MILAN MUST BE RESTRUCTURED

Kakà: "I don't want to play in front of the defence, and Allegri doesn't want me to play there. I'll play in the role as trequartista."

meanwhile ...

Allegri: "Kakà can play in front of the defence. He has great qualities, and he is always involved in our plays.

f..k allegri sack him!!! he is going to upset and unbalance and ruin everything and team morale is in all time low. it couldnt get worse here!!!

as far as i am concerned, allergi is piling problems on top of all these messed up problems we have already!!!


seriously i mean what are they waiting for!!!! this guy deserved to get kicked out of milan !

I fundamentally disagree with your latest post Dante. I think to say that we are on the right path is preposterous, and to suggest Allegri has been made a scapegoat is being far too generous to our coach.

We are not on the right path. Not at all. Which part of Matri for 13 million euros is frugal, consistent with youth policy, or correcting the weaknesses of the squad list? None of it. It's all well and good to say that you have a plan based on smart, good-value purchases of young players, but really, it's all too clear that was an excuse for not properly investing in the team. The panic buys that have plagued recent Milan transfer windows have continued (e.g. Zaccardo, Birsa, and Silvestre) and there is no sign of this changing anytime soon.

Allegri has had to work in some extremely tough conditions. In his first season, he brought us the title. In his second, we finished second, and in his third, we made a miracle run to third place. And in his fourth, I'm afraid fourth is not going to be good enough - not that we are anywhere near fourth place at the moment. Lack of investment and the injury crisis have hit Allegri hard. He cannot be blamed for that. However, I have seen more than enough evidence this season that Allegri has been at fault for some of our worst results...

The tactical problems that we encountered in our very first game this season have not been addressed. Against Hellas Verona, we were outplayed with the ball and without the ball, even though our team was nearly at full strength. We struggled to create chances, did not give enough supply to our strikers in dangerous places, lost shape after scoring (about 15-20 mins into the game), could not string together a few passes in Verona's half without giving the ball away prematurely, our defence was extremely vulnerable on the counter, and we were utterly hopeless at set pieces. As an indictment of Galliani and co., the best defender in that game was Michelangelo Albertazzi - our youth product, playing for Hellas. Meanwhile, we have the out-of-position Emanuelson and the just-not-good-enough Constant playing for us. But one game at the beginning of the season is not enough to call for the coach's head. The problem is that this continued...

Fast forward to our most recent game against Chievo Verona, who were (and still are) sitting rock bottom. We were pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Every problem we saw vs. Hellas was still present vs. Chievo. 0-0 against the bottom team - and they were the ones who fired their coach after the game for not beating us! Oh, and we should have lost, but an offside call went our way to save us from the humiliation of ex-Milan player Paloschi scoring against us. How ironic that would've been - I think we bought the wrong youth product striker back.

Returning to the main point, Allegri had a far, far, far better team at his disposal than Sannino had that day, despite all the underinvestment. And yet, the game was a complete failure. Players were out of position in an unfamiliar 4-4-1-1 which was being used to help us keep the ball - perhaps a good idea against a team like Barcelona, but against a team who you know is going to sit back and hit you on the counter? Not ideal. We had centre midfielders playing on the wings, a winger playing as a left-back and not enough threats up-forward to cause consistent trouble for one of the worst defences in the league.

So, I put it to you, 12 games into the season, is this not a sackable offence?

If we turn it around this season, or the next, it will not be because we continued down this path, but because someone has the guts to orchestrate a complete turnaround in our club's management.

When Allegri says that Kaka can play in front of the defence it doesn't imply that he will be doing so in a Serie A match. It's simply in the same vein of praise used by Guardiola when he states that Messi would be a perfect fullback or that Lahm could be the best striker in the world. It is meant to highlight his footballing intelligence and his willingness to work for the team rather than reflecting a desire to play him in an already crowded position. We may very well see him there as an experiment in friendlies when the entire first team midfield is away on international duty but rest assured he'll never play there with Montolivo and De Jong around.

I've a lot still to say in response to some excellent posts here, however I'll have to wait until the weekend to have the time to answer in full.

Forza. Everything that has happened since the youth policy got implemented and that is actually from 2008-2009 that the first steps were taken , are all connected. It was then when Berlusconi said the famous line
" bla-bla-bla...but it is my money" ... lol. It even seems funny now .

After that many things were set on course . Berlusconi was officialy done with spending big for Milan ; The FFP also became a reality and Milan had all sorts of issues according to it ; the team was aging at an alarming rate ; we were going to lose Maldini and Ancelotti ; the 2008-2009 season is when everything really changed.

We balanced the books short term by selling Kaka , we set targets to overally improve our academies and expect better results in the future and Galliani enabled the first expirement : Leonardo . An expirement which was meant to be the scapegoat in this difficult period of financial draught, which for obvious reasons it was almost destined to be , not to mention with our senators aging fast . The thing is Leonardo didn't keep his mouth shut and in general lines did not want to do with what he had , because he knew Milan would need reinforcements even during such a period . So the scapegoat thing changed immediately and everybody could see he was right .

