05-12-2011, 10:28 AM
(05-11-2011, 04:40 PM)Gabriel426 Wrote: Dev, I can't believe even you said that Pirlo is not needed.
It's sad to say, but Allegri's Milan doesn't play a possession game with a reliance on technical players like Pirlo. The emphasis now is on a direct game with strong athletes who are disciplined tactically. If we play Pirlo, he will always be considered a weak spot in the side as he's not a player who dominates matches like the other players we have, and we saw this especially in the second half vs Palermo. That said, his first half performance was good, and his ability and passing range can still benefit the side. However, despite him being one of my favourite players in Milan and a class act, there's no point in having a player who doesn't really fit the coaches ideas, even if it is Pirlo.
There's a lot of talk about Pato, and to put it bluntly, there's no way he'll be sold and it seems stupid to do so. Firstly, dating Barbara Berlusconi means he is one player who will be kept in Milan right now, probably more than any other player, as Berlusconi won't just agree to sell his potential future son in law.
Secondly, statiscally he's our best goalscorer this season. In 17 Serie A starts and 6 appearances as sub he's scored 14 goals. His goal to minutes ratio is about a goal a game (just higher I believe, something like a goal every 100 minutes) and is better than pretty much every forward in the league with the exception of Di Natale. Statiscally he also has the second best goalscoring average in Europe for a player of his age. Ronaldo (the Brazilian) is top and Messi is third, so he's in a very elite group.
I do agree with Hitman that it would be nice to Pato playing with the same enthusiasm that he did when he first joined, but I think we'll see that when he's back playing with consistency.