Napoli v Milan

You can see how much we miss El Shaarawy this season. Even when he wasn't scoring, he was helping our defence and making runs that open up spaces for other attackers. El Shaarawy dominates the left side of the field when he is present.

I really would like to see saponara play more, I think he has the potential to do very well.

the result was expected, so i hope these kind of a result would this time around definitely make milan board take things super serious in summer.

No shame to lose to Napoli at home, many other teams do. As long as Seedorf and the players learn from this and apply it then that's the main thing. Hopefully positive changes can come in defence as easily the weakest part of this team right now.

Balotelli was captured on camera crying in the dugout following his substitution in the second half just minutes after he missed an open goal.

But Seedorf maintained that it was all part of the 23-year-old's road to maturity and put himself at his star's disposal to help him progress.

"We are players and there are times when we express ourselves that way. I see nothing wrong or abnormal in that. I experienced it at times too," Seedorf admitted to reporters after the match.

"He too needs to grow in general. He played very well [two weeks ago] against Cagliari, while tonight perhaps he didn’t make the most of the space.

"These are things we can all improve on and I’m happy he has so many areas to improve, as I can help him through that education.”

January arrival Adel Taarabt gave the Rossoneri the lead even though Gokhan Inler and Gonzalo Higuain handed Napoli eventual victory, but Seedorf proved reasonably impressed with his side's display.

"Taarabt had a great debut. He showed a lot of quality, worked hard and scored a great goal. He presented himself well," the coach continued.

"It was a step backwards in terms of the result, but I also saw many positive things. Unfortunately we had prepared it a certain way, then Kaka and Keisuke Honda got ill, so I had to make changes.

"As well as to get as many points as possible, my job is to help improve the players who I found in not great physical condition. That needs time.”

Zlatan wrote: No shame to lose to Napoli at home, many other teams do. As long as Seedorf and the players learn from this and apply it then that's the main thing. Hopefully positive changes can come in defence as easily the weakest part of this team right now.

We won 4 games in half a season... if they didn't get it after that, they never will.

How much is the option to buy for Taarabt?
I think he didn't play so well since he played in Champonship ... his performance and impact with Milan was praised by all in Italy

•MilanDevil• wrote:You can see how much we miss El Shaarawy this season. Even when he wasn't scoring, he was helping our defence and making runs that open up spaces for other attackers. El Shaarawy dominates the left side of the field when he is present.

I really would like to see saponara play more, I think he has the potential to do very well.

We can simply see how important he was for the team last season. His continuous absence this season has affected the performance of the team , up to a great extent i would say. Of course this is nothing new and should not be an excuse. But unfortunately , it is one. For a really big part of the season now , it's just Balotelli and even though he's done it more than once , we are not Udinese. We can't expect everything from our Di Natale , doesn't matter how good or in form he might be.

As for Saponara , personally i have always been excited about him. He has had an ok season so far , being his first season in Serie A and with Milan on top of that . Not that impressive , but not bad either. The big issue here is , with Milan getting Kaka , Honda and even Taarabt after signing him back in the summer , i see very little room for him now.. Never mention when El Shaarawy gets back. His playing time will be even less then.

Maybe a loan to a Serie A team could be the best option for him, or even a co-owenership just to ensure he will be playing. He's very talented to let go , but at the same time , i am not sure if we can really count on him atm , especially when others are more reliable than Sapo at this point , such as Honda and Kaka. There's also Taarabt , who had a good first game and should he keep going on like that , i feel he will be competing for play time much more often and that's not the best news for Saponara .

Zlatan wrote: No shame to lose to Napoli at home, many other teams do. As long as Seedorf and the players learn from this and apply it then that's the main thing. Hopefully positive changes can come in defence as easily the weakest part of this team right now.

Well , i'd say that our priority should be a gk , because lets face it , Abbiati falls short of expectations this season. It's not his fault the club doesn't relieve the load of his shoulders , i cannot blame Abbiati directly for his shortcomings , because Abbiati has always given his all for Milan and now he's at an age where it's difficult for him to be as competitive as he used to be. So a keeper is a must despite if they offer Abbiati a new contract , especially if Amelia is leaving.

A fullback after a new gk. Aside De Sciglio , who mostly has progress and positives to show for , all the rest of our fullbacks , Abate , Urby and Constant , seem to be under par. Abate is having a bad season for all sorts of reasons and Constant should have left already , he's not up to the task. Urby despite the usuall trash talk about him is having a good season in general lines. He has had impressive games as a LB , a few dissapointing ones , but he mostly falls short of the mess we seem to be under pressure ; when we attack and exploit the space in front of him , he always does well. When teams close us down and he needs to think twice what to do , there he stalls ; details , but details which i doubt they will be solved soon. So maybe a LB would be a nice option. Particularly a LB who isn't afraid to take on his markers under tight spaces , just to give us an alternative to Emanuelson. I've been reading some reports about Coentrao , i don't know if these are true , but Milan was trying for Coentrao when he was at Benfica. If it's really 10m and him or Real wants him to leave for some reason , i think i can see this happening.