GTFO for the sole reason he didn't do what he was supposed to do and that was to be the scapegoat , sporting wise he didn't do perfect by any means but he got the minimum which was getting in the CL again. We signed Allegri . Here's the catch , do you think they signed him because of what ? Because of silverware ? Obviously not. Because we couldn't get a better coach ? Again no , there were always better options than the lacklusture Allegri.. They signed Allegri to be what Leonardo failed to be. He had the credentials and experience to work with what he has . He has also experienced what it is to not expect things. In the end , he succedeed in this . He wasn't picked just like that , he was pointed out carefully for this.
The general message is pretty obvious even from Allegri's statements sometimes. " I keep to my job , anything else ask the management". Why do you think he almost never got what he asked for? Because simply he's not at Milan to ask , just to do with what he has. He obviously has a good relationship with Galliani and managed to bring a few players at Milan which were his suggestion , such as Matri or Constant , maybe someone i don't remember right now , but that's it. Nothing trully ground breaking. To end this part , if not for Inter winning the treble , be sure that Ibrahimovic and co that arrived that summer wouldn't happen , because Allegri clearly didn't ask for Ibrahimovic and Robinho within two months in Milan. And as it turned out , it couldn't even last too long , we couldn't sustain such standards being financialy weak. In the end , because he actually did very well in his first 2 season although he dissapointed in the CL in his first , it wasn't a reason to really bother with , why they signed Allegri. 3rd season everything became apparent again. He got us to 3rd place with the most lacklusture Milan in Berlusconi's time. This season he has lost the plot and he has failed already , i am not going to defend him for everything because truth be told i do blame him for many things that were his doing. But he's still the scapegoat , i can't just forget everything else and target him as the antichrist. He's still not one of our biggest issues at the end of the day. Sacking him right now won't solve much. I don't know if they intend to sack him in the winter break but it's still a big risk . It could work .. but if not , oh hooowowow. Anyway , i don't care about the coach anymore , sack him or not , whatever. I only want the right replacement and someone to be able to work like he wants , i don't want scapegoats again . Perhaps that's why Galliani is leaving , lol who knows.

Why i am saying all this. It's because the period after 2008-2009 was meant to be like that. After years of feasting on Berlusconi's pocket which totally made the youth academies obsolete , it meant that it would take time to restructure and recuperate . It meant that we wouldn't be able to sign big or adress everything accordingly . It meant tough times ahead and that's a reality that with or without mistakes would still exist. Obviously we could do without some mistakes , but the reason i am saying all this is , mistakes will always happen and it's not mistakes that really defined our path all these years , just made it a harder to cope with. Many think Matri was a mistake , ok he was a mistake. Does this mistake alter everything that come before him ? Was he the n1 reason-problem before the rest ? Is it Allegri you think ? Or maybe the succesfull strategies and improvements that have existed with regards to the youth dissapeared because of Matri ? Obviously not.

Many may think , what youth policy ? Zaccardo ? Kaka ? Rami and Honda? Failed. No not at all , it has not. It's still much on the rise , actually. When you see Galliani paying half a million for a 14 year old , that's a clear sign we are on the right path. When you see Niang still in Milan , that's a clear sign we are on the right path. When you see our youngsters doing well at any stage , lead by people as Brocchi or Inzaghi.. those are all good signs. We spend big on Ses , another sign we are on the right path. Our financials are clearly much better than it were a few seasons back , which is also a good sign. As foir the youht policy , those who claim as such simply miss the whole picture. The youth policy is still in it's beginnings. And it will never work just on it's own , no matter how good some of our youth products are . Without some really established players to help them , lead them and generaly take the spotlight and responsibilities off their shoulders , they will most probably fail. We need experience in the team , youth policy and whatnot.

Like i have said in the past , it's like when one makes an investement , then he has to protect said investment. We invested on Saponara and we bought Kaka as well , prime reason was to protect him. It was the best move and cost us almost nothing. This has invaluable long term benefits , to have experienced players be on the front untill the youngsters are ready.

I can accept the fact that Allegri has failed this season and that we do need someone else. But we don't need just anybody , this is where i find issue , as if Allegri is the worst coach on earth. We need the right replacement , for the job at hand . Someone who is able to raise the level of our youngsters from experience and implement a certain style to the team to suit our up and coming best young players. I won't be the one to say who will it be , but i trust they will make the best decision. As for the youth policy , it will take years to rip the benefits , i thought that it should have been clear by now.. obviously there's confusion with what the youth policy really is and playing some youngsters in the team. Of course they are closely related and that's the main goal , but now right now. The only pure result we have from the youth policy is De Sciglio . Ses was bought as we all know. That's the results from the youth policy . This year we didn't have a De Sciglio to work with and we had to sign other players who on the eye might seem panic buys or fill the gap kind of transfers , but they are players which are easily replaced when said youngster can claim the position , as it happened with De Sciglio and Antonini.

