Summer mercato 2012

[ACMILAN1983]

So nobody is talking about the new ugly kit that officialy introduced couple of days ago?

I don't know, it's ok though I've always preferred thinner stripes than thick ones. Can't say I hate it though.

Only going to reply the Ibra part.

Well, my other post actually explained why I think the bad results from Milan is not a direct result of Ibra playing bad.

I know you and some other journalist kept using stats to say the general play of the team is better and it is not like Milan can't win without Ibra, and other players tend to step up more instead of sending the ball to Ibra. However, what I had been saying is that, due to injuries and forms, who really stepped up this season for Milan beside Ibra?

Last year, when Ibra was suspended, Slowdorf, Cassano and Boateng really played well to pick up the creative role and offense role for Milan. However, they pretty much played the same even before and after Ibra's suspension. So it is unfair to say it was a direct result of Ibra's absence. Robinho plays did became more lively without Ibra last season but they often never materialize into scoring chances. I think the only player who really shine when Ibra is not playing is Pato, but same can be said the other around.

As for this season, who stepped up beside Ibra? Robinho is like Slowdorf, who will have a great game followed by crappy games with or without Ibra. Slowdorf might have only played 3 good games all year. Boateng has been injured. While Pato is too busy being at the Doctor's office. Cassano got his heart thing.

As I mentioned in my other post. If the team is healthy, I believe they could play better without Ibra, but with all the injuries this season, if it were not for Ibra, Milan will not even be 3 pts behind Juve, they might actually be 3 pts behind Lazio. Abate will not become Cafu if Ibra is not around, nor would Muntari, Urby, Nocerino and Ambro start playing like Cesc, Xavi, Iniesta and Thiago all b/c Ibra is on the bench and suddenly these players realize their true potential.

If results are still positive when Ibra's not around, then players must be generally stepping up to get those results. This season, I remember when Ibra was out suspended, Robinho generally played better during that period, El Shaarawy got more chances to show his ability and Maxi did help the side a great deal. Add to this players like Nocerino, Urby and Muntari who also did well during that period and it's possible to see that while we didn't have the greatest players, our results don't necessarily depend on Ibra and our team play often improves when he's out, as if I remember correctly it was around this period that we were at our best this season. Our opposition were no pushovers either, we beat Udinese 2-1 (the match that many consider turned our season around), 3-1 away to Cesena and 1-1 with Juve where we were desperately unlucky.

You said it yourself, we've not had many players to fallback on due to injury for when Ibra's been out, but even without them our results didn't falter. If I go a step further and think ahead to next season, we can assume that our injury situation won't be worse next season (it simply can't be) and we shouldn't even assume it will be the same as this season. Also, while I'm suggesting we don't need Ibra, I'm not saying that if we sell him we should keep what we have. We'd have to replace him with someone of very high quality who can lead our attack, meaning an influential player who can take on a large amount of responsibility.