2013: A Tale Of Two Halves

Let's look back at the first five months of this year. Buoyed by the signing of Balotelli we went on a tremendous run and lost only two games and that too to Barcelona and Juventus, two very strong teams. We staged an incredible comeback after a horrible start to the season and finished 3rd which seemed impossible at first. Fast forward a few months and here we are with a 10x worse start and only four victories the entire season. What went wrong? Or what went right last season? Did all teams strengthen more than us? Really? 12 teams in Serie A are stronger than us? Is it Allegri? Was our run a fluke and nothing but luck?

Discuss.

That's a very interesting point. Our team never changed drastically over the summer (if anything, we got better on paper with Poli, NDJ etc). So the same manager, (pretty much) the same players, but very different performances.

I think it has to do with the management more then anything else. There is no way in hell that all the teams currently above us in the Serie A table are better then us, at least on paper. But games are played on paper.

The atmosphere currently around our team is horrible. The attitude that our management has towards the club is ridiculous, to say the least. And that IMO is the biggest factor.

The way we handle transfers shows how much the management cares about the club and where it's going. Last winter, our biggest signing was Balotelli. This summer, it was Matri. I think that really sums it up.

If the leadership of the club doesn't give two shits about it, why would any one under them (the coach, the players etc) care?

And when things were taking a turn for the better, (Galliani resigning and Paolo coming back) we fcked that up too.

I think the problem was Milan over achieved last year by getting the champions league spot covering up the fact that your squad actually was not that good, then spent the little money you guys had on a washed up Kaka and a not quite good enough Matri.

As much as you guys bagged on Boateng you would not be in 13th place if you didnt replace him with an inferier player in Kaka, lets stop living in the past.

Meanwhile the teams in the title hunt this year Juve Roma Napoli all spent alot of money and spent it well.
Even Floretina made out pretty good buying Gomez.

Throw in the fact that your team played best last season in a 4-3-3 yet during the summer your management declared you would play a 4-3-1-2 and bought (lol) players (Birsa and Kaka lol)  to fit that formation.

Lucky for Milan, the midtable teams arnt very good and one win (a few teams lose) and you move from 13th to 8th lol.    


Hopefully you get Niangollan, switch back to a 4-3-3and i would try and ship Robinho and Kaka off to Brazil before the World cup, and replace the with Jeremy Menez (Left winger who wants to leave and prove himself before the world cup, Milan need points so it should work out) and either Candreva or Cerci for the right wing.

Then during the Summer sell Muntari, Nocerino, and Birsa, and try to bring in one of the Bender Twins, preferbly Sven, although why would he leave Dortmund for a CL-less Milan lol, but Lars is good too.

If Pazzini returns to Normal offload Matri and bring back Paloschi, young striker whose still learning ( in a 4-3-3 he'd be behind Balo and Pazzini so that doenst matter.  

As for your Goalies id get rid of Abbiati and Amelia and bring in any 2 of Frinson from Catania, Perin from Genoa, or Consigli from Atlantia. One of them will win the job and the other will back him up.

As Far as your outside backs keep contanst as he can cover Left back and Centermid, sell Emanuelson, and bring in D'Ambrosio. If Zenit are willing to sell for a affordible price id get Criscito and sell Constant.

Centerbacks keep Bonera (loyal, willing to sit, good wages), Keep Rami, sell Mexes and Zapata, buy Dragovic, i think hes at dinamo kiev good young centerback with tons of Europa and champions league experiance with FC Basel, and Mangala from Fc Porto who never sell Cheap.

Ideally your squad would end up

GK

A, Frinson
M. Perin
Gabriel

WB

Abate
De Sciglio
D'Ambrosio
Constant/ Criscito

Center defence

Rami
Mangala
Dragovic
Bonera

Defensive mid

De Jong
S. Bender/ L. Bender

Center Mid

Montolivo
Niangollan
Honda
Poli

Left wing

SES
J. Menez

CF

Balo
Pazzini
Paloschi

Right wing

Candreva/Cerci

Manager: Prandelli (he really seems to nurture Balo and Ses when they are with the national team and i think he'd so great with that squad)


Anyways you guys would have to spend money, but you'd also be saving money as alot of those players are younger and therefore generally have cheaper wages, plus its not like Matri, Muntari, Nocerino, Birsa, Kaka, Robinho, Mexes, Zapata, Abbiati, And Amelia are worthless, they will bring in money.

