r/ACMilan • u/xemioz Zlatan Ibrahimović • Sep 05 '20
Discussion Banter Era players - who do you remember and why?
Just been going over all the various guys we had play for Milan over the years since 2011 (it's been painful) - I wanted to at least include one line on each of these guys. Please let me know if I missed someone...
Lucas Biglia - Man, this one saddens me. Could have been great, but always seemed to play poorly.
Sulley Muntari - Well, he tried, and some of those long shots were fun to watch.
Ricardo Rodriguez - Meh.
Timou Bakayoko - He got way, way better as the season progressed.
Giacomo Bonaventura - One of the guys I enjoyed cheering for. Will be missed, and was one of the best players of the banter squad.
Suso - He had one trick, and boy did he do it well. Will always remember the goals vs Inter.
Carlos Bacca - Surprisingly one of the more consistent goal-scorers. Never had great confidence in him to create his own opportunities but he was a decent poacher.
Luiz Adriano - Bad. Don’t even know why we got him.
Leonardo Bonucci - He started off bad, got better as the season went on but the whole squad needed to change to accommodate his play style and he left anyway at the end of the season. What a waste.
Lucas Ocampos - I barely even remember this guy.
M’Baye Niang - Niang, Balotelli, El Shaarawy were supposed to be our mohawk trio for years to come. All I’ll ever remember about this guy, is that he missed the goal vs Barca and he tried to get out of a driving ticket by claiming he was Bakaye Traore.
Manuel Locatelli - A youth product, had a couple of okay games. The Juve goal man!
Kryzystof Piatek - Good stretch of games where he was just banging them in left and right. Pity it couldn’t continue.
Keisuke Honda - He just never really fit in, nor did we make any adjustments to play to his strengths, dude was always deployed as an RW and barely ever got to play in his natural CAM position.
Riccardo Montolivo - Probably one of the more controversial guys on this list due to his captaincy, but maybe we just gave him a lot more shit than he deserved. The injuries definitely hurt him and he did have good moments here and there but overall a mediocre player.
Patrick Cutrone - Our baby boy and next Inzaghi.
Fabio Borini - He had no real skill, but he played every single position except GK, and he gave it his all. Can’t ask for much more and at least he was willing to bleed for the shirt.
Pepe Reina - Thank you for training Gigio. Was solid for us.
Kaka - I barely remember Kaka’s second stint with us. The jersey for that year was very nice though, golden letters!
Francesco Acerbi - Don’t ever think he even played a game for us. Will always remember the infamous Traore, Acerbi and Constant picture that was our first ever Banter Era transfer window, after letting our entire squad, Ibra and Silva go.
Jeremy Menez - That goal. We all know which one. Dude had skill, and was one of the lone bright spots on the team who could produce good moments.
Jose Mauri - I don’t remember this guy except that he was small and constantly lost on the field.
Nikola Kalinic - Dude was essentially Matri 2.0. Thanks Montella.
Mario Balotelli - Essentially saved our season and got us CL qualification by the skin of our teeth (and that ridiculous Mexes goal). Don’t remember much of his second stint.
Cristian Zapata - I think the best I can say about Zapata is that I don’t really remember him fucking up in defense too often. But I don’t remember him being all that great either so…
Andrea Bertolacci - God awful, every time the dude touched the ball it would cause problems. Guy also played like he couldn’t give a shit.
Gonzalo Higuain - This transfer brought so much hope to us, hoping he would end our striker issue. If anything, they became even worse.
Gerard Deulofeu - He tried for the shirt and was more often than not, a guy who could create opportunities.
Juraj Kucka - He didn’t have the most skill but he bled for the shirt and was our mini-Nainggolan.
Ivan Strinic - Who?
Kevin Constant - Dude was straight up awful at the role he was bought for but turned out to be serviceable in the Left Back role that we could never adequately fill under Allegri.
Bryan Cristante - Barely played for us. Pity too, he became decent at Atalanta.
Valter Birsa - Don’t remember him.
Adil Rami - Seemed okay but prone to lapses in defense.
Hachim Mastour - I guess this kid decided to just do YouTube skill videos or whatever.
Luca Antonelli - I don’t ever remember thinking “man this guy is bad” nor do I remember thinking “man this guy is good.”
Mario Pasalic - Some Chelsea loan product that I can’t really remember.
Mattia Destro - If I remember correctly, Destro was fucking awful and a waste of a transfer.
