Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season
Still, it's a big step down from Barcelona squeezing past you in similar circumstances in 2006.
sure. but this season (as a whole) also represents for milan a big step up from last season... and from the season before aswell.
having said that, i can't share stef's satisfaction. if we talk about the whole season, then yes, i think milan is finally back on the right track and this season was great....... but considering the last few matches (napoli, juve, and both legs against spurs), i just can't feel happy with it as stef is.
i don't know if i would use the word "dominant" to describe yesterday's and napoli's performance, stef. taking control of the ball (and of the game) when the opponent is clearely letting u take it.... that's not really dominating in my book. both against spurs and napoli u were simply taking what the opponent was kindly giving to u; the control of the game.
napoli let u get in charge because they were playing their worst match of the season. spurs let u take control of the game because they had no need to dictate the plot of the game.
it's always easier to let your opponent take control of the game, when u don't have to score. u just sit there and take a defensive approach. so we might well say that milan's dominating possession was determined by tottenham's approach.
this is one of the reasons why i don't think it's a good idea to judge a team on a champions league performance.... champions leage performances are always effected by external factors...... during the 1st leg, very often the home team tends to mantain a conservative approach to avoid to concede a potentially dangerous away goal to the opponents.
and during the second leg the teams performances are always effected, not only by the away goal factor, but also by the 1st leg result.
i think we can all agree that tottenham would have played a completely different match if milan would have won the 1st leg.
naah, i don't really like this recent milan. yes allegri's team has definitely more structure than leonardo's milan... and this milan is definitely a better team (afterall allegri is lightyears ahead of leonardo in terms of coaching).
but 2, 3 months ago milan still had structure, yet they also had some flair. i mean, also back in jannuary\december u were much harder to break than u were under leonardo... but u were also much more inspired upfront.
u might argue that against napoli and spurs milan was even harder to break than 2 months ago...... but then i might reply that vs. napoli and spurs milan looked harder to break because both napoli and spurs didn't even try to break u.
the fact remains that milan wasn't able to score a single goal to spurs..... sure there are some valid justifications... gomes had the best performance of his carreer in milano, and yesterday spurs were closing all the gaps and holes u might find..... but still..... it's 0 goals in 2 matches..... against a very VERY shaky defense like tottenham's
mind u, i'm not criticising milan's season or milan as a team or allegri. allegri has done an amazing job so far.... this team has improved soo much from last year (abate is getting better and better, boateng is proving to be a very useful player and obviously ibra and cassano can instantly change every team)...... and i also praise milan for the amazing season they had so far....... but this recent milan (the milan i saw in the last 3 weeks) hasn't really impressed me as much as this season early milan.
that's obviously just my opinion of course, and i'm aware that u obviously can judge milan much better than me stef, having a chance to watch them on a weekly basis..... but i still think milan is a lot less inspired and dangerous upfront that it used to be till a couple of months ago..... and when u take into account napoli's and spurs's tactical approach, i'm not even sure this milan is really better defensively than it was, say, 2 months ago.
... yeah u didn't suffer against napoli, juve and spurs.... but let's be honest napoli, juve and spurs were absolutely harmless, from an offensive point of view.
) and hope he can handle the situation and pressure in Palermo.
) but as a coach, he's hardly serie a material... and i'm not even gonna dare comparing him with rossi as that would be a blasphemy.
here's a little excerpt from the press conference and the following interview, for the italian speakers who might be interested.
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