I'd start him next game. He showed more in the first 10 seconds he was on the pitch than Robinho/Pato/Ibra did all game.

He better at least start in the Coppa game next Wednesday!

+1. you could see El's reaction after Robinho missed his assist. the kid's full of determination and he does have talent for sure. if I were Allegri, I'd play him. maybe not from the start but I'd give him more than 10 freakin' minutes.

el sha' should be seen as an AM option as well, surely if Boatang & Emanuelson can play Am, Stephan can definitively add a dimension to the position we haven't seen since Kaka'. Don't misquote me in saying "he is as good as kaka" but they do play very similarly, and with Ibra dropping back most of the time, we need more service to our forwards...

I get what you're saying and I completely agree with you.

If Urby is an AM in Allegri's eyes than everyone is. I still can't get over how stupid it is to play him there. Surely if a bunch of idiots like us can see it, than someone getting paid to do the job can see it as well...

But apparently not

Just saw his goal, GOOD ONE!

You just don't understand it / see it differently.

No reason to talk about stupidity and so.

Lol, sorry chu, but from all of us you seem to be the only one that understands the stupidity, yes I'll say it again, complete and utter stupidity behind playing Urby in the attacking midfielder position.

Please enlighten us all because all of us seem to be missing something in that case as I haven't seen one member who understands this decision on Allegri's part, especially his insistance on it after it fails time after time

@HAN: (and this is my understanding of the situation)
Urby is not being seen as the player who makes the final pass...which unfortunately is what we look for in a CAM. He is seen as a player who can move the ball and make interchanges very quickly in the final third. Basically act as a mobile conduit for our attacking orchestra comprising - our strikers and our mid-field runners.

Do I agree with it? No. Because this is a very one-dimensional approach to attack, and while it works swell with small teams, with top teams with top coaches who can change tactics in a snap just like us, we're begging to be shut down.

It doesn't work well with either jack. We struggled against Atalanta with it and made a mess against Inter as well. In the Coppa against Novara we made a meal out of what should have been an easy win

The reality is that Urby has been nothing short of terrible in that position, and imo the guy is being made to look bad because he's not adapt to playing in such a position, if he's given a chance to play in midfield I think he can do very well as he's shown us some glimpses of what he can do but he's simply ristricted to playing terribly in a position he just cannot handle.

What's ironic is the fact that when Allegri wants to insist on something he's hard headed, even if it just does not work. Yet on other occasions, like giving certain players a decent chance to prove themselves he just does not allow it.

I think I am able to see things from different ways better than some other people. So I try to look it both at your way and Allegri's. Since I don't have to explain your way to you, I will try to do Allegri's. I think something like this:

About Emanuelson: he actually plays well in a consistent way, which I didn't expect him to be able to when we signed him. Obviously he has grown as player since his arrival here. A plus about him is that he is very hardworking, which is an important fixture for a midfielder. Reason to use Emanuelson as AM is he defends a lot. When you put a more attacking player like El Shaarawy, I guess that will happen less. Now, I have never seen El Shaarawy as AM. So far he has only played as forward for Milan (I heard he played as AM for a Serie B side, but unless I actually saw him doing that myself, I cannot use that since it's different from being Milan's AM in Serie A and CL than in Serie B ), which he obvious can do well. I do wonder what he offers as AM, but I can't say he will be the right choice for that, I mean: on what can I base that? So I wonder: why doesn't Allegri use him as AM?

I assume Allegri doesn't use him as AM, because he probably will track back/defend less than Boateng and Emanuelson. It seems to me he wants an AM he can trust especially in the defending aspect of the game. For a forward Robinho works very hard and tracks back a lot, so he gets to play there sometimes too. I guess Robinho does that better than El Shaarawy, even though I never seen him play as AM, so I wouldn't know, but I try to understand Allegri's decisions. I do like to see El Shaarawy as AM, so I can judge myself. So far I know El Shaarawy at least is a very good young forward. He clearly has a future as an forward. And as AM? Idunno/can't judge. He does have at least some nice attributes for it, so I guess he could become a good AM also, but I simply don't know. And maybe you guys are right he would be better AM than Emanuelson because of all the quality/skills El Shaarawy got (much more than Emanuelson). It could be because Milan's midfield is weak (in both defensive way and possession way) that he chose the safer (more defending) Emanuelson?