You guys can survive a year missing the Champions league, but the longer you miss it, the harder it will be to get back in, especially since you dont own the statium.

I Have Mono wrote:I think the problem was Milan over achieved last year by getting the champions league spot covering up the fact that your squad actually was not that good, then spent the little money you guys had on a washed up Kaka and a not quite good enough Matri.

As much as you guys bagged on Boateng you would not be in 13th place if you didnt replace him with an inferier player in Kaka, lets stop living in the past.

Meanwhile the teams in the title hunt this year Juve Roma Napoli all spent alot of money and spent it well.
Even Floretina made out pretty good buying Gomez.

Throw in the fact that your team played best last season in a 4-3-3 yet during the summer your management declared you would play a 4-3-1-2 and bought (lol) players (Birsa and Kaka lol)  to fit that formation.

Lucky for Milan, the midtable teams arnt very good and one win (a few teams lose) and you move from 13th to 8th lol.    


Hopefully you get Niangollan, switch back to a 4-3-3and i would try and ship Robinho and Kaka off to Brazil before the World cup, and replace the with Jeremy Menez (Left winger who wants to leave and prove himself before the world cup, Milan need points so it should work out) and either Candreva or Cerci for the right wing.

Then during the Summer sell Muntari, Nocerino, and Birsa, and try to bring in one of the Bender Twins, preferbly Sven, although why would he leave Dortmund for a CL-less Milan lol, but Lars is good too.

If Pazzini returns to Normal offload Matri and bring back Paloschi, young striker whose still learning ( in a 4-3-3 he'd be behind Balo and Pazzini so that doenst matter.  

As for your Goalies id get rid of Abbiati and Amelia and bring in any 2 of Frinson from Catania, Perin from Genoa, or Consigli from Atlantia. One of them will win the job and the other will back him up.

As Far as your outside backs keep contanst as he can cover Left back and Centermid, sell Emanuelson, and bring in D'Ambrosio. If Zenit are willing to sell for a affordible price id get Criscito and sell Constant.

Centerbacks keep Bonera (loyal, willing to sit, good wages), Keep Rami, sell Mexes and Zapata, buy Dragovic, i think hes at dinamo kiev good young centerback with tons of Europa and champions league experiance with FC Basel, and Mangala from Fc Porto who never sell Cheap.

Ideally your squad would end up

GK

A, Frinson
M. Perin
Gabriel

WB

Abate
De Sciglio
D'Ambrosio
Constant/ Criscito

Center defence

Rami
Mangala
Dragovic
Bonera

Defensive mid

De Jong
S. Bender/ L. Bender

Center Mid

Montolivo
Niangollan
Honda
Poli

Left wing

SES
J. Menez

CF

Balo
Pazzini
Paloschi

Right wing

Candreva/Cerci

Manager: Prandelli (he really seems to nurture Balo and Ses when they are with the national team and i think he'd so great with that squad)


Anyways you guys would have to spend money, but you'd also be saving money as alot of those players are younger and therefore generally have cheaper wages, plus its not like Matri, Muntari, Nocerino, Birsa, Kaka, Robinho, Mexes, Zapata, Abbiati, And Amelia are worthless, they will bring in money.

You guys can survive a year missing the Champions league, but the longer you miss it, the harder it will be to get back in, especially since you dont own the statium.

Those transfers and overhauling the whole team is probably not gonna happen, especially given that our revenues will only decrease after missing out on the CL. As much as I myself would like too see some of those players in our colors, this is not fantasy football. We have to be realistic.

On Kaka, I don't think you have seen a lot of Milan this season, because if you had, your opinion on him would be different. Believe me when I say this, I had my doubts on this transfer, and I did not want Kaka back at all. I was sure that it would be a repeat of the Shevchenko episode. But so far, Kaka has more then proved me wrong. He really has been one of our best performers so far.

We are in a really bad situation right now, and I don't think we can turn this around in one or even two seasons. It's gonna take a while. And like I said earlier, the only solution I can see is change in management from the top. Only after that will any other changes be effective. I still believe in our youth policy. We don't need big investment, we need smart investment.

Oh, and one last thing. Please don't say that Kaka is inferior to Boateng, in any way. A 60 year old legless Kaka will still be better then a prime Boateng.

