Carlo Ancelotti’s first season coaching AC Milan ended in Champions League football, but it was not without struggle – a dynamic which could be repeated this season, perhaps.
For many, this season is done and dusted. Milan will not be in European competition next season, let alone the Champions League, yet there is a far-away story that hope can be drawn from. However, whether reality will be so kind remains to be seen.
As Milan News states, there are many parallels to be drawn between the current year and Ancelotti’s first season as the Rossoneri’s head coach – 2001/02. Additionally, both this season and that one could be defining in generations to come.
On a coaching level, there are a lot of similarities with the report comparing Fatih Terim to Paulo Fonseca, then, the saviour came – in this case, the report is referring to Sergio Conceicao, even if he believes he is the reason for this position.
After a poor start to the season, Ancelotti managed to turn the ship around, though it was not without its own share of disappointments, such as the failure to win a game between the 18th and 23rd matchdays.
Then, six points behind the Champions League places, a miracle took place, and Ancelotti’s team qualified for the competition, tying things up with a 3-0 win at San Siro on the final day of the season.
Whilst the road to this is more difficult for Conceicao, it is not impossible to claw back the season, and in turn Europe. But, the mission must begin now, though some may already believe it is too late.
Yeah except Ancelotti doesn’t yell so much at his players
Conceicao was thrown into a sh!t situation, a poorly built team with sh!t morale and overused players.
I do wonder what a full season and a proper preseason with a competently built team under him would look like.
I don’t thing we’ll get to find out though judging by what is going to take place this summer.
It’s more reminiscent of Pioli’s debut season.
Some fans, media and loud mouths like Boban wanna act like Giampaolo was fired, Pioli was hired and everything was fixed at Milan.
Pioli’s Milan was just as bad as Giampaolo’s up until Pioli got a 2+ month break in the season.
Giampaolo was a Milan coach for 7 games and had 9 points.
Pioli was a Milan coach for 19 games in which Milan earned 27 points. Not much of improvement. The Atalanta embarrassment of 5:0 and Gasperini dancing on the sidelines happened 2 months after Pioli got hired.
2+ month stoppage happens after week 26 (Milan had 36 points) and Milan earns 30 points in the last 12 games of the season after the break. No team benefited more from that break than Milan.
I wanted Conceição last summer and I still think that he is a very good coach if he is given a whole pre season and players suited to his style of football.
How can they give it to him when he is not Italian? Didn’t we say that we must Italianize Milan?
“I wanted Conceição last summer and I still think that he is a very good coach if he is given a whole pre season and players suited to his style of football.”
That’s true but that’s very unlikely to happen now.
Unless Conceição somehow finishes this season in the top 4 and wins copa Italia, I don’t see him continuing past this season. Actually even with those 2 objectives I’m not sure he’ll continue.
And to be honest, while I do think he is a good coach, his style of football (4-4-2 very aggressive, high line,…) will require a lof of changes in the squad and doesn’t seem to fit one of our best players in Reijnders.
There too much of a mayhem right now in Milan and too much of a belief that if we simply substitute a name for another everything will be ok.
So I think we should prepare for Allegri, Conte or whatever Furlani or the “new” Sporting Director will cook for us.
I’ll never judge Conceicao based on however the season pans out. Yes he could have done better tactics & management-wise but it’s not like he inherited a winning machine anyways. Far from it. Thrown into a sh1t storm midseason with a badly built squad & no preseason plus playing every three days for two months with no time to get ideas across. And not to forget, a toxic atmosphere across all levels. Surely a guarantee for success.
There is a collective short term memory loss in football these days. I remember when Mr Pioli was hired after the Gianpaolo mess. He was just as bad. He didn’t have a preseason as well even if we weren’t playing every three days.
Then, COVID happened. The “preseason” that saved his job, gave us UCL football after 8 years & delivered No. 19.
Arguably, no team in Europe benefitted from that break more than Pioli (he was definitely going to be fired at the end of that season. Yes it was that bad) & Milan. I will argue that without that break, there would have been no UCL football and definitely no Scudetto afterwards. (Maldini confirmed that the Scudetto came earlier than they envisioned).
If this sh1t storm our incompetent management has cooked since the start of last season and has been serving to us continues, no matter the Manager and Sporting Director hired, another stormy season awaits us.