AC Milan vs Barcelona

Muntari played quite good, that was a good call by Allegri.

What was not a good call is starting Zapata.

In Zapata's defense, he did nullify quite a few chances and stopped a few goals from happening. It was just that individual error that pissed me off

Felt as if the whole midfield played great, NDJ breaking up play, Muntari putting a shift and Montolivo helping out in attack and defense

Abate looked good, albeit didn't offer as much attacking wise. He dealt with Neymar. Same thing with Constant, he nullified Alves as well as Sanchez with help from Muntari, though i cannot pin the goal on him. That was all Zapata

Robinho and Kaka linked up fantastically, Kaka impressive the most. Should've had a few more assists if those through balls went in. Birsa was ineffective outwide, he looks better centrally. Emanuelson can fk off and Balo was meh, understandable as he was injured

It was a good performance bar a single individual error, i felt that the team can be proud of themselves. Now we march on to Parma

M99 wrote:Muntari played quite good, that was a good call by Allegri.

What was not a good call is starting Zapata.

This is what I am talking about when it comes to Zapata, one mistake and he gets criticised after having a overall good game it needs to stop honestly.

JespSwe wrote:we were lucky we survived this game.

seriously, poli who is one of our best midfielder is not a starter, and muntari who was a joke, is always a starter.... its a .. kin joke!!!

kaka was the only bright player in the entire game, he was even covering muntari's dirty work... he was just worn out... and yet allegri plays muntari full game!!! that guy could have got red!!

Tell me you are mad with Muntari after this game ?

Because i am pretty sure that was Muntari's best ever game in a Milan shirt , even better than last season's version. He must have made what 7-8 clear tackles with 100% retaining of the ball , run his heart out , closed down every inch of space that was humanly possible  pressed so hard high up the pith and even scored albeit being offside. Even when he was exhausted , did more than i would expect. Simply outstanding and fearless tonight . I am really proud of him , as i am for everyone of them . Even Zapata who once again managed to cost us the result , overall he had a good game .. Zapata is hilarious , i won't go harp about his usuall bs now , just this ; he never really bothers to do anything some metres up front with the ball and tonight he thought it would be good to try something against Barcelona , lmfao . Can't wait for Rami , honestly speaking now , can't fkn wait. Mexes did some stupid-naive stuff as well in the first half , but thankfully didn't cost us anything and he hold on in the 2nd half . In all seriousness though , had it not been for that mistake Zapata would have a great game under his feet. What happened (again) matters though , the final result is all that counts. We would probably win tonight if not for Zapata ...

As for Poli , he is light years more talented than Muntari from a technical and offensive point of view , but tonight i believe nobody has the right to complain , Allegri's call on Muntari was simply put great and it paid off big time. Poli got in and all he did was 2 backpasses , filled in the spot to keep the defence intact , not much else , if not anything . He was very nervous when he entered and it was very obvious in the game , but it's understandable as he is very inexperienced in the CL yet. Matches likes this one will make him , i have no doubt.

I leave the last paragraph for Kaka. 4 years he has been away and it's 4 years of brilliance we have missed . He was simply put immense tonight , fearless , offensive , defensive , supportive , confident , fast , endurable , effective , a real Milan player of old. Where are his haters now ? It turns out he isn't finished , oh the shock..After 1 month off , not only he kept on going from his previous impressive cameo but he built on it huge. 1 assist , superb work rate (he basically play wingback ffs) and fine combination with Robinho and he was never , not even for a moment a burden for the team as many thought he would be.

