Milan Management
(09-15-2017, 04:02 AM)sylrus Wrote: so you dont like how ibra play? you dont like how vieri play? you dont like how sheva play? they used to be able to receive the ball with their back on the gk, and they still manage to contribute or even score goals, have you seen what gila can do when he is at parma in his younger days? receiving the ball with his back on the gk and straight shot at the goal and score it. not every player is inzaghi, even luca toni sometime receive the ball with his back on the gk, your point is obsolete here, what i dont like about montella right now is how he pick his players, why keep insisting on playing badly perform player when there is someone that can perform much better, if its because of seniority than i am absolutely against that idea.

I did not complain about the players. My comment was intended to describe the style of play Montella is preferring. When you have an attacker at 30 meters from the goal, turned with his back to the goal, and he is managing the ball - in our case with a back pass, or if we are lucky pass towards Suso - than you're playing like a mid-table team. There is no fluidity in the game, no pace, the opponent have time to set the defense, it's predictable and easily defeated. 

With his style of play, we are not winning because we play better, we are winning because the opponent plays worse.
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(09-15-2017, 09:03 AM)ACMILAN1983 Wrote: Having an attacker who receives the ball with his back to goal isn't something that's always in the control of a coach, it's a natural feature of play given attackers play the highest position in a team. Regardless of how you play and who with, there will always be instances where the attacker will have to play back to goal and it's become required skill in the game to allow the attacker to bring in others into the attack.

Montella in this respect doesn't demand anything that other coaches don't. Take a look at yesterday's goals, 4 out of the 5 goals were goals scored where the ball was put in front of the scorer facing the goal. The other one was a 30 yard shot from Suso. There's nothing abnormal from Montella in this regard.

My only gripe with Montella yesterday was not including Locatelli on the bench. I find his decisions with Locatelli extremely frustrating, as there's no apparent reason for them.

I agree it's a skill an attacker should have, and it's used during the game with success. I have a problem when it's one of your main team features. Put it together with the famous Montolivo's lateral passes and you have a debilitating play. 
I appreciate when the play is built from the back, but when we have an attacker faced backwards and lateral passes in the midfield, I don't see a successful future.
Btw, yesterday game was won because the opponent played like with one player less, not because we showed appropriated level of the game. It was better than the game vs Lazio, but let's wait until we face better opponents. 
I hope that Montella's style was influenced by the ability of his players, instead of his philosophy, and that we'll see a change very quickly.
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On Vienna, I agree they were poor and pointed that out in the match thread. However, it's important to still take what was done well in the performance. The examples I gave about the goals isn't just applicable to yesterday, it's hard to find examples where we've scored as a result of an attackers back to goal play this season.

More importantly, I disagree on the notion this has been a feature of Montella's play this season and I'd argue that if anything, the team has been too attacking in constantly trying to play in the opponents half. We do well when doing this, but become unbalanced and destabilised when the opponents force us back. In that respect, I think Montella was far more defensive and pragmatic in his approach last season.

I also think that right now if you look at either Andre Silva or Cutrone, neither have great qualities in their back to goal play. Kalinic offers more in this regard, but so far he's played a cameo againt Lazio (during which time we were pressing high) and last night.

As for Montolivo, well let's just say I don't think you'll find me disagreeing with you on his performances.
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Interesting situation as it seems Montella has sacked the athletic trainer who he's worked with since his Fiorentina days:

http://www.football-italia.net/110457/mo...ss-trainer

Latest rumours are that the current athletic trainer for the primavera (who was also there when Seedorf was coach) will be the replacement.
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The question is. was this justified or a panic reaction?
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Option 1 - he knew that guy was bad but he tolerated him since now.(he would continue if was not threatened by board).
Option 2 - he sacked somebody just to show how he's "doing something".

Bad in every case.
Avaiting for arrival of exorcist into our boardroom.
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(09-27-2017, 02:56 PM)Sampinjon Wrote: Option 1 - he knew that guy was bad but he tolerated him since now.(he would continue if was not threatened by board).
Option 2 - he sacked somebody just to show how he's "doing something".

Bad in every case.

Unfortunately I agree, both bad and unlikely that it was anything other than 1 or 2.
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Montella needs to go. No fluent game is developing under him. Reading Milannews all the specialists and critics agree, a lot of them are saying Milan's current problem is mentality & the way the team operates as a whole. That's all down to the coach IMO. When you have quality players, any holes in management/training/coaching show much clearer & it's clear to me that Montella is not ready.
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I got a weird feeling that Montella is going to be let go and Ancelotti will replace him. Ancelotti is basically on his last legs at Bayern. His team was a let down last year, and they have only regressed even more this season. At a team like Bayern, that is just not acceptable. Montella, on the other hand, is basically in the same exact situation. The way I see it, both guys have maybe a month to get their sh*t back on track. If not, both are going to be let go, and Ancelotti is going to replace Montella here. The timing of everything just seems perfect.
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That would be a dream come true to have Ancelotti back. It would bring back so much enthusiasm, more than any big signing could bring IMO.
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