I had to work and couldn't watch the game. Judging from the extended highlight, MvB was immense. If only we could have his service for CL games.
Also, Boateng was great, Jankulovski was great, not to mention Pato's confidence. I think the wonderboy is finally back.
aka xudong
Maestro has an awesome channel , watched the highlights this morning Napoli really had nothing to offer..we were good very good and it was a great victory
I like the aggressive celebration after goal by ibra, princ, pato and all
Big result and a great performance, we deserved the three points in a match which I'd argue was one of our best performances this season, and for Pato quite possibly his best in a Milan shirt.
Before going into details, I want to say we were completely dominant over Napoli, who were beaten technically and tactically. There have been comments, mostly by Napoli's coach and directors, that the penalty was dubious. While the referee and his linesmen were terrible in the match, these comments are idiotic to the highest degree, as Ibra was fouled by Cannavaro before a clear handball. Simply put, it was a stonewall penalty, End of Story.
Regarding the match, both teams lined up as usual. Early on we looked to hold possession in deep areas and stop Napoli from pressing us high up the pitch. Doing this made Napoli either uncomfortable as they would be forced to defend in numbers, or they had to come out to press us, meaning they would become stretched. In the first half they generally stayed deep, but never got to grips with us in wide areas, as both our midfielders and the odd attacker went extremely wide to with Napoli's wide and central midfielders coming out to cover. Doing this left our fullbacks free to cut in towards the centre with plenty of space. In the other scenario our midfielders would come in with fullbacks overlapping to run into the space behind the Napoli wide men, which would often stretch the back 3. While we were totally dominant, our sharpness in the final third wasn't quite there and we failed to score.
The second half started in a similar way with us pushing harder to create an opening. Eventually the game completely opened up as Napoli conceded the penalty and went behind. Interestingly rather than dropping deeper, we stayed as we were as Napoli pushed up. Doing this pressed them in their deep midfield (Gattuso was great at this as he often played on Robinho's line), meaning their attacking players didn't ever get any supply players to actually cause any harm. Playing like this with an open Napoli resulted in us being deadly on quick counters and Pato had more than enough pace to run onto through balls and cause some real damage.
In all honesty, Mazzari and the Napoli players failed to react to our tactical game and were completely dominant, putting in a performance of great passion and grit.
Players...
Abbiati - Didn't have anything to do all night and the only tense moment he had was caused by his own teammates.
Abate - Dominated the right flank completely, and given space to cut into the middle at times too.
Nesta - Rock solid and composed throughout
Thiago - The guy imo is the best defender in the world and this match showed it
Jankulovski - Really good match on the left given he's missed pretty much the whole season. He was defensively sound and offered options going forward.
Gattuso - Pressed extremely well, causing lots of problems for the Napoli midfield
Van Bommel - His best game in a Milan shirt, he dominated the midfield as he essentially became our spare man in midfield, leaving him to move quite freely on a number of occasions (Napoli's defence had our attackers to deal with and the Napoli midfield was dominated by Rino, Flamini and our fullbacks).
Flamini - A decision I seriously questioned when the lineups were announced, but Allegri got it right as he pressed like Rino on the left.
Robinho - His weakest match in the past month or so, but tactically valuable as he was stretching Napoli's backline and midfield frequently.
Ibra - Worked extremely hard and scored the penalty, was always running to stretch Napoli
Pato - His best game in a Milan shirt I think. He was unstoppable and was our leader in attack. On the counter he was deadly, never failed to move into spaces, on the ball was superb in taking on opponents and playing in with his teammates, he assisted a goal and scored a beauty.
Boateng - Brought on to help press high up the pitch and provide an outlet. He was superb and scored a great goal.
Oddo - NA
Emmanuelson - brought on for a tired Janku and I think as a reaction to Zuniga, who has plenty of pace, as does Urby.