AC Milan Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

GTR63

http://www.football-italia.net/39531/kaka-injured-milan-too
Spanish media are reporting Kaka is injured now, out for a month. Hope SES can get fit quick.

Smithwicks Man

Stephan El Shaarawy
Ignazio Abate
Matias Silvestre
Mattia De Sciglio
Riccardo Saponara
Giampaolo Pazzini
Daniele Bonera
Jherson Vergara (Can't confirm/Don't think he's in CL squad anyway)
Gabriel
Kaká (confirmed)
Ricardo Montolivo
Andrea Poli
M'baye Niang (Not in CL Squad)

Three games in, 13 injuries :eek:

If all I've heard/read is to be believed then we'll only have 5 on the bench vs Celtic, and 2 of them will be goalkeepers :rolleyes:


On a slightly more positive note, Kaká has waived his right to be paid wages while he remains unavailable. Great to see and will certainly win him even more favour with the fans

Moneymaker

Wtf is actually going on at the training ground and physio room?

Milan has been like this for a while now, something is seriously wrong.

Smithwicks Man

It's a strange issue as it can't be narrowed down to having one person to blame. These players are not all injury prone either so there's almost definitely an issue with the training regime.

Celtic at home has turned into a very difficult game

Dempsey

You can name youth players (i.e. u21 & 2-3 years at the club) in the squad as they dont have to be registered to play UCL games

SomethingElse

Ye should recall Pele from loan!

Smithwicks Man

If Poli is in any way fit then he'll be in the squad and then either Luca Iotti or Marco Pinato will probably be called up to fill the bench as well.

We'll have zilch on the bench and will be vulnerable at Right Back and Left Back, we'll have no creativity in midfield unless Poli is fit to start and there will be a weak workrate up front.

Expecting a very cagey game

GTR63

Dempsey wrote: »

You can name youth players (i.e. u21 & 2-3 years at the club) in the squad as they dont have to be registered to play UCL games

You have to put them players on a separate list but we made a balls of the squad we sent to UEFA. I posted the story a few weeks ago.

Dempsey

GTR63 wrote: »

You have to put them players on a separate list but we made a balls of the squad we sent to UEFA. I posted the story a few weeks ago.

That story is about the A list mix up between Niang/El Shaarawy, nothing to do with what I'm saying.

Unless Milan forgot to submit a B list, you can name youth players amongst the substitutes

Smithwicks Man

Here's the Champions League squad for the group stages:

Marco Amelia (GK)
Mattia De Sciglio
Sulley Muntari
Philippe Mexès
Robinho
Alessandro Matri D
Giampaolo Pazzini
Valter Birsa D
Andrea Poli
Cristián Zapata
Riccardo Montolivo (captain)
Ignazio Abate
Kévin Constant
Kaká (vice-captain)
Antonio Nocerino
Bryan Cristante D
Daniele Bonera
Matías Silvestre (on loan from Inter) D
Urby Emanuelson
Christian Abbiati (GK)
Nigel de Jong
Ferdinando Coppola (GK) D
Luca Iotti (B Team) D
Marco Pinato (B Team) D
Mario Balotelli
Lorenzo Andrenaccio (GK) (B Team) D
Cristian Zaccardo
Stephan El Shaarawy

Smithwicks Man

Saponara, Niang and Vergara are also injured but aren't in the squad.

Players in Bold are definitely injured with the exception of Poli who will have a late fitness test.

Players with a D are yet to make their full Milan debut (start a game)

We have 19 eligible, fit players so we can fill a bench.
4 are Goalkeepers so we'll only have 5 outfield players on the bench.
7 of the 19 have yet to make a full debut with the club and 3 of them are not even in the senior squad (B list players)


Slim pickings! Hopefully Poli is fit and can start. A midfield 3 of Nocerino, De Jong and Muntari will leave us with very little creativity.

Dempsey

Just checked UEFA's website

Milan only named 4 players on the B list for qualification and then only 3 players for the group stages. Strange tbh

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2014/clubs/club=50058/index.html

Celtic by comparison named 17 players for qualification & 14 for the group stage. This is largely because of a shortage of players that are considered homegrown. We had to leave 5 spots vacant on the A list for the matches against Elfsborg!

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2014/clubs/club=50050/index.html

GTR63

http://www.football-italia.net/39564/galliani-kaka-phoned-me-crying
Kaka' has waived his pay while he's injured, hope he stays doing that.

Smithwicks Man

GTR63 wrote: »

http://www.football-italia.net/39564/galliani-kaka-phoned-me-crying
Kaka' has waived his pay while he's injured, hope he stays doing that.

Saw that alright, good act.

Took my monthly trip onto the English speaking red and black forums (it's pretty bad as it's full of idiots and is poorly moderated) but noticed they have a poll for the celtic game:

"Who will make the traditional dive vs Celtic?"