Bow to this fkn legend , nothing else

El Shaarawy wrote:In Zapata's defense, he did nullify quite a few chances and stopped a few goals from happening. It was just that individual error that pissed me off

Felt as if the whole midfield played great, NDJ breaking up play, Muntari putting a shift and Montolivo helping out in attack and defense

Abate looked good, albeit didn't offer as much attacking wise. He dealt with Neymar. Same thing with Constant, he nullified Alves as well as Sanchez with help from Muntari, though i cannot pin the goal on him. That was all Zapata

Robinho and Kaka linked up fantastically, Kaka impressive the most. Should've had a few more assists if those through balls went in. Birsa was ineffective outwide, he looks better centrally. Emanuelson can fk off and Balo was meh, understandable as he was injured

It was a good performance bar a single individual error, i felt that the team can be proud of themselves. Now we march on to Parma

agreed on everything . great post , even though Emanuelson did fk all up front , at the back he wasn't bad actually. just saying , he can still fk off

Kaka, and first half by Binho https://2img.net/u/3313/22/97/24/smiles/4021133811.gif

LOL if we had sold Abate to Russia for pennies, pacy players dont dare dribble him after a few tries, and what a luxary that is.





Choreography https://2img.net/u/3313/22/97/24/smiles/4021133811.gif

I thought our performance with the given resources was STELLAR! Had Elshaarawy and Balotelli played as starters along Kaka we would've sealed this one for sure.

Also now I know why these are 'magical nights'

-Robinho scored
-Amelia had a few decent saves he would've normally messed up
-Zapata saved a critical chance off Messi
-We didn't lose.

 

MOTM: Allegri. Never have I seen an Allegri so focused in the game and figure out precisely the subs needed and done in time.. Great Job Mister  .
If he finally grasps to this style of subs and knowing when to do them then we're on the right track. We should see a strong milan against Parma

How in hell did our defence survive that?!

I put it all down to the Champions League anthem.

nichabr wrote:

M99 wrote:Muntari played quite good, that was a good call by Allegri.

What was not a good call is starting Zapata.

This is what I am talking about when it comes to Zapata, one mistake and he gets criticised after having a overall good game it needs to stop honestly.

And that one mistake cost us a win. This was his best game of the season but he needs to be benched now, this is getting extremely ridiculous. Mexes and Constant were at fault for the goal too but Zapata was the main culprit. Nothing that happened yesterday has changed my opinion, both Mexes and Zapata suck. Zapata sucks a lot more.

That's what i am saying about Zapata. He exposes his teammates badly in many ways . It happened again last night.... Barcelona pressed so effectively ; pressed big time all the players near Zapata and thus inevitably , the ball HAD to end up to Zapata. It was freakin obvious they knew what they were doing .That's it , under pressure when it comes to Zapata , he either blasts it or gives it to the GK to blast it. He doesn't even pretend to try a long ball , lmfao.

On his mistake , that cost us the 3 points although he did compensate with a solid performance from thereafter . But i can't get past the fact that these would be 3 very important points . Needless accident or to put it better , what he tried to do wasn't THAT hard in the first place .. but he failed anyway.

We have to endure for a little while , but Rami is here. Finaly a CB with balls , we can have a ballsy CB duo again. Can't stand players who sit themselves , for me great players don't fear the opponent and are confident in themselves. That's the only kind of player i want to see in Milan. Something i really and honestly rarely saw in Zapata and not once during a big game. This simply cannot go on and thankfully they acted accordingly , better late than ever.

I don't want him out tbh , he can improve a lot with time imo. Just not begin any big games . His issues are with mentality and tactically , he's not very bright as far as understanding the game goes.. 5 years ago i would say "Zapata? , yeah fk off alright".. but seeing the alternatives , i can't do otherwise but hope he gets better. I don't know what will happen with Silvestre and Zaccardo , but you can almost bet that 1 of them will be leaving, be it in January or at the end of the season . Who knows maybe both , if Silvestre doesn't do well.. he did have a positive start against Udinese though.

One way to look at this is that Allegri is making Milan under achiev in the league, and when the occation doesnt get bigger, the players are motivated as hell and draw Barcelona even with a horrible defensive record. There is not much logic in this to me, other than the fact that Allegri has a problem motivating the squad for the lesser games, and/or one could argue that Kaka coming back for the Barca game saved his ass.

