Lecce 3-4 Milan: What happened

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't posted for the past 60 hours. I've been watching and re-watching the game. My thoughts:


I'll go right out and say it: The first half was the worst 45 minutes I've seen us play in a long time. Part of the problem was Allegri's idiotic starting eleven, part of it was Abbiati's goalkeeping woes continuing, and part of it was Antonini picking this game to show the world how NOT to defend. If I ever become the manager of a football team, when I am showing them how to defend a set-pieces, I will show them the first goal as how NOT to do it. Yepes wasn't too bad throughout the game, and he even popped in for the winner with 7 minutes left, but it must be said: He was 100% at fault for the first goal.

After that the floodgates opened. Someone needs to tell Allegri that you do not EVER put out a midfield of Nocerino-Van Bommel-Ambrosini. I couldn't face palm enough times to show my exasperation when I saw the lineup. Not to mention his idiotic decision to put robinho as an AM. DIDN'T YOU LEARN THAT LESSON LAST YEAR?

Move on to the second goal. It wasn't a penalty. Watch that clip again if you still think it was. It wasn't. That being said, Lecce deserved the goal, and if not for Abbiati's howler, we wouldn't even be in that position. *bleep* Oddo for daring to score against us and celebrate. Seriously though, that goal was another failure at the back. Our midfield was non-existent. I think we've established that by now. But if the defence had stood up and put on their A game, we would've had a much better first half. A centre back blunder led to Goal 1, and a goalkeeper blunder led to Goal 2. These mistakes are killing us.

On to the third and final goal from Lecce. WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM ANTONINI? It was a scrappy goal, but the amount of errors, particularly from Antonini that were involved in the build up were incredible. One would think that would be that, but one good thing happened to us in Lecce: Kevin-Prince Boateng.


Four words sum up my opinion of the second half: I TOLD YOU SO. Before the game, the majority of this forum was calling for his head while I defended him. And if anyone criticizes Boateng after this....

The second half really was just Prince vs Lecce. And Prince won spectacularly. it took him just 20 seconds to make an impact with a vicious volley. That set the tone for the remainder of the half. Boateng added a completely new dimension to our team. A midfield that was slow, sluggish and nearly invisible in the first half, became a powerful, dominating force in the second.

You can say whatever you want about Prince, but it must be said: he has passion. He didn't just single handedly take Lecce apart and bring us back into the game. He did it as a true, passionate Milanista. And for that, I applaud him.

I must also give credit to Allegri. He accepted his mistakes, made 3 smart substitutions, and got us fired up and ready to go. We played the second half as we should've played the first: Like the champions of Italy.


-Antonini should never wear a Milan jersey again.
-Abbiati needs to shape up or ship out.
-A midfield of Nocerino-van Bommel-Ambrosini is suicide.
-Prince is underrated.
-Robinho= bad when not fit
-Aquilani needs to play.



Kevin-Prince Boateng

Seedorf didn't play though... so I don't know what game you were watching.

LOL.

I think ACMRox confused Seedorf with Robinho.

ROFLAMO. That just shows how bad Robinho played.

Where can I see a replay of the game?

Good luck doing this for the rest of the games this season

But for realsies, the first half really did scream out what a static style of play have we when our midfield trio consists of the 'pitbull' type of players (except they have no teeth). We shouldn't really being having a go at Robinho. There were times in the match where he was just about shoulder to shoulder to Abate because he was so desperate to get a sniff of the ball. And even though he was technically playing as a midfielder as our AM. But even he needed service. Robinho isn't like Kaka who can use speed and strength to break through defences and into open space. Robinho plays a much smaller game with tricks and flicks close to the box and considering how compact Lecce were in the first half, there was simply nothing he could do to create plays.

Boateng obviously had the game of his life but I think huge credit needs to go to Cassano and Aquilani. Cassano really reminded me of Ronaldinho in this match. He played on the left and was super effective. He had 2 assists (including the match winner) and was inches away from setting up Ibra twice if it weren't for some excellent defending by Lecce. And Aquilani. He is really beginning to hit some good form at the moment. When he's on form, he is divine for us. If he can keep this form, i'm all for keeping the second half midfield formation of:


Of course this formation is heavily based on Boateng keeping this run of form as well as Cassano (who plays on the left of the attack) and Aquilani.

In conclusion, we were lucky but it did highlight that Boateng, Aquilani and Cassano are improving. Robinho is ineffective without service and space. Ambrosini is DONE, this should definitely be his last season at Milan. Taiwo needs to get into the Serie A swing of things because Antonini is, somehow, getting worse. Ibrahimovic needs to work on his positioning, he could have kicked 3 or 4 goals against Lecce if his positioning had been a bit better.

