How to beat Milan

[CAD]

So it's Milan again. What do you think Rafa needs to do to pull number 6 out of the hat? Everything that Fergie didn't? I took a look at last nights display of tactical ineptness from Sir Fergie and believe me he got everything wrong last night. His 4-5-1 with Ronaldo on the left (!?) did them no favours. With Ronaldos missing defensive effort Fletcher had to cover to an extend that pulled the entire team of balance. Scholes were sitting too deep because he feel into Fletchers slot when they were off the ball. The counter attacking plans were pretty much limited to giving the ball to Ronaldo who finally played against a fullback with as much pace in the boats as himself - Oddo. That is if he even managed to get that far because Gattuso shut him down many many times further up pitch. Giggs suffered. He got next to nothing to work with from Scholes.

The key to shutting down Scum is clearly to sit on Scholes. He has no answer. He's too old and slow these days. We did it on Anfield as well. (*recoils in pain).

Milans defense might not be as strong as their midfield but it's not far off when Dida is having a good day! In the 4-4-2 formation yesterday, with Kaka and Inzaghi up front, we saw Gattuso and Pirlo conquer the ball and with skillful distribution setup Seedorf as the Maestro. As Gene said; Seedorf did look good last night. He looked good in the first legs 45 min as well. Milan suffers from an extremely delicate balance between controlling the game and breaking over through the middle. If you sit on Pirlo and press Gattuso you will shut down Seedorf. Be compact and dont defend too deep. Kaka is obviously a one man show. He has more pace than almost every defender in the world. He makes Drogba look slow. You can never fully shut down a player like this but you can isolate him. That is what happend the moment Gattuso left the pitch at OT. He almost became the invisible man.

Imo Gattuso is key to breaking down this Milan side. Everything goes through him. Their offensive games starts with shortpassing through him and Pirlo. The feeding of Seedorf goes through Gattuso. His is the heart and soul of this side. If we can shut him down we will win this.

If I were a Scum fan I would put all the blame at Fergies door. What a European nutter he has been for Scum. 99 was the real fluke. They didn't even deserve to win that final.

Give me Rafa anytime

[shankly]

interesting post

[Rhys]

they have poor strikers so there only real goal threat is through the midfield. your right if we contain pirlo and seedorf they have no creativity to supply kaka and gilardino.

they play without wingers but there full backs like to bomb forward a lot. so i would play 2 wingers to pin them down and attack them. pennant and kewell (if fit)

there defence is solid but can get exposed when jankulovski and oddo get forward so 2 up front is a must (crouch and kuyt)

there very fast on the break so masch should play to break up their attack, but momo would be brilliant at stopping kaka so im undecided.

stevie should play in the middle as he's a better goal threat, but would leaving out xabi be a mistake??

[theriotact]

Good post mate.

I have no idea how to stop them but I know that we need to be very physical. I think they worry about that.

[Lecter]

So it's Milan again. What do you think Rafa needs to do to pull number 6 out of the hat? Everything that Fergie didn't? I took a look at last nights display of tactical ineptness from Sir Fergie and believe me he got everything wrong last night. His 4-5-1 with Ronaldo on the left (!?) did them no favours. With Ronaldos missing defensive effort Fletcher had to cover to an extend that pulled the entire team of balance. Scholes were sitting too deep because he feel into Fletchers slot when they were off the ball. The counter attacking plans were pretty much limited to giving the ball to Ronaldo who finally played against a fullback with as much pace in the boats as himself - Oddo. That is if he even managed to get that far because Gattuso shut him down many many times further up pitch. Giggs suffered. He got next to nothing to work with from Scholes.

The key to shutting down Scum is clearly to sit on Scholes. He has no answer. He's too old and slow these days. We did it on Anfield as well. (*recoils in pain).

Milans defense might not be as strong as their midfield but it's not far off when Dida is having a good day! In the 4-4-2 formation yesterday, with Kaka and Inzaghi up front, we saw Gattuso and Pirlo conquer the ball and with skillful distribution setup Seedorf as the Maestro. As Gene said; Seedorf did look good last night. He looked good in the first legs 45 min as well. Milan suffers from an extremely delicate balance between controlling the game and breaking over through the middle. If you sit on Pirlo and press Gattuso you will shut down Seedorf. Be compact and dont defend too deep. Kaka is obviously a one man show. He has more pace than almost every defender in the world. He makes Drogba look slow. You can never fully shut down a player like this but you can isolate him. That is what happend the moment Gattuso left the pitch at OT. He almost became the invisible man.

Imo Gattuso is key to breaking down this Milan side. Everything goes through him. Their offensive games starts with shortpassing through him and Pirlo. The feeding of Seedorf goes through Gattuso. His is the heart and soul of this side. If we can shut him down we will win this.

If I were a Scum fan I would put all the blame at Fergies door. What a European nutter he has been for Scum. 99 was the real fluke. They didn't even deserve to win that final.

Give me Rafa anytime

For me Pirlo starts off their attacks

Gattuso is the water carrier who does the donkey work for the other midfielders

Two things strike me

Firstly I'm not convinced their back four is actually that good, United didnt even get close to exploiting them because their midfield protected them. Obvious solution would be to play Crouch and bypass their midfield

Secondly their midfield had time and space yesterday - I'm fairly certain we will press them in fact I wouldnt be surprised to see Rafa playing 5 in midfield to try and keep things very tight and smother them

[Lecter]

they have poor strikers so there only real goal threat is through the midfield. your right if we contain pirlo and seedorf they have no creativity to supply kaka and gilardino.

they play without wingers but there full backs like to bomb forward a lot. so i would play 2 wingers to pin them down and attack them. pennant and kewell (if fit)

there defence is solid but can get exposed when jankulovski and oddo get forward so 2 up front is a must (crouch and kuyt)

there very fast on the break so masch should play to break up their attack, but momo would be brilliant at stopping kaka so im undecided.

stevie should play in the middle as he's a better goal threat, but would leaving out xabi be a mistake??

