Monthly Archives: March 2011

FOCUS ON TACTICS

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MILANELLO - The Rossoneri continued their preparation for the upcoming Milan derby putting extra emphasis on the tactical aspects.Coach Allegri had a full squad at his disposal as even those who had played yesterday were back to Milan. Today’s session began with 15 minutes of warm-up exercises with the ball, followed by another quarter of an hour of keep ball.Afterwards, the Rossoneri worked on tactics for around 40 minutes focusing on attacking movements with a series of training matches, using only one set of goal posts.The session finished with a match amongst the squad.As for individuals, Boateng, Pato and Van Bommel went through all the drills together with the team, while Andrea Pirlo trained separately. Also Filippo Inzaghi was present at Milanello. The Italian striker followed a personalised training programme.The Rossoneri’s next practice is scheduled for 11.00 CET tomorrow.

MILAN-PALERMO TIM CUP SEMIFINAL TICKETS AVAILABLE

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MILAN – We announce that tickets for the Milan-Palermo TIM Italian Cup semifinal game are going on sale today, March 30. The match is scheduled for 20.45 CET, April 20, and will take place at the San Siro. The presale, held for championship season ticket holders, will end on April 6. From April 7 to 13, tickets will be reserved for Cuore Rossonero card holders, while open sales will begin on April 14. Click here for the price list and further details on the sales procedure!

Derby Preview Part II: Black and Blue Judas

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In case you missed the epic story lines from the Derby you can check them out here, because in the next two posts I plan to flesh them out a bit as we draw closer to what should be billed as the biggest match in Serie A if not all of Europe. With title implications and a chance for Milan to take back their rightful spot as the best team in Milan anybody saying this match is not decisive or means little is simply glossing over the obvious. So where do we start? No better place than with Judas and Inter.

I had always been a bit hard on Leonardo when was Coach of AC Milan. Sure he had to deal with the likes of Ronaldinho, KJH, and even a clearly finished Mancini, and in his defense he certainly didn’t have the team at his disposal to make a whole lot of noise in Serie A. The thing is despite his apparent shortcomings he had this team in first place and instead of rolling up his sleeves and digging in his heels, he let it unravel faster than your first long-distance relationship. When this team needed some tactics and balance Leo simply looked to be a man confused unable to reshape the team to achieve the goal at hand, which at times was as simple as retaining a lead. Had Milan kept the wide-eyed bushy haired Brazilian at the helm for this season and you have to wonder if he would have instilled the balance and defensive posture that has helped Milan onto first place, granted this is hypothesizing, but I have a niggling feeling we would be somewhere around fourth place wondering why we dropped so many close games.

Either way that era of Milan is over, thankfully it was short, but now he is Inter’s problem, but is he really that much of a problem? The first and most important to understand is that Inter is, was, and forever will be a Jose Mourinho team. When Jose leaves a team he leaves it with a tenacious sense of balance, and the willingness of all eleven players to work as one to achieve a common goal. These are not traits that simply disappear, and while Rafa clearly found a way to “lose them” Leo has used Mourinho’s ghost to his advantage and glossed over his own defensive naivety to his advantage. I mean anyone ever wonder why Avram Grant almost won a CL with a Jose team?? Simply because he took over for a man that truly builds a team from top to bottom and leaves them in perfect order for the right man in charge, sorry Rafa.

So what makes Leo’s Inter so different from Leo’s Milan? It starts with personnel; players like Motta, Stankovic, and Cambiasso are far more versatile than the one trick midfield ponies of AC Milan. Not to mention he has attacking players like Sneijder, Eto, Pandev, Milito, and even Pazzini who are willing to put in the work needed to have enough balance to achieve a result, whereas Leo’s Milan never truly had this edge. Imagine for a moment the likes of Ronaldinho, Pato and KJH putting in the herculean effort of Eto, Pandev, and Milito in the CL Final. If you are struggling to do so, it is probably because you can’t!

So what you have now is a Coach, who only knows how to attack, in charge of a team who has a great idea on how to defend, a match made in heaven? Not so much, just a good fit at the right time to get Inter rolling for a showdown with AC Milan. I don’t expect much out of Leo in the Derby, he has employed a 4-2-3-1 type formation of late and I would expect the same sort of deployment if not closer to a 4-3-3 in order to attack Milan. He has the personnel to do either, but it will be up to Allegri to counter Leo’s attacking mentality something we will cover on Friday’s final preview post…

ANDREA BACK WITH THE GROUP!

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MILANELLO - The Rossoneri began practising on the field behind the gym at 11.00 CET.After ten minutes of warm-up, the squad got divided into four groups. Some worked on the sand, others did direction changes at varying pace on the pitch, while another group did uphill runs in the woods.At around 11.30 CET the team reassembled to do a series of tactical exercises. As usual, a match amongst the squad marked the end of the session.As for individuals, Andrea Pirlo, Kevin Prince Boateng and Mark Van Bommel went through all the drills, including the tactical exercises and the match amongst the squad, together with the rest of the team.Massimo Ambrosini, Filippo Inzaghi and Daniele Bonera trained separately.Milan’s next practice is scheduled for 16.00 CET tomorrow.

Milan’s Silvio Berlusconi not giving up on Real Madrid’s Kaka, but Massimiliano Allegri prefers River Plate’s Erik Lamela – report

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Kaka - Real Madrid (Getty Images)
Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi is eager to lure Real Madrid midfielder Kaka back to San Siro, but head coach Massimiliano Allegri prefers River Plate wonderkid Erik Lamela.

CALL-UPS FOR THREE FURTHER YOUNG ROSSONERI

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After Milan Youth Sector teams had temporarily lost six players to their respective Under 19 and 18 national teams, three further call-ups arrived at Vismara as 15 year-old youngsters Andrea Petagna, Cristian Galliani and Alessandro Binda will participate in Antonio Rocca’s training camp at Coverciano, from March 29 to 31. The schedule of the “three Azzurri days” include 3 training session, a meeting with A.I.A. (Association of Italian Referees) representatives to discuss the rules and finally a friendly match between the Italy Under 15 and Under 16 teams.

MILAN NATIONAL GIOVANISSIMI WIN DERBY

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The young Rossoneri, the title-holders in the National Allievi category, downed Inter 2-0 at Vismara today, thus spoiling the Nerazzurri’s undefeated season record. The two teams played an intense, hard-fought game, in which Milan came out on top thanks to a penalty from Mastalli (28) and a second half strike from Di Molfetta (68). Lo and Fabbro combined on the right flank to set up the second goal, which put the game to bed. “We had the perfect approach to the game and looked very motivated. We have been aware of our worth and this game demonstrated that we can be as good as anyone. I’m very satisfied with the lads’ performance and attitude. We deserved the victory and the margin could have been even wider, seeing how many chances we missed”, commented coach Roberto Bertuzzo.