AGAINST ROMA, the tactical ineptness of Milan was on full display for everyone to see. Even though the 4-2-3-1 had gotten Milan rolling on a five game winning streak, the formation does not bode well for the current strike choice available to coach Clarence Seedorf.
Mario Balotelli was right to show his frustration for his substitution midway through the second half, as he worked very hard to create anything for Milan. Faced with extremely poor service from the midfield, Balotelli took it upon himself to drop deeper than the wingers on the defensive side of the ball and worked hard to create anything for Milan while the midfield just ball watched most of the game.
There are many critics and Milan fans that are constantly calling for the sale of Balotelli because of his poor performances and on and off field issues. To be completely honest, Balotelli’s off field issues have been toned down completely except for an occasional outburst, which in this case was completely justified. The real issue is that the Milan club has lost their desire to win. The XI with a few exceptions, don’t have the fighting spirit that is required of a team the caliber of Milan.
Game recap: Roma 2-0 Milan
Thoughts from Roma 2-0 Milan
And it shows. Sooner or later, it will come out in the personalities of some of the players, like Balotelli for example. The players that want to win and want to succeed will only take so much. Yes, a five game winning streak is great but it did not achieve anything for Milan that is tangible. Let’s face it, Milan without any form of European football is a complete disaster for the club’s reputation.
That is why he showed his frustration when he was subbed off and that is why he blew up on the panel during his post-game interview with Sky. When Milan win, Balotelli is great. When Milan lose, Balotelli is to blame, even if he was not the reason for the team’s loss. What a difficult situation to be in and frankly he has dealt with it quite well up to this point.
For Milan’s future, it is important to keep a number of their up and coming stars to build the club around and Balotelli is one of them. Another one of those stars is De Sciglio who is rumored to be on his way out of Milanello this summer with a possible landing spot to be Real Madrid. For me, the list of important players that need to stay at Milan are the following: Balotelli, Stephan El Shaarawy, Mattia De Sciglio, Andrea Poli, Adel Taarabt, Adil Rami, Nigel De Jong, Bryan Cristante and Andrea Petagna. Having a senior leader like Kaka around to mentor and teach the youngsters would be great. Then Milan should also promote some of the Primavera players and sell as many of the dead weight players as possible.
The summer mercato will prove to Milan fans once and for all how the management plans to move ahead with the club after this tumultuous season. The management of Milan must tread the water carefully. We all bleed the red and black and want to see Milan successful again, but the outing against Roma, one of the Serie A’s powerhouses this term has shown that Milan is still a mediocre team looking for its identity.
As always, Forza Milan!
I stoped reading when I read “Mario Balatelli was right to show his frustration for his substitution”
i bet u are an interisti……
I agree that midfield were poor against Roma, I don’t need to say anything about Muntari as everyone knows already. However it is Balotelli’s attitude on the pitch that grates with fans. Last week when they were 2-0 up on Livorno he played with incredible confidence, freedom and dynamism and looked like a really top player. However when things are not going well for the team he sulks and wanders about like he can’t be bothered. We need him to show his fighting spirit to help the team when they go a goal down instead of hampering their efforts by… Read more »
Balotelli is Milan’s most competitive player. Whether it’s because of the harassment of the fickle fans, or simply his natural desire to do well, Balo puts a lot of pressure on himself, which should be evident by his manner on the pitch. Some say Balotelli is too emotional, but, as Cassano said, “Do not try to change Balotelli. [He] is what you see. Do not try to invent another Balotelli.” There is no Balotelli without deep emotion, just like there is not a Zlatan without immense pride, or a Cantona without the desire to kick a fan or two in… Read more »
I agree its always balotelli who is blamed all the milan fans ovr the world… yes the problem was midfield… problem was honda… problem was muntari… problem was constant… problem was bonera…
truely to say there are only few palyers with the likes of balotelli, rami, de jong, kaka, tarrabt, MDS, zapata, pazo, poli, cristante who worked hard this season, they made the efforts to their best to make milan look a better team….
Most of them were not available at the same time due to injuries and suspension….
