3. Milan v Atalanta

Hopefully we will see some improvement in our team. Despite the win we were pretty poor during long periods last time at Bologna, not to mention the first game against Samp. It's hard to imagine a free-flowing attacking game with our current roster, but this is modern football: a relatively solid defense, an aggressive midfield and two or three talented guys upfront on an acceptably good day might be enough to get the job done again.

The two games succeeding this will be really crucial and will possibly be a measuring stick of this group

MILAN - Here's Milan's 24 man squad called up for the match against Atalanta tomorrow evening at 20.45:

Abbiati, Amelia, Gabriel, Abate, Acerbi, Antonini, Bonera, De Sciglio, Mesbah, Mexes, Yepes, Zapata, Ambrosini, Boateng, De Jong, Constant, Emanuelson, Flamini, Nocerino, Traorè, Bojan, El Shaarawy, Niang, Pazzini.

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MILAN - Coach Colantuono has called up 21 players for trip to the San Siro tomorrow evening. Here's the list:

Bellini, Biondini, Bonaventura, Brivio, Cazzola, Cigarini, Consigli, De Luca, Denis, Ferri, Frezzolini, Lucchini, Manfredini, Matheu, Moralez, Parra,
Polito, Raimondi, Scozzarella, Stendardo, Troisi.

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Montolivo and Schelotto are the prominent absentees in this tie, I've yet to see a convincing predicted eleven and I'm quite unsure what to expect tonight.

The defence is of greatest interest in my opinion, with Mexes ideally requiring game time before being thrown into the Champions League tie, however I expect to see two of Acerbi, Bonera and Zapata ahead of him for the moment. De Sciglio's use given the return of Abate will also be of interest, hopefully we get to see whether he will be viewed as a realistic prospect on the left in the eyes of our coaching staff.

If Bonera starts over Acerbi and Zapata

Forza Rossoneri wrote:If Bonera starts over Acerbi and Zapata

Lol of course. I will NEVER understand how this guy gets playing time. He must be a f***ing superstar at training sessions.

Tell me why. Allegri is a lousy manager, no tactical sense and the player he choose is beyond my imagination. His subs are completely senseless. I don't get why Antonini over DS, Nocerino from bench. Pazzini is more anonymous than ES still ES get sub by Bojan. On other note, Boateng isn't that great, more like a super sub or just sub for Trequartista role to me.. I'm here just to voice my opinion anyway.

cant blame allegri when all we have is shit players,only nocerino would have made a difference and thats a big maybe

The team needs to be have more confidence, im not just giving up on this squad just yet.

I do find it weird how Bonera get to play. He must be very consistent at trainings after all these years and knows his ways with the managers. He is horrible in the air, I mean, for a defender it is very bad.

I see the exact same pattern being used by Allegri when it comes to Bojan, and how he was deployed at Roma, a few minutes near the end, not getting into the match.

Allegri is pretty stubborn with his substitutes, even when things are going bad, he wants to hold on for as long as possible.

And Constant playing for a club like Milan

Our build up play is now perfect for Serie A teams, its too slow and easy to read.

Atalanta is a well organized side though, but still, losing at home without having any really good chances Imo

before i even blame allegri.... this result is so justified. atalanta deserved victory... hell... they could have scored 3-0 ... this performance was worse than sampdoria.

antonini plays fugly.... he is a disaster... total disaster. if guy like papastatopoulus plays one bad game get kicked out forever, guys like antonini doesnt deserve to set a foot inside parking lot of milanello.

before i blame on defense, i want to talk about attack. incredibly incredibly selfish mindess game. boateng.. especially..... i get it he wants to score, he wants to score spectacular goals, his determination and grit is unquestionable. but f... kin trying to score from impossible angle or trying to score long range goals when i saw in the game, abate, pazzini el sharawwy had space in front of them. unbelieveable.
one or two times i understand.... boateng he wants to do it all by himself. just incredibly selfish. not to mention i lost how many counterattacks he blew, cant even dribble past a defender. just f... annoying
i would like boateng to think about teamwork.

