Here comes my attempt to remain the most self-indigence poster on the board. Yes. I have no shame. madtherchot haterz can suck it
If Ibra comes, it will most definitely be a huge test of Allegri's man-management skills, as well as other coaching qualities. I stress man-management, as if he is able to get through to the players, then it will be easier for him to implement his ideas. And thats something he needs to do off the bat, given our Serie A schedule + the fact that the management will now have a legitimate reason to raise expectations, as opposed to the previous season under Leo.
The mere fact that expectations will be raised is testament to the quality Ibra brings with him. He's a top striker, no doubt ... maybe a questionable investment for a team in Milan's predicament - as depicted by Galliani in the recent past - but its Berlu's money + you could say we're debt-free in comparison to our competitors.
Either way, he's still one of the best strikers on the planet. To me, it makes sense to acknowledge that from the word go, and then break down the tactical complications that come with integrating our best players into a system. Keep the best, let go of the rest.
I mostly agree with your observations, especially the quoted part, but I don't see Ibra as the cock-block for the ultimate attack, exploiting the abilities of our very talented forwards. Regardless of whether Ibra comes or doesn't, a main priority remains Pato being liberated from the right forward spot. Whether we get Dzeko, Torres, Drogba, etc. them being more workhorse-type CFs isn't the reason why Pato would isolated on the right. I know I'm being repetitive (but suck it haterz) but the whole obstacle in the bigger scheme of things is Ronaldinho and his inability to be mobile, dynamic, etc.
I don't think its an inability ... he's very talented, and I'd say its more if him being reluctant to play out of his comfort-zone. As long as that happens, the whole dynamics of the front three become rather predictable, and this is something top defenses will know how to handle, as mere talent won't be able to break them up.
So, the idea of a more dynamic front three would be key - by dynamic, Dinho can is allowed to play on the left: but he shouldn't hog it down, as he rarely attacks the left flank like a more conventional winger. He should cut in, try to move into the center, and yes ... even make runs with/without the ball towards his right. If he can do this, the whole dynamics of the attack with change, as Pato is very mobile as he is + it'll bring the best out of Ibra.
Basically, asking Ibra to take all the work(horse) load not only isn't fair on him, but wont cut it against the best defenses. All three forward will have to work in tandem with each other (moving, switching positions and roles, etc.) and with their sound technical ability, we would be very difficult to stop.
Note that this would also apply to a workhorse forward like Bori, as good movement is fundamental to an attacks predictability.
So whether its a 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-3, movement would be required from ALL the attackers in order to get the most out of them. The only problem I see with the 4-3-1-2 is that IF both Dinho and Ibra aren't mobile enough, we risk becoming too narrow, much as we were under Carlo with his diamond + xmass tree formations. Only major difference is that back then we had better fullbacks, and that could be a major problem as we'll lack width.
Admittedly, I'm no fan of expansive (wide) football. For example, last season, we could barely conjure up anything down the middle, and that was only when Clarence was on the pitch + in form ... Otherwise, we were continuously going down the flanks, hoping a cross would find a target. No ... I much rather prefer central penetration, but in the end, its all about balance. And in a 4-3-1-2, most of the width comes from the fullbacks, and I don't think our current ones are up to standard.
Which brings me back to the whole question of whether Ibra is a smart investment. At first glance, yes. Certainly we're going about it carefully, giving us the option to pull out of the deal at the end of the season. But the resounding conclusion one can make is that he wont be enough. We need other additions, and perhaps the sort of money we would potentially spend on him would be best spent spread throughout the squad.
But a loan with an option to buy sounds like a good compromise. Mostly because while he had an indifferent season at Bartha, he's not as overweight or unfit as the supposedfootball stars
Good job
For those that watched the Lecce game, clearly the team moved a lot better than it did last season. Forwards were constantly on the move, with both Ambro and especially Clarence also making telling runs into the opposition box. Antonini, for a change, was connecting with Pirlo passes, as opposed to exclusive flicks from Dinho last season ...
The result was there for all to see. We were able to play at a high tempo, making very few touches on the ball before passing, because players were open most of the time, due to better movement.