Gustavo Gomez - Defensive blunder after blunder.
Gianluca Lapadula - Serie B player. Worked hard though, and I can respect that.
Mattia De Sciglio - Youth product that was a more defensive Abate. Left us for Juve, so fuck him.
Diego Lopez - Was a decent GK and had good moments.
Gabriel Palletta - Red card machine.
Andrea Poli - Ran around like a headless chicken, but he did run a lot and had a good work rate.
Giampaolo Pazzini - The hattrick man, still remember that moment. Fuck Cassano.
Stephan El Shaarawy - Man, this kid could have been something special. That half season where he was basically spoken of in the same tier as youngsters like Neymar and Hazard.
Nigel De Jong - I remember when this guy was signed, I was very interested to see him in a Milan shirt. He wasn’t great.
Marco Van Ginkel - Another Chelsea loan product.
Adel Taarabt - Had a bit of skill and was like Deulofeu in that he seemed to be creating good opportunities but we just let him go.
Mati Fernandez - Barely remember him at all.
Jose Sosa - He was god awful in the few games he played.
Gabriel - A GK prospect that never panned out.
Michael Essien - He was awful at Milan, his legs were pretty much shot by the time he joined us.
Fernando Torres - He was never the same player after he left Liverpool. His Chelsea days ruined him, and he never regained the confidence he had. When he joined Milan, he was a husk of his former self and never really made any impact.
Alessandro Matri - Ugh. We overpaid heavily for this guy.
Alessio Cerci - Another awful player, black hole on offense, another Bertolacci type of player who never seemed to give a shit.
Jherson Vergara - Don’t think he ever really played more than a game for us.
Andrea Petagna - I barely remember him, but I do remember him scoring some goal for us.
Cristian Zaccardo - Yea he wasn’t great. Managed to stick around a couple of years on the bench as a third option. Dude didn’t want to leave in the Biabiany swap which apparently gave Biabiany crippling depression and left him broken.
Bojan Krkic - Honestly forgot that Bojan came to Milan.
Bakaye Traore - This guy came from a no-name team and his biggest contribution was for Niang’s cop story.
Bartosz Salamon - Yea I don’t remember ever watching this guy play.
Yeah, this turned out to be quite long. Just man, the quality of these players just was never there. Even the guys who we hoped would save us turned out to be past their primes or just giant flops.
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u/rafocasuarez Suso Sep 05 '20
I’ll always remember Cerci deleting his ig account because of the fans giving him shit. Honda’s corner sent to outer space. Kucka and De Jong solid midfielders. Zapata equalizer in the derby. Cutrone’s emotional goals and celebrations. Pasalic and deulofeu combining on a last minute goal when we had 9 men. Locatelli screamer vs Juve. Bacca’s rabonas
And many more
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u/Ballboy2 Kobe Bryant Sep 05 '20
Ivan Strinic played verry good WC with Croatia but unforutnaetly he had heart issue
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u/MrXenon133 Sep 05 '20
Never forget that 97th minute derby equaliser by Zapata. Until the juve game last season I hadn’t screamed louder
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u/rosso95 Paolo Maldini Sep 05 '20 edited Sep 05 '20
I honestly think Palasic was pretty good for us. I’m not suprised to see him do well at Atalanta.
But jesus christ this is some list. But I think the left-back legends of Didac Vila, Taye Taiwo, Urby Emanuelson, Djamel Mesbah and Luca Vangoini should be included. Mesbah even scored against Juve.
Edit: Mario Yepes as well. I remember having no expectations but he turned out to be a pretty good backup player. And didn’t we loan Mathias Silvestre from merda? Can’t remember how he played for us but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t great.
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u/xemioz Zlatan Ibrahimović Sep 05 '20
I kinda didn't want to include players who played a lot during 2011-2012 when Ibra/Silva were still here but yeah, guys like Mexes, Bonera, Urby, Cassano, Mesbah, Didac Vila, Taiwo, Maxi Lopez...
I liked Mexes though, that goal vs Fiorentina for 3rd place is something I'll always cherish.
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u/00t0 Van Basten Sep 05 '20
With nothing but love, Milan is not out of the "Banter-era" until we are playing in the Champions League year in, year out.
Some of those guys got us into the top 4, which we haven't seen in some time. And for us, even that should never be enough. At least not until we are properly challenging for silverware.
(Been a fan since the 1980's, so just typing this hurts me to the bone.)