For CB , i am pretty sure nobody will arrive unless one of Mexes , Zapata or Bonera leave. Or we just don't sign Rami , which i think it's out of the question. Silvestre will surely leave , so maybe , we sign one. The thing is , for what reason this new CB will be joining. If he's meant to replace Silvestre we may as well promote a youngster . Otherwise , we should go for a good cb , there must be a few of them around football for us to get one.

Up front we should look to Robinho's replacement , first and foremost. Maybe Saponara could be his replacement , that's what i would go for and keep the change from his sale. I always felt Robinho doesn't need a replacement , but if Saponara doesn't stay after the summer , then a replacement for him would be nice. Birsa i don't expect him to stay with Milan after we got Taarabt. We re pretty much loaded , whatever happens with Robinho and Saponara , all will come before him. With that said , he has some really good games this season. Maybe if he does well in the 2nd half as well. Maybe he stays after all. Idk , but we do not need all of them. At least 2 of these 3 players , reasonably speaking should be gone in the summer.

As for the attack , the only thing i am worried about is Pazzini. I think the club believes in him and so will stay. But should he fail to reach form again untill the end of the season , i think the club should consider someone else too. Anyway , as long as he stays away from injuries , we shouldn't really need anybody in attack. Balotelli-Pazzini-Petagna is good enough for the attack.

Robespierre wrote:How much is the option to buy for Taarabt?
I think he didn't play so well since he played in Champonship ... his performance and impact with Milan was praised by all in Italy

that's what i though during the game as well , he had a really good first game , even though his fitness was very questionable. It was a good start , we just have to wait and see how he continues. People mostly remember what he said a year or so ago about Milan , but never talk about what he said a few days earlier , about how happy and honoured he is to play for Milan. I guess when he said what he said Milan was in quite the bad spot from what i remember and i doubt he was following the Italian league anyway.. i am sure his mind is well changed now , even though what he said cannot be undone..

He has the chance to make up for his past comments and prove himself worthy as long as he has his chance. That would be a good enough regret for any fan , i guess. As for the price , not sure exactly how much , but it's near 7m , i believe.

Taarabt had one good play all game and it wasn't even the one where he scored he had 4 defenders ball watching when he scored and it is all down to poor defending and a decent placement.

If we are going to go with the 4-2-3-1 then I think Balo needs to leave. Balo doesn't excel when he is not the focal point in attack, and with 3 attacking players behind him I fail to see how that can be. I don't think I ever saw him play well when he has no space, and with 3 behind him that is not possible.

Many have stated that it is no shame to lose to Napoli at home, however the issue arising from this game is not the result but in the performance behind it. As I have stressed at several points this season, it is necessary when building a project to focus not upon results but performances. 90 minutes of football can produce strange and sometimes undeserving results; what is important is that we see a progression of ideas, a development of a style of play and the improvement in form and confidence in the long term. This game however was an abomination in terms of tactical preparation and long term development.

In the past few years, only the wingerless and forwardless nightmare of our 4-4-1-1 under Allegri this season in the first half at the Camp Nou has represented such a tactical failure on the part of a coach. Dante and others have raised the point that it is necessary to give credit to the quality of our opposition, however our preparation undermined our ability to even compete with such a team. All that Napoli had to do to win against us was not to play outstanding football but to avoid major errors. We were determined to do the rest.

I want to first consider the comments made by Tassotti before the match in which he explained the selections of the management.

“Abate was preferred to Riccardo Montolivo, as the Coach brought Ignazio back to the role he had at the start of his career. He has a lot of pace and can turn the situation around quickly.

“Ignazio will play where Honda would’ve played had he been fit. The system and philosophy doesn't change, even if some players do.

“We discussed putting Urby Emanuelson in that position, but Clarence wants to give him a consistent run at left-back and feels it might confuse him to keep switching roles.”

Such an assertion from Tassotti, who was surely only expressing the thoughts of Clarence, that Abate's inclusion in Honda's role would neither alter our system or philosophy is highly disturbing in nature before the match and represents either an inflexibility in management or a troubling lack of judgement. Ignazio's origins as a winger were presented as justification in itself for his ability to perform a role in midfield without a consideration of the differences between our two blonde bombshells in their off the ball movement and tendencies on the ball, nor in how the numerous other changes to the team would affect our play. Honda's natural tendency to move centrally into pockets of space to collect the ball, his comfort in tight spaces, use of his teammates to advance the ball and late runs into the box is in stark contrast to Abate's use of his pace to carry the ball forward, off the ball movement in behind the fullback and tendency to hug the touchline and reliance upon Montolivo and our right winger as a safety valve in possession. Where Honda's instinctive movement in midfield and calm on the ball aids our dominance of possession, Abate's use surely demands either that he is used primarily as a switch of play in an attempt to maximise the space he has to drive into, or allowing for Abate's reduced comfort on the ball by overloading his flank in attempt to support possession, even perhaps encouraging De Sciglio to act as an underlapping fullback or finally to drop back our defensive line and use Abate as a counter-attacking weapon.

