Carlo Pellegatti has admitted that things look bleak for AC Milan’s season, and stewed over the decision of the management not to hire Antonio Conte.
Naturally there has been a lot of fall-out after the defeat to Napoli. Going 11 points behind the Partenopei has subjected the management’s summer decisions to scrutiny again, such as going with Fonseca over Conte and Pavlovic over Buongiorno.
Nonetheless, the Milan boss has claimed he is ‘more confident than ever’ after what he adjudged to be a good performance against the Partenopei. The table, on the other hand, suggests a fight for the top four rather than the league title.
Pellegatti published his weekly column for MilanNews and spoke about the defeat to Napoli, not hiring Conte and why the current management are unlikely to make big changes.
“[It was] A defeat that began on Friday with the brainless decisions on the eve of Bologna-Milan. Continued with the forced absences of Gabbia and Pulisic, with the sensational choice of Fonseca regarding Leao,” he began.
“The team go behind after four minutes. Pavlovic, however, cannot be moved by Lukaku and sway like the reeds of Lake Pusiano when the wind blows from Resegone. Milan tried to react, offered some good plots, fought with selflessness, a sad noun however when it is used at the end of a match lost like this.
“They conceded the second goal, and here Maignan was not free from blame. When you are not going through a lucky period, Morata’s goal is cancelled only because of the correct intervention of the VAR.
“Now the standings are terrible. At the end of October, Milan are eleven points away from first place, have a 30% defeat rate and have already conceded 11 goals in nine games.
“The performance of the defensive department has not improved at all. Changing the order of the factors, that is, of the individual defenders, unfortunately, as in arithmetic, the result does not change.
“Milan thus lost to a Conte team, the great regret of the Milan fans. He may have been cumbersome but, given that there hasn’t been a… crowd of managers in Milan in recent weeks, it was worth relying on the Salento coach.
“On the economic level, then, it is almost never a cost but often an investment. I close the Conte issue, remembering that he would have come with contagious enthusiasm.
“Will anything change now? In terms of epochal decisions, I predict nothing. The coach remains, a sporting director is not arriving, the January market is all to be hypothesised.
“In terms of the pitch, first of all Fonseca must recover his best players, try to recharge a group that, in just two and a half months, has gone through incredible turbulence, with morale certainly very low today.
“It is important now to forget the table, focusing only on the individual match. A hateful phrase, I admit, but unfortunately necessary in these dark hours.”