EL92, Bojan, Niang starting tonight vs Samp

Super excited for this lineup and this game ... massive opportunity for Bojan and Niang, I really hope they both impress so that they stay in the lineup.

If Niang and Sapponara end up being really good for us, I will forgive Galliani and Braida for their recent mistakes.

We can go 6th if we win today, let's get the job done. Forza Milan

Only problem, is that we will be playing Niang as a winger, and Bojan as a st . Boateng is also expected to start as a lcm today, so that is good.

Hopefully, we get a win.

Actually, it's Bojan as a false 9, makes sense to be honest! Also, Niang isn't ready to play CF, Allegri is doing the right thing

OFFICIAL line-up vs. Sampdoria (4-3-3): Abbiati; De Sciglio-Zapata-Mexes-Constant; Montolivo-Ambrosini-Boateng; Niang-Bojan-El Shaarawy.

Barca better get ready

We should capitalize now and leapfrog Roma, im satisfied with the lineup but what concerns me is Sampdoria's grit and their momentum after defeating Juve

lol niang is made to play as RW.... and how ambrosini was even part of starting lineup when he was out injured against juve. what a waste of sub.

what can i say... just plain awful performance...

Niang was quite impressive in the 2nd half.

SES terrible performance today.

Bojan played okay, but seemed to have a lot of pressure on him.

I am a fan and im watching football for over 20 years but this was the worst performance ever. First Allegri should get fired. He does not know what he's doing. We won last title because of Zlatan and Silva. Allegri just was on the bench. He must go tonight. No tactics, no ideas, no nothing. And the players. OMG "players". Only one good today was Abbiati. They dont know what are they doing on the pitch. I dont know if they are blind or they not recognize colouors or what. I was trying to count all wrong passes and lost balls but it was imposible to count all of them. That Bojan is, i dont know what he is. He scored some goals in the last couple of games, but tonight he was awful. El shaarawy all of a sudden stoped to play football. I dont know if he'll score again this season. De Sciglio can't cross the ball in penalty area if he's life depends on it. Robinho's first touch is embarrassing. Our luck today was that Sampdoria didn't had a good day. Thank you guys for not scoring against our patetic team. And thanks to our team for making me lose my voice and making me so angry that i had to write all this crap in here.
BTW, happy birthday to Mario Yepes.

Agreed Celik. Just playing Ambro after that intense game against Juve shows how retarded Allegri is.

Reminds me of how he played TS in a cup game vs Juve just 3 days before the Barca game.Thiago got injured and we lost both the cup and in CL

Yes, today was really embarrassing. Allegri doesn't know what he is doing I don't know how he still has a job. Especially when I see him laughing and hugging other players after the game. WTF...it seems he has no passion to win...I have never seen Murinho happy and laughing satisfied with a tie.

Niang is garbage along with Bojan. Boateng needs to stop shooting its getting really annoying.

Ganso wrote:Reminds me of how he played TS in a cup game vs Juve just 3 days before the Barca game.Thiago got injured and we lost both the cup and in CL

I still hold a grudge against that move, TS should have been rested

I think it was just a bad game for the players and Sampdoria played really well, Niang was good and so was Bojan but just not good enough to break sampdoria's defence. El shaarawy was closed down by 2-3 players every time he touched the ball. Allegri must figure out a system in which each player is able find space and play fast flowing football. Often in the game, our players slowed the tempo were as we should have speeded it up since our forwards were pretty fast, Allegri decided not to play to our strengths which was the wrong choice. Overall, the we played really bad especially at defence. Our passing was the worst i have ever seen at european club level bar Monty.

However, I still have a little bit of trust in Allegri due to the amount of pressure that he is under, its not easy when the owner is keeping an eye on you, media talking about you all the time, and being criticized by the fans. I would give him till the end of this season, if he can improve our style of football then I would allow him to stay. He needs to learn to perform under pressure to become successful.

And after Niang was hit in the leg and for me it looked bad, instead of yelling for officials for yellow he was yelling to our teenage kid to get off the ground and go back to play.

Bojan was so wasteful, I was so angry at him. I don't see how people think he played good. He just got involed a lot but did nothing positive. Held onto the ball for too long as usual, got muscled of the ball, terrible decision making and horrendous shooting. Worse than Boateng shooting.

Niang showed flashes of skill but still looks really raw. El Shaarawy, while extremely prolific in front of goal, isn't going to tear apart a defence on his own. I think we desperately need a target man up front, this false 9 thing is not working at all. A big CF such as Balotelli will help create space for El Shaarawy and co.

Both our fullbacks were horrible today, so we were extremely ineffective down the wings. Constant looks he's lacking match fitness.

