There is a striking juxtaposition between AC Milan off the field and the team on the field at present which has been exposed in recent weeks, a report has explained.
MilanNews talks about Milan’s sustainable approach away from the pitch, which is bases on contained spending and targeted investments with a clear vision. Milan are the Serie A team that have invested the most on the market without sales in recent years.
The Rossoneri are the only Italian club who spend and can afford to spend as much as they earn from commercial agreements, prize monies and player trading. It is very much a sustainable model, which in the medium to long-term should make the club a virtuous, functioning model that stands on its own two feet.
Then there is the field, where things are absolutely not sustainable. The number of injuries is not sustainable, the same way of approaching each match is not sustainable and making the same errors over and over again cannot continue.
Davide Calabria spoke on the eve of the game and said something striking: “I expect an all-out match, face to face, with a team that attacks a lot, great counter-attacks.” That is to say, the captain of the team is not only expected but welcoming individual battles all over the pitch against a good side, where at best the odds are 50/50.
At the beginning of his tenure, Stefano Pioli obviously didn’t interpret matches like this, but it was already clear that the type of ideology proposed was going in this direction. Now it is simply exasperated, taken to the extreme, with its strengths and weaknesses.
At full capacity and with all the players healthy, it is not a lie to say that the squad is of a high level for Serie A which can then also lead to great strides taken in Europe too. However, to keep doing so with 26 injuries (of which 18 are muscular) is alarming from a judgement standpoint.
And maybe even more than something. Without wanting to return to the topic once again, a topic that has depressed an entire environment, it is clear that in this state the approach that Milan has been adopting for weeks now makes no sense. Or rather, it doesn’t give you certainties.
Milan are a team that currently take to the field with the knowledge that in order to create several big chances they will also have to give some up at the other end too. They were lucky to beat Fiorentina, Dortmund took theirs better last night, the 2-0 leads against Lecce and Napoli saw collapses to 2-2 draws.
Eventually, this basketball-style approach of playing wide open wears out players physically and mentally. Given the enormous injury problem, Milan absolutely cannot afford it.
It’s true that this style of play in unsustainable. Asking your forwards to run from one box to the other the entire game. Asking your Fullbacks to run from one box to the other the entire game. It is exhausting the players which is why Milan faulter in the second half of games, and I’m sure contributing to all of the injuries.
The style of play isn’t unsustainable. The lack of rotation is! The players can do it but not twice a week. They need their rest.
Nonsense. Several teams play far more “open basketball-style” than Milan. No one comes close to the number of injuries we have. There must be something else going on.