Pippo

smart singings come from smart people mate . You know that. Galliani had been suggested all the talent in the world these years , from Eriksen to Pastore , to Mastour (where he did listen) and whatever , you name it.

The thing is this teams morale is crushed after this season . Many have to go , even though going only solves half the problem , for instance Amelia is practicaly gone and we got his scrub younger version of him in return. Why? He was free.

There's nothing smart in that , especially when we look at Abbiati . This is all madness , madness which Milan will unfortunately continue to pay on the road.. maybe not on the road to Palermo , but in season success ratio terms , yes we will , after all these years , these things leave no room for doubts .

I'd suggest we offload deadwood to the point we can't afford to replace them , not in money neither in time. So we turn to the Primavera which Inzaghi knows well.. added bonus will be these players will be trully his players. They will become what Inzaghi wants them to become.

Already made men and players will only nod their heads and follow his lead and program , youngsters on the road of fullfilness have the room to be shaped according to Inzaghi's views and needs of the team.

Still , i hope for Milan we get at least one significant player . It will boost the team , there's no denying that . Last season , i suppose that was supposed to be Matri , lmfao.. I am certain , despite what Inzaghi and management are planning , that our roster is in dire need of a great player , anywhere in the field .

Most of all i agree with what you said though. Ship off the deadwood , how long we desire that. damn , let it be this summer .

I'd say that , Constant and Zaccardo are gone from Milan . Possibly Birsa too , i really don't see him staying with Ses back and especially if Taarabt stays. He's gone too. Amelia is gone too , though Agazzi   .. lol

Anyway , one thing i like about Inzaghi is his opinion of the 4-3-3 and the 4-3-1-2 . If he can alternate between that succesfully. If he could find the right mix , between El Shaarawy , Balotelli and Kaka .

He should be doing some serious work come next season. He should... it's still way too early to say anything. I suppose though , that if we do see Inzaghi playing Ancelotti's diamond formation ...

i will finally get to see Kaka behind Ses and Balotelli . I waited an entire season to see that and i only saw some glimpses in the last couple of games where Ses got back. I am still eager to see how it works , yet i have doubs about the midfield. I think Montolivo will finally play his prefered role now , as the last man in front of the defence.

Maybe De Jong in Gattuso's role ? that would be interesting , no ?

I really hope we can retain Poli if we are actually gonna play a 3-man midfield next season, i can see him having a role there.

I agree with you on Taarabt, i think he has done a good job at Milan. But he's not the player we need to play a 4-3-3 with Balo and SES playing striker and left winger respectively. I don't know if Honda can fulfill the RW role to the best of his abilities, but i hope he can impress. Pre-season will tell, hopefully.

I think it would be a bit unproductive to get NDJ doing more than what he does now, i think he's where he is. Giving him more roles in the team might place a heavy burden on him, and his lack in speed can be detrimental if the opposition manages to to counter us and he's not where he should be.

I would like us to get a CB other than Rami, but i feel that might not happen. A LB would be nice, considering that one of Eman/Constant might leave/get sold.

Like you, and many Milan fans have said, we need to eliminate all the deadwood. We aren't in CL next year, we aren't in 3 competitions. We don't need that much depth, hopefully we can commit to shaving the squad down to 25-26.

Let's hope so .

As for De Jong , well , i believe he can play the part of a 3-m midfield as the right midfielder . He , in theory , could be helping much more there at pressing and at pressing high at that , he's very energetic and capable of taking the ball from the opposition. So he would add another dimension to our game that he wouldn't normaly do where he was playing this season . He's a simple player on top of that , meaning his job there will be mostly to help others create and at the same time , cover along with Abate/De Sciglio the right wing , which i believe could prove to be quite solid .

Montolivo , and this is why i suggested that , is at his best in front of the defence. De Jong is better at defending obviously , but he lacks in quality compared to Montolivo when it comes to orchistrate things. That i believe is undeniable.

I believe as Montolivo is our captain , it is much more urgent for him to be at his best and where he wants to play has a big say on that. He always said he can do many roles , but his favourite has been there and his best games at Milan in his first season were there. Allegri's insistance on what the n4 should be , De Jong basically , made Montolivo have a bad season for the most part at least , in front of him. No coincedence he improved and found some form back whilst playing deeper in the 4-2-3-1 , that's his comfort zone ; his outburst to the opposing box are his calls , part of his game. That will still be there , mind you.

