Barca Are Upon Us

The match is coming upon us.
Darkness rises around the Nou Camp.
The Rosseneri will prepare for battle against perhaps the most legendary team of our time.
Despite Barca’s current form , after seeing them dispose of Deportivo , I can tell all fellow Milan fan’s one thing coming to us, Barca are angry.

They have been ridiculed for their one floundering form in well over the past few years where they have been the most complete team to my mind to be able to be called faultless.  Barca in a matter of a few weeks have become the laughing stock of Europe & online banter (such as FB group Soccer Memes) depicts them as being a shadow of their former selves.

However, I am not as naïve to think this Barca are going to go down quietly.  To even say that is beyond reasonable! This team has only lost two matches in their league this season! Their other losses have come from  a Cup they don’t care for and a huge upset against Milan. One which they highly underestimated. Sure Barca have had a bad month , but at the end of the day , this was in a meaningless Cup match for them! They are thumping Primera Division on 71 points and have only lost two games.
Barcelona have some of the greatest players of our age and some of the best advantages going into this match.
Messi , a player who will go down in history as being one of the all time greats, he has become one of the greatest goal scorers of all time and can determine matches at a moment of his choosing.
Xavi’s precision passing can split the opposition apart and cause their defence to crumble.
Inestia’s never say die attitude and ability to be in the right area.
Though I would say their most important advantage going into this match is the home ground advantage, but not of the pitch, but what’s on it, not of their players, they are merely mortals and we have already got the best of them once before, but of the man officiating the game. The REF It is more than known that Barca are actually UEFALONA and there has been a few incident’s where the referee has blatantly given them the match. I expect complete and utter chaos this match, Barcelona players dropping/diving like flies/sack of potatoes when our players come into 1m distance of them, at least one red card and maybe a penalty or two.

This match is going to be full of drama, Barca have a point to prove and their player’s know it. Their title as the best team in the world is under threat, sure they have let other teams score a few cheap wins in recent memory but to be knocked out by an under par Milan side would be disastrous .
As stated before their player’s are set to prove a point and have come in the media to do this.
Xavi: “Milan were lucky to win 2-0. They never attacked. A fair result would have been 0-0.”
Alves: "Iniesta puts his hand in the fire for Barça to qualify for next CL round? I won't do that, I put my whole body in the fire (smiles)"

Yet interestingly , our boys, have been rather quiet. I could almost say confidently quiet. We know we are only mortals, not these god like players Barca have to represent them. Though we also know along with our weaknesses they have theirs.

This is how I'm going to feel about the match, imagine Milan standing in their half. Defending for their lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HMrYEjPMGY
Every tackle, every block , every recovered ball , I shall cheer Milan on.
I will yell at the TV ,every breath which will spur Milan onto victory.

If we do this, and knock Barca out , we prove to the world, that AC Milan are back on the rise. And finally when the Nou Camp are in ashes and Barcelona are knocked out of the Champions League, they have Milan’s permission to die.

GENOA 0 - 2 AC MILAN

AC Milan mustered through a win over Genoa.
Tonight’s match wasn’t about looking impressive, it was about those three points to build up their case for the Champions League. Italy need’s AC Milan in the Champions League.

Genoa started the match very well and were very unlucky to score against very resilient Milan defence and a superb Abbiati.  Cruelly Milan scored a quick cutthroat goal out of nowhere from Pazzini who continues his great form though this goal which required him to dive across the goal face may have done more damage to his already hurt ankle and saw him soon enough to the bench.
Balotelli made his arrival onto the pitch noted picking up a yellow card straight off for pushing Vargas. Then if this wasn’t enough to annoy the home fans, the referee waved away three very dubious penalty appeals!

Former Milan man Borriello nearly struck after halftime and helped Genoa get off to a good second half start , most likely rallied from the cruel referee decisions. Flamini suddenly struck himself alive, amongst the chaos of midfield and after a silly dive for a penalty, rocketed a shot which was saved by Frey.  The resulting corner then found Balotelli in the box whom whipped the ball into the back of the net.  Ten minutes later Constant recklessly got himself booked and Milan responded by building up  a brick wall in their own half that Genoa could not break.

Final Thoughts
* First time of the season that Milan plays 2 consecutive games without conceding.
* Inform Pazzini could be a big loss before the Barca match
*Muntari was worryingly very off form
*Super Mario continues his good scoring record
*Really cutting the gap between the top 2!

Milan’s Best
3.Abbiati : A string of very impressive saves kept Milan  in the match and helped lead them to victory. Helped maintain the calm when Milan were ten men.
2.Pazzini : Continued his great form over the past few games. Always haggling the defenders & hanging off the last shoulder.
1. Flamini: Quiet as can be for the first half before bursting to life in the second. Always trying to draw attention to from the referee . Very good defending in the last 30 minutes which helped keep the three points.

