Lazio - Milan

Lazio bunch and Klose : Berisha, Marchetti, Strakosha; Basta, Cana, Cavanda, de Vrij, Konko, Pereirinha, Radu, Mauricio; Biglia, Cataldi, Ederson, Gonzalez, Ledesma, Onazi, Parolo, Candreva, Mauri; Keita, Djordjevic, Klose

Milan fodder and friends : Abbiatti, Agazzi, Diego Lopez, Abate, Albertazzi, Alex, Mexes, Armero, Zaccardo, De Santis, Calabria, Essien Montolivo, Muntari, Poli, Suso, Van Ginkel, Cerci, El Shaarawy, Menez, Bonaventura, Pazzini.

dat midfield finally . Although , i didn't expect Van Ginkel on the left . I guess it's because of Poli . Here's to a great game , if they manage to prove its superiority in contrast to the defensive-minded midfield trio we have been playing so far , they will be doing everyone a great favor . At this point i would moan about El Shaarawy being benched , but it seems , if it's an away game , SES most always is benched. This is seriously ridiculous , but i am tired of pointing this out.

The trident of Jack-Menez-Cerci , backed up by this midfield , should at the very least prove dangerous against Lazio . I hope this line-up can stay more or less intact , it's been a long while since i almost fully approved of what i saw from a probable line-up.. here's hoping it stays like this . I hope we can see Suso and El Shaarawy play , but i am not that optimistic about it. Especially if we are winning by the 2nd half lol , prepare for at least two of Rami-Muntari-Essien to defend the result . Rami gets a lot of bench too , sigh ..

We haven't been playing good football , neither we were getting wins so far , having taken only five points out of a possible 15 in the last 5 games. I don't know what Inzaghi is dreaming that we haven't been playing like we did before Christmas , we didn't play good football before Christmas too . He expects a great game from the team , let's see. Lazio were having an in-form period lately , even though they were defeated against Napoli last matchday . It would be a difficult game and i think Lazio missing Felipe Anderson won't stop them from giving it all for the win. I read though De Vrij and Biglia are in for Lazio , oh well.

We're missing Bonera and neither Muntari and Essien are starting . Niang won't get in , sadly we loaned him as you know..... Our situation is dire , we cannot do without these vital parts of the XI , but i hope we can at least play football to compensate for their absence . Here's hoping we can lose with dignity at least . Pioli said he doesn't know nor cares if we are in crisis , but i read between the lines alright , he left Felipe Anderson out of the game because we were missing Bonera and Niang . What a gentleman , have an espressino on me mr.Pioli

Really hope SES gets a good half hour at least and makes an impact, Pippo's treatment of him has been incredibly annoying considering he's the most promising player we have.

Pippo said Van Ginkel would start one of our next two games, it seems it will be this one. I'm very curious how our midfield will fare considering De Jong is out, but it is an away game which means we will likely be defensive.

We thoroughly outplayed them on the opening day but that was then and this is now, there is no doubt they are the favorites. I really have no expectations, I'm more curious then anything, both how we play away against a team in form and how this midfield we've never seen before does.

On another note, if we win I think we should officially ban ES from making matchday threads

Inzaghi is reading Dante's posts on goallegacy

yeah agreed , the odds are obviously against Milan and not just because we play away . Nevertheless , i can't wait to see how we play before anything else .

Katy Perry wrote:Inzaghi is reading Dante's posts on goallegacy

obviously

inb4 we get destroyed on the counter

There's a huge mismatch on the Milan's left/Lazio's right flank, Candreva has been the best right winger in Serie A and Armero has always been defensively suspect. Plus Armero is always reckless when pushing forward because that's the way he plays, and with Bonaventura as a LW where he'll be more incline to drift towards the center Armero is going to push even higher.

It's also going to be interesting how Inzaghi has decided to cope with Mauri who has played all season as a false winger that plays in between the lines and with someone that offers costant runs inside the opponent's box in Parolo. Usually De Jong did that job.

If Inzaghi decides to play his midfield deeper to contain Lazio's midfielders and to not push forward the fullbacks you'll risk another match where you're dominated for 90 minutes like the Torino match. Let's see.

Some good points , however the answer to most of it simple , if it shall be effective we are going to find out tonight

1. we keep the ball more than them

2. Relying less on the individuals to deal with counters and more on pressing and fast transition.

This midfield is a testatement to both points , we can't even allow to be attacked more than we attack , if we play like that.

As i see it , it will be madness not to take the initiative and attack , this set up should have what it takes to starve them of the ball. We have no option , if we can't push them back and attack them , this midfield will get slaughtered and as a result , the entire team will get slaughtered.