this result was bound to happen. knew if montolivo is out, then there is no visionary player, guy with brain who can see free space, and feed ball to forwards.

i hate this pressing game from midfield. in pressing oriented football, with s...ty players we have, we cant take out their midfield and once we make mistake in the front, the whole midfield will get exposed. i hate this allegri style of him preferring pressing game.

the defense was a total disaster. antonini was the worst player on the pitch. if not for abate we would have conceded more. acerbi shows some calmness persona and suddenly he struggles to even make a simple pass and clearance.

galliani deserves this result.... he is the biggest culprit to why milan is just a disaster atm followed by allegri, and all this bunch of mediocre players.

the only players i saw play good were abate, bojan, nocerino and de jong and even de jong was finding it difficult.

oh yes,and I forgot to mention how much i love boateng

Ganso wrote:oh yes,and I forgot to mention how much i love boateng

i would prefer 37 old seedorf, kicked out pirlo, or branded a finished past his best kaka anyday .... ANYDAAAAAAAAAAY ahead of guys like boateng or urby...

isnt it weird, we dont even have a solid number 1 fan favorite. what have we become..

boateng is living off the momentum from the barca game

AC Milan must regain confidence. Hopefully in the upcoming champions league fixture

the fact that Milan supporters still go to the games shocks me.

I would never support a team who's management treats the fans like garbage.

This started with Kaka and hasn't ended since. This is the worst Milan has ever been.

How does Ambrosini start? can someone answer me that?
Bonera?? Antonini?? It seems like allegri is very biased and favors italians.

The sooner Berlusconi sells the team, the better.

I am not even going to waste my energy and rant, all I am going to say is, disgusting, just disgusting..

our worst home start in 82 years

Ganso wrote:oh yes,and I forgot to mention how much i love boateng

Not even his fault. With Montolivo out, He was forced to take up the entire creative burden and he couldn't do it. We failed to sign another creative mid in the transfer market and this is what we get for it. We all knew it would be a disaster when Monty got injured.

Boateng never was a creative player with or without monto,he could be a midfielder for barca and he wouldn't even try to create because all he cares about is scoring,his teammates come second,at least that is what it looks like.....it used to be cool when we had ibra and he created so many chances for Boa (and everyone else) but now that characteristic of his is just messing up our play which is already super poor without Robinho and Montolivo

PLAYER RATINGS

STARTING XI

Abbiati - Solid and reliable. Made a couple of great saves, not at fault for the goal. 7

Abate - Not up to standard at all. Moralez had his way with him for most of the game. Back when Abate was at his glorious peak he was still covered by Gattuso, who played DM on the right. We no longer have the squad depth to use one player to cover another's shortcomings. De Sciglio is a better defender, gets forward more and is a far better crosser of the ball. He should take Abate's starting spot immediately. 3

Acerbi - Did a poor job marking Denis, but let his opponent get too much space at times. Far to slow to get to the ball and struggled for pace aginst the likes of Biondini. 3

Bonera - No sense of positioning, can't tackle and has no speed. In my opinion, he was most at fault for the goal for allowing Denis to shield the ball in our box for ages. Another instance of idiocy (around 84 mins) was when he left his man in the box and went back to the goal-line to block the eventual shot instead, allowing the man on the ball to pass it to the player Bonera had left - who was only denied by a superb Abbiati save. Zapata needs to replace him ASAP, even Mexes. He should be our last choice at the back. 1

Antonini - Another uninspiring performance. Gave the ball away too often, doesn't communicate well with the other defenders and leaves big gaps behind him when he moves forward. 3

Ambrosini - Played as the destroyer quite well. We looked most dangerous after Ambrosini was able to win the ball back in midfield. 6

De Jong - Obviously hasn't settled in yet. Should've been covering Cigarini for the goal, but was a few steps behind. 4