Still have to see how balanced we are against a stronger team ... we barely had much defending to do, and even then, Lecce did manage to create 2-3 good chances. I personally would like to see Milan against a more offensively setup team to judge Allegri's work defensively ... but when in possession, I can already see changes in the way we play when compared to under Leo.
I have one question to people who watch the game more intently than me,
Why do we suck on long balls, why cant our defense cop with high balls, nesta+silva seems like a great combination but they dont have enough authority or aggressiveness in the air. Is that because
1. They dont show off? But its seems to me that high balls are a problem for us
2. midfield is not closing up the gaps properly so nesta and silva has to cover a lot for the midfield. And i think its good to blame another dept when one dept is facing some trouble
3. Defense means more than just nesta and silva, where are the fullbacks?
4. or our Cbs are into aesthetics and they are not aggressive or violent enough to hack down a jumping striker, (amauri is shit otherwise we could have conceded a 1000 goali know our best cbs were rested) that they miss one or two aerial balls
5. Abbiatti cries so much and screams "please let me play for some time"
6. Tassoti is a fullback and he need to call baresi for some help
What is Allegri's fave formation anyway? He only had a handful of friendlies/tournament and one single official game while the team is changing with all the late comers (Ibra/Robinhho) and goers (Huntelaar, Boriello, Kaladzhe). OK, I know the goers (esp Huntelaar and Kaladzhe) might not really shape his tactic but my point is, his plan could and should change because of Ibra/Robinho arrival because they are quality players.
Hm, fair point. He isn't disciplined enough to play in a central role, where he'll have less time on the ball and won't be able to dribble and beat his man like on the wing, whereas someone like Rui Costa was perfect for close control dribbling in tight spaces. Robinho, however, is capable of filling that role, judging by what I've seen of him.
you should stop posting about pirlo barca ance kaka all those things which have some effect on you and you are
I noticed in preferred formation and the match thread particularly people still aren't fully understanding Allegri's tactics. A lot of people are claiming we 'basically played a 4-2-4' or it was the 4-2-1-3 again with Seedorf in an advanced role. That is not true.
From the beginning of the summer, Allegri had one focal signing he wanted. a "half winger". A LCM/RCM for his 3 man midfield. The obvious choice was Lazzari, the player who played this role so well for Cagliari.
First let me back up and explain what it is I believe Allegri want's out of his half winger. You have to look at rest of his midfield first to understand the concept of it. He has 2 pure CMs who he wants to more or less stay at home. A regista who plays the ball and another CM who can push forward a little more. Both are expected to hold more tactical disapline.
Then there is the trequartista who plays off the strikers and is expected to give the final touch on most occasions. In Allegri's cagliari he had Cossu who was a Right winger playing trequartista.
Now to the half-winger. The concept of this is a player who can play BOTH a 3 man midfield to hold possession and not leave a team defensively vunerable with only 2 CMs (as it's near impossible to play that way anymore) AND a player who can push into final 3rd like an attacking midfielder and add extra body so the trequartista is NOT easily marked out. If you don't understand what I mean by easily marked out, go watch 2009/10 Juventus. Diego is a quality player, but NO ONE from juve's midfield offered creativity, and neither did the strikers. This made defenses job easy... don't allow Diego space and Juve can't do much.
In a sense the 'half-winger' is hardest role to fill for a team as a true winger like nani or van der vaart could never do it as they can't play a 3 man central midfield and a player like De Rossi wouldn't necessarily excell in it either as he's too much of a central midfielder uncomfortable out wide. Players who are probably taylor made for this role are schweinstagger, iniesta, possibly ramires/afellay, a younger camorenesi etc.
Now let's look at cagliari's 2009/10 team last year...
The point that makes it interesting is Cossu was originally a right winger and Lazzari a left winger. Cossu would naturally float to the right and at times it was assume a 4-3-3 look. Because of his penchant of going right, Lazzari had space centrally to run into.
The other interesting point is Cagliari had 3 forwards who were all mobile and versitile. In there two striker system they all had freedom to float side to side in box. SomethinG Pato and Ibrahimovic can do easily. With Nene or Matri (or Jeda) moving to side of box or playing a general 2 striker system, again there was freedom for Lazzari to come in.
