Given that there is almost half a season still to play, AC Milan are not ready to give up on the Scudetto bid just yet as unlikely as a comeback may seem at the moment.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) writes that Gerry Cardinale left San Siro doubly happy because in his business results and entertainment go hand in hand and Milan won with a good performance on Sunday night.
In the dressing room he reiterated his firm belief: the team has the potential to climb to the top of Serie A again. Olivier Giroud, as a striker, sees a window where they can strike but head coach Stefano Pioli preferred to deflect.
“We need to focus only on ourselves, thinking one match at a time . But those who go slowly go healthy and go far and let’s hope those in front make mistakes. We are only in the first match of the second round,” the French striker said.
“Scudetto race? Just take us out of it,” came Pioli’s response. The coach is right to keep a low profile, the priority is to consolidate a place in the Champions League, but there are actually good reasons why Milan can get back on track.
Reinforcements
The January transfer window has so far brought in Matteo Gabbia after his loan was cut short plus Filippo Terracciano from Verona. Another central defender will arrive and the clues lead to the name of Lilian Brassier.
In the last match at San Siro, Yacine Adli celebrated his first Rossoneri goal. He dictated the speed of the game as if he were Ismael Bennacer, while Yunus Musah looked bright off the bench and Noah Okafor took over the baton from Rafael Leao.
In difficulty the coach discovered that he has young players capable of playing with the seniors: Jan-Carlo Simic, Chaka Traoré, Davide Bartesaghi, Kevin Zeroli, Alex Jimenez and even the 15-year-old Francesco Camarda.
Returns
In a month, when the commitments increase again with the Europa League, Pioli will have Malick Thiaw back, then later in February will mark the return of Fikayo Tomori too. In the spring, the decisive period for the outcome of the season, Pierre Kalulu and Tommaso Pobega will also be back.
There was a time when Milan frustrated in attack with many chances created but few goals scored. However, the Rossoneri are the second-top scorers in the league and Olivier Giroud has 10 goals, making him the second-top scorer too behind Lautaro.
In total 12 different players have scored for the Rossoneri: Christian Pulisic has already reached six, but Leao is stuck at three and must up the ante: he scored six in his first season, 11 in 2021-22 and 15 last season.
The calendar
Then there is the fixture list. The upcoming commitments are not daunting: Saturday evening in Udinese, seven days later at San Siro against Bologna, at the beginning of February away against Frosinone. Fresh from three consecutive victories in the league, there is the chance to double that.
Inter will inevitably slow down: due to commitments in the Supercoppa they will have one round (Inter-Atalanta) at the end of February. When Milan goes to Frosinone, Inter and Juve will compete against each other at San Siro.
Having returned from Arabia, Inzaghi will immediately meet Fiorentina and Roma as well. The road to first place is uphill, the calendar of upcoming commitments, theoretically, downhill. Unity is strength Milan has always emerged from difficulties stronger and more united.
Even in moments of crisis the club never thought of sacking the coach towards whom, on the contrary, they renewed their respect. The players offered their availability, as seen by Theo playing centre-back.
On Sunday evening Cardinale strengthened the bond even further and relaunched the club’s ambitions.
😀 What an illusion, who came for that joke?
This is tough to even imagibe because we havent been able to win more than 3 games in a row this season. To win the scudetto, we’d basically have to be perfect (win every remaining game in addition to Juve and Inter losing 3 and 4 times respectively). I feel like everytime we celebrate either a big win or 2 wins in a row, we either draw or lose. Like the next time we either draw or lose there will be countless articles saying we should sack Pioli and that he lost the dressing room. These articles stating we are united and Pioli has it under control are equally ridiculous.
I don’t see Inter dropping points any time soon.
If Lautaro gets hurt and misses a couple of months… 😉
Journalists write articles just for fans to read something. It’s hard to believe we can make up that much of a point difference. Let’s watch ourselves and our game. We wait for all the injured players to come back and then just smart and concentrated! We’re still playing in Europe and the main goal is the top four places leading in the C.L !
I will not give up on the scudetto until we are mathematically out of it. But Milan need to focus on winning one game at time and play every game like it’s a final to secure top 3 finish.
Then we will see what happens just like we surprised everyone we won the scudetto 2 seasons ago.
It’s a dream to win it and 9 points is nothing since it’s only 3 games. There will be many surprises at the end of the season. So let’s wait and see how it plays out. Forza Milan.
We still need another CB and a striker in January. Especially if we want to push until the end. Scudetto and Europa League are possible targets.
That’s the spirit my friend, nobody gave AC Milan a chance two years ago but AC Milan surprise them all and did it anyway.
I believe if AC Milan will have to bridge the gap between the club and Inter, then everything still rest in Mr. Pioli’s hands, the ball is in his court as he has to have a firm belief in the abilities of each of his players.
The Manager must be strategic and must have plans up his sleeves and not just wait for thing to happen as he’s to be proactive with every move he makes and and not wait for some magic to happen and must be courageous enough to rest his players to become revitalised before a big match and since the Primavera players have made themselves more than available, this help increase the depth of the team.
And finally the Manager must be able to push the players to give their all on the pitch and such hardworking attitude must be rewarded with more time on the pitch, keeping every player on his toes.
So in nutshell, Mr. Pioli must not be sentimental but courageous in doing what is right.
Thanks.
It’s doable!. Only depends on Milan playing more games like against Roma and that’s not asking to be extraordinary. As the article mentioned ,commitments of the CL and the other cup will take one or two things away from Inter. Does to every team. Milan were like 7 points ahead of Napoli around this time last season. Well Inter are not expected to do as bad as to finish 5th, them finishing 2nd could be enough!. They will have some disappointing results anyway. Even at their best they very nearly droppd points at home to Verona only for the visitors missing a last kick penalty. My main doubt is Pioli being courageous with his choices and tactics and getting Milan do the normal thing of playing well. But Inter are not some winning all the matches team. Juve who play terrible football and won’t win the league and only a few points away from them.