Youre right, ive only watch the Milan derby and a few others + the CL, the games i watched kaka didnt show up.

It need to happen though.
Yes youre losing money when you dont qualify for the champions league, but youre revenue will be greater than expected this year because you were the only italian team to get out of the group.

If something of similar scale does t take place in the summer it will be hard to get back into the Champions league in the future, Roma and Napoli arnt flukes, they are where they are because they spent money, Roma didnt have the champions league revenue look what they did by offloading 2 players for similar prices to thiago silva and Ibra.

Do you really think this squad is making the champions league ? because i dont. Offloading Robinho and bringing in Menez during January would be the first thing it do, the guy is desperate to prove himself ahead of the world cup and Milan is Desperate for points, his wages are cheaper than Robinho, hes younger, and he only has 6 months on his contract so he'll be somewhat cheap.
That would be a start.
You are already getting Honda and Rami, i think if you can pick up Menez you guys will be able to make a solid push.

And about Boateng, its kind of like people that live in a city lets take Los angeles for example, that never go to hollywood, never go to disneyland etc, stuff people travel around the world to see, then they move away and never realize what they had, they took it for granted.
Boateng is the same situation, a great player (who wasnt properly replaced), that many teams would want, and now thats hes gone, youre realizing maybe he wasnt that bad of a right winger as i thought, maybe he wasnt that bad of a trequartista, because he kept everyone else in their place, worked hard, and showed up in big games.

I don't think this squad (or even an upgraded squad after the January window) is making the CL. It's just not possible to come back from a position like this.

And we tried to offload Robinho in the summer. We even came to an agreement with Santos but then Robinho could not agree a contract so the deal fell through. Replacing him with Menez would be a very welcome change, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Hopefully it happens.

Boateng was never a trequartista. He did not have the technical ability, not the final ball, to play in that position. Kaka, on the other hand, still has both these. He did not connect the attack to the midfield at all. The only reason he ever looked good was Ibrahimovic. A similar case to Nocerino (altough he was better then Nocerino).

All Boateng really added was a spark. His best position was in midfield, and I would still prefer to see NDJ, Monty and even Poli over Boateng in our current midfield (if he was still here).

If you really think Boateng was that bad, which player that you brought in this summer is even capable of scoring a hat trick ala when you were losing 3-0 at halftime and came back 4-3. is Poli ?, Matri ?, Birsa ?, Kaka ?
None of them are capable of that. So actually in my opinion your squad is worse.

All of the signings that Mono wrote are exactly what a smart club with some cash should be doing.

The differences between last season and this season are these:

1. Injuries
2. Club Management
3. Coaching
4. Other clubs strengthening

1. Injuries

We have no good depth players apart from Pazzini who comes in for Balotelli. Since he was already injured (and Balo was suspended for a time too), that really means that we are fielding a 3rd rate squad each time a 1st team player is injured.

2. Club Management

If you're going to conduct an entire transfer market on the basis that your club is firmly heading in the direction of 4-3-1-2, you better be damn sure about why you're doing this and have a plan for which players to buy. It's quite obvious that Galliani & Co. had neither. Furthermore, our purchase of stopgaps like Silvestre and Birsa instead of quality players for those crucial positions sealed our fate before the season had even begun.

3. Coaching

I'm a strong believer in using players in a system that suits their capabilities instead of trying to mould players into a system. I.e. do not play people out of position unless it's absolutely necessary. I think that Allegri asks too many of our players to do things that they are uncomfortable with or lack experience in doing. Constant & Emanuelson as full-backs is a simple example, but there's more - Poli as a winger against Chievo, Poli as a LB when we had CBs who would be more suited to LB, and Montolivo as an AM. These are basic mistakes.

4. Other Clubs Strengthening

Roma, Napoli, Fiorentina, Juventus and Inter (to a lesser extent) spent and spent well. Meanwhile Galliani has been tighter than women's jeans. In football, you can get very high quality players for reasonable prices, but our club have been very unreasonable when it comes to re-investing the money from player sales. Lamela, Cavani, Jovetic... gone, gone, gone - but I bet those clubs would do it all over again if they had the chance, because the players they got using those funds make their respective teams much more complete. We lost some huge stars and they have not been replaced.