Liverpool FC Forum

by **L-type** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:37 am

I skim through the threads, and I see everyone trying to break down AC Milans strengths and weaknesses, but I'm just curious has anyone taken time to think of what our strengths and weaknesses are? We all know our defence has been tremendous against European Competition, and our midfield has been strong, and has been able to throw a wrench in whatever the opposition try to do, along with our fans who are a credit to the club.

But does anyone see any weaknesses? The only I see as a weakness is that with our tactics we play low scoring football, and if teams like Chelsea took a page out of AC Milan's book about finishing you chances, we'd be out. Also I don't know too much about AC MIlan, but I do know they lack pace in the defense (or so I've heard.)

I'm also very concerned about our ability to score against an Italian defense, the archetype for watertight. We can't have Milan Baros squandering chance after chance, but all's fair and Djibril Cisse can't squander the oppurtunites that h had to take chelsea out of the game like he did when he came on. If we can't find a goal and extra time is needed and our defense gets tired then we'll need to find a more efficent way to defend, as Shevchenko will find himself with more time on the ball, as well as more space.

sooo...... They key is to:

SCORE - give the fans a night to remember, attack before they wake up
Keep It Tight - Close down on the forwards and seal them off, as well as look for the long shots raining in on dudek, which we should deal with
Control the Passing - While I've herd that Alonso is amazing I've also been informed that Pirlo is better. WE need to watch this man.

Thats all i can think of for now

by **76-1115222408** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:55 am

L-type wrote:I skim through the threads, and I see everyone trying to break down AC Milans strengths and weaknesses, but I'm just curious has anyone taken time to think of what our strengths and weaknesses are? We all know our defence has been tremendous against European Competition, and our midfield has been strong, and has been able to throw a wrench in whatever the opposition try to do, along with our fans who are a credit to the club.

But does anyone see any weaknesses? The only I see as a weakness is that with our tactics we play low scoring football, and if teams like Chelsea took a page out of AC Milan's book about finishing you chances, we'd be out. Also I don't know too much about AC MIlan, but I do know they lack pace in the defense (or so I've heard.)

I'm also very concerned about our ability to score against an Italian defense, the archetype for watertight. We can't have Milan Baros squandering chance after chance, but all's fair and Djibril Cisse can't squander the oppurtunites that h had to take chelsea out of the game like he did when he came on. If we can't find a goal and extra time is needed and our defense gets tired then we'll need to find a more efficent way to defend, as Shevchenko will find himself with more time on the ball, as well as more space.

sooo...... They key is to:

SCORE - give the fans a night to remember, attack before they wake up
Keep It Tight - Close down on the forwards and seal them off, as well as look for the long shots raining in on dudek, which we should deal with
Control the Passing - While I've herd that Alonso is amazing I've also been informed that Pirlo is better. WE need to watch this man.

Thats all i can think of for now

Yea reat post m8.....i agree that we need to attack early, but i just cant see rafa playing 2 up top, cause the 5 in the middle has worked so well in CL this year.
Also agrre that we NEED to take our chances as Milan (in fact Shevchenko are clinical!), but i think Cisse is still a bit rusty, but can offer no excuse or reason for Baros!

On the subject of Pirlo....this guy is amazing, his range of passing with both feet is incredible and everytime Milan breakdoen an attack all they do is look for him, as he just controls games, he is the only person who (in my humble opinion,guys!!) can pass better than Alonso.
But the upside is that he hasnt been as consistent this year as he was last when he was instrumental in Milans title win.

On another note Juve - Milan is this weekend and we really need a draw or Juve win, this way Milan will e fighting till the end of their season(weekend after the final).

Back to the final, i think one of our weaknesses is that we are not keeping possesion well enough(though Alonso will back for this one, so that shud help), if we can keep possesion better, especially whn in the lead, it would be a lot easier to suppress the pressure on the back four and give them an often needed breather.
But i would like to add that im sure Rafa :bowdown

is more than aware of Pirlo's ability and he will have a plan for that.

On he back four of Milan, i have noticed many saying that hey are slow, although this is beneficial to us, people are forgetting about who we are actually talking about NESTA,MALDINI,STAM,CAFU
All of these can read the game so well and that makes up for their ever decreasing pace.......and before u say CAFU is not that good defensively(AGREED!) he is a serious danger going forward, but then again i forgot about DJIMI.....he'll sort him out!!!!