Emanuelson - Uses his pace to good effect and has good crossing ability, but is a poor decision-maker. 5

Boateng - Forced to play a more creative role and suffered because of it. He tried too hard to spark something on his own when he should've looked for a cutting pass inside the defence or passing it around the box instead of taking a long shot. 5

El Shaarawy - Looked most likely to score, was the only forward who ran at the defenders and really challenged them. 6

Pazzini - Anonymous, but starved of supply. 3

SUBS

Nocerino - Made some good runs into the box. 4

Bojan - Didn't do anything of note. 3

COACH

Allegri - Awful line-up. Why Bonera? He should be the last resort. Giving Acerbi a chance was fair enough because he's somewhat of an unknown quantity, but playing next to that bonehead is doing him no favours. Also, playing 2 defensive midfielders in a game where our only creative mid is injured = suicide. With each match, Allegri's head gets closer to the guillotine.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Bonera and Acerbi out, Zapata and Mexes in.

2. De Sciglio to start over Abate at RB.

3. It pains me to say this, but Emanuelson should be given the chance at LB. Didac is injured, DS is needed on the right and we can't get much worse than Antonini.

4. Boateng to be played deeper in midfield. With the departure of Ibra, they days of Prince Trequartista are clearly over.

5. Switch to a four-man midfield. We need more men behind the ball to help retain possession, cover for our porous defence, and increase supply to our forwards.

6. SES to retain his starting spot. He has hunger and intent that our other players lack.

SUGGESTED FORMATION FOR ANDERLECHT


*Should be replaced with Pato if he is fit.
**Should be replaced with Montolivo if he is fit.

Abate isn't really good at going forward. Can't dribble (even with his speed) can't cross. Antonini and Bonera are sh*ts. I won't surprise/am awaiting to call for Allegri head. Overrated and deceived by him. I thought he could promote some exciting youth but turns out rigid decision on stupid old bonera and antonini. Ambrosini is good imo. But he can come off from bench or play for only half of the match!

Emanuelson was the best player Milan had on the pitch...
But Boateng was playing all by himself, like he wasn't on any team & everyone was the opponent, even the fans because most of his shots were after them...

I actually think if Milan put Emanuelson where Boateng is & use a Midfield of De Jong, Montolivo & Nocerino with striker pair of Bojan & Pazzini, they will get better results...

Boateng is too selfish while Bojan is a creative forward to be beside the pure striker Pazzini with Emanuelson just behind they with great pace & passes...

