Summer Mercato 2011

[will4li]

barca'victory last night is a technical knock-out ,it's suicidal to play a open game against this barca.

hamsik,montolivo,sandro,bale for the summer market.we can put cassano in montolivo deal,and flamini in sandro deal.60 million for hamsik and bale.

I can't wait to see allegri's strategy with up-graded lineups against barca.

[Gabriel426]

U play an one game against Barcelona, u might have a chance to beat team. While playing defensive and counter attack, the chance is just bait better. Personally, I think the best way to beat them, u must stuff the midfield with 5 players, but that would either leave u with 3 defenders or 1 striker. I think u just need to put run their midfield and hold the defensive line well and be clinical in the few chances u have on goal.

Also, if it were not for Van Der Sal, ManU would have lost by more than 3 goals. To me, it was pretty close to trashing and it was a lot like Milan beating them 4-0 about 20 yrs ago.

[xudong]

U play an one game against Barcelona, u might have a chance to beat team. While playing defensive and counter attack, the chance is just bait better. Personally, I think the best way to beat them, u must stuff the midfield with 5 players, but that would either leave u with 3 defenders or 1 striker. I think u just need to put run their midfield and hold the defensive line well and be clinical in the few chances u have on goal.

Also, if it were not for Van Der Sal, ManU would have lost by more than 3 goals. To me, it was pretty close to trashing and it was a lot like Milan beating them 4-0 about 20 yrs ago.

I thought of that too. It was like 1989 CL final when Steaua were simply too weak compared to almighty Milan or the first half of 2005 CL final when Milan was schooling Liverpool players . Even in 1994, the difference wasn't this huge.

Actually, Mourinho tried packing the midfield with 3 DMs. One can say that he was scared or scarred by the 5-0 trashing at Nou Camp but one can also say that he is a smart coach and was trying which was almost the only way to beat this Barcelona side.

[Gabriel426]

Just realise that what I wrote is not really what I wanted to say, auto correct in IPAD is really screwing it up.

Point I was making is that playing open game against Barcelona or defensive counter, Barcelona is still Barcelona. You can stuff the midfield with 5 players but that would mean you are either playing with 3 defenders or 1 striker. The best way to play them is to out run their midfield and hold the defensive line well while also be clinical on goal.

[Siregar]

Well, it is different to play with a bus parking in front of the ball with to play in your own zone in order to have the ball possesion like Milan did vs Juventus or like Ancelotti's side especially when they played away or the best example is Milan vs MU in San Siro. Muarinho's type of play is just to defend at all cost. That's a poor tactic. With this tactic you need ultra lucky just like Inter got last year. Maurinho faced Barca so many times but when he was out and his team played no normal (not parking bus with so many DMs) they had chance better than when Maurinho's was on the bench.

IMO to play against Barca you don't need to park bus and use so many DMs (you will lose creativity), you need to play disciplined with players try to close space and want to move and fight during the game. Own the midfield and play smart. You don't need 5 midfielders but yeah you needs players on the midfield but still you can play with 4-3-2-1 or a formation similar to 4-4-2 but when it is to defend, it should be more players (including the strikers) on the midfield zone to battle with Barca players. You can't fight with a team whose CAMs and striker help to defend A LOT while your team only the midfielders have the task to defend and the CAM and strikers just sit upfront. You need the same attitude like Barca players who share the job even it is not the main task of the player.

For this tactic you need naturally a quality team and Real Madrid have that quality but don't have the quality coach who wants to do other things than to park a bus in front of the goal. With Milan we don't have that team yet (this season). Our defense is good, only Zambrotta is liable but the midfield (including CAM) is not in the level to compete other big team especially against Barca.

[k7r]

if berlu and galli is thinking of winning the champions league next year....they just have to do one thing....create a team better than barca.....coz barca is the benchmark....which i feel cannot be achieved by bringing in one fabregas or one ganso or one pastore...otherwise why waste the money by bringing in players like asamoah etc

i seriously suggest to sell ibra...with his 9 million wages and 30 million transfer price plus selling cassano, we can get neymar and pastore\fabregas hopefully....also what abt rossi...!!!


---------------------------------------------rossi/neymar----------------pato/robinho---------------------------------------------


-----------------------------------------------------------pastore/merkel-------------------------------------------------------------


---------------------fabregas/poli--------------------ambro/van bommel---------------------------boateng/seedorf-------------


taiwo-------------------------------silva/yepes----------------------------------------nesta/mexes-------------------abate-------


---------------------------------------------------------------abbiatti/amelia---------------------------------------------------------



sell: ibra, cassano, flamini, oddo, papa, bonera, onyewu, janku, emanuelson

buy: rossi or neymar, pastore, fabregas, poli

[Nalx]

Fergie earlier said that he talked quite often with Mou as to how to stop Barca. When they lost at the semifinal, Mou said his plan was to defend like hell and keep it 0-0 for an hour then insert a new striker in the final 15 minutes, although I seriously suspect he'd be more than happy to keep the stalemate until the shoot-outs, chicken as he is (he sh*t himself after the 0-5 classico, as per Cesar Luis Menotti). Haha.