If any such plans were made however, they were complicated further by the decisions made in populating the rest of the side. The promotion of a fullback up the pitch - at the very least one who is comfortable as a fullback, not the defensive equivalent of Digao as in Bale's case - is very rarely a success. Even fullbacks noted for their attacking output such as Dani Alves, who was used to ill effect as a winger for Brazil in South Africa, or Marcelo, often struggle when they are robbed of the freedom to pick their moment to overlap but instead expected to perform a much more disciplined role, which often requires them to pick up the ball with their back to goal, move inside to support possession and present themselves as a threat in the box. Rather than playing to Abate's strengths and hiding his weaknesses, we fielded a midfield who themselves needed supporting.

De Jong---Essien
Abate---Robinho---Taarabt

Despite our struggles this season, we have remained dominant in possession as a general rule; even though our off the ball work in the centre of the park has often stunted some of our potential on the ball, we have still maintained a minimum level of competence in controlling the tempo for large portions of the match. All of this went to hell against Napoli. Whilst we have times struggled to effectively and consistently link the midfield and attack, nothing quite compared to the lack of organisation, initiative and teamwork that we were forced to endure as fans. The separation of our front four from De Jong and Essien was apparent from the very beginning and should have been dealt with immediately by Seedorf, whether through instructions to individuals or recourse to the substitutes bench. Essien lacks the vision to quickly move on the ball and lacking this the mobility to buy himself space and time to work an angle. He should be considered only as an alternative to De Jong, and even then a poor one. Robinho lacks the engine and consistency on the ball to act as an effective link and was well marshaled by Napoli, whilst Taarabt has had little time to train with the team. Whilst it was a decent debut capped by a fine finish his was a performance that was as worrying as it was promising. The mark of a good player is to make football look simple, yet everything Taarabt does appears to be over-complicated. Whilst it is harsh to criticise a player who has had no opportunity to develop any chemistry with his teammates, one may easily point to the debut of Honda to see the differing approaches of each player. Where Honda seeks to bring his teammates into the game quickly, Taarabt's first instinct is to take another touch and then another for good measure. Such a tendency speaks of a player who considers themselves better than they actually are and if Taarabt is to have any chance at succeeding in Milan, he must learn a very rapid lesson that he's here to serve the team and his frankly more talented teammates.

Even if our midfield composition was hardly ideal, what was far more worrying from my perspective was not the relative quality of our starters in comparison to Napoli but the lack of any style to our play. It was not clear even after a quarter of an hour what our team was trying to do. We did not appear interested in recycling possession and controlling the tempo, nor in soaking up pressure and exploiting the space Napoli left in behind. We were not interested in sending Abate in behind the defence nor in creating a numerical overload on his flank through the movement of Robinho and Taarabt, rendering an entire flank utterly futile. The lack of coherence in our play was evident within minutes and the consequences of the tactical imbalance within the team equally so in the ease with which Napoli won the ball back and drove into the ample space we provided them. Even a goal from nothing, entirely against the run of play, did nothing to shake us. We did not move to slow the game down nor did we drop back to address the concerning frequency of Napoli's attacks. Instead we continued, lacking calm on the ball from the defence through to the attack, lacking the direction in our off the ball movement necessary to support the man in possession, the tempo in our play to drive at Napoli and the decision making on the ball to continue our attacks, we were left an isolated mess. Whether the players understood what they were meant to be doing was hard to tell and whether Seedorf simply could not communicate his ideas to them during the game is mere speculation, however it was soon apparent what was left to us. What was left to anyone, no matter how defeated and desperate, to do. Hoof. Pardew and Big Sam might even have been proud of us, except we couldn't even do it well. Balotelli was poor for us against Napoli, however if the service he was given came at a restaurant, he'd have refused to pay. Aimless balls over the top from Rami, Abate and others did little more than make a highly questionable backline look quite simply dominant.

