A grim reality came to light when AC Milan met Bologna in the 2023-24 season opener as the starting line-up was announced.
Blessed with the legends of Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, Andrea Pirlo, Filippo Inzaghi, and Gennaro Gattuso to name a few, Italian talent served as the core foundation of the great AC Milan sides of the past.
Look closely, and you will notice that there is only one regular starter Italian starter in coach Stefano Pioli’s plans; a cultural issue that impacts the majority of Serie A clubs who rely heavily on foreign influence. That in itself is an entirely different discussion though.
That sole representative happens to be right-back Davide Calabria, who is now the Rossoneri captain for the second consecutive season.
Since 2007, Calabria has grown up in the youth system where he’s progressively grown into the Primavera and first-team football. For that reason alone, there is a sense that everyone wants him to live up to his potential. Speaking of potential, perhaps the 27-year-old has reached his ceiling and has nothing more to give.
At his best, there is no disputing that the Italian defender is one of the more intelligent players in reading the game and tactical awareness. He understands when to sit back and wait for the right moment to make those all-important tackles in one-on-one situations.
This is a massively underrated part of his game. Statistics gathered by Kickest show that he has made the equal 11th most tackles in Serie A this season.
This is a player who had one of Europe’s most in-form attackers, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, in his back pocket for 180 minutes during the Champions League quarter-finals last season. They were arguably his two most impressive displays.
Recently we witnessed another masterclass from Calabria against arguably the best forward on the planet in Kylian Mbappé, albeit some may argue that the Frenchman was nowhere near his best.
Despite showing promising signs that he is a reliable captain for the future, Calabria has repeatedly undone his good work with some below-par performances.
In the past, the Rossoneri youth product has often been heavily criticised, admittedly somewhat harshly at times, but a lingering concern over his future at the club is beneath all of that.
Place his red card against Atalanta to one side, the 3-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund summed up Calabria’s flaws in what we have already known.
Unfortunately, a lack of noticeable pace and explosiveness can be exploited in certain matchups, with 19-year-old Dortmund winger Jamie Bynoe-Gittens doing exactly that to send Calabria in a whirlwind, topped off by the penalty which the full-back committed.
The ease with which Calabria was turned inside out on numerous occasions not only in that particular game but in patches throughout the season must be a worrying trend for Pioli.
The question is: does Pioli even trust him? With Pierre Kalulu sidelined for the foreseeable future, Calabria was tasked with the responsibility of handling Mbappé in the return leg, but Calabria was benched in Paris in favour of someone with more pace and an ability to track back to cover ground.
As the only Italian at the club who is the closest to cementing a starting berth along with the fact that he has grown up through the Milanese ranks, it might so happen to be that we are trying to avoid the brutal discussions.
Registering zero goals and three assists so far this campaign, are Milan getting value from Calabria’s displays?
A few years ago, Calabria was more associated with the conventional modern-day full-back who would make overlapping runs and deliver consistently dangerous crosses into the box for his teammates to latch onto. Now, the defensive side of the ball has notably become Calabria’s number-one priority.
This could be down to his compatriot on the opposite flank. The classic modern-day full-back is exceptionally epitomised by one of Milan’s own, Theo Hernandez, a wide player with lightning pace who can turn a game on its head in an instant going forward. Yes, he isn’t the greatest defender, however, it’s the moments of brilliance up front that lead to goals and assists that are so crucial in today’s game.
Per Transfermarkt, Calabria’s current value sits at roughly €20m, a far cry from Hernandez’s value which begs the question of whether a sale is even worth it.
Players like Ivan Fresneda and Wilfried Singo were linked during the summer, while Arnau Martinez has been more recently. This could well be a sign that Geoffrey Moncada is aware of the need to upgrade key positions, or at least provide the depth to ensure the starters don’t get too comfortable.
As mentioned, Calabria’s intelligence and familiarity with Pioli’s schemes is a crucial asset to his armoury, but too many times he can be caught out of position due to his physical attributes.
Some have been bemused as to why he hasn’t been called up to the Italian national team in recent camps as the first backup to Giovanni Di Lorenzo. Perhaps, both Roberto Mancini and Luciano Spaletti know something that we don’t.