But Fergie just don't have the required players to do so. His DMs aren't world class and neither are his wingers. So he's left with no other choice than to play their normal game plan. It's just playing against Barca nowadays is like playing against time: you must score quickly and try to hold on to it because sooner or later, they're gonna do it to you.

But at least, no team ever won back-to-back UCL, so who knows, perhaps it's our turn next year

[shegs]

since no 'negative' style of play has proven to be the formula for beating this Barca squad, I propose a radically different tactic and approach to playing them:
5 - 2 - 3
3 CB's and 2 disciplined FB's. 2 DM's, 2 pacy wingers (with bucket loads of stamina) and 1 attacker (preferably a goal poacher or a target man).
One (or better still, both) of the DM's should be decent (or exceptional) long passers of the ball. Zonal marking should be employed by the DM's, FB's and 2 CB's while the 3rd CB does most of the pressing. The pressing role should be interchanged by the CB's frequently to minimize fatigue. And now the radical part; The defensive unit should not under any circumstance cross the halfway line. This way you have at least 7 men behind the ball most of the time.That's not nearly enough to stop this Barca squad. The attacking unit are not to be assigned any defensive duties in their own half. They only have to press high up the pitch, (and make life uncomfortable for Busquets ). In essence they should not leave the opposition's half but sit on the shoulders of the back four. That takes Dani Alves out of the game. The game plan from there on is simple: Get the ball and hoof it long, to the wide men.

It might be a recipe for disaster if it doesn't go well, but they might as well try it!

[ACMILAN1983]

We've been linked to Sweinsteiger today, which could well be our new midfielder this summer. Many places say names like Hamsik are decoys and Fabregas is too expensive, while Sweinsteiger could be our true target. It makes sense too, he's a world class midfielder in the Bayern set up, which right now isn't in the best state to say the least. He's got the ability to replace Pirlo and play on the left of our midfield. He's tactically disciplined and can dictate games and he can score a few too. Finally, he's not a name in the press as Galliani said a couple of days ago and Galliani is a big fan of him as found out at last summer's world cup. At 26 he's at the right age to come into the midfield and take a leading role and help Merkel develop too. Van Bommel's also said to be keen on the idea.

I want to say congratulations to Barca on last night's victory where they pretty much played United off the park. It's really interesting to watch this Barca which will go down in history as one of the greats. That said, it's also interesting to see all the comments on the forums, as there's plenty of discussion as to how to beat them and also whether Carlo's side could have beaten them. My personal opinion is Carlo's side was at an individual level comparable to this Barca, if not superior given our backline was better. However, we'd have struggled mostly because in that generation of the game, there was greater reliance on individuals, while the current Barca game is all about teamwork. That said it would have been a fascinating match to watch and if Carlo was to get his system right, then I do think that Milan could be equal with this Barca.

As for how to beat Barca, I think last season Inter's victory at the San Siro was essentially the blueprint. A strong tactical display with lots of discipline and hardwork is required. Affording Barca space in the wide areas isn't always a problem as they aren't dominant in the air, although centrally it's crucial to keep extremely tight to avoid guys like Messi, Villa and Pedro cutting in to shoot at goal. What is crucial is watching their runners from deep (and it's often predefined movements) as they often break through behind the backline with these players. If possible I think it's ideal to press high, so as to stop their moves before Messi and co can get too involved, although this is extremely difficult. However, it's useful to man mark their deep midfielder (normall Busquets) with a forward as he's often a spare man for players higher up to go back to. Finally, when attacking, swift and direct attacks are crucial as Barca are vulnerable to the counter. I'd also say on the counters have players in wide areas as these are where gaps are often found, which will inevitably stretch the back 2 or 3. I do think this Barca is one of the great sides of all time, but I don't think they are unbeatable. What they have had on their side this season is they've not really faced any team with the players to stop them. Real were kind of there, but relied heavily on Pepe's physical pressing too much as the others in the team weren't capable. Man U are completely unsuited to face Barca too. In recent years, Inter and Chelsea have shown Barca struggle with teams that are disciplined, physical and know how to press.

[Siregar]

I like the idea of Schweinsteiger and I think he could fit better than Pirlo and Seedorf on the left side of our midfield. He is really good when going forward to PK area, something Seedorf and Pirlo are not that good at. Schweini can also do what Pirlo and Seedorf did, controlling the game by his own play. The weakness of Schweinsteiger is his inconsistence. He was great at WC 2010 but at club he is still not able to mark his name like he did in the world cup. With help of our champions I think he can succeed in Milan. But we still need another quality CM if we really want to have chance in CL, not just to participate with very limited chance to win it.