And obviously, Emanuelson is not a typical AM, and it has downsides to play him there. Though he really gives his all every minute, which is good, he simply is nothing more than an average player. Clearly Milan still has no proper typical AM, or it's the poor midfield why so no El Shaarawy, which is a shame.

Emmanuelson gives his all?the guy plays without heart (when on the ball at least) imo.
And,expecting a lot of defending from an AM mid is wrong anyway,attacking is the best way to defend and to avoid pressure.AM shouldn't have to defend a lot.

If you don't have enough midfielders defending, it will end up going badly. And with our poor midfielders, I think we need the AM to support the other midfielders and defenders in defending.

Leonardo had a very attacking Milan. There were too many players who didn't defend or at least not enough. As a result we were humilated over and over again against good sides.

If you demand only to attack from your AM and forwards, it looks nice against poor sides, but you get humilated against a good one. And we simply don't have the midfielders to have an AM who won't defend. Van Bommel gets very little support from his fellow midfielders when it comes to conquering the ball back, and then you got a problem. Because then it are the opponents who attack, and you with your attacking skilled players can look at them scoring goals. Yay!

Imo, he has none of the attributes required to play such a position, and I don't see our midfield as weak. We already deploy 2 DMs, 1 more than any other top side. That is more than enough, expecting the AM to also be some sort of runner/battler is just ridiculous and a bad small team mentality. You know, "better you run you @ss off and avoid defeat rather than trying to win"

El Shaaraw, Robinho, etc. All are better AM options than Urby, Robinho works his @ss off far more than Urby. He's not even a striker, Allegri classifies him as such and imo, we need to keep him as far away from goal as possible. He's always beena cross between a winger and second striker, his best season was under Capello when he played him out wide on the left at Real. Simply because he removed that pressure of scoring, plus Robinho's runs are just integral to the attack. Last season his best spell came when he was used behind the strikers. El Shaa as well could have huge potential playing in the hole. Yet Allegri insists on a player who just last season was playing at LB/LW for Ajax, it's just laughable. And no matter what you say, you won't be able to justify it to anyone here, as everyone can see that Urby simply offers nothing for us in that position, he's a passenger for most of the game when he's played there


You simply cannot make comparisons to Leo's Milan. That was an unbalanced, un-co-ordinated mess. Leo played a 4-3-3, with only Ambro covering the defence and Seedorf and Pirlo in midfield. That might have been ok in the Carlo days but 2 seasons ago, that was a big no no as none of those players could keep up with such demands a formation like that put upon them. Even worse, he played Pato and Dinho on the wings, neither of which are renowned hard workers.

On the other hand under Allegri we play with 2 DMs, one of which is VB, who reads the game far better than Ambro and than Nocerino who provides a lot of energy to the midfield. Add to that we play 4 in midfield, whether that Robinho/Urby/Prince or whoever else Allegri might decide to play there on any given day, it's still a 4 man midfield, we never play with 3 attackers, simply because whoever plays at AM is asked to hold his position and keep the midfield compact. This is why I always insist with you that whether the player has 'ST' next to his name like Robinho it just does not matter as his job decription becomes what Allegri requires of him when he's played in the hole

Stephan El Shaarawy is my new favorite player. I look forward to seeing a lot more from him.

I liked him a lot last night. His touch for the opening goal was brilliant, and while it sorta deflected through, his through ball for the second was visionary.

He has a big chance to make it - definitely has the talent.

Important he keeps his head on his shoulders. We ought to wrap him up in cotton wool.

Hopefully they don't ruin him like they've ruined Pato. They've already put him through one round of strength training. I just don't trust our medical team.

http://football-italia.net/node/15082
nice

There ain't nothing wrong with being a mama's boy

Sharaawy might get a called up to the senior italian national team,since he wasn't called up for the U21

http://youtu.be/87T87zn6DJk

In NBA there's a term - 'rookie wall'. Meaning that after a hot start, a young player might experience some difficulties. I think El Sha hitting the rookie wall right now.