The youth policy isn't a strict policy , like with finances. Nor we have to force it uppon ourselves , that could severly damage the whole thing. Above all it is an evolution. And it takes time before anything , if we do make some mistakes here and there doesn't mean it's over or it never existed. We just have to wait for some of these youngsters to get ready and keep producing players with the credentials to succeed. Most of them will never make it and even if a significant amount do make it to the first team , we are still going to purchase experienced players , because that's the way it's being done .

The youth policy project has made good progress so far , the results ain't meant to be immediate. All this years and we have only De Scilgio to show and a certain El Shaarawy . Gabriel and Niang are also in the mix. Cristante has made his first steps . I am pretty sure the best are yet to come. Financially speaking we are always improving and i expect things to slowly but steadily get better with time. Combine that with what changes are to be made within the base of the club and i am quite sure we are on the right path , despite the results on the field right now. Allegri is gone already , they just don't sack him for two very , very obvious reasons . 1) we have to find the right replacement and it's not the best of times right now 2) compensation is quite big to pay for a coach and besides his contract ends in the summer.

I realise he should be sacked. Really. For good or bad , he will probably stay a bit longer but it's his last season without a shade of doubt. In the end what i want to specify here is that , see the whole picture. The overall situation isn't so seriously bad as it seems , but indeed it takes much room for improvement. There have been mistakes , some big and mostly on Galliani's part , but there have been also notable improvements which will pay off . And these will become apparent when the time comes. As for the present , we have to stick with the team and hope for the best. Not much else we can actually do. I don't expect much but still , right now we need to be supportive , even if Allegri handled the first months poorly. Because results do create a huge image and these either hide problems or exagerrates these. The management took the decisions they did , made some important mistakes , but i trust them to make things aright again. I get why you disagree , but it is my opinion that despite all this negativity we have made good progress in the last years , in things that will help us stand on our feet again and be competitive again when we are ready to be.

great post Dante, and i agree with you 100% in everything u said. what really caught my eye though is when u said that even when going through a youth transition, experience is needed, and that is 49038932084938241632467236% TRUE. look at Arsenal all those years, ya great young team this and that. never won anything. Dortmund is another one of those very young teams with talent, but they have experience as well. Whether its on the bench, or just 1 or 2 on the field, its there. Real Madrid, Bayern for example dont have old teams, but there not very young either. there mixed. Honda is 27 years old, Rami is also 27. i laugh when people say we need really young guys and not 27-28 yr old. get a grip, there 27 not 77 lol. if we look at a lineup quick quick with no injuries


Gabriel

Abate - Mexes - Rami - De Sciglio
Montolivo - De Jong
Kaka - Honda - ES
Balotelli


is that an old team? i dont want to make crazy assumptions, but i think on average this team is even younger than, Madrid, Bayern and Barca. i dont want Milan to have the average age of the Belgium National team. If we can have a team with an average age of 25-26 yrs old. its beautiful. out of 11 players, i say max 4 should be under the age of max 23. the rest should be between 24-29. and thats exactly what we would have. bar mexes. Kaka dont count cuz hes a hero for us Huge Huge clubs like Milan have to be competiting in all front every year and we expect it. we also expect a team with some superstars. No disrespect, but we are not for example Schalke, that has no choice to be a young team, because great players dont really wanna go there, so they have to build within, or buy young. We are Milan, its my personal opinion to say that we should NOT be a stepping stone team, a team filled with 20 yr olds and hope for the best. This youth policy thing we got going on has confused a lot of people for sure. 18 players out of a 25 man squad with an average age of 21 yrs old wont bring us any silverware. 10 players out of a 25 man squad that are 22 and younger, but out of those 10, 4-5 are excellent and are starting, mixed with some 26-30 yr olds, is the recipe for success.

Yes , Milan is an elite club and a giant in the football world , even rivals will agree on this. But reality , what's in front of everybody's eyes , is much more usefull here. In theory , yes i totally agree we should be a challenger in any competition we find ourselves in. But that's just something that takes a lot of planning and work to achieve and we are not in a position to claim we do set such targets for ourselves. Most important of all , nobody ever won without proper investments , both on ready players and from youth academies. We also need financial stability to achieve all the above and it's something that hinders Milan for the time being.

We do need younger players who have the credentials to succeed and carry on the torch. We do need experienced players throughout that course in order have a torch to give to the youngsters , it is that simple. We will obviously have to make such signings to help our younger players , where the club has clearly planned to entrust them with the keys of the team in the foreseeable future.

Players like El Shaarawy , De Sciglio and Balotelli , Poli & Cristante or Gabriel , these are the future of this club. That's already half a lineup by now and in combination to financial stability we will be able to sign 2-3 great players to make this team even better. Players like Montolivo , De Jong , Kaka and Abbiati , even Mexes , Muntari and Pazzini , are great to have in this transitional period and the younger lads are seriously lucky to have them in front of them right now. Every one of them is a great professional and even though all of them have limits , most important of all is that our younger players experience this exact situation atm. Similar to what Abbiati , Gattuso or a bit later Shevchenko experienced at Milan. There were some good moments like it has happened lately , but that time was also a transitional period and they came through it much stronger .