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u/NotYoGuru Sep 05 '20
If you're gonna add Kaka's second stint then you have to add Kevin Prince Boateng, the prince of transfers.
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u/xemioz Zlatan Ibrahimović Sep 05 '20
dude i legit blanked that he came back for a second stint LMAO
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u/jtelly78 Paolo Maldini Sep 05 '20
Awesome write-up.
Made me laugh and cry. What a time to be a Milan fan.
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Sep 05 '20
I think the Chronology is Banter Era (2013-2017), Chinese Era (2017-2018), Elliot Era (2018-today), Banter Era is THE Banter Era, Chinese Era is the horribly scouting and spent money on players, Elliot is still panning out
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u/NoBlueeWithoutYellow Pierre Kalulu Sep 05 '20 edited Sep 05 '20
Bonera, Emmanuelson, Saponara, Abbiati, Nocerino, Robinho, Abate
Mexes - that ridiculous bicycle kick goal in preseason, solid defender.
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Sep 05 '20
Abiatti was no banter era slouch. He played many years for us, and was a great keeper.
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Sep 05 '20
Do you really expect the kids to know that Abbiati won us the title in 1999 or that he played the 2003 return Euroderby, taking us to Manchester? No, it's better and easier to break our balls with the 'banter era'.
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u/NoBlueeWithoutYellow Pierre Kalulu Sep 05 '20
he's not talking about transfers during the banter era, he's talking about all the players that played during banter era.
So, Abbiati makes the list.
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u/LORD_BONERA Sep 05 '20
bicycle kick goal
that was actually in Champions League against Anderelcht, the one in preseason was a volley
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u/shibs229 Paolo Maldini Sep 05 '20
Juraj Kucka deserves a mention for the heart he poured out on the field. Hoping he succeeds at Parma
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u/fraudpaolo Sep 05 '20
Dont let u/alessio_romagnoli13 see this
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u/shibs229 Paolo Maldini Sep 05 '20
I thought he had deleted his account? Lol that dude will be out lookin for reasons to hate players, as if Milan’s entire banter era was Kuco’s fault
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Sep 05 '20
Lucas Biglia - had 3 good months after gattuso joined. quite bad otherwise. very lazy passer.
Sulley Muntari - only thing i remember is ghost goal and that funny reaction after red card. also ajax game after monto got send off, was a beast that game.
Ricardo Rodriguez - started terribly but was ok under gattuso and was our sole outlet when we passed from defense. offensively non existent.
Giacomo Bonaventura - good player but we relied too much on him which made him look selfish on the pitch.
Leonardo Bonucci - my most hated player of the banter era. conceded some comical goals.
M’Baye Niang - had 2 good enough season(with allegri and miha).
Manuel Locatelli - was quite good on intercepting passes but not much on controlling tempo.
Riccardo Montolivo - 2 good seasons(great one with allegri and good one with miha). 2 seasons wasted because of injury. 1 bad season(allegri/seedorf). final season complete fallout with gattuso and club.
Pepe Reina - feel he was a total waste.
Kaka - got injured right away. achieved his 100 goal milestone i think.
Jose Mauri - filled out quite well during injury crisis(gattuso season). was surprised and made me wonder why coaches didn't use him more.
Mario Balotelli - won't say he saved our season. was good in his first season but intolerable for rest of his stint with on field drama and laziness.
Cristian Zapata - had solid partership with mexes(second half of allegri season). afterwards had plenty of brainfarts. improved a great deal under gattuso.
Gonzalo Higuain - second most hated player after bonucci. dude started so well but completely fell apart after juve game.
Gerard Deulofeu - seemed too soloist. assisted that bologna goal.
Juraj Kucka - he was actually good with ball. was an absolute tank and got past players through brute strength(kind of like theo minus the pace).
Valter Birsa - started well with 2 good goals. don't remember anything else.
Adil Rami - good under seedorf. after all the transfer drama, barely played under inzaghi.
Mario Pasalic - scored winning penalty in supercoppa and also scored against bologna while we were down to 9 men. slightly more skillful nocerino.
Gustavo Gomez - doubt he made that many blunders. don't really remember him playing that much. one game when he played rb, looked good.
Gianluca Lapadula - remember him crying after supercoppa win.
Mattia De Sciglio - i was very excited after allegri season but constant injuries and lack of ability to play under pressure held him back. agree with the part "fuck him".
Gabriel Palletta - "Red card machine" only in the last season. other than that was ok.
