It has been a season to forget for AC Milan, and unless there is a substantial improvement in the final period of the season, it will be a season to remember for all the wrong reasons.
Across the board, this season has been woeful for Milan. Summer recruitment has largely been viewed as poor, causing the club to need to invest in the January mercato. However, the success of this has also been scrutinised a little recently.
On the pitch, performances have fluctuated consistently all year, resulting in a mid-season change of head coach, and so far the improvements have been minimal, leading to questions about his future as well.
No one is really ‘safe’ from the questions either, and there have been scrutinisations of the management, staff and key players – few if any of them have been positive. Today, Pietro Mazzarra tried to analyse this season and the ending in store.
“Certain things happen when a year is born crooked and not even the interventions made, first and foremost the change of coach, succeed in having the desired effects. There are no appeals to bad luck, Milinkovic-Savic’s night of grace or anything else: Milan are wounded and are dragging themselves, slowly and agonisingly, towards the final months of a season that, as of today, is to be considered a failure.
“It is strange to hear from someone like Zlatan Ibrahimovic that the Supercoppa Italiana can give a positive spin to the ratings, but that trophy – which remains a trophy – is an impromptu satisfaction, something that rightly and quickly passes into the archives because what counts, at Milan, is something else.
“The elimination against Feyenoord was as humiliating as the one suffered against Rosenborg in 1996 (yes that was the group stage) and the mood around this Milan team is very reminiscent of that nefarious two-year period, 1996-98, when the fans were discouraged by the results and the choices made.
“Since history is cyclical, here we go again with those negative feelings, which arise from what we see on the field. Thiaw’s own goal is so comical that it seems impossible, yet it happened. The feeling, by now, is that something can happen in every Milan game and that the virus is so deeply rooted within the team that there seems to be no antidote to put something back on its feet that rests on shaky foundations.
“It is hard to believe Sergio Conceiçao’s words in the press conference when he says he is convinced he can still chase Champions League places. It is difficult because, once again, Milan have failed in a game that they should not have failed, also by virtue of the results arrived from the other fields just before the match in Turin.
“It is all so unnerving, so demotivating, so debasing that the Sud’s new chants of disappointment sound like the right soundtrack to the horror film that is the current season. Pavlovic’s look at the end of the match was a faithful picture of his thinking and that of the whole Milan world.
“Just as it is clear that Joao Felix is enjoying preferential treatment or, if not, that he enjoys many more chances than his teammates. Even against Torino he was ectoplasm, yet he remained on the pitch even in the second half. Then, when he came off and Sottil came on, Milan improved their attacking phase by getting an equaliser and putting a hungry player on the pitch.
“This Joao Felix is a huge waste of talent, which is not helping the team at all, also because his presence on the pitch is limiting Tijjani Reijnders and not a little.
Yo de él (CONCEICAO) me voy!!! Y dejo a estos ESTÚPIDOS E INMADUROS. Al final por más bueno que sea estos jugadores son IGNORANTES
The last two paragraphs are at the heart of the problem, not only here but in football in general. Players today get paid millions and transfer for tens of millions without having shown much achievement. Score 10 goals, with nothing to show in prior seasons, and suddenly you’re transferring somewhere for 60M and getting paid 5M per season. I’m referring to Hojlund here. 16 goals in 42 games for such a highly valued and paid striker at the age of 20. In contrast, Shevchenko scored 33 goals in 41 games and 33 goals in 44 games, including 5 in 8 CL games and 8 in 10 CL games, respectively, in the two seasons prior to joining Milan, and was 22 when he joined. The amount paid was €23,910,000 in 1999, which in today’s money would be about €41,973,694.61. €42M! If Sheva were around today he’d transfer for no less than €100M from Dynamo.
So we’ve got players like Leao, Theo, Felix and some others who maybe because they’re fast, or have shown some kind of technique, get paid extremely well and are worth a lot, but in fact they’re just empty shirts. When push comes to shove they just don’t have what it takes. We need to put more emphasis on character and determination, when choosing players. They need to show hunger and commitment, desire to win. They are footballers, not rappers or Instagram star. Get rid of these types, and bring in people who will play for the shirt and we will begin to turn this around.
Mmmm! Sounds delicious 😋
Back to nature way of Milan. Italian senior Coach, 50 % Italian players , promote the youth team not sale them. Owner can be anyone but some of the director should be Paolo Maldini, Baressi.