I have 3 points to make with this post.

1) The Barca vs Milan is a blue print on how to not lose against Barca and I have been saying it for a long long time. You HAVE to score first and then play smart and try to get set pieces. What Soceidad did was a fluke, this game was not, it's the reason the Italian style works against Barca as they try and score then defend the game away and they have always been great on set pieces and in the air. Barca is at a HUGE disadvantage on set pieces and it's the easiest way to score on Barca as were a bunch of midgets.

2) This game is the reason they need to cut the amount of teams down in the CL. This game means nothing, Milan goes on the road and gets a good result but at the end of the day who cares it doesn't matter there both going to go through. When Milan scored in the last minute I was a little peeved but didn't really care. I should be throwing my remote through my TV. All of these groups need a third team that actually make games like this sting if you mess up and let up a goal in the last minute or tie at home instead of win.

3) I've seen a lot of posts saying they were suprised the game was so clean and there wasn't a ton of diving. If you don't treat playing Barca as a rugby team they wont dive. If you look at it from Barca's point of view what other course of action do they have if the ref will not red card players out of the game for playing rugby tactics and trying to hurt players? I didn't like the diving that went on against Madrid last year in the CL but both teams were to blame for it as Madrid were playing rugby and Mourinho scared the refs in the press to red card anyone which was a master stroke by him BTW.

4) When Pato is fit he is a terror. Barca plays a high line so if you have a striker with speed and skills he should be able to have a good game. But for the first 25 minutes I haven't seen anyone else capable of doing what he did today against us. I have even put down Pato in the past but in the CL he steps it up it's a shame he's always injured. The second part of this is that Milan need a midfield. They could have won this game easily with a good young CM to get the ball to Pato, he needs a partner in crime that can link defense and attack. If they can get one they should have Serie A locked up for the next 2-3 years

Sorry make that 4 points.

dnmac4 wrote:I have 3 points to make with this post.

1) The Barca vs Milan is a blue print on how to not lose against Barca and I have been saying it for a long long time. You HAVE to score first and then play smart and try to get set pieces. What Soceidad did was a fluke, this game was not, it's the reason the Italian style works against Barca as they try and score then defend the game away and they have always been great on set pieces and in the air. Barca is at a HUGE disadvantage on set pieces and it's the easiest way to score on Barca as were a bunch of midgets.

2) This game is the reason they need to cut the amount of teams down in the CL. This game means nothing, Milan goes on the road and gets a good result but at the end of the day who cares it doesn't matter there both going to go through. When Milan scored in the last minute I was a little peeved but didn't really care. I should be throwing my remote through my TV. All of these groups need a third team that actually make games like this sting if you mess up and let up a goal in the last minute or tie at home instead of win.

3) I've seen a lot of posts saying they were suprised the game was so clean and there wasn't a ton of diving. If you don't treat playing Barca as a rugby team they wont dive. If you look at it from Barca's point of view what other course of action do they have if the ref will not red card players out of the game for playing rugby tactics and trying to hurt players? I didn't like the diving that went on against Madrid last year in the CL but both teams were to blame for it as Madrid were playing rugby and Mourinho scared the refs in the press to red card anyone which was a master stroke by him BTW.

4) When Pato is fit he is a terror. Barca plays a high line so if you have a striker with speed and skills he should be able to have a good game. But for the first 25 minutes I haven't seen anyone else capable of doing what he did today against us. I have even put down Pato in the past but in the CL he steps it up it's a shame he's always injured. The second part of this is that Milan need a midfield. They could have won this game easily with a good young CM to get the ball to Pato, he needs a partner in crime that can link defense and attack. If they can get one they should have Serie A locked up for the next 2-3 years

Good read;

On the final note, we are hoping Ganso would be that midfielder. Aquaman might step it up. But Milan simply don't have enough finances to lock up the Serie A. Remember, most of our old guard, are...old. Also, the Serie A is very grueling with these teams able to take points from you at any time:

-Juve
-Inter
-Milan
-Lazio
-Roma
-Napoli
-Udinese
-Palermo
-Fiorentina

As for your second point, the CL format does indeed need a lot of revamping.
But it is mostly due to the financial disparity between clubs in europe

Agreed on the CL thing, I don't really know how to fix it but one poster in the Barca 2-Milan 2 thread said this felt like a friendly and I agree with him.

As for Milan, I don't really think they need to spend a ton of money I think they have the players minus 1 or 2 to win the Serie A pretty easily for the next couple of years.

If they just buy a good young CM and Winger (I know easier said then done) they are there.

BTW, I really like Milan's coach.

Respectable post. But, you overrate us by saying we need just CM. Trequartista was a need yesterday to provide attack with a ball. You still are best team, and I believe could ve won easily if defence was present on the pitch (Pique).

Grande_Milano wrote:Respectable post. But, you overrate us by saying we need just CM. Trequartista was a need yesterday to provide attack with a ball. You still are best team, and I believe could ve won easily if defence was present on the pitch (Pique).

You underrate Milan, they showed how great defense they have, the best (been saying that for months now), we were missing Ibrahomovic, Robinho, Flamini, Gattuso, Mexes, Taiwo, our best goalscorer (Inzaghi) and our best defender (Bonera ).

Even though they had injuries, it was not important as ours; MA tactics were to play on the counter, thats where Inzaghi and Robinho come in handly, Aquilani played as the link, where if Flamini or Gattuso were present, one would have taken Aquilani spot and MVB would play as the link.

Overall, great performance by the defense, Nesta tackle is the best tackle I have ever seen (apart from some tackles by Maldini).

Soild post, mostly agree.

I think Milan have a slight fault up front though, not generally speaking, but just against Barca.

Cassano is useless when his team dont dominate the ball or at least have a fair share. He doesnt have the skillset for the counter attack and clearly when he is pressed with no support around him he has difficulty as most would without speed.

Normally Ibra would play, but I am not sure he would of been able to help. I thin at long balls and goalkicks they would of had someone to flick balls on to Pato but in those counter attack situations he might lack to mobility to do anything other then that.

I think Robinho and Pato together with Seedorf playing a little deeper and having a real number 10 might of been enough for Milan to give a more attacking threat and give us more trouble. Yes they scored 2 goals and Pato looked dangerous, but in open play they hardly got a shot off other then the first goal.

a draw against the best team in the world in their home is without a doubt a great result but that shouldn't fool us into thinking that we are equal to them, we're not!...

however as i said before, this milan team really is 2 players short from bring a CL contenders, we have plenty of great players with strong character on the field and great spirit, the likes of silva, abate, boateng and pato could be the start of something great. if we manage to bring 2 quality midfielders(ganso & montolivo??) then we could be challengers, right now we're not..

dnmac4 wrote:
2) This game is the reason they need to cut the amount of teams down in the CL. This game means nothing, Milan goes on the road and gets a good result but at the end of the day who cares it doesn't matter there both going to go through. When Milan scored in the last minute I was a little peeved but didn't really care. I should be throwing my remote through my TV. All of these groups need a third team that actually make games like this sting if you mess up and let up a goal in the last minute or tie at home instead of win.

Well they might both qualify, but what I think your forgetting is there is a difference of finishing 1st or 2nd, which then makes the match more important for both teams. Obviously Barcelona are very strong favourites to finish 1st, but this is football and anything can happen.