Now i won't call it a blessing in disguise because it's not , but every crisis is an opportunity , as the cliche righfully points out. I find it a bit difficult to describe , but i have a strong belief that this new Milan will be fascinating when the time comes and everything alings together . So much potential , even right now if the right adjustments were to be made , we would do great things although i don't know what the result would be in the end of the season.

What i understand is that we have a very promising crop of younger players with a nice and almost balanced mix of experienced and peaked players , which will inevitably see us through to better days. A new coach is needed , some changes within our ranks and some clean up within the roster as usual and things will be astonishingly different compared to what they seem now.

Aside Allegri which is suspect at best these days , right now we need calm off the pitch and get angry on the pitch . Something we did exactly the opposite many times over. We kept calm on the pitch like we never lost a game and all madness happened outside of it. Let's just do our talking on the field for now and i am pretty sure what i've said here in this thread will come off , if we are lucky , sooner than expected.

Some interesting and valid points that are relevant to the debate have been raised since my last post. However, one of the pivotal points that was misunderstood seems to be that youth philosophy = a team in eternal transition, with no experience. This is most definitely not what it means. Nor does it necessarily mean always buying players under the age of 25. It means inexpensive, good value investment in younger players and their integration across the gap from youth team to the first team. Move past this "average age" idea too. That's meaningless in this debate.

I talked about there being a gap between the senior youth team and the first team in that last paragraph. Let me explain this concept. Crucial, in both youth and experience, is quality. I would argue that a smart club adopting a youth policy will almost invariably promote youth if a quality purchase of an experienced player cannot be made. Why? Simple: no transfer fee, no high wages, no need to wait until the transfer window to introduce them into the team, enormous potential for growth and arguably better team chemistry.

Milan, at the moment, is not a smart team in this respect. We do not promote from within when there is no quality experienced option available. We pay high wages and high transfer fees for B-grade players instead. This is really an inefficiency we cannot afford - literally. And this point is also a pivotal difference between Milan and clubs like Dortmund. Dortmund lost Sahin to Madrid, but they had Goetze waiting in the wings with significant game-time under his belt. They subsequently lost Goetze to Bayern, but then they had Gundogan ready to replace him, and again with game-time to his name. That is how a youth system should work. Minimal gap. Youth team replenishes first team with additional quality purchases.

Contrast Dortmund with Milan's ridiculous attempts to fix the LB spot. We must have gone through 10 LBs after Maldini. This would have culminated in the most recent band-aids, Constant and Emanuelson, if it were not for one thing - Youth Promotion. One day, all the scrubs got injured and finally Mattia De Sciglio got his chance and took it. He is everything good about a youth philosophy. He is quality youth prevailing over band-aid solutions. He is what Milan should aim to be. He is one of the few who have crossed the gap and survived.

Furthermore, I do not agree that Berlusconi's spending has shot our youth system to pieces. There are 2 key pieces of evidence for this. Firstly, at the height of Berlusconi's spending, we had more Milan youth products in our team than we have now. And secondly, our current youth system has been consistently churning out talent for other teams (e.g. P.E. Aubameyang) and for Milan when players are actually given the chance (e.g. Abate, De Sciglio).

Dante is correct about the integration of younger players Niang, Abate, De Sciglio, Gabriel, SES, Poli and Balotelli being a great step forward. But can we truly be on the right path when we continually take short-cuts? I would suggest that consistency is imperative. If we are committed to quality, whether it be experience or youth, there is no place for expensive stopgaps. No inconsistencies. No exceptions. Once again, I am not talking about De Jong or Montolivo here, nor am I advocating an all-youth policy. Matri, Zaccardo, Silvestre... these are all deviations from the right path. This is where we have strayed, this where we have paid the price for it, and this is why we are no longer on the right path.

Lastly and briefly, I'll write about the status of Allegri as our coach. I do not see him as a scapegoat. I see him as one of 3 key problems, along with the injury crisis and the lack of investment - call it the triangle of doom, if you will. Motivations for why he was hired in the first place aside, the question has to be put, could Allegri have done better with what he has had at his disposal this season? I think the resounding answer is Yes.

I kind I wish you guys would've bought Aleksander Dragovic from FC Basel(a centerback) instead of Matri from Juventus(a striker). You guys could've played Niang in his position at CF (instead of as a Right winger) whenever Balotelli is out until Pazzini returns and sends Matri packing.

He always impressed me In the champions league/ Europa league, I just wonder if he was inconsistent in the Swiss league since no team went after him.

Your last post was more specific Forza and i think i can now see where you're coming from , but , first of all.