For sure, Calabria’s experience and leadership cannot be swept under the carpet. This man has been through the dark times of the club during the ‘banter era’ and knows what it means to wear the shirt with pride; no one is denying that.
In terms of overall potential and capability, the time may soon be approaching to scout the next big prospect in search of Milan’s new modern-day right-back.
Calabria’s problems stem from his own making, and the way football has evolved recently, by nature he lacks bulk, he should have tried to bulk up and increase in size, you can clearly see the difference when you watch De Lorenzo and Darmain, both of them have bulked up and increased their work rate, then secondly he sometimes looses concentration and attention, even the way sometimes he approaches matches, he looks detached and unserious, even the way he wears his socks low as if he is in a training session is not good, by nature the pace and work rate of modern football has increased, but his own work rate and lack of bulk clearly is a wickness.
I have been saying it over and over again: I like Calabria – he is a warrior. BUT he should NOT be our captain nor our starting RB. An upgrade is definitely needed. Hopefully that will be Kalulu when healthy or someone else. Modern fullbacks MUST be able to contribute offensively and he does not unfortunately. He doesn’t have the skill, pace, size or ability to do that – and that is fine. That should mean he is a bench player and occasional league starter. He is also too inconsistent in his defending – as the article cited. Dortmund game vs Napoli (although against Napoli we conveniently forget Reindjers provided a constant double team on Krava and Calabria was never on an island by himself defending – same w against M’Bappe). Teams still don’t respect the right side of our attack. Pulisic has helped tremendously – but opposing D’s need to know the fullback is also a threat and can get in the box or provide solid crosses – like Theo does on the left with Leao. We still do not have that so long as Calabria is the starter. Also – he should not be the captain. If he wasn’t Italian I doubt he would be let’s be honest. Again I like Calabria – he’s the perfect bench player and occasional starter – but he should not be our starting RB and we def need an upgrade
But every time someone else is made the starting RB he performs worse than Calabria. Calabria usually fails when he needs to play more games in a row. He needs rotation to stay sharp. Also his been in top 3 RB in Italy in the past 5 seasons or so. Yes he is not perfect but he is not as bad as people make him out to be either.
Kalulu offers even less for attacking plays. At least Florenzi can shoot and cross but defensively he’s much worse. Calabria still is the best RB we have. Like it or not.
Dani Alves at 40 would run circles around Calabria… LOL!!!
Ehm….way more then 50% of Goals against ACM were scored direct over his RB position with him directly involved,or,assist came from ACM RB position,or he was direct involved in 16.-er zone with late coming-decking,bad-slow reactions,wrong positioning,avoiding to get close to attackers,etc. .Not that bad on side,but terible positioning inside the box.Am I too judging?May be.IThis critics ws written without being too harsh,even if the truth is even more painful .Nothing against him,it is simply so that at ACM are many who would never wear that shirt if the times were different.Which is not at the moment,unfortunately.That is all
Maybe it also has someting with management as well.I’ll make short compare with Inter,where theit Team has in later years always a world class RB(Juventus also).Now—Inter has 2 world class RB’s and are incredible strong on that position (runners from flag to flag,complete players off-def)and we have ….Calabria and Florenzi…..I am saying nothing more to this topic
You are right, we need stronger right backs, but fortunately we have very good candidates right now in the club that would be wonderful right backs,Kalulu, Simic and Coubis, all of them have the physical attributes to work on that lane, they have done it before , Calabria could also bulk up and play as a winger…
Simic would be better as a right back, because he lacks the height of a central defender, and right now central defender s generally are big and tall..
Honestly, I don’t know what you guys called football? Please give Calabria to Madrid or man city if you don’t regret what you are a saying… Firstly, did you noticed that the player next to him is always the problem because he never trust them…. If you want to see the best of calebria lat Tomori or kalulu play beside hm, not the worst Center defender who’s always over rated and always find a way escaping from his error and let other take the blame, please check your statistic after tomori in defence is Calabria defensively…. Even kalulu couldn’t perform better than him on the rb, ever body was zingo 😅😅😅 now where is him, they are only 2 rb better than him in serial A, dilorenzo and Dumfriz….. Even defensively he is better than di lorenzo…. He is a defender he created opportunities more that your attacking midfielder (luftus check)… Yes or no. I don’t know how you people watch Milan matches.
