Milan face Arsenal on Saturday July 31 at 4.20pm London time.

To bad Ronaldinho got injured. I'd like to so how would Allegri play him.

In my opinion we will play with this formation if anyone will not get injured :

Seedorf playing there will be a problem imo. Pato will need to work his @ss off if we want to see the ball anywhere near the opposition's box. Seedorf passing back to the defence everytime he gets the ball does not bode well for our scoring chances

I expect Seedorf to be much better than you're saying. I saw the game agains Varese and even without Pirlo and Ambrosini to play with, Seedorf was quite good in that position. I wouldn't mind Pato playing more defansive than Borriello, we'd see show from Pato (A)

I would. Pato is our striker, our best goalscorer by far. He is weak in defending, weaker than Borriello is.

With that team we miss pace I'd say. Seedorf, Pirlo... all kinda slow...

No I wanted to say I wouldn't mind Pato playing as SS, of course in left side.

I want Pato as striker, with the freedom going wide, but mostly forward in the middle I want to see him, I want to see Pato challenging the goalkeeper more often than Borriello. Borriello joins the forward to complete/help Pato.

Borriello's classic striker, Pato has not attributes to be classic striker. He's best when playing as second striker and becouse goals are not important in this tournament I'd like to see Pato more dribling and running than scoring.

Every goal gives you a point in this tournament. Goals are not important?

Pato doesn't have the attributes to be a classic striker? Pato runs, shot, heading, pace, it's all good to amazing. He is our best striker by far, yes, striker! And he is not THAT weak in case you want to say that. He is still very young, he will become even less 'weaker'. Anyway, that's why Borriello is a good partner for him, who is strong and plays along well and moves well.

Pato is much better when playing as Second Striker and I would NEVER use him as Striker knowing that he is can give his best playing as SS. If we find one Second Striker better than Pato than Ok we play Pato as striker and that x player as SS.
Pato isn't classic striker cos' his finishing isn't like Borriello's or Inzaghi's, he is not as good header as they are, and his positioning is not that good. During that playing Borriello has helper of Pato wouldn't be very wise knowing that Borriello is good only before opposite goalkeeper.
So playing in that way (Borriello helper of Pato , Pato classic striker) we'd have our attack unbalanced. Leo tried this in the start of last season and Pato scored only against Siena the other games were not good.

Are you really questioning Pato's finishing? I agree his finishing isn't like Borriello's and Inzaghi's. It's way better.

To me Pato is as best as striker. We just disagree completely about this all.

Thing is, playing Pato as striker means wasting his great speed and dribble.

He's a kickass finisher too, but he can do more damage from behind, while Bori/Hunter are decent finishers and bad runners.

This fish would play either Borriello or Pippo as the center forward and Pato as SS. The former would seem to be more effective as target guys whereas the duck has more mobility.

Borriello is way more useful than Pippo when already playing Pato.
Pato's dribbling is not THAT amazing. Pato's pace and runs are, and that makes him one hell of a dangerous striker, also because he shoots very well (and he can head as well). Pato creates most damage as a striker, BUT I would also give him the freedom to go wide. I want to see movement up front from Pato, Borriello and the AM. I would start this team against Arsenal:

Pato, Borriello
Verdi
Ambrosini, Pirlo, Flamini
Antonini, Nesta, Yepes, Papastathopoulos
Abbiati

Not sure about who to start as RB and CB. I didn't watch last game, but Yepes did well I heard? Also I would like to see how Papastathopoulos plays as RB for us.

I think Pato expresses himself better as second striker, like Shevchenko used to do when paired with the various Inzaghi, Tomasson and Gilardino. He has the dribble, the speed and the progression to vary across the attacking line. Personally, I'd rather play him as second striker supported by a pure AM like Kaka' than as a left/right winger like Leo used him last summer.

Pato and Shevchenko are so different. Pato won't be anything close to Sheva kind of forward. I really believe you guys put Pato in the completely wrong kind of forward type.

Sheva!!

Well no player is really the same, Sheva imo was a far more smarter player then Pato is and a better finisher. Pato techincally can play anywhere in attack we've seen him playing the out and out striker position, the second striker position and the winger position. And imo he's best playing second striker starting attacks from the left side as that's where he's the strongest.

We've seen him playing the pure striker position under Carlo and even though he did that well, I think a lot of his best qualities were wasted playing there

I'd like to see the 4-3-1-2 with Oduamandi in the hole. Give the kid a start on the big stage and see what hes made of.

Borriello as the pure striker with Pato as the SS. Pirlo, Ambro, Flamini in midfield. Yepes and Nesta CB with Antonini and Sokratis on the wings. Abiatti first half, Amelia second.

Oduamadi isn't in the squad for this cup...

Verdi behind Pato and Borriello. What about that?

hmm, I think he's still too light weight for the big league. But it would be nice to see him be given a chance. Is Baretta on the team sheet?

