Friday, August 20, 2010

trofeo tim

Alessandro Nesta

Milan 1 Juventus 1

We set out to play a team that has gone through something of a revolution. Guess what? They are not yet done. It's quite surprising that the Agnelli family would spend millions for a man who secured Champions League qualification with a mid-table club. Unlike Madrid, where logic has taken a backseat and business happens at a mentally retarded scale, transfers at Turin are meaningful yet shocking given the status of Italian clubs at the moment. Were Juventus very different from the old? No. But nor were we. Our biggest problem still remains our inability to handle set pieces and high balls. Abate was pushed into right back, a position he simply isn't qualified to play at. AC Milan's two worst forwards were forming the front line in Oduamadi and Borriello. I don't think it could get much worse than that. Juventus had to win to stay in the competition and this was reflected with their drive and determination. They were more willing to attack and press forward. Juventus continued to see more of the ball and found greater space in Milan's half. 4-3-3 isn't a formation that suits Milan because the players aren't fluid enough. Unlike at Barcelona where players run around like their pants are on fire, Milan players play in a zonal fashion. Amelia displayed some of his net-minding skills as he produced a one handed top drawer save from Diego. Contrary to the domination, Milan opened the scoring as Oduamadi found an unmarked Ronaldinho who scored from a tight angle that would make Diego Milito proud. As it was inevitable, Juventus drew their quality together as they cut right across the defense with Diego using his momentum to help his shot into the back of the net. 1-1. Nesta was fantastic and if he plays like this for the rest of the season, he could be strictly considered as the best defender in the world. However, he couldn't cover for 4 defenders. Especially not when your partner is called Bonera and thinks defending is all about letting the striker get past you. Amelia also had a phenomenal game as he came through in the penalties to set up a final of sorts against Inter.



Inter 0 Milan 0

Milan had to face Inter after defeating Juventus on penalties. Rafa decided to mock Allegri's intelligence by setting out a very young, new look Inter side. Or was he mocking Milan? Inzaghi was in the midst of the action as he hit the bar and was running his socks off. His movement was something of a concern for the Inter defense as well. Inzaghi dropped deep to get the ball while Huntelaar was deprived of service. This game was one of the worst I must have seen in a long time. The players are just keen on knocking the ball around without purpose. It seemed like the players wanted to open the champagne bottle once the whistle was blown and the players couldn't be less bothered to shower. So the lack of effort was perhaps a way to stay fresh to nab young Italian women after the game. Or this is just my imagination working overtime as a result of the boredom. Sokritis and Yepes who are our second choice defensive pairing are solid and effective and this should keep Bonera and Kaladze far away from first team. The game ended in a penalty shootout. We could have won it if not for Ronaldinho's cheeky penalty which Allegri didn't seem too pleased about.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.