread.

After watching the highlights and the penallty, I have to say, damn this Paletta has no brain.

Paletta can be brilliant one moment, absolutely catastrophic the next

But it all started with Zapata losing the ball (as usual)

Doesn't really matter who is to blame - the XI isn't functioning, system is a bust, the manager's lost his magic, and this slide I foresaw about two months ago is going to see us into Inzaghi country.

Montella had us above our weight from mid September to early December, but since that depressing win over Crotone it's been more or less straight downhill. All the pundits said we were back, even us fans bought into it when we beat Juve, but after we struggled to overcome Crotone I knew it was a busted flush and was only going one way unless we got fresh blood in January.

We got two loans - one Genoa reject and one Everton reject. Until money comes in and basically buys us an entirely new team, this is all we're going to be. We're safe from relegation but a bottom 8 place isn't impossible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArOqSX0YArU

Based solely on this, I think that we had our chances and we could easily win this game if our finishing was better. Deulofeu and Pasalic had good chances.

Saw bits of the game. We looked good. Lots of chances, but the finishing was just sub par. We had around 3 or 4 chances that we should have buried before they scored their one penalty.

We're not in free fall, but we're stagnating. I insist that this 4-3-3 be trashed. It's no longer holding. It's been figured out and Montella needs to do something about it.

2nd to 8th in 8 weeks isn't free fall?

Up there with 'if your auntie had testicles she'd be your uncle'. British phrase which basically means 'ifs' don't matter. It doesn't matter 'if we were the better team' or 'we should have scored 10 goals' - we didn't.

The team that scores the goals wins the match. We didn't, and we're not. But let's hold onto the fact we 'could' for the rest of the season. That'll make us feel better.

Don't mean to sound snippy at you buddy, just don't see much positive at San Siro right now. Inter have completely overtaken us after it looked like we'd reversed that.

We Albanians use that expression too

I think that in the second paragraph you contradicted yourself when you made a big fuss for our win vs Crotone while playing bad.

I am positive about this team, as long as long as Montella listens to Jack and changes the formation and player selection. I am not saying that we will qualify for Champions, but I am more than sure that in the end we will be in Europa League.

Ah you're from the land of X-Off!



I don't understand what you mean. What contradiction are you getting at?



Jack is right, but the problem is we don't have the options on the bench to change. Montella went with 4-3-3 to accommodate the players we have. 4-4-2 wouldn't work as we do not have two midfielders good enough to centrally dictate. We are ALRIGHT for wingers but nothing amazing. And we got rid of the one player we could have used beside Bacca in a two - Adriano.

We don't have any striker good enough to be a one up front, nor do we have any two that can fit together as a two.

The only possible option with what we have would be 4-3-2-1. Suso and Deulofeu behind Bacca, but is that REALLY that much different to how it operates now?

That is the issue - we simply don't have a wide enough pool of players to be able to try different formations.

I am sadly more than sure Europa League is well beyond us.

Yeah. We've dropped positions, but the points difference is not insurmountable since EL is the target. For me, free fall is when I see the game deteriorating itself. We haven't been tied to the ropes and battered by anyone, since that first game against Napoli. But we've not improved our play either.

An throughout a season if you don't improve while others do naturally you drop back.

When we played very bad vs Crotone but yet won u said that it doesn't matter 'cos we played very bad. Now that we played better than vs Crotone but lost, u said "It doesn't matter 'if we were the better team' or 'we should have scored 10 goals' - we didn't."

I see the contradiction but it doesn't really weaken my case - my issue v Crotone was how astonishingly awful we were against the bottom side. It is true that goals only really count, and I stand by that, but in some cases looking at the grey in between the black and white helps, and that afternoon was one of the most painful wins I've ever experienced. And for me it was where the rot truly started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knem8hCJmys

Try not to cry.

BTW in 2 hours we play against Bologna.

Yeah, should I just change the title and keep conversations here? No point opening a new thread for a handful of posts at this point

Unbelievable how low we sank ...

Let's all be honest with ourselves

That team was already on it's last legs. We were absolutely terrible in the league that season, but managed to pull off a stunning run in the CL thanks to guys like Seedorf, Nesta, Paolo, Rino, etc who always showed up for the big games and Kaka who was simply unplayable that season

After that CL a lot of contracts were renewed for long-terms and high wages with players who were already past their primes. And in addition to that the CL win was used as a cover by the management to not improve the squad, ignoring the fact that we were already struggling. After that things just kept going from bad to worse, with each summer Galliani building up an entire slew of transfer market gaffes, and while this can be blamed on the tight purse strings, certain mistakes are just inexcusable and we still bare the weight of them today

Excuses Han , only excuses ...

We still had a team back then. And if we played badly , it wasn't because we didn't have the players.

We suck now because we have at best average players. They can't play well , no skill , no talent , no nothing.

Besides , are you forgetting the CL final against Liverpool in Istanbul ? Can you imagine us even getting somewhere near
qualifying for European football , let alone the CL ??

I loved Milan back then because even with their flaws and financial limits we still proved to be among the worlds greatest.

I'm sorry Han , but please don't belittle the CL victory as if it was luck or anything. And who cares what spot you end in the league when you just won the CL. I prefer those old lions above these nobody's playing now...

Oh sh!t, Zapata coming on and we lose Romagnoli as well to injury...

And that is the short sighted thinking that led us to now

You have got to be kidding me ... The great Paletta with his second yellow... What a pathetic sight

Paletta FFS!!!

This guy is a walking accident

Red now. How many does that make it for him this season? 4?

Paletta with a second yellow for the third time this season. We can't manage with 11 right now. We a screwed with 10.

Lol, this Paletta. I am legally not allowed to write what I am thinking about him.

short sighted ?

You should be happy with winning the CL Han, when you know the odds of winning it are low.
But you want it all ... And that's what led us starting to get spoiled. I remember back then how many guys criticizing Milan
about everything. I'm sure you would like to go back to 2007 now ...

It has nothing to do with wanting it all but common sense. The squad was already aging and past its prime back then. It was ignored and covered by the euphoria of the CL. The management used it as an excuse to let the team continue to deteriorate to the point where we have now arrived to the now.

You know, a CL win should be viewed with the reverence that you're talking about, but I also view that last CL win as a turning point for this club as well

Also, do I want to go back to 2007? Knowing what I know now, no, I wouldn't want to go back there, no matter how glory filled those times were. We're just now starting to see the light at this very long and dark tunnel with the sale of the club (hopefully) going through. So why would I want to restart the torment of watching this team going from that epic high to a mid-table team once again?