Nigel de Jong Thread

[Jivara]

I love the new De Jong, he really has a high football IQ and now his body responds to his way of thinking I hope he can remain fit he is pivotal for us.

 

[paganini66]

He's a defensive monster,I wish he could just pass the ball quicker.

 

[Jivara]

I am fine that he takes his time on the ball the important thing is that the attack is well structured because if he loses the ball we will like concede due to the lack of organization at the back. I would like to see Montolivo and Muntari speed it up, Monto is slow on the turn, Muntari is just lazy,

 

[Pharaoh]

Im actually amazed at his passes,he has to have one of the most accurate pass rates in our team

 

[nuttela]

there was a few seconds where he went into two sliding tackles and i was like

 

[jammin]

2 million dollar monster.

 

[Christian]

Love him, such a great player

There was one sequence of play where we got something like 4 sliding tackles in a row, with De Jong putting in three of them

What impressed me the most though, was his play with the ball. In the first half we clearly wanted to pass the ball out from the back (cause we had no CF) and as such he had to deal with alot of really difficult passes and he did that perfectly. Remember one pass in particular from Amelia where he had Barcelona player marking him, but he dealt with it excelently and we even created a good chance in that situation.

 

[jammin]

There was one sequence of play where we got something like 4 sliding tackles in a row, with De Jong putting in three of them

Yea it was right after the Binho miss. IIRC it was Montolivo - Birsa - De Jong - De Jong.

 

[Nestafan]

Very good again today.

Our player of the season so far.

 

[milanazkals]

Midfield trio did good. De Jong in particular. What a boss.

 

[joyrider]

he should be captain

 

[King George]

he plays with heart, is why he's so good. so much passion...

 

[acmilan4ever]

Make him capitano already.

Hes been pretty consistent and superb of late.

 

[Naraku]

This team would be absolutely fucked with out Nigel! Signing of the Summer so far.

 

[Ross O. Neri]

If a 3 man midfield is to continue, results suggest de Jong has to be a side midfielder, his performances at Milan seem to be a constant such that his position shouldn't be an influence. In this way Montolivo is optimised as anchor with little drop-off in protection ahead of the CBs plus more options for him to work with.

However, if the 2 man midfield finds more use, previous experience has shown de Jong and Montolivo to work quite well. Muntari substitutes effectively for either player, though this formation would limit Poli's contribution, as thus far his plaudits have come from his attacking ability (and Muntari also capitalises on this roaming).

While these complications aren't de Jong's "fault" per se, as he's deserving of his position within the team, his occupying of the current anchor position limits Montolivo and changing formation to accommodate the two limits the remaining midfield depth.

Possible food for thought?

 

[Sage]

very lucky not to be sent off last night, played better when allegri switched to a 4-2-3-1.

 

[Dominate]

I would like to see us run a 4231 but im worried it would turn into some abstract 424 shit

Obviously Allegri has his reasons for not starting with it but.....if he could work the team into shape with it I think it could be very effective

 

[kingWizard]

If a 3 man midfield is to continue, results suggest de Jong has to be a side midfielder, his performances at Milan seem to be a constant such that his position shouldn't be an influence. In this way Montolivo is optimised as anchor with little drop-off in protection ahead of the CBs plus more options for him to work with.

However, if the 2 man midfield finds more use, previous experience has shown de Jong and Montolivo to work quite well. Muntari substitutes effectively for either player, though this formation would limit Poli's contribution, as thus far his plaudits have come from his attacking ability (and Muntari also capitalises on this roaming).

While these complications aren't de Jong's "fault" per se, as he's deserving of his position within the team, his occupying of the current anchor position limits Montolivo and changing formation to accommodate the two limits the remaining midfield depth.

Possible food for thought?

For a 3 man midfield, Nigel at anchor makes the midfield somewhat unbalanced, so i'm sure Allegri would like to play him at RCM. the problem is, Nigel has over his career always had very limited offensive production. he doesn't make many runs, he only makes short passes, his buildup play is good (better than Muntari) but not top class, and he doesn't shoot. it might still work if there was someone with the vision and passing range of pirlo or xabi alonso at anchor, but montolivo unfortunately isn't in that class.

4-2-3-1 might work but like you said it limits the midfield depth and with no true midfielder in the -3- you're likely as Dominate said, to end up with a 4-2-4 most of the time. also effectively locks muntari, who in my opinion is milan's most crucial player this season, and poli (who i feel is going to to explode soon) out of the team.

Even if Poli dramatically improves his defensive output and starts on the right, there's still the problem of who does the defensive work on the left.

Not worth it if you ask me.

