This was supposed to be Ambrosini’s night. His return to the
San Siro, his chance to say goodbye and for fans to honor him. And honor him
they did. With a heartfelt banner, a round of applause as he took the pitch,
and a standing ovation as he left the pitch just after 30 minutes with an
injury. He risked everything to be here tonight, and in his words, he said it
was worth it. “I just wanted to thank the
fans, as I did everything to be here for this game for a thousand reasons. I
wanted to come full circle tonight.” But the warm and sincere righting of
management’s gross wrong was still overshadowed by one thing: The Greatest
Coach in the World.
 |
| "Eighteen years of true generosity has carved your name in Rossoneri history... More than just a greeting, today we give you a proper dedication" --Curva Sud |
Normally, I write more of a match recap, but for once, I’d
like to focus on the bigger picture, that being directly related to a small box
on the sideline known as the coaches’ technical area. Milan’s problems are
pervasive, and not easily solved. But there are many teams who have massive
problems functioning off the pitch that can still get results sometimes on the
pitch. And this is why I am focusing on that little box. Or rather, the man who
stands inside of it. He is actually not the worst coach in the world, but will
never sanely be accused of being The Greatest Coach in the World, either. But to hear
management tell the story, he is The Greatest Coach in the World. Because while people are distracted and laughing at that statement, it’s hard for them to see the
dysfunction from top to bottom in the rest of the organization.
 |
| The Greatest Coach in the World? |
I usually write my reviews quickly after a match, and don’t
get to read Allegri’s postmatch comments before I post. But tonight, I thought
I would write specifically about his comments. First and foremost, another ritiro was ordered. So Galliani, who
left abruptly and noticeably after we conceded the second goal, apparently
hurried to ready the slumber party at Milanello. Meanwhile, Allegri spoke, and
we were all amazed by his sheer genius:
"This is the worst
moment during my spell at Milan, which is why we have decided to have a
training retreat. The ritiro is not a punishment. It will help the team to take
more responsibility and get us out of this negative spell. The ritiro is not
only to prepare for the match against Barça, but also for the rest of the
season.”
Not so coincidentally, this is every fan’s worst moment
during your spell at Milan, too. What a strange coincidence that you are the
common denominator. And what about the big slumber party you guys had a couple
of weeks ago? Was that only to prepare for the next two weeks?
 |
| This may look like Birsa breaking out the mad skills, but in real life, it was just like this match: an epic fail |
“In football the only
thing that counts is the result. At times people forget how we got them. The
lads cannot be criticized for the effort they put in tonight, but it
just didn’t work.”
So… the result is the most important thing. The team is not
getting results. If the team didn’t get a result tonight, are we to believe
that some magic power prevented them from getting more than one shot on goal,
with 18 tries? Or do we just drop responsibility and say “it just didn’t work?”
“Right now things are
going badly, we have only 12 points. I am the Coach and the club will tell me
if and when they make a decision. There haven’t been any meetings planned as
far as I know. I am the Coach and one way or another I’ll find the solution to
this.”
Are you just seeking solutions now, 11 league games into the
season? Because it seems like you’ve been out of solutions for a while now.
Which is why even you know your job is at risk, even if you are naïve enough to
believe that they will tell you they are planning to sack you before they let
the axe fall.
 |
| Where there's smoke, there's fire... Allegri could have pulled Balotelli and put out the fire |
As for his substitutions tonight:
"I decided to put
on Niang instead of Matri as he could give us more speed and vivacity on the
right wing. I put on Saponara because I wanted a more offensive midfielder. It
would have been too excessive to have put on a striker."
"Balotelli's
booking and ban? I'm not disappointed or angry. I'll just say that everyone has
to help this team to improve."
The substitutions were surprisingly astute. But why did you
only use two subs before a Champions League game? Why not sub off Balotelli
after his failed attempt to win a penalty where he also injured himself? Or
before he practically killed Neto and earned another yellow and a suspension
for card accumulation that will keep him out of the Chievo game next week?
Great that you’re not angry at Balotelli, but don’t you realize that you could
have prevented his yellow card?
"We have to be
focused, keep quiet and work hard, because what we have done so far is not
enough. We have to do better. The last 30 minutes against Fiorentina was embarrassing.”