Abbiati and the CB's played decent today. It's funny our problems one game is our strenght the next game. This is quite a mess and qutie frankly we shouldn't be looking this terrible so late in the season.

At the same time, I can't really blame Allegri. This squad is terrible plain and simple

allegri ," We did not throw away points, as don’t forget we were facing a side that was capable of beating Juventus last week,”

Niang is a pleasant surprise. He was seen everywhere, not just in the midfield; he helped out with defense too. A bit like El Shaarawy when he was not dead tired. Bojan was also seen everywhere today (so I guess he is not a lazy ass), but he fumbled everywhere, leaving me speechless. Regardless, Niang should be tried out as CF, but I am not sure when the next such opportunity will arise.

celikmilan wrote:I am a fan and im watching football for over 20 years but this was the worst performance ever. First Allegri should get fired. He does not know what he's doing. We won last title because of Zlatan and Silva. Allegri just was on the bench. He must go tonight. No tactics, no ideas, no nothing. And the players. OMG "players". Only one good today was Abbiati. They dont know what are they doing on the pitch. I dont know if they are blind or they not recognize colouors or what. I was trying to count all wrong passes and lost balls but it was imposible to count all of them. That Bojan is, i dont know what he is. He scored some goals in the last couple of games, but tonight he was awful. El shaarawy all of a sudden stoped to play football. I dont know if he'll score again this season. De Sciglio can't cross the ball in penalty area if he's life depends on it. Robinho's first touch is embarrassing. Our luck today was that Sampdoria didn't had a good day. Thank you guys for not scoring against our patetic team. And thanks to our team for making me lose my voice and making me so angry that i had to write all this crap in here.
BTW, happy birthday to Mario Yepes.

Quite a couch armchair comment there.

-You criticize SES as if he has been under performing whereas he was our best player vs Juve let alone scoring. You don't point out that he just played 90 mins plus ET against Juventus midweek. Lets hold our horses here

-Won because of Zlatan and Silva. Yes, lets just count out how many games that Thiago Silva missed out during the Scudetto winning year, that Ibrahimovic missed 9 games in total during the same year along with scoring the exact same amount of goals as Robinho and Pato within the Serie A. Lets also count out all the other excellent performances by our team within the same year. Cherry picking at its finest.

-Lets also discount that this is the same Sampdoria who have had a solid run in form since sacking Ferrara along being very strong in the their home stadium. Did I forget to mention they beat Juventus in the Juventus Arena?

-MDS can't cross? So why does he have one of the best cross percentages within the Serie A along with being praised for that attribute? Is one game really going to change your opinion?


-Performance was bad yet that doesn't call for major changes and knee jerking. We have a system which works, while a manager who is actually willing to experiment rather than stick to something dull and workable like everyone else was pulling their hair about last season. No need to ring the alarm just yet. Lower your expectations given that this is a transition period tactically and by our squad.

-False 9 is the best possible idea. Having a CF as a reference point who can easily be isolated is suicide.

-Niang in trade is a RW and placing him within a False 9 role to which he has no training is is equally suicide.

-I agree Bojan cannot play False 9 since he is better off deeper and behind a striker.

JespSwe wrote:allegri ," We did not throw away points, as don’t forget we were facing a side that was capable of beating Juventus last week,”

You forgot to post this:

"We have thrown two points away," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia. "Before [the match] we had a team that had almost beaten Juventus but played well.

"We came [to Genoa] on the back of 120 minutes in the Coppa Italia. We had many chances and missed several openings, but it is important not to have conceded a goal. The back four worked pretty well tonight.

"I saw a good game, but it is clear that in the final third, things must pick up. Also, we still have to eliminate individual errors."

Arquitecto wrote:

celikmilan wrote:I am a fan and im watching football for over 20 years but this was the worst performance ever. First Allegri should get fired. He does not know what he's doing. We won last title because of Zlatan and Silva. Allegri just was on the bench. He must go tonight. No tactics, no ideas, no nothing. And the players. OMG "players". Only one good today was Abbiati. They dont know what are they doing on the pitch. I dont know if they are blind or they not recognize colouors or what. I was trying to count all wrong passes and lost balls but it was imposible to count all of them. That Bojan is, i dont know what he is. He scored some goals in the last couple of games, but tonight he was awful. El shaarawy all of a sudden stoped to play football. I dont know if he'll score again this season. De Sciglio can't cross the ball in penalty area if he's life depends on it. Robinho's first touch is embarrassing. Our luck today was that Sampdoria didn't had a good day. Thank you guys for not scoring against our patetic team. And thanks to our team for making me lose my voice and making me so angry that i had to write all this crap in here.
BTW, happy birthday to Mario Yepes.

Quite a couch armchair comment there.