Not being present at training, I will choose not to question the decision to remove our best midfielder, Montolivo, from the side, as I think that this issue of tactical preparation goes far deeper. Lacking Montolivo's presence, it is clear that our possession games loses some fluidity, yet the derby against Inter showed that we have the ability to dominate the ball even still, with a midfield trio of Poli, De Jong and Muntari, in combination with Saponara and Kaka taking to the field that day. Allowing for Kaka's illness, four of five were available to start. Why were these options not explored? It is important that Seedorf is given the freedom to experiment and to pursue his vision, however the line-up he presented at Napoli neither represented a manifestation of his principles or continued the development of our work on and off the ball in recent weeks. Whilst pursuing the 4-2-3-1 against Napoli may have been seen as a determination to continue his work, the refusal to either alter our formation or the line-up according to our strengths represented an even greater betrayal of both Seedorf's and Milan's principles as a team. The lack of coherency in attack was the antithesis of all that Seedorf has spoken of and attempted to implement thus far as a coach and all that he represented as a footballer himself.

It should be noted of course that changes were made at half time, notably the introduction of Kaka and the reshuffling of our fullbacks, sending De Sciglio to the left, Abate dropping to his natural position as a rightback and Emanuelson taking up the spot as our right winger. Urby has occupied this role for us before, during our brief flirtation with the 4-2-3-1 last season in which, whilst limited by his complete lack of a right foot, represented an important tactical role to give balance to our play and allow us to build around El Shaarawy on the left hand side of the attack. It was a move that paid dividends to some extent, allowing Abate to progress as an overlapping threat rather than standing around like a pinball barrier, with Kaka and Urby improving our midfield play to an extent, yet our central midfield remained dysfunctional and imbalanced. That it was Emanuelson and not Essien who was removed for Montolivo was yet another inexplicable decision, which failed to address our issues in bringing the ball out from the defence, hampered our width as a team and seemed at odds with the urgency of our situation in which we were required to take the game to Napoli if any sort of positive result was to be attained. As I mentioned in the chat, one can only assume that Seedorf had indeed forgotten Essien was on the pitch altogether. Montolivo did more in a few minutes to open up Napoli than had been done since Taarabt's early foray, whilst Kaka brought far more to the team than Robinho, however one must say that the decision to remove Balotelli might have been justified in terms of his performance but did little to aid our search for a goal. The timing and nature of Seedorf's changes did little to further illuminate our overall game plan nor to effectively suppress the Neapolitan attack which was continuing to feast upon our side. A 3-1 scoreline against Napoli this season, give the manner in which our performances have failed to reflect themselves in our results might have been forgiven before the game. On the night however, 3-1 was immensely flattering. Watching the game, it felt more like observing a 6-0 collapse.

That such a seasoned midfielder as Seedorf could prepare such a team was quite unbelievable, but that nothing was done until half time was criminal. Had Allegri done this, even I would have called for his head. I am not at all interested in dwelling on these mistakes, merely in noting my disappointment with what was one of our five worst games in the post-Ancelotti era. We will not learn as much about Seedorf from this game however as we will in his reaction to it. I am hopeful that we will see a far more cohesive and determined approach from our side next week, with the lessons of Napoli noted and acted upon. The fans certainly deserve it.

Having read that skyscraper of text, I cannot disagree with you. I echo your sentiment in so far as that whilst Napoli at home is a challenge for any team, this is besides the point. We did not play well. Independent of whichever team was out there facing that Milan team, Milan would've been second best. The team was set up for failure by Seedorf, albeit unintentionally.

The main problem for me with this game was that Seedorf seemed to have no guiding principles at all when he set that team out and made substitutions. The team played like a bunch of U-12s following the ball everywhere and being drawn hopelessly out of position at almost all times. Balotelli was hardly ever given the opportunity to get onto the end of a through ball. Taarabt and Abate comprehensively failed to get behind the defence and supply Balotelli. Essien provided no defensive cover or attacking threat. His presence was meaningless. Meanwhile, De Jong had to make do with everything collapsing around him. Robinho is ineffective. Period. Mexes is amateur and Emanuelson should still be with those U-12s.

I reserve judgement on MDS and Rami because the whole defence was a shambles. My prediction is that we will leak goals for the rest of the season because we don't have 2 decent CBs and Seedorf is persisting with the Urby at LB experiment. I can only hope that Clarence has already realised that Abate at RW is a huge mistake.

Extremely worrying is that there always seems to be an enormous gap in front of our defence. I realise that Seedorf wants to play attacking football, but, to paraphrase Sacchi, it must always be predicated on solid defence. That gap needs to be plugged up completely. Essien is not the answer, he should start warming the bench now.

The other thing is that I keep hearing "with ES back it will all fall into place". Well, that's not good enough. Does that mean that when he's finally fit the entire team will collapse when he gets subbed off?

