Week 38: SPAL - Milan 26/05/2019 20:30 CET

mleite

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Wish I hadn’t followed those other two matches now. Before I thought we’d probably all win & we’d still be 5th but during the match I foolishly got my hopes up when they went behind & it looked as if we might end up third. Extra disappointed now.
 

Boban1982

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Absolutely gutted.

At the end of the day the final league table doesn't lie. You end up where you deserve to be. We simply were not good enough for 4th, but there was only a point in it.

There has been improvement this season, but can we keep the few decent players we have without CL football. Over to you Elliot to improve the team and make sure we get CL football next season.
 

Polotelli

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Wish I hadn’t followed those other two matches now. Before I thought we’d probably all win & we’d still be 5th but during the match I foolishly got my hopes up when they went behind & it looked as if we might end up third. Extra disappointed now.

there is no happiness without disappointment

we'll come back stronger eventually
 

Qaas

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@hitchens should open all our important matches next season.
 

Hitchens

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Goodfella

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Holy shit, 4 players on 12km.
Borini and Cutrone were on course for 12km as well, had they played the 90 mins.
 
34pyknl.jpg


Baka and Piatek nearing 34km/h sprints.

115.5km overall from the team.

Incredible.

But these numbers are not so surprising if you watched the game.
The level of intensity...
I can't remember the last time Milan was this enjoyable to watch.
I can't remember the last time I had this much faith in Milan scoring.
This was real grintics. Not the lethargic unwatchable crap of last months.

This is the power of workrate. Take that DinosaurMB!:o


Imagine another 12km/game player with pace instead of lazy ass 9.5km/game Suso.

Imagine a 12km/game LW with more skills than Borini.

Imagine Kessie playing with this much focus more often. This was his by far best performance in a Milan shirt.

I've come around on Hakan as a LCM. He's still a final 3rd player, but that's fine because we need to attack with numbers and his overambitious box-to-box game offsets the lethargy Suso and RicRod can cause. Paqueta needs to play faster, work harder off-ball or watch the games from the bench from now on.
 

necromancer

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Holy shit, 4 players on 12km.
Borini and Cutrone were on course for 12km as well, had they played the 90 mins.
 
34pyknl.jpg


Baka and Piatek nearing 34km/h sprints.

115.5km overall from the team.

Incredible.

But these numbers are not so surprising if you watched the game.
The level of intensity...
I can't remember the last time Milan was this enjoyable to watch.
I can't remember the last time I had this much faith in Milan scoring.
This was real grintics. Not the lethargic unwatchable crap of last months.

This is the power of workrate. Take that DinosaurMB!:o


Imagine another 12km/game player with pace instead of lazy ass 9.5km/game Suso.

Imagine a 12km/game LW with more skills than Borini.

Imagine Kessie playing with this much focus more often. This was his by far best performance in a Milan shirt.

I've come around on Hakan as a LCM. He's still a final 3rd player, but that's fine because we need to attack with numbers and his overambitious box-to-box game offsets the lethargy Suso and RicRod can cause. Paqueta needs to play faster, work harder off-ball or watch the games from the bench from now on.

We gambled on expending all our energy in the first 60 minutes and it worked. The first half was really enjoyable, all the more so because SPAL is by nature equally fun to watch with their expansive gameplay.
 

Goodfella

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We gambled on expending all our energy in the first 60 minutes and it worked. The first half was really enjoyable, all the more so because SPAL is by nature equally fun to watch with their expansive gameplay.

This was not far off from what Conte's Juve, Poch's Tottenham, Sarri's Napoli, Gasp's Atalanta or Klopp's Liverpool would call normal.

It might be hard to sustain, but this is how teams overachieve.
Their coaches turned the extreme into normal mode.
Players got used to it, or they went from hero to zero once the bar was raised(Krasic).

This is what Milan hasn't done but should've done years ago.
Clowns like Taarabt could come here and immediately become a key player, but fail to even get near the lineup at Benfica, because even Portuguese teams demand more out of their players than Milan. Even the laziest, most selfish, least adaptable players had a place here because there wasn't a high tempo or strong collective for them to adapt to.

We are closer than ever in being able to maintain such intensity. Kessie, Piatek, Cutro, Hakan, Borini, Baka and Calabria can all do it. Probably Samu as well, but we need better attackers than him and Borini on the wings.