-You criticize SES as if he has been under performing whereas he was our best player vs Juve let alone scoring. You don't point out that he just played 90 mins plus ET against Juventus midweek. Lets hold our horses here

-Won because of Zlatan and Silva. Yes, lets just count out how many games that Thiago Silva missed out during the Scudetto winning year, that Ibrahimovic missed 9 games in total during the same year along with scoring the exact same amount of goals as Robinho and Pato within the Serie A. Lets also count out all the other excellent performances by our team within the same year. Cherry picking at its finest.

-Lets also discount that this is the same Sampdoria who have had a solid run in form since sacking Ferrara along being very strong in the their home stadium. Did I forget to mention they beat Juventus in the Juventus Arena?

-MDS can't cross? So why does he have one of the best cross percentages within the Serie A along with being praised for that attribute? Is one game really going to change your opinion?


-Performance was bad yet that doesn't call for major changes and knee jerking. We have a system which works, while a manager who is actually willing to experiment rather than stick to something dull and workable like everyone else was pulling their hair about last season. No need to ring the alarm just yet. Lower your expectations given that this is a transition period tactically and by our squad.

-False 9 is the best possible idea. Having a CF as a reference point who can easily be isolated is suicide.

-Niang in trade is a RW and placing him within a False 9 role to which he has no training is is equally suicide.

-I agree Bojan cannot play False 9 since he is better off deeper and behind a striker.

JespSwe wrote:allegri ," We did not throw away points, as don’t forget we were facing a side that was capable of beating Juventus last week,”

You forgot to post this:

"We have thrown two points away," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia. "Before [the match] we had a team that had almost beaten Juventus but played well.

"We came [to Genoa] on the back of 120 minutes in the Coppa Italia. We had many chances and missed several openings, but it is important not to have conceded a goal. The back four worked pretty well tonight.

"I saw a good game, but it is clear that in the final third, things must pick up. Also, we still have to eliminate individual errors."

Can't agree about the false 9 being the "best possible idea". We cross the ball in so often and never score, that's largely because we have a "false 9" in there who can never win a header.

Having a big CF in there is a terrible idea because they can be easily isolated? Have to disagree here again. Having a big CF upfront draws the CB's toward him which creates space for the LW and RW to run into.

False 9 will only work if we play a quick passing game on the ground in my opinion. With the lack of creativity we have that's just not possible. Much rather hoof balls into the box with someone who can actually score through the air

KR10 wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:

celikmilan wrote:I am a fan and im watching football for over 20 years but this was the worst performance ever. First Allegri should get fired. He does not know what he's doing. We won last title because of Zlatan and Silva. Allegri just was on the bench. He must go tonight. No tactics, no ideas, no nothing. And the players. OMG "players". Only one good today was Abbiati. They dont know what are they doing on the pitch. I dont know if they are blind or they not recognize colouors or what. I was trying to count all wrong passes and lost balls but it was imposible to count all of them. That Bojan is, i dont know what he is. He scored some goals in the last couple of games, but tonight he was awful. El shaarawy all of a sudden stoped to play football. I dont know if he'll score again this season. De Sciglio can't cross the ball in penalty area if he's life depends on it. Robinho's first touch is embarrassing. Our luck today was that Sampdoria didn't had a good day. Thank you guys for not scoring against our patetic team. And thanks to our team for making me lose my voice and making me so angry that i had to write all this crap in here.
BTW, happy birthday to Mario Yepes.

Quite a couch armchair comment there.

-You criticize SES as if he has been under performing whereas he was our best player vs Juve let alone scoring. You don't point out that he just played 90 mins plus ET against Juventus midweek. Lets hold our horses here

-Won because of Zlatan and Silva. Yes, lets just count out how many games that Thiago Silva missed out during the Scudetto winning year, that Ibrahimovic missed 9 games in total during the same year along with scoring the exact same amount of goals as Robinho and Pato within the Serie A. Lets also count out all the other excellent performances by our team within the same year. Cherry picking at its finest.

-Lets also discount that this is the same Sampdoria who have had a solid run in form since sacking Ferrara along being very strong in the their home stadium. Did I forget to mention they beat Juventus in the Juventus Arena?

-MDS can't cross? So why does he have one of the best cross percentages within the Serie A along with being praised for that attribute? Is one game really going to change your opinion?


-Performance was bad yet that doesn't call for major changes and knee jerking. We have a system which works, while a manager who is actually willing to experiment rather than stick to something dull and workable like everyone else was pulling their hair about last season. No need to ring the alarm just yet. Lower your expectations given that this is a transition period tactically and by our squad.

-False 9 is the best possible idea. Having a CF as a reference point who can easily be isolated is suicide.

-Niang in trade is a RW and placing him within a False 9 role to which he has no training is is equally suicide.

