@Dante, just to clarify, I do not mean that this should be our starting line up now, instead, it should be developed over 2-3 years with minutes for players such as Suso increasing as time goes by. If we do not give these young players opportunities to gel, then when players like Monto become veterans, the transition will become much more difficult. This will result in us repeating the same mistakes. The likes of Montolivo must play but we should have a backbone in mind for the future to ease the transition. Also, I have mentioned before that I too would like to see montolivo playing in his favoured position.

@MilanDevil First of all your sig

Secondly, I agree with your idea of line-up. Milan has lacked stability since the 12 season when you sold Silva and Ibra and all the legends left, so starting to recreate a backbone similar to your previous one is the right idea, however I have some concerns with it.

Obviously you can't improve your current position and have long-term stability with old players and should focus on younger players instead, however Rami and Montolivo should be starters and still have 3/4 years in their prime.
Rami has always been extremely reliable, when he was with Lille he won a L1 as a key player, at Valencia he was a starter for France and IMO in his year at Milan he's been the most reliable out of the Zapata/Mexes/Bonera bunch and hasn't showed all of his impervious abilities yet because he strangely hasn't started all the matches at CB when he was available and because his partner sucked. Montolivo is by far your best midfielder and can still have a good 4/5 years in him, especially if he plays in a deeper role. If he leaves before that I can see a potential dejavu with the Pirlo scenario, with him joining a rival and bossing it in a DLP role.

Also, I think Suso was bought in a view of a future 4-2-3-1 or as a back-up of the winger/trequartista/mezz'ala hybrid role Jack has been doing, having two such players in a 3 man midfield would make the team so much unbalanced and splitted in two when playing. You could argue that Pep often played a offensive 4-1-4-1 or that 2010 Benfica played with two similar wide offensive CMs in a 3man midfield in Di Maria and Ramires, but Inzaghi is not Pep and Milan is not Bayern/Barca and Suso and Jack do not have the intensity and the tactical flexibility of the argentian and the brazilian. I can expect Jack to develop his CM skill more than he already did but I believe him or Suso need an all-round midfielder besides them like Poli, MVG or a player in their mould. Obviously a valid alternative for Milan's future midfield is the 4-2-3-1.

I was wondering how Seedorf would've done with Milan this season. I mean, his 4-2-3-1 had Taarabt, Honda who was not at all settled in and looked like a fish out of water and often played Poli, Abate out of position, Abbiati/Amelia in goal. I wonder how he would've done with a fit SES, Bona, Cerci, Lopez and other signings he would have made, with his coaching staff, with the unconditionable trust from the board, a full pre-season to have etc.

I know you have . I explained my opinion on Montolivo since i thought you meant we shouldn't necessarily rely on him . I welcome what you say and share more or less the same opinion , especially after this post . We obviously should be doing this , however , it will depend on what some players do and not just on Inzaghi , or how the management is going to move in the coming market windows.

For instance , Van Ginkel is a player who i particularly like . But we know his situation , unless there are behind-the-scenes plans that we do not know , Marco Van Ginkel remains a player that we cannot look to depend on the long run. Let's consider Suso and his undeniably welcomed purchase . Suso does seem promising and has skills that should be of great importance to our play . Despite all that , we still need to be patient and look how he does , first of all . We cannot have the colours when we don't have the draft done first , that's what i want to emphasise. We can have the looks of it in mind ; but not the exact colours . We must create the lines first and that means testing . Having said that , like i've said in the past , a painter knows before hand what colour the sky will look in his portrait ; what colour the grass will be. e.t.c . Sadly we don't have the luxury or basis to say this or that player should be this or that , it remains to be seen. On the rest , i do agree with what you say and of course i can't but agree with most names you mention , but we cannot make solid estimates about much. Who knows how Milan will be in 2-3 years time. That goes for Suso too.  It is not set in stone if he will become a part of the future core of Milan , although his quality and our current lack in this type of midfielder make me hopefull he will establish his mark within our play .