AC MILAN 3 - 0 LAZIO

I am sorry for the late post, I have been absent due to unforseen family problems.

This was the battle for third place. The Champions League. Both teams wanted to be in Europe’s most prestigious competition next season and to do this they must finish third. Milan now have that advantage.

From the moment Candreva was sent off, Milan dominated the match. Lazio began to become stuck in their own half, seeing little of the ball and throwing some risky tackles. They  did however surprisingly keep Milan out of bay for a good 40minutes until an Abate shot which was blocked by Marchetti found it’s way to Pazzini , who made sure he did not miss. A moment later Pazzini ran into a header which should have been such a great header if it was not saved again by Marchetti but the rebound was swiftly found in the net from Prince Boateng.

The second half was a mauling from Milan, all their players were working effortsly together and Lazio were unable to put up a fight. It seemed Milan had a hunger from the Inter game, not to waste anymore chances. The crowd seemed to sense this and helped them atmosphere become surreal.  Lazio did make one or two good “fight backs” but they were killed off from a poor clearance from Radu which fell to Pazzini and he smashed the ball through the bottom corner. You would think Milan now 3 up would have mercy? Oh no they didn’t, Pazzini almost completed his hat trick and El Shaarawy came agonising close again like all game.

Final Thoughts
* Clearly a match for Pazzini to show that Super Mario can’t just take his place in the side that easily.
*Abate clearly realises his place at stake, his form has raised so much in recent weeks
*Respect goes out to Allegri, he's done a fantastic job and has restored my faith in him lets hope he can keep it going.
*Lazio are in a crisis at the moment,  4 points  from a potential 18 in recent matches.

Milan’s Best
*Note,  this is the hardest game I’ve had to vote on yet, so many honourable mentions could be here
3.Pazzini : No Super Mario? No problem. Was everywhere and could have gotten 3-4 . Was always getting into dangerous positions and annoying the defenders.
2.De Sciglio: Could have had two assists if it were not for Marchetti ‘s brilliance. Constantly running up the line and pushing defenders back. Always putting the ball in the oppositions penalty box.
1.El Shaarawy : His defensive efforts are so underrated and he is constantly putting his opposition under threat with his attacking brilliance. Could have struck a couple himself.

The Youth

I promised another writer and here he is. This is his first piece.
His a fanatic Italian-Romanian friend and I have worked with him on other projects and wrote with him on soccerfanbase.com in the past.
Second to none, he has fanatic knowledge of all the European Leagues , even the lesser known ones such as Turkey & Romania!
I have great confidence in his writing ability and he will bring a new perspective on Italian & Milan football.
Balo is a personal friend of mine and has a great wealth of information about football so let’s all appreciate what he has to say.
Thank you.

 Azz

Milan is obviously one of the most successful clubs in the world. No other club has more Club World Cups than we do, and only Real Madrid have more Champions League titles.

But only until recently, things have been grim for the rossoneri. We lost 15 top class players in the summer; some due to our balance sheet, and others due to age. The new system Allegri and Berlusconi have begun to impose is similar to Barcelona's La Masia. We are trying to produce our own top players instead of buying them; developing a world class youth academy where any player could turn into the next Messi or Ronaldo.

Our best youth product (in the current first team) is surely Mattia De Sciglio. He is one of the best defensive prospects in Italy. While we do have several other top young players like El Shaarawy, Balotelli, and Niang, we haven't actually had many of our academy products turn into world class players (in recent times). But with a lot of investment of both time and effort, we can have an academy of the same quality as Barcelona's, and possibly even better.

 The signs of improvement have already begun to show - not only have we beaten Barca in the Champions League with several young players, but our academy players have also shown their quality in the Viareggio Cup by reaching the final this year. They also have impressed Italy's youth national team scouts with their displays. The biggest names to watch out for, in my opinion, include Saponara, Valoti, Ganz, Fossati, Prosenik, Cristante, Lora, Petagna, and Ferreira.

If we continue to invest time and money into developing a world class youth system similar to La Masia's, then we may soon very well on top of the world again, without having to spend huge amounts of cash on big name signings from other clubs. We'd also have the option of selling some of these youth at high prices. So hopefully, Berlusconi, Allegri, Pippo Inzaghi (the youth team coach) & co. will continue their hard work in the youth department and make us a legendary team again with these new strategies in mind.

Written by Balo.

Debacle Of Robinho

As of writing this, Robinho has undoubtedly achieved a lot of great thing in his career, his record for playing for the top teams such as Madrid, City,Brazil  & now AC Milan are testament to this. However, I think we can all agree he is not the man he was said to be by Pele, whom personally picked him to be his heir apparent, in other word's Brazils answer for Argentina's Messi.
We can all agree that is not him.