-I agree Bojan cannot play False 9 since he is better off deeper and behind a striker.

JespSwe wrote:allegri ," We did not throw away points, as don’t forget we were facing a side that was capable of beating Juventus last week,”

You forgot to post this:

"We have thrown two points away," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia. "Before [the match] we had a team that had almost beaten Juventus but played well.

"We came [to Genoa] on the back of 120 minutes in the Coppa Italia. We had many chances and missed several openings, but it is important not to have conceded a goal. The back four worked pretty well tonight.

"I saw a good game, but it is clear that in the final third, things must pick up. Also, we still have to eliminate individual errors."

Can't agree about the false 9 being the "best possible idea". We cross the ball in so often and never score, that's largely because we have a "false 9" in there who can never win a header.

Having a big CF in there is a terrible idea because they can be easily isolated? Have to disagree here again. Having a big CF upfront draws the CB's toward him which creates space for the LW and RW to run into.

False 9 will only work if we play a quick passing game on the ground in my opinion. With the lack of creativity we have that's just not possible. Much rather hoof balls into the box with someone who can actually score through the air

KR while your premise of idea is correct you forget that we play a 4-3-3. Further expanding upon that, in the 4-3-3 it is very very likely for the CF to be easily isolated as you need someone with excellent movement, exploitation of the channels and all round conversion rate. Someone like a prime Fernando Torres and of course, Pippo Inzaghi would be exceptions. Clubs these days who play 4-3-3 play a False 9. Barcelona with Messi, Athletic Club with Llorente, Liverpool with Luis Suarez etc as the idea of a big CF playing in the 4-3-3 is outdated. Your idea is correct is another formation and system but unfortunately not in the one we play right now.

False 9 for us is useful because it eliminates any reference points, allows Boateng/Bojan to assist within the midfield and draws out defenders to a higher line and potentially stretch space based on the False 9's position.

@Arq

I agree with some of the things you said, but I think you are also neglecting the negatives of a false 9 system, the most significant of which is the lack of players in the box. With Bojan dropping deep and EL92 and Niang hugging the wings like they were yesterday, we struggled to get the ball into the box. Simply because there was no one in the box.

I think that was our biggest problem yesterday - since we did not get the ball into the box, despite having decent spells of possession, we didn't really create any clear cut chances. A big CF maybe more prone to getting isolated, but he would also provide us with a means to get the ball closer to the goal. I don't remember Bojan getting the ball even once inside the box.

That being said, I must also acknowledge that Bojan was forced to drop deep because of gap between midfield and defence in the middle. Perhaps an AM can kill 2 birds with 1 stone in that regard; create a link between midfield and attack and by doing so allow the CF to stay closer to goal

Niang needs to play centrally, he has all the characteristics to be a center forward rather than a winger. I don't know why Allegri insists on the "false 9" system, when it really only worked for Spain. We have looked our best with a true center forward on the pitch. I still think that Bojan is a great player, just not a lone up top in a 4-3-3. We have looked our best with Pazzini on the field because he a pure striker. Niang can do just as well and eventually be a lot better than Pazzini in the number 9 position. Bojan can still be useful to Milan on the wings, or if we need him to come off the bench in a game and add energy. Allegri is now seeing that it was a mistake to play him as a 9.

KR10 wrote:
Can't agree about the false 9 being the "best possible idea". We cross the ball in so often and never score, that's largely because we have a "false 9" in there who can never win a header.

100% agreed.

If Allegri wants to play a false nine, he needs to completely change our tactics.

Our strategy yesterday seemed to be, "Play exactly how we normally play, but instead of a CF I'm putting in a false nine. I don't know exactly what that is but Spain used it so it must be good."

The play style that fits with a false nine is one that involves a lot of passing and dribbling through the middle. We were getting the ball out wide and crossing at every opportunity, but forgetting that we had no one in there that could win it.

If Allegri wants to play with a false nine, we need Boateng and Montilivo do start playing centrally instead of always distributing the ball out wide.

Milantildeath wrote:Niang needs to play centrally, he has all the characteristics to be a center forward rather than a winger. I don't know why Allegri insists on the "false 9" system, when it really only worked for Spain. We have looked our best with a true center forward on the pitch. I still think that Bojan is a great player, just not a lone up top in a 4-3-3. We have looked our best with Pazzini on the field because he a pure striker. Niang can do just as well and eventually be a lot better than Pazzini in the number 9 position. Bojan can still be useful to Milan on the wings, or if we need him to come off the bench in a game and add energy. Allegri is now seeing that it was a mistake to play him as a 9.

I agree with this completely. We should play a 4-3-1-2 formation. Niang and El shaarawy upfront with Bojan right behind. The attack is fast and I believe all of them (attackers) are utilized to their strengths.