Milan's past make-the-headlines transfer policy and in general lines our past dependancy on experience , actually took a huge toll in our youth academies , not sure what you're on about here. You're either talking about Maldini's and Costacurta's time , which is an age long gone and aside from being a reference point we should aim to accomplish again i don't see how's that's usefull in the discussion or you are just pointing them out as youth products over the years of Berlusconi's spending days , which is correct obviously , but still not what we actually talk about here.. From 2000 afterwards untill Abate returned to the club for good in 09-10 , tell me which youth product we thoroughly introduced in the squad and became important for Milan ?

I can't recall one , except maybe Antonini who came a year earlier than Abate but never was one of the most important players and definitely wasn't young as youngster to begin with . Only Abate and later De Sciglio (latest being Cristante) , that's simply it. Some of our best youngsters back then , such as Matri , Borriello or even Donadel & Donati and later Paloschi and Aubameyang , never really had a chance simply because we were addicted to signing ready players for gaps or replacements . You're right of course that other teams benefited from our attitude towards the youth , but that's not the point really , Milan always produced and will continue to produce talented youngsters with the credentials to succeed. The point of the youth policy is for Milan to take advantage from these players , on our own pitch , not to be traited as luggage in exchange deals. As you can see , our primavera untill 2008-2009 was the last place we looked for players and the main reason behind this was because of Berlusconi's financial power .

Now as for Matri-Zaccardo-Silvestre . You take issue with them because they were clearly not what you were expecting. But they aren't any deviation from the youth policy , just because they aren't lads.

I don't know if you remember , but Zaccardo was involved in an exchange deal , that of Mesbah , who was totally uselless for Milan. We tried to sell him everywhere in Italy and only Parma made it possible. Of course we would take it and besides , Zaccardo never came in as an important part of our plans . Experience with minimum cost and easily replaced if need be and on top of that Mesbah gone. Not relevant to the youth policy or something that hinders it. It's irrelevant to talk about this because simply enough we had no youngster ready to jump in . The point of it is to use them when they are ready , otherwise nothing good will come of it.

Silvestre is a loan signing who came in for the sole reason Bonera was seriously injured. Again , not a part of the club's plans , he came in as an emergency , and that to be a sub. But i understand where you take issue here. You would say give it to a youngster. Well clearly , Vergara wasn't and still isn't ready. Iotti is even more green and Salamon had already left on loan. Signing a younger defender of quality for good seems the logical answer here. But things aren't so simple , there are contracts involved here. Bonera , Mexes , Zapata , Zaccardo all of them have to play . Signing another defender who would stay for good , would unbalance things. So they opted for Silvestre and although sporting wise he's not what we need , he's someone who most probably won't concern us for long.

Matri , although i have a mixed opinion , i will accept he was a mistake . Ok , so one mistake is deviation from the right path. I just can't see it , sorry. I explained the rest cases as best i could , many would have done similar to what Galliani did , except in Matri's case . I've said it before though , at the time we had already signed Silvestre , signing yet another defender would unbalance things , so it meant he would heed Allegri's suggestion about Matri. Once again though , 1 case is hardly deviation.

As for Allegri , even himself admits he is to be blamed .. he's failed so far and he was given a last chance , albeit one with an expirement date anyway. The reasons Berlusconi didn't sack him are pretty obvious. I don't agree at all about the youth policy being strict , it's not meant to be strict as we have done with financial policies. What you call inconsistencies and exceptions are a must for this to work really. Obviously when a transfer doesn't work out , no matter the player's age , it's always bad but this doesn't necessarily mean we took any different approach . You talked about Dortmund , fully agreed there. We should be doing things like this. Yet why do you stop there? Who did they sign as an emergency to replace Subotic? Wasn't it Friendrich , just like Milan did with Bonera who's just a sub player , not even a basic. No deviations whatsoever , just unimpressive signings . Anyway to end this , what really happened this summer was that the CL money arrived too late. That's just it , nor we could plan out everything whilst being uncertain in which competition we would play next season , neither we could adress much without dat money. To finish the post.

In order for the younger players to become one of the 11 , we just have to sign experience . Not only this is the only way to see when they are really ready , but untill they do , we have to stay afloat somehow. Now if these experienced players fail to meet expectations or just cannot impress to save their lives , it does not make them exceptions or deviations from our real targets. Because clearly , when it's with players like Montolivo or De Jong you don't have any problem whatsoever , it's just the ones that don't impress you do. Zaccardo , Matri and Silvestre are not what we need and they're not vital parts of this squad. But for the time being , the reasons they were signed are valid for the best part. They haven't impressed and they won't really become important , but to say we are not in the right path because we made 3 unsuccesfull signings , i just cannot agree .

Although i already gave it too much attention , i mostly wanted to discuss about what you said with Dortmund . There we totally agree , but it feels like we still aren't ready yet. Dortmund didn't just begin this in 2008-2009 , they had this thing going ever since they avoided the worst , which is some years before , somewhere in 2004 , 2005? somewhere there.

