Ronnie and Pato impressed

Milan’s performance against Siena in the opening fixture of Serie A was better than expected. Expectations were very low heading into the match after a preseason that was, well, a disaster.

The first ten minutes against Siena and you could be forgiven for thinking that Milan were in for another night of misery. Fortunately, once the players settled Milan looked comfortable if not dominant.

There were many positives that came out of the game against the Bianconeri.

The biggest positive was the performance Ronaldinho. It was the former Selecao star who at will carved openings in the Siena defence. His link up play with Pato for the first goal was superb. Ronnie almost got onto the scoresheet too with an audacious over head kick. Ronnie, when in the mood, is absolute class.

We should not expect him to ever have that lighting speed again that made him virtually unplayable at times at Barcelona. But Ronnie is the classical fantasista as they say in Italy. With this vision, skill and flair, he is the type of player who can win you games.

From the first impressions its looks as though Ronnie is on the right track. If he can just keep his head, if Leonardo can keep up his motivation, then this season may just be Ronnie’s best for sometime.

Another Brazilian who impressed was our great young hope Pato. Pato relished the service from his compatriot Ronnie and perhaps should of had a hat-trick. But two goals was good enough and will give the young Brazilian much confidence heading into the derby.

In the media this week, there has been mixed reports on Borriello’s performance. I for one am of the view that he just is not quite good enough. He is not threatening enough for a striker. He fails to get into goalscoring positions and he is unable to beat his marker. With the return of Huntelaar this week, it will be good to see him return to the bench.

Another positive to come out of the game on the weekend was the central defensive partnership of Thiago Silva and Nesta. In particular, the young Brazilian had an impressive debut looking cool and collected in the Milan defence. Similarly, Nesta had an impressive return to competitive action. How much we missed this guy last year. He is still one of the best defenders in the world and if he can stay fit Milan surely must better last season’s result considering last year we had the likes of Senderos, Favalli and Kaladze in our centre of defence.

So a number of positives to take from the first test but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Siena really are not a formidable side in any sense of the word. The upcoming derby against Inter in a couple of days will provide a fairer measure for Milan’s progress. Before than lets hope that Milan can sign a full back or two.

Against Siena, our lack of quality attacking full backs was apparent. Zambrotta does not have the legs anymore to make it into those attacking positions to give the Milan attack some width. And whilst Marek does tend to do this better than Zambrotta, his defensive work leaves something to be desired.

Reports are indicating that Juventus have signed the Brazilian Rafinha which is dissappointing because Rafinha would be perfect for Milan. Galliani must conjure up something and very quickly. Ideally a full back should arrive before the Inter match this weekend. Just as long as one, at least, arrives before the close of the transfer campaign.

In other matters, how Ambrosini was named captain is a mystery. Alessandro Nesta, formerly the captain of Lazio, should have been the captain of Milan. He is a class player able to inspire his teammates because in his position, there are few better players in the world. Indeed, Nesta would have to be one of the greatest defenders of last decade for sure. It is not too late to change this as I hope Leonardo will.

Whilst it seems highly unlikely at this stage, I really believe that Milan should have signed Hernanes for the season. Pirlo and Gattuso are not getting any younger and their performances are starting to show signs that they are not the players that once conquered Europe and the world a couple of season ago. I think it is great how we still have these players as their experience is invaluable. But while we have them we should start to integrate some younger players, like Hernanes, so that their knowledge and experience can be passed on to the next cycle of Milan players. If not now, as it seems likely, then maybe in January.

For now though, lets look ahead to the Milan derby this weekend. It should be a fascinating game and I for one am looking forward to seeing Huntelaar make his Serie A debut. I will preview the game tomorrow so till then….ciao!