AC Milan vs Pescara

Our final home game of the year sees us entertain 18th placed Pescara, who have lost their last four away matches but will be buoyed by their first win under their new coach last week, a 2-0 triumph over our Reserve side Genoa. This is an important opportunity to maintain our momentum and head into our crucial away clash against Roma next week on a high.

Our matchday squad is buoyed by the returns of Montolivo, Constant and Boateng, though Boateng and Mexes are slight risks not to start due to a knock and a bout of flu respectively. Bonera remains sidelined, though he is set to return to full training on Tuesday, whilst Acerbi has once more been excluded. Allegri has stated that Pato is out of consideration for a return until the New Year, despite his agent claiming that he is currently 100% fit.

Milan squad for Pescara: Abbiati, Amelia, Gabriel, Abate, Antonini, De Sciglio, Mexes, Yepes, Zapata, Ambrosini, Boateng, Constant, Emanuelson, Flamini, Montolivo, Muntari, Nocerino, Strasser, Bojan, El Shaarawy, Niang, Pazzini, Robinho

Despite Abbiati's return to fitness, Allegri stated in his press conference that Amelia will continue in goal at the present time, leaving perhaps three question marks concerning the starting line-up. Constant's return to the squad opens up the possibility of De Sciglio's return to the right flank, however it is highly likely that our fullback combination of Abate and De Sciglio will remain for this clash. In midfield, the question of De Jong's replacement has not yet resolved itself and Ambrosini is the likeliest option to assume responsibility, with both Strasser and Muntari both requiring match fitness and both having featured just a few days ago against Reggina in the Coppa Italia. Up front, a question mark remains over who will fill the void in the centre, with Robinho and El Shaarawy almost certainties for their respective wings. Pazzini has been in goal scoring form of late, whilst Boateng has often been preferred for his movement and work rate in this position, though his performances have remained lacklustre.

Pescara are a team that have begun the season poorly, however they are by no means impotent and they will have nothing to lose. Despite an eventual thumping on the scoreboard, their game against Napoli, the only time I have been able to observe them this season, showed them capable of holding their own in midfield. Intensity, concentration and width will be required from the onset to break Pescara before they can grab a foothold in the game and begin to grow in confidence, however our traditionally poor starts this season may allow Pescara the time they need to adjust to the task at hand and begin the process of stonewalling us, whilst the two team's tendencies to advance down opposing flanks may see our right hand side become highly congested, stifling much of our play. Our ability to switch play, keep the ball moving quickly and attack Pescara's defenders one on one will be key to navigating this match safely, whilst the likes of Montolivo and El Shaarawy should also take opportunities to shoot from distance. Allegri identified Weiss as Pescara's danger man, however attention must be paid on a whole to closing down long shots and improving our set piece defending.

Predicted line-up (4-3-3): Amelia; Abate, Mexes, Yepes, De Sciglio; Montolivo, Ambrosini, Nocerino; Robinho, Boateng, El Shaarawy

Forza Milan.

Would like to see more of Niang and Strasser, Bojan would be great as well since this is Pescara.

---------------Amelia
Abate---Mexes---Yepes-MDS
-------Monty----Strasser
Robinho---Bojan---SES
--------------Niang

But i know we will opt for Allegri's 4-3-3

I now believe that we are well and truly picking up form. Pescara however are in the drop zone and despite it being early days, they will want to pick up every point which they can manage to get out of it. Even though our defensive record is in a sad state, the form of their attack however is not helping, and whilst they did put a stop to their losing streak last game against Genoa, well.... lets just say beating a team sitting 19th in the league table isn't much of an indicator. They have players who can score against lower teams, but against the top ones, they just can't play well enough to save their own lives.
Given their next match after that is against Catania on the Friday (21st Dec), they may well rest some starters in hopes that they can take the points that they have a viable chance of taking. I am hoping for a good win to celebrate Milan's 113rd birthday. I believe that Berlusconi would visit the team again at Milanello, so that should be good for the morale.

OFFICIAL line-up vs. Pescara (4-3-3): Amelia; De Sciglio-Zapata-Yepes-Constant; Montolivo-Ambrosini-Nocerino; Robinho-Pazzini-El Shaarawy.

If the pivot were to be used, El Shaarawy, I would prefer Nocerino to Strasser at this stage, the latter definitely needs to be eased in, he was clearly labouring at times against Reggina as the game wore on, he's a few weeks at least away from full match fitness, which is hardly a surprise, having barely played a full top level match in months.

Personally I believe it's important to persist with the 4-3-3, however the 4-2-3-1 may be a useful change-up during the second half on occasion.

Our front line looked great! Pazzini is becoming a lot more mobile.

Zapata is our best center back, Allegri must see this now.

our new striker Pescara!!

Napoli and Fiorentina lost last week, while Roma and Inter lost this week.

Things are shaping up quite nicely. We can leapfrog Roma to 6th place if we win. Not to mention we have a pretty easy schedule for the next few games after that.

Champions league qualification is definitely possible. I'm feeling hopeful again.

