AC Milan vs Parma

I hope we're all excited for our one opportunity to win a game this year. Our side is decimated by injury however at home against the worst side in the league there is simply no excuse to win. Despite this, we certainly can not underestimate Parma. They troubled Juventus in the Coppa Italia midweek and pushed them all the way whilst we shipped four goals against them earlier in the season.

In addition to Mexes' suspension, Abate, Bonaventura, De Jong and Montolivo amongst others are all absent with injury. As such, five youth team players have been called up to make up the numbers, though we're unlikely to see any of them, even if that means Zaccardo and Bocchetti will be forced to play out of position at fullback.

AC Milan Squad: Abbiati, Gori, Diego Lopez; Albertazzi, Alex, Bocchetti, Calabria, De Santis, Rami, Zaccardo; Essien, Muntari, Poli, Suso, Van Ginkel, Felicioli, Di Molfetta; Cerci, Destro, Honda, Menez, Pazzini

We had been expected to line up with our usual 4-3-3 but it has been reported that Cerci reacted poorly to the news that he was to be excluded and we may instead see a 4-4-2 with Cerci and Honda on the wings supporting Destro and Menez up top.

Knowing we'll field Essien and Muntari in midfield has taken away my excitement for this game

Victory is assured.

Can see us clawing out a scrappy 2-1 win

Tomwin Lannister wrote:Can see us clawing out a scrappy 2-1 win

Are you Parma or Milan?

1-1 tie

uzonero wrote:Knowing we'll field Essien and Muntari in midfield has taken away my excitement for this game

This pretty much. Milan 0-1 Parma

Excited to see Destro and Menez together though, even if its likely we spend 70% of this game in our own half.

If Inzaghi doesn't convincingly win against Parma he will be officially garbage . As for the 4-4-2 . It won't be 4-4-2 on the pitch , it will be 4-2-3-1 and it will be unbalanced as hell and players will be out of position . Menez will be doing his thingy and drop back to contribute , but it won't translate as the connection that we will require , he doesn't have the vision , or the will to provide , neither the passing skill required . Even if i concede that he will be doing it justice , let's say , he mostly impacts from the left area anyway , so why not play him there from the start and have Honda and Cerci play in their position . If Inzaghi doesn't do this , the reason why will be quite honestly beyond me .  

The logical thing to do would be Menez - Honda - Cerci with Destro in front of them , Muntari and Poli in the middle . It really is that frigging simple , but Inzaghi provides teh ideas . Call it whatever you want , 4-4-2 with Destro-Menez up front it's just an unbalanced 4-2-3-1 , to the detriment of everyone , especially if the midfield is going to be Poli-Van Ginkel as i read . I really don't get it. It is so obvious and simple.. i doubt his basic knowledge on the game at this point , if he thinks just playing 4-4-2 with the players playing where he used them in 4-3-3 . It cannot be that he doesn't see how it will turn out , if he trully believes that this will be proper 4-4-2 , i predict he will be coaching the likes of Cesena or Bari in 2-3 years . For 4-4-2 to work with two strikers properly , we would need Menez to be a hard-working beast and a solid assister and he's nothing of the two . That player is called , Honda , and it happens to be his frigging position to play as AMF behind the CF anyway , but Inzaghi... oh that Pope-right , tactical connoisseur , sway me with your brilliance you beauty coach


That's how our line-up should be tonight . Correctly-positioned , balanced and solid . Instead , it will be this


i really hope Parma proves too weak if the later happens , otherwise it's not going to work as expected . Menez may be a great runner but can't pass well to save his life , nor he particularly cares to. I want to say so much , but i will leave it at that for now , as i see it , it's very unbalanced and it will show all over the pitch . Just playing 4-4-2 won't fix our dire issues , not if we can't do it justice . Menez has his most touches and time spend on the left side , Honda's position is in the middle behind the striker , Destro needs to know he has a feeder behind him , Cerci should always play on the right... all these 4 need back up , people that will protect the defence , our best answer to this is Muntari-Poli . 4-2-3-1 , played properly. Not 4-4-2 hoping it plays like it .

What we will be watching tonight will be a masqueraded 4-2-3-1 . Even if it does somehow work , fear the worst , it's only Parma afterall . We will play Juventus after that , pray to all the gods that ever were he gets it by then . We will get ripped to shreds if we play like that against Juventus  . We will be hoping to play like we did against Torino so we don't get humiliated in the scoreline at least , mark my words . Destro-Menez , Cerci-Honda wingers and Van-Ginkel-Poli won't even work like he imagines , let alone a similar repeat against Juventus . At least 4 goals conceded .