 

[justhope]

he was kinda nowhere to be seen for parma's first goal or pretty much whenever parma counterattacked.

he is our most defensive of all our midfielders, he shouldve been there with parma's man in their first goal as in the parma midfielder made the run way behind dejong

 

[Goodfella]

4-2-3-1 might work but like you said it limits the midfield depth and with no true midfielder in the -3- you're likely as Dominate said, to end up with a 4-2-4 most of the time. also effectively locks muntari, who in my opinion is milan's most crucial player this season, and poli (who i feel is going to to explode soon) out of the team.

Muntari isn't(or shouldn't) be starting material, unless you're okay with Milan being a 3rd tier club.

He should be able to be one of two pivots in front of the defense. Backup role.


Poli is very versatile and there are several suitable roles for him in a 4-2-3-1.

Even if Poli dramatically improves his defensive output and starts on the right, there's still the problem of who does the defensive work on the left.

Are you referring to the winger spots in a 4-2-3-1?
SES?

Not worth it if you ask me.

lol

 

[kingWizard]

Muntari isn't(or shouldn't) be starting material, unless you're okay with Milan being a 3rd tier club.

We can all dream about who we would have playing for Milan, but in the meantime Allegri has to work with only the players that are available to him. And I admit that in the case of Muntari, I'm a bit biased because i've been a fan since i saw him play as a 15 year old. So i want him to play.

I accept the Muntari hate on this forum because Muntari seems to have an innate ability to inspire hate, even in Ghana, but as far as this season and even last season goes, the stats support my bias.

He's one of Milan's leading goalscorers with 4 so far.
But goals matter for nothing when he contributes little else right? well check the tackling and ball recovered stats and he's rubbing shoulders with only nigel, nobody else.
But what use is a tackler and a goalscorer at LCM who can't pass right? Well check the pass accuracy stats and he's consistently in the low 80's and high 70's, and he tries more long passes than anybody else in the milan team not named Montolivo.

But stats matter for nothing, it's his contribution in the game that matters and he sucks right? Well if you accept that losses to napoli and juve are not entirely unavoidable, then you will notice that the games milan have lost against clubs which have been termed fodder on this forum, hellas and parma, muntari has been suspended and rested respectively. And in the draw against bologna, he came on when milan were already down. Against Torino was the only game you can say he was a full participant in the shittiness. And even in that game he scored the goal that precipitated the comeback draw.

Muntari is a champion. he has the winner's mentality sorely lacking in many of today's milan players. He is the only player besides Kaka and maybe NDJ and Robinho, in the current squad who have achieved something with both small and big teams.

of course he needs to dramatically improve his participation in the build-up play and as boki would say his assistment, but the facts are the facts.

He should be able to be one of two pivots in front of the defense. Backup role.
Poli is very versatile and there are several suitable roles for him in a 4-2-3-1.

I'm sure Muntari and Poli could play as on of the two defensive midfielders but i'd be very uncomfortable if either of them was in that position. substitute or not. If we're going for a 4-2-3-1, i'd expect nigel and monto to play every match, and always 90 mins. poli would be behind birsa, and probably even facing competion fron niang on the right, behind kaka and birsa, in the role behind the striker, and behind el-sha and robinho on the left. and as i have already said i feel poli is on the verge of breaking out ala el-sha last season.

Are you referring to the winger spots in a 4-2-3-1?
SES?

Elssharawy is a striker. To expect him to consistently cover the whole of the left flank with Constant/Urby is imo asking for trouble. Maybe with De Sc. But i honestly don't even like that.

 

[Username]

Elssharawy is a striker. To expect him to consistently cover the whole of the left flank with Constant/Urby is imo asking for trouble. Maybe with De Sc. But i honestly don't even like that.

Oh, thats was ElSh did all of the past season plus in the 20/30 minutes he's played in this one! He's always running back to help defend. His workrate is fantastic, the only problem with him at the moment is his rustiness at attacking, but with Kaká besides him, we'll certainly get better.

 

[kingWizard]

^^^
El-Sha is great. He does track back and never shirks his defensive responsibility. I just prefer to see him with less of it. Hope he comes back iin great form.

 

[Armin__m]

He`s our best player..

As far as midfielders are concerned, he`s miles ahead of Montolivo in every department..

 

[iraqi]

best in campo
grazie nigel

 

[Jasper]

boss of all bosses

 

[nuttela]

Supreme player worth his weight in gold and would be close to an Ibra/TS33 loss if he was ever sold. De Jong's distribution and interceptions are priceless. He deserves so much more with Milan.

 

[LemonCookies]

He's improved so much since coming here it's frankly shocking. Easily rivals Montolivo in sexy ball control.

 

[iraqi]

our new van bommel !
damn them dutch 3>

 

[Ronin]

should be in the starting squad for WC