Just bizarre days for us Milanisti. I won’t go on my usual Berlusconi and Milan board rant but this has to be the worst squad we have had since 1985. I actually thought we had a decent time in general play vs Atalanta bar being susceptible to some of their surprise counters. Allegri should revert back to the 4-3-3 played vs Bologna as it certainly was more fluid and less predictable than this 4-3-1-2 *modification he played. And yes, the it was a 4-3-3 vs Bologna. I have to say Abbiati has been great for us especially since Allegri arrived but we need to invest in someone else now. Knee jerk? No as there is a reason he has literally never saved a penalty despite his good judgement of trajectory. The problem is he is just mind-blowing-ly slow. Some of his saves as especially attempt to saves Cigarini’s goal actually made me think he distorted the time barrier as so slow he looked it was embarrassing. Urby had impact but was minimal and aside from trying too much with the ball his good runs were marred by his classical decision making which is infuriating. I think Abate and Antonini were solid enough despite some of their criticism as Antonini has improved in some aspects of attack despite leaving his positions open as he has too much unwarranted criticism out of pure fashion. Acerbi’s problem is his lack of pace yet I have been impressed overall by him. The problem is he has Danielle Bonera beside him which is one of Allegri’s greatest flaws in playing Bonera. Is Bonera a superstar in training? What does Bonera have to make him start above……any other option in CB? Its frustrating. De Jong to me has exceeded expectations as he didn’t do to well in his defensive cover yet this can be forgiven as he cannot combine (yet) with Ambrosini. Yet he has shown a certain positive thought in his surprisingly accurate passing and at least spreading the play which wasn’t being done by anyone else. Pazzini I can’t find much fault in since we know he isn’t to efficient without service as this is understandable given his playing style. SES for me was the best player for us and rewarded our faith in him with some flashes of brilliance yet has to learn to influence the game a little more. I personally always felt he can play a TQ position given his potential for sharp passing as superb movement. Its certainly better than our current option in Boateng. Speaking of Boateng, I don’t know if it was Melissa Satta he was trying to impress or just being Boateng. He was by far our worst player. Without Ibra to take away from his shortcomings Boateng is as suitable to a Trequartista as Bonera would be. I don’t know if he thinks he is Zola with his hollywood dribbles and passing, but worst was how he attempted at least 49053420604803560 long range shots and most of them with his weaker left foot. Not ONE of them were on target. He is infuriating for a manager in the tactical sense. Overall with this squad Allegri has literally been put on the plate for being fired and a scapegoat for Milan’s shortcomings. Yes we have Pato, Robinho, Mexes etc injured yet it will only paper over the expanding fissures. Formations changes can work yet our squad has such a limited tactical sense that it will be hard to squeeze more out of them. Next game formation must be changed yet most glaringly we need more movement from the players as it was just predictable. Bojan needs to be played more often since I have had faith in his ability and flair for quite a while. SES needs to be played in a free false 9 or at least left sided role to afford him his creative and dribbling freedom. Pazzini needs more service aerially and on the ground. While Boateng needs to find a better role for himself and grow a brain. I anticipate the positivity of Didac coming back into play since he was one of La Liga’s best LBs last season while Mexes can provide more stability in the back. Zapata never convinced me at all yet hopefully will this term.

Forza Rossoneri wrote:PLAYER RATINGS

STARTING XI

Abbiati - Solid and reliable. Made a couple of great saves, not at fault for the goal. 7

Abate - Not up to standard at all. Moralez had his way with him for most of the game. Back when Abate was at his glorious peak he was still covered by Gattuso, who played DM on the right. We no longer have the squad depth to use one player to cover another's shortcomings. De Sciglio is a better defender, gets forward more and is a far better crosser of the ball. He should take Abate's starting spot immediately. 3

Acerbi - Did a poor job marking Denis, but let his opponent get too much space at times. Far to slow to get to the ball and struggled for pace aginst the likes of Biondini. 3

Bonera - No sense of positioning, can't tackle and has no speed. In my opinion, he was most at fault for the goal for allowing Denis to shield the ball in our box for ages. Another instance of idiocy (around 84 mins) was when he left his man in the box and went back to the goal-line to block the eventual shot instead, allowing the man on the ball to pass it to the player Bonera had left - who was only denied by a superb Abbiati save. Zapata needs to replace him ASAP, even Mexes. He should be our last choice at the back. 1

Antonini - Another uninspiring performance. Gave the ball away too often, doesn't communicate well with the other defenders and leaves big gaps behind him when he moves forward. 3

Ambrosini - Played as the destroyer quite well. We looked most dangerous after Ambrosini was able to win the ball back in midfield. 6

De Jong - Obviously hasn't settled in yet. Should've been covering Cigarini for the goal, but was a few steps behind. 4

Emanuelson - Uses his pace to good effect and has good crossing ability, but is a poor decision-maker. 5

Boateng - Forced to play a more creative role and suffered because of it. He tried too hard to spark something on his own when he should've looked for a cutting pass inside the defence or passing it around the box instead of taking a long shot. 5

El Shaarawy - Looked most likely to score, was the only forward who ran at the defenders and really challenged them. 6

Pazzini - Anonymous, but starved of supply. 3

SUBS

Nocerino - Made some good runs into the box. 4

Bojan - Didn't do anything of note. 3

COACH

Allegri - Awful line-up. Why Bonera? He should be the last resort. Giving Acerbi a chance was fair enough because he's somewhat of an unknown quantity, but playing next to that bonehead is doing him no favours. Also, playing 2 defensive midfielders in a game where our only creative mid is injured = suicide. With each match, Allegri's head gets closer to the guillotine.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Bonera and Acerbi out, Zapata and Mexes in.