Unfortunately, I've also reached the conclusion that Ambrosini must leave, and I believe the fact that he was handed the armband may have been shielding him in my eyes. I still prefer Ambrosini in the anchor role to the likes of Nocerino, however he should only hold this position, to rest Van Bommel. This aside, save for some rejuvenation, should be his last season, though I don't like forcing players to retire. Bring me Sven Bender, Mr Galliani.

Good analysis ACMRox!

One thing; when you said "Abbiati needs to ship up or shape out.", I think you mean "Abbiati needs to shape up or ship out."

dostoevsky wrote:Unfortunately, I've also reached the conclusion that Ambrosini must leave, and I believe the fact that he was handed the armband may have been shielding him in my eyes. I still prefer Ambrosini in the anchor role to the likes of Nocerino, however he should only hold this position, to rest Van Bommel. This aside, save for some rejuvenation, should be his last season, though I don't like forcing players to retire. Bring me Sven Bender, Mr Galliani.

Yeah, I reached the same conclusion a couple of seasons ago. When Ambro got the armband, I was really confused, because I thought they were trying to clear the old players out! And we still had Pirlo at that stage, who was really the ideal candidate for captain, along with Gattuso. I agree, Sven Bender, Casemiro, Khedira or Yoann Cabaye of Newcastle (who really should've gone to a bigger club in the first place after being one of Lille's best players last year when they won the title) would be great replacements for Ambrosini.

Our need to buy a new DM has become nearly as important as our need to buy a new AM now.

He had a fairly lethargic finish to Leonardo's season, however I attributed this to fatigue given the use of the 4-3-3 and the ineffectiveness of Gattuso in that season. He had been wonderful at the beginning of the season, however as far as I'm concerned he can't reach these levels again and unless Van Bommel wants to leave if a younger competitor is brought in, so that he can retire at PSV, then we have to let him go unfortunately.

c_bernard10 wrote:Where can I see a replay of the game?

myfootball.tv

dostoevsky wrote:He had a fairly lethargic finish to Leonardo's season, however I attributed this to fatigue given the use of the 4-3-3 and the ineffectiveness of Gattuso in that season. He had been wonderful at the beginning of the season, however as far as I'm concerned he can't reach these levels again and unless Van Bommel wants to leave if a younger competitor is brought in, so that he can retire at PSV, then we have to let him go unfortunately.

I have to agree here. Ambrosini and Antonini cannot play like this. In January Antnoni should leave, and in the summer Ambro needs to either retire or be sold.

Ambrosini's contract expires on June 30th, 2012, it's merely a case of renewing it or letting him go on a Bosman. Perhaps he could return to Cesena?

dostoevsky wrote:Ambrosini's contract expires on June 30th, 2012, it's merely a case of renewing it or letting him go on a Bosman. Perhaps he could return to Cesena?

was that where he kick-started his career or is it one of those teams we loaned him out to?

He came from Cesena at 17. He was loaned to Vicenza for one season, however I really wouldn't recommend returning there.

I have never been a fan of Boateng as an attacking midfielder, but he should be reverted to a box to box midfielder. We desperately need a really great AM.

Well we don't have a great AM so Boateng will play there until

what the hell is going on with Abbiati ?? he was our unsung hero last season now he's so average. He really needs to be benched until he regains some confidence.

Can someone beat Antonini until he leaves, he doesn't deserve to park the teams Audi's let alone be on our sacred field

Big Bang Boateng is d MAN

BigBoban wrote:what the hell is going on with Abbiati ?? he was our unsung hero last season now he's so average. He really needs to be benched until he regains some confidence.

Can someone beat Antonini until he leaves, he doesn't deserve to park the teams Audi's let alone be on our sacred field

Big Bang Boateng is d MAN

Benching Abbiati won't improve his confidence

Amelia needs to show some competitiveness, then perhaps Abbiati will be back to his best again.

He is still a good keeper though, just needs to find his confidence and consisttency back.

I am sure he will.

BiasedMilanFan3 wrote:

BigBoban wrote:what the hell is going on with Abbiati ?? he was our unsung hero last season now he's so average. He really needs to be benched until he regains some confidence.

Can someone beat Antonini until he leaves, he doesn't deserve to park the teams Audi's let alone be on our sacred field

Big Bang Boateng is d MAN

Benching Abbiati won't improve his confidence

Exactly. IMO benching Abbiati will do more harm than good at this stage in time. Let him slowly regain form and confidence. Although Allegri has made some idiotic decisions recently, I feel fairly confident he'd bench him if Amelia really was doing so much better.