He came to us under a question mark, no we did not question if he was a quality player, we knew he was, but wether he would live up to his potential. He left City after being sent back firstly a homeloan to Santos where he performed admirably. Now he had arrived at our gates. Robinho was a very talented player in his first season managing to bag 14 goals in a forwardline that boasted Pato,Il Ibra,Cassano & "European Champion" Inzaghi . He worked brilliantly as a defensive forward whom could contribute to the attack.

However sadly,after his first season he begun to start missing shots, which cost us games. As much as his defensive pressure was great for us, he was a forward player, his role was to score goals. He could only manage a measly 10 goals from a return of 40 plus games and even though his scoring rate wasn't that much lower, his missing rate was far too high.

This season it's been more of the same for him,  having scored only 2 goals in 13 games before the transfer window. Now this is where the problem really began. I believe Robinho was told he would be sold back to Brazil in the window and he got have some leave of absence. In this leave however he did not train and has become fat , worse unfit.Galliani said they would get rid of him this summer, instead he is still here, out of form unfit & fat , nursing his sorrows having been holidaying in brazil.Sadly, bargaining power is completely with Santos in this one. Maybe Galliani should try some more of the clever PR he's doing. Keep announcing that Robinho will sign for Santos, get the Santos fans' hopes up and create a little pressure on the Santos management that way.

Now at 29 his past the point of where his going to improve this  Milan line up, especially with El Shaarawy's sudden burst of improvement as he plays in his preferred position. This has completely knocked Robinho out of the line up for good. In half a season  El Shaarawy has completed outperformed the former City player who could not handle manchester.

There is no doubt he has some good to great assests to bring to a team such as ;
-his defensive efforts as a forward player
-ability to drag opposing defenders from the forward line
-his trickery & showmastery
-great goal play assists

However despite bringing us the title not so long ago, I feel he is now past his best for Milan, his stayed here for one season too long. He isn't going to battle out his other teammates for a position in the line up and it's best for him to move away, though now it will be interesting to see whom will want such a player.

I've always thought of him as a mercenary type which is far too harsh, I just simply believe  he is no longer good enough for the current Milan project. His deplorable finishing in recent times has costs us a game too many and now we must acknowledge what he has achieved but make some money off him before it's too late.  As a Milan fan, I don't think anyone will ever forget his best game at the San Siro against ASSenal , his brace in the 4-0 win was fantastic. Hopefully he will find a club he can perform great at.
THANK YOU, but GOODBYE!

 

Derby Della Madonnina

Inter 1  AC Milan 1

This was a very unique match. Milan in the first half started off a wave of momentum and attack consistently down the left flank through De Sciglio due to El Shaarawy running infield taking Nagamato with him freeing up that left wing. Super Mario was dangerous as well connecting on the end of passes but his final product left him down.   Early on about 20 minutes in, Milan won the ball back in the middle and through a Boateng assist to El Shaarawy , he cut through two of the Inter defenders and shot with the outside of his shoe past the keeper into the back of the net. Milan would have piled upon more goals but their final product let them down. By the end of the first half Inter's defence were shambles and Milan could have been 3-4 nil up.

The second half started interestingly with a vast amount of fog covering the pitch and making it difficult for both the spectators and the players to see.All you would need is one good long ball come through the fog and either keeper would have been left stranded. The tackles started flying in a scrappy affair with Cambiasso being the main instigator.  Inter had the sense to switch full backs and Zanetti proved a much better counterpart  for De Sciglio to get past, whom had nearly zero of the impact he had made in the first half.Milan had lost their dominance and suddenly it was a game open for Inter.  Both teams played very scrappily and Inter made a great sub former Atlanta winger Schelotto who within two minutes beat out Mexes and scored a great goal. Both teams then went for the jugular before finally slowly down in the final ten minutes.


Final Thoughts
* Handanovic was brilliant and was the difference in the first half for Milan NOT scoring 4 goals.
*Muntari is continuing his brilliant form this month
*In the final 30 minutes Milan looked tired from the Barca game
* Ranocchia shys away from his responsibility too often and forced Guain to come back to act as a CB at times.
* Milan must remain more disciplined or they will be punished in the future
* Still undefeated in 2013!



Milan's Best
3.Boateng : Everytime I looked he was setting up passes, running back to intercept, tackling ,in general worked really hard and set up the goal.
2.Muntari: An absolute beast, ran into everything and worked superbly.  Unlucky to not get a few goals himself.
1.El Shaarawy: Faultless offensively and defensively tonight. Pulled Nagamato back infield and left the wing area of Inter's exposed. Then became a counter attacking threat . Used his great pace to score.