2. De Sciglio to start over Abate at RB.

3. It pains me to say this, but Emanuelson should be given the chance at LB. Didac is injured, DS is needed on the right and we can't get much worse than Antonini.

4. Boateng to be played deeper in midfield. With the departure of Ibra, they days of Prince Trequartista are clearly over.

5. Switch to a four-man midfield. We need more men behind the ball to help retain possession, cover for our porous defence, and increase supply to our forwards.

6. SES to retain his starting spot. He has hunger and intent that our other players lack.

SUGGESTED FORMATION FOR ANDERLECHT

Pazzini* -----
---El Shaarawy
Nocerino ---------------- Boateng
De Jong - Ambrosini**
Emanuelson - Zapata - Mexes - De Sciglio
Abbiati

*Should be replaced with Pato if he is fit.
**Should be replaced with Montolivo if he is fit.

Forza you know I always like your posts and analysis but I must strongly disagree here.

Abbiati was solid most of the game yet how can he not be at fault for the goal considering he fell to the ground as slowly as he possibly can. His reflexes now often fail him as it really was a routine save. Abate also was solid aside from nervy moments as he has actually proven many times he can be reliable without Gattuso. Its far to early to say De Sciglio is a better defender than him. He also provided 3 great crosses unfortunately squandered by Pazzo and Boateng. Antonini was out of position yet rarely troubled in the back. Way too harsh on Acerbi who simply was left by Bonera who I wonder how he actually starts. Acerbi lacks pace yet has been reliable for us in these past 3 games. He showed his talent last year at Cheivo and must be given a chance. This must be re-looked into. De Jong also spread play well in adherence to our predictable movement and did well to cope with some of the counters. I don't see how Boateng can receive a 5 when the rest receive a worse score. Boateng as mentioned was the worst player on the pitch and squandered at least 20 minutes with his hollywood play. Sadly he also can't be played deep since he lacks the complete tactical sense and movement to play there.

First off, on reacting to the game I was a bit harsh in the ratings (but not the comments) to Abate and Acerbi, and too lenient with Abbiati and Boateng. On review, I think the rest are pretty accurate.

With the goal, I suspect that Abbiati's vision was obscured by a player. He did make 2 other superb saves though.

Antonini is simply not good enough at LB. He cuts in to often and it becomes predictable. In one instance where he tried to pass to the centre of the field, he sent it straight to an Atalanta player, starting a counter for them. I want Didac back too, but he's out till matchday 8 at the least.

I did write that Acerbi was brought down by Bonera's awful performance. Nevertheless, his lack of pace is worrying- even Yepes looked faster v Samp. Speed is not the be all and end all, but it is a relevant concern. Ultimately, I agree that he needs to be given a chance - and I wrote that in my previous post too.

Abate deserved better than a 3 rating, but many of his crosses were off target and Moralez was giving him hell on the wing. I rated DS's performances in the first 2 games highly and would very much like to see him integrated into the starting XI sooner rather than later.

I think Boateng has to be played deeper than TQ. What he is demonstrating a in the TQ position at the moment is 'lack of tactical sense and movement'. He is not a naturally tactical player, but he has played well in a deep position before and can at least show his dynamism when in a B2B role.

I like De Jong, but it was obvious that he hasn't settled yet. I have confidence that he will become one of our team's most important players.

I haven't liked what I have seen from Mexes of late, and I beleive Zapata can return to his Udinese form based on some decent pre-season games. In any case, we can agree that both are better than Bonera.