Well he did score in the last Coppa match, against Juventus. And besides, like they say, you don't get to the top by succeeding. You need to fail, too. And the more spectacularly the better. Failure is the new success! I still have big hopes for this guy, he needs to play every now and then, and find his way.

I agree that he's experiencing some difficulties, but it's not like he's been entirely useless in recent matches. It's just that the intensity of balancing UEFA CL, Serie A and Coppa Italia are too much for a young kid. But the fact that's he's been playing from the start shows that Allegri has faith that he will be somebody huge in the future.

Very true. He's perhaps the only real speedy player we have, apart from Pato. Then again, it's been a while since I've seen the duck really take off with speed. It would be great having Pato and El Shaarawy starting together and ripping defenses apart.

He's still a youngster so having an impact on the game will not be easy,but he's surrounded by champions and he has great potential,sounds like a winning formula.

Yes, and it's been a while since we've had a teenager starting matches. All the best to him!

Not totally unexpected.

I think some people were a little too quick to get excited after a handful of great performances from the kid and jump on the "Pato who, we got El Sha!" bandwagon. not defending Pato who's been a total mess recently, but he did much better and was much more exciting when he was 19 (he just couldn't pass the ball properly and still can't!). it'll be a matter of time before some of the supposed fans of El Sha will turn against him if he continues having this disappointing form.

That said, I like El Sha as much as anyone else here and would love for him to become the next big thing for us. technically he has what it takes to become that, he just needs to learn from every single mistake he makes (so far he hasn't but you can't expect everyone to learn as fast as Messi).

TOTALLY agreed. The kid is good but NOWHERE in Pato's class. That's not to say that he wouldn't surpass him because of the injury and possible differences in mentatlity.

That said a totally fit and focused Pato has only the sky as the limit.

El S ishaarawy is excellent but his tecnhique and touch isn't what the "old" Pato used to have anyway neither is he nearly as fast. He's not slow but he won't get past Ramos Evra, Cole, Alves etc on pace

Well I'm just glad we have a youngster coming through. Futile to compare him to Pato, just like it's no use comparing Strasser and Merkel to our established stars. Each kid will carve his own path, but nevertheless it's great to see some fresh, young, blood every now and then. Preferably with fast legs to go with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs7ib1WXQNg

haha

Any akhi's (brothers) able to translate this my arabic isnt so good.

Swide Interview with...

Stephan El Shaarawy: The Boy Pharaoh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQmatFvP1fE&hd=1

What is the secret of success?
-To remain humble regardless of how successful you are and to remain a good person regardless of your goals and ambitions.
-A champion is particulary in football terms, a real champion is some one who can stay humble, constant even if he wins everything.

Stephan El Shaarawy

I really like his attitude in everything I've read from him. Seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I'm looking forward to him taking a big step forward this season.

Except his hairdo. The girls really like it, he says? Somebody's feeding him the wrong intel.

In relative terms, he is the worst 15m youngster I've seen.

and the one with the worst haircut surely.

I don't know what's wrong. It's been some time since we had a truly explosive young talent. And it's not coz we loan them out. Very few of the people we loaned out have ever come good, which leads me to believe that's why we let them go in the first place.

I mean Abate seems to be the best of a bad bunch, and that's not good news.

I think it would be waaay too premature to declare El Shaa as "bad" after we saw one game from him this season. I think it's too much pressure for him to be starting games and expecting to be performaing like Zlatan FFS. The team has no leaders in it, it's not an ideal situation for him to thrive in

We should have never let Merkel go. Now that's what I call a prospect.

Agreed. Yet, I cannot but forget his half-blooded performances last year as well. What seems to be lacking is extra motivation and energy.

I never said he's bad. But he's the least good of the omg-we-paid-all-that-money-for-a-teenager club.

I don't recall we having done that before except Pato.

I did not mean just for Milan.

Right my bad. But you got a good point there.

Brief but interesting interview.

Yeah..the cut my hair comment was a bit disturbing. Someone actually spoke up against a senior player then? ****..I miss Paolo...