Podcast: Out with the Old, In with the Youth

2013 has been a tough year to be a Milan fan, and the future of the first team is muddled with dysfunction from top to bottom, poor results and uncertain hope for the transfer window. But while we all bleed for the first team, there is tons of hope in our youth sector. So while we want to drink away the past year, today we toast to the future with part two of our “Youth Dreams” interview all about Milan’s Youth Sector.

Hope for the future

Once again I have a very special guest coming to us from Milano. He calls himself the “Rain Man” of the Youth Sector, otherwise known as Francesco Battaglia of Milan Next fame. This time, we talk about:

• News of the Week: Ciao Niang, Get better El Shaarawy, grudge match friendly, mercato madness

• Centro Sportiva Vismara: improvements

• Youth Teams:  updates on the Primavera, Allievi Nazionali, Allievi I/II, Giovanissimi Regionali, and Pulcini 2005

• The Milan Model: 4-3-3

• Loaning Young Players:  Bryan Cristante

Download this episode (right click and save)

Thanks once again to the prophetic and wise Francesco. Follow him on @MilanNext on Twitter, or like the Milan Next Facebook page. For the really good tweets, follow him @bennybatta on Twitter.

Happy New Year from Milan Obsession!

Au Revoir, M’Baye Niang

Most people think that “au revoir” means goodbye. But in fact, it literally translates “to the seeing again.” I am sure to use it with those I am fond of, especially those I wish to see again. And so, with Niang’s loan to Montpelier, I say au revoir instead of adieu. Because my hope is that his loan spell will get him some regular playing time, and Milan will see what they are missing and bring him back home.

Hard to let go of what could have been

The Milan View

The unrest at Milan has increasingly impacted my thoughts, and even my dreams… or should I say nightmares? The other night I thought I was hosting a TV panel kind of like The View with Adriano Galliani and Barbara Berlusconi. But was I just dreaming? Or was it real? When it was over, I couldn’t quite tell. So I thought I would recount it here and let you be the judge…

The Birsa Effect

The advent of social media has introduced a whole new battery of casualties. There are psychological injuries to everyday users, but have you ever considered the power of your words as they influence others? Not just other fans online, but the players themselves? This year in particular, I’ve noticed a trend that plagues Twitter and other online forums like a disease. A trend where words become more powerful than reality. I like to call it the Birsa Effect.

Social media has a lot to say about all of these guys, but how much is true?

Doesn’t Anyone Know What Christmas is All About?

One of the best things about this blog is that people all over the world read it and many of them comment, too. And so at this time of the year, while I realize that many people who do not celebrate Christmas are reading, it gives me the chance to celebrate the traditions of many of our players and also the country they play in, as well as my own. For me, Christmas is so much more than a religious holiday. It’s about forgetting yourself and spreading goodwill and, just for a day or two every year, seeing the humanity in one another. 

Charlie Brown always asks the important questions...

Inter 1, Milan 0: To the Death

I was dreading this match. And then I turned on my TV to watch what was, in my opinion, Milan’s best performance to date this season. So I got my hopes up. The boys were playing with such fire and intensity, I was actually excited. But in the 75th minute, that all changed. One single substitution was enough to suck the life out of the team who had started this match to play to the death.

Balotelli playing to the death

Inter vs. Milan: Snakes on a Pitch

  

Enough is Enough.

Inter-Milan Preview: Ophidiophobia

What is supposed to be “the most wonderful time of the year” is turning out to be my worst nightmare. After scraping through the Roma match and my fear of wolves, now I have to face my very worst nightmare: my abnormal fear of snakes, or ophidiophobia. That’s right, it’s time for the Derby della Madonnina. And as if that weren’t scary enough, Inter are in 5th place on the table, while we languish in tenth. So I am nearly literally scared to death.

I'm not the only one with obidiophobia

Podcast: Christmas Wishes

So much news with Milan, we celebrated the big number 114 with a Champions League Round of 16 Draw and a match with Roma. So we indulged in a little post-birthday celebration and then looked forward to Christmas. With so much tumult at the club, we dream big and hope for Santa to bring Milan some wishful presents.

Jolly, animated, and more capable... what's on your Christmas wish list for Milan?

Milan 2, Roma 2: Silence of the Wolves

In a game where Milan periodically showed signs of life, Milan were at least able to frustrate Roma and steal two points from the Scudetto contenders. It was a wild ride filled with cards and injuries, but in the end, Milan silenced Roma with a 2-2 draw on the 114th birthday of our club.

