Milan v Napoli

Pumped for this game!

I don't think we are in such a bad situation for us to concede 3 goals to Napoli in our home ground. We can still lose obviously , they are on great form and they will step on the pitch with great confidence but even this Napoli will find it tough to score 3 in San Siro. Bare in mind that Chievo were able to score 2 against them , even though they paid for it by conceding 4 , lol

I've watched 2 matches of Napoli so far. It's mostly down to excitement and great confidence on their attacking -3- that they are so dangerous these days. They are not better than us , though that's pretty arguable atm since most of our best players are out.

I think we should play this smart ; we must frustrate them , make them nervous , show them that their game isn't so succesfull against us. It's these games i miss Flamini tbh , a two footed tackle on Higuain/Hamsik would do wonders against their excitement ..I think Allegri should risk and 'play their game' and if we can hold them for at least the first half ,which i really believe we can , then their confidence and excitement will gradualy fade off.. The ideal in this match , would be to score an early goal and then bring them on. Against Dortmund they were quite impressive , but let's no forget Klopp's sent off discouraged the players and the red card made it a completely different game altogether.

Besides , i trust Allegri and i think he will have prepared a tough test for Benitez's Napoli. They have very dangerous players up front , but i believe we can take them.We have players who aren't afraid like that . The real deal for Milan will be up front , how often Matri and Balotelli will have support from the back , in order to find the net . Behrami and Inler are a pretty good duo , though i don't know if both will play tonight and if Insigne-Hamsik-Callejon start , these 5 players could press us hard in the first half . It will be tough , but imo , we can certainly finish the game with 3 points.

As for who will play trequartista for us , although i would choose Saponara , i think he's not ready yet , even if he was fully fit , this particular game is quite delicate. I'd go with a more experienced player . I am not sure how Robinho will do there , i don't even remember when it was the last time he played behind the strikers but let's hope he can combine with Balo or Matri at least once outside the area . I can't expect what i would expect from a real 10 , but a few basics he should be able to provide. As long as he doesn't try to score , it will be ok

I think if we play on the counter we can hit them hard. Their defenders are just as retarded as ours. On the other hand, if we try to keep possession with the likes of Muntari and Birsa in our midfield, we are in for a world of hurt.

Forza wrote:I think if we play on the counter we can hit them hard. Their defenders are just as retarded as ours. On the other hand, if we try to keep possession with the likes of Muntari and Birsa in our midfield, we are in for a world of hurt.

Agreed , but there's more than that. I say this , because we can't really do that for the majority of the game.. Top reason is Napoli will be doing that mostly .. Napoli often needs the opponent to begin attacks actually , so they will give us a chance to go forward , in order to quickly build up accordingly for the counter attack , use their width to press simultaneously and then go from there. On the other hand , we miss El Sharaawy , who's vital for this to be done succesfully.. not just for his quality and speed , but also his pressing and transitions are a must for us. Who's going to press like that , Robinho - Matri - Balotelli ? i'd like to see that happening

Imo , we should just be pragmatic and keep to our strengths , since we miss many important players. Our overall defensive display is mediocre at best when caught in unorganised moments and in order to go for the counter ,( talking about as Plan A here) we simply have to risk that happening . If we go out full counter attacking minded and we fail to score in our first chances , Napoli 'should' adapt accordingly and we could still get punished for it , especialy if that's early in the game.

If we find ourselves leading the scoreline at any moment , i think possesion is the only way to go , even with Muntari and Birsa on the field. 1 counter attack of ours fails and they will immediately have a chance to break us , their transitions from defence/hold up play to attacking threat , are simply tough to deal with . Keeping our defensive stance as a unit though and building our attacks carefully(meaning we don't leave spaces behind us) , should be better for us..

while i do get the risk , it's basicaly what Benitez will want to happen , let them come ; as long as we are able to score , bring it. In any case , whatever way Allegri chooses to deal with Napoli , Matri and Balotelli must have a great night . Especialy Balotelli , obviously . I think playing some long balls here and there to Matri and Balotelli , although it will be ugly , it may prove wise , especialy later in the game , despite their ability to cover big amount of space in seconds they will be tired to keep this up . Few of those are bound to pay back imo and i'd like to see Albiol-Britos dealing with Balotelli and Matri .. should be fun , just hope Balotelli had a good day

Lorenzo Insigne says Napoli want nothing less than all three points against AC Milan on Sunday.

The San Paolo side currently sit atop of the Serie A standings with a 100% record on the back of their 2-0 win over Atlanta in their last league outing and the Italy international stressed his desire to continue their winning run.

"You go (to San Siro) to win," the 22-year-old told Corsport.

"However, we now expect that we will face AC Milan with the right determination because we want to win there too."

Insigne then went on to express his delight at scoring a "beautiful" Champions League goal against Borussia Dortmund, his first for the club, and hope that his on-field exploits will eventually earn him a national team call-up.