If we play like that , we don't have plan b. We have first say and we attack , period . When we have to defend , we must rely less on individual skill and more on our numbers and pressing . If we can manage fast transitions and avoid lame mistakes , we should be mostly fine.

Our way of defence won't change at all , it will still be deep and numerous . De Jong and Muntari prove fine when defending counter attacks , well , imho , pressing and fast transitions are better than both of them together on the field.

As for the FBs , playing Armero and Abate you expect them to push forwards , otherwise he would play a more defensive player instead of Armero. (which may well happen , official line ups are not out yet)

let's wait for the official XIs

2-0 Lazio Klose, Ledesma.

OFFICIAL Milan XI Vs Lazio (4-3-3): Diego Lopez; Abate, Alex, Mexes, Armero; Poli, Montolivo, Van Ginkel; Bonaventura, Menez, ElShaarawy

Bonaventura in Cerci's place and El Shaarawy in , the rest remain the same . What a surprise this line up has been , if it is meant to be pleasant it remains to be seen.

Can't wait to see how we do , this is imho , Inzaghi's best ever line-up since he became Milan's manager.

I expect Milan to attack and be dangerous , i do however remain sceptical in our ability to transist between attack and defence. IMO , it will decide the game . If we allow Lazio to attack us consistently , we will lose the match. If we attack and impose ourselves , i believe we have everything in order to take the 3 points.

Let's see how the changes go.

I think MVG will play regista over Montolivo

2-1 loss

SES is playing

Excited to see how this goes, even if ES's prediction is likely.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

1-0!!!!!!!

Inb4 we collapse and lose 3-1

Bravo Menez , perfect . 0-1

MENEZZZZZZ FFS GREATEST FRENCH FALSE 9 OF ALL TIME

Watch us lose 2-1 now. ES prediction looking spot on

2 yellows in the first 10 minutes, hope we finish this with 11 men...

absolutely unfair , Radu should be shown a 2nd yellow there on Jack!

fkn glogged Jack's leg from behind , gets warning

Edit : immense Diego Lopez , nice

Montolivo is bossing it as regista ffs

although Van Ginkel has been a liability defensively speaking..

We'll be lucky to get out of this with a draw, Lazio ripping us apart.

SES should just keep it simple...sometimes he thinks he is a Robben/Neymar hybrid. Just now he tried a faint that led to a Lazio chance

it's happening exactly what i didn't want to see , instead of us starving them of the ball , they have clearly won this fight so far and it's been hurting us dearly

we must press more

Van Ginkel and Poli were living the nightmare . Van Ginkel lacks game time of course , he lacked confidence . Defensively speaking , he was nonexistent sadly. So many through balls that resulted in clear goal scoring chances flowed easily through his area.. Thankfully , Diego Lopez had an amazing first half , extraordinary.  

From Poli i was surprised , support cast at best. Bonaventura and Abate did most of his job , he was just running up and down most of the time. No composure , no clear head , low confidence too. I guess our side midfielders generally felt the task too heavy , relying so long in the defensive part of the game and immediately asked to dominate proved a tad too much , especially as the game went by .

Montolivo was absolute class and responded bravely under severe pressure. Took great care on the ball , decided quickly and calmly on the spot , clicked with everyone around him , moved the ball on , very good stuff. Although it must be said , in the last 15m , there was nothing to do with the ball , he was just another defender. In any case , i think the difference between mezzala Montolivo and regista Montolivo is something as clear as daylight .

Sadly , his partner in crime found it very difficult to cope , Lazio were fierce and kept denying them almost everything. Tough midfield and they lack Felipe Anderson too . Van Ginkel must be immediately replaced , we need Muntari in the 2nd half.

Mexez sucked , ffs. I can't believe how bad he was. It's a mystery to me how his mistakes didn't cost us a goal really. Terrible first half , Rami should replace him right now . Alex was meh too , in fact he was lethargic and slow to react too. Abate meh , Armero even more meh...(stupid yellow too)

Our attack should keep it simple and quick , we waste chances that cannot be wasted because we either procrastinate or like Ganso said about Es , we don't keep it simple . Very happy with Menez , even though his "i don't run to help" perspective is infuriating.. he had a very good first half , denied a clear foul outside the box too.

I would like to see Mexes out for Rami and MVG our for Muntari and go from there . They have won the midfield battle totally but the players didn't pressure and didn't transition as fast . That is on Inzaghi , 100% .

I hope we improve on the few positives we showed so far.

*sigh*

Bonaventura ruined a perfectly good counter attack