Don't post on message boards that much anymore but wow! What a season. Kind of sweet to see us win this season based on coaching and scouting. It's going to be nice to get into the champions league as a top seed.
I love each one of our guys. I feel like I've been able to know them so well along the road! I very rarely have identified as strongly with a group of players. Even the bad ones had their moments. Let's think of the limited ones first: Bakayoko despite defensive failures was surprisingly effective in supporting the offense in one of the games when he came in as a sub. Castillejo was generally very weak but did have a great game once, coming back from long absence and emotionally talking about having contributed. Ballo was subpar but had his moments of good defense. It's commendable to see how Saelemaekers tries hard and occasionally he provides some good passes that resulted in good plays, despite wasting many offensive plays. He helped with defensive support, too. Messias dribbles poorly and was generally pale but had some good shots from outside the box, had assists and scored some goals. Brahim is too small and gets bumped by physical midfielders but had his moments of creatively supporting the offense. Tatarusanu is not so good and made us lose a game but in other games had some important saves that kept us afloat in Maignan's absence. Even useless Maldini scored a goal. So every single one of the weak and technically limited players contributed at some point. It is the group spirit that Ibra talked about in his locker room speech, where the sum is greater than the parts. Now let's talk about the good players and the great players. Leão, a god. The man of the season, best overall player, world class. His three assists in the title game delivered the championship to us, not to forget so many other brilliant moves, assists, and goals. Giroud provided essential goals in critical moments in some of the most important games, having scored against the second placed team, third, fifth, sixth and in the title decider; first Milan #9 to score 10+ goals since Inzaghi in 2009. He also embraced Milan so nicely, becoming a true Rossonero. Tonali, spectacular in many games especially the one on his birthday. Kessie was important in many games with good defensive midfield work, running all over the pitch in many games, and he finished by scoring and saluting the tifosi even though he's leaving. Bennacer kept the midfield solid when one of his companions was injured or suspended, and had some great games. Krunic was reliable and hardworking and supported the offense. Rebic recovered his form at season end and came in as a great sub to keep opponent's defenses busy and unable to counter, when he came in late in games when we were narrowly ahead. Calabria's enthusiasm for his childhood team is touching, and his young leadership as captain was important for being a level-headed guy that cooled off the rebellious ones like Theo and avoided red cards. He also had some great games (including the title game). Kalulu and Tomori, two gods, one of the best back duo I've ever seen. Both were brilliant, and helped Maignan in keeping many clean sheets. Theo, incredible offensive support that decided many games. Ibra is Ibra, and not only he scored some beautiful goals, but provided locker room leadership to the youngsters. Maignan, just amazing, Serie A's best goalie, world class, and a true 12th player doubling as a goalie and a back thanks to his footwork. Kjaer, great defensive leadership before his injury. Florenzi, solid and reliable when called upon. Romagnoli had a resurgence and added depth and defensive leadership when needed. In summary, a great group where the Next Man Up concept worked so well (and Pioli is to be commended for this, and for good subs and tactical adaptation throughout the season). On paper other squads like Inter's and Juve's are supposedly better than our squad given that they possess some star players, but as a group, no team was better than Milan, no squad had better team spirit, no team had our recovery power when down, no team was so gritty when needed (think of the Derby victory coming from behind which is actually the moment when we won the title because it was a 6-point game). And this was accomplished by the youngest Serie A team to ever win the Scudetto in the 3-point era (even considering that Ibra, Giroud, Tatarusanu and Mirante added lots of years to the average - ignore their age and this team is even younger). So, it was a remarkable run! It was full of memories I'll keep forever. Nobody believed we'd win the Scudetto. I didn't believe it either. But the group surprised me and peaked at the right moment, and defeated all of our boogeymen we had trouble beating recently, such as Inter, Atalanta, Sassuolo, Fiorentina, Verona, etc. The last 5 games were all against decent teams, and with Inter breathing in our neck we couldn't afford any dropped points... and we didn't drop any. That was an amazing sequence, and season-long there were some incredible moments like Giroud's two goals against Inter, Tonali's decisive late goal, Maignan's fantastic saves, Leão's dribbling and speed... What a group! What a team of deserving champions! I'm grateful to all of them. They delivered lots of entertainment, emotions, and joy to the Milanisti. Grazie mille ragazzi! Siete i campioni d'Italia. Vi amo tutti!
Juve had better players on paper? Parallel Universe? I'm just saying what we all know is true that Inter lost the league as they had a better team. There's no question about it, we got lucky and now Kessie is gone
https://sempremilan.com/maldini-summer-market-new-ownership-disrespected/amp. Maldini feels disrespected by Elliot and co...I don't like this interview.
I like the fact that Paolo is speaking frankly, and he's correct that he is the Milan we know and love. I think Milanisti can count on him to do right by the club and the fans because of what it all means to him. If the project isn't worthy of the club or his involvement as a club legend, he won't stay on. So as far as I'm concerned, as long as Paolo is involved, that means we're still headed in the right direction. When he jumps ship, that's when we know things are headed off the rails.
https://sempremilan.com/milan-lang-brugge-departure-interest/amp This little guy thinks he's arjen robben @Orange14
Thanks for tagging me. Here is my take: Lang is an interesting player with a huge attitude problem. He could not get along with ten Hag or any of the other technical staff at Ajax. They were happy to be rid of him even taking a lesser fee than he was worth. Even though he's a talent, it has to be in the right situation. I don't think he will ever be in the Dutch NT for this reason though I hope to be proved wrong.
Seems like they're selling Bastoni. Doubt he suceeds in England tbh...in a year or two we can get him on loan.
they say he is Kessies replacement?? but he is totally different and always injured. can't replace Frank the Tank!!