The Rumour Commode XXXIX: A Cardinal Sin

[Longbowman]

After the Zagreb game, I was so elated and was spending the entire time dreaming about the potential draw in CL.. probability of drawing may be Porto/Brugge.. followed by say Tottenham in QF.. Inter in Semi and a penalty shootout win vs Liverpool in Istanbul..

Rudely awakened by fucking Torino.

I hope we are atleast 2-0 up before Salzburg gets their first set piece.

 

[DonSilvio]

Fuck inter

 

[Ludwig]

I hope Milan field 3 mids against salszburg, like the one against Juventus. Can't afford to let salzburg take control of the mid area like torino, verona, etc. did.

We only need draw, 3 mids is safe option.

 

[brk]

Tomori has been regressing badly. He freaks out whenever he's expected to lead the defense. Without Maignan or Kjaer, he's lost.

 

[Cloren]

Tomori has been regressing badly. He freaks out whenever he's expected to lead the defense. Without Maignan or Kjaer, he's lost.

Tomori is not a leader.

We badly miss Kjaer tonight. As well as Big Mike.

We need more experience. If the rumours of Jorginho coming to Milan on free, I might consider it. We need experience and we need more quality in the midfield.

 

[brk]

Reminder that if we had beaten Napoli we’d be tied at the top now. 6 points seem like a lot but things can change very quickly.

 

[Nevermore]

Replacing Kessie with headless chickens was a bad idea
How can DM in 4-2-3-1 have 29 passes with 72.4% accuracy?

Kessie last season had 88.5% accuracy with 42.5 passes per match average
This is the drop of quality we are talking about

 

[MilanBG]

I’m really concerned about the Salzburg match, I really don’t know what to expect. It’s such a big match and we could lose it. After today, my confidence on that match is down. We lack a spark this season. We are not scoring goals due to product of our system but mostly individual quality. Our best match was actually vs Napoli, now that was a great match. Wished we could have sustained that more.

I really hope our boys are ready.

I can tell you what to expect. Another massive stinker. Just like 90% of the games this season. We play some of the ugliest football you can find in Europe. The only thing saving us is individual brilliance here and there and some massive defensive errors from the opponent. Apart from that we suck big time. If merda produced such performances I would've died of laughter. Our players literally can't control the ball and can't string more than 2 consecutive passes. They just throw fucking long balls to Giroud and that's it. Unwatchable style of play.

 

[danilo1899]

Few takeaways from the game last night, now when emotions have settled.

Our basic tactical layup looks like 6-4 formation with only Theo coming between the lines. I really can't understand why Pioli won't go for 3 in a mid basic setup with mezzalas, when we clearly lack the front movement for 4231 formation. We did get away with it last season, but we had Kessie and Krunić in the mid and they forced lots of turnovers for our quick breaks.

Our squad relies on quick transitions, not continuous ball hogging (our possesion % is rather small this season) and we can't expect those when we defend with basically 6 players. We are simply not able to swarm players and cause turnovers this way.

I was very skeptical about Pioli when we signed him, but he quickly managed to turn me around, mostly with his progressive/adaptive thinking after all tjose years of side/back passes and sitting deep. Now I feel he let the scudetto set some unrealistic (emotional) evaluations of our players. Our biggest strenght is the unit, the team. This is painfully obvious in the last few away Serie A games, when we had to scrape against Empoli and Verona.

That's why I sensed immediately last night when Leao missed the second chance we'll be in problems, because when we face high press it's fundamental we have Bennacer/Adli/Krunić, a type of a player who drop deep and find spaces for transitions.

We could get away with playing Kessie-Tona combo last seaon because they took lots of loose/second balls in our third and forced quick counter-attacks, but now we simoly cannot do this anymore with this setup and it's painfully obvious. Benna is so fundamental in our play because he is so agile and press-resistant in small spaces (something people choose to forget about Kessie, nobody could take the ball away from him).

All this I also put on M&M, because we all knew that even Renato would leave us exposed in this type of games. Majority of the commode was saying we don't really need CDK, I feel his arrival has cost us Adli and his growth. He was excellent in our preaseason and just the type of advanced mid we need if we want to be around 1st place come end of the season.

Napoli will face tough times also, but I fear we simoly don't have that (foremost) mental capability this season to use that to our advantage. We are very "turned on" at the beggining of matches but our finishing is below par this year (remember first 20 minutes in Sassuolo in august, same thing as last night).