I barely got to see him against Varese because of the poor stream and I really want to se him be given a decent chance. For some reason I'm really curious about this kid

Also for those who get the mediaset channels (Rete 4, Canale 5, Italia 1) the Milan matches will be broadcasted live on Rete 4

Beretta is in the squad, yes. I believe it's a good moment to try out Verdi since it's friendly and no Ronaldinho will play.

TWENTY-FIVE players are flying to London.

Goalkeepers: Marco Amelia, Christian Abbiati, Flavio Roma;

Defenders: Kakha Kaladze, Alessandro Nesta, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Massimo Oddo, Marek Jankulovski, Gianluca Zambrotta, Daniele Bonera, Mario Yepes, Luca Antonini;

Midfielders: Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Rodney Strasser, Mathieu Flamini, Ignazio Abate, Andrea Pirlo, Massimo Ambrosini;

Forwards: Alexandre Pato, Filippo Inzaghi, Marco Borriello, Giacomo Beretta, Simone Verdi, Ronaldinho.

Where's the list from, Chu?

As for Verdi, he's more a winger than a trequartista afaik. But he can play on both sides.

Would love to see him get some time -- he likely will since there will be two games in two days.

I copied it from the Red and Black forums...

I want to see Verdi going wide a lot (so an AMC who goes wide also), because I think that will help Pato and Borriello. I also hope to see some playing time for Strasser.

What the heck then where is he? Did he play too good on Sunday? Has Man City already been linked?

Our line Up:

Since no Dinho, we'll probably start with this:



Allegrinho might with this aswell:



If we had mourinho as coach this is what he'd do:

I think park-the-airplane is our best bet. Especially now with the Emirates sponsorship.

I don't think Dinho's presence would have much effect on the result. If we can't win with that line-up, we can't win with any.

Here's the official call up list from acmilan.com:



Differences from the list Chu posted: Ambrosini, Inzaghi, Kaladze, Pirlo, Ronaldinho, and Jankulovski are absent from the official list.

Pirlo not going is a blow. s'gonna be painful.

Time to showcase young talents and I hope they will be given a chance and do well...heck! I just hope they are given a chance! I'm tired of the same line up..year in year out..and the lack of development for youngsters..and loaning out isn't a solution as they get indoctrinated into a different culture..the best development is homegrown..maldini way..no disrespect to our 30+ year olds..

Interesting, some painfully absents there are, but on the other hand we can try out other players that way. And yes, other players as in also younger players. I'd start:

No Pirlo and no Ambro, we'll be *.

I'm not sure I understand all the doom and gloom here, you're about to face an Arsenal side that will probably experiment with how Chamakh and Koscielny fit in, and I don't see a trouncing of 4-5 goals on the horizon.
Besides, there's huge question marks over the defence. Campbell, Gallas and Silvestre are all gone, so it will probably be Vermaelen partnering Djourou or Koscielny. Not a solid prospect at all, we need to bring in a top CB asap.

You are just pre-consoling us for the romp that will be Arsenal-Milan tomorrow.

Given the omissions, this fish would consider the following lineup:

Abbiati
Zambrotta Yepes Nesta Antonini
Gattuso Flamini
Turtle
Pato Borriello Verdi

Various and sundry changes to be made during the course of the game (how many subs per game in this tournament? ANyone know?) so as to also see Amelia, Sokratis, Abate, Strasser, etc etc etc

I like that one, but I'd switch Verdi and Pato. Get Pato on his stronger side so he can do some real damage when cutting it

This fish just noticed that Thiago Silva also isn't going on the trip. He better not be heading toward the Iberian peninsula.

Kaladze and Janku didn't go either. Maybe they'll head that way instead.

(maybe someone ordered pizza, you mean?)

Ok, we're almost certain to get a midfielder. Allegri is quoted on Milannews.it as saying that "We need a midfielder that can play in the center." And then in a separate article he says "We need a midfielder but I will not tell you names".

All milannews.it but I'm sure its on other sites by now.

This was also during his press conference, which is why I posted it in here.

A new midfielder would be nice, but this fish will cry if it's Blasi.

Maybe Berlusconi will keep his word and will transfer one champion, someone like Shweinshtainger ...

He is probably going to Real Madrid, Robinho ..
I wish it was Dzeko, but we know where that is going

Almost all will be forgiven from me if it's Van Der Vaart. Almost.

This fish wouldn't mind him.

That is very odd that there is no silva going. Only thing I can think of is that he's training seperatly due to injury problems. I don't think he's going to madrid. If they sell him, they'll have to buy another player in defence and they don't want to do that this year.

Is he back from holidays ?

Thiago Silva and Huntelaar aren't back from their holidays(their NT's got further in World Cup than Azzurri, so they are back).

Ancelotti told in an interview to La Gazzetta that he knows Milan's plans and there won't be any signings.