I think our best midfield when we want to attack and dominate through positional play , is this (For the moment and untill i see more of Suso , i cannot include him , even when i want to) (also used to want Honda there but i was wrong , that was a stretch , besides after Niang loaned out there's no chance , Honda and Cerci will be sharing time on the right) :


when we want to invite attacks , or in need of further protection , imho only in very specific matches


as for the future-minded midfield , i am pretty sure it will differ to this .. but anyway , considering Suso and Van Ginkel under the exact same 4-3-3 you set up , i think the correct use of these players is this :


and if the obvious happens


Van Ginkel is suited very well for this role , as he has proved in the past and at Milan . His best game for Milan so far had him doing some impressive work there , when both Jack and MVG were in the midfield . He's not so agressive or flexible as Suso , neither territorial , or a great reader of the game off the ball , as to be considered a regista. He's a mezzala through and through , as i see him , a poor man's mix of Ballack - Schweinsteiger , imo. He's a box to box player , however very , very capable on the ball with lots of creativity given the nod. You can't have that player as regista , it's a misuse. I don't think he used to play there anyway. As for Suso , Suso could easier exploit the space between the lines having the freedom to be the first midfielder to roam from the midfield . Having said that , i do agree he can play just as well on the right , my concerns would be his athleticism , at least for the time being. In any case , I honestly believe Van Ginkel is more suited to play on the right side , going by what i've seen so far. Admittedly , i haven't seen much of Suso yet .

Having said that , here's hoping Suso can prove to be a valuable addition , cause MVG will most likely be gone in the summer and we could do with Suso on the right , eventually .. If he does leave then i would agree that Suso , unless Inzaghi has totally different plans , should be used there. Given these 3 players however , that's where they should be playing in such a midfield. Bonaventura should be occupying the left midfield position , for the time being at least , i agree. I like his involvement when he plays instead of Ses , but imo , i liked it wayyyy better when we actually had a midfield which were playing football. And that was with Bonaventura - De Jong - Van Ginkel , just imagine how more fluent it can be with Montolivo pulling the strings and dictating from the deep . It gets to be an entire new midfield just with this change , at least imho .

All quiet on the Western front... I'm just waiting for the "Suso is a champion, we don't need any other players now" comment.

Suso is love. Suso is life.

Pippo said at the Suso announcement we were gonna look for a fullback but haven't heard anything about that.

Its funny I remember the days where we were promised "Mr.X" and got past it Ronaldinho, or unwanted Ibra, etc. and we'd be dissapointed. How I'd go back to that now

why i jumped right in into both hype trains , didn't mind at all . Especially for Ibra

btw , Essien the pos rejected offers from QPR and from MLS , i supposed we all read that by now . Worst news in this transfer window so far

As for the LB , i am curious , have we all forgotten Albertazzi ? I get it he's not much but prefferable to have 4 LBs isn't

De Sciglio will take one month to return from injury . What we would do with 4 LB then. I think we will get a new one only if Armero leaves .

I think it's easy to forget that DS is playing out of position at LB.

Actually, by his own ammission, he prefers to play on the left because on the right his game is limited whereas on the left he can both cross with his left-foot and cut in and shoot with his right.

He is better on the right IMO. That is his natural position. He does minimal crossing on the left and I'd say his shot tally is 0.

well i don't think De Sciglio deserves to play right back instead of Abate , at least this season . He had bad games as RB . Also what KP said. He'll get bench on the right side so.. On the left he can play , we have no one better . If Armero left and we got anyone better than MDS , then sure , let him fight it out with Abate , or get benched untill he gets it together , fine with me

But currently , no , LB is his place , Abate is our undisputed best RB this season.

Forza wrote:He is better on the right IMO. That is his natural position. He does minimal crossing on the left and I'd say his shot tally is 0.

it is his natural position , but Abate has been doing better . There's no need for this change atm , especially with De Sciglio being totally out of form , or in and out because of injuries.
De Sciglio isn't having a good season anyway , no reason for Inzaghi to make his life even harder and pit him against Abate for playing time. I will however agree if we got a LB , who would make the LB position his own , this should force De Sciglio to get it together and earn back his place on any side really.

