Luca Serafini believes that attempts to try and isolate the blame for AC Milan’s struggles and pin it on one party is both useless at the present moment and also incorrect compared to the actual situation.
Milan are in a difficult moment, having won two of their last eight games and with both the Champions League knockout stages and a 20th league title looking like a distant mirage at the moment, unless there is a rapid turnaround.
The 3-1 midweek defeat at home against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League exposed some of the psychological problems in the squad at present, but also highlighted just how bad the injury crisis has become with a central midfielder playing almost all the second half at centre-back.
Tomorrow, Frosinone will arrive at San Siro and they will do so as a team that have had a good start to life back in the top flight. They are well clear of the bottom three, which means they will treat the game as a bit of a free hit.
Serafini spoke in his weekly column for MilanNews and he addressed those who believe that the head coach is the root of all problems and that replacing him will fix everything. His piece is titled ‘Crisis unit: responsibilities must be divided and shared. Maldini’s orphans. Fear of the abyss for 10 years. The Ibra misunderstanding’.
“Stefano Pioli arrived at Milan exactly 4 years ago: I have never stopped thinking and believing that he was the right person in the right place at the right time,” he began.
“With the decisive support of the club (when he reversed himself on Ragnick), Paolo Maldini and Ibrahimovic, he restored dignity, sense of belonging and competitiveness to an environment that these components had lost for years, since 2013 for the record. The Rossoneri are back competing in the league and in Europe.
“However, 2023 did not go in this direction. Since the day of that damned 2-2 home draw with Roma, it has been a collapse saved only by a surprising run in the Champions League (Zagreb, Salzburg, Tottenham, Napoli: six consecutive games conceding only one goal, irrelevant, at the end of the last season) badly interrupted in the semi-final. The unbearable sequence of derbies lost in a shocking manner without playing a single one up to par was humiliating and destabilising.
“The club decided to remove Paolo Maldini in June, entrusting the market to the head of scouting and the CEO who – not only in my opinion – did an excellent job, acquiring high-level players who were quickly made available. A historical and charismatic reference figure who had influence over the team, supported the daily work at Milanello and continued the path of managerial growth has left.
“He was the guarantor of the project, yet he was pilloried by a large portion of the fans for the 2022 transfer market, the rumours about Pirlo as coach, the failure to renew the Turk and Kessie, not to mention the slowness of the one for Leao. Thus the wind turns, among its many orphans and widows these days.
“I have said and written about Paolo, never being objective when speaking about him out of esteem, respect and knowledge: he is a man with a straight back, strong values and a hard head. Morally irreproachable. He made the choice to continually prod the property, the property made the choice not to tolerate him.
“Milanismo has become impoverished, the project (which continues to focus on the stadium without abandoning the results) is continuing with a melancholy that the good start in the league and in the Champions League seemed to soothe.
“However, I have already said and written many times that the world of Italian football today is this and I am not interested in being accused of corporatism if I think, strongly believe and support that the Rossoneri’s foreign ownership is the best in Serie A. With all possible limits of knowledge, experience, proximity. This is how it works and we must adapt to this.
“Since October, in a single month everything seems lost, even though it isn’t lost at all. The Ibra totem now hovers about which I don’t think many people have clear ideas: if you think he’s coming back to be a spy, to hunt down this and that, to open the confessional, well, you’re wrong. K
“nowing Ibra means knowing that he will only accept an operational, responsible role, whether within the club or RedBird. In short, a prominent and reference figure. The misunderstanding about his role and his duties will continue until they are clarified.
“The people who live in Milan cannot help but be afraid of the abyss, for 10 years to date, having walked on the edge of the ravine for six of them. Despite the return to the Champions League, a second place, a title, a European semi-final, every time the light goes out the terror of the ghosts returns. It is human and physiological, because the fan thinks instinctively in the moment and is not required to do so in his head by analysing the scenario.
“If anything, it is we who tell the story of Milan who have the obligation to tell things as they are. And how things are is dramatically evident: a team built in the summer with an outlay of over 100 million, has dissolved, disappearing among infirmaries, crutches and operating rooms. It’s a fault, it’s not an alibi.
“There are around thirty people who work in preparation, physiotherapy, technical and medical staff. I don’t live their everyday lives, but it is certain that continuous, detailed, obsessive communication must be the basis of the functioning of such an imposing machine.
“There is no explanation for this massacre which is at the basis of the collapse between October and November, there is no explanation for what needs to change, there is no explanation for how it can and must be stopped once and for all.
“Every member of Milan, including even those who – like me – tell it, must take on the responsibility of telling things as they are or making them work again. Unfortunately, on the subject of injuries, I don’t know what to say, not even regarding preparation, except that – realising that something was wrong in that sense – the players would be the first to question the methods. And I don’t see this happening.
“Finally, the coach. The 2023 results are disappointing, the flashes have unfortunately been overshadowed by painful beatings. Lately the trend has been at its lowest, the Casciavits have placed emphasis on one fact in particular: in the last seven matches (five in the league and two in the Champions League) Milan have scored 7 goals, conceding 2 in the first half, they have scored 1 conceding 8 in the second half.
“Athletic or mental issue? In the head, says Pioli, but in any case it is up to him to face and resolve the issue. Because what is disconcerting this year, in addition to the infinite absences, are the presences, too often incapable of changing course.”
“I have said and written about Paolo, never being objective when speaking about him out of esteem, respect and knowledge: he is a man with a straight back, strong values and a hard head. Morally irreproachable. He made the choice to continually prod the property, the property made the choice not to tolerate him.”
Why hasn’t Maldini’s interview been posted on this site? 🙂
It has. Check it out..comments are blowing up. The anti-Maldini are nowhere to be seen ofc
* https://sempremilan.com/maldini-critical-milan-management-exit-happened *
sempremilan (dot) com/maldini-critical-milan-management-exit-happened
Take out the dot and put an actual dot of course 😀
Please lets try and resolved our problems once and for all.