What about our non existent midfield? Our right wing with ball losing Chuk and fragile Pulisic? What about Pioli’s mastermind “reverted wingbacks in midfield” at start of the season? There are also many other factors needed to be taken into consideration. Watch where Leao moves in defense and how deep he comes for the ball and then go and watch Puli/Chuk. Calabria’s covering for the lack we have in the middle and on the wings. His work rate is tremendous.
that is very true, he covers for others but almost no one covers for him. #pioliball (y)
WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
Stop trying to make excuses for Calabria. And especially by insulting our other players. Fragile Pulisic has been arguably our best player this season and his defensive work rate has been very good. Are you suggesting that Leao tracks back and works harder? Because if you are, I’m afraid you don’t have a clue what you are talking about.
Yes, Leao tracked back at the right time mostly
Ted, it seems like you haven’t watched very many games in the last…… 4 years??? Maybe???
Leao is one of the least defensive players in this team. Puli and Chuk track back to help in D 10 times to Leao’s one.
You have to have an awareness of what you’re talking about, man 🙂 i’m not even trying to be harsh on you, but that comment was just dense…
Pulisic has almost as many tackles won and ball recoveries as Calabria pretty sad, puli 40 recoveries calabria 47 and leao 28
Nooo, that can’t be!!! Ted here above just said that Leao tracks back and defends far more than Puli & Chukie. 😀 😀 😀
The stats must be lying. Again.
Please do more research, not one as won 1v2 than calebria in serial a please find out about this even tomori I’d behind him forget. As an attacker you should be able to track back at the right time. Pulisic and chuwk tracked back cos they lost the ball too many time
God blessed you
Still perpetuating this myth that he pocketed Kvara and Mbappe. Please! We had to have an extra player help out Calabria on every occasion, there was always an extra defender to the inside. Calabria can be a useful back-up, but he is not good enough at this point to be starting every game. He offers nothing going forward and his defense has been poor when the team doesn’t designate an extra player to help him out.
And who exactly is better then him in Seria A defensive wise ? He has been the top defensive RB in Italy for years now according to stats. Ironicly even in contribution to goals he ranks in the top. Siringo who we wanted to get in the summer as a RB had less contribution to goals last year then Calabria, this year Calabria has contributed to more goals again. Even Darmian from Inter has contributed to less goals. Only Di Lorenzo is better attack wise as a RB compared to Calabria.
Are you serious? For starters…. DILORENZO! I’d start him every day of the week over Calabria.
I literatlly wrote Di Lorenzo is better in attack, not sure whats your point. Di Lorenzo is worse in defence tho.
It’s called DOUBLE TEAMS. He had help from midfield defending against both…
delusional AF
Ok, so its official. Calabria is the next for the axe after krunić. Didnt we loan that jimenez kid from real this summer.
I wouldnt worry about rb that much, we still have Kalulu tho he’s out till march, but for the long term he could be the go to dude
Florenzi is also doing good as long as he stays fit he should be starting.
Looks like you revolving bunch got yourself a scapegoat for the summer. Winter’s already taken by Krunic.
Calabria hasn’t been cutting it for years and given his age doesn’t seem to have room for improvement. He’s technically in his prime however good or bad that looks. When was the last time he was called up to La Nazionale…?
I would say given his current form, he should be a bench player. I sincerely hope we get a starter quality RB in the summer especially given the question marks over Kalulu’s injuries and form when fit.
He has OK games usually, and sprinkle in some bad games – but that’s just us settling. The games he does look good against the likes of Kvara is when he has help double teaming.
More importantly, Calabria is not a leader and it mystifies me that he continues wearing the armband simply because of seniority in the team. He doesn’t look capable of rallying his team in moments of difficulty. That would be more up Kjaer’s or Maignan’s lane.