As for this particular game, Piatek in particular showed clear fatigue, but he would've been taken off after 60-70 mins in normal circumstances.
 

necromancer

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This was not far off from what Conte's Juve, Poch's Tottenham, Sarri's Napoli, Gasp's Atalanta or Klopp's Liverpool would call normal.

It might be hard to sustain, but this is how teams overachieve.
Their coaches turned the extreme into normal mode.
Players got used to it, or they went from hero to zero once the bar was raised(Krasic).

This is what Milan hasn't done but should've done years ago.
Clowns like Taarabt could come here and immediately become a key player, but fail to even get near the lineup at Benfica, because even Portuguese teams demand more out of their players than Milan. Even the laziest, most selfish, least adaptable players had a place here because there wasn't a high tempo or strong collective for them to adapt to.

We are closer than ever in being able to maintain such intensity. Kessie, Piatek, Cutro, Hakan, Borini, Baka and Calabria can all do it. Probably Samu as well, but we need better attackers than him and Borini on the wings.


As for this particular game, Piatek in particular showed clear fatigue, but he would've been taken off after 60-70 mins in normal circumstances.


I think it becomes a matter of sustaining it for 90 minutes first.. then sustaining it for every match for 90 minutes. The latter part probably requires yet another leap of what is considered normal.

We lose weeks in a bunch at the moment. If we fail one match, there’s a very high possibility we’ll continue to fail the next 4-5 weeks. That is the barrier to overcome as well.

All I know is that this is possible only with the same manager and largely the same group of players for minimum 2-3 seasons together.
 

Goodfella

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I think it becomes a matter of sustaining it for 90 minutes first.. then sustaining it for every match for 90 minutes. The latter part probably requires yet another leap of what is considered normal.

We lose weeks in a bunch at the moment. If we fail one match, there’s a very high possibility we’ll continue to fail the next 4-5 weeks. That is the barrier to overcome as well.

All I know is that this is possible only with the same manager and largely the same group of players for minimum 2-3 seasons together.


Yup.
But I think if toned down a bit, the five 12km guys can already sustain it for a game.
They wouldn't burn themselves out as quickly if the RW and the fullbacks shared the load.(Calabria is the only one out of the RBs that can do that at the moment)

Proper coaching, experience/continuity and player upgrades will make them press/run/move/pass more effectively and less dependent on outrunning opponents, but it's important not to lose that ability because it will be needed from time to time no matter how skilled you are.
That's why Juve are not special anymore.
 

General

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Yup.
But I think if toned down a bit, the five 12km guys can already sustain it for a game.
They wouldn't burn themselves out as quickly if the RW and the fullbacks shared the load.(Calabria is the only one out of the RBs that can do that at the moment)

Proper coaching, experience/continuity and player upgrades will make them press/run/move/pass more effectively and less dependent on outrunning opponents, but it's important not to lose that ability because it will be needed from time to time no matter how skilled you are.
That's why Juve are not special anymore.



Doesn’t Allegri coach his teams to intentionally conserve their energy for the first part of each half with a burst at the end when most opponents are out of gas?

I’ve read somewhere that this is why his teams do not appear as appealing for most of the match but have a significant advantage when they turn on their ‘movement’

Rino seemed to take an approach that his team would be so conditioned, they could outwork the opponent the entire match
 

Goodfella

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Doesn’t Allegri coach his teams to intentionally conserve their energy for the first part of each half with a burst at the end when most opponents are out of gas?

I’ve read somewhere that this is why his teams do not appear as appealing for most of the match but have a significant advantage when they turn on their ‘movement’

Allegri is definitely big on conserving energy, although I'd say it's say it's far more complex and unpredictable than bursts at the end of the halves.
He inherited a cohesively strong team that could outrun, outskill and outbrain opponents and found all sorts of ways to win games without exhausting themselves.
His approach worked wonders for them, because it allowed them to compete on 3 fronts rather than just 1.

In his 5th and last season, he no longer had a team that could outrun or outplay every team out there. That's because his mindset, approach and player preferences does not create teams like the one he inherited, or the Ajax that knocked them out.
Ajax played them off the park and there was very little he could do about it.


Rino seemed to take an approach that his team would be so conditioned, they could outwork the opponent the entire match

I don't think Rino gave workrate this much priority.
If he did, then he wouldn't tell RicRod to sit back. Suso wouldn't get away with walking around off-ball. The team lacked urgency for large parts and would usually not take much risks in the first half hour.

The SPAL game was an anomaly(even then there was Suso).
 
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