AC Milan have found themselves in another difficult position during the international break and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s presence at the training ground is expected soon, a report claims.
La Gazzetta dello Sport report that everything on Sunday happened under the eyes of Ibrahimovic: the defeat and the bad performance, the penalty debacle involving Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic, then Theo Hernandez’s red card after full-time.
From the stands in Florence the Swede witnessed it all and now he will be able to put into practice another aspect of his role, which in theory is still unclear. Zlatan will be at Milanello in the coming days and his presence will be useful to put the pieces of the group back together.
In recent days Paulo Fonseca has indicated five different leaders of the dressing room: Davide Calabria, Theo, Rafael Leao, Alvaro Morata and Mike Maignan, each with strengths and weaknesses. For the fans, Matteo Gabbia is another they see worthy of wearing captain’s armband.
From a production point of view Christian Pulisic is irreplaceable, but too silent for a role that also involves relationships on the pitch. What is missing is Ibrahimovic, who built his leadership on charisma and willpower.
This time Ibra will be there, unlike the last international break when he was in Canada due to previous commitments, something that made a lot of noise while the team were struggling after a winless start and incidents such as the cooling break saga against Lazio.
There had been discussion about his absence at such a delicate moment of the season but this time he will be there and it will be important for him to talk to the group and restore confidence and calm, as well as acting as an interlocutor for Fonseca (yesterday the technical director Moncada did so).
Zlatan will be able to talk to his former team-mate Tomori and to Abraham, a striker struggling because he hasn’t scored an open play goal yet. Ibra will be able to advise him as best he can.
Among the Rossoneri who remained at Milanello is Davide Calabria, who is injured: the captain’s armband has passed to other team-mates and has not always been held with dignity.
Ibra will be able to support him as well as other players who have not been called up to the national team: Emerson Royal and Loftus-Cheek, two who alternate good performances with others that are decidedly more modest.
‘From the stands in Florence the Swede witnessed it all and now he will be able to put into practice another aspect of his role, which in theory is still unclear. Zlatan will be at Milanello in the coming days and his presence will be useful to put the pieces of the group back together.’
This is hilarious. No-one knows what Zlatan does…
I think we can all see that Zlatan has no influence anymore. When he came back as a player, the squad was filled with young players, mostly unproven, who won nothing and they considered Zlatan as a football legend with his reputation and trophy case.
Now the top players are more experienced, have won a Scudetto, are called with their national teams. This is a whole different situation. And Zlatan arrives in a different role as a clown/muppet. If we can see it behind our screens, the players can probably see it even better, especially those who knew him as a player.
Ibra need to be a better thinker here. Remember when the guy we cannot name took a long time to accept a position at the club he played for for so long? It was because he needed clarity of his role and one that would have a set of responsibility that he has experience for ie sporting (at least along those lines). It was strategic and intelligent just like himself as a player. Because he knew once he takes on a role, any role, he had the foresight to know that all the club’s results would be on him. In hierarchy, there were ppl above him but it was HIS team, not because he wanted it to be so but because it would have been so regardless. The team fails, he fails. Botched transfer….became his signing no one else. However, added to that too the wins and successes also magnified his status. The latter is the least easiet to achieve and there’s no guarantee of it.
So dear Ibra needed to be wiser. Maybe he knew that both he and Gerald are using each other and both for images. But take a note out of the Unmentionable’s playbook and make sure your role to be clarified or better yet as you are boss clarify to yourself or whatever but whatever you do make sure u can go out on your terms like Unmentioned did because it’s going to blot your reputation. For someone who prides themselves on image it’s hard to believe that Ibra doesn’t see how his presence and what he does not pull weight and how blame will.be ascribed. It’s irrelevant whether he works for the club or Redbird from the perspective that when things go wrong either way public perceptions will fall back on him. He could be Chief janitor of redbird, the blame will still go back to him.
Maybe it why they stuck a former player in a role without much power in the Club as Furlani pointed out. Maybe they didn’t want a repeat. He seemed to have wanted Conte after all while ppl (Furlani) with decision making power chose a balance sheet approach.
Mountain climbing, Kimmel.etc no one says he can’t do that..matter of fact its within character but u also have taken up a role that doesn’t have a title which is now the untitled leader of the club whether he likes it or not. And that amplifies his other antics. You’re no longer a player.
Think Ibra think!