High drama ? yes .. but good solid football too … there is quite a bit of play acting, but that does happen in tough physical games. It was tit for tat all along between these two teams. If you watch them individually, Barca plays a much more mellow game with other opponents. Real and Mourinho play tough in your face football with Ramos, Arbeloa, Marcelo, pepe and Carvalho, all physical defenders. Xabi, khedera, Diarra, Ronaldo all play in your face game in the midfield. Di Maria is a play act much like Dani Alves is. The only mellow players left are Kaka and Ozil. No wonder Real bring the fight out of Barca.
Milan redemption
THe first leg was disappointing for both Milan and Barca and some redemption is due in the return leg. There is little doubt Barca will take Arsenal apart at Camp Nou. But AC has a tougher road ahead and needs to come back strong. The Spurs will be stronger when Bale gets back, But so will Milan, with Ambrosini and Boateng coming back into the line up to replace Gattuso and Flamini. Seedorf can’t play the whole game, he needs to sub in the second half when we need fresh legs. Pirlo would have been ideal to control the tempo of the game, but since he is out of commission, Boteang, Ambro and Seedorf will have to to cover that role . Silva needs to go back to central defence to pair up with Nesta which is a must for us to have chance to shut out the Spurs.
Here is my line up for the return leg. Spurs play fast and wide, Plays develop mostly on the wings. The key is for Milan midfield to slow down the tempo and not get drawn into in speed play. Save Seedorf and Pato combination for the second half. Since Gattuso is out, I like a wing player/defender (Janku) to start in the midfield for the first half to stop Spurs wing play and take the ball forward. Bale or no Bale, I say Milan takes this return leg 2-0.
——–Robhinho——Ibra———-
-Janku—-Ambro—Boateng—–Abate
Antonini—Silva—–Nesta—–Bonera
—————Abbiati—————
Second half subs: Seedorf, Pato, Yepis ?
ACMilan – new look.
Finally there is something worth writing about at AcMilan, the signings of Zlatan and Robinho. I just saw a couple of articles on the web ” Does AC Milan Posses the Best Attacking Lineup In the World?” and “Are AC Milan now Serie A favourites?” which prompted me to get off my lazy butt and write my 2 cents.
These signings are sensational.. thats exactly what they are, It is surely the best offense Milan have had in a long time .. essentially Robinho is filling in for Kaka,(lets call that a wash.) and Zlatan replaces Borriello which is definitely an upgrade. with Ronnie getting back in shape and Pato coming of age, it is definitely a menacing offense. (I think having to sit out the world cup, has lit a fire in their gut) The only issue is all four of these players are quite tempermental and they dont really play much defense.
Bottom line, if the teams let Milan play offense they will be doomed, but if they press Milan midfield of Ronnie, Pirlo and Ambro and hustle the possession away from them, that would essentially change the color of the game.
Against weaker offenses or good defenses:
—————-Ibra———–Pato—
—–Robinho——–Ronnie————
—————Pirlo———-Ambro—
Antonini—Silva—-Nesta—–Bonera–
————–Abbiati—————-
Against stronger offenses
—————-Ibra——————
—-Ronnie——————-Pato—
—Gattuso——Pirlo———-Ambro—
Antonini—Silva—-Nesta—–Bonera–
————–Abbiati—————–
AcMilan vs ManU Round 1
All in all game1 was exiting and stood up to it’s billing. United were supposedly the favorites, simply because the “footie” pundits said so. But really, United without CR9 have lost a step and are not any better than a good second rung team like, Roma, Juve, Milan, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Bayern and yes Real Madrid.
Having said that, Rooney is arguably the best finisher in the league on par with Messi, and Van der sar the best goal keeper and they give United a slight edge over the rest of the second rung teams. the only teams playing at the top level are Chelsea, Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Leonardo’s 4-3-3 came as a bit of a surprise to me, but as the game played on I could see that it was working fairly well against ManU. Ronaldhino played an inspired game, heck I even saw him play defense a few times. Pirlo and Ambrosini managed the midfield quite well. Beckham seemed a bit lost, but managed to put in a few good crosses. Pato and Huntelaar could have done much better. They just missed too many easy opportunities which could have sealed the deal for Milan early.
There is no question, Milan had this game won, but threw it away, by some dreadful finishing (which we have come to expect), and some uncharacteristically dreadful central defence in the last 20 mins or so. We pretty much expect Favalli and Dida to screw us somehow, but it is quite rare to see Nesta in bad form. Had he played his normal game, Rooney’s second goal would have never happened. And if Milan had any one but Dida back in the net, Scholes’s goal would have never happened either. so conservatively, that puts Milan over United 2-1. Rooney’s first goal was a peach. so I am not going to take that away from him. Although, I wonder if Rooney would have had that opportunity if Favalli dint replace Antonini.
Anyway, whats done is done. Rooney and Van der Sar were steller and United won the game.
The key for next game is Milan defense. Rest all the starters and use subtitutions wisely to bring fresh legs into the midfield after the half. Don’t waste it on strikers, Huntellar and Pato are young enough will do just fine. Use the subs to energize midfield and defense. We can manage to get two goals against United easy. but it would be very tough to not conceed any
Ps: Note to Leo.. leave Favalli home. if you need to sub for a fullback use Abate or even Flamini.
Milan Roller Coaster
I am reeling from the Milan roller coster ride that we have been on since the start of this 2009/2010 season. For the past few weeks, the Milan coaster has been inching higher and higher, only to go into a nasty tail spin this past weekend in the derby game against Inter.