We've had a couple of bad dives against them in the past with Gilardino having the pick of them
Balotelli is leading the charts with 60% of over 100 votes :pac:

Dempsey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LwL-xw7Zyk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVy_RkcUL10

Hard to pick which one was worse :pac:

Was there any others?

Smithwicks Man

Dempsey wrote: »

Hard to pick which one was worse :pac:

Was there any others?

Gilardino's is shocking :pac:

Can't think of any others at the minute but I could've swore there was one more!

I think Balotelli will be accused of diving tomorrow night because he has a bad habit of going down easily in a tussle and looking for a penalty in tight games. I'd be surprised if he blatantly dived (ala Gilardino) however

GTR63

Milan squad for Celtic: Abbiati,
Amelia, Coppola, Constant, Mexes,
Iotti, Zaccardo, Zapata, Benedicic,
Birsa, Cristante, de Jong,
Emanuelson, Modic, Muntari,
Nocerino, Pedone, Poli, Balotelli,
Matri, Robinho.

Smithwicks Man

Rumours circulating in Italy that Birsa will start ahead of Robinho. The mind boggles. We should start with our strongest possible team which definitely includes Robinho with all the injuries.

If it was a case of having something to bring on and change the game then it would make a bit more sense but the manner in which Allegri leaves his substitutions so late nullifies this.

He plays Robinho ahead of El Shaarawy when everyone is fit but then plays Birsa ahead of Robinho when we badly need him? I seriously hope this isn't the case and Robinho does start.

Poli is included but will most likely start on the bench according to reports. Makes sense as he may not be fully fit and there may be one eye on the weekend game against Napoli.

Should be excited about this game but instead I'm a bit nervous, seems to be turning into a frequent occurrence before a game against any middling opposition

Moneymaker

How in gods name is Birsa even with Milan???

No disrespect to the lad but it's a pretty damning indictment of how far the club has fallen that someone of his standard is kitting out for the first team.

Smithwicks Man

Milan XI (vs Celtic): Abbiati; Zaccardo, Zapata, Mexes, Constant; Muntari, De Jong, Nocerino; Birsa; Matri, Balotelli

Shocking. Poli must not be fit to start but there's no excuse for benching Robinho. He better play at least 30-35 mins regardless of how the game is going.

Dempsey

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Milan XI (vs Celtic): Abbiati; Zaccardo, Zapata, Mexes, Constant; Muntari, De Jong, Nocerino; Birsa; Matri, Balotelli

Shocking. Poli must not be fit to start but there's no excuse for benching Robinho. He better play at least 30-35 mins regardless of how the game is going.

Surely he picked up a knock or something that wasnt reported?

Smithwicks Man

Dempsey wrote: »

Surely he picked up a knock or something that wasnt reported?

Allegri said in the pre-match interview: "The line-up is already done, there are only a couple of doubts. Birsa or Robinho and Constant or Emanuelson. Nocerino, De Jong and Muntari will play in the middle with Matri and Balotelli up front and one of either Birsa or Robinho behind."

Don't think he has picked up a knock tbh but maybe he has! He should feature but there really is no excuse for not starting him unless he is injured.

Dempsey

Maybe the plan is to send him up against Izaguirre in the 2nd half when he's beginning to tire (he runs alot). He'd get alot of joy unless Lennon quickly makes changes which sometimes he's slow to do.

Smithwicks Man

Dempsey wrote: »

Maybe the plan is to send him up against Izaguirre in the 2nd half when he's beginning to tire (he runs alot). He'd get alot of joy unless Lennon quickly makes changes which sometimes he's slow to do.

Could be yeah but it's a bad plan if it is! The best players should start the game and he had no problem dropping El Shaarawy in the league to start Robinho so he should start tonight. He may be injured so I'll not slate Allegri for it but it's poor team selection imo if he's fit.

Moneymaker

That's probably the worst Milan lineup i've seen in 18-19 years of following Italian football.

GTR63

Moneymaker wrote: »

That's probably the worst Milan lineup i've seen in 18-19 years of following Italian football.

The worst in my 24 years on earth. Fúcking shocking first half performance.

SC Kevin

Joke of a "performance"!

SC Kevin

We got lucky tonight...very lucky!

Hopefully when some of the injured players come back, they will improve cause they'll need to for Barcelona

kksaints

That Birsa.This was my first time seeing him play. I know ye said he was bad but still what is he doing at Milan He was so so bad. Hopefully some of the injured players are back soon.

Smithwicks Man

The team that finished the match should have started it. Robinho played well when he came on and emanuelson brings something different.

Terrible performance, great result

GTR63

kksaints wrote: »

Hopefully some of the injured players are back soon.

Hopefully some of the fit players tonight get injured. Matri was awful yet again(Who`d of thought it) & Birsa is an embarrassment to look at. The only positive was the 3pts.

Pinturicchio

That was the worst Milan team I have ever seen.

Seaneh

Abate, Saponara and Niang back in training today.

