From Maradona to Milan, passing by Sacchi; ending by Allegri

How about something like this:

--------------------------------Pato(MVB)
-------------------------------EL92(Gullit)

Urby(Colombo)---Dejong(Ancelotti)----Montolivo(Rijkaard)---Nocerino(Donadoni)


CONSTANT!!-----------mexes-----------????---------------------MDS(Tassotti)


Montolivo will be the regista, while Dejong will stay back and play more of an Ancelotti type role. None of our CB's can read the game well though which is a problem.

I put Emanuelson and Nocerino on the wings because they are both extremely hard working and can be useful in the pressing game, even if they lack the quality that robinho or boateng(supposedly) possess. Pato is the only lazy one, but every one else in that fron 6 is hard working.

Constant and Ema can produce some joy down the left, while MDS can make a lot of overlapping runs on Nocerino's side.

This side is terrible compared to 89/90 milan, but maybe it could work. Main problem is a smart CB who can read the game

Recreate the sacchi milan team with todays players baresi not milan players but players around the world based on style would like to see it

Once again great job

interesting idea there Casciavit. I'll give it a shot ,


My picks were more tactical-based to fit the needs , not necessarily accurate player/player by any means. I believe it's close enough , even though it's almost impossible to find players similar to Rijkaard , Maldini e.t.c these days .

Nevertheless, any lol at this is welcomed

Dante, does Xabi Alonso remind you of Rijkaard lol?

Casciavit wrote:Dante, does Xabi Alonso remind you of Rijkaard lol?

well no really

but i wouldn't have anyone else from today's top players to replace Rijkaard . Not the same kind of players , but Xabi is an exceptional player nevertheless . With his passing , tactical movement and balance between going forward or staying back , he would always be able to keep his position intact , whilst pass the ball with high precision everywhere around the pitch and win a ball or two here and there.

Spoiler:

OK this is my wildest guess, please note I haven't watched lots of football apart from Italian for quite a while now, so I am using players based on 2 years ago.


------------------------------------Any above avg. GK---------------------------------
Alves-----------------------T.Silva-----------------Hiram mier ---------------LB

--------------------------Bastian Schwein---------- DDR-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Asamoah
--------------------------------------------Hernanes-----------------------------------------
------------------------------------------Ibrahimovic-----------------------------------------


Seriously I can't think of a better option for now, it is not that easy since it was a bit more than footballing skills, to Sacchi; and was more about the ability to run and press and being serious. So I am honestly clueless.

What I am trying to say is for example, between Alves and Ivanovic, I am not sure who Sacchi would chose, both have different qualities and Sacchi wanted all those qualities in one player, the last RB I remember that would fit in a team managed by Sacchi would be Cafu.

For the center mids I guess DDR and Bastian are as close as it gets to Ancelotti and Frank. Same goes for Ibra and MvB.


As for Gullit replacement Hernanes would be a good option, obviously there are many better footballers but again it is not about that only. I mean if we can guarantee Tevez to run and help out, I would prefer him to Hernanes. Ideally is what Dante wrote, Rooney for that position, but I was trying to suggest different names.

Maybe when others post different names we can come up with the ideal one.

This thread should never have stalled. And i think we have a good start now , to figure out which players today would resemble a bit the legendary Milan side of Sacchi.

Klopp's Dortmund. Sacchi's 4-4-2 and now Klopp's famous 4-2-3-1 are very , very similar on the field actualy. He even said so himself he aspired to Sacchi and wanted something very similar on the field for his Dortmund. Got to give it to Sacchi , decades ahead of his time , he built something truly great.

Klopp had to work with lesser players at Dortmund , even though he made them reach a superior level under his current reign. Players like Piszczek , Kuba , Schmelzer , Lewandowski , Gundogan , Hummels and Reus have taken their roles and game to another level within his squad and even though i would still choose Ibra as Van Basten instead of Lewandowski , i think the rest should definitely be concidered as candidates for dat Sacchi of today 11. Having that as it may , I think it's almost impossible to try and look for the exact kind of players of the original squad.

Let's confirm the easy ones and i think that most will agree . Ibra for Van Basten , Thiago Silva for Baresi , Lahm for Tassoti and any good GK basicaly would do.

Would be safe to give Ancelotti's role to Gundogan ? I would think so. There's also Xavi , actualy a far better player than Ancelotti ever was .Montolivo maybe?His role to that of Ancelotti's is similar. Modric i find a strong candidate as well. A nice one is Schweinsteiger( wrote it from memory ) which Baresi mentioned and i think it should probably be the one. Javi Martinez would be a good guess maybe next to him , for the Rijkaard role ?

I would also like to recommend Dortmund's fullback Schmelzer for the left fullback. The guy might not be Maldini reincarnated obviously , but he is really solid tacticaly and suprisingly good when he defends his space for today's standards. Plus he is able for vast spells of running up and down that left flank , which is very important for something like this to work.

Last thing , Sacchi's 4-4-2 is actualy the 4-2-3-1 of today , under the specific Sacchi tactics obviously. Since the game has been modernised , the second striker fell deeper and deeper back , to allow more responsibilities on the role and further ostracise itself from the "striker" word. So , since i don't see any Gullits left behind , i think we should go with the 4-2-3-1 . I have to admit however , even if there was a Gullit today , i think this formation wouldn't have the same success in today's football anyway. It's not a coinsedence few play with that classic formation anymore but so many actualy preffer the 4-2-3-1. Mostly , it has happened like that for better and faster counter attacks , since the AMF will be deeper in the field to orchestrate or participate in the construction of the counter. But again , SS or AMF , the whole rest of the system is the same and the role under those tactics remains the same , always depending on the player of course.

So . Let me begin and i hope you correct me where i lose it and hopefully suggest better candidates.


any other/better suggestions are welcomed , of course.

Great thread!

Yeah this thread was pretty good, should have never died down.

I'll post my opinion after CL final

Also Dante GTFO with your Schmelzer and Maldini comparison Schmelzer is one of the worst LB's in the Bundesliga And if any Bundesliga fan saw that they would flip

Spoiler:

But I like the BVB and Milan comparison. Milan never really used a 4-4-2 back then. They used a 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1. I think the reason they claim that Milan used a 4-4-2 was because the term 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-1-1 were rarely used back then.

Casciavit wrote:Yeah this thread was pretty good, should have never died down.

I'll post my opinion after CL final

Also Dante GTFO with your Schmelzer and Maldini comparison Schmelzer is one of the worst LB's in the Bundesliga And if any Bundesliga fan saw that they would flip

Spoiler:

But I like the BVB and Milan comparison. Milan never really used a 4-4-2 back then. They used a 4-4-1-1/4-2-3-1. I think the reason they claim that Milan used a 4-4-2 was because the term 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-1-1 were rarely used back then.

lol it's ok

It's not a comparison , it's just i think he can play the part for others near him to thrive in their roles. It doesn't have to be the best player each case imo. Schmelzer is a national too. Why the fk not him

ok , i await your suggestion about the leftback . Obviously there are better leftbacks , i am not even arguing that , but i rate that guy and his "take-my-launch-money" face

P.S : I have never compared another player to the God itself , Maldini is out of this world for comparisons with mere mortals . It just happened Maldini was the original leftback of the original Sacchi team , had to mention him.

I haven't forgotten about this thread btw.

Just writing a rather lengthy post