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Fantastic match on sunday evening, and a really good atmosphere for Pato's arrival. I arrived at San Siro early for the parade of Berlusconi's international trophies, but all everybody was waiting for was Pato!
It's clear watching the side every week that there are severe problems with the teams zonal defensive syatem, the players do not move together, and we are too often caught out with our wing-backs too narrow on the counter, Sosa's goal is a great example of us getting caught flat while our opponents can get players wide and really exploit this indecision.
Nesta is the main man at the defence this season, the only defender to come out with any credit, he's been magnificent, but it's difficult for him to co-ordinate as his natural character is not assertive and he is not a dominant personality that Maldini is. Bonera was diabolical, but not his fault that he is played at right-back, a position which he is completely inept for as he is not the most mobile or quick on the turn or provides much dynamism or threat in offence. Centre-back is much more suited to his more physical and assertive style. There is a good player there, but he has suffered on account of the clubs need to rotate and his perceived flexibility.
The Ka-Pa-Ro axis worked incredibly well together, hopefully this is a good sign, the understanding and movement was brilliant, even Ronaldo looked more agile and found more spaces than usual, he should have had a hat-trick. Pato was fantastic, more composure with shooting from wider angles and he too could have scored three, and he took Favalli's ball for his goal very well. His close control and ability to shift his markers off balance is very good, and he showed an ability to shoot early as well. The kid is still very young, but its a promising debut and shows you the state and atmosphere around Milan at the moment when we are really trusting our season in the hands of the Ka-Pa-Ro axis! Pato showed he could take the pressure of nearly five months of expectation and played a great match.
Seedorf's latest outburst is worrying, he is a fantastic player and must realise that he is at the disposal of the team not vice versa. He can still play a role from deeper, but we must all make sacrifices to accomodate this new axis, especially if it proves to work as well as it did against Napoli. Udinese will be a much sterner test, if they play 4-3-3 then i don't expect much opportunity or risk to get the wider backs foward - especially if as expected Bonera and Maldini start, they will be too preoccupied with Pepe, Quagliarella and Di Natale, the vital thing is not to be stretched, so it is essential that our zonal system is perfectly in tune for this as there will be a lot of space and movement to pick up.
If as is speculated Udinese go 3-4-3 then i think that really could play for us, it allows two lines that our deeper players can exploit unless Dossena or Mesto drop into the gap in front of the defence, Zapata is versatile enough to control his third, but i'd question the dominace of Coda and Lukovic as part of a three man defence, especially in the absence of Felipe i don't think there's the ability to take control.
Either way, their strike force is on form, even if their defence is starting to break up, with Felipe about to start his second successive suspension. A very difficult opponent but we have an excellent record recently at Friuli recently.
Three games in hand, and a chance to take more points off a fourth place rival. Its a key game, but we have had a false dawn earlier in the season after the huge wins over Lazio and Sampdoria, we couldn't really use them as momentum.
I'm next at San Siro next sunday for the Genoa match, but i really should try to get to more away matches, the Friuli is a great stadium, the best for atmosphere i've been to is Palermo's, i love the coastal stadiums, Atalanta's is quite atmospheric as well, and one of the most intimidating is Luigi Ferraris, a very tight and claustrophobic away section, the stands are steep and run exactly along the touchlines, it must be a difficult place to play at night for an away side.
Also got to add that its a delight to see Cassano come back into form and start showing his talent. I really hope he can get some consistency to his game and come with us to Euro2008. His work for Bellucci's goal was excellent,. At the weekend, Ibrahimovic scored a stupendous goal and Mancini turned in a good performance. Hopefully our italian sides can keep their form and carry it into Europe in their difficult ties.
It's clear watching the side every week that there are severe problems with the teams zonal defensive syatem, the players do not move together, and we are too often caught out with our wing-backs too narrow on the counter, Sosa's goal is a great example of us getting caught flat while our opponents can get players wide and really exploit this indecision.
Nesta is the main man at the defence this season, the only defender to come out with any credit, he's been magnificent, but it's difficult for him to co-ordinate as his natural character is not assertive and he is not a dominant personality that Maldini is. Bonera was diabolical, but not his fault that he is played at right-back, a position which he is completely inept for as he is not the most mobile or quick on the turn or provides much dynamism or threat in offence. Centre-back is much more suited to his more physical and assertive style. There is a good player there, but he has suffered on account of the clubs need to rotate and his perceived flexibility.
The Ka-Pa-Ro axis worked incredibly well together, hopefully this is a good sign, the understanding and movement was brilliant, even Ronaldo looked more agile and found more spaces than usual, he should have had a hat-trick. Pato was fantastic, more composure with shooting from wider angles and he too could have scored three, and he took Favalli's ball for his goal very well. His close control and ability to shift his markers off balance is very good, and he showed an ability to shoot early as well. The kid is still very young, but its a promising debut and shows you the state and atmosphere around Milan at the moment when we are really trusting our season in the hands of the Ka-Pa-Ro axis! Pato showed he could take the pressure of nearly five months of expectation and played a great match.
Seedorf's latest outburst is worrying, he is a fantastic player and must realise that he is at the disposal of the team not vice versa. He can still play a role from deeper, but we must all make sacrifices to accomodate this new axis, especially if it proves to work as well as it did against Napoli. Udinese will be a much sterner test, if they play 4-3-3 then i don't expect much opportunity or risk to get the wider backs foward - especially if as expected Bonera and Maldini start, they will be too preoccupied with Pepe, Quagliarella and Di Natale, the vital thing is not to be stretched, so it is essential that our zonal system is perfectly in tune for this as there will be a lot of space and movement to pick up.
If as is speculated Udinese go 3-4-3 then i think that really could play for us, it allows two lines that our deeper players can exploit unless Dossena or Mesto drop into the gap in front of the defence, Zapata is versatile enough to control his third, but i'd question the dominace of Coda and Lukovic as part of a three man defence, especially in the absence of Felipe i don't think there's the ability to take control.
Either way, their strike force is on form, even if their defence is starting to break up, with Felipe about to start his second successive suspension. A very difficult opponent but we have an excellent record recently at Friuli recently.
Three games in hand, and a chance to take more points off a fourth place rival. Its a key game, but we have had a false dawn earlier in the season after the huge wins over Lazio and Sampdoria, we couldn't really use them as momentum.
I'm next at San Siro next sunday for the Genoa match, but i really should try to get to more away matches, the Friuli is a great stadium, the best for atmosphere i've been to is Palermo's, i love the coastal stadiums, Atalanta's is quite atmospheric as well, and one of the most intimidating is Luigi Ferraris, a very tight and claustrophobic away section, the stands are steep and run exactly along the touchlines, it must be a difficult place to play at night for an away side.
Also got to add that its a delight to see Cassano come back into form and start showing his talent. I really hope he can get some consistency to his game and come with us to Euro2008. His work for Bellucci's goal was excellent,. At the weekend, Ibrahimovic scored a stupendous goal and Mancini turned in a good performance. Hopefully our italian sides can keep their form and carry it into Europe in their difficult ties.