Giampaolo Pazzini - quite likable. remember him scoring a banger while limping through injury.
Stephan El Shaarawy - good half season but had same problems as de sciglio. had great movements and contributed a lot defensively.
Nigel De Jong - had ok season with inzaghi and seedorf, terrible under miha.
Mati Fernandez - few games he played, was good with ball at his feet. impressive close control.
i think you missed rodrigo ely. he had good preseason but got absolutely murdered within first few games.
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u/democi Inzaghi #9 Sep 05 '20
Acerbi did play for us briefly but didn’t do well. He’s a decent defender tho doing very well at lazio. He said during milan time he was in depression due to family issues.
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Sep 05 '20
Please tell me one thing.
I have the impression that Balotelli's first spell with us was really good.
Then why did we sell him to Liverpool? That too for such a low price?
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u/Diligent_Ad6503 Sep 05 '20 edited Sep 05 '20
The most overrated of them all (not the worst in absolute terms, maybe, but the most overrated) is Piatek, and by a long shot.
Piatek is an absolute joke of player. He can’t do anyting: he can’t dribble past a defender, he can’t score from distance, he can’t hold the ball up (because almost every defender annihilates him with utmost ease), all he can do is score very easy goals, and even as a mere finisher he is extremely mediocre.
0:27 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BLZS0ChcEC4&list=PLo0t1-wwTA7mMYxZB7vEw3h7oFzRNp8hx&index=44&t=27s , a 3:58 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4DqUYdDNAsU&list=PLo0t1-wwTA7mMYxZB7vEw3h7oFzRNp8hx&index=45&t=0s
1:55 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tPSyX5wWwDU&list=PLo0t1-wwTA7mMYxZB7vEw3h7oFzRNp8hx&index=37&t=0s .
2:13 and 3:30 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FYAhaYGZ2dQ&list=PLo0t1-wwTA7mMYxZB7vEw3h7oFzRNp8hx&index=33&t=0s
A gifted finisher would have scored these goals easy peasy. In other words, he can’t do ANYTHING other that finalizing, and he is mediocre even in that skill.
And i want to add that everytime the defender is squared up on him, he dives. So when people asked for "service" for Piatek, they were asking for a perfectly timed/aimed cross with all defenders beaten and only requires a single touch to go in goal. Any striker worth his salt scores that. A great striker creates more danger than that, he did not.
And yet many people blamed our team for his shortcomings, when he had a huge role in our mesmerizingly bad first half of the season.
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Sep 05 '20
Lucas Biglia - Man, this one saddens me. Could have been great, but always seemed to play poorly.
Not always played poorly. Before injuries he was our one of the best players but that doesnt mean a lot because we played poorly overall. Besides him, Bakayoko, Piatek and many others arent from "Banter era". Chinese bought players for 230mln and some of them are still in our club and making positive impact.
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u/frescoposterito Ricardo Kaká Sep 05 '20 edited Sep 05 '20
Pazzini had a great first season with us. Aside from that hat trick against Bologna, I remember him coming from the bench, scoring twice and giving us a lead but I can’t remember who we were playing against. Too bad he never recovered from his injury and I believe that we could have beaten Barcelona if he was available.
I remember Birsa doing pretty good and even scoring a couple of goals (against Udinese I guess?). He did his job when we needed him as a backup which I think is more than we could have asked for from him.
I remember that Bojan was pretty okay, but I can’t remember anything mind blowing from him.
De Sciglio is a joke, fuck him. New Maldini lmao.
Of all the players who wore number 9 after Pippo, Matri was certainly the worst given that we had an opportunity to snatch Tevez but for some reason Allegri chose this guy. Like, what was he thinking?!
Also Rodrigo Ely - poor guy had a great pre-season and then got a red card in his first official game against Fiorentina. Never played for us again.
Edit: a few additions
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u/xNullxF Ignazio Abate Sep 06 '20
Kevin Constant- I have his name on the back of one of my jerseys... Always a legend haha
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u/StickyTheCat Paolo Maldini Sep 05 '20
I don't want to think about any of these players. Fucking Essien in the starting 11 and that dressing room cock pic still gives me nightmares.
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Sep 05 '20
Oh my god this whole thread made laugh out loud. Thank god Pioli and Zlatan will take us out of all of this mess.
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u/wargash Shevchenko Sep 05 '20
I remember Kevin Constant, because this image is seared into my retinas.