Re: Serie A Thread - Fixtures Released!
lots of good stuff going on from milan fans here
Ronaldinho
u're right about ronaldinho's signing being a good move marketing-wise, stef,..... but honestly, it's milan we're talking about, one of the most supported football clubs in the world, the most winning club in the world in the last 20 years, the club which won most trophies in football history, a club which can line up the likes of maldini, nesta, pirlo, kaka, seedorf.... i can't believe milan needs a marketing boost... and if kaka isn't enough to give a boost to milan's image, well i can't see how ronaldinho could do better.
and however, if i remember well, milan left to ronaldinho all the marketing incomes linked to his name and image.
besides, talking about milan's financial situation, well milan's president is one of the richests men on the planet... he's the one who should take care of milan financial situation... actually he used to do it, until 3\4 years ago.... i wonder why did he become so parsimonious.
talking about the player, i'm pretty confident he can get back to his world class standards... and, for 25 millions, it's a bargain.
the thing is milan already has 2 world class player in that role, hence those money could have been spent better.
Zambrotta
i think saying he's a waste of money it's unfair. if by saying that, u mean that those 11 millions could have been spent better (adding other 20 millions to get dani alves, for example) then u're definitely right...... but it's still gianluca zambrotta we're talking about.
he might not be the world class player he was 2 years ago, he probably already reached his peak....but a 50% zambrotta it's still better than most of the fullbacks in europe today.
just consider panucci. most of the people used to consider him as an "old glory" till 3 years ago.... but surprisingly his last 2 seasons were nothing less than STUNNING.
i don't think it was a good move signing zambrotta, as i said earlier i think milan needs somehing different, but still i wouldn't say he's a waste of money.
Goalkeeper
Lloris is a very promising goalkeeper, and as i said before, i think milan needs young, hungry players, but the gk role, well, that's a different story. after all the troubles milan faced in the last 2 seasons with this role, the last thing the rossoneri need now is a young, unexperienced foreign gk (and it doesn't matter how promising he is).
milan needs a gk who already speaks italian, who already knows this league, who already knows serie a fowards, a goalkeeper with the experience and the charisma to lead the defensive line, someone who can call the positioning adjustments.
that's not lloris. that's abbiati. he has all the features i mentioned. he doesn't need time to adapt himself to the league, he already knows the players, he already knows the language, and he already knows his teammates and milan's gk trainers staff.
he's a very good gk who collected good performances everywhere he went (and i think our juve fans here will agree with me). he can give coolness to milan's cbs, giving them the guarrantee that there's somebody they can count on, right behind their backs (and i'm pretty confident this will have an effect on kaladze's clumsyness).
so milan needs young hungry players, but not a young hungry gk. they need someone who can make kaladze feel "untroubled", they need someone who can make the defensive line feel unhurried. and that's abbiati.
Oddo
i have to admit i'm surprised by what i read. aren't we talking about the player who was named best crosser in serie a from 2001 to 2005???
most of the players today take easy, "confortable" crosses, with an high-arched trajectory. those crosses are slow and extremely predictable. the arched trajectory gives more time to the foward\teammate to adjust his position in order to hit the ball..... but they also give time to the defenders\opponents. time to adjust their position, time to shorten the distance between themselves and the target-player, time to nullify the cross.
Oddo's crosses are exactly the opposite of this. they're extremely powerful and with a tight angle. they're like bulletts and they don't lift up too much, making the job extremely hard for the defenders. it's almost impossible to intercept them and they are too quick to allow the defender adjusting his position.
the foward doesn't have to take care of "protecting his position" in order to avoid the defender to get the ball (coz the pass is too quick to allow the defender to turn his back to the goal), and he doesn't even have to take care of giving a boost to the ball.
he just has to intercept the trajectory and change the spin of the ball with his head.
this is the state of the art of crosses.
of course it isn't easy for the foward to intercept the ball (aswell as it isn't for the defender), but hey, that's up to the foward!
a good crosser MUST throw a bullet with a slightly-arched trajectory in order to give an advantage to his teammate.
this kind of cross will he harder to intercept for both players (the foward and the defender)...... but it will be much harder for the defender than the foward, because to nullify a cross, a defender needs more time than the foward needs to hit the ball with his head.
the defender has to look at the ball's trajectory, AND to look at the foward-target position (and usually he has to turn his back in order to look at both of em, wich of course takes time). the defender has to adjust his position accordingly to the ball trajectory AND to the target-foward. then he has to pick the right timing to jump, in order to intercept the cross.
the foward, instead, when the cross is well-performed, just needs to pick the right timing to get the ball. he doesn't have to turn his back, the ball is the only thing he has to take care of, the only thing he has to look at.
that's why the foward needs less time. and that's why a bullett-cross is a better cross.
so, if many oddo's crosses flew out last season, then that's not oddo's fault. and that's the real issue i mentioned in my previous post. milan doesn't have many players good to cross at. last season milan's only good target was ambrosini.... now u have borriello, and i'm pretty confident that with marco upfront, oddo's crosses will come handy.
Ancelotti
i really don't understand why u guys blame carletto for milan's issues.
u're all tired of milan's xmas tree formation.... and u're right.
u all would like to see milan playing more wide, to open the defences and leave some spaces to kaka and the fowards....... and u're right.
but is that ancelotti's fault??? I mean, take a look at the roster. u don't play wide on the flanks coz u don't have the players to do it. milan has no camoranesi, no di natale, no figo, no mancini, no maggio.... u have only players who work on the centre. even your advanced midfielders tend to cut in the centre.
and it doesn't matter wich tactical directives ancelotti gives to kaka or seedorf or ronaldinho. he can even fetter them to the corner flag, they will still tend to cut on the centre as soon as they get the ball, because that's what they are; central players, not side players.
Galliani is the only one to blame for milan's football. it doesn't matter if u change coach, if u get lippi or zaccheroni or prandelli or spalletti or mourinho, coz they would all stick to that predictable formation, until Galliani will start buying some players milan actually needs!!!!
nothing will change until galliani will stop thinking about marketing strategies, or about pleasing the fans with big stars, nothing will change until he will have a serious chat with ancelotti and ask him "ok carletto, what does this team needs?"
actually if there's something i blame ancelotti for, is that. he has been too condescending with Galliani. he never had the guts to have a frank chat with galliani about milan's players-signing policies.
oh, and talking about Paloschi, he's still so young and unexperienced. u can't expect this young kid to solve milan's problems. he cannot carry such a responsability. he should be sent somewhere in loan, to get more playtime, coz if he'll stay in milano, the pressure might compromise his growth.
Sabac red said:
Bonera is pretty good from what i've seen at SB like Wes Brown(but a better defender).
he's not bad as a sideback. but he's sooo much better as a cb
Zeem said:
@ lo zio
you totally missed out on Maldini there
i know this is almost a blasphemy, mate. but i can't see Paolo getting much playtime this season
respect for the legend, however
I don't want him back.
I'm happy about signing Manninger. And Milan are seriously unlucky this season, first they hear Boriello is injured, then Nesta, then Kaka, and Pato and Ronaldinho are out for the Olympics, However, now we will have to see who they sign.
