Cesena v MILAN

We must win this.

I still haven't been able to get over the empoli game where we totally blew up. We should have capitalized the chance and got 3 full points because right now opportunity is presenting itself to make most of it as Fiorentina and Napoli hasnt been themselves.

Juve was a quality opponent and it was a big test that we didnt fail neither we passed. But Empoli was a disaster single handedly because of the fact that we picked up bonera.

if Bonera plays, rest assured empoli, parma is going to be repeated.

I am also hearing a lot in the media that milan are likely to change from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1.

Lets hope muntari and bonera is dropped. Rami should play. but importantly in terms of defense now if we are playing 4-2-3-1 then with that fragile defense, even attacking players have to track back.

here is hoping that bonera, and muntari are being scrutinized and not played and that we are off to pick up a win. Also hoping Torres to score atleast 2 goals. He is doing a great job. Last game he had 5 successful dribbles, a goal, chance created for menez, and impressive build up play in front of goal, and once defensive clearance.

and also hoping that honda makes some assist, and el shaarawy hits the stride.

No Seedorf wonder goal to save us this time

i am going for a 4-2 score. Torres to score 2 goals. maybe honda and el shaarawy on the scoresheet.

i heard that alex is back, and armero could start the game, rami too.

in the middle we could go poli, de jong. that would be way better than having muntari. although i would think that 4-2-3-1 will have us exposed if forwards dont track back.

Berlusconi's Milan pep talk

Milan President Silvio Berlusconi spent three hours talking to the team, paying particular attention to the defence.

The patron made his usual pre-game visit to the Milanello training ground on Friday and Tuttosport claims he spent a particularly long time speaking with the defenders.

Berlusconi concentrated in particular on giving a pep-talk to Daniele Bonera and Mattia De Sciglio, who have been struggling so far this season.

Milan have conceded eight goals in four games, their worst defensive start to a top flight campaign since 1983-84.

This means Bonera will keep starting That faith

M99 wrote:This means Bonera will keep starting That faith

You thought that was bad?

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Inzaghi: 'No Milan scapegoat'

Pippo Inzaghi asked fans and media not to “seek a scapegoat” ahead of Milan’s tricky trip to Cesena.

“Games away to newly-promoted sides are always difficult, but we are Milan and we want the victory,” said the Coach in his Press conference.

The defence has come under fire after conceding eight goals in four games, particularly Daniele Bonera and Mattia De Sciglio.

“It’s pointless trying to seek a scapegoat every time. Bonera has been here for eight years, he trains well and always played regularly. I choose who to play each game based on their form and the guarantees they can give me.

“De Sciglio had good performances, in my view. He is a serious professional and lives the life of an athlete. We must give him time to improve, find that sharpness and adapt to playing on the left. I am not worried about him.

“We need to do something to fix the number of goals we concede from set plays and I think tomorrow the concentration levels will be higher.”

Milan started out with two consecutive victories, but have since picked up just one point from the next two games.

“I had warned to stay calm after the two wins, because this team needs to work hard. We are the most prolific side in Serie A and that is important, but at Empoli we conceded two avoidable goals. We know we have to improve, but I am seeing very positive things.

“If you want to criticise, then aim it at me and leave the lads alone. If you even make good moments seem difficult, then of course everything becomes more complicated.”

President Silvio Berlusconi made his usual Friday visit to the Milanello training ground to give a pep talk.

“He is a reassuring presence,” assured Inzaghi. “He arrived remarkably fired up and wanted to talk to the players. He is a resource for us and we want to make him happy.”

Berlusconi has said on several occasions that poor Rossoneri results were because Inzaghi and the team “did not follow” his indications.

“I listen to everyone, including the President, and then I make my decisions. I am the Coach. I hope they are the best decisions so that we can win,” replied SuperPippo.

“We’ve got Essien back and lost Van Ginkel, so tomorrow I’ll evaluate the best midfield to use. Fernando Torres has fully recovered and will play. He’s in good form, though not at his best yet. He’s happy for the goal against Empoli and worked really hard, so he’s in good spirits.

“We mustn’t look at the table now, as we have to grow day by day. Obviously our objective this season is to get back into Europe and with this enthusiasm we can do well.”

