About Nocerino, I don't know though. He's not technically gifted, does not have great passing range, tackling is average and the only plus he has is his tenacity + work rate.

In Azzurri's lineup, there's De Rossi who is a better defensive player (IMO) than Nocerino in almost every aspect, then Aquilani + Montolivo who have better passing range and there's Thiago Motta too which IMO is a Nocerino-esque players but better.

IMO for now, he's good enough to stay in the squad as a backup for any of those midfielders in case of injury.

Although I note that Nocerino is relatively young (for Italy's standard), and if he develops properly in 1/2 years time, he may be able to keep that spot for a foreseeable future.

Just found this lolz

If I were an Italian,i wouldn't want nocerino on the starting team.he isn't technically very gifted as dosto said

In the last few weeks before Wednesdays' match up until minutes to the game, I was deeply wondering why we are like this.

I thought why should Barca fans sleep like a baby before big clasico games, confident that the best Real could do, is hold them with the help of bundles of luck, some happy coincidences and maybe a few mishaps by Vic Valdes.

I was curious to know what's happened to a beautiful team that used to gamely take on any, absolutely any given opponent - defensive or offensive, tight or wide-open, small or big.

We used to say, "Who gives a $h!t? Come what may, we will kick their butt. HARD."

But then, against a weak Arsenal team I was wetting my panties(!) out of fear for a terrible loss, or maybe a badly goalful draw.

Well, in case you haven't been informed yet, we did kick their butt. HARD.

My bro believed a goalless draw would be a lucky result for Milan, and he was damn right. Milan had looked ugly, disjointed and clueless lately, and even for a life-long fan like me, it was unimaginable to keep a clean-sheet against insanely quick attackers like Oxlade, RVP and Walcott.

Milan were sexy, Milan were commanding in every area, Milan looked really good.

For the first time in a long while, I was able to wear such a broad smile that was a serious threat to the shape of my face and could rupture my lips.
I was literally ecstatic to see Ibra, Boateng and Robinho occasionally produce flashes of what the new holy trinity - Xavi, Iniesta and Messi would be proud of.

Maybe Wenger's toothless team made too much space available to a phenomenal Ibra, or maybe Milan thought it's a matter of life and death and they should sweat blood, or maybe lottsathings, but one fact remains intact: WE WERE AMAZING.

I hate phrases that begin with "Let's hope...". I really do, but for once let me let myself loose and say it: Let's hope we keep this form, get even better, recover the true Pato, Nesta and Seedorf and get back to being what we were in 2007.

Do you know what we were? Yeah, we were underdogs, underdogs that ended up being true winners worthy of their Gold Medal. And we swept individual accolades too. Oh, don't forget this one too; we played really well too.


Milan filled my life with joy that night, when can I make it up to my love?
Someday...Someday.

In the last few weeks before Wednesdays' match up until minutes to the game, I was deeply wondering why we are like this.

I thought why should Barca fans sleep like a baby before big clasico games, confident that the best Real could do, is hold them with the help of bundles of luck, some happy coincidences and maybe a few mishaps by Vic Valdes.

I was curious to know what's happened to a beautiful team that used to gamely take on any, absolutely any given opponent - defensive or offensive, tight or wide-open, small or big.

We used to say, "Who gives a $h!t? Come what may, we will kick their butt. HARD."

But then, against a weak Arsenal team I was wetting my panties(!) out of fear for a terrible loss, or maybe a badly goalful draw.

Well, in case you haven't been informed yet, we did kick their butt. HARD.

My bro believed a goalless draw would be a lucky result for Milan, and he was damn right. Milan had looked ugly, disjointed and clueless lately, and even for a life-long fan like me, it was unimaginable to keep a clean-sheet against insanely quick attackers like Oxlade, RVP and Walcott.

Milan were sexy, Milan were commanding in every area, Milan looked really good.

For the first time in a long while, I was able to wear such a broad smile that was a serious threat to the shape of my face and could rupture my lips.
I was literally ecstatic to see Ibra, Boateng and Robinho occasionally produce flashes of what the new holy trinity - Xavi, Iniesta and Messi would be proud of.

