The bitter Rossoneri fans that ventured to the half empty San Siro whistled mercilessly after another 90 minutes of frustration came to an abrupt end. A disheartening goalless draw against a team that last year was playing in the Italian Serie B. Bari outclassed, outplayed, and embarrassed Milan on their home turf.

As the whistles died down, images showed fans slumped in their chairs in disbelief, probably asking themselves how one of the world's proudest, most storied franchises could have ever fallen to such low standards of play.

If it wasn't for the heroics of Marco Storari, who made some spectacular saves, Bari would have easily taken an early lead. Our defence had a hard time dealing with Bari's explosive and speedy attack, especially on the wing.

Now what? Only 3 goals have been scored the past 6 games. You have to look back in the historic archives of our club to find a Milan that started off this poorly (1982 to be exact.) While Huntelaar does seem completely out of his element, he did not have one chance on goal the entire match. His lack of production can be argued both ways, either he was an over hyped player who is now seemingly over matched, or the team doesn't fit his style. Whichever way you decide to look at it, something desperately has to change or Milan will be fighting to stay in Italy's top flight.

It's easy to blame Leonardo and make him the instant scapegoat for the Rossoneri woes, but he's doing what he can with the players he has at his disposal.. Remember that it was Leonardo himself who tried desperately to acquire Sevilla's Luis Fabiano, a world class talent and also the first choice bomber for the Brazilian National Team. Standing at 184km, Fabiano has plenty of pace, technique, and can score in a variety of ways. Would we be in such a goal drought if Fabiano was our starter? Probably not.

But "what ifs" never resolve an issue. It's hard to pinpoint an exact reason for this downfall, because on paper Milan is still a highly competitive squad. But let's try and make some sense of this perplexity by analyzing the various problems:

- The fullbacks are old and ineffective. A squad that employs a target man up front who is proficient in the air needs players who can streak down the wing and deliver accurate crosses. Zambrotta has had a great career, but he cannot be considered anything more than mediocre at this point. The young Abate is still raw defensively and was exposed against Bari while playing as a right back. But despite his woes while tracking back, he needs to start in the formation due to his tireless running and crossing abilities.

- The midfield seems to be a major question mark. By playing two gritty defensive midfielders at once, the team gives up technique and creativity in the centre of the pitch. Everything goes through Andrea Pirlo, who slows down the game considerably, to the point that we were dubbed as being the "slowest team in football" on the Italian T.V. show La Domenica Sportiva. Milan played the best last year when it unleashed a midfield consisting of one defensive midfielder (Flamini, Gattuso, Ambrosini - take your pick) and then two creative players, such as Beckham and Pirlo.

- The attack is lethargic, uninspired, and downright embarrassing. If this was a FIFA videogame, then somebody just disabled sprint mode for Ronaldinho. Apart from the occasional well placed through ball, he is an unrecognizable version of his former self. I've come up with a theory for world class players who suddenly have a bizarre and unexplainable drop off in talent. Call it the Shevchenko Corollary. I'm still convinced that when we shipped Sheva to London, they sent us back his illegitimate identical twin brother Dimitri. Watching old videos of Ronaldinho conjuring up magic at Barcelona will make your head drop in disbelief, wondering how such an unstoppable player suddenly became so predictable.

- Huntelaar is not the answer for Milan. It seems than the few supporters he does have keep making a case for him by stating that he lit up the Dutch league. Read my previous column for more on this. Anyways, if he was such a talented bomber, would Madrid have shopped him around so vigorously? His other half of supporters say "well, just give him time he needs to become accustomed to the Serie A". Well excuse me Klaas-Jan, I'll just wait another dozen games for you to ease your way into our highly competitive league, and until then I'll be sure to expect many more goalless draws and any object in my living room turning into a high speed projectile.

- At least Marco Storari is turning into quite a surprise.

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