January 2023 was not kind to AC Milan in terms of results, and a year later it threatens to be a month that could once again cause more misery.
As Tuttosport (via MilanNews) reports this morning, if you rewind the tape a year you wouldn’t notice much difference between the situation at Milan then compared to now. Without a doubt the negative performance of January 2023 is difficult to replicate, but the substance is the same.
The Rossoneri are too far away to think about the Scudetto today because they need to find a consistency never seen before this season and hope for the collapse of others, while the Coppa Italia has vanished leaving only Europe.
On the day after the elimination from cup there was an air of anger from everyone: from the coach to the players, through to the management and the club more generally. The possibility of lifting the trophy was too great an opportunity from many points of view.
It is a trophy that the Rossoneri have not lifted for 21 years and a triumph at the end of the season that would have given reasons to smile. Instead everything vanished within fifteen minutes, certainly also with the complicity of the referee, but above all due to an insufficient performance.
It leaves the classic bitter taste in the mouth of ‘what might have been’, a feeling that has been part of Milan since the beginning of the season, and now it will be up to Pioli to get his side out of the quicksand again.
As aforementioned, only Europe remains. On the one hand there will be the pursuit of a top four spot, and in this sense the game against Roma on Sunday is crucial. A victory would not only significantly distance Milan one of the direct competitors, but would anchor third place.
This is Milan’s primary objective: to return to the Champions League. Not making it would have too heavy consequences, sportingly and economically. Then there is the hunt for the Europa League, a long and exhausting competition, which Milan would like to win for the first time.
On paper the Rossoneri can compete but if the performance remains the fluctuating one seen so far, teams like Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen (to name only two) appear to be clear favourites.
So Maldini and Massara wasn’t the problem? Who would Thought?
How we do against Roma will tell us if its a repeat crisis of last year.
We are gonna lose what do you think
The month is still fairly long but bowing oout from the coppa isnt really comparable with january last year as we at least started out well in two games which from what i can recollect couldnt be said about january 2023.