Is This Milan really that weak?

All I've been hearing this summer (about Milan that is), is that this Milan team is the weakest when compared to Milan teams of past decades,may be yes,or may be no,what difference does it make?One team can be stronger than all the past teams put together and still not win a noteworthy trophy,or one team can be the weakest when compared to all the past teams and still claim a zillion trophies,the point is a team does not contest against past teams , in order to win trophies it has to beat the teams of the present , so a team has to be better than teams of the present rather than teams of the past,because it makes no difference where you stand against the oldies it is where you stand against the present guys is what really counts.

Now coming back to the Present Milan Team,I'm going to evaluate the point as to whether this Milan team "merits" the criticism that it is getting.Ok we have lost "Kaka" , we don't have "Il Capitano" "Paolo Maldini" any more(*weeps) also we don't have our ex-coach "carletto" any more( and thank god for that),But all of this does not necessarily make the second grade losers team anyhow.Let us not forget the quality of players that Milan still have at their disposal,people who want to cut them short say "Milan have an ageing side who are getting worse rather than getting any better" .But nothing can be any farther from truth, How can we forget the ever bugeoning and the ever more prolific "Alexander Pato" who would obviously get better with time,"The silky Andrea Pirlo", "The Pit bull" Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta who if fit would obviously be better as compared to the last two seasons obviously he is the most naturally gifted defender of this decade,Thiago Silva who is a very good signing,Klaas Jan Huntelaar who is undoubtedly a clinical goal scorer,Clarence Seedorf who is a proven world class midfielder.

Now i don't quite understand where the problem lies,on the second thought , the problem is in the minds of the writers of the various articles that question the credentials of Milan as Scudetto favourites.

Let us look at the first choice starting line up for milan and then try to reach any conclusions

Line-up:- Christian Abbiati,Zambrotta, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Jankulovski,Gattuso, Pirlo,Clarence Seedorf,Ronaldinho; Pato,Klaas Jan Huntelaar.

Now that is world class team no matter what Barcelona-esque standards one might have,this team is good enough to fight for titles and win them.Don't forget Inter still lack that creativity in midfield and with the departure of "IBRA" they don't have anybody to supply "Et'o" or "Milito" with the opportunities to score,Roma are themselves going through a subtle crisis of their own and they also lack quality in their team,only "Juve" can be considered Title contenders but they have made two new signings who will need time settling in.

Q.E.D (Hence Proved),as mathematicians would say,Milan is definitely as good as if not better than their competitors.

Milan's 2009-10 Player Numbers:

This is the complete list of Milan's 2009-10 player numbers:

1 Nelson Dida; 4 Kaladze; 5 Oguchi Onyewu; 7 Alexandre Pato; 8 Rino Gattuso; 9 Filippo Inzaghi; 10 Clarence Seedorf; 11 Klaas Jan Huntelaar; 12 Christian Abbiati; 13 Alessandro Nesta; 15 Gianluca Zambrotta; 16 Mathieu Flamini; 17 Gianmarco Zigoni; 18 Marek Jankulovski; 19 Giuseppe Favalli; 20 Ignazio Abate; 21 Andrea Pirlo; 22 Marco Borriello; 23 Massimo Ambrosini; 25 Daniele Bonera; 30 Marco Storari; 31 Flavio Roma; 33 Thiago Silva; 44 Massimo Oddo; 49 Davide Di Gennaro; 77 Luca Antonini; 80 Ronaldinho.

Did you notice that Marco Borriello has inherited the number 22 which was left behind by Kaka.