Milan went into the derby game without a clue and without a proper gameplan and got mauled by Mourinho mafia. The first 15 minutes or so were the worst. you could see Mourinho’s vicious game plan in full glory. Even the referee could not bear to see it and in a humane gesture to stop the slaughter, he yellow carded Lucio and red carded Sneijder.
Although, Nesta’s absense in the backfield contributed quite a bit to Milan’s dismal performance, our main problem has been that we are too soft in the offense and offensive midfield and cough up the ball all too easily. Ronaldhino, Pirlo and Beckham are all finess players and they can’t hold on to the ball against a physical defense. Until Seedorf’s came on in the second half, we could not hold the ball up top with any authority.
I am sure we can play a few inspired games and put on a show sometimes with our current squad, but until we fix this lack of toughness issue we are not going anywhere.
We don’t need any more strikers, we already got Borriello, Pato, Huntelaar and Pippo. what we really need is a few tough young players in the midfield that can hold the ball up top and a capable centerback to backup and rotate with Nesta and Silva.
It’s stupid to overplay a few player till they get hurt, while there are other perfectly capable and well rested players warming the bench. I think we should seriously consider rotating the starting line up regularly and not let talent waste away on the bench.
Milan is back !
Milan is back baby ! ..thumping Genoa and Juve handsomely, and all without Seedorf, Pato and Zambro.. Phew ! BTW here is my new desktop background milan_mania..
The French Dilemma
One recent article describes France Manager Domenech being mumm over the Henry handball issue as dignified silence ! dignified silence ? .. a better phrase would have been deliberately defraud. But Domenech is a crook and I would not expect anything less from him. Replay, as the Irish were suggesting, would have been an option had the French accepted it within a day or two of the incident. But after clearly showing their intent to not return the stollen goods with an solemn apology, I would say its a bit late in the game and the only thing that can make it right now is, for some one higher up in France to step up and relinquish their world cup spot to Ireland. As much as anyone else, I cannot imagine world cup without France. But no one country should be above the spirit of fair play in “world competition”.
So what about Henry: Even though Henry is resentful, the fact that he celebrated after the handball goal will taint his legacy for ever. Much like it did to Maradona. But in Maradona’s defense, he was barely 5’5″ , and he leaped clear over a much taller Peter Shilton to punch the ball into the net, in clear sight of the refs and the entire world… and they called it the hand of God !. But he always will be a fraud.. just ask the English !
So what do you all think the French should do ?
2009/2010 soccer season predictions
The 2009/2010 soccer transfer season thus far has been dizzing, Real Madrid of course making the biggest moves of them all lapping up Kaka, Ronaldo and Benzema. Followed by Juventus signing up Diego, Felipe Melo and Cannavaro. Barcelona sent Eto and a bag of Cash to get Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan. I have not watched a lot of Eto, but Ibrahimovic is simply unguardable up front. If the ego’s are in check Barcelona will be stronger than last year. And that is terrible news for Real Madrid. But me and every one else I know cant wait for the Spanish Liga to kick off this year. Meanwhile in English league, ManU hardly spent any of their loot and got Michael Owens, Antonio Valancia and Obertan and look like they havent lost much by loosing Ronaldo and Tevez. Across town Man City with money coming out of their ears beefed up with Tevez, Adebayor and Kolo Toure. Wolfsburg in Bundeslega got more exiting with the additon of Martins and remain a thorn in Bayern’s side. But Bayern themselves added some talent including Mario Gomez and Tymoshchuk and look to regain their thrown.
So to sum it all up, here are my predictions for the 2009/2010 european soccer season, Liverpool and Chelsea duke it out for the premier league title, ManU and Mancity take the 3rd and 4th spots. Arsenel drop off the radar. Over in Itallian SerieA, Juventus look to topple Inter from the top spot. After that things get tight. Roma, Milan, Florentina, Genoa, Udinese and Napoli will all fight it out for the 3rd and 4th spots. In Spanish Liga, Barca will take the top spot again, with real Madrid putting up a stiff fight. Bayern look to take control of Bundesliga with Wolfsburg and stuttgart duking it out for the 2nd spot. French Ligue as usual is a toss up , but I like Gourcuff, so I give it to Bordeaux.
Finally Champions league predictions, I think its Chelsea this year. They will have to take down one of the spanish giants and it is not going to be easy.
What’s in store for AC Milan in 09 ?
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- may be ?
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- sure why not !
From last year’s squad, Milan lost Maldini and Kaka, and this year they have in effect gained back Nesta and Borriello and added Gooch. Provided everybody stays healthy and Ronnie gets in shape, Milan are still very much in the hunt for the Scudetto. With Ibrahimovic possibly moving from Inter to Barca, Inter’s pearch up top is a bit shaky. Juve and Milan are close behind and a few other teams are such as Napoli and Florentina are making significant strides in catching with the leaders. So this upcoming year, the race for the Scudetto will be much tighter and the race for the top 4 CL spots will be too. Its a great opportunity for Milan, but at the same time it wont take much to come 5th and not make the CL next year.
Kaka’s exit is Ronaldhino’s comeback opportunity.
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- I love it here in Milan !
Kaka’s exit from Milan is a perfect opportunity for Ronaldhino to make a come back. More importatly Anchelotti who did not believe in Ronnie is gone and the new coach will give Ronnie plenty of playing time and opportunity to run the offence. Milan’s first game of the 09 season with Varese showed flashes of brilliance from Ronnie. If he keeps this up, the team is sure to rally around him and get over kaka’s loss. Check out this youtube footage ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXK_STqTsuU ).
