Re: Arsenal Vs Milan

by Dnmac4 Tue Mar 06, 2012 11:31 pm

Arquitecto wrote:
dnmac4 wrote:
Arquitecto wrote:So why did Milan play so badly?

Simple. When you go into a game with a 4 goal advantage. Its quite a predicament and more than it seems.

Allegri (who's weakness is motivating) is not known for taking ALL games seriously as I can provide ample evidence.

Milan obviously did not know whether to absorb the pressure or attack full on.

When you don't have such a clear and distinct goal, there is confusion and lack of conviction in your play.

Hence Deportivo where the game was lost PURELY by mistakes as witnessed today.

Which is why Milan should not be judged as a team by their performance today in any spectrum.

I'm by no mean judging Milan as a whole by todays performance and what your saying plays into what happened today but there was something else that you just can't quite put your finger on. It was almost a total lack of energy or caring what the outcome was.

Even when they won they didn't seem to be very happy or even relieved it was over they were just kind of walking around.

I mean don't get me wrong Arsenal played great in the first half but they were tired as hell in the second half and by no means did they put in a killer defensive performance. Milan on any other day scores at least one goal in that game. But this game again I don't know how to say it other then they looked like someone put sleeping pills in there gatorade. They were so lethargic it was incredible, I've never seen anything like it before.

Well said Mac.

I'll give you examples on matches since Allegri has came in which our team has been too complacent.

Last year with Ajax winning 2-0 at the San Siro in the final match in the group stage even though we were through already.

Last year when Milan pretty much had the Scudetto in the bag while Allegri disappointingly did not instill the "winning mentality" for those matches despite our solid mentality throughout the season.

Same situation as the Ajax match this year except with Plznen tying 2-2 in the final match through more complacency and mistakes.

It simply means that Allegri's sophisticated tactics are very good, but he does a poor job of motivating and instilling the "correct" mentality for these types of situations.

I actually predicted something close to this as so did other sharper Milan fans.

Which is why Ibra was incredibly complacent and indifferent today as he faced the same lack of game plan sitting on a 4 goal advantage. These types of situations have been well-documented as pre match preparation in MENTALITY is the KEY basis in having a good result. If not, their will be lethargy and goals will flow mostly through unprecedented mistakes.

I know you are a fan of Ibra (are you?) as he has been superb this week with his MOTM performance against Palermo and Croatia.

But this also does not reflect upon him as as although he was actually quite solid in sorts since he intelligently dropped deep and created many plays.

But luckily, our team woke up in the 2nd half.

Yes, big Ibra fan. My whole mom's side of the family is Swedish so I've always rooted for Sweden.

by Dnmac4 Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:14 am

Also, has anyone else seen a CL game between two big sides where on both sides of the field there were massive holes to run into all over the place. I mean there was so much space to play with on the field it was insane.

by The Franchise Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:19 am

Well tons of misplaced passes and turnovers plus Arsenal were trying to make it as open as possible, those two factors add up to thi.

Milan back 4 defended deep, the forwards didnt work back much, alot of ground to cover for just 3 Milan players, one of whom Van Bommell, who is about as slow as Sergi Busquets lol

by Dnmac4 Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:24 am

Yea, it was a good strategy by Wenger / Arsenal, there were goals to be had all over the field. He predicted what Milan were going to do perfectly.

by The Franchise Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:28 am

Well I dont really think Milan did anything out there.

I think they missed Boateng horribly and the team lacked any sort of connection offensively while having the problems I mentioned defensively.

I am really getting the importance of Boateng now and how without him, there isnt the connectivity needed.

I dont think Milan really had anything in mind other than see out the game and using 3 forwards, perhaps catch Arsenal quickly if they push their fullbacks too far forward, especially Gibbs.

Such big leads are really dangerous and as much as you want them, you have to really kill the 2nd game off without inviting pressure on yourself.

by Dnmac4 Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:31 am

Yea, I was thinking the same thing. It's like in american football they say prevent defense prevents wins.

Boateng was a huge miss for them out there it was obvious.

I was thinking after the first goal Arsenal scored Milan were going to say F*** it and go after a goal and end the thing but in the end there strategy worked so who am I to say anything.

by Arquitecto Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:38 am

I actually don't think it was Boateng's absence.

The problem was Allegri as I predicted simply did not prepare the teams mentality and sole objective in discipline and game plan for Milan.

In the 1st leg we had conviction in our plan and stuck with it.

Today, our players clearly went in with no plan and as Dani pointed out, didn't really do anything or anything tactically as the latter is highly uncharacteristic of a side which bases itself on its footballing IQ.

The spaces left were down to Milan.

