The Rumour Commode XXXIX: A Cardinal Sin

[Samaldinho]

I don't know what should be wrong with CDK minutes, criticizing Thiaw´s or Adli´s minutes I can understand if you don't trust Pioli´s evaluation in training but CDK consistently gets minutes despite underwhelming performances. Even yesterday he had his 10 Kaka minutes and went missing for the rest of the time, most coaches imo would put less trust in CDK, not more.

CDK showed some good stuff, and he did go missing for periods, but the issue with Pioli's sub was that... he just put on Leao, and so we had like two LW, one higher and one lower.

Fine, you can argue Rebic was a striker, but like... it still left the center completely open.

We didn't improve, we just made the LW even more crowded while opening up the center and right for the opponents.

I genuinely don't get what Pioli is doing. At all.

 

[vB9]

Milan boss Stefano Pioli met Milan directors after Sunday’s 5-2 home defeat to Sassuolo, but reports in Italy claim the Italian tactician’s position is not under scrutiny.

The Rossoneri have only won one match across all competitions in 2023 and lost 5-2 against Sassuolo at San Siro on Sunday. This means they have conceded 12 goals in the last three games across all competitions, against Inter, Lazio and the Neroverdi.

Sky Sport Italia and Gazzetta report Pioli met club directors Paolo Maldini, Frederic Massara and Giorgio Furlani who has recently replaced Ivan Gazidis as the club’s CEO.

Italian media report they analysed the team’s recent poor results as well as the performance against Sassuolo, but the coach’s position is not under scrutiny.

Likewise, Milan won’t change their approach in the market, with owners unlikely to grant extra budget to sign new players in the January transfer window.

However, Pioli could slightly change Milan’s system after Sunday’s meeting, opting for a 4-3-3 in the coming matches.

The defending Serie A champions have 38 points, the same as Lazio and Atalanta but are currently fifth in the table on goal difference.

They were eliminated from Coppa Italia two weeks ago, so their next match is the Milan derby against Inter on Sunday, February 5.

 

[Ash]

I don't know what should be wrong with CDK minutes, criticizing Thiaw´s or Adli´s minutes I can understand if you don't trust Pioli´s evaluation in training but CDK consistently gets minutes despite underwhelming performances. Even yesterday he had his 10 Kaka minutes and went missing for the rest of the time, most coaches imo would put less trust in CDK, not more.

Yeah

Dont buy that

Kid plays one game, gets dropped for the next three. Then plays again but again in a different position, then gets dropped again.

There has been zero consistency. I'm not saying he has no blame either but the sheer chaos in the way the team is set up with fuck all tactics (seriously, what exactly is our attacking strategy beside hopeless crosses into the box or Leao and inshallah?) doesnt really help either.

 

[Qaas]

Just a reminder that this actually happened

 

[Samaldinho]

Just a reminder that this actually happened

View attachment 14776

Qaas what team in Denmark do you like?

 

[Master Smurf]

Real Talk: I don't think we will be active on the transfer market yet.

The lack of rumours strains me as much as the lack of transfers.

If we donate €1 to the club for every post here, we'll have more budget.

Do we have more than 100 million posts?
Owner has other interests

 

[Samaldinho]

Do we have more than 100 million posts?
Owner has other interests

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon took away our transfer funds.

 

[Hugh Janus]

Is that what you want? Short term better results? What about long term?

Arsenal didn't fire their coach after last seasons horrible form where they went like 10-15 games the way we've been doing during 2023, and look at them now.

Yeah, well we're not Arsenal.

Say we take the gamble and keep Pioli and we miss out on top 4, that sets us back years once again, with key players leaving in the summer.

So yeah, a short term solution that'd result with clinching top 4 is much better for us at this point that keeping the faith in a man who's obviously limited and has lost the plot.

 

[Qaas]

Qaas what team in Denmark do you like?

Eew none

 

[Ash]

A proper youth project is one where you gradually bed in youngsters to take over from the senior players when they leave. Not fucking sign a bunch of them and throw them into the deep end.

We did that in the past on a lesser scale with TSilva and Pato. We have done it during Maldini's time at the beginning with Leao (Ibra taking on most of the attacking responsibilities) and Tonali (with the Bennacer- Kessie duo). Even Kalulu somewhat benefitted from having Kjaer and Romagnoli around.

But lately, our focus has just plain shifted to just buying a bunch of random youth and expecting them to replace the quality players we let go.

 

[Master Smurf]

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon took away our transfer funds.

Well I would bet on them more than current Milan so maybe Gerry just being prudent with his investments

 

[vB9]

Man's right... lets not ever compare dick sizes again

 

[Samaldinho]

Well I would bet on them more than current Milan so maybe Gerry just being prudent with his investments

Ouch. Ben Affleck? 2023 Ben Affleck?

That's the most damning thing you've ever written on here.

 

[vB9]

Qaas what team in Denmark do you like?