@acmilan: How we line-up VS @ParmaFC: Diego Lopez; Zaccardo, Alex, Rami, Bocchetti; Honda, Poli, Van Ginkel, Cerci; Menez, #Destro. #MilanParma

4-3-3 with Honda in midfield and Menez on the left

surprising , but prefferable to that cancer 4-4-2 that we were apparently going for

edit : nah my mistake , it's 4-4-2 with Honda on the right and Van Ginkel-Poli in the midfield

Calling it now, Nocerino to score the winner.

at least that means a good start. Our play so far is pretty boring .

Zaccafu?

....And there goes our lead

might not be the winner , but gtfo M99

M99 reported

nice one by Alex , and good job there by Cerci to earn it.

On from that , so far , this is what is happening


more than 30m of play and Destro didn't even get half-a-chance to shoot. There's no one to really fill the central area gap other than Menez who will always back pass it elsewhere , other than pass it on or drive it forward . If it's not a counter attack , i don't expect anything

This defense

Diegod Lopez

Rami wtf dude , wtf

Varela is murdering Boch

El Shaarawy wrote:This defense

this game is all the proof anyone needs to see Inzaghi must be sacked . In every way possible in a game , we are doing it wrong and the most problematic team in Serie A is already 1-1 with us , attacking more and playing better. Our defenders have 3 shots at goal and Destro only 1

at 40m Destro got his first pass to score by who else , Honda and he was inside the box even. Menez would have shoot that without a 2nd thought. Let's see how many months it takes Inzaghi to get it that we need a 4-2-3-1 with Honda behind Destro

if he's here till then

Apparently we're closing the deal for Paletta after this match

So, we're gonna have Mexes, Rami, Zapata, Bocchetti, Alex, Bonera and Paletta as CB's

Dante wrote:

El Shaarawy wrote:This defense

this game is all the proof anyone needs to see Inzaghi must be sacked . In every way possible in a game , we are doing it wrong and the most problematic team in Serie A is already 1-1 with us , attacking more and playing better. Our defenders have 3 shots at goal and Destro only 1

at 40m Destro got his first pass to score by who else , Honda and he was inside the box even. Menez would have shoot that without a 2nd thought. Let's see how many months it takes Inzaghi to get it that we need a 4-2-3-1 with Honda behind Destro

if he's here till then

Its shocking to think that we're barely going toe-to-toe with the worst team in the league at home when we face the best team next week

seriously , even the fact that he didn't play

Destro
Menez-Honda-Cerci

is reason enough for sack . You just don't do this . There was no better time to try it out , no better conditions .

Instead , he plays Cerci out of position , Honda out of position , Menez continues to be free doing his thingy and Destro got 2-3 touches of the ball at best .

Midfield Poli-Van Ginkel had to fight to even get the ball and when they had it , Menez was nowhere to be seen and the wingers closed down. They passed to the fullbacks , who passed to the CBs , untill Menez gets back to try and do what Poli-Van Ginkel should be doing , pass/drive the ball onwards. Of course he didn't do this not once . Not one properly constructed attack the entire first half and Parma doing better and quite easily dominating this midfield .And how could they not , when the front 4 have Van Ginkel-Poli for protection ?

Pippo is destroying my mind , he used Essien and Muntari all the time in 4-3-3 and now with 4-4-2 he uses the technical midfielders . When we actually should be playing them in the 4-3-3 , he does it now. Players out of position , formations bastardised , basic criteria never met , close to no agressiveness , Destro literaly getting just 1 legit pass to shoot all 45m .

How difficult can it be to just play 4-2-3-1 properly ? Muntari-Poli to cover and Menez-Honda-Cerci playing there positions to help Destro score .

0 faith in Inzaghi anymore . This game is telling on so many levels . I said earlier we could play 5-0-5 and be done with it , it really would be better than that . This is literaly Leonardo's 4-2-4 only 10x times poorer . You don't play these players , Destro-Menez-Cerci-Honda , with Van Ginkel-Poli to cover for them . And you certainly don't play counter attacks with no pressing at all .

He better shift this team properly in the 2nd half and introduce Muntari in to play with Poli , elsewise the best we can hope is a draw . Even if we win like that , the fact we fail to outplay Parma is enough for me , he must go . To hell , Parma is playing better than us , more exciting to watch them than Milan , regardless of the result .

ffs it hurts to watch all this madness , it really hurts