Aside from MvB who as usual was superb in his disciplinary and tactical sense, Nocerino tends to be in massive disarray and confusion in situations like these While Urby has gotten used to a TQ role along with the fact that playing his as RM is very foreign to his usual Left WING role.

Thankfully, the highly intelligent Aquilani stabilized the gaps and dictated some of the play (slightly) to make the 2nd half difference.

Also, nobody pointed out that for the first time since last year we played a 4-3-3 compared to our usual 4-3-1-2 or 4-1-2-1-2.

Also, Dani again was spot on this statement.

Also, I can post the stats for the 2nd half if you want which shows the massive disparity in the 1st and 2nd

"Such big leads are really dangerous and as much as you want them, you have to really kill the 2nd game off without inviting pressure on yourself."

by Grande_Milano Wed Mar 07, 2012 1:57 am

Glad I didnt watch that disgrace. Mesbah proved to be another wtf signing huh according to text translation.

Somebody beat the crap out of the team, or they ll lose to Lyon/Benfica in Tottenham style last year

by Guest Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:02 am

Arsenal should of won this with ease, gave up the ghost in the second half like a rabbit in headlights. Saw the finish line was close and freaked out.

by Lord Spencer Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:17 am

Crimson wrote:Arsenal should of won this with ease, gave up the ghost in the second half like a rabbit in headlights. Saw the finish line was close and freaked out.

Or....they run so much the first half they got tired, especially with their main protagonist Ox being a 19 yr old.

Also, it has something to do with both the impossibility of a team to play 90 minutes of the fast paced football Arsenal played in the first half, as well as Milan getting their act together.

by The Verminator Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:21 am

Crimson wrote:Arsenal should of won this with ease, gave up the ghost in the second half like a rabbit in headlights. Saw the finish line was close and freaked out.

[quote="Crimson"]Neg repped? Thought it was removed?

by Arquitecto Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:46 am

Crimson wrote:Arsenal should of won this with ease, gave up the ghost in the second half like a rabbit in headlights. Saw the finish line was close and freaked out.

Not really... This is a far too simplistic way to explain things.

Far from it.

by halamadrid2 Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:57 am

didnt watch this game as i was at the St Andrew watching Brum vs Chelsea

but by the looks of things Ibra had a horrid game sleepwalking all over the pitch, Robinho did ok and Emanuelson was just like Ibra ammarite??

btw isnt Mesbah a midfielder anyways??? surely Allegri didnt think he would do a great job against a team known to play through the flanks???

by BarcaLearning Fri Mar 09, 2012 10:48 am

Arquitecto wrote:
dnmac4 wrote
I'm by no mean judging Milan as a whole by todays performance and what your saying plays into what happened today but there was something else that you just can't quite put your finger on. It was almost a total lack of energy or caring what the outcome was.

Even when they won they didn't seem to be very happy or even relieved it was over they were just kind of walking around.

I mean don't get me wrong Arsenal played great in the first half but they were tired as hell in the second half and by no means did they put in a killer defensive performance. Milan on any other day scores at least one goal in that game. But this game again I don't know how to say it other then they looked like someone put sleeping pills in there gatorade. They were so lethargic it was incredible, I've never seen anything like it before.

Well said Mac.

I'll give you examples on matches since Allegri has came in which our team has been too complacent.

Last year with Ajax winning 2-0 at the San Siro in the final match in the group stage even though we were through already.

Last year when Milan pretty much had the Scudetto in the bag while Allegri disappointingly did not instill the "winning mentality" for those matches despite our solid mentality throughout the season.

Same situation as the Ajax match this year except with Plznen tying 2-2 in the final match through more complacency and mistakes.

It simply means that Allegri's sophisticated tactics are very good, but he does a poor job of motivating and instilling the "correct" mentality for these types of situations.

I actually predicted something close to this as so did other sharper Milan fans.

Which is why Ibra was incredibly complacent and indifferent today as he faced the same lack of game plan sitting on a 4 goal advantage. These types of situations have been well-documented as pre match preparation in MENTALITY is the KEY basis in having a good result. If not, their will be lethargy and goals will flow mostly through unprecedented mistakes.

I know you are a fan of Ibra (are you?) as he has been superb this week with his MOTM performance against Palermo and Croatia.

But this also does not reflect upon him as as although he was actually quite solid in sorts since he intelligently dropped deep and created many plays.

But luckily, our team woke up in the 2nd half.

Nice post, and I think at least thats part of it... btwm Basque County as in the place of the Bilbao team? Do u support them apart from Milan? Razz

by M99 Sat Mar 10, 2012 10:48 am

Spot on, Dani and Arq. Took the words out of my mouth.

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