Now ask him his fav team from Spain... one with levers... one sitting top of the league

 

[milanator]

Yeah

Dont buy that

Kid plays one game, gets dropped for the next three. Then plays again but again in a different position, then gets dropped again.

There has been zero consistency. I'm not saying he has no blame either but the sheer chaos in the way the team is set up with fuck all tactics (seriously, what exactly is our attacking strategy beside hopeless crosses into the box or Leao and inshallah?) doesnt really help either.

90% of games he has played CAM, I don't see consistency problems with his position. The only recent position change was playing a ST/SS against Torino in a different system, and that's not even that far from playing a CAM.
Otherwise he is a semi starter, but I don't see how he deserves to start more. He gets minutes almost every game, how is that bad treatment? I mean starting him inconsistently is better than not-starting him consistently which wouldn't be undeserved.

 

[Qaas]

I actually thought Rebic's movement provided some outlets and he did well overall. Sure, there were the usual mis-weighed passes and bad touches.

That play where Rogerio had him, if he didn't get too emotional and threw his arm, it would/should have easily been a foul on Rogerio and a decent position for a set piece.

I actually would rather see Rebic/Origi and hope they catch some form over Giroud and Leao.

Leao - rebic - rw

Are we forgetting how that was our best football last season?? Pioli only dropped rebic cause he got injured and never found form again.

Right now he seems to be very fit so i have no idea why he isn’t playing instead of the tree

 

[Master Smurf]

Ouch. Ben Affleck? 2023 Ben Affleck?

That's the most damning thing you've ever written on here.

They have done good products so I wasnt speaking about his Batman or JLo projects in front of the camera.

 

[Samaldinho]

Eew none

Dang, there's a player going to Midtjylland that I rate.

 

[IL-Capitano]

If you're going to give Tata a nickname every player should get one. Everyone has been awful. Don't know why he seems to always be the one under the microscope. I love Maignan, he's obviously a massive loss but if this is what happens to our defence without him they shouldn't be playing for Milan. Tomori has been awful all season, even before Mike got injured. What the hell has happened to Theo? Tonali seemed like he wasn't on the pitch yesterday.

Fair point I don’t like the whole nickname slur. Tata is not the only player frustrating at the moment. And I couldn’t agree more the whole team deserve criticism for the recent form.

 

[Samaldinho]

Now ask him his fav team from Spain... one with levers... one sitting top of the league

The one in the Europa League?

Veeb, I thought you didn't like me because I'm confrontational? Now you wanna mix it up?

 

[MilanMB]

Yeah, well we're not Arsenal.

Say we take the gamble and keep Pioli and we miss out on top 4, that sets us back years once again, with key players leaving in the summer.

So yeah, a short term solution that'd result with clinching top 4 is much better for us at this point that keeping the faith in a man who's obviously limited and has lost the plot.

No we are not Arsenal, but it was just an example of what can happen if you stick to a coach during hard times. Liverpool are sticking to Klopp in the same way now. Continuity is very important for a squad.

Thing is, you are arguing in the position of "if we change coach now, we will clinch top 4, thus changing coach is the smartest thing to do" - it's impossible to argue against that. If a coach change actually would guarantee a top 4 position this season, I'd tar and feather Pioli myself before we sack him. But there's no such guarantee.

My argument is that if we can get a coach that gives us a higher probability of making top 4, then by all means sack Pioli. But I fail to come up with a name that convinces me of that. Personally I think Pioli is our best bet for top 4this season, that's why I think keeping him is the best idea.

I'm not an expert on coaches though, so if people would throw in some available and realistic names the discussion would be much more interesting.

 

[vB9]

Juventus have beaten out rivals Torino for talented teenager Gianmarco Di Biase, picking up the winger from Serie D side Pistoiese.

The 17-year-old Italian quickly attracted the attention of a number of clubs in Italy after his explosive start to life in the Italian fourth tier, scoring eight goals and providing two assists in his first 21 league outings. Scouts were quick to highlight the teenager and Juventus were keen to beat their competition to the punch.

As highlighted by Calciomercato.com, Juventus have won the race for Di Biase and will pay €350,000 to sign the 17-year-old winger. A key reason why they secured his signature was their Next Gen squad, giving him a clear step forward in his career.

We shud be doing things like this.

 

[Ash]

They have done good products so I wasnt speaking about his Batman or JLo projects in front of the camera.

Affleck's Batman was fine. He played him exactly how a old and battle weary Batman would be. The only slight to his potrayal was the dumb Martha shit and Whedon butchering the character with his reshoots.

Watch the animated The Dark Knight Returns film. Its pretty similar to Affleck's portrayal.

 

[Qaas]

Dang, there's a player going to Midtjylland that I rate.

Who? So I can keep a close eye on him

 

[vB9]

The one in the Europa League?

I think they'll win their tie... will we? You really wonder?