Many ways to look at this, but if we can score and draw against Barca, we should be able to fight for a CL spot next season when we get all our best players back from injury soon.

Muntari showed what a great player he is from a tactical point of view, but we need more technique to break down the smaller sides in Serie A, who sits deep and counter poor Zapata to death. Thats why I hope Poli can continue and be a strong player for us for many years, and hopefully with Honda coming in we can have more options. Would have been great if there was a way for Honda to play as a CM, but I hear that is not his thing.

I heard theres a deep-lying playmaker about to finish his contract with juve

arabprince wrote:I heard theres a deep-lying playmaker about to finish his contract with juve

Would you really want him back? No disrespect to Andrea hes a Milan and Juve legend in my eyes. But for what he gives he to the team he takes an awful lot in return, offers no defense, needs to be the focus of the midfield and is too hot and cold to play consistently for a big team now.

I think its time Italian teams moved on from him and his generation and give the youth a try.

while im here i my aswell say that when i watched the game Kaka looked poor and sluggish. I remember him losing the ball almost every other time he had it. Trying to outrun or outdribble opponents when it looked like he just doesnt have the legs for it anymore.

He looked like he was trying hard but everything looked like it was slow motion and he was a step behind the play.

Obviosly thats apart from the good balls he sprayed around occasionally. Any of you notice what im sayin from that game?

obviously no , that must be the worst thing i read about the game so far. I'd say he was the most impressive player after Muntari , considering the fact he had other priorities in this game and he still managed to provide the assist . Playing left fullback against Barcelona being a 10 and all and after 1 month in the sidelines , is at the very least impressive. If he was losing the ball sometimes , it's because it must have been humanly impossible to do any better , especially when the rest of the team were still in defensive positions when Kaka had the ball.

And he did look fast and imaginative with the ball when he wasn't out of stamina , mainly in the first half. There were a few times he had 3 and even 4 players near him , the game was very difficult in general lines. He even had succesfull interceptions .

Overall , what you said happened only in the 2nd half and in the last 10m maybe.. which is absolutely normal after such a performance.He run more than Messi did ffs.

Kaka played against Barcelona like it was nothing to him and he inspired the others to do better as well. If he didn't succeed in everything , again it can be explained , excused and be reasoned with , the difficulty of the opponent and most importantly the circumstances that surrounded his teammates couldn't have made it more difficult for Kaka and he still impressed the world but you apparently.

So no , i am pretty sure nobody noticed what ya sayin from that game

Oh i didnt know he was playing left fullback, i missed seeing the line up. Thought he was just drifting out of position.

And :lol:no, he was trying to dribble when he could of easily passed but his dribbles werent even effective, he was running into people and losing the ball almost every attempt in the second half, so this humanly impossible BS doesnt stand. And he wasnt just losing the ball sometimes in the last 10 mins, he lost the ball a whole lot.

Anyway i see theres no having a debate with you sheerly from the fact of the team i support. You have a horrible condicending attitude, like all the time, theres honestly no need to be such a dick. but meh, i aint arsed.

Cassius, Kaka played well against Barcelona he was playing as a LW, but since we were pushed back into our own half he was playing like a LB lol. He did well defensively, he intercepted a few passes positioned himself in front of passes and linked up well with Robinho on the counter.

but I do agree with you on one thing. He kept losing the ball on 1 on 1 situations when he could have passed it.

Other then that, he had a good game me thinks. His 1st half was much better than his 2nd half though.

He was probably our best player on the night, despite some mistakes. All our good moves went through him, including the goal.

Ah might explain why i have a negative thought on his performance because i missed the first 25 mins, the assist and all. Him losing the ball again and again later in the match stuck with me, i think its due to remembering him being a great dribbler and being shocked at how (when i started watching) bad some of his attempts to dribble were.

