Why is Bayern enforcing such a high press in a friendly? You'd think it was a regular season league match...
It was literally one of the most painful things I've seen. Milan didn't belong on the same pitch with them. Ridiculous - all of it.
sounds like the team is picking up where they left off at the end of last season! mihajlovic will get canned quickly.
3-0 Bayern. They're one of the best teams in Europe, but the fact that we've scored one goal in three matches is still concerning. I didn't see the match but apparently our midfield was beyond horrible.
In fairness, this was 1. a friendly 2. against a team that is better than any in Serie A right now and arguably, on its day, the best in Europe 3. ...that specializes in midfield control We shouldn't be reading too much into it. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to see a move for Witsel in the coming days.
Witsel won't solve anything plus he's being held hostage by his club. They wan't some obscene amount of money for him.
Shitty game to watch as a Milan fan. To be fair tho, it was against arguably one of the best teams in world who are in good form at the moment with a plethora of world class players. We are 4weeks into an entire transformation of a squad. That being said, we were out possessed and out worked. BM had a high press the entire game and we couldn't string 2 passes together nor could we form any sort of possession. Overrun midfield leading to a plethora of attacks seemed to be the key to the game. High pressure to win ball back, over run midfield and attack down the flanks happened far more then needed to. I thought this lineup would be solid but our midfield was just outworked. Granted it was against the top 2 possession team in world, it sucked to watch. Tomorrow vs Tottenhami might give us a better idea of where we are at. Impressive guys were Lopez, Ely, Antonelli(more solid then not), NJD, Honda(worked hard but lost ball/ made bad pass to often) and Bacca when he got the ball did well. Unimpressed was Bertolacci(he should be the guy we want Witsel to be tbh)/Bonaventura(overran defensively, didn't add anything to offense), De Sciglio( has not looked good at all), and Adriano( i know its early, but he hasn't show much in performances). I think Romagnoli could help the team but he won't be a savior. I think Witsel can help the midfield especially if we playing 3 man mids, and Ibra can help up top be the "creator". Ideally, I'd put Bonaventura at trequartista position for Honda. Ibra paired up with Bacca and NJD/Bertolacci/Montolivo(Witsel) as 2 man midfield. If not Ibra, put Honda/Suso as support striker, and Bonaventura as 4th midfielder. Without possession we can not create attacks nor can we help our defense. Ibra and Romagnoli would help no doubt and I wish they both come but I think Witsel is our important signing.
because that's how they play the game. you don't prepare for the season playing a different style than you intend to play throughout the year. c'mon.
@gcstorm9 - I don't think Ibra is coming. He has no incentive to come back to Italy and although he has one year left on his PSG deal he can get a more lucrative contract elsewhere. Witsel is a player we should have signed years ago but we haven't had two pennies to rub together for so long that it feels like Milan has skipped an entire generation of top players going back to 2004. @stphnsn - Bayern relaxed a bit in the second half but even then we were useless with our inept passing and at the same time Zapata seemed determined to score an own goal. Oh well; lets see how they fair against Tottenham
We're playing our B team against Tottenham: Matri Cerci Suso Mauri Montolivo Poli Calabria Mexes Alex Abate Abbiati Makes sense since our A team just played yesterday, but it means that this will also be a meaningless match in terms of determining where we are in our preparation, especially since I imagine Tottenham will also be benching their starters. (Why did they even schedule two matches on subsequent days?)
fitness. the guys who played yesterday will recover today. the guys who play today probably trained yesterday. twice as many players get game time than if they'd only done 1.
Montolivo is off with a head injury. De Jong in. Suso has struck me as the one promising player so far
Over the last four matches, we've scored 1 goal and conceded 5. I rate this preseason a f*ck out of no
Thoughts: We grew into the match about 15 minutes in and dominated the rest of the first half. We still weren't playing perfectly, or even well - there was way too much space being given on the counter, and a better team would have punished us - but we were at least controlling possession and creating chances. I think that Bacca would have scored a goal or two then if he'd been on the field (and match-ready). After the injury to Montolivo near the end of the first half, the team basically broke down and Tottenham dominated the play. I can't be sure, because Nocerino also came on for Poli at the half and Nocerino is basically a wasted man (he was standing around gaping during the pass that split our defense for the second goal), but I think that the difference was that Montolivo, physically and mentally weak though he currently is, is at least a natural regista and De Jong is not. When De Jong is playing as regista, we drop deep, abandon possession and pray for a moment of individual brilliance - basically what we were doing for most of last season, in other words. I'll admit it: I was wrong. We need Witsel, and Soriano is not a substitute because he is not a regista. (He could be, and I think he has the qualities for that position, but that's assuming that Miha would play him there instead of at mezz'ala or trequartista.) That would make way more difference than adding another defender. If we don't get Witsel, then we need to play Montolivo as regista and hope he stays healthy. De Jong does not belong there. He is an excellent ball hawk and deserves to start, but not in that position. Defense-wise, whether or not we get Romagnoli, we need to pick a starting pair and stick with it, varying only in case of injury or a prolonged run of bad form. Ely-Paletta would be...not the best in the league, certainly, but at least decent enough to cover us if the rest of the team can do its job. Individual notes: a. Matri is sh*t but we already knew that. b. Cerci had some decent crosses, maybe enough that they'll keep him on the squad as a backup. c. Suso had some very nice moves, including a lovely bit of footwork where he dribbled past two defenders, but he couldn't finish. Maybe if somebody had been in position to nail rebounds... d. I found it hard to pick out individual midfield performance, but, as I said, I feel that we disintegrated when De Jong came on the field. e. Our central defense was OK. I missed the first goal which was apparently a brainfart by either Alex or Mexes, but we could stand the odd brainfart if the team could control possession and score. The second goal was not the defense's fault. f. Abate was the best of our fullbacks, sad to say.
Disappointing game to watch. You can tell our cohesion/form isn't up to the likes of Tottenham who have been preparing weeks in advanced but nonetheless we looked sloppy. It's fairly obvious to see who won't be here come start of the season or who shouldn't have an intricate role with the team. I really like Montolivo, but he has lost a step since his injury and I'm not sure if he can regain it, perhaps in a more advanced role where he isn't a defensive liability. I feel as if him and NJD can't play at same time, and I'd play NJD instead. Would love to sign Witsel to help dominate the midfield because we def need another 2 way player and Bertolacci/Bonaventura don't seem to be the guys who can do it. I read that Gallani had a meeting with Paletta's agent and possibly he might be sold. I don't understand that but apparently that might be an option. Now that the preseason is over and we have shown what we have, I think Gallani will go back into the market. Offloading guys like Nocerino, Matri, Menez,and Alex, while hopefully bringing in Romagnoli, Witsel, and Ibra (maybe). At this point with current squad, I'm not quite sure we are a CL qualifier team as we going to be competing vs Roma, Napoli, Fiorentina, and Inter for those 2 spots. We def need to make some more reinforcements...