They cant be blamed they work for team….
according to me milan shouldnt sell these players:
MDS, Zapata, Bonera, De jong, Cristante, Kaka, Pazo, balotteli, SES, Pentagna, Samponara
We should try to keep Tarrabt, Rami, Poli they will be important for us in next season
We should promote paccifico,simic,modic… they are really good
We should buy a GK- KRUL/scuffet
CB- Doria, Alex(good for backup)
lb- Coentrao,Cole(ggod for backup)
cm- Fernando
RW- Cerci
CAM-Ramirez
and we will have a great team next year……
Seedorf please change ur formation. 4231 is a very stupid formation PLS!!!!!!
I think that now 4-2-2-2 would be more suitable for this team at least some kind of 4-3-3 with Kaka in midlefield can be used,but again that formation would never be used by Milan after Leonardo’s attempt
I agree about the 4-2-2-2. Look at Ancelotti’s Milan at its best: You had Dida and the back four then you had Pirlo – Gattuso Seedorf- Kaka Sheva- Super Pippo The 4-2-3-1 is a very new formation to the Italian league. Granted it could work if the three behind the striker are excellent runners with the ball (e.g. Madrid with Ronaldo, Di Maria, and Bale). It doesn’t work for us because only Taarbat can do that now. Kaka, as much as I love him, has lost his pace completely. It hurts to watch him play. His dribbling is very unpredictable.… Read more »
I will be very blunt as all these false rumours and shit are pissing me off, balotelli is a star enough said he has so much talent and puts in so much work week in week out ok he had a bad game everybody does, wait for players like SES92 to come back players who can take some of the pressure off balotelli he has been running back to defend so much comin back inside his own half to get the ball players like el shaz will allow balotelli to sit further forward because they run back they can release… Read more »
Balotelli should stay at milan. It’s very stupid to sell balotelli. And without him, milan can’t do any thing. He is working alone for milan to win and win. He is our key player and should stay with milan, seedorf should change the formation to 4-3-3. It is better so milan can let ses92, balotelli, taarabt play in the attack
Be realistic. funds are limited. We stick with the team until you are presented a milan shirt period. for now balotelli our icon. like it or not. forza milan! Hope to see niang back and seedorfs dynamism with our positioning allowing not only balo better chances.
I Agree with a new formation with 2 strikers… because I knew from the start that we didnt have the players to play a 4-2-3-1. I truthfuly wouldnt mind going back to 4-3-1-2 or even a 4-2-2-2. I think that 4-3-1-2 though would suit kaka and poli very well. Plus its milans traditional formation which brought them so much success. The only reason it didnt work last year was cause of Allegri and we didnt have the right players
He didn’t reiceve enough support from his mifields, yes. but from my tele, the few balls given to Mario Balotelli were screwed. He s the star of the team and shuld be kept in my opinion. but there is nothin wrong wit admittin he had a bad game at the olimpico.
Plus If the do buy another striker… with to partner or even replace Balo, I think the only reasonable option is Eden Dzeko, he would fit Milan perfectly.
I think that the sale of Honda, Niang, Muntari, and Nocerino, Bonera, and of course Matri should more than be enough to buy Dzeko, and keep Rami.
Kaka continuesly falling on the grown jus becuse he s tryin to make a turn or run lol Sorry but it was funny
Lets hope things would be better next season, Forza Milan
Take Balotelli and maybe Taarbabt out of Milan then the team is on par with average teams like Chievo/Livorno.