Monty needs that , if you ask me . I don't want to see him have a first half of the season like this one , nobody wants. I feel we will see him again at his true position , the deep lying playmaker and De Jong , who already this season has shown to be much more in comfort attacking and in general lines being more aggresive , could prove usefull in a more creative role with defensive traits. Just like Gattuso with Pirlo had changed positions , only to still play their own roles no matter what .

I believe the same can happen under Inzaghi . I am pretty sure Montolivo will be playing as the last of the 3. And that leaves room for Poli too.

As for Poli , i have not the slightest of worries. He will remain with Milan and if Montolivo gets to be the last midfielder , in front of the defence where De Jong had been , Poli will take the place to the left and De Jong the place to the right and i believe the Depolivo midfield will finally be what it was supposed to be.

That's my opinion at least , i am not saying all of that because i think De Jong did bad this season on the contrary. I understand what you mean about burden , yet i feel it will have no negative effects on him , for many reasons. First Monto will be playing better and that will count for more into our play , so it would be better for De Jong too to have Monto at his very best. Massive importance to a midfielder , in what state his fellow midfielders are , they are a chain that can have no weak links and Monty's funny pace has hindered our game where he was this season. 2nd he will be in a more aggresive position than usuall and i think this could be fun for him and on top of that , as the game moves , it doesn't matter if he is at the exact center or more to the right , his role is his and he will be playing his game nonetheless. Add to that that Montolivo , will be more rested there. He won't have to outdo himself like he always attempts now and with Poli on the left , who's both energetic and creative , you basically have a very balanced midfield , capable of possibly everything .

When we need changes , there's either Muntari/Essien(lol) or possibly new CM(lol)/Cristante respectively to give us an alternative edge. Honda should be fighting with Kaka for the 10. yeah , i think this is what Depolivo should be in a 3-man midfield. We haven't ever seen that yet. But we have seen Poli , we have seen where Monto did best and we have seen De Jong this season be more than just your tackle man , much more agressive than i remember.

Me thinks it could work very well , yet we will see. It's unlikely we will sign any important midfielder , so i think if the midfield stays the same , basic midfield , that's how i think Inzaghi should deploy them. Given he's very influenced by Ancelotti , it's quite possible and frankly , i would like at least to see it tested .

Now that i think of it

Maybe having Kaka closer to the goal with Ses behind him could change our game significantly ; As for Ses , who's far more energetic and flexible , a player who has proven that he can track back to help , even though on the wing that was.. perhaps it could be his definite role , feeding the entire team with his play in the middle of everything. I get though that it might prove just too much , idk. Not sure how he would fare in the 10 position , within his defensive duties that is , or how well he could use his speed there .. counter attacking wise he should be killing it as a 10 , though


what do you think , is any of that worth it

I was happy with the words Van Gaal had of De Jong, as if when he got injured one of the most important player was out.

Even Zapata wasnt too bad for Columbia from the little i saw.

Petagnas goal versus Anderlecht was actually much better than what I remembered. Requires some good technique, strength and balance to get that one in. Always hoped to see more of him, but you know how it is with youth product in Italy.

What kind of formation/lineup are we looking at for the 2014 season, guys?

Agazzi

Vrsaljko/Abate Zapata Alex De Sciglio

Montolivo De Jong Poli

Menez Balo Shaarawy


Funny thing is that Balo would probably have been sold if he had a good world cup, as Berlusconi said himself. Lets see if Balo can grow up more like Zlatan eventually did. (one can always dream)

I didnt select Rami (dont know if we will even buy him, same with Taarabt) or Mexes along with Alex as I feel the underwhelmingly low pace would get us murdered. Im sceptical enough as it is, as I feel this kind of defence just cant get us a CL spot.

What can be done with Honda? Seedorf had no idea, hope Pippo will find him usefull or keep him benched. Absolutely useless on the wings, thats for sure.

Saponara is off the transfer market? Perhaps this is our Taarabt, free and with a bigger potential.

Still dreaming of an offensive playing style that gives Balo much more support, as him alone in the middle getting bullied around and refs who dont care (cause they know he also dives) is just a recipe for disaster and more yellow/red cards. Or else just give him away, not worth waiting for a dream offer of 35 million euroes from Arsenal if he gets sent of 5 times a season dragging the team morale with him.

Also, Mastour! Future Genoa legend lol

Inzaghi's official presentation:

Watching the video, Pippo says that he wants to focus on the overall mentality the players, including how they approach the training regime, rather than go into semantics.

Interesting

Pippo restates himself, that he is going to be hard and strict on the players as a group, in terms of their training, compatibility, nutrition, etc. He looks up to Costa Rica and Simeone's Atletico as examples of how the group should act.

