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After their loss to Cremonese, there have certainly been a few worried about this season for AC Milan. Though there has often been a caveat.
Losing in the fashion in which Milan did on Saturday is never a positive. They were outclassed by a team who were in Serie B last season. All this despite the reset, which occurred over the summer. This is where the key issue lies.
On the face of it, there has been so much change in the Rossoneri. A new sporting direction, a new manager and a lot of new players. Despite this, though, the Diavolo looked no different to the team which failed last season.
The same errors were present, and the same absent figures were missing.
Capello’s review
Today, another scathing review of the performance has arrived, this time from Fabio Capello, and his words to Gazzetta dello Sport (as seen below) do not paint a pretty picture…
“At a certain point, watching the game, I said to my wife: ‘This is last year’s team’. All the problems that were there last season emerged: slow pace, poor positioning when losing the ball, and, most importantly, a lack of character.”
Saying this on the day of Modric’s debut has an impact.
“Let’s leave Modric alone, he’s the classic exception that proves the rule. As for the rest, the flaws are obvious. Take Gimenez, he seems to struggle at San Siro. And then we’re back to the usual story: playing for AC Milan in that stadium isn’t like playing anywhere else.”
Allegri highlighted another problem after the match: “The team is struggling to perceive danger.”
“He’s right, but it all comes down to attitude and positioning. When Milan lose the ball, they’re always off-balance, and their opponents can exploit space and timing, because they start again with four or five completely free men. Loftus-Cheek, for example, struggles to get back, and Fofana pushes forward a lot: there were already signs of this against Bari in the Coppa Italia.”
Allegri can be criticised for everything, but not for neglecting the defensive phase, don’t you think?
“Of course, it’s indisputable. And I’m sure Max will work on it, because tactically it’s the first obvious flaw. Then there are the individual flaws: at Milan, you don’t mark by ‘feeling’ the attacker, you just look at the ball.
“Allegri will have to fix a lot of things, but the players need to be willing. Every now and then, on Saturday night, I saw someone come back ‘running’, without the right amount of malice. To give a counter-example, at Napoli, all eleven players, if they lose the ball, put themselves in a position to recover it or at least get back into position quickly.
“We didn’t see this at Milan last year, and we didn’t see it against Cremonese either.”
So far, we’ve talked about how not to concede, but have the Rossoneri convinced you in their manoeuvre?
“Obviously not. If you play at a slow pace, everything gets complicated. The only one who tried to turn on the light was Modric, but the difficulties started in defence, in the build-up.”
Despite the defeat, Allegri didn’t complain about the transfer market after the match, as Antonio Conte did after Napoli’s defeat in the first match against Verona a year ago. Why?
“Max has a different way of communicating; he’s always level-headed and wants to protect the team. That doesn’t mean, however, that he didn’t make his voice heard with the management. AC Milan, for example, didn’t have a real striker on the bench against Cremonese. I’m sure some other coach would have pointed that out to the microphones…”
So yesterday, at the meeting at Casa Milan, did Allegri make specific requests to the club?
“I definitely think so. I’ve said many times that teams are built with the tree theory: a solid central defender, a midfielder who screens and starts the play, and a centre-forward who scores. Something in the Milan tree is missing for Max, it seems clear to me.”
In the attack, however, Vlahovic is back in the spotlight, following the failure of the Boniface operation.
“I’ve said it and I’ll say it again: I could see Dusan being a good fit at Milan. Allegri knows him inside out. But I don’t want to replace Tare, who’s very good at his job. I’m convinced that in yesterday’s meeting, Max and Igli made a good assessment of what the team needs. Then, of course, we need to consider the club’s financial possibilities.”
After an eighth-place finish, isn’t there a risk of burning away the summer enthusiasm that accompanied the arrival of Tare and Allegri without a leap forward in the transfer market?
“There’s a risk. But ultimately, I remain confident, precisely because there are two excellent professionals like Igli and Max.”
Allegri, however, can only work on the pitch…
“And he’ll do it well. Clearly, AC Milan can’t be the team we saw on Saturday night against Cremonese, and the Livorno-born coach is the first to know it. He’ll roll up his sleeves, but so will everyone else, starting with the players.”
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