I'd play Crouch on his own and get Gerrard in and around him as much as possible

[tomasjj]

they have poor strikers so there only real goal threat is through the midfield. your right if we contain pirlo and seedorf they have no creativity to supply kaka and gilardino.

they play without wingers but there full backs like to bomb forward a lot. so i would play 2 wingers to pin them down and attack them. pennant and kewell (if fit)

there defence is solid but can get exposed when jankulovski and oddo get forward so 2 up front is a must (crouch and kuyt)

there very fast on the break so masch should play to break up their attack, but momo would be brilliant at stopping kaka so im undecided.

stevie should play in the middle as he's a better goal threat, but would leaving out xabi be a mistake??

Interesting thoughts. I think your analysis on how Milan play is correct, if you add the points that CAD mentioned - Pirlo and Gattuso being the hubs.
They also need to be contained.

I reckon Mascher will play to shackle Kaka.
And SG/Kuyt/Alonso will have a tough job pressing Pirlo and Gattuso to stop supply.

4-2-3-1 would be the formation of choice I think, if those numbers mean anything, with Alonso and Masher defensive and SG behind Crouch/Kuyt. Alternatively - SG on the left Pennant on the right and Kuyt behind Crouch.

[cannotmakeit]

Kuyt will start with Crouch. Maser and Alonson in the middle with Gerrard on the right.

[Rhys]

Kuyt will start with Crouch. Maser and Alonson in the middle with Gerrard on the right.

pennant or kewell

[Rhys]

Interesting thoughts. I think your analysis on how Milan play is correct, if you add the points that CAD mentioned - Pirlo and Gattuso being the hubs.
They also need to be contained.

I reckon Mascher will play to shackle Kaka.
And SG/Kuyt/Alonso will have a tough job pressing Pirlo and Gattuso to stop supply.

4-2-3-1 would be the formation of choice I think, if those numbers mean anything, with Alonso and Masher defensive and SG behind Crouch/Kuyt. Alternatively - SG on the left Pennant on the right and Kuyt behind Crouch.

i'd prefer not to play one up front as we always seem to revert to 4-5-1 with crouch stranded up front when we play that formation.

[tomasjj]

i'd prefer not to play one up front as we always seem to revert to 4-5-1 with crouch stranded up front when we play that formation.

Yes, but I think Rafa will need all those bodies to contain the milan midfield.
He will remember the last final very well, and that might make him a tad cautious I think.

[tsb]

The continental teams we've played so far haven't been able to live with Crouch - he's a shoe in for the final. As mentioned earlier, Masher will play - he cannot be dropped after the other night. Sissoko's wayward passing is something we can't afford with predators like Seedorf and Kaka ready to pounce.

[Harv]

[Big Dave]

I think that we need to play 2 up front to give their full backs something to think about other than getting forward. Stopping their full backs should mean that the midfield will have to stretch out to cover the wider aread that the full backs were filling last night. I think that playing with our wingers will also help this, which means picking two from Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso and Sissoko.

I think that the only change I would make from Tuesday's game is to play Kewell if fit down the left instead of Zenden!

Leaves us plenty of options from the bench then and the ability to change our shape at any time.

[CAD]

For me Pirlo starts off their attacks

Gattuso is the water carrier who does the donkey work for the other midfielders

Two things strike me

Firstly I'm not convinced their back four is actually that good, United didnt even get close to exploiting them because their midfield protected them. Obvious solution would be to play Crouch and bypass their midfield

Secondly their midfield had time and space yesterday - I'm fairly certain we will press them in fact I wouldnt be surprised to see Rafa playing 5 in midfield to try and keep things very tight and smother them

I have to say that I disagree with your simplistic evaluation of Gattuso. When Gattuso left the pitch at OT Scholes went from the invisible man to starplayer in 2 mins. Pirlo had nothing on Scholes! Pirlo is not nearly as important as the beast Gattuso. When we look at the shortpassing on the Milan midfield it becomes evident that Gattuso is much more than a waterboy. What makes Gattuso so unique is the ability to do the donkey work better than almost any other footballer alive and have the strength and footballing ability to participate in the game up field. Without Gattuso this team is only Kaka. Without Gattuso, Pirlo and Seedorf disappears. Why is that? Gattuso insures the much needed breaks for both Pirlo and Seedorf. Pirlo is to small to impose himself on the midfield against a team like Liverpool. He doesn't run enough either. Seedorf offers next to nothing defensively. If asked to pull little weight, as he was in the 2nd half at OT, he offers NOTHING forward.

In other words. If we can dominate Gattuso you will see Milan struggle.

How to do this and what line-up might be most effective is another story. Some absolutely ironcast certainties would be that Gerrard must be at CM in a 4-4-2 formation with Kuyt working like he did against Chelsea. Gerrard has the physic, grit and most of all heart we need against Gattuso.

I see Alonso on the bench again and Crouch as the other striker as you say. We need the width Pennant provides. LM will probably go to Zenden, in what could be he's last outing for us. I think we need Riise at LB. Arbeloa is not the answer.

With or without Maldini, I think that Pennant will be key. There will be room for him on the rightside in this game.