What i am saying is , going to develop such a project takes time. I'd say we are in the end of the beginnings of it and we are going to find ourselves halfway . For our current best young players to blossom further and the next crop get involved , it will probably take another 2 years . I don't know what will happen in the meantime , but fixing the "triangle of doom" as you call it , is the best thing Milan could do .

I Have Mono wrote:I kind I wish you guys would've bought Aleksander Dragovic from FC Basel(a centerback) instead of Matri from Juventus(a striker). You guys could've played Niang in his position at CF (instead of as a Right winger) whenever Balotelli is out until Pazzini returns and sends Matri packing.

He always impressed me In the champions league/ Europa league, I just wonder if he was inconsistent in the Swiss league since no team went after him.

Niang was also injured in the mean time and although it would suit him better to play CF , he's very inconsistent to depend on him these days. It is just my opinion , but for me , Matri actually came in for the right reasons , but failed to impress and the concerning reasons for a shitstorm became a shitstorm. Had he scored let's say 5-6 goals so far , nobody would bat an eye about Matri right now . What's worrying aside our failures on the pitch so far is that we are left with too many options up front and it's clear to me someone will have to leave come January. As for Dragovic , i don't know what to tell you . He has caught my eye a few times but mostly through highlights , i don't have an opinion about him.

Fantastic points from both Dante and Forza

On the subject of the January transfer window, anyone believe that 1 of SES or Balo will leave? Don't know what to make of the rumors. The major contingency of Milan fans believe that one of them will leave. Yet i cannot fathom why we want to sell SES, the guy has been injured throughout the first half of this season. And regarding Balo, if every player we bought was sold as soon as his rough patch. We wouldn't even contend for EL lol.

Definitely agreed , we just can't sell players at the first obstacles ,that's true ES , but i do not really worry about it because our management is really dependable on such things. Almost predictable , lmfao. As for the rumours , obviously they are just that , rumours. What we know about Balotelli and Ses is that they are our two best players in attack and they are genuine Milanisti. That makes them incredibly difficult to sign , not to mention during January where we would only accept a huge deal and on top of that , both of them being ineligible for the CL. Unless them want to leave which i really doubt for the time being , not to mention that a change of clubs could jeopardise their chances for the WC.. For many reasons , i do not understand any rumour about them , just paper talk.

Ses didn't leave during the summer for 30m , though not sure if we ever really learned which team that was , i am supposed to buy the rumours he will leave in January for Galatasaray ? I have to reject it immediately and if need be , suffer later .

As for Balotelli , lol the guy needs just one great performance for fans and foes alike to stare in awe. Rumours are laughable if you ask me , but idk. In case they were true and Chelsea want him for 30m and Milan accepted.. we can obviously do a lot of stuff with 30m . But that would be a clear deviation from the youth policy , that would be it really.

For the time being i am inclined to reject these rumours , especially if Balotelli gets serious and sits his ass down to work , i believe he's the last one we would sell. Ses just wants Milan and i am not afraid for losing him just yet.

Once we miss on the CL , that's the time to be afraid. But still , i believe the days were we were forced to sell our best players for good money are simply over , if i am to believe Galliani at least .. Some truth must be in it though. Obviously if a ridiculously big offer came in , i suppose they would think about it , but it is my opinion that they know we have something great going here and the chances are , they probably value Ses and Balotelli more than 30m instant cash. These two accompanied by a great team behind them , can hit the sky with Milan and i am sure they know that in Milan. Selling Balotelli , unless he gets completely out of control , i doubt it will happen , even though the talk against Raiola must be true tbh , at least a part of it. But Abate and Balotelli , are Italian internationals and genuine Milanisti , i really doubt it we will let them go unless they want to leave.

Dante wrote:

I Have Mono wrote:I kind I wish you guys would've bought Aleksander Dragovic from FC Basel(a centerback) instead of Matri from Juventus(a striker). You guys could've played Niang in his position at CF (instead of as a Right winger) whenever Balotelli is out until Pazzini returns and sends Matri packing.

He always impressed me In the champions league/ Europa league, I just wonder if he was inconsistent in the Swiss league since no team went after him.

Niang was also injured in the mean time and although it would suit him better to play CF , he's very inconsistent to depend on him these days. It is just my opinion , but for me , Matri actually came in for the right reasons , but failed to impress and the concerning reasons for a shitstorm became a shitstorm. Had he scored let's say 5-6 goals so far , nobody would bat an eye about Matri right now . What's worrying aside our failures on the pitch so far is that we are left with too many options up front and it's clear to me someone will have to leave come January. As for Dragovic , i don't know what to tell you . He has caught my eye a few times but mostly through highlights , i don't have an opinion about him.

I don't dislike Matri because he's not scoring, I dislike him Matri because the money (8 million ?) could've been better used elsewhere. If he were signed as a free agent I wouldnt have a problem at all.
In an ideal world for the 4-3-3(which i think suits milan best) you have Balloteli as first choice CF, Pazzini as 2nd choice(yes he's injuried) Niang as 3rd choice(yes he also injuried and inconsistent, but he's a 3rd choice CF he's not playing much anyways). Then you move Robinho(who I don't consider a CF) as an emergeny CF for the few games Balotelli misses.