"The first goal in the Champions League gave me an emotion that was both beautiful and memorable, because it helped us win at San Paolo and we beat a great team."

"I hope to get to the national team thanks to my work in Naples."

Balo has missed the first pen of his career

zapata and abbiati ... cock ups... these clowns dont deserve to play

Our depth is shocking.

Balotelli sent of after the game. Will miss Bologna game

Gutted with this loss, we won't get a CL spot. Shame that last year's 2nd half of the season form didn't translate to this year. I had some high hopes for this season too..

Allegri should do better with this group, a good coach should cope despite the situation. There is always this one player that he depends on to save his job; first it was Ibra, then it was El Shaarawy, this year it might be Balo.

We desperately need defenders, Zapata probably had the worst game of his career, its a disgrace to the history of this club to have defenders like him.

1-Napoli
2-Juve
3-Roma
4-Fio
5-Inter
6-Lazio
7-Milan

M99 wrote:Our depth is shocking.

depth is not an issue i guess but the quality in bench sucks donkey balls

•MilanDevil• wrote:Allegri should do better with this group, a good coach should cope despite the situation. There is always this one player that he depends on to save his job; first it was Ibra, then it was El Shaarawy, this year it might be Balo.

We desperately need defenders, Zapata probably had the worst game of his career, its a disgrace to the history of this club to have defenders like him.

yeah i agree. ok he is injury deprived but i agree and i have said this for 3 years now allegri always depend upon the guys u mentioned.

frankly i want allegri to leave us.

and zapata is a catastrophe. backpasses higuain to almost score. then has 3 napoli attackers in defense with just mexes and he tries to dribble past napoli players... unbelievable. not to mention he is constantly caught out of position, poor man marking, he absolutely suck as a defender. even favalli used to do a better job than him

and really i think its time abbiati gets backslash. how many times he has made this kind of cockups in big games?? and yet he has to be no1???? rubbish.

seriously our brazilian gk deserves chance!!! i am pissed with allegri that those who constantly cocks up big time is his most preferred players!!!!

allegri : we played the best game of the season.... he is dellusional

robinho is finished, if honda were to come, he is better off somewhere. now he can't even dribble past one player

Hey Jesp, this lose is painful as u mentioned, but honestly speaking we did play a very good game taking our circumstances into consideration. We created we were a thread we had our chances, what more can we ask from the coach.

I can't think of a better line-up that we could have approached this game with, Sapo is still a big question we don't even know how he will perform, not to mention in a game like tonight's. Allegri used Poli instead of Nocerrino which was great call, Brisa instead of Binho wasn't bad.

We all knew before the beginning of the season if we don't reinforce our back line we will be suffering this season. I am still thinking of what will happen to us when Mexes (sadly our best option) gets injured or suspended which we all know both are going to happen this season. Seriously speaking I like Allegri and think no coach can do a better job with the available players, Ancelotti had a better squad in his last season with us with much less competition in the league and we played worse football than this.

Anyway I still believe we will qualify for CL again, we played decent football and if we played another team today we would have won... Lets look forward for mid-week game.

We played quite well today but I am pissed with allegri for certain things
Birsa was having a really nice game and Allegri takes him off instead of the non-existent Matri just because he has a thing for Matri.. Then he takes off Poli who was our sole creative force instead of Muntari who wasn't having much impact on the game.. *bleep* it allegri should do better with his subs or get the *bleep* off

How long will we keep up with these amateur mistakes from Abbiati.. I'm really mad at him right now

I'm also sad Balo had to miss a PK

Balotelli penalty was saved :O

Any highlight videos?

It might sound like a knee jerk reaction but with the level of competition in Serie A this year, we are missing CL for sure

Allegri is right actually...this was the best game of our season so far we were better than Napoli for most of the game and if it weren't for Matri being a lazy prick or the ref not giving us 2 clear penalties one which was right infront of the goal line ref a lot of people wouldn't be complaining.

Ye the ref was quite poor but can't we do better than depending on penalties in games?

uzonero wrote:We played quite well today but I am pissed with allegri for certain things
Birsa was having a really nice game and Allegri takes him off instead of the non-existent Matri just because he has a thing for Matri.. Then he takes off Poli who was our sole creative force instead of Muntari who wasn't having much impact on the game.. *bleep* it allegri should do better with his subs or get the *bleep* off

How long will we keep up with these amateur mistakes from Abbiati.. I'm really mad at him right now

I'm also sad Balo had to miss a PK

The reason those players were taken off were to ensure they can be fresh for other games and Poli had a yellow as well if I am not mistaken.

Stats:
Shots
Milan 22- Napoli 9
On Target
Milan 9- Napoli 3
Corners
Milan 8- Napoli 3

My take on Allegri would be playing Urby, zero effective passes, 0 successful crosses, bad in the air, weak in defense, I would play him against weaker opponents or when we are down and want some one to give us more option but surely won't start with him, not against Napoli at least.