Serie A - The 2007-08 season thread

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:@kas- you make this comment every week. Do you think Milan did not deserve to win the CL last year? Well, you probably think that they did not deserve to be there to begin with. But let's leave that to one side...did they not storm their way to the Final?

kas wrote:The bookies may as well close the book on Milan winning the CL now

Pirlo wrote:he has had several confrontations with the technical staff higher up the club over player transfers, they aren't giving him the players he has requested!

Cesc wrote:AC Milan 0-1 Roma (Goal + Penalty miss)
https://www.dailymotion.com/search/de+rossi/video/x3bo43_ac-milan-01-as-roma_sport

I remember Crouch tried the same penalty in a friendly before the World Cup in Germany.

Red n' Black wrote:

Pirlo wrote:he has had several confrontations with the technical staff higher up the club over player transfers, they aren't giving him the players he has requested!

Good point Pirlo, this situation is so sad TBH. Berlusconi, one of the richest people in the world, does not seem too keen on investing anymore, unless its for Ronaldinho. However he won't spend a dime to reinforce the club with some much needed transfers and we are stuck with back-ups that absolutely suck! I don't even pay attention to what he and that other moron Uncle Fester have to say anymore. Maybe its understandable, since they've been at the helm for almost two decades and they've won absolutely everything. Berlusca is the most successful club president ever and he has won more than 25 trophies, i think. And he used to spend a lot and buy great players but these days i don't think he cares too much, there is no motivation.

And Ancelotti won't be sacked, cause he is obviously a very 'convenient' choice. They know that a new manager would DEMAND big spending and quite a few players. As i said many times, i think we will do well in the CL but i don't really care, since it was apparent that we did not have the squad depth nor the right mentality to challenge for the league. I respect Forza's opinion, but IMO even if we somehow end up winning the CL again, this management deserves serious criticism.

Pirlo wrote:Just got back from the match, and yet more disappointment and yet more travel!

Interms of result, disappointing, but in terms of performance certainly an encouragement from last round. Gilardino had a really magnificent match today without having the fortune to convert his aerial supremacy, he worked really hard, had one or two good interplay with Kaka and worked Roma's backline well.

Pirlo looked off the pace and length, a couple of superb balls early in the match to spread play and a delicious reverse, but otherwise his range was off and he was caught square on the ball a few times, i've rarely seen him so animated and frustrated with a referee either! Cafu was brilliant, his energy is unreal and he had a couple of good adventures to the touchline. Kaka was a reasonable performance, he played a wonderful ball for Pirlo which unfortunately Andy delayed the read on the run so Doni was able to smother.

Even Dida had a good match, he made at least three outstanding saves and wasn't at the fault of the goal. In terms of formation, Roma did a fantastic job of stopping Pirlo from facing their goal, he was forced to play the ball back, they also like Liverpool in the ECL final pressed our defence and deeper midfield stopping us building play and forcing us to play long a few times. It looked toward the end of the match that we were returning the favour but in the end we didn't have the discipline or energy to keep it up.
We were really caught out for the goal though, Cicinho was a threat today with his pace and runs, we were caught too narrow and advanced, we let the space in behind for the cross and Ambrosini should have closed him down more agressively rather than stand off. Vucinic as always did a fantastic job of ghosting in front of his marker and it was a splendid header.

Rossetti as always had a complete farce of a match, he is one of the worst referees to assign to a match like this, he takes the pace and flow out of matches and is ridiculously fussy with his cards. We feel at the moment that we just aren't getting the luck from referees, a lot of sillly decisions went against us today, but maybe in part due to the poor organisation of the midfield at times that forced Ambrosini and Pirlo to make tactical fouls. De Rossi's penalty was a rather strange decision, best leave those types to the spoon specialists, but Roma aren't having much luck in percentages of penalty conversions in recent seasons!