I don't subscribe to the view that SES can only play left striker either. He is a capable second striker and AM and I don't think the 4-3-1-2 would disadvantage him. However, don't mistake me for thinking that the 4-3-1-2 is the ultimate formation because it's not. The obvious problem is the lack of width... at least that's a problem for any team that wants to use wingers. Conversely, for any team that does't have any fit, capable wingers right now, it is a better option than 4-2-3-1. Not only that, but I fear that only having 2 holding midfielders and lazy wingers in front of them is part of the reason for our defensive frailty.

Good to read some more detailed thoughts on the game by Dosto and Forza. Well done. I mostly endorse quite many of the points you both raised , not all of them if i want to be honest, but in general lines i tend to agree.

There's no discussion we failed against Napoli . There's also no disqussion about mistakes and lack of a clear path shown against Napoli. I personally talked about giving first and foremost credit to Napoli , because it's a standard of mine that when you lose , no matter how good you are , no matter how prepared and ready you have been , no matter how many bad luck you experienced , no matter how many silly mistakes you just did here and there , the opponent to win you has done better than you and because i believe in dignity in defeat , i cannot overcome Napoli's quality . It doesn't truly matter how they did , except for analysis , but that they succeded in doing it. Napoli are a much more efficient team than us atm and even though that's just my opinion on the talk at hand , had we done anything you wanted Dost and Forza , we would still have lost to Napoli .

Of course , i know that wasn't your point . It's about the progression of our game and evolution of our quality and in general ines , the overall performance on the field that in this game we trully failed to present as we should have. Ok.

I totally realise the frustration coming from this game , cause i felt it myself too. Seedorf did not do everything as he should or would like to. Himself said he had prepared the team in a certain way , but it could not be done when the match begun. Now , all i can say is , such scenarios happened , happen and will continue to happen for all teams at times. With that said , for Milan it's much more urgent to avoid such "accidents" , because we are in a very bad spot right now and we can't afford to say , oh it's just this once .

With a few words , we outrageously lack overall fitness , that's what i see from Milan in games. Except a few players , all i see is they can't excecute their true potential on the field for 90m. And that creates some serious lack of stability in everything we hope to do. You can talk about this player , or that player , or the tactical preparations and all , but all of that requires a certain amount of effort and work to be succesfull. We play untill 30m and then we are literally off . We play another 20 in the 2nd half and then we fall behind so much. The identity that Seedorf wants this Milan to earn , is one of an intense side , who moves the strings on the field. That needs a lot of work to be done and in our poor state , it is a mountain to climb. I'd suggest you keep your expectations as low as possible , because i don't know if you have ever been part of any team in football , but such issues take a lot of time to really see improvements which will stay on.

Tactical and personal mistakes by the coach will always happen , because every game is different. Really different than the last one , no matter how much a team targets to replicate the same succusfull methods. More often than not , things won't work for us , even if we do , ideally speaking , everything spot on. I take that defeat for what it is and i embrace all the failure it brought with it. There are no better lessons than from defeats and we either like it or not , these things must happen if we want to improve.

A few last words. I never said "all will fall into place" with Es. But it will inevitably be a lot better. It's childish to say everything will fall of when he is subbed off. 80m with Ses in the game won't be the exact same 80m without Ses in the game. Just saying. Ses is the true leader of this team , the on the field leader. He did take that responsibility last season on his own and when something like that happens , it's crusial for the team. I am not saying it's acceptable to play like sit without Ses , but it's reasonable we will be playing a lot better with him on. What we are currently trying to accoplish with Seedorf will blossom with Ses on , because i can see Es exploding big time when the whole team gets on a certain lvl under Seedorf. I doubt this will happen with the 4-3-1-2 now , but i will admit it's not out of the question.

As for the comments on Mexes and Urby , i really tried hard to avoid commenting on them and that doesn't go just for you Forza , and i'd say it's a general issue , not just about these two specific players.. It seems really pathetic to me to feel like that for your own team's players .Only rivals will trash talk your own players like that , i find it really sad when i see fans talk about their own players like that , when serious of course. Anyway you will obviously speak as you wish , the selective bias is something common amongst us all. What's really sad is that even when they do well , or when they just don't fail , they never get recognition . Almost never.

As for the formation , well what you said about the wings and the midfielders is definitely true. They are part of the defensive problem , but not because they are lazy. Because they can't take it after a certain point. As things stand. Critising behind a keyboard is quite easy , but to trully hit the issue , takes generally much self doubt and self critisism , which i doubt how many fans in general practise. Everyone has an opinion on things and especially when things go bad , but it doesn't make it true in the end.

What's true is that we have the quality that we have and circumstances and mistakes brought us to the point where we need to start from zero again and that has already happened. We can always find scapegoats for anything as fans , but finding issue always with the same players and always selectively praising the same players , is a hole in the water.

