milan has been buying players not based on pure natural talent with technical attributes or a quality of a midfield but players who have done well against them, and one season wonder.

galliani fails to see why those players are bad, if someone were to score 2 goals against us tomorrow because we have bad defense, galliani probably think that player is good enough to player for us.


and everytime we have to buy from genoa!!

seriously i would have fired galliani by now if it was upto me, no offense galliani shouldnt even be selecting players.

we have no technical director!!! we have been listening to what agents say or what genoa president says!

El Shaarawy wrote:Mihajlovic: "We didn't deserve to win. Nothing has changed since last year."
Mihajlovic: "We only won thanks to our two great strikers."

Say it like you see it Sinisa

thats so true! hahah we won because fortunately luis adriano and bacca took their chance.


midfield is a royal mess. seriously...

we should be having isco,oscar, witsel, wijanaldum, type players there...

almost 90 million spend that was unbelievably incompetent spending... bar bacca spending

“We did not deserve to win,” slammed the Coach to reporters.

“Nothing has changed from last season. There was too much fear. After Empoli scored there was a total blackout.

“The only reason we won was thanks to the two strikers who got goals out of nowhere.

“The only thing to save about tonight was the result. We did relatively well until we conceded the goal, then we just collapsed.

“The team was too timorous and the only difference from last season was the two strikers who created something out of nothing.

“We above all have to work on our minds. We work well during the week and train properly, then in the game the strikers make the right movements and are never given the ball.

“We have to do something on a psychological level, because we cannot go on like this. We’re strong in attack, but they need service, otherwise they won’t score.

“The only reason they got those two goals was they created them themselves. The midfield didn’t move well, didn’t take risks or take responsibility, always going for simple passes that were never going to break through Empoli.

“Clearly the most important work I have to do is psychologically. I had thought until tonight that we were doing fairly well.

“Milan would’ve lost this game a year ago, but that is only because they didn’t have these strikers. Nothing else has changed.

“I do not understand this fear the team has. I know San Siro is a demanding crowd, but we must show more character. I have to make the players shake off this fear and rediscover the joy of playing football. Something is wrong in their heads.

"I take responsibility, as it is my job to put this grit and determination into the team. Once we shake these ghosts of the past off, the team will do well.

“Throughout pre-season we played Keisuke Honda or Suso in the trequartista role. When Jack Bonaventura and Juraj Kucka came on, they were more physical and I know Jack can take that position.”

Calls it like it is!

Antonelli also said that the only positive that they can take from this game is 3 points. Its good to see that they recognize their is an issue with the game tonight as opposed to the usual: "The attitude was right but the quality needed to improve" bs

Anyways according to Witsel's agent has been spouting nonsense again, presumably we're interested, if indeed he does come, then our midfield should be something like this imo

Bonaventura-----NDJ-----Witsel

Bert not cut out for midfield imo, if he has to play then stick him behind the strikers in a KPB style role (I think Dost mentioned this)

I feel like Jack should be tried out in the TQ role as well. In any case, judging from the two games so far, he should definitely be a starter wherever he plays.

Bona completely changed the game when he came on. He did everything that Suso couldn't. He dropped deep to gather the ball from our inept midfield 3 and drove it forward and he actually made smart passes with our strikers instead of skying the ball over the net at any opportunity.

Barring our atrocious midfield (especially Berto, my God he was horrible), the team looks improved, honestly. Romagnoli looks good, anto and de scigs are playing well, and our strikers are great (we just have to get then the ball ffs).

Il Diavolo wrote:

“We did not deserve to win,” slammed the Coach to reporters.

“Nothing has changed from last season. There was too much fear. After Empoli scored there was a total blackout.

“The only reason we won was thanks to the two strikers who got goals out of nowhere.

“The only thing to save about tonight was the result. We did relatively well until we conceded the goal, then we just collapsed.

“The team was too timid and the only difference from last season was the two strikers who created something out of nothing.

“We above all have to work on our minds. We work well during the week and train properly, then in the game the strikers make the right movements and are never given the ball.

“We have to do something on a psychological level, because we cannot go on like this. We’re strong in attack, but they need service, otherwise they won’t score.

“The only reason they got those two goals was they created them themselves. The midfield didn’t move well, didn’t take risks or take responsibility, always going for simple passes that were never going to break through Empoli.

“Clearly the most important work I have to do is psychologically. I had thought until tonight that we were doing fairly well.

“Milan would’ve lost this game a year ago, but that is only because they didn’t have these strikers. Nothing else has changed.