Yeah cant argue with him doing well when defending, he looked up for it. Probably why he kept losing possession in 1v1's as he looked to break free from Barca's pressure in your half and start the attacks.

Cassius wrote:Oh i didnt know he was playing left fullback, i missed seeing the line up. Thought he was just drifting out of position.

And :lol:no, he was trying to dribble when he could of easily passed but his dribbles werent even effective, he was running into people and losing the ball almost every attempt in the second half, so this humanly impossible BS doesnt stand. And he wasnt just losing the ball sometimes in the last 10 mins, he lost the ball a whole lot.

Anyway i see theres no having a debate with you sheerly from the fact of the team i support. You have a horrible condicending attitude, like all the time, theres honestly no need to be such a dick. but meh, i aint arsed.

am i a dick now ..how you are still not banned is beyond me , seriously

whatever , i don't usually debate much with the likes of you because you rarely have anything interesting or valid to say , so jog on. And what condescending attitude bs is that you are talking about , just saying what happened , not my fault you don't understand what you see in a game. Every single person that watched the game had very positive things to say on Kaka , just you think differently or maybe you're trolling once again ..

Whatever , if he lost the ball sometimes here and there , it can be reasoned with because the quality of the opponent was pretty high and his teammates were rarely available to help him out on time when he was going on the counter . Also he did have a great performance in general lines , considering the fact he had the left wing almost on his own since Constant and Muntari only past the midfield when Kaka did stuff . On top of that he had to defend whenever Barcelona had the ball near Constant's area , that's what i meant fullback .. even though i am not surprised you didn't get it , you're not that bright as it seems

Again , he even had succesfull interceptions and he was the main threat for counters to begin with . There are more but i mentioned them all in previous posts .

Cassius wrote:Ah might explain why i have a negative thought on his performance because i missed the first 25 mins, the assist and all. Him losing the ball again and again later in the match stuck with me, i think its due to remembering him being a great dribbler and being shocked at how (when i started watching) bad some of his attempts to dribble were.

Yeah cant argue with him doing well when defending, he looked up for it. Probably why he kept losing possession in 1v1's as he looked to break free from Barca's pressure in your half and start the attacks.

What game where you watching or not? Even Messi would barely have dribbled any better if he played for us against Barca, they close down space so well, I thought everybody in the world knew that. Kaka did excellent in the role he was given, gave a great assist, and was even injured up until that point. He gave his all for the shirt.

Kaka started off great, but later on there were pretty simple passes available and he chose to ignore them. Infact, one comes to mind where there was somebody in a goalscoring opportunity for Milan on the left and he pretty much ran into the Barca defender standing directly infront of him

If he was a bit ore careful he could have actually had an even bigger impact on the game.

Personally, I was impressed with his defensive work and his early link up play with 'Binho.

If i recall right, he did infact try to play the guy in on the left twice but was too slow at releasing the ball. Was a really good chance to win the game.

And earlier its not the point that he failed the dribble, its that he chose to dribble instead of an easy pass, which more times than not in the second half resulted in giving Barca possession. And that was down to Kaka alone, has nothing to do with his teammates and how well Barca pressed.

Anyway, im not hating on Ricky, i really like him, just pointing it out.

I don't think anyone here is unaware of the mistakes, but Cassius' first post didn't take into account all the good things Kaka did. In any case, we will hopefully see the full extent of what what Kaka can do against Parma.

Like some said. I feel Kaka was one of our best players on the pitch.

Obviously you could tell he was a bit fatigued in second half which is why he was subbed off. Ask any winger who plays soccer...it's one of the most tiring positions. Especially against Barca, he had to drop so deep to cover for Alves. On top of that had to run and attack as well. His dribbles lost in second half were down to fatigue, nothing else.

He played great.

kaka just came back from injury, and has yet to get a full match fitness and yet he played instrumental part in setting goal, and pretty much he was focal point of every attack we made. what more do u want. he wasnt great but he put a good effort.