Despite Seedorf having a long way to go yet , i'd say he has begun off well enough , especially when i consider in what state this Milan is atm. despite the ups and downs , i feel his ideas will come to frution despite of his mistakes or our players inabilities and limits. But even if what Dosto wants to see happens week in week out and even if he pleases fans as Forza by ostracizing certain players , the overall improvement and general quality of this team won't happen anytime soon. That's not to say we should be losing every now and then or that almost clueless performances like against Napoli should be left without criticism , but some patience and lack of smiting would be nice when things go amiss.

I do concede that even had we prepared differently this was a match we were highly likely to lose, particularly given the discrepancy in fitness levels between the two squads which robs us of the intensity needed to match such a good team for 90 minutes. It does however remain the job of the manager to make us as competitive as possible, including in stifling our opposition as much as in expressing ourselves with the ball.

I want to again emphasise that this isn't to be taken as a lack of faith in Seedorf or his abilities. This was essentially Seedorf's first match in charge in which he had to deal with the absence of multiple key midfield figures. Had Kaka, Honda and Montolivo been ready from the first minute, it is likely that we would have played our usual game and fallen to Napoli after a somewhat fairer fight. Had this happened however, we wouldn't have been able to learn these important lessons. Whether Seedorf invested too much faith in his charges or whether he made a more fundamental error in his selection, this is his first major challenge. Coming to realise the limitations and fragility of the squad is an important milestone for Seedorf. It is necessary in order for Seedorf to adapt as a coach to a weakened team which may be incapable of playing the football he wants at all times and in understanding what Seedorf truly requires in the transfer market come the summer.

Finally, on the point of El Shaarawy, whilst much has been made of his importance to the squad, I still believe that many maintain a realistic view of him as a player. There is always a risk that the worth of a player can become inflated during an extended absence, however our expectations of El Shaarawy must remain reasonable. He is still a very young player who it is Seedorf's role to strengthen and improve. His return remains vitally important given his unique characteristics, however further reinforcements are required to provide balance to the squad and ensure that we have a genuine wide threat from both flanks, not one.

Predicted the scoreline to my friends at home 3-1 to Napoli, supernatural powers only work if i predict losses.

Very good points raised by everyone so far, i can't comment due not having watched the match, only footage i saw was the Inler goal. However i must admit I'm desensitized atm so i'm not feeling the hurt of the loss as much as you guys.

It was a good game to miss Ninja, I spent 90 minutes projectile vomiting from my eyes.

dostoevsky wrote:I do concede that even had we prepared differently this was a match we were highly likely to lose, particularly given the discrepancy in fitness levels between the two squads which robs us of the intensity needed to match such a good team for 90 minutes. It does however remain the job of the manager to make us as competitive as possible, including in stifling our opposition as much as in expressing ourselves with the ball.

I want to again emphasise that this isn't to be taken as a lack of faith in Seedorf or his abilities. This was essentially Seedorf's first match in charge in which he had to deal with the absence of multiple key midfield figures. Had Kaka, Honda and Montolivo been ready from the first minute, it is likely that we would have played our usual game and fallen to Napoli after a somewhat fairer fight. Had this happened however, we wouldn't have been able to learn these important lessons. Whether Seedorf invested too much faith in his charges or whether he made a more fundamental error in his selection, this is his first major challenge. Coming to realise the limitations and fragility of the squad is an important milestone for Seedorf. It is necessary in order for Seedorf to adapt as a coach to a weakened team which may be incapable of playing the football he wants at all times and in understanding what Seedorf truly requires in the transfer market come the summer.

Finally, on the point of El Shaarawy, whilst much has been made of his importance to the squad, I still believe that many maintain a realistic view of him as a player. There is always a risk that the worth of a player can become inflated during an extended absence, however our expectations of El Shaarawy must remain reasonable. He is still a very young player who it is Seedorf's role to strengthen and improve. His return remains vitally important given his unique characteristics, however further reinforcements are required to provide balance to the squad and ensure that we have a genuine wide threat from both flanks, not one.

Of course , nobody directly or indirectly questions the faith we all have , or some of us want to build , in Seedorf. That he's a club legend means we are going to support him right away , but obviously he won't be free of criticism when nights like Napoli happen . It is his responsibility that Milan must be a proper challenge for any team , i agree , but like you already mentioned , there are and i am afraid there will continue to be certain limitations , that prevent him to lead Milan exactly like he wants .

I especially liked the point you made about Seedorf , about the impact this game should have on Seedorf. I agree about that as well as all the rest you said. Like you said , we have to keep in mind that , whether he likes it or not , at times he will have to adapt to our current potential on the field . With that said , it seems to me , he wants to be the Klopp kind of coach , adapt or not , the puzzle will still have the same colours; the same traits and characteristics. These traits and characteristics , for this kind of game , are the athletisicm of the squad and the protagonistic attitude , for Milan to feel in control in games , no matter how we execute plans . Under Allegri , idk for what reason(s) , our athletisicm became really bad as a team. Not only that , but now in hindsight , i think i understand why he became obssesed so much with possesion on the ball. Because you keep possesion better the more static you play and that went well with our sad levels of fitness this season , plus all the injuries which kept and sadly keep making this an issue , a big issue. Only "recently" he had brought in more intense plans for the team , but like it happens with Seedorf , it doesn't work always and it certainly doesn't work as much as it's needed to.