Good news is all this is solvable, even with our depleted roster. Pioli's no fool, he'll mix things up definitely and find a way. He always did. None the less, we should manage our expectations to this season, because none expected Napoli to be this good. If they get 90+ points (and they very well could be), hats off to them really.

Sorry about long post(s), I rarely can find the time to post something here so it's always wall of text.

 

[Berlusconi]

huh?
kessie has declared his love for the team and said he will come and settle everything, only to drag negotiations and force us to prolong it until he was a free player.
his agent obviously didn't play ball and wanted the fattest commission.

donnarumma was the same situation, only then M&M understood it in time and told him to fuck off (also, he was the first in the line of free players leaving, kessie was the last so there was no precedent).
kebab wasn't hated at all in the way he left, the animosity towards him comes only from the way he acted after leaving and his statements.

He literally told maldini that he will renew when he comes back from vacation, then stopped answering Maldini's phone calls etc, then announced he signed for inter, and the Milan staff found out from the media. But sure, ya nothing wrong there.

Kessie won us a title, he left for more money, we couldn't match the money. Simple as that. Of course he wanted to resign, but he also wanted to resign for the same amount of money. He is also the only useful signing of thumb force, and has been with the team from europa league to league title.

I'd take him on a loan for the rest of the season and loan out Adli or maybe Vranckx to a serie a team for more experience. Wouldn't resign him at a permanent deal tho

 

[Berlusconi]

Nico Williams looks really good on the RW and he's only 20. Thought he hasn't played in the CL...

If we've heard of a player, than most likely we are not signing him because so has the rest of the world. Expect an unknown name to slap you out of nowhere like always

 

[A Wild Homosexual]

Ross is the worst. The worst.

He carried that show.

 

[Berlusconi]

You look at team awards then? Then where are Henry's CL wins aside from the one at Barca where he wasn't one of their main players?

But he was...

Henry definitely was one of the best strikers in the world in his time. He definitely deserved the Balon Dor instead of fucking Nedved in 2003

 

[A Wild Homosexual]

Swallow your pride.
If Kess want to come back then he is welcome.
This team is broken midfield wize & Ben-Tona isnt a good combination.

 

[Altafini]

The negativity here is so thick, you can cut it with a knife... we've lost 2 matches. Sometimes,these losses are a kind of reminder that we still have some flaws here and there. I only hope the guys suits up,get their heads up,step on the pedal and get the job done. It's not over yet guys, we're just getting started. Napoli will drop points too,it's a marathon and I will never lose hope until it's actually over. Second star,here we come. The negativity worms can wiggle around the forum now,you will soon crawl back to the stinking creaks you all crawl out from when we start another unbeaten runs starting with RB Salzburg on Wednesday. Forza Milan

 

[Mario]

So who would you guys actually add to our team if we can get a signing in Jan?

A DM the priority?

Is there a point buying a RW? I kinda wish Pioli dropped the 4231 unless we bring Kessie back for free lol

 

[Berlusconi]

I’m quite concerned to be honest. 6 points behind Napoli now and just 2 points above Inter.

We are clearly lacking something this season and we need to address this. This is a system issue. We are relying too much on individual quality. We also need some January signings, especially a main CB, a destroyed midfielder and of course a RW.

I don’t understand why Pioli insists on playing a double pivot and a CAM like Diaz or CDK when that isn’t working. Diaz was honestly considerable better as a RW and so was CDK when he played there vs Juventus. I don’t understand why we stopped that RW experiment with these 2 when they did a good job there.

When Krunic came on in the 2nd half vs Zagreb, we were much better. Which makes the solution more obvious to me, play a 3 man-midfield to help Tonali/Bennacer with their defensive duties and gain more control on the midfield. Sure Krunic was the ‘CAM’ but we know he plays deeper. And the thing is we know Krunic and Pobega’s ceiling is limited, hence my question is, shouldn’t it be time to have Vranckx or even Adli be the 3rd man in the midfield to play with Tonali/Bennacer?

CDK might grow into that position but he isn’t right now and he’s low on confidence. Diaz isn’t good enough as CAM. There is no point in insisting and insisting them on a position and hoping they work. It’s affecting our team play.