Only the last 30 minutes, really? Everyone was playing out
of position and rendering themselves ineffective. What were we doing with the
ball for 50% of the entire 90 minutes? Embarrassing is that you don’t have
better answers for what went wrong, let alone have a solution yet to a team
playing worse than last year with an improved squad. That’s embarrassing.
 |
| Dai Dai Dai is not getting results |
“When things go badly,
there are many causes. The team cannot play as badly as they did tonight. We
did little in attack, even if we were punished by a long-range effort that was
deflected.”
So if you speak the language of the Greatest Coach in the
World, 18 shots is doing nothing in attack. Granted, Fiorentina scored 2 goals
with only 4 shots, but taking 18 shots is not nothing. And Mister Allegri, please
stop whining about the long-range deflected goal. Muntari got nutmegged in the
wall, and Milan conceded. There was still more to be done to prevent that, like
not conceding the free kick in the first place.
 |
| The Curva protested the clubs decisions in the mercato, citing poor decisions for our current results |
When asked about the fans protest of the mercato, The
Greatest Coach in the World had this to say:
"It's only normal
that the fans protest after a defeat like this one. What I have to say to the
fans? I can only thank them as they always support us."
“It’s not an issue of
the transfer strategy, it’s that we suffered a lot of injuries. I thought we
had found the way after Udinese and Barcelona, but with Parma, Lazio and
above all this evening we seem to have lost it again.”
Seems like an odd thing to say, that it’s all the fault of
injuries, because if we had reinforced with a defender, for example, when
injuries hit, we wouldn’t be forced to play a center back pairing of Zaccardo
and Zapata, for example. And you might be the only one to think that Milan had
ever found their way this season, by the way.
“It’s normal that we
have to change something and this week we’ll have time to work on that. I will
work on our starting formation. The more experienced players have to help us to
rise again."
We have to change something, so you are going to do the same
thing you’ve been doing – rely on your most experienced players? Has it ever
occurred to you to maybe try something different? To trust the less experienced players?
 |
| Allegri left quickly after the whistle... as many fans wished he'd just keep walking |
“Are the players still
behind me? The players shouldn’t be behind me, they should be behind each other
and work together as a team. It’s my job to indicate them in the right
direction.”
Exactly. It is YOUR job to indicate them in the right
direction. And you have not been able to do it this season at all. Nor have you
been able to unify the team to be behind each other or get them to work
together as a team. But congratulations, you’ve managed to make them all your
BFFs, as Abate said at the press conference, "All the players are behind Allegri. He's a great person and
coach." Now if you could get them all unified on the pitch, your job
would not be in jeopardy.
When asked if he had talked to Berlusconi, he replied:
"I haven't spoken
with president Berlusconi yet."
"I haven't
thought about resigning. I will do everything I can to come up with a solution
to get out of this negative moment."
While The Greatest Coach in the World is hardly the only
problem, he is the problem that is most easily addressed and would most quickly
affect results and make an impact on this season. Allegri is not the worst
coach ever, despite what many Milanisti say, but he is clearly out of ideas for
this team, and I’m not sure he was ever their source of motivation. You've had 3 full seasons plus these 11 matches to find a solution, and have only managed to get deteriorating results with an improved squad. So sorry,
Greatest Coach in the World, but your welcome has been worn out for some time
now.
 |
| Galliani had a slumber party to plan, I guess... |
And to Berlusconi and Galliani, if you want any results
whatsoever this year, it’s time to make the change. We are 16 points behind
third place, which is not going to be easy to make up, even if we start winning
next week and win most of our matches. So even though you screwed up with
Ambrosini, you have a chance to stop the free fall now. Because standing behind
Allegri means slipping off of the cliff of any sort of success into the abyss
of complete failure. After all you’ve spent to improve the squad this past year,
that’s like throwing money down the drain. Now how about you pull us out of
this nosedive by saying goodbye to The Greatest Coach in the World?
Translations courtesy of @Milanello on Twitter and
football-italia.net
This post inspired by the music of
Andrea Bocelli’s “Con te partiro”
Our next match is
Champions League Group Stage
Barcelona vs. AC Milan
Wednesday, November 6 • 20:45 CET (2:45 EST)