Lack of leadership starting to create a problem for Milan

By SempreMilan -

As we approach the homestretch of the season, the embers of discord within the Milan Brand is picking up oxygen. Uncertainty within the club has never been this evident in so much that even the excitement of seeing the first team play with an identity and display the ability to grind out results is also falling apart.

Siniša Mihajlović wasn’t in the dugout during the Chievo game following his outburst with match officials at Sassuolo, but his post-match comments after witnessing Bertolacci hit the woodwork confirms his and our dissatisfaction about the outcome of the winter transfer window – lack of squad depth.

There’s a huge disparity in squad depth between Milan and the teams above in the standings. It is worth noting that the Serbian manager has also called into question the commitment of the fringe players on several occasions and even pointed out that he would have loved to rest players like Honda and Bonaventura who seem to be wearing out. The reality is that Honda and Bonaventura can’t be rested seeing as we have little or no support from the bench players to produce the kind of performance, even at the barest minimum, to complement their starting counterparts.

Honda and Bonaventura line up a set piece. | Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

The workload has seen Kucka join starters, Montolivo and Niang in the injury list as Milan finds itself in a situation where all the season’s good work could be up in flames.

More evidently, there’s a lack of leadership in this team and this has seen this team lose concentration too many times this season. While Montolivo nurses his ailment on the side lines, the responsibility of keeping the team in check has been on the shoulders of the youngest member of the team and that is no mean feat. Donnarumma, in his own way, has kept some coordination within the backline and holding midfield role that milanisti often complain about how uncreative the front players are.

It was easy for the then youngsters like Kaká or more recently Pato to express themselves better under the watchful eye of established first team players with leadership qualities oozing from every pore. Most of the senior players in our ranks today are either too laidback or quite simply, unworthy to be seen in the same light as their predecessors who donned the famous red and black jersey with honour.

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

We can project this to the administrative level and observe the same trend of discord among the directors of the club. Despite her calm media demeanour, Barbara Berlusconi is still unhappy with the higher-ups for quashing her stadium plans to suit the demands of Thai investor Bee Taechaubol who felt the San Siro should only be a part of Milan’s history but also its future. Taechaubol, whose money is still insufficient with the increasing number of business partners unsatisfied with the current state of the club to agree into making huge financial investments, is looking like a mirage with each passing day.

The Curva Sud haven’t stopped their protests against Galliani and the administration as they keep hoisting banners on matchdays to voice their discontent with how things are being handled. Three months from now, we could be witnessing another push of the reset button back to the Summer of 2012 as the club patron thinks the Serb is unworthy of the mandate of leading this team to playing like Bayern and Barcelona; delusional?…yea, we think so too.

Has the President forced Sinisa’s hand? | Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

With such a huge uncertainty about our transfer budget for the coming window and how debts can be minimized, the mood inside Milanello is anything but calm.

In the midst of all these chaos, Milan is producing the best set of youngsters to come from the youth ranks. Individually they may not hit the celestial heights of Paolo Maldini or Gianni Rivera, but Milan has now been able to integrate Primavera players who look more reliable than their first team seniors.

One impressive characteristic of this youth team is how they overturned a poor start to the campaign to get into contention for the Final-Eight later this season. Christian Brocchi, the Primavera manager, has been touted by Silvio to replace Mihajlović as a result of this improvement but this impulsive mistake happened just recently with Inzaghi.

Tags Italy Milan Serie A Sinisa Mihajlovic
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