Milan – Tactical confusion imminent
By David, BettingExpert.com | Published
One year on and Allegri has still failed to prove his alleged tactical genius with a team like Milan providing ample talent to modulate the formation to his liking. Last season’s title in Italy was the result of mere absence of competition. What one should ponder about is the inability to win one single home match in Europe and the early exit at the hands of a below par Tottenham side. The show put up by Allegri is an unhealthy blend of nauseatingly slow football the likes of which has only been see in the days of the improbable management of Zaccheroni and reliance on the individual qualities of players like Ibrahimovic and Boateng.
Manager: Allegri
Tactics: 4-3-3
Players In: Mexes, Aquilani, Nocerino, El Shaarawy, Taiwo
Players Out: Pirlo, Paloschi, Merkel, Strasser, Oddo, Beretta
Current Probable Formation: Abbiati, Abate, Mexes, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta, Ambrosini, van Bommel, Seedorf, Pato, Boateng, Ibrahimovic
It is easy to consider Milan favourites to reclaim the title and make it one more than city rivals Inter. The latter are out of contention as they battle past memories and seek a way back to reality, looking ahead rather than back to those days with the Special One and the legendary treble. Juventus are already past the cloudy grey days of their shame but they will still need to match Milan’s quality. Other than those two sides nobody is actually coming up with strong enough offers to dethrone this team from the top. So yes Milan are the more realistic option for the bookmakers. That is if you stick to the classic contenders and the more obvious of answers. The ‘tried and tested’ kind which do not account for a Serie A season that could well be the most entertaining and unexpected since even before Verona or Sampdoria worked their way to the top in 1985 and 1991 respectively.
How about a return to those late 1980’s campaigns when Napoli was a force to be reckoned with and the duel between Maradona’s side and Sacchi’s Dutch trio took centre stage?
The potential is all there for that kind of battle to be revived and it will in no small part be due to the strongest team of them all, Milan, being unable to play to the standards expected of it. They have not done that last season so why should it be a surprise for Allegri to keep proving inept in that this time around once again?
For the first half of the campaign last year it was Ibrahimovic – Mr. domestic title – who kept Milan pushing up the table, leaving nothing but dust for any contenders hoping they would slip up. Seedorf and many others had already spoken about the dangers of relying solely on the Swedish striker to solve their games, keeping in mind how Inter used to play before they brought along Eto’o and Sneijder. Then for the second part of the season it Boateng took everyone by surprise and started scoring like never before. Credit must be given to Allegri here though. He played the Ghana international just behind the strikers acting more like a hidden striker ready to gallop into the box rather than a playmaker.
Those were Milan’s main weapons and they will continue to be in the absence of a true style of play. In the absence of a creative force like Pirlo was and the absolute neglect of the flanks where only Abate at times dares present himself, only to realize the team is not geared to open up space for him there but has to come face to face with one or even two opponents before he can get a cross into the box.
The Devil proves careless in this case and with no actual plan of how to get that ball into the box, simply hoping that maybe Ibrahimovic can muscle his way through or play the unpredictable Boateng to a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, breaking the lines of some stubborn opponents in the league will be an arduous task indeed.
Now add to this that Allegri has opted for a midfield which can accommodate two newcomers like Aquilani and Nocerino to try and make up for this inability to create chances with the men already committed to attack. The sacrifice is a defensive midfielder. Last season we would have been able to count two, always, in the three-man Milan midfield. Gattuso, Ambrosini, van Bommel or Flamini. Those rarely score though and to patch one problem Allegri has created another, exposing his extremely solid defence from last season to more dangers in the process. Considering that Nesta is nearing pensionable age and that Mexes is not new to defensive blunders (not to mention Yepes and especially Bonera) goals will be coming in galore this season. What is Antonini sees more of the pitch than Zambrotta? That ought to make their backline even more porous. Yet Allegri will probably think otherwise, unless he really goes with the Taiwo option – a transfer which was all wrong in the first place.
The final mistake and probably the biggest in the Allegri management has been the decision to let Pirlo quit, thinking that he could do without him and instead replace him with van Bommel. The area which the 34-year old Dutchman can cover is quite limited and his passing ability ranks dangerously low, especially for a player who holds such a delicate position in front of defence. Besides, his propensity to be shown cards is above average.
Predicted finishing position: 2nd
This is a problem of having the wrong driver at the wheel of a potent Ferrari. Milan have the strongest team when picking out the players individually but there’s a whole sea to navigate between that and getting those individual talents to perform as a team. In comparison to Mazzarri’s Napoli Milan lose that race and the club’s innate obsession with the Champions League can keep them occupied for long enough to make it impossible to recover any deficit they would have by the time they get eliminated. They would need to be lucky enough to meet weak opposition in Europe though given that their slow-paced game is quite predictable to worry most of the real contenders.
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