All this plus Lazzari's strength/strongerr finishing ability led to him scoring 6 goals as opposed to Cossu who scored only 3 in a more advanced position (granted he had A LOT more assists).
I'm going to show a couple examples of what I mean;
first cagliari v. genoa. Genoa won 3-2
Skip forward to 2:43
As you see, the ball is won when #31 agostini (the LB) and Lazzari (LCM) pressure Genoa and win the ball (I think it's palladino), Lazzari immediately passes it back to Conti who is playing regista (instead of typically Biondini) and Lazzari immediately is making a run from left side up the middle. It insues in a goal after linking up with a clumsy striker, Matri.
now let's look at Lazzari's goal v. Fiorentina:
Goal build up starts @ 0:44
Now look as the CB Canini released the ball, freeze it at 0:49. You'll see Cossu has now floated to Left forward/wing region. Matri is directly central with Jeda at a more Right forward position. Lazzari is about 5 yards behind Cossu at full sprint from left midfield position. As you see Cossu puts a nice touch on it to the surging Lazzari who finishes it beautifully.
THIS goal is similar to the near seedorf miss v. lecce. (Starts @ 1:05)
Defensive error finds seedorf who has surged from midfield found ronaldinho who tees up an open goal which the Seedorf missed. Albiet Seedorf came in more centrally then lazzari but if you rewind the game and watch, seedorf is CLEARLY on left side of central midfield and drifting slowly in. Also Pirlo's ball @ 2:41 which again seedorf didn't finish, clarence starts run FROM the left central midfield get's himself central behind borriello. As terrible as Seedorf's finishing was both build ups were great and on a better day both would have been goals, based on well timed late runs from the 'half-winger' from central midfield into attack.
Truthfully we cannot judge Allegri's idea's for Milan but i'm noticing a pattern from Cagliari and Milan. Even though Cossu played trequartista instead of Left wing like Ronaldinho he floated a lot. Freeze frame both cagliari goals I linked, and you'll see Cossu is in an almost full forward position, be it right or left side, and the opposite side forward shifts a bit wider to accommodate. They take almost a full 4-3-3 look. Whether it's a 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-3 it's a 3 forward system with Cossu getting a free role and the 2 forwards adapting to his positioning. I noticed Ronaldinho did this at times, and at other times stayed glued to left. I think Allegri would like him to play more freely than glued to left, whether he will, is anyones guess but his talent is there.
Finally one last goal which might be more relevant to milan's system. Cagliari played a 4-3-3 in this game. Matri on left, Larivvey central and Jeda on the right.
Goal starts @ 0:28
Truthfully from look of it, it looks more like a 4-3-1-2 with larivvey behind strikers. but what happens. Biondini sends ball to jeda who moves from forward to right side. Again Lazzari is surging from a deep LEFT position to head it in.
Eitherway the dynamic of the system is pretty clear. There are three attacking players who are mobile and moving. And 1 'half winger' floating from the 3 man midfield up to the attack giving that extra attacker to break down teams. Seedorf clearly played this role. HOPEFULLY Boateng can.
It should be stated the other midfielders pushed forward as well when time presented itself but lazzari CLEARLY had more freedom to do so just like Seedorf did v. Lecce. Allegri's system is predicated on spacing and constant movement and continuing runs from deep. However the 'half-winger' role is an interesting wrinkle to standard 4-3-1-2 run in Serie A, and giving it the extra dynamism to play when most teams are shifting away from a 4-3-1-2 and to some variation of a 4-2-3-1. I hope Boateng can take this role and make it his own, but if not, I hope the right player is signed as I doubt Seedorf can do it for a full year and it's final to making Allegri's idea work well
Do you really have THAT MUCH fucking time on your hands?
If you want to keep doing this, don't EVER get married
Just a question. And a serious one:
Do you really have THAT MUCH fucking time on your hands?
If you want to keep doing this, don't EVER get married
. Like a year ago majority of my posts were from my cell phone while hanging out w/ my gf of time.