Any improvement is worth celebrating

Milan’s 114th Birthday and CL Draw and Milan vs. Roma: Gamepost

Party like it's 1899

Milan-Roma Preview: Lupophobia

Some say the fear of wolves is irrational, but this year, Milan have every right to experience lupophobia. First Roma set a new league record by winning their first ten games straight. Then they have continued undefeated through the season to date. And now, their talisman, the legendary Francesco Totti is back. There is nothing irrational about fearing this team, particularly with Milan’s horrifying league record this year. So my diagnosis is simple: I have lupophobia.

A recurring nightmare for me

What Will You Be Doing On Your 114th Birthday?

Longevity is a special gift. Not many can say that they made it to their 114th birthday. One such person is “Miss Susie,” a resident of Brooklyn, New York. She celebrated her 114th birthday this year at a senior center, surrounded by family and friends. Well this Monday is Milan’s birthday, and the club is certainly not going to be celebrating in some senior center. But it begs the question: What will you be doing on your 114th birthday?

If only Herbert Kilpin could see how grown up his baby is now

Champions League • Milan-Ajax: Amazing

Milan are through to the Round of 16. If you didn’t believe in miracles before, surely you do now. After the miraculous and lucky season we had last year to qualify for qualification, to qualifying vs. PSV in August, to doing just enough to be in the driver’s seat for this match, Milan’s path to the Round of 16 was full of miracles. But in the end, it won’t matter how we got there, only that we did. Amazing.

There are no words.

Champions League • AC Milan vs. Ajax: Gamepost

There’s no scientific reason Milan should progress to the knockout round…

…but that never stopped us before

Champions League • Milan-Ajax: Team Superior

So many of us fans have spent so much time complaining about how Allegri has not been able to instill the proper mentality into our team. But little did we know, his words are so powerful that he actually affected the mentality of not just one, but two teams. Back in October, Allegri said that Ajax were a superior team. At the time, it was so untrue. But the power of his words was so far-reaching that it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy – Ajax are in fantastic form, and Milan are barely registering a heartbeat. So on Wednesday, Milan get to welcome to the San Siro Ajax, also known as Team Superior.

I'll show you who's superior

Livorno 2, Milan 2: Maddening

For this review, I was completely stumped. So I opted for some help from other fans. I used a “Mad Libs” style approach, comparable to the maddening performance we saw today. So the words in bold were contributed blindly by others for hilarity. Thank you to: @FJGadsby, @abraham216 and @sposatoalnemico from Twitter as well as Sofia Principessa and Massimo the Greatest from the blog for their help!

Better than a tomato patch zone team

Livorno vs. Milan: Gamepost

If Milan can only beat the superior team that is Allegri’s hometown club

Livorno-Milan: Homecoming

I have a little secret: I know why Allegri has lasted this long, against all odds. There was a clause in his contract that said he must remain as coach of Milan until they could face his hometown club, Livorno. (Okay, I may have made that up.) Don’t look for him to be sacked right away, though, because there is always the return leg in the spring. Whatever the reason he is actually still at the club, tomorrow he comes home for the first time in league competition at Milan. So hopefully, this will be a game he is invested in making a good showing.

Livorno's Milan Fan Club welcomed Allegri this summer, so he'd better not disappoint them

50 Shades of Sexism

I have long been an advocate for the eradication of racism in football. I typically speak out against discrimination in any form, whether at a personal level, as it pertains to players at my club, or anywhere in the world. But with Barbara Berlusconi being given more power at Milan, it seems that men all over the world have reverted thousands of years to the caveman days. And now even Gattuso has shown his true colors. First there were the books, which take women back to the dark ages, now women in football are subjected to 50 Shades of Sexism. Really?

Not a fetish, but rather a form of discrimination that is as old as the human race

Podcast: La Doppietta

In Italian, la doppietta means “the double.” This week, we saw our team pull a double – two away wins back to back. And our management did a double in more ways than one. Galliani did a double take, and Berlusconi patched it up by doubling up his CEOs. And while the team’s doppietta was more than welcome, it remains to be seen what the far-reaching effects of Berlusconi’s doppietta will be on the club.

The management doppietta

Catania 1, Milan 3: Under The Microscope

With the incredible drama this week with Milan management, this game had added attention and focus from the media. After such a horrible season to date, then going to Celtic Park and earning a win, Milanisti worldwide were looking to see if we could get two in a row. And for certain players, they will be always be seen as different, so they get a little extra “attention,” too. All in all, the club went into this game under the microscope.

That's one way to silence the haters.