OFFICIAL line-up vs. Cesena (4-2-3-1): Abbiati (C); Abate, Rami, Zapata, De Sciglio; De Jong, Poli; Honda, Menez, Bonaventura; Torres

Bonera dropped, three points are coming home.

Intrigued to see how Poli operates in the pivot, our only substitutes in central midfield are Muntari and Essien which is a worry for later in the game as fatigue will likely be an issue with our third game in a week.

Cesena have put in strong performances at home thus far, however it's time to start stamping our authority on the small teams and reestablishing the fear factor of playing Milan, I'm confident we'll get a result.

ugh, we should be comfortably winning this by 1-0 based on our performance.

Our 2 worst CBs getting red cards in the span of a 2 weeks

dostoevsky wrote:Bonera dropped, three points are coming home.

Guess you missed the name "Zapata" on the line up. I am sick and tired of scrubs like Zapata and Bonera single handedly bringing us down and yet they keep starting. Also I hope some people are bought back down to earth regarding Torres. He had a fantastic debut but he is in physical decline. We will see that performance once in a while. A better and younger striker should have been bought to replace Balotelli. Also does anyone know how long El Shaarawy is out for? He must be injured.

Allegri's post match interview

The people who've been supporting this 4-2-3-1 obviously have been playing too much FIFA as that seems like the obvious inductive tactical deployment despite it being completely detrimental to how we play. While we created much in the final third, we do not have the midfielders to play a pivot as half the time (2nd half especially) there was zero efficiency and midfield transition and by better teams we'll be cut apart if we continue.

We are better suited to the 3 man midfield while the 3 up front function better as a whole with the added freedom of space.

Torres linked-up well today yet he a completely different player now and will not function well to spearhead a 4-2-3-1, as it isolates his role far too much and forces him to be direct to which is opposite of how he must play. In the 4-3-3 he can drop deep, navigate as he wishes not correlational to his teammates positions and does not have to be so direct. If we continue with him spearheading this formation he will not perform.

Even then today Cesena with all his turns hacked him down completely as the ref obviously was not seeing correct on their thuggery on display.

Our performance was great in the 1st half yet dire in the second. Our fitness needs improvement as we cannot function yet for 90 minutes.

Pippo replaced Poli for Essien in the 70th due to Poli completely being drained around that time. He was quite good today yet needs to use his energy more efficiently. While offensively good it is obvious he does not have the discipline to function in the pivot despite his impressive stats today.

Pippo's subs as a whole were incredibly uninspiring as Essien is a player who must be shipped back to Zambia whereas this Pazzo for Torres spiel will not work given Pazzini is currently a striker out of fitness and not mentally in the game for some odd reasons. Injuries have taken a toll on him.

Notable performances were Menez (a constant threat) De Sciglio (motivated compared to the previous games)  Poli, Rami and Bonaventura whom has been fantastic since he arrived in Milan. The latter linked up very well and brought the ball forward consistently.

In the future I hope we settle and carve upon the 4-3-3 and I have to question why El Shaarawy has not even featured in the last two games, despite being our best player. I hope it is a fitness problem.

And its frustrating that Zapata was the cause of limiting us to take the lead as I've always said if there is a CB worse than Captain Boner, it is him. Only positive is that his red will now hopefully force Pippo to deploy Rami-Alex together, despite the risk of even that partnership. That positive goes to say much on the capability of Zapata.

Even more frustrating that Abbiati was solely responsible for the goal as we couldn't have Lopez back any sooner.

All-in-all a completely unnecessary draw as we must gain three points vs Cheivo.

ya feels like 4-2-3-1 is not good for torres. plus we were very slow... i thought we would have exploited the most of our attacking power with that aggressive tactics, in fact it was slow and got very boring.

4-3-3 is just about right but with poli de jong and bonventura as a make-shift lineup. we need montolivo and van ginkel back.


i agree that for all torres menez honda 4-3-3 is better

just when we thought bonera is not there to mess up, abbiatti and zapata let us down. more than half of the players in this team doesnt deserve to be in this club

during and after the game, canal tv show statistics that milan had more wrong passes than cesena

4-2-3-1 does not suit our team, we don't have the players in midfield and defence that could make this formation work.