“I do not understand this fear the team has. I know San Siro is a demanding crowd, but we must show more character. I have to make the players shake off this fear and rediscover the joy of playing football. Something is wrong in their heads.

"I take responsibility, as it is my job to put this grit and determination into the team. Once we shake these ghosts of the past off, the team will do well.

“Throughout pre-season we played Keisuke Honda or Suso in the trequartista role. When Jack Bonaventura and Juraj Kucka came on, they were more physical and I know Jack can take that position.”

Calls it like it is!

No need for me to write a post-match analysis, Sinisa already has.

Promising that Sinisa calls everything as he sees it. This team needs some brutal honesty badly. Seeing and understanding the problems are not enough, it is up to Sinisa to solve them.

^ One problem at the time. Now since he is crystal clear about the problem. I am sure Sinisa is already working on it.

I really like the honesty. Everyone is now well aware of the reality and something will happen.Till now the transfers has been poor overall.

I liked what Sinisa is saying.

Great Job telling it like it is. The player's shouldn't feel happy or satisfied because they got three points. It was a shit show, and we still lack any identity or any idea what to do with the ball.

zenmaster wrote:^ One problem at the time. Now since he is crystal clear about the problem. I am sure Sinisa is already working on it.

I really like the honesty. Everyone is now well aware of the reality and something will happen.Till now the transfers has been poor overall.

Bacca, Adriano, and Romagnoli are very good transfers. The main issue with the mercato so far is that we've failed to address the midfield, which is clearly our weakest area.

Cookie Monster wrote:

zenmaster wrote:^ One problem at the time. Now since he is crystal clear about the problem. I am sure Sinisa is already working on it.

I really like the honesty. Everyone is now well aware of the reality and something will happen.Till now the transfers has been poor overall.

Bacca, Adriano, and Romagnoli are very good transfers.

Yes.

Just watched the game. A couple points that stood out:

1. De Jong simply cannot play as our pivot if we are seeking to play out from the back in the long term. Considering the group of players we have I am surprised Sinisa has been so insistent that we play the way we are playing, but there are rumors Berlusconi is insisting on this manner of playing, so I'll reserve judgement for now. If we are to continue with such a play style however, De Jong must either play in one of the central midfield slots or be dropped. He clearly doesn't understand that his role is to drop deep and receive the ball from Diego Lopez in order to start our attacks. Instead what he is doing is running away from the ball, expecting the keeper or whichever centerback has possession to play a direct ball over his head. This failure to adjust to the role Miha wants of him will be fatal in the long term and directly caused Empoli's goal.

2. Having said that, it is apparent that he is by far the best of our midfielders defensively. Both Bertolacci and Nocerino were nowhere to be seen when Empoli had possession, and if not for De Jong making some very important interventions we would have undoubtedly lost this game. Ideally, we would play with a true pivot in the mold of Busquets, with a player capable of distributing from deep such as Kroos. De Jong could then be the third midfielder. Since it seems unlikely we will even purchase one midfielder, and not of the kind we need, I just cannot see a future with De Jong in our midfield and us playing out from the back. Which is a shame, because as this match reinforced, he is by far the best defensively of all of our midfielders.

3. Our front three greatly impressed me. Suso was criticized heavily after this match, but for me the job of a number 10 is not in bringing the ball out of our third. It is in the second stage of attack, when the ball has been successfully played through the midfield and reached the final third. Since that only happened once (I counted) in the entire time he was on, it is difficult to judge him. When (by hook or by crook) the ball ended up in the final third however, I was very impressed by how all three of our attackers linked up. Bacca took his goal extremely well and demonstrated just why we needed him. We lacked a genuine good finisher last season, and I think we would have squandered that opportunity 9/10 times. Luiz Adriano also impressed me with his willingness and ability to drop deeper, receive the ball, and create opportunities for our other attackers. He also took his goal very well.

4. Finally, I would like to mention Romagnoli, who had a very assured performance. He has impressed me so far this season, and although he may not have lived up to his price tag yet, I think he certainly will in time.

All in all, I think the glaring weakness in our game is an obvious one that has been identified countless times before - we lack the technical ability to keep the ball and build up attacks methodically, even against a side like Empoli (it was in fact borderline embarrassing how much better they were on the ball). If we buy a quality distributer of the ball who can play in the pivot role as well as central midfield, I actually think we'll be in very good shape for the season. Otherwise, I can't see how this is a sustainable method of playing.