When everyone is healthy you have on the Left wing 1) SES 2) Emanuelson ( also the few times I've watched him play Left back I've liked him there)
CF 1) Balotelli 2)Pazzini 3)Niang
Right wing 1) Robinho 2)Birsa.

Yes there are right wingers better than Robinho (Honda can play there if you get him in January I think ?)
I don't know where Kaka plays in a 4-3-3 (I think I saw him playing Left wing ?)

I'm Not an expert on your squad but I don't think Matri was a good deal.
Back ups are backs ups for a reason, you're not going to have superstars backing up other superstars at every position.

But anyways that's just my reasoning for why a 22 year old Centerback is probably as better purchase than a 29 year old striker, that when your squad is 100% healthy will be 3 choice begin Balotelli and Pazzini at best.

You don't need to be an expert to see we would be surplass to requirements after Matri arrived. Ideologically speaking , adding yet another forward to our roster wasn't what we trully needed as a team. But there come times , exactly like it happened , that precaution has a big say on things.

It's just that Matri failed to impress . Niang , Pazzini , Ses were unavailable and to an extend still is , aside from Niang. I have to repeat myself here , we couldn't depend on Niang or Robinho to replace or parnter Balotelli all the time ; Niang was injured , and then again , almost always incosistent and would also need some time to be reintroduced to things , since it's been long he was a starter. Robinho at the start of the season could play only 1 half and was far from optimal fitness. And we were playing 4-3-1-2 mostly , that meant we needed two strikers. It just wouldn't work without an addition , unless we changed plans , which we didn't want to . Although now one can say we should have and just wait , things weren't as they are now and the team wanted to follow that road , of the 4-3-1-2.

The sad fact is , Matri failed to score goals and stop the shitstorm. He came from quite the different set up in comparison to Milan's and we were severly plauged by injuries most of the time and that meant most of our B side players would be pulling the strings behind him. It didn't work and be it either bad form or bad luck , he missed a few sitters too along the way and made things look even worse. Anyway , nobody scores everything and even if he was in superb form he would still miss good chances.

The thing is , on paper , it looks so simple , but things went completely out of program with injuries and suspensions and what not . Matri found himself inside all this shitstorm and took too much of the blame for our struggles , the pressure was too big to not affect him. I hope i make some sense with what i said , Matri clearly wasn't what we needed but that doesn't necessarily mean he came for the wrong reasons. We needed an experienced forward for that period , just we needed him to score goals anyway lol

Don't know what else i can say about this , i've thought and analysed this to the death. We have paid for it and it is my opinion that it wasn't because Matri was a bad idea or a poor striker , but for all other reasons that Matri was dependant to impress, if not succeed. Can't tell what will happen now with all these forwards we have. There's no way we are keeping them all past January , no way.

Perhaps Robinho will be leaving? With Pazzini back he's never going to see the line up again , Allegri also trusts Matri . Niang doesn't want to leave and the club won't look to sell Ses or Balo. Staying would also decrease his chances of making the WC in his homeland , something that i believe may even prompt him to move from Milan. His wages should have seen him gone already and after Honda comes , he should be leaving , he has no real chance to keep playing against these players and there's also a certain Niang somewhere in the mix.

Only way i can see him staying is if someone else gets an offer first , otherwise he will be the first to leave. As for the 4-3-3 being the best for Milan , well it depends . We have the capacity to take any path we want , be it 4-3-1-2 , 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. Damn , even 4-3-2-1. The thing is , we now have too many strikers . And what happens in January will define what we do next , i can't possibly call what is best for us right now. Either way , some players will be saying goodbye even from January imo , whatever formation we build uppon. As of now , we're still plaggued by injuries lol , we still choose formations according to what suits the current available , rather force them into something definite that suits our basic 11.

WHEN THE *bleep* WILL EL SHAARAWY RETURN

The Times is suggesting Milan will consider replacing Massimiliano Allegri with Andre Villas-Boas at the end of the season.

Allegri, in his fourth campaign at San Siro, is unlikely to be offered a new contract once his present agreement expires in June.

Villas-Boas – sacked by Tottenham this month – has apparently already been contacted by intermediaries of the Italian outfit, but he’s asked for time to consider his next move.

Allegri was expected to be sacked last summer until Vice-President Adriano Galliani convinced owner Silvio Berlusconi to keep the Coach.

Although the Rossoneri have reached the last 16 of the Champions League, they are struggling badly in Serie A.

Milan are tenth in the standings and a massive 16 points adrift of the Champions League zone.

Former Milan stars Pippo Inzaghi – currently in charge of the Primavera side – and Botafogo midfielder Clarence Seedorf have also been linked with the hotseat.

http://www.football-italia.net/43013/villas-boas-milan-link


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What do you all think of AVB? He has one a treble at Porto but managed to fail in 2 big clubs. He's a very young coach, he might have some bright ideas. But ultimately, i think the pressure at Milan might be too much for him.