Reporter: Galliani the fans want a top player

Galliani: We already signed 3 in Alex, Menez and Albertazzi.

Galliani: "We need to let a few players go before signing any. We need to cut down the squad to 24-25."

Same story as last year

Casciavit wrote:Reporter: Galliani the fans want a top player

Galliani: We already signed 3 in Alex, Menez and Albertazzi.

We already owned Albertazzi     

i actually laughed out loud with the Galliani comments

Pippo said we are going to play 4-3-3/4-4-2

ba gawd

I don't know why I have a good feeling




my hope will probably be crushed within a month though

I cant take another hit, this must be a productive positive season

Ganso wrote:Pippo said we are going to play 4-3-3/4-4-2

ba gawd

I don't know why I have a good feeling




my hope will probably be crushed within a month though

So I guess we are going to attack in a 4-3-3 and defend in a 4-4-2. Very similar to Real Madrid, me like.

I was impressed by his press conference, he focused a lot on mentality and hardwork. Something I've been crying for, over the past 7 years. He even used Atletico's approach as an example.

This is going to be a success. It just has to.

Pippo

Interesting comments concerning our formation, reminiscent of Carlo's Madrid and to an extent PSG as Cas noted. This could perhaps be a way of managing the defensive phase whilst accounting for the poor work rate of Balotelli and potentially Cerci as a partner in crime up top. Whilst Cerci is often referred to as a right winger, in practice he often operates as a second striker and it is particularly significant that when without the ball, both for Torino and in his short time for Italy, he has remained up the pitch as an option for the counter attack, occupying the space between the LCB and LB to either force the opposition team to restrict their fullback's ambition or risk being exposed, whilst opening up space for the centre forward on the counter. It could potentially work well with El Shaarawy shifting from an advanced position in possession on the left to one in midfield, with Poli's mobility allowing him to play a defensive RW position in defence, like Koke at Atletico Madrid, shifting from the centre to protect the fullback.

What I would have liked to see in Pippo's comments - and I haven't watched the whole thing, only having read limited excerpts - was a commitment to youth, particularly given his unique position as the former head of the youth team, able to bring through those worthy and integrate them into the first team set up. It is positive to see an emphasis on fitness and hard work which has been lacking, however we have heard these promises before. Pippo is a born winner though and hopefully his attitude in infectious.

Pippo playing himself as a centre forward in the first team during practice.

Legend

1. How shite was the yellow bibs defence for those goals? Was that Tassotti at CB? lol
2. Pippo is a goddamn beast. Finishing technique level: over 9000

LOL go on Pippo what a lad.

Milan - Monza, 70th minute. Niang scored a pen a few minutes back. Mastour just came on.

Mastour with a great assist to Mastalli.

Next Zidane

Yeah Mastour assist was great, the way he skipped past those challenges

Benedic is pretty good as well, very composed.

El Shaarawy wrote:

loooooooooooooooooooooool

Filippo Inzaghi has reflected on what he wants to see from his Milan team, as he expresses admiration and hope for Fernando Torres.

Joining on loan from Chelsea, Torres has taken the No 9 shirt recently worn by the Rossoneri’s new Coach, and has received his backing.

“Torres had a difficult year, but he has great desire to do well,” Inzaghi has told the Gazzetta dello Sport, from the Elite Club Coaches Forum in Nyon this week.

“I like to see a player who stops to sign autographs for two-and-a-half hours, it's a sign of respect towards the fans.

“The indications are positive whilst I hope that with him Milan will change greatly.

“I have seven strikers and I'm spoilt for choices, my task is to get the most out of them and to understand how to interchange between them.

“It has been a good market and I thank the club and the President. The goal is to win back the fans, whilst I am happy with the purchases made.”

Inzaghi considered where Milan could be aiming for this season.

“I can't care about what is being said - 10 days ago we were a team that was fighting for 10th place. I don't set any limits, even though I'm not a magician in terms of predictions.

“My relationship with the players? I'm always the same. I demand rigour and discipline.

“And I asked for a lot of heart and respect for this jersey, which I've always loved.”

Among those in Nyon this week with Inzaghi was his former Coach at San Siro, Carlo Ancelotti.

“The legendary Carletto is an example. I was moved when he was awarded for the three CL.

“And to think that he had coached me for more than 10 years...”

http://www.football-italia.net/55537/inzaghi-torres-can-change-milan

Think about this. if theres one person who can revive torres's career so to speak, it would be inzaghi. since torres actually has decent link up play and isn't a total donkey with the ball