 

[IL-Capitano]

I think changing the system to a low block or counterattack is the wrong way to go. We were doing great with the way we used to play. We don’t need to throw out the baby with the bath water. Most of the goals we conceded were of two types: counterattacks and set pieces.

We’re trying to counterpress when we lose the ball because we commit so many players forward that we usually have only the two center backs and a midfielder behind the ball. We HAVE to counterpress as that’s the only way to maintain pressure and not concede counterattacks. We’re also not cynical enough to foul and stop counterattacks. We used to be VERY good at counterpressing, at least by Serie A standards. Our PPDA is consistently the lowest in the league.

What’s broken is that our counterpress has suddenly become shit. Giroud was always a non entity here and he was never supposed to be our starting forward. Leao was to blame for a lot of the initial moves that resulted in goals, either by losing the ball and not regaining it, or not tracking the runners like Marusic on the break. We used to protect Leao a lot better before to avoid this. This was Kessie’s job.

Another thing that’s broken is that Brahim, no matter how much he improved this season, is not covering space and cutting out passing lanes like Krunic (or Kessie) when they played AM last season. A lot of our effective pressing happened because we were so good at closing down that dangerous central space that we forced teams out wide and we could handle it better there. Now, teams slice through our press straight down the middle. It’s so easy. CDK can’t play this role. We NEED a physical player like Krunic or Vranckx or whoever in AM otherwise the whole system breaks down. If we don’t have anyone like that in that role, then change system. Don’t force Brahim or CDK to do it and expect the same results.

I think this is finally the realization that’s dawned on Pioli. We can’t play the same way. So either we play Krunic or Vranckx as the AM and sacrifice Brahim/CDK, or stop playing so crazy attacking and commit fewer players forward and play a safer 433 with better coverage when we lose the ball.

The only reason why we were blowing teams away last season was because we believed in ourselves. We believed that we could throw 7 players forward and still get the ball in a few seconds when we lose it, not caring that Tomori was pressing all the way into their box to fill in during the counterpress. It was magical, but it depended on absolute unity and confidence.

That confidence was eroded gradually after the Napoli loss (which was one of the best games we played in months). It then got worse and worse as we let in shit goals with Tata. Now confidence is at an absolute low after it got shattered in the end against Roma (a game where we seemed to have finally regained some confidence).

The only way we can play the way we used to is to regain that unity and confidence. The only way we can do that at this point is to win some games and get clean sheets. The only way to do that is to sacrifice something and play it safe, then slowly get back to playing crazy once we’re confident and have Maignan back in goal.

It sucks to be this bad after winning the title, and to discover that our system is so brittle and that it depends entirely on mental superiority. That’s something I wasn’t expecting, it’s shocking how quickly it unraveled once we stopped believing in ourselves. This is on Pioli as he should have understood that playing his system at that point was making it worse. Hopefully there is a way back once we rebuild our confidence. We lost the coppa, the super coppa and the league in a month. That’s terrible. Getting 4th place is crucial and it would be disastrous on many levels if we can’t make it.

I’m still not too worried about it as I think once we get our shit together we’ll string a few wins and then start to feel the same as before again. I really hope this is the bottom. Even if we don’t beat Inter, I think what needs to happen is to see some kind of change in mentality, that we’re looking for balance first and not to win at all costs. It’s that ‘winning at all costs’ mentality that fucked us up. Our squad is too young, too thin and too injured to shoulder that mental burden.

Agreed the whole dynamism of the play that worked so well last year is not clicking as well this year and especially not recently. Milan are allowing far too much space and time to the opposition all over the pitch.

I am confident the team can have a resurgence in form and turn this around. But I would like them to start doing that as quickly as possible,

 

[Samaldinho]

Affleck's Batman was fine. He played him exactly how a old and battle weary Batman would be. The only slight to his potrayal was the dumb Martha shit and Whedon butchering the character with his reshoots.

Watch the animated The Dark Knight Returns film. Its pretty similar to Affleck's portrayal.

They wasted him as Batman. He could have been such an interesting Batman. With a better script, he could've done really well.

I liked The Batman, I thought Pattison did a great job, but a movie with a tone like that, with older Batman and Affleck would have been awesome.

And that fight scene in the warehouse? Amazing.

 

[MilanBG]

I’m very disappointed in Theo. I thought he was better than this. I don’t care what happened in the locker room, the fans don’t deserve such a half-arsed performance like this. The least you can do is put effort for us, and management like Maldini who trust you.

You can rebel in the locker room, but in the pitch you have to put in effort

I agree, but things may be out of control already. The team looks disjointed since September. If they have internal problems between the players and the coach, it is not easy to clench teeth for 6 months...

 

[Caladan]

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon took away our transfer funds.

They have better merceto.

 

[Samaldinho]

I think they'll win their tie... will we? You really wonder?

We already won one, last year. I'm sure you predicted that, right?