Smithwicks Man

Seaneh wrote: »

Abate, Saponara and Niang back in training today.

Hopefully they are not rushed back too soon. Pato's interview confirmed the suspicions i had about players being overworked and retuning to action too soon.

Thiago Silva missing the Barca game 2 years ago was the most famous example of this.

GTR63

Milan squad for Napoli: Abbiati, Amelia, Coppola; Abate, Constant, Mexes, Vergara, Zaccardo, Zapata; Birsa, Cristante, Emanuelson, De Jong, Muntari, Nocerino, Poli; Balotelli, Matri, Niang, Robinho.

Not very optimistic about the game tomorrow night tbh.


Anybody see the so funny i`m insulted quotes from Milan flop Taribo West?

Smithwicks Man

Poli to start for Nocerino, Urby in at LB, Abate at RB and Robinho in for Birsa I'd say!

Yeah I read them alright, there's delusion and then there's that :pac:

SC Kevin

GTR63 wrote: »

Anybody see the so funny i`m insulted quotes from Milan flop Taribo West?

http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2013/09/taribo-west-insists-he-was-better-than-ac-milan-legend-paolo-maldini/

have to admit, i had a good chuckle at this!

Smithwicks Man

Milan XI : Abbiati; Abate, Zapata, Mexes, Emanuelson; Poli, De Jong, Muntari; Birsa, Matri, Balotelli

Napoli XI : Reina; Mesto, Albiol, Britos, Zuniga; Dzemaili, Behrami; Insigne, Hamsik, Callejon; Higuain

Birsa? Matri? The mind boggles. Should have fielded a 4-3-3 with Robinho and Niang but at the very least Robinho should start. It pisses me off

GTR63

Mad game this. Napoli could give us a beating going by the first 7 minutes. They could have 2 at least by now.

shrewdness

Balotelli has actually missed a penalty! :eek:

GTR63

Hell has frozen.
Balo misses

astonaidan

What on earth

GTR63

Matri is really bad, I expected little but he doesn't even deliver that. Looks out of shape, disinterested and what nearly every fan expected a bad signing.

Moneymaker

Milan haven't played that badly imo, the Napoli goal is blessed and Reina has had the game of his life.

GTR63

Balotelli got sent off after full time. I just knew that'd happen. Stuck with that Donkey up top for us now.

Smithwicks Man

Cracker from Balo at the end but a sloppy performance all around. Matri is finished at Milan already imo, he won't contribute much and should be moved on in January when Pazzini is fit.

Annoying that Balotelli missed a peno but not as annoying as the result. Had we lined out 4-3-3 with Robinho and Niang flanking Balotelli then we would have been much more dangerous but Allegri didn't even give us a chance when he picked that team. I've backed him all the way but he is too afraid to go against Berlusconi (i.e - playing 4-3-1-2 just cause Berlusconi wants to) and is only trying to please the higher ups.

A dog on the street could have said that Birsa shouldn't have started during the week or tonight :mad:

Worst of all, Napoli looked vulnerable when we did get at them and a draw was most definitely a possibility, even after going 2-0 down. Balotelli had a great game in my opinion and is getting better by the week.

Abbiati with a howler that reconfirms he isn't top quality but he couldn't be blamed for the first. Poli looks promising and he definitely has a future. The woes at central defence have returned. Abate had a fine game on return from injury.De Jong is great at what he does and played well again tonight. Muntari does what he does, never has been Milan quality but yet Allegri persists with him, although he should have started tonight - he would start him if we had a full squad as well cause he likes the physical types.

That should be Birsa's last game for us. No offence to the lad and i feel a bit sorry for him cause he would look better fitting in if we had a full team but he's been quite bad.

Smithwicks Man

GTR63 wrote: »

Balotelli got sent off after full time. I just knew that'd happen. Stuck with that Donkey up top for us now.

What??! Turned it off after FT and he was arguing with the officials but it looked harmless :mad:

Straight red or 2nd yellow??

GTR63

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

What??! Turned it off after FT and he was arguing with the officials but it looked harmless :mad:

Straight red or 2nd yellow??

2 yellows, cause it was an arguement I can't guarantee it'll only be a 1 match ban, seem to remember him missing 2 games after the same happened vs Fiorentina last year.

Smithwicks Man

GTR63 wrote: »

2 yellows, cause it was an arguement I can't guarantee it'll only be a 1 match ban, seem to remember him missing 2 games after the same happened vs Fiorentina last year.

Immature. He knows we need him badly at the minute and he needs to grow out of this. Love his passion to win however and he was our best player by miles tonight I thought.

Can't wait to see Matri and Birsa lead the line Wednesday. :mad: If we're lucky, we might have a 3 man midfield of Muntari, De Jong and Nocerino as well to feed balls in :rolleyes:

GTR63

http://www.football-italia.net/39818/three-game-ban-balotelli
3 matches for Mario incuding the Juve game.