Now that the last objective of the season in terms of trophies has disappeared, what happens to Milan? The elimination in the quarter-finals of the Europa League against Roma is a wound that burns strongly, also because the team came out of the event by missing two matches without any type of mitigating factor. The Rossoneri’s “day after” passed in thunderous silence after the disappointment accumulated at the Olimpico in front of 4,500 disgruntled and angry supporters. In the minds of all the fans there remains another ninety or more insipid minutes. From everybody.
After the defeat at San Siro we expected a reaction, outbursts of anger, nerves, determination. Little or nothing was seen. Roma were a team for 180 minutes, Milan an opaque stand-in for that group that had enchanted in the month of March with an important string of successes. Against the Giallorossi the goal was Giroud’s crossbar in the first leg and Loftus’s crossbar in the return match. And even if the Rossoneri (in Rome with three center forwards on the pitch in the second half) kicked “40 times on goal”, as Pioli recalled, the haul was only one goal.
Milan melted like snow in the sun at the crucial moment of the season, already failing twice in the most important “eleven days”, bending to its limits (how much confusion in midfield in the coach’s choices, for example the reversal of roles of Calabria and Musah) and exalting the opponents with defensive cracks. On Monday evening in the derby which could win the Scudetto for Inter, pride and dignity can be saved by avoiding the final setback, but the bitterness of a year that has become colorless and disappointing as the weeks go by cannot be erased.
However, after the derby and the subsequent match at Juventus, we will have to move on. In a clear, concrete and decisive manner. Without discounts, for anyone. Moneyball’s theories and algorithm may be good for baseball, but football needs more. Perhaps Paolo Maldini wasn’t entirely wrong a year ago when, before being kicked out, he called for major investments to stay at the top, even going so far as to question Pioli’s bench. However, it would be unfair to single him out as the sole person responsible for the season lacking in satisfaction.
The ball will pass between the feet of the triumvirate Moncada, Ibrahimovic and Furlani, in agreement with the majority shareholder Gerry Cardinale. Before addressing the “reinforcements” topic (3-4 functional players are needed) a decision will have to be made on the coach: against Roma Pioli reached 233 benches in the Rossoneri, in the heat of the moment he limited himself to saying “Be patient until the end, then we’ll take stock and address the discussion.”
The feeling, however, is that it is at the end of the cycle, and the name of the Emilian coach would go into the blender of the total coaches, with Napoli ready to intercept him given Antonio Conte’s hesitations. The former Juventus and Inter coach himself remains the dream of AC Milan fans, a little less than RedBird considering the company philosophy and cost containment. It is true that someone is moving to bring the parties closer together, but faced with the possible request of the most demanding coach to take someone like Lukaku in attack, what could Casa Milan respond? Lopetegui is a concrete option, Thiago Motta is an objective that now seems outdated, Italian is a hypothesis that is currently out of the way, while Max Allegri’s return seems more of a suggestion than a desire.
Tags: Milan time reckoning approaching Pioli Napoli