And we all know Messias isn’t good enough and Salad was also a weak link and he’s injured. Just play CDK/Diaz in the RW and try to incorporate either Adli or Vranckx in the midfield with Tonali/Bennacer because Krunic/Pobega aren’t really good enough.

4-3-1-2???

 

[Berlusconi]

Replacing Kessie with headless chickens was a bad idea
How can DM in 4-2-3-1 have 29 passes with 72.4% accuracy?

Kessie last season had 88.5% accuracy with 42.5 passes per match average
This is the drop of quality we are talking about

He was also running around the field in every position besides the one that he needed to occupy.

You'd find him on the left wing for no reason, then Tonali would be alone in midfield.

 

[papaberlu]

So who would you guys actually add to our team if we can get a signing in Jan?

A DM the priority?

Is there a point buying a RW? I kinda wish Pioli dropped the 4231 unless we bring Kessie back for free lol

To me, this 4231 approach cannot be the #1 approach for this team

I don't think you can win with it consistently and especially not in Europe

But we probably won't see any change

 

[papaberlu]

I can tell you what to expect. Another massive stinker. Just like 90% of the games this season. We play some of the ugliest football you can find in Europe. The only thing saving us is individual brilliance here and there and some massive defensive errors from the opponent. Apart from that we suck big time. If merda produced such performances I would've died of laughter. Our players literally can't control the ball and can't string more than 2 consecutive passes. They just throw fucking long balls to Giroud and that's it. Unwatchable style of play.

This side's technical level has dropped so much this season it's incredibly disheartening

Can't combine two passes together without fumbling it and briefly losing control

 

[MilanBG]

So who would you guys actually add to our team if we can get a signing in Jan?

A DM the priority?

Is there a point buying a RW? I kinda wish Pioli dropped the 4231 unless we bring Kessie back for free lol

А playmaker who can actually... you know playmake. A super active RW would also work. We play as if we have no midfielders. Our pass sequels are awfully slow and predictable. We simply send long balls to the CF or give the ball to Theo and expect him to dribble past 3 players.

 

[Mario]

А playmaker who can actually... you know playmake. A super active RW would also work. We play as if we have no midfielders. Our pass sequels are awfully slow and predictable. We simply send long balls to the CF or give the ball to Theo and expect him to dribble past 3 players.

yeah an AM is something we are not getting for sure, there’s been enough investment in that position and the coach hasn’t even figured it out yet

Diaz showed some form and his future would need to be decided and it won’t until summer… unrealistic call imo

I’d say DM. With RW pioli showed he might be willing to adopt a 433/451 and have cdk/Diaz develop in that role

 

[Cloren]

4-3-1-2???

4-3-3 ;p

To me, this 4231 approach cannot be the #1 approach for this team

I don't think you can win with it consistently and especially not in Europe

But we probably won't see any change

He made that change vs Juventus and played CDK/Diaz as RW. It worked well. Why did he went back 4-2-3-1 after that great game I don’t know though

 

[Ash-ish]

Kalulu got mauled in last game. Some romangoli level stuff

 

[Pigeon]

This side's technical level has dropped so much this season it's incredibly disheartening

Can't combine two passes together without fumbling it and briefly losing control

kessie was also playing with timbs but he at least had decent passing. pobega? my god... pairing him with tonali literally kills the whole midfield.

 

[MilanMB]

Ross is the worst. The worst.

whattttttttttt?????

Chandlers was awesome until he got married to Monica, after that he was really boring.

 

[MilanMB]

Everyone knew that sitting on the bench would be Kessie's fate at Barca. His characteristics simply doesn't fit that team. How much more money does he make there (compared to how much he'd make here with a renewal)?

 

[Nalim]

 

[Cloren]

I’m reading too much negativity on Stefano Pioli, not necessarily here but Twitter and Reddit. I think we need to cut him off some slack. Let’s see how he does vs Salzburg before judging him. He has build this team and did a super job prior.

I agree this season he can do better at adapting to our current situation. But this situation is also new to him. Expectations are different now.

Even if we fire him, who can we get? There isn’t anyone better at the moment. He deserves our backing for now. Especially after our run last season for the title which was beyond expectations.

 

[Ludwig]

We need Ibra to be Pioli's player assistant in all match, home or away. When I watched Zlatan cam on Milan youtube channel, I'm amazed at how he shouted players' names, even asked them to do certain movement, just like a real coach. It's more than I thought about his role here.

Leao without Zlatan's presence just easily got carried away.