SO the question is, is Calabria’s form obvious enough for management to want to upgrade, or……..?
delusional
Is that new word you learned?
Pioli is trying his best! Yes the coach is trying! What can he possibly do with the caliber of players at his disposal? No top striker! No creative 8 and 10!….sick Rb….we need 4 top players to fill those spaces!
delusional even more than the ACM1899
No top striker? I mean, Giroud is doing very well for his age and Jovic has also found his form.
No creative 8 or 10, are you being serious here?
that pass to okafor was pure class, yet this dude cries we have no top st
He forgot Okafor 4 years ago was wanted by almost every top team. Pep wanted him at City.
Jovic was a beast for Frankfurt, he just needs the confidence, that’s all, which he finally got playing for his favorite club.
As for Giroud, nothing much to say to be honest.
I think getting a top DM should be our main priority. At least in January, it shouldn’t be a priority.
Pioli is trying his best! Yes the coach is trying! What can he possibly do with the caliber of players at his disposal? No top striker! No creative 8 and 10!….sick Rb….we need 4 top players to fill those spaces!…… DOMIJAY
Calabria’s limitations are well known and documented but I guess Sempre Milan has just figured it out. The fact is there are only 5 or 6 RB who are better in the league. Can Milan upgrade that spot, sure, are there more glaring holes in the squad, most definitely.
Side note: Theo needs to stop screwing up easy goal scoring opportunities. Theo has wasted a significant amount of counter attacks with really poor decisions making and play… he’s regressed defensively and is worthy of some blame.
Calabria….needs to step up or leave the club! We need a creative midfielder….a top striker….our wingers are trying
I mean he’s a far cry from Cafu or a prime Oddo even but having said that, Calabria has previously shown he has the stuff to contribute defensively at say a B+ or occasionally an A- level. With a fit Kalulu and a full depth at CB he simply is not starting material unfortunately. Some days like yesterday even Florenzi seemed more capable tbh. Added that the RW has to contribute more defensively to cover his inconsistent levels has the winger shackled esp on slow build-ups as any turnover and Calabria is sometimes left for pace. Case and point 3 of the 5 goals we shipped in V Inter. Teams know that Theo and Tomori have enough pace to recover on the break and will always move on the right to counter. If Isma is back this might be less of an issue but its not a permanent fix. More pressure on Thiaw and Kjaer, maybe an indirect factor in their injuries? I don’t know but there’s no doubt the right side of our defence is not contributing offensively (except with Florenzi) and sometimes woefully short on pace defensively. We need a balanced world class RB and I hope we move for Singo ASAP. Alternatively, a young safe cheap bet would be Tariq Lamptey who is now benched @ Brighton. Pure talent from what I’ve seen and only 23. Would be a great backup to Kalulu and maybe a starter when Kalulu moves inside whether temporary or permanently. There’s need to move in Summer 2024. No point overspending in Jan unless its a loan deal but a potential need in Summer and preferably a RB who can fill at LB or RCB if necessary.
This articke is very very bad, this is what journalism is all about nowadays, you have succeeded in picking the next krunic for some fans, you should be ashamed, i doubt you are an ac milan fan, i think you are just a writer who writes about ac milan and looks for whatever dirty way to engage the fans, with these kind of articles looking to turn the fans against players, i think we can consider getting ac milan news from other platforms
Yeah I totally agree. I used to come here because SM relay all the news and they’re doing a great job at it, but this is clickbait af and based on nothing. Like the emphasised article about the tight schedule, which is hardly a surprise for a top club. The comments section is already toxic with all these polarised FUT fans with no arguments, who have no respect towards the traditions and history that make Milan what it is for most of us. It’s TikTok time now, from the management to the news here, good for those who embrace it, I’m fcking done.
You’re here every day Bart. Stop playing. You will continue to come here and bicker. Probably under a different name though, now that I called you out 😁
I don’t need another name, I can hold my head high. I’m 33, I’ve been a Milan tifoso since I was 15, I live in Milan and I feel like I’m from another time. I’ll continue to come here, read some articles, read the comments when it’s relevant, but I’ll let the kids enjoy this crazy money game I’m disgusted with. Wish you the best guys.