So , he has to temporarily at least , adapt to our current standards and i agree to an extent. But Milan also has to move on and progress as a team. On top of that , the need to we have to win as much as possible is much more urgent now. I am sure you can see the dilemma . It's a delicate situation to be in , but with that said , Seedorf knew what he signed for and i hope he can more often than not take the right decisions and approaches. We changed Allegri to move on from this situation and even though that's a transitional period for the team , it's also their true training ground. But i feel for all their good intensions and proffesionalism , (well some of them at least..) this particular issue cannot be solved soon enough , i fear. It needs time because they are humans too , at least if Seedorf takes a few steps back , maybe he can make this easier for the team , for now.

As for Ses , i am not sure if i sounded like i over rate him or expect too much of him , cause i am like the exact opposite of this kind . I very rarely have trully high expectations from particular players , never mention young players. If i sounded like that , it wasn't my intention. All i wanted to emphasise , is that this kind of game is great news for Ses , he will enjoy himself and generally speaking , it will be better for Milan with Ses really back. Not ideal , nothing will be "solved" just by ses , but i am pretty certain he will help the situation a lot. Of course we will still need reinforcements on the wings , that goes without a doubt. Though i just doubt the number of those , with Ses always playing. We already got Taarabt , so unless all of Saponara , Birsa and Robinho leave in the summer. I wouldn't expect more than 1 player , probably on the right wing.

I agree with almost all of Dante's analysis, except to admit that I do have my favourite players and I do have players that I don't rate so much. I don't really see it as 'trash talk' though, to be criticising our own players for what was a poor performance by all accounts. I am unapologetic in my criticism. I think I have an unrealistic optimism about the standard of player I would like to see in Milan, and that definitely leads to some repeated gripes about players who I really don't think make that standard. Emanuelson and Mexes are the names in question at the moment. They have their occasional good games, but that's really not exciting to me and that's why they don't get recognition. Conversely, a player who has several good performances and shows promise of improvement is really exciting to me. Of course on a football forum, criticisms of players can be exaggerated and use emotive language, but at the heart of the matter is my intention to discuss the performance of the team, whether it is good or bad. My criticisms are never intended as personal attacks on players. Rather, it is a sign of maturity in a football forum when you can get together with other analytical people, like in this thread, and discuss the strengths and the faults of the team. Admittedly, my very brief mentioning of those two players in this thread wasn't at it's most sophisticated level, but that's owing to the fact that I've written about their under-performance many times before.

Both Dos' and Dante's discussions of fitness bring to light another important aspect of recent Milan teams. We aren't exactly developing or purchasing the most athletic players, are we? I don't want to see a return to the days of 3 DMs / 3 B2B players with no creativity, but something needs to be done about the fitness of several of our key players. I have questions about Kaka's fitness going forward. Robinho too - who has just picked up another injury by the way. I don't think our midfield can function with Kaka/Robinho and Essien in it at the same time. There just isn't enough industry to be able to transition quickly with these slower, ever-fatigued players on the field.

Lastly, Dos really hit upon what I was trying to express in that Seedorf needs to adapt his ideas into developing a style of play for our "weakened" team. In the coming weeks we will see if he is able to perceive those limitations and to act to remedy the situation.

Forza wrote:I agree with almost all of Dante's analysis, except to admit that I do have my favourite players and I do have players that I don't rate so much. I don't really see it as 'trash talk' though, to be criticising our own players for what was a poor performance by all accounts. I am unapologetic in my criticism. I think I have an unrealistic optimism about the standard of player I would like to see in Milan, and that definitely leads to some repeated gripes about players who I really don't think make that standard. Emanuelson and Mexes are the names in question at the moment. They have their occasional good games, but that's really not exciting to me and that's why they don't get recognition. Conversely, a player who has several good performances and shows promise of improvement is really exciting to me. Of course on a football forum, criticisms of players can be exaggerated and use emotive language, but at the heart of the matter is my intention to discuss the performance of the team, whether it is good or bad. My criticisms are never intended as personal attacks on players. Rather, it is a sign of maturity in a football forum when you can get together with other analytical people, like in this thread, and discuss the strengths and the faults of the team. Admittedly, my very brief mentioning of those two players in this thread wasn't at it's most sophisticated level, but that's owing to the fact that I've written about their under-performance many times before.

