Fabio Capello has warned that AC Milan’s winter mercato signings are not enough on their own to guarantee a surge into the Champions League places.
There has been a notable upturn in optimism after Milan completed five signings in the window that has just closed. Kyle Walker joined to reinforce the defence, Warren Bondo shores up the midfield while Santiago Gimenez, Joao Felix and Riccardo Sottil reinvent the attack.
Although Walker has had two good starts and Gimenez and Felix linked up for the third goal against Roma on Wednesday night, there is still a lot of work to be done in order to advance in the Champions League (with a play-off against Feyenoord to come) and even qualify for the next one.
Capello gave an interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanPress) in which he gave his take on the battle for the Champions League places, after Fiorentina demolished Inter last night.
“Now Fiorentina are a very serious candidate for a place in the next Champions League and, if I were in the place of a Serie A coach, I would hope not to meet them given how well they are doing at the moment,” he said.
“If La Viola maintain their form, it will be very complicated for Juve and even more so for Milan to chase a place in the next Champions League. I know that yesterday many Juventus and Rossoneri fans will have smiled at Inter’s defeat, but if I were them I would be a little worried about the fate of my team.
“Milan – seven points behind, even if with a game less – beyond the enthusiasm for a positive transfer market, still seem far from having found a team identity.
“And the enormous quality of Joao Felix or the good runs of Santiago Gimenez in attack will not be enough to bridge the gap with those ahead, if Conceicao does not quickly find the key to turning the tables from a tactical point of view.”
Fully agreed with Capello
So many new and old players came and left in the last 2 seasons under the new management and that’s one of the reason why Milan is so inconsistent.
There’s no clear identity how the team wants to play while the new management are so impatient and busy planning which players they must kicked out and which one they must recruit asap.
100% correct
I would take Fiorentina beating Inter 3 nil any day 😊!!
For the rest of this season, or until UCL qualification is impossible for us, I’ll be cheering for Inter when they play Juve, Lazio, Bologna and Roma – sorry!
Seriously tho I’m still not too worried about Lazio Bologna Fiorentina. I might later, hopefully not.
Why stop there – get yourself an Inter shirt
Thanks coach Capello for your concern.
But remember, Conceicao is still a month with the team. So, need time to make team identity.
Still I think, coach right now is the best for Milan. He can bring supercoppa trophy.
So, lets face Empoli with brave, and I believe we can achieve 4th place position, and can talk more in Champions league, especially with our new members.
Capello is right in his opinion. What he fails to forget is the teams bench. Apart from a team first 11, another major thing that determines wining serie A or qualifying for champion league is a team bench. Having solid bench goes a long way in guaranting success.
100% Agree. Conceicao still has a lot of work to do to shape this team and find cohesion. But at least the management have given him more tools to do so.
I wouldn’t get carried away with the game against Roma. True tests for us this season are the smaller teams. I want to see how well we do against the likes of Empoli.
We often play a good game and instead of carrying the momentum, we lay a stinker in the next game against a bottom team. Seems like we show up for the big games and then disappear.