Deni_Rossonero;2567434 said:
Glad to see a Barca fan being honest about Dinho, IMO he's one of the best ever (Pele, Maradona, Zizou and Dinho for me), and he'll always be a great player.
As for the age thing you and Vitu can't really be serious? You cannot look at the teams age you look at the players, Zidane was great at 34-35 (he was great till the last minute of his career (especially for hitting Materazzi), and still is), Larsson too, and by the way i don't think we have an old team.
Abbiati 31 (Dida 34, Kalac 35)
Zambrotta 31(Bonera 27) Kaladze 30 (Senderos 23) Nesta 32(Maldini 40, Darmian 18) Jankulovski 31 (Antonini 26, Favalli 36)
Flamini 24 (Ambrosini 31) Pirlo 29 (Cardacio 20) Gattuso 30 (Emerson 32)
Kaka' 26 (Viudez 18) Ronaldinho 28 (Seedorf 32)
Pato 18 (Borriello 26, Sheva 31, Inzaghi 35)
Compare that to any team in the world except Arsenal's and you'll see we're not that old. Also now look at all the players individually, i'd rather have per say Zambrotta for three years at right back than some Zaccardo for 10, and Milan has enough money to just go and buy a new full back when Zambro can't do it no more, so what does age has to do with anything? It's about the player not the age.
If Ronaldinho really makes an effort, he'll join the trio you mentioned. For me, he's the best player I've ever seen, but he needs to do a lot more to be considered an all-time great. With Milan, he has a chance.
As for your team, sorry, but that is old. Your biggest problem is the defense. It's nothing new that your team needs to be rejuvenated, and I can't see how you can dispute that.
I'll take the bait and share a few thoughts here.
For starters, the GK position. Age doesn't really matter here because goalies are at their peak in their early thirties. But I think you need more quality there. A great young goalkeeping lion is necessary. For me, Kalac is a joke, Dida isn't what he used to be and Abbiati is an Atleti reject, which says a lot.
You starting defense doesn't have anyone older than 30, and that's a problem. I don't know what Zambrotta will do, but I fear that two bad seasons may have done big damage to his game. Maybe I'm being harsh, but I think Milan should have much better players than Kakha and Marek in defense, especially since you play in a league that favours defense. As for the subs, it's even worse. Favalli and Maldini are too old, Darmian I don't know, and the only plausible backup for me is Bonera, and even he isn't very encouraging. Senderos is another reject, so I wouldn't jump around all happy if he joined my team. When Wenger lets a youngster go, it means something's wrong there. I should know, because we have their best player. Very soon, we could all see why AW didn't keep him.
Your midfield is a problem as well. Ambro and Pirlo stand out as quality options, but the rest? I'm still unsure about Flamini (another guy AW didn't try to keep), and Emerson just doesn't cut it anymore. Gattuso hasn't been looking like his old self, and he was your biggest strength in the CL winning season.
Your front line looks very good, Kaka and Ronaldinho providing service for Pato and Sheva is mouth-watering, with the vulture Pippo ocassionally doing a tap in. Seedorf is always Seedorf and Borriello looks quality as well.
But that's just one third of the pitch. Like I said, your defense is a big problem and it doesn't look too good. The midfield as well. Basically, you depend on how well Flamini turns out. I'm really not convinced with your team, with the exception of the attack force.
That was my view on your team player-by-player without focusing on age, but you cannot deny it's an important factor. Why do you think you were so poor last season? You have a specific midfield where bulldogs play in front of the creator, being his shield. That doesn't seem to be working anymore. It's the same type of midfield Donadoni tried in the Euros, and look how great that turned out. I don't know if it's the age problem where your players just don't have enough agility anymore, or maybe you've become a read book (like Juve in Lippi's last season or Barcelona in the past two seasons), or both, but it's clear you have problems and you need to sign players. Maybe Berlusconi was too cheap this summer and he could have signed more people, even though I think you're taking it slow, building a formidable team summer by summer that is supposed to challenge Inter and Juventus in a couple of seasons. But right now, I don't see it happening. You simply need younger players (and I'm not talking about the ones you listed, the anonymous guys under 20, because they are quite irrelevant in a gigant club like Milan on their hunt for a scudetto). You need players in their prime (27-30), not a combination of very young ones (<20) and very old ones (>30). You have a gap in between and you need to have Silvio dig deeper inside his pockets.
Like I said, the UEFA Cup could be on the agenda, with your team achieving something similar to the CL triumph, taking it easier in Serie A while focusing on euro glory. You could do it with Ronnie.
But in the league, I see the trio of Inter, Roma and Juve to be stronger simply because they seem to have more balanced teams with better combinations of youth and experience. Nevermind some of their injury problems,their players will return and you'll see a three horse race IMO.
And finally I have to say this - Zidane and King Henke? Think again, mate. Zizou was quite average by his standards in his last two seasons in Madrid. You could see he can't carry the team anymore, and he even spent quite some time on the bench in his final season. Zidane is an all-time great, but his last club seasons were poor, IMO.
Larsson was brought as an experienced backup, he rarely started. He was our joker from the bench, not a real option to bench Eto'o.
But, in any case, best of luck in your season. Hopefully you can beat the Translator from the other club in Milano.
keep in the same line than last season.
why i need the highlights, that ronaldinho its absolutley the same than last season (but better than pekin one)