- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
A Sunday afternoon game and Milan are down 2-1 against Serie A minnows, Catania.
The ‘Curva Sud’ are most likely regretting their earlier choice of banner. It’s the 67th minute and Milan look like they’ll be lucky to squeeze a draw.
Massimiliano Allegri makes a change. Giampaolo Pazzini, a new arrival at the start of the season, runs on for a lacklustre Antonio Nocerino.
Within ten minutes, he has grabbed two goals. Another goal from Mario Balotelli and Allegri can once again breathe a sigh of relief.
Milan’s manager, Massimiliano Allegri has had a great season. It’s hard to believe but delivering a team from fifteenth to third in the space of a season is simply not good enough for many.
Not only this, he has coached a team which lost many of its long time players, superstars and experienced players.
He even got a nod from the Curva Sud in the weekend’s game. Yet still Allegri faces criticism because his results have not been up to scratch in 2013.
It is true, Milan are not winning by the big margins against the smaller teams of Serie A. But nor have they been losing.
In 2013, they have been only defeated once, the loss coming against league leaders Juventus who not only have a better line-up, they have far more experience.
This kind of record for any manager would surely mean that they would be coaching the team next year. Not in Milan. Berlusconi is said to be interested in Clarence Seedorf taking over the team. Not only is Seedorf still playing, he has not had any coaching experience.
So just why does Allegri deserve to be coaching Milan next season, and why is he the most ideal person to do so? Simple.
Allegri gets Milan. Not since the likes of Carlo Ancelotti has a coach been such a natural at Milan.
And to those who say that Allegri is overrated, here are both his official and unofficial credentials:
• Scudetto in first year with Milan
• Runner-up in second year
• Played Barcelona six times in two years winning one and drawing two
• Cured the “Bad-boy” reputation of Ibrahimovic, Cassano and Balotelli
• Successfully guided Milan to third after a mass exodus of experienced players
• Given young and inexperienced players game time
Winning a Scudetto with Milan in his first year may not seem to amazing, after all the team was already established. However the previous year, they had finished third, barely beating Sampdoria in fourth and being a long way off Roma who came second.
To have a new coach come into a team that hadn’t shown much promise the season before, have to deal with a team of superstars and the sales of class players such as Ronaldinho, Dida, Huntelaar and Borriello is difficult.
Allegri had his season in 2010/11 and continued that the following season.
Milan came second to Juventus and although they should not have come second, it is still an admirable result for a manager who was only spending his second season with a top club.
He had history with smaller clubs, delivering Cagliari impressive results while he was managing them, but the bigger clubs brought bigger challenges and Allegri rode them well.
Many people have criticised Allegri’s ability as a tactician.
Many say he simply tells the team to go or stop. His matches against Barcelona are testament to the fact that he is a tactician to be rivalled. In the first match, Pato scored early and Milan played very defensively allowing Barcelona to snatch two back.
However with only minutes to spare Milan converted a corner thanks to Thiago Silva. On aggregate, he has never lost by more than two to Barcelona. His tactics even inspired PSG on how to play against Barcelona.
Allegri also has a great relationship with his players, most notably, the ones that came to Milan with a bad image.
Antonio Cassano arrived after being suspended for Sampdoria because of a heated row with the chairman. During his time at Milan, he was relatively well behaved during his time.
However after signing with Inter, he was back to his old ways, having a brawl with the Inter Milan coach.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a sour relationship with many of his coaches and mentions them heavily in his autobiography. However he has little to say on Allegri, something that is a very positive thing.
But perhaps the most notable so far is Mario Balotelli. Known for his off field antics, he is a class player but a seemingly bad guy.
But not since being coached by Allegri. It seems that Allegri has calmed the wild beast.
And while Allegri for two seasons had a class squad, he was tested at the start of this year… And initially failed.
The list of players that left Milan is too long