We looked better in fluidity but a poor piece of defence and organisation cost us, there was another opportunity with Cicinho's drive from 20 yards where we were caught too congested and narrow and Roma only had to spread the play to cause us problems.

In term of atmosphere, it was a much more packed stadium that last week, and especially after the sending off and the penalty the noise rose , most of the tirade was directed at rosetti and there was vociferous anger at Ancelotti and the team after the whistle, about five of us went and had a small banner for Pirlo, but another tiring day and disappointing result. We need Ronaldo and Pato as soon as possible, Ronaldo's return is delay after delay, its a ridiculous situation, and in january there are definately new players needed, especially for the defence, but today i heard an interesting piece of news; while Ancelotti is handicapped really in terms of the players available to him - and of course the availability influecnes his selection and tactic, but those at the club say that he has had several confrontations with the technical staff higher up the club over player transfers, they aren't giving him the players he has requested!

Alive and Kicking wrote:The referring for the game Napoli vs Juventus was terrible. How come on earth were there two penalties? I think this was very harsh, especially the second one where the player didn't touch Buffon he just jumped over. Great goal from Gargano though.

https://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/napoli+juventus/video/x3bgc3_napolijuventus-31-goals-wwwonlinepa_news

gone wrote:The biggest problem for Milan is the players mentality. They have won everything and it's hard to make them play good against Siena or Catania now. They have their moments of pride (Lazio or Shaktar) but most of them can't be bother to play against small teams (Pirlo for one). Against Roma I hoped for such a moment but Roma outplayed us today. Moslty on the wings where Maldini and Cafu where to slow.

kas wrote:

gone wrote:The biggest problem for Milan is the players mentality. They have won everything and it's hard to make them play good against Siena or Catania now. They have their moments of pride (Lazio or Shaktar) but most of them can't be bother to play against small teams (Pirlo for one). Against Roma I hoped for such a moment but Roma outplayed us today. Moslty on the wings where Maldini and Cafu where to slow.

Seems like that is becoming a bigger issue in football nowadays...Milan have won things a lot, but as we saw with Barça, players seem to lose the motivation even after one CL win.

supermadrid wrote:

kas wrote:

gone wrote:The biggest problem for Milan is the players mentality. They have won everything and it's hard to make them play good against Siena or Catania now. They have their moments of pride (Lazio or Shaktar) but most of them can't be bother to play against small teams (Pirlo for one). Against Roma I hoped for such a moment but Roma outplayed us today. Moslty on the wings where Maldini and Cafu where to slow.

Seems like that is becoming a bigger issue in football nowadays...Milan have won things a lot, but as we saw with Barça, players seem to lose the motivation even after one CL win.

i dont think it has to do with a Cl win because milan have been having the same problems since 2004/2005 i would say. ancelotti has found the formula in europe in serie a terms i consider him average.

supermadrid wrote:

kas wrote:

gone wrote:The biggest problem for Milan is the players mentality. They have won everything and it's hard to make them play good against Siena or Catania now. They have their moments of pride (Lazio or Shaktar) but most of them can't be bother to play against small teams (Pirlo for one). Against Roma I hoped for such a moment but Roma outplayed us today. Moslty on the wings where Maldini and Cafu where to slow.

Seems like that is becoming a bigger issue in football nowadays...Milan have won things a lot, but as we saw with Barça, players seem to lose the motivation even after one CL win.

i dont think it has to do with a Cl win because milan have been having the same problems since 2004/2005 i would say. ancelotti has found the formula in europe in serie a terms i consider him average.

bluenine wrote:The moment of truth week in Serie A!!!!!!!! This weekends games include:

Genoa - Fiorentina
Lazio - Udinese
Milan - Roma
Napoli - Juventus
Palermo - Inter

wow!!

I hope Roma can take a draw from Milan... that would be ideal

Inter face a very tough away game against a talented youthful Palermo, while Genoa will test visiting Fiorentina. Napoli do not perform very well at home, but they should make a game of it.

Italy is the place to be this weekend!!!