Maybe Wenger's toothless team made too much space available to a phenomenal Ibra, or maybe Milan thought it's a matter of life and death and they should sweat blood, or maybe lottsathings, but one fact remains intact: WE WERE AMAZING.

I hate phrases that begin with "Let's hope...". I really do, but for once let me let myself loose and say it: Let's hope we keep this form, get even better, recover the true Pato, Nesta and Seedorf and get back to being what we were in 2007.

Do you know what we were? Yeah, we were underdogs, underdogs that ended up being true winners worthy of their Gold Medal. And we swept individual accolades too. Oh, don't forget this one too; we played really well too.


Milan filled my life with joy that night, when can I make it up to my love?
Someday...Someday.

I saw Iras as the newest poster on this thread... instant +1.

Read the article... great read, as usual.

I think is encapsulates all of the emotions of every Milanista before, during and after this game; anxiety... surprise... jubilation.

Despite all the beauty Wednesday's game possessed, I have one big regret.

For all the remarkableness of our clean-sheet against Arsenal, I wished Thierry Henry could score... at least once.

I mean, think about it.
Imagine Shevchenko was loaned by Galliani for two months, and in his last game we were up against a giant in UCL...

Wouldn't you have loved it if he scored at least one goal despite our loss?

I don't care at all what Arsenal fans might feel about it, and I wouldn't feel sympathetic for them if they lost 8-0 instead of 4-0 to us, I just wanted one of the best ever strikers of the beautiful game to disappear in style, accompanied by San Siro crowd's deafening applause in a memorable five-minute standing ovation.

Thierry's grace, sportsmanship, impossibly-smooth running style, explosive sudden movements, two-meter steps while at full-throttle and unbelievable curlers would forever live in my memory.
And hey, nobody hasn't even come close to topping his signature skill in scoring from tight angles.

So long champ, maybe it just wasn't meant to be that night...

dostoevsky wrote:Our B team could easily lose 5-0 in London, however it would be good to see Mesbah, SES and Pato get the game time they need in the Champions League. The rest should pretty much be our standard team, with Aquilani hopefully returning as well.

Seriously ?? Even most of your mates don't believe it. I read their comments and they gave a pretty good analyse of the game . you should go look for.

Would just like to say to you guys....Congratulations on the win and the performance. You guys pressed from the first minute to the last and that was very impressive to see. However i'd also like to say that Arsenal didn't show up at all. As if we weren't interested in winning. I'm hoping that the team will lift for the next meet and we give you guys a good run for your money.

Nocerino's dedication and committment over Aquaman's fleeting talent anyday. Many people are quick to jump on the Aquilani is amazing bandwagon without adequate sustained proof that he is.

Nocerino is not exactly a lumbering fool, he's a reasonably talented all rounder box-to-box midfielder, plus the heart of a lion.

I don't think the National Side would suffer with him in it in the long-term. I understand if Prandelli could he would utilise Cassano, Giovinco, Aquilani and Montolivo (provided all fit and available) all at once but its not really necessary to have them all operating in the same game.. Take a pick but you can sacrifice one of those players to have that dependable midfield workrate of Nocerino.

DDR already offers italy that workrate...starters should be,imo:

-Marchisio-Pirlo-DDR
--------Giovinco------

Giovinco ?

Yeah,why?not like Italy has many ams

Proud of my Milan, proud of the old and young Dutchmen playing again with Milan. Of course, they not Gullit, Van Basten and Rikjaard, but good.

CroInter wrote:

CroInter wrote:Tottenham

Whatcha gonna say now troll?

:dance:

Bénin wrote:

dostoevsky wrote:Our B team could easily lose 5-0 in London, however it would be good to see Mesbah, SES and Pato get the game time they need in the Champions League. The rest should pretty much be our standard team, with Aquilani hopefully returning as well.

Seriously ?? Even most of your mates don't believe it. I read their comments and they gave a pretty good analyse of the game . you should go look for.

Van Persie vs Bonera would be hilariously painful to watch.

