Hard luck: Milan vs Barcelona Part V (Buki Baka Edition)

Ye hopefully he will get good with a lil more experience

Personally, the 4th goal annoyed me more than our overall shityness in the game.. Chasing the game, We got a foul in the barca half with 3 additional minutes of extra time, instead of playing the ball into the Barca penalty area and hope for the best, clueless Robinho gives a simple short pass like we were actually leading the game, we got dispossessed, Barca countered and BANG.. Goal!!!

That was the most annoying moment of the game for me

El Shaarawy spent most of last season and all of this pre-season being heavily criticised for his finishing, yet he has shown on countless occasions in the league this season that he can often be depended upon to provide an important finish and yet even he looked nervous and wasteful in front of goal over the course of this tie.

Such is football. No forward will ever convert every "simple" chance presented to him. Niang's problem wasn't that he missed, it was that it was the only chance he got all game. It was a brilliant chance and one that I had expected to be converted, and like many others, the miss psychologically tormented me and made the tie feel like it had slipped away before it really had. We simply didn't create enough to warrant an away goal.

Niang's still to inexperienced to play the centre forward role and far too light, however as I've said before, with Balotelli and Pazzini available in the centre, I hope we continue to employ him on the wing. When he was switched to the flank at the beginning of the second half he looked more at home, however even then we were disjointed and disappointing on the ball. Niang should under no circumstances be blamed however. This was a collective failure. Whilst certain individuals, namely Flamini, Constant and Zapata, were particularly frustrating, it's pointless to engage in a war against individuals.

I don't particularly want to dwell on this match. It's a tie we were expected to lose and the team gave us great hope and a performance to remember. What we need to take from this is a strong idea of what we must do for the remainder of the season. De Sciglio should be played at left back, Champions League qualification ensured as quickly as possible, and as appropriate, the likes of Cristante and Salamon given precious cameo appearances in Serie A to prepare them for rotational roles in the near future.