Both Dos' and Dante's discussions of fitness bring to light another important aspect of recent Milan teams. We aren't exactly developing or purchasing the most athletic players, are we? I don't want to see a return to the days of 3 DMs / 3 B2B players with no creativity, but something needs to be done about the fitness of several of our key players. I have questions about Kaka's fitness going forward. Robinho too - who has just picked up another injury by the way. I don't think our midfield can function with Kaka/Robinho and Essien in it at the same time. There just isn't enough industry to be able to transition quickly with these slower, ever-fatigued players on the field.

Lastly, Dos really hit upon what I was trying to express in that Seedorf needs to adapt his ideas into developing a style of play for our "weakened" team. In the coming weeks we will see if he is able to perceive those limitations and to act to remedy the situation.

It's fine with me if you feel unapologetic and it's also more than fine to have your own prefferences. I am not a hypocrite , i do have my own favourites and a few players i think they do not deserve to play for Milan.It's a delicate issue which arises for all fanbases when they pass through such bad periods and i am happy we are keeping this friendly and civil. Milan fans ..What i find issue with and please do not take this as personal because it is really not just you who feel like that about these players you don't like so much , its the fact that they get targeted , more often than not exceeding the very delicate line of fair and neutral critisicm to selective bias. It happens and it's all around the forum , if you want evidence. Just to prove you that i have been there once , i used to do it for Mesbah a lot and maybe on Niang , to an extent. But it's pointless , critisicm has it's limits you know. It doesn't have boundaries in anything , we can criticize the shit out of everything , but it does have certain reachable limits , if you want said critisicm to be constractive and meaningful.

When a team goes through such a period like Milan does , every single one is at fault. Not just the players of lesser quality or importance , or those we simply don't preffer . I personally see how you view Milan and what you desire for Milan , from what you say and what you perceive as Milan worthy and i admire that and i respect that. I want the best for Milan too and if that meant for Urby and Mexes to gtfo , i would support that.

But the thing is , you have to be supportive as a fan and especially with those you don't like or don't believe so much. Your favourites are bound to get support , but the team isn't just your favourite players or just the best ones. It's the others too , the bench as well e.t.c Today you're just streaming the game and you feel you can critisize fairly , but tomorrow you can be in the stadium and all that count for shit at that moment. Giving them your support is the best you can do , from here or there. I found that by doing that , i could endure anything Milan goes through and double enjoy what Milan has to offer.

Anyway , i've already talked too much about this and i don't want to cross the line between being personal , because it's really not. I don't have anything against you , or those who talk like that at times. It's just with that occurance i find issue , cause i believe that despite if they deserve it or not as players to get such talk , us as fans should be tolerant with them , as much as we can afford to and especially in difficult times. I understand you think you want to be fair with your critisicm and tbh , that's good , because nobody ever stops improving on this aspect. Yet, coming from me who i read almost everything that is written in here about Milan , i can say that when 9 out of 10 comments about certain players is pure negativity , it more often than not stops being fair criticism anymore.

Like i said , selective bias is something common amongst all , but what's also common amongst us all , is that we support Milan and normally , we should be supportive of the players who don't do well , to an extent obviously. When that happens all the time , i am unsure anymore if it's just criticism and that's why i brought this to the table. As for out fitness levels , i'd say expect real improvements from next season . It's a good point also , that Seedorf shouldn't play many of the older players together , for obvious reasons. But we must wait and see what happens , maybe circumstances will bring it there where he can't do otherwise and we may have to fail . That's one of those times , at least , when we have to put aside smiting those who didn't do well , but reserve it for another time. Basically , with a few words , i think patience is key here.

Whilst thus far we're largely working on perceptions rather than evidence perhaps, I too get the sense of Seedorf as someone who will want to bring the same approach to each game. It would be a worry however if we became more defined by something as abstract as a formation rather than our style of play, that alterations themselves would be considered reactive rather than proactive in ensuring that we are in control. I believe that Seedorf made his decisions in the hopes of seeing the same Milan as we would have seen with a full strength squad, yet simply shot himself in the foot with an insistence on playing the same "system" as Tassotti himself put it.

The intimate connection between system and philosophy that Tassotti made in his remarks to the press misses much of the point in my eyes. A system itself is meaningless, it's a manner of organising the team to achieve certain goals, be it maintaining defensive pressure high up the pitch, the tempo of our play or whether we focus through the centre or the flanks.

Whilst it is important that Seedorf be allowed to mould the squad according to his vision, this shouldn't be an insistence on a 'system' but on being the protagonists as you said. As I have said, Seedorf's reaction tonight against Bologna is as important as the decisions he made within the game against Napoli and the rumours of Poli's unusual role may go a long way to demonstrating Seedorf's conception of how best to adapt when missing players, on the boundaries of our system and the true tenets of our play under him as a coach.