Even if i agree that MDS should play right wing , which obviously isn't anything far fatched . He will get benched and play less , untill he can overcome Abate. And this isn't happening this season by any chance. If we are ok with him being the sub for Abate , then ok , he should be deployed as RB from now on.

As Dante said, its not a question of him being better on the left, its more we have no one better then him. Out of position MDS and Abate>Armero and Abate IMO.

@Dante, I agree with you completely regarding the short term and the long term plans.

I would also like to add that the club's instability is heavily affecting the development of our young players like SES and DES. Older players are more adapt in experiencing the changes and are often not affected as much. We need to put a plan in place and stick to it. An experienced coach must come in and Berlusconi must keep his mouth shut regarding the starting line up.

MDS is better on the right than the left. However, it's not a question of MDS replacing Abate on the right at the moment. Abate is better than MDS on the right and cannot play on the left at all. On the other hand, MDS has the versatility to play on the left. It is unfortunate that we have 2 decent natural RBs and not 1 decent natural LB.

We got Destro

We're also apparently chasing Munoz, Salvatore Bocchetti is the alternative too.

Essien is leaving as well

Where are the midfielders tho

Bocchetti to Milan (loan)

Agreement reached for Destro, 700k loan with option (not obligation) to buy, up to the player now

The likeliest scenario is that we're getting Bocchetti as a stop-gap until the summer and pick up Munoz for free, while another central defender leaves/retires (Mexes, Zapata, Zaccardo, Bonera). Although, i'd like to see us go for Schar since his contract is going to finish in the summer , at the expense of another central defender (Mexes, Zapata, Zaccardo, Bonera)

So..Milan's team is actually good and every team below Juve and Roma is very inconsistent, do you think you still have a chance for that 3rd spot?

Lopez, Abate, Rami, Munoz, MDS, De Jong, Monto, Honda, ES, Cerci, Menez, Destro + new coach boost effect + the improvement brought by a better coach..

Katy Perry wrote:do you think you still have a chance for that 3rd spot?

No, at least, not with Inzaghi atm

Adel Taarabt and Milan , the story of a love never definitively set. The injury of El Shaarawy pushes the Rossoneri to return to the market, Taarabt one of the names at the top of the list. Today there was a new telephone contact between the Moroccan playmaker QPR and Adriano Galliani: working to try to find a solution for the transfer to the Rossoneri. In the next hours the expected new updates, probably at the end of the race Tim Cup tonight against Lazio. Taarabt thoughts Rossoneri, increasingly.

Link

Why are we trying to get another Menez?

El Shaarawy wrote:Adel Taarabt and Milan , the story of a love never definitively set. The injury of El Shaarawy pushes the Rossoneri to return to the market, Taarabt one of the names at the top of the list. Today there was a new telephone contact between the Moroccan playmaker QPR and Adriano Galliani: working to try to find a solution for the transfer to the Rossoneri. In the next hours the expected new updates, probably at the end of the race Tim Cup tonight against Lazio. Taarabt thoughts Rossoneri, increasingly.

Link

Why are we trying to get another Menez?

Cuz of El Shaarawy's injury.

I wonder if pazzo will leave, I mean it's kind of obvious with Destro's imminent arrival. Today's been a busy day for our market

Aside the transfers we're working on , i'd say getting rid of Mexes , Essien and Pazzini , all that in January , would be an immense success , even if we didn't get anybody.

On the transfers , i will wait to see what actually happens , before i say anything .

Good that we lost the past games, it lit a fire under B&G's asses. They're actually making signings

How good is Bochetti now? He was decent on Serie A. And by the way off topic, is Domenico Criscito still alive

Bocchetti, Munoz, Destro, Taarabt, Baselli. So, we are interested in players that nobody wants or nobody even heard of. Good management.
But besides that poor taste in players first we must get rid of the garbage we have. On our transfer list in the summer there must be these players: Alex, Mexes, Bonera, Zaccardo, Essien, Muntari, Montolivo, El Shaarawy