Its crazy, I agree with you
A lot of trolls come here just to vent, blow off steam and be miserable. Doesn’t matter what article is posted.
Its one thing when trolls do that, its another thing when the writers start behaving the same, do we really want to read trolling articles?
He is just an average player, for a long time the worst player in our starting 11 , we need to cut it once for all and bring in someone better! My pick Dedic from RB Salzburg, extraordinary talented player,and their captain already at age of 21.
Nino from Fluminense,and Dedic from RBS , is all we need in defence.Believe me.Calabria can be bench player.
I didn’t realize Krunic got sold already!? Its December, and we already have our scapegoat-in-waiting. We present to you none other than Davide Calabria
Now first off I’m neither in the here nor there bunch. But what I find weird was the Italian national team part of the article. No one is saying he’s better than Di Lorenzo (best Italian RB and probably the best in the league too). Nor Darmian, who is probably chosen because he can play two roles, CB and RB. I could understand why those two are chosen; also doesn’t make sense to take a 3rd RB. The issue was when he wasn’t chosen ahead of Florenzi especially in our Scudetto winning year when his form was excellent and was starting ahead of him. It couldn’t be the height issue as they both similar. Couldn’t be injury proneness. I couldn’t figure that one out.
Imo, and I’ve wrote this elsewhere too, Calabria’s ability to defend allows Theo to do what he does. Or else if both were to be attacking we’d just be left with exposed center back muck like vs Inter when they trashed us….which by the way points to exactly where teams exploit us. Not on the right side but on the left where Theo leaves massive gaps.
On the other hand however, Calabria cannot handle taller players (cross for Dzeko inside the box for instance) or players with physicality. He does however defend against players with agility as he himself is agile due to his height which helps him turn quickly (eg against Kvara). I also dont believe the doubling masks his abilities. Its a team game and mids always supposed to help the defence. It’s one thing to double(which eliminates thinking about one side of the attack) but he also has to ensure he’s able to finish the job.
As I said Im neither here nor there. To me he’s a decent RB, not sure about captain material but he does have experience and is from our academy.
(Oh and comparing yester year players to now is far off the mark. No player nowadays in Italy rn can walk into that team with Pirlo and co.
There’s nothing unsual about players about club starters getting snubbed for other players including subs at international level.
Tassotti went to the 94 World Cup ahead of Panucci who was our first choice RB.
John Terry didn’t exactly have a stellar England career.
There are many reasons for this that have mostly nothing to do with ability.
Have you ever worked for a manager you didn’t get along with?
It’s normal. These are people.
And this is the problem with the whole attitude these days.
People actually think that to win titles you need the BEST ELEVEN and so the media, fans and directors spend their whole time in this eternal search for the BEST ELEVEN.
But the BEST ELEVEN doesn’t actually win. The BEST TEAM wins and there’s a lot more to a team than being better.
I mean at this level the differences between abilities are minuscule. Sure there are Messi’s but the vast majority of players playing in the top top teams in the top top leagues are basically the same level.
At this level it mostly comes down to mental issues which makes it all intangible. Look at Napoli – champions last season struggling this.
Are the Napoli squad suddenly worst than last season?
No.
We’ve seen it countless times:
Juve went from 7th to an unbeaten first between 10/11 and 11/12
Chelsea went from 1st to 10th to 1st in three seasons between Mourinho and Conte’s tenures.
Mourinho has never recovered after his disastrous 15/16 Chelsea season where he lost his mojo. One of the greatest managers of all time just lost it.
Was it because he extended the holidays or was it because he turned on the doctor or what was it?
What changed?
We will never know.
We will never know why Milan struggled before the Covid break, why they suddenly turned into title contenders for a sustained period of 2 years, and why that form ended after the mid-season break for the World Cup.
The exact same squad went into the World Cup break playing like champions and then collapsed after that last 5 minutes of the Roma game.
This is why the answer is very rarely found on the transfer market. Transfers can certainly help – by bringing in certain characteristics or even champions like Ibrahimovic.