I lost my respect for Boban after this. Boban was paid by Sky to analyse football and not to HATE on Mario. I supported his criticisms of the boy in the past not in this unreasonable manners. Was it only Mario who had a bad game? Let Italian journalists attack Kaka and see what Milan would do, this Milan side isnt as strong as Roma and thats the lesson we must all learn from it and look forward to building a stronger Milan next season and not just about Mario when things go bad for Milan. I feel so much… Read more »
Balotelli is an immense talent, but he will never, and I repeat never be a great champion. He is just not smart enough. I don’t think that next season will be any better. Milan doesn’t have money to buy many good players, so we will again buy average. I think that Berlusconi definitely have to invest around 100 million in this squad (he has 9 billions), or sell at least 30% of the club. He maybe loves Milan, but he is also the main reason why we still have Galliani and why are we so poor and average
And yes, Roma is much much stronger… We were chasing Strootman, Benatia and Ljajić and Roma got them all. They have immortal Totti, great keeper, talented defence and very creative midfield (I like Pjanić a lot)
Seedorf’s biggest problem is that he is not expansive, he lacks the abilty to change the teams formation while the game is on or when the team needs to push for a goal
Please leave Balotelli alone…..media are going to b the biggest culprits if balotelli fail to become a great player….. this is world cup year so its obvious he will play and try to work not so hard that he gets injured in these matches,he could have played better if milan were in a better condition,tell me one thing,what you want to play him better for??? could he alone won the roma match?? what is milan fighting for this season is the biggest question……allegri destroyed milan,seedorf tryng to rebuild,when there is victory critics remain silent,when they draw or lose….then its all… Read more »
Personally, I feel like 3-5-1-1/3-4-2-1 would suit this Milan team perfectly. It would reinforce our most vulnerable areas (center of defense and center of midfield). We see Juve and Inter playing with these formations and they’ve had pretty good success with them (obviously Juve have done better because of their quality in players). But I would really like for Milan to give a 3 man defense a try whether it’s 3-5-1-1, 3-4-2-1, or like back in the Zaccherroni days 3-4-3. I really hope Seedorf could give a chance to one of these formations! FORZA MILAN
balotelli is a poor kid. so much pressure on him and he’s only 23. he’s our most talented player after kaka, who unfortunately, has lost his quality. we shouldn’t put too much hope into the primavera at the moment cause what we need is stability. honda needs to be given time; serie a is a difficult league to adapt to for a player of his style. nocerino, matri, muntari, abbiati, bonera, constant, maybe mexes, essien and zaccardo need to get going. at this point i don’t really care about playing in uefa europa league, my only motivation would be for… Read more »
First of, Balo TONED DOWN COMPLETELY should mean NO sudden outbursts. Not 1 today and another one in 3 weeks time. Second of all, Roma is 2nd on the table and we are the 10th! Roma has been playing well since match day 1 and had a long 100% winning record, we just started playing well 5 games ago. We were not in their playing level, regardless with the right tactic or not. Our midfielders weren’t ball watching and couldn’t service Balo because they were overwhelmed by Roma’s midfielders that have been playing solid through out the season. Third, although… Read more »
Football is a team sport. There are 11 players that compete. Making a hero out of someone or calling them out for not performing is just as bad. You can not blame or applaud one person for the entire team’s poor or great performance. In this case, the biggest problem for Balotelli is the system. He can not perform as a lone striker because he has too many eyes and legs on him. He needs a second man to free up a defender or two so that he can utilize his pace, technical ability and pace. In addition to the… Read more »
Let me start by saying that this was a great read as usual, and that I like that you offered a different perspective on Balotelli. I completely agree that he isn’t the right fit for a one striker formation. He will always be the person that the opposition will man mark or double team and he needs someone that he can play with up top to alleviate that pressure!
It is true that football is a team play and we can’t just condemn on a single player. However, a single player can make a big difference. One’s mobility and hard work can make the other better.
I don’t understand why Seedorf doesn’t play with 2 strikers more often. We made some goals with Petagna and Pazzini both assisting Balo.
I don’t think Milan will be in trouble if Balo leaves, it could a blessing in disguise.
In attack maybe but in defense that’s different. Balotelli could run riot on the opposition defense and then Rami could be playing amazing contain defense but a run from the midfield catches Bonera or Mexes sleeping and a pass would score an equalizing goal. How many times did we see similar situations where we were one up and ended up losing. That is on the team, not an individual. That’s what I mean by teamwork. All 11 players need to move on the pitch at the same time and in sync with each other. Similar to the well oiled Pep… Read more »
or sacchi’s milan
i had hated mexes since his playing time in roma,they will be grateful they sold him,bonera is old,abiati is one of milan’s bigest problem,milan should selll some players and by quality players,we need right back.attacking midfielders and a surportig attacker to assist baloteli
Boban has been so annoying the last ten years, i understand why Balotelli would be annoyed by him