YNWA

by **115-1073096938** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:15 am

They lack pace in defence?

Where on earth did you hear that?

Nesta, Stam, Maldini and Cafu maybe in there 30's but to say they lack pace is just plain wrong.

by **76-1115222408** » Fri May 06, 2005 1:23 am

stu_the_red wrote:They lack pace in defence?

Where on earth did you hear that?

Nesta, Stam, Maldini and Cafu maybe in there 30's but to say they lack pace is just plain wrong.

Im not saying they lack pace, im saying that is what many people on the forum seem to be posting, if it was me i'd take their whole defence instead of ours and just swop nesta for Carradonna!!!
Age means nothing, especially not in italian terms anyway, as their game is not as fast paced as ours, which must surely have an effect. There are many players 35+ playing in Seria A.

by **bedlovedays** » Fri May 06, 2005 4:31 am

great post, agree whole heartedly about keeping posession, takes the sting out of thier attack and gives us the opportunity to create chances.

two years ago while watching Baros miss glaring chances and one on ones I thought to myself, if we get into an important game chances will be rare, two maybe three in a game, it's such a chess match, we'd better have a striker who can finish. Who is that man? Baros, surely not. Garcia, he's been fab thank god. Do you think Rafa should play cisse for 90 min? I think he will. Cisse will come on in the coming weeks, and will be in form for the final.

:blues:

Oh ya and Cisse is cool, does that count for anything.

Question: Which team has the bigger heart Liverpool or Milan?

by **bedlovedays** » Fri May 06, 2005 4:38 am

ok Baros , here is what i want you to do,,,,,

when yo uget the ball put your head down and run as far as you can without running into anyone,,, then,,,,, fall down,,,,, got it? :laugh:

by **policy** » Fri May 06, 2005 9:06 am

I think that Milan is very wary of the pace that we will try to keep up for the 90 minutes. They saw us against Juve as well as Chelsea and know that we can take them out if we score quickly and decisively.

I don't know if any of you agree with me, but I think that we need to play a lot like PSV did in their second leg. Milan were sh.it (poor midfield control, as well as shaky defence - with Maldini out and Nesta looking rusty at times) until PSV just got tired and slipped up a little to let them score the one goal. If we slip up a little on defense, Kaka and Sheva will surely find a way to hurt us bad.

I think the stereotypes about us are that we are European savvy with high pace. A talented side with inconsistency but a tremendous threat when we score because of our manic/depressive defense. When we are manic, we are a fortress. When we are depressive, we are really depressing.

I hope with all of my heart that on the 25th, every one of our boys are hungry for blood, and are able to stay focused the full 90 . Walk on.......

by **JC_81** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:52 pm

L-type wrote:sooo...... They key is to:

SCORE - give the fans a night to remember, attack before they wake up
Keep It Tight - Close down on the forwards and seal them off, as well as look for the long shots raining in on dudek, which we should deal with
Control the Passing - While I've herd that Alonso is amazing I've also been informed that Pirlo is better. WE need to watch this man.

Thats all i can think of for now

Is this not exactly what we have tried to do in all of our european games this season at anfield?? Rafa will go for similar tactics at a neutral venue

Sometimes its not as straight forward as this because at that level all the teams are good. We don't know who will pick up injuries before now and then and therefore don't know who is available for us on the night. That will determine the tactics.

Lets just wait and see

by **xd3vilx** » Fri May 06, 2005 12:53 pm

They Can Be Exposed By The Speed Of Baros,Cisse,Luis...

by **gato_busta** » Fri May 06, 2005 11:37 pm

milan is playing juve this weekend. by the way they play and considering they are practically tied on their league, there is a high chance some milan players might get injured. its hard to know who will play on the final.

by **The Canadian Red Army** » Fri May 06, 2005 11:47 pm

stu_the_red wrote:They lack pace in defence?

Where on earth did you hear that?

Nesta, Stam, Maldini and Cafu maybe in there 30's but to say they lack pace is just plain wrong.

i would say they are loosing their pace. Against PSV, the korean Lee was murdering Cafu down the wing. I think if we could play are speediest guys down the wing we would really be effective.

by **A.B.** » Sat May 07, 2005 4:41 am

We defeated Juventus, who have the same amount of points as Milan in the Seria A and we can defeat Milan in the final if we play like we have through out the entire competition, which is playing "smart".

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