But transfers mostly don’t work out – as in players rarely produce the same or better form at their new club. And the reason for that is because the conditions that enabled the player to produce the form that made them so desirable are very difficult to reproduce.
Calabria is the measure of how well Milan are doing.
If he plays well it means the team is playing well. If he’s not playing well a different Calabria won’t solve the problem. Something fundamentally is not working.
It could be Pioli. He could well have lost his mojo. But we’re third so he’s meeting his expectations.
Cant add more, this is exactly it, but unfortunately fans are being controlled by media, and media they make more money when there is constant hiring and firing, buying and selling, so now they try so embarrasingly hard to push the culture of buying and selling, im sure they wish that transfers could be done all year round so that they make more money and they remain relevant, its never about improving the quality of the game in the pitch, its never about respecting the values and traditions of the game which made this game popular, and they are so disrespectful nowadays, they can easily destroy a player’s career, and when it comes to transfer rumours and gossip, 99% of their stories are lies, i dont like journalists and politicians
He is one of the main Problems that caused thr setback of the team.
So the penny finally dropped, glad somebody has started this difficult conversation. It’s about time we call Calabria out for his subpar performances that has been carrying on for years now. Him being the only starting italian does not make this reality any easier, but we have to face the elephant in the room. Given his age amd the fact he is just not developing any further, we need an upgrade.
PLOT TWIST: Article is written by Milan politicians to prepare fans for offboarding Calabria!
Who cares? It doesn’t make it any less true. It’s a hard truth that Milan are going to have to face if they ant to get better.
Ok I made a long response to this thread and somehow I got deleted, but anyways.
Calabria seems currently to be one of the most controversial players of our teams.
One the one hand, you have a bunch (albeit not many), who pretty much think he is one of the best RBs in the world right now, that he singlehandedly put Kvaratskhelia and Mbappe in his pocket and why not, he is the next Cafu.
On the other hand, many here love to make him the scapegoat for pretty much everything. Of course any goal which was scored from our ring wing is entierly his fault, nothing to do with our genius coach who thaught he could play as an inverted fullback and somehow leave the entire wing free for Dimarco to roam around, or that he, a somehow not so fast player, can singlehandedly manmark and back track fast forwards in a high block.
Personally, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. Calabria is a bit average, he is not an offensive prodigy, but again you can’t play with both fullbacks running upwards at the same time. Theo can overcommit to attack because Calabria doesn’t. He was often beaten in the Dortmund and Atalanta games, but guess what, if doublemarking Kvaratskhelia and Mbappe led to us WINNING, why not doublemark other fast forwards from other teams ? Heck even Calabria himself complained about the situations where our defenders were left 1vs1 against PSG forwards.
Is getting another RB worth it ? maybe ? Having different profiles is useful, and Calabria and Florenzi are both injury prone.
Is Calabria captain worthy ? I don’t think he is, but unless we give the armband to the goalkeeper, I don’t see any worthy leader in our team.
Calabria is one of the few remaining players who lifted a title and although it seems to be a repetitive argument, but it really is not a good idea to lose all the players who lifted our last scudetto barely 2 years ago. Perhaps getting a shiny new player who doesn’t yet speak italian and with a padded record from weaker leagues is not always the best answer. Also if you ditch one of the few homegrown italian players that remain in the team, how to do you meet with the european requirments with so many foreigners from generally weaker leagues ?
On what basis is anyone rating players?
It seems being a Scudetto winner apparently doesn’t make a player capable of winning a Scudetto.
Instead some other player who never won a Scudetto or anything else is considered better because, I don’t know, they’re new?
Even the whole “he’s not good at attacking’ ignores the fact that he has the same numb er of assists as Theo.
But apparently something so specific could never be a determining factor – it’s more ‘vibe’ thing.
Of course Milan fans should think Calabria is the best RB in the world (a completely mad up thing) because they’re Milan fans and are supposed to be biased.
Let Inter fans mock Calabria, not our own fans.
And this is really very important because fans, and this whole attitude, is fundamental to our success.
Players need to feel loved by fans.
Home advantage is a thing and that itself shows how minor details can make all of the difference.