Villas Boas very much like Mourinho is a coach who demands full control of his project. He will never get that freedom in Milan and will most likely ultimately clash with Berlusconi/Barbara/Galliani just like he clashed with Levy and the top players at Chelsea and get sacked. To bring him to Milan, the management must change their policies and give AVB full control and confidence.

M99 wrote:Villas Boas very much like Mourinho is a coach who demands full control of his project. He will never get that freedom in Milan and will most likely ultimately clash with Berlusconi/Barbara/Galliani just like he clashed with Levy and the top players at Chelsea and get sacked. To bring him to Milan, the management must change their policies and give AVB full control and confidence.

Good point, i'd rather we take our time looking for our next coach instead of rushing towards whoever is free

Sky Sport Italia: Clarence Seedorf has signed a pre-contract agreement to take over as the coach of AC Milan from next season onwards.

My main source for news @Milanello on twitter says that Villas Boas rumours are completely false.

Also, the same thing as M99. It is reported that Seedorf will be our coach next season.

If this is true, I just hope that he can do well with the team and actually follow our youth policy.

sell everyone.

i have always been critical of our midfielders currently we have and i will reiterate again... there is no one no midfield who have capability of opening the opponent defense. no brain, no playmaking ability, no creativity whatsoever!!!!!

montolivo is the best we have and he is not even close to the calibre we had in the past, boban pirlo rui costa seedorf in some respect and ricky.

this darts me. i think its because of allegri because he is always preferring midfielders who just have defensive qualities with pressing attributes. for me, midfielders are the heart, the engine of the team, everything can be produced from there, making chances, dictating play, controlling tempo of the game, unlocking opponents defense, orchestrating how team plays, the movement of attackers... and how midfielders are going to start off play starting from defense and finishing off with the help of attackers... NON EXISTENT IN OUR TEAM!!!!!!! its no surprise why our players are clueless!!!!!! running and just wasting energy...

allegri, braida, galliani of three of those, we know allegri and braida are most involved in us getting players they want in the team!!!!!


so i want both of them out!!! if there is even slightest of hope for the future!!! both of them need to be out of the club pronto!!!!

i have seen enough of our club messed up, but this is beyond belief... this is disgrace!!!

last time the ultras blocked the players from leaving its kaka who saved allegri's and our players ass...

i am tired of excuse... we all are... money is not only the factor here, or injuries, the management both from galliani, braida to allegri is beyond ridiculous, in fact i want all 3 of them out after this season!!!

We (fans) all want the same thing. We want that our club play good and to win games. Question is what our management wants. How they are acting they don't want the same thing as we do. We have a coach who is not a coach. In his first year as a "coach"we won a Scudeto. But Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva with the help of other players won us that title and not Allegri. We did not win next season because of Allegri and his choices in some games. And this year we have 4 wins out of 17 games. We are 27 points behind first place and 5 points from a safe zone. That is a disgrace. Almost after every bad result Allegri is satisfied. And he is still our coach. What needs to be done that he is sacked? Maybe if we drop to Seria B. Maybe not even then.

Then, we had so many injuries. That is a fault of our medical stuff. Make some changes there too.

We have Honda and Rami in January. That will not change our team that much. And the players who are mentioned as possible reinforcements are Nainggolan, Parolo, D'Ambrosio. Who the F..K are they? We need good players. Those are not players for AC Milan. Just like 70 % of our current players are not good enough for one of the greatest football teams in history.

Berlusconi is saying that he is now again all the way with our team. And we still want those players. If he is with the team we should be buying best players in the world. He have a money to bring any player he wants. But he don't want to give money for the team, not anymore. The only thing that club president needs to do, it is to give money for players. And he don't want to do that anymore. Thank you for everything you have done for us in the past. But now just sell the club.

Allegri should have known the responsibilities when he signed up for this position, he can't expect the fans to support him when the team is SITTING 5 POINTS OVER RELEGATION. He should resign to avoid further harm, he is the type of coach that can stabilize a team but not build it. He was not willing to play Saponara until the derby and we are yet to see Cristante. Nonetheless, he favours Matri over Niang if we need a change in attack.

I still don't understand how he is still coach to this point. Heck, spurs fired AVB when they were in the top half of the table. The decision to keep Allegri is outrageous from B&G. We are either matching or breaking all of our bad records in one season  

@Milanello Milan's current Serie A campaign is the worst in the 3-point era (i.e. since 94-95) with just 19 points after 17 Serie A matches.

       

This just supports my points further about Allegri being a coach made to keep a team stable but not help progress it.

We are breaking the wrong records and are going the wrong way on the table. Allegri promised earlier this season that we will be in a much better position (Top 5) by the winter break, and now he promises that we will do better in January. Why bother make promises if you can't even keep them? Things like these could hurt someone's reputation in a very bad way especially at this level.