Am I at all concerned? Not at all, Allegri would never be so foolish as to field a seriously understrength team unless he was forced to by injuries. We have the space to shuffle a few players close to the first team through the line-up such as Mesbah, SES etc however that is all.

In the short term Pirlo, Marchisio, DDR, Montolivo and Aquilani all rightfully stand ahead of Nocerino. Poli will shortly also join those names. He is a useful box-to-box player who has earnt his spot in our team, however he has also flourished in our team thanks to Allegri's system which suits his style perfectly. His suitability for Prandelli's team and for international football is entirely another question. He has survived his first major test against Arsenal, however it was against a midfield which didn't press and didn't hold its shape well either.

As for my opinion that he's a weapon of the system as opposed to improving in his own right, I wrote about it here, I shan't requote it as it is quite long. https://goallegacy.forumotion.com/t14052p18-is-nocerino-becoming-another-boateng#431351

Here we go again... do you think Wenger will rest players for this game and concentrate on the EPL?

Highly doubt he will rest anyone. I got a feeling Arsenal is going to go for it, I hope Milan will come out flying and not sit back.

If I'm not mistaken, Arsenal will be without Arteta and Ramsey come Wednesday, not to mention Wilshere's obvious absence and Diaby. As far as selection goes, all choices may be dictated to Wenger rather than being taken with some premeditated purpose in mind, to win for pride or simply to limit the damage, depending on how pessimistic Wenger is moving into this game.

At a guess, we might expect Song, Coquelin and Rosicky in the midfield trio, though it would be nice to have someone from the Arsenal section present their likely options.

It will be interesting to see who we have fit in this clash, with Ambrosini suspended, Muntari not on the list, Seedorf unavailable and question marks over Boateng and Aquilani, though hopefully the latter two will make it. Not even certain about Emanuelson yet, hopefully his fairly early substitution was simply a precaution.

I think the smart thing to do from their perspective is to rest half their team because the San Siro result is not going to be overturned, but I agree that they will still go for a result at their home ground- to build confidence for the EPL as much as anything else. Another defeat after 2 good wins would be demoralising for them.

There is no need for Milan to play a defensive game. If we play normally, we will get through this just fine. My biggest worry is picking up any more injuries or getting a player red carded (or unavailable from too many yellows) for the next round.

I think this match will almost entirely be decided by the magic of our forwards

I know Arsenal will go all out on the attack and I would say, if we can defend, we'll progress.
But even when I have the tiniest bit of doubt about defensive worries against a big team, The Monstro proves me wrong every time.

So If Ibra or Binho or whoever decides to attack, can kick a goal, game over for the gooners

If Arsenal go full out attack and go for it, our counter will absolutely destroy them. The way Urby, Robinho and Ibra have been countering attacks recently is actually amazing.

aquilani and boateng might make a comeback vs arsenal according to allegri (or just aquilani,cant remember).Nothing wrong with Emanuelson and Antonini

MVB is one card away from suspension.my team:

-------Abate-Mexes-TS-Mesbah---
----Aquilani/urby-Ambro-Noce------
--------------Urby/Boateng----------
---------Ibra-------------Robinho-----

Ganso wrote:aquilani and boateng might make a comeback vs arsenal according to allegri (or just aquilani,cant remember).Nothing wrong with Emanuelson and Antonini

MVB is one card away from suspension.my team:

-------Abate-Mexes-TS-Mesbah---
----Aquilani/urby-Ambro-Noce------
--------------Urby/Boateng----------
---------Ibra-------------Robinho-----

ambro is suspended for this match.

van bommel will def play. hope boateng/aquilani make it.

anyway we need to take this game with extreme precaution defend well, keep calm and composed in midfield, and take chances in counterattack. importantly not to concede a single goal because will give more motivation and belief for them to come back in game.

tie is not over yet, i think focal point of the game should be no different to that of san siro, defend, keep good possession not give ball away, and attack.

damn it.......but we cannot risk MVB,he will probably get carded.We already used Nocerino as a DM,we can do it again.Or aquilani.Either way,I really dont want Allegri to use MVB