‘Allegri doesn’t understand football’ – Hernanes explains ‘magic’ of Milan manager

Massimiliano Allegri is regarded as one of the best Italian coaches of recent times, and his trophy cabinet proves as much. However, the AC Milan coach is a bit like Marmite.

You either love him or you hate him. Allegri is certainly one of those figures in football, and before he started work back at Milan in the summer, there were doubts about his ability to make the significant changes required.

Now, the Rossoneri are fighting for a potential 20th Scudetto, thanks to Allegri’s ability to navigate the team through difficult moments. There is a long way to go, of course, but the facts are that without the Italian, this season would probably be going much differently.

Hernanes’ explanation

This afternoon, former Juventus and Inter midfielder Hernanes offered some praise to the coach, even if it may not have been initially read as that. His comments on Instagram have been relayed by Calciomercato.com.

“Allegri doesn’t understand football; he understands the physics that governs the cable cars. Yes, until 15 years ago I had never been to a ski resort, and when I first arrived, I saw the kilometre-long steel cables, which led up those cabins, bend.

“I thought the cable was suffering; they couldn’t bring them up, they were too heavy.

“But I learned one fundamental thing: the cable bends on purpose. It is precisely that curve that distributes the weight and absorbs the effort and is what allows the cable to carry people up with less effort and with more confidence.

“Watching yesterday’s match of Milan against Cagliari, I saw a team that bent, bent, that conceded, that made mistakes even in simple things, and an inexperienced mind that judges thinks ‘You see, this Milan suffers, this Milan does not dominate, this Milan is not focused’.

Photo by Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images

“But I ask you: what if it’s just this fold, this curve, this fall, their strength? Yes, because the human brain was not born to be tense, focused, and aggressive for 90 minutes.

“The brain works for activations, for moments and for peaks, and therefore, a team, a person who does not know how to bend, sooner or later will break. But this is where the magic of Allegri and Milan lies, in knowing how to bend at the right time. And so, like that steel cable, it takes itself up.”