Whilst Zapata's dismissal was frustrating and greatly affected our ability to chase the game in the dying minutes, this result is the result of far more than his mistake. First and foremost, Abbiati must assume full responsibility for the concession of a very cheap early goal, whilst as a team we failed to find an accurate final pass on a consistent basis, whilst the few chances we did create late on were wasted.

Altering our structure in midfield might have been deemed appropriate given our injuries in the centre of the park and our relative wealth of talent up front, however this was a game in which our midfield's survival depended more upon Cesena's approach than our own solidity. The game largely bypassed the midfield however the lack of an effective link often became an issue when we needed to alter the tempo of the game.

There were some positive moments throughout the game. The team responded extremely well to our early setback and we dominated Cesena in the first half. An inexplicable offside call against Menez cancelled a well worked equaliser before Rami made up for an earlier missed chance by confidently finishing from Honda's corner. Honda himself went very close with a freekick that deceived the goalkeeper who only just managed to readjust his body to palm over. In a half that saw, I believe, 8 corners, we put Cesena under extreme pressure and forced them to defend desperately. Our fullbacks were well involved in the play and our movement in and around the box was greatly improved upon past seasons to allow for crosses to generate chances. As opposed to the past we now regularly see players attack the zone at the near post, another player peel off to find space at the back post and players attacking the top of the box in order to win second balls. Even though we proved unsuccessful, we were at least putting ourselves in the position to benefit from such an approach, with Abate and De Sciglio both clearly benefiting from a chance to aim for particular zones rather than lone targets. Mattia in particular was greatly improved in attack and defence.

The half time whistle however seemed to disrupt our momentum and the second half was one of frustration. Cesena clogged the middle and were effective in both robbing us of space in behind and in immediately putting pressure on any Milan player who found themselves in possession in front of the box. Pippo's substitutions were disappointing in truth. Whilst removing Poli might be understood, Essien's inclusion was an exercise in futility. Pazzini meanwhile can still prove useful and I am glad to see that Inzaghi is willing to include him however his use requires a slight alteration in approach. His greater physicality and tendency to play off the last man requires that we encourage the likes of Menez or El Shaarawy to operate very close to Pazzo to take advantage of his ability to create space by occupying the defence and holding up the ball. It became nigh on impossible to support him however when Zapata was soon sent off, requiring Honda's sacrifice for Alex. Despite this, we still could have taken the lead, with Pazzini's first touch wasting a glorious opportunity after excellent play by Bonaventura and a perfect cross.

Concerning your complaint Jespwe, I wouldn't be particularly aggrieved by any missed pass statistic. I'd wager you'd see most top teams regularly winning that particular battle over their opponents. Any side that dominates the ball is likely to end up with more wasted passes simply due to the absolute numbers of passes each side makes in a game. Whilst there were some rather poor balls by our side last night, Rami and De Sciglio immediately leaping to mind, we were for the most part making sensible decisions with the ball. The intent must also be considered and thus I am neither surprised nor particularly concerned with that statistic. We may easily be charged with being too predictable and static in the second half, however sheer wastefulness did not stand out to me as an issue.

Milan should really be taking advantage of Inter, Napoli and Fiorentina's bad form now and racking those pts to pull a gap now between them and those teams by now but sadly they will let Udinese (we all know how their UCL will go if they make it) steal it from them

elm_baraja_shaman wrote:Milan should really be taking advantage of Inter, Napoli and Fiorentina's bad form now and racking those pts to pull a gap now between them and those teams by now but sadly they will let Udinese (we all know how their UCL will go if they make it) steal it from them

i couldnt have said any better. empoli now cesena game wasted...

i dont see milan finishing above 6th at this rate.

reminds me that our current Milan era is going through the same patch as Sensi's Roma.... just complaining. Even under Sensi's helm the Roma side were much more competitive.

this is how i see our defence

Worst subs in the world. Essien? Really? We lost the game the second he stepped on the field.

#BringBackSeedorf

Forza wrote:Worst subs in the world. Essien? Really? We lost the game the second he stepped on the field.

LMFAO THAT SIG

El Shaarawy wrote:

Forza wrote:Worst subs in the world. Essien? Really? We lost the game the second he stepped on the field.

LMFAO THAT SIG

i am jealous , best gif ever . Did you make that Forza