About the game, I thought we were pretty disappointing, especially in midfield where we failed to get too much of a foothold, especially in the second half.

Yepes and Zapata both played great. I personally want to see a Zapata-Mexes partnership as Yepes could get exposed by pacy forwards in the champions league - or even against Roma. Let's see what Max decides to go with

Also Pazzini is decent, but a good CF will definitely help us A LOT. But I guesss that won't happen until the summer

How did you look without De Jong? i know some were worried about missing his defensive screening and great recycling of possession.

We looked sort of ok, although Ambro did a good job (mostly), he cant last 90 mins. We need to evaluate Muntari and Strasser, they are our hope for replacing NDJ.

Wow nice to you guys climbing the table again. This year will be a fight to the end for the 2nd and third CL spots. Hope to see you guys in it next year.

If you don't count the loss to Zenit (for obvious reasons) then we have been unbeaten since the loss to Fiorentina. Allegri truly seems to have turned it around this season as Juventus win was the turning point.

Quite an impressive match from us as beating Pescara with their new manager wasn't exactly easy. Overall we played a non-risky but well disciplined and intelligent match. Backline I had doubts on the Yepes-Zapata partnership as Yepes is a warrior but frequently exposed for pace while Zapata (despite what MTD says) is actually an atrocious CB and plays a risky game when its not even necessary. I don't know if it injuries but Acerbi and Mexes both deserve to start ahead of Zapata. De Jong was missed dearly as our midfield was overran at times and didn't hold possession nearly as well but Nocerino has found excellent form in the past 3 games and had a solid passing and positioning game, even chipped in with a goal ending with a superb performance and his season's best. Montolivo was Montolivo and looked pure class. De Sciglio was excellent and showed how important his two-footedness is along with his crosses. Constant was risky and reckless but with a combative performance he capped it off well for us.

Ambrosini showed how aged his legs are but he provided the driving force in offence for us with a tireless performance and contributed in one goal as its easy to see how effective he can be for us when rested.

Robinho was hot and cold as he terrorized the Abruzzi defence in the first half yet became complacent in the 2nd and rightly was subbed off. Still is a vital point to our attack. Pazzini lead the line well with his positioning and intelligent movement yet needs to improve his finishing if he will cement a starting place. SES statistically was our best player with 1 goal, 1 assist, 3 key passes and 2 through balls along with constantly causing troubles to our defence.

All in all an impressive game to continue our excellent run of form as Allegri must get credit for bringing this impressive run of form and resurrecting us to be merely 7 points from a 2nd place Inter.

Forza Milan e Andiamo.

Zapata never gets beat 1 v 1 ever, he is strong, fast and good in the air. I didn't see one play where he was "risky". I personally like the Acerbi-Zapata partnership. I do know though that Yepes as of right now is probably the best leader in the back line.

Also, this game showed another thing. The inconsistency of Robinho. In the first half, was world class unplayable something Messi could even envy. Second half, didn't even look better than Elvis Abruscato.

Milantildeath wrote:Zapata never gets beat 1 v 1 ever, he is strong, fast and good in the air. I didn't see one play where he was "risky". I personally like the Acerbi-Zapata partnership. I do know though that Yepes as of right now is probably the best leader in the back line.

He takes risks by his iffy positioning and always venturing outside the box for no apparent reason leaving Yepes or his partner exposed down the centre. His also tends read the game poorly when it comes to his decisions and clearly doesn't understand the meaning of a partnership with a fellow centre back as its almost cringworthy to see him break the zonal mark by just marking one man and not screening the defence. He did the same mistakes at Udinese, did it horribly at Villarreal and has been doing the same for Milan. Mexes, Acerbi, and Yepes are all better than him. His physical qualities are impresssive yet you are forgetting this isn't the EPL, this is Serie A where it takes a lot more than that. I trust your judgement but I disagree here.

Zapata is a red card threat every time i see him, considering he is on loan, i believe he shouldn't get that much game time over Acerbi and Mexes

Napoli, Inter, and Roma lost. only 6 points behind 3rd place... champions league hunt is well and truly on.

MILAN -- AC Milan midfielder Antonio Nocerino has dedicated his goal Sunday to the victims of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn.

After the game, an emotional Nocerino said he wanted to "take the chance to dedicate my goal to the American families of the children killed in the school, my thoughts are only with them."

The Italian scored after just 35 seconds of Milan's 4-1 win over Pescara.

Nocerino, who has two young children, says he doesn't "know how much the dedication will help the dead American children, but everything I did today was only for them."

AC Milan has a new supporter.

4 league wins in a row

A win against Roma would well and truly kick start our season.We're starting the new year with matches against Siena, Sampdoria, Bologna, Atalanta, Udinese, Cagliari and Parma. On paper, a quite manageable schedule.

Most crucial part of the season starts now!

"Why does every keeper turn into Dino Zoff against us"- Dostoevsky

El Shaarawy wrote:"Why does every keeper turn into Dino Zoff against us"- Dostoevsky

LOL, so true