Loosing 1 of the first 3 games of the seasons does not on its own warrant a total change of transfer strategy. Four strikers seriously offers plenty of options. Even if all 4 are out of form for 3 matches, it would be wise to find out why the team is not clicking and try to resolve the problem instead of going out to buy or recall others. According to this logic, if we put Pozzi on and his first 5 matches he doesn't perform up to "Milan standard", we should call back Borrielo and give him a couple of days; then recall Kutuzov, etc...
I'm sure you are familiar with the concept of diminishing return most commonly seen in economics. For every extra player a team get, its return in additional utility is a bit less than the additional utility it got from the previous player. Past a certain point, the curve goes past its maximum point, and total utility begins to fall. One loss and one draw against weaker opponents should not lead to an automatic shift in the roster if we know (and we do) that our current quality is good enough to accomplish the objective. Performance is subpar of course, but that is certainly not because of a shortage in quality.
Buying more players or bringing in second string, primavera or youngsters into the mix is not necessarily the best way to remedy the situation. If Abate and Pozzi could match the abilities of ambrosini or Tomasson, I don't think they would be on loan. In fact, those youngsters were deemed by the coaching staff to be on par with first teamers, the acquisition of Crespo and Dhorasso would have never made it past the rumor stage.
As for the benefits of sending youngsters on loan, I repeat that it is widely accepted a smart strategy on average. This doesn't mean all youngsters should be loaned, but on average it is a good idea. Cases are to be handled on a personal basis, so I am not advocating for a sweeping strategy, but I am saying that if the coaches have determined that this is the best way to help these players get better in the immediate term, they should not be deprived of this opportunity to provide training competition to first teamers.
Passion for *9* mentioned the importance of confidence in the development of talent into quality. Precocious talent has to be handled with the greatest of care, because there is but a fine line between blossoming into a class player and being stuck at an early developmental stage like so many 17-18yr old wonders who effectively stop getting better by 21yrs.
When you think about confidence building, consider how race horses are trained; the same basic concept applies to athletes in most disciplines:
To a race horse, confidence - defined as the belief in one's ability to accomplish the task at hand - is everything. A horse without confidence will not find the willpower to push himself to exhaustion and run the last 100 yards on the verge of collapse to come out on top. To build up their confidence in training, trainers pit their race horses against competition tailored to challenge, but not to dominate them. The more races this horse wins in training, the higher his gameday confidence. Before a horse becomes fast and fit enough to win competitive races, these training victories are in fact the main source of confidence building.
The analogy should be clear. if wouldn't do much for an inexperienced 17yr old's confidence if he were thrown in a Milan-Inter match. He may come in thinking that maybe he has the ability to compete but if he gets dominated and is overwhelmed game after game, the potential setback in self-belief and thus in self-development can be disastrous.
This is one of the reason promising youngsters around the world are only bought by top clubs if one of two things happen 1) they prove themselves to be gifted well beyond their current competitors/league, 2) A rival team shows serious interest. Ideally, these top clubs would like to move in only once a player matures and is ready to step right in but they are often forced to move in quickly. They must then figure out a way to keep these players improving, either by letting them stay another year or two with their formal team, or by loaning them to a similar level of competition ie another lower league team. As always, there are exceptions, but these only apply to the most prodigious of talent; the likes of C.Ronaldo, and Real's Ronaldo in his teenage yrs.
In short, once it has been determined that a loan would provide the best result for a youngster, he should not be sacrificed by being forced to stay and provide a 'quick fix' because first teamers have been out of form for 3 games.
Last, I'd just like to maintain that 4 solid strikers are more than enough. Ancelotti himself opined that the problem is loss of concentration on the defensive end. I do agree that there should be no sacred cows and that squad rotation amongst the established first teamers is a viable option. youngsters must earn their stripes.
Passion for *9*. Honestly, I'd love to have a Fabregas. Very impressive lad.