Thursday 6 August 2015

Honda wanted by Premier League clubs

There are some players in the team that doesn't fit into Mihajlovic's plan and the Serbian is not satisfied with them at Rossoneri club, such as Verdi and Agazzi and Zaccardo.

Recently, Honda has joined the list. The Japanese, who had joined Ac Milan free in January 2014 and was expected to do a lot for the team.

According to reports from Tuttosport this morning, the Japanese doesn't want to be seen as just a way of marketing the brand in Asia. His number 10 shirt is the most sold in the Middle East, and there are a lot of sponsors for him in Japan. 

Milan are making the most of the player commercially, especially with a lot of newspapers and magazines put his picture on the cover.

During the Audi Cup the player's accompanies met with Galliani to understand Honda's condition with the club. The Japanese international has many clubs interested in him especially in England such as Tottenham and Everton. Keisuke Honda prefers to play as the playmaker, but is not doing very well. As well as the fact that coach Mihailovic has several alternatives in this position such as Bonaventure, Menez, and Suso. The Japanese wants to feel that he is an important part in Mihajlovic's formation, and if thats not the case then he prefers to leave the club. The coach is also not convinced with his performances during pre-season and wouldn't mind letting him go. The upcoming days will bring more information about the owner of the number 10.

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Match Report: Bayern Munich - Milan 3-0

The fact that we played two good games against Inter and Real Madrid got us all thinking that we can really do something against the team that won against Barcelona with seven goals on aggregate in the Champions League.

The spirit and the intense training that we read and witnessed in videos and heard about pushed us to think that we are ready to take Serie A to the next level, and even when we heard Marchisio's comments about Milan being Juve's competitors for the Scudetto.

Some of you will say it's Bayern Munich, or they are at home or even that we only have one month of preparation, and i agree with all that but the fact that we only saw their goalkeeper in the 44th minute is embarrassing and we all saw how that attitude changed for 15 minutes in the second half, we missed the character that Miha was trying to rebuild and he expressed his feelings on the pitch kicking the ball back furiously at a wrong pass which we saw a lot of. 

As usual Miha started with a classic 4-3-1-2 with Bacca and Adriano as forwards and Honda behind the strikers, Bertolacci and Bonaventura as wide Midfielders with De Jong as a safety CM. In the back we had a ghost of a Right Back "De Sciglio" Ely and Zabata with very solid performances for both regardless of the first goal and yet another ghost on the Left back with Antonelli.

The game started and with more than 20 minutes passed we could see that position was almost 80% to the home side and all of a sudden we had 2 right backs and 2 left as Bona and Berto were defending stupidly without any effectiveness what so ever. The strikers were forced to push back for lack of support with all communications channels broken into pieces thanks to Honda's lack of basic passing skills or by Munich's Midfielders characteristic. And what killed me the most was that there wasn't any real tactics behind all i saw was someone trying to prove that he is the best team in the world forgetting what team they were up against. 

For now we will keep on praying that the three more names that we all really wants "IbraRomagnoli and Witsel" will join before the season starts so we can really try and start to call it a new project, even though if you really ask me a left-back is so important that we really can't ignore at all.

My Rating for AC Milan Players out of 10:

D. Lopez: 5
Nothing much to say, but he's the best signing for years.

De Sciglio: 3
I really loved him back in his debut season, but the fact that he's not even trying anymore is what's killing me the most. The way he acted on the second goal wasn't even Italian "Defensive wise" he was looking at the ball stupidly like from minute one he was saying we will lose for sure so why try at all, and i swear if we played the same way we did against Real Madrid we would have our heads held high and so happy with the work but no he wants to remind you of Pippo's bad period.  

Zapata: 5.5
We can't blame him for that stupid goal, but the fact that he stopped this side for more than one time was fantastic.

R. Ely: 5.5
All friendly's long, i did enjoy this player the most along Calabria, he's putting on a good performance after another and i can't see anything but good future for him.

Antonelli: 3.5
Just one more over De Sciglio so i can point out how disappointed i am of him, but both players didn't do anything that impressed.

De Jong: 6
The only player i love that we have in games like this, as if we missed him it would've been a disaster that we would have been talking about today and if he had scored that long ranger, Guardiola would have giving him the Audi cup himself.

Bonaventura: 4.5
Playing wide wasn't the way to go, and with lack of concentration on the defensive side i can't say anymore.

Bertolacci: 5
Worked and ran a lot, but no focus, losing the ball had to cover more than one position which is hard for a young player at the moment.

Honda: 4.5
All over the place, tried some good moves, but had to defend more than help on the offensive side

Bacca and L. Adriano: 5
Both did their defensive part and we witnessed some movements in the second half but without any good Mid's i can't really rank a striker unless he's Messi and even he sometimes can't do anything without his supporting actors.

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Audi Cup - AC Milan's prostate exam?

The already classic and prestigious pre-season tournament, Audi Cup, with no less than Bayern Munich vs A.C. Milan will start in just a few hours. But why do we use these shocking words to speak about this beautiful game?

Yes, we used "prostate exam", a name as uncomfortable as it's meaning. But this name is a perfect metaphor to analyze what Milan is facing today. This is a test to see if we are in a good shape, if we are healthy, if we can go on with our life as it is or if we have to take care of some aspects. And the best way to face our reality is to go to the doctor Bayern Munich without no fear.

We will be playing against one of the best teams in the world, we were one of these huge teams, our players and staff were full of stars, and we were representing Italy in the best way. This can hurt a little, but we have to face it, analyze it and move on. The best way to move on and also going back to our best level is going through hard tests.

Today, we are in a crisis. We can say that we are facing the 50 years crisis, and you all know that means we have to take that uncomfortable test at that age. We were young once, very healthy, winning against the same teams in this tournament, showing a great football. Today we have to reinvent our self, discover our weaknesses and react immediately.

Is Rodrigo Ely ready to be the second central defence? Is Mexes the first central? Is our defence complete? Will the middle guys be able to stop Bayern's army and try to build some maneuver? Are the new players ready to be a part of Sinisa's project? Are they enough to plug the holes of last year?

These are the uncomfortable questions that this hard test will try to answer, even if pre-season games don't tell the whole story.

Witsel Intermediary: "Zenit wants €30"

Witsel's Intermediary (Riccardo Napolitano) has once again spoked about his client's possible move to Milan. 

"If Zenit has dropped their asking price to €30m? Yes, they would let Witsel leave for €30m, but they could also accept €25+bonuses"

"At the moment, Zenit have received no official offer for Witsel."

Milan, who have been following Witsel for a while now, is not the only club interested in the Belgian's services, with Juventus showing their interest as well.

"Who is in pole position for Witsel between Juve and Milan? Milan has followed him for a long time and has not dropped their interest, while Juve's interest is a bit outdated. Anything can happen at any point."

Champions League play has been rumored to be a big part of Witsel's decision but Napolitano denies this.

"If Champions League will be decisive in his decision on which club he joins? Absolutely not. He wants to play for a top club. Juve and Milan are on the same level for him."

"When negotiations can start? Anything after mid-August will be a good time, but I think it could go down to the last days of the transfer market, when Galliani usually lands his targets."