The exact same player plays better at home v away – really?
Whether or not Calabria is rated 70 or 80 or 90 in FIFA or whatever is irrelevant.
There are numerous bang average full backs and players who won multiple titles. Panucci, Pessoto, the Neville brothers, Abate, Giaccherini are all title winners.
And it really doesn’t matter to them what randomers rate them as.
“On what basis is anyone rating players?”
On their performance and technical abilities
“Instead some other player who never won a Scudetto or anything else is considered better because, I don’t know, they’re new?”
Guess that makes Giroud better than legends like Batistuta then ? or I have a better question, why did Man City ditch Gabriel Jesus who won many EPLs for Haaland who didn’t won anything before them ?
“Even the whole “he’s not good at attacking’ ignores the fact that he has the same numb er of assists as Theo.”
And Theo has scored 2 goals and is considered to be having his worst season with AC Milan
“Of course Milan fans should think Calabria is the best RB in the world (a completely mad up thing) because they’re Milan fans and are supposed to be biased.”
NO. Your assessment of a player’s abilites has to be objectif, otherwise you’re just delusional.
“Players need to feel loved by fans.”
True, but I didn’t insult him here, I just assessed what I think his performances are.
“There are numerous bang average full backs and players who won multiple titles. Panucci, Pessoto, the Neville brothers, Abate, Giaccherini are all title winners.”
Hence why I supported keeping Calabria within the team.
Their performance? What performance? When? Have you ever heard of form?
Technical abilities? Their professional football players playing in one of the top teams on the planet. They’re literally in the top 0.0000001% of human beings for technical footballing ability,.
I don’t think Giroud cares who is better – he’s got a World Cup and few titles.
Oh Massaro also won the Scudetto and Champions League so I guess he doesn’t lie awake thinking of Batistuta either.
Calabria also scores and has adapted to the false full back role. Plus you don’t need or probably want two identical full back. You do realise scored 5 goals for Man Utd. I doubt he cares because he won 8 Premier League titles.
Football isn’t about being objective or else everybody would just go and support the best team.
Also football is completely random where the best team doesn’t always win.
Stop pretending this is a science (or a computer game) .
If you support keeping Calabria in the team why are you arguing with me?
“If you support keeping Calabria in the team why are you arguing with me?”
Really ? You’re the one who replied to my post, remember ? And I literally wrote this in my post “Calabria is one of the few remaining players who lifted a title and although it seems to be a repetitive argument, but it really is not a good idea to lose all the players who lifted our last scudetto barely 2 years ago. Perhaps getting a shiny new player who doesn’t yet speak italian and with a padded record from weaker leagues is not always the best answer.”
So I don’t know why you jumped on me saying that Calabria is not world-class (he isn’t) and somehow missed this.
Where did I say that we need 2 fullbacks like Theo ? I literally said that Theo can attack because Calabria defends more.
That aside, player’s overall assessment is objective and based on qualitative and quantitative metrics. If you think player A is better than player B, just because player A has won more titles, or because player A plays for your team, you’ve lost the plot.
Now does-it make sense to always go for the best player ? No, a team is not the sum of all its players, sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less, and you should pick and keep the players that work the best with your team.
The reason I took issue with your post is because, whilst defending Calabria, you put the usual dig in.
And these digs continue to chip away until the inevitable happens and he’s sold.
And it’s all predicated on this completely nonsense idea that there are these different grades of players like in computer games.
Sure there are some greats but the ironic thing about the modern obsession with rating players is that it encourages most players to be overrated which is fuels so many pointless transfers.
Look at this summer where Milan signed a load of random players that were apparently better than the players they replaced. Except the players they replaced had actually won the Scudetto.
And this is exactly why titles matter.
Because when all the opinions are stripped away the only thing that matters is winning. Not some randomer’s opinion of what a player’s ability is.
“Except the players they replaced had actually won the Scudetto.
And this is exactly why titles matter.”
Sorry but I don’t follow you here, if the ONLY thing that matters is if a player won a title or not, then why bother scouting weaker teams and weaker leagues ? Just keep or bring title winning players and voilà.
Gabriel Jesus has won 4 EPL with Manchester City, yet they replaced him with Haaland who has never won anything. By your logic, this is a bad idea. Or perhaps Real Madrid made a bad decision by bringin Bellingham who never won a title.
In 2003, we’ve won an UCL, yet our management brought an unkown player from the Brazilian league named Kàkà, and he did manage to become a starter and won titles.
Now back to us, by a player A is better because he won titles, are you trying to say that Saelemakers or Messias are better than Pulisic ? because that will be a nonsense. Sure we made mistakes this summer, losing Tonali was bad (although we would have lost him anyways), but doesn’t mean every new player is bad.
And in the end, nothing is set in stones, sure we can win a scudetto or even an UCL once, but other teams are going to take notes and try to improve, and if we’re lazy, we’re gonna find that we’ve lost the top spot.
A top team should always seek to improve.
What is hard to follow?
A Scudetto winning player is by definition a player capable of winning the Scudetto.
In the transfer market casino it’s a marginally less risky gamble.
Sure, to improve, you also need to take a punt on other players.
Kaka wasn’t really a punt as he was highly rated.
More interestingly Juve maintained their dominance in part by signing the best players from their nearest rivals e.g. Pirlo, Pjanić and Higuain.
We probably should’ve done something similar after our Scudetto win.
But whether, the key thing is if we recognise that there aren’t these different grades of players, that most top players are top players, and then there are a small handful of exceptional players, we focus on the exceptional rather than moving sidewards or backwards by signing loads of the same.
It also causes us not underestimate the lower teams who all have top players too. And it’s beating the lower teams that often is the difference between winning and losing the title.
And….titles are all that matter!
“A Scudetto winning player is by definition a player capable of winning the Scudetto.”
No, a scudetto winning player is a player who plays or has played with a team that is capable of winning the scudetto. It’s the team that wins titles, players get sometimes individual awards but that’s it. Sure having certains players is sometimes the difference between winning and losing.
“Kaka wasn’t really a punt as he was highly rated.” That’s kind of my point, he didn’t have collective success, played in a weaker league, but the rest was history…
“More interestingly Juve maintained their dominance in part by signing the best players from their nearest rivals e.g. Pirlo, Pjanić and Higuain.
We probably should’ve done something similar after our Scudetto win.”
I completely agree here.
“It also causes us not underestimate the lower teams who all have top players too. And it’s beating the lower teams that often is the difference between winning and losing the title.
And….titles are all that matter!”
True but this is more of a collective effort.
Overall, I think we agree more on certain points than it seems, I guess it’s just how each one view certain things, certains players or certain decisions that made the difference.
One of the most important aspects of Calabria is that he checks off a lot of European Competition requirements AND can play at a decently high enough level. Italian, yes. Homegrown. How many others the team can we say that about? Pobega and Calabria. This is of HUGE importance. It’s why I was amazed we loaned out Gabbia. It’s also why you see so many Primavera players in the list of 25.
“Uefa allows a club to have 25 players on List A, with eight of them reserved for locally trained players or homegrown talent.
However, if a club fails to fulfill the quota of eight players, then the squad size must be reduced accordingly. For example, if a club has named only seven locally trained players then they are allowed to name only 24 players in List A.”
BULL$HIT Articles like this is why I stopped following SempreMilan.
So, Calabria needs to be sold/replaced because he doesnt contribute to attack like Theo. As if Theo has been contributing much in attack a lot this season/last season.
Calabria actually makes quite clever forward runs, Pioli’s “system” in its entire 5 years, has NEVER picked any runs behind opponents defensive lines
from ANYONE. I Havent seen a SINGLE memorable throughball under Pioli. The only difference between Theo and Calabria really is Theo’s ability to dribble and his pace which helps him with the forward runs.
That BygoneKittens dude could only run circles around Calabria because our entire midfield was downright USELESS throughout the entire match.
Christen Montegen, you my friend, dont even know what you are writing about. Calabria upgrade is needed, but not for the reasons you stated.
Theo is not Calabria’s “compatriot”… the author had one job.