AC Milan began their umpteenth revolution over the weekend with Zvonimir Boban’s sacking, and that appeared to have a knock-on impact on the field.
The Rossoneri fell to a shock defeat to Genoa at an empty San Siro on Sunday afternoon, with Pandev and Cassata scoring first half goals for the visiting side, rending Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late strike a mere consolation.
Of course the headlines over the past week have been dominated by news of an imminent overhaul at Milan this summer, and as il Corriere della Sera notes on Monday (via MilanLive), head coach Stefano Pioli has tried to keep his team focused.
However, it was not so much the behind closed doors factor that can begin to explain the fact that Milan have picked up just 17 points from their 13 home games under the former Fiorentina boss.
It is not known what will happen to Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara and there are those who swear that Ralf Rangnick has already signed. It is inevitable – the paper points out – that there was a backlash felt on the field as in fact the opposite would have been strange.
The truth is that there couldn’t have been a worse time for this cloying internal showdown, something which hurt a Milan side who already had structural and technical problems.
Now it will be up to Ivan Gazidis to try not to cause a complete shipwreck. It will be up to him and only him, just as it was yesterday in the stands, to avoid a total thud.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the undisputed leader, appeared particularly nervous and untied yesterday on the pitch. He yelled at his team-mates on several occasions – more than usual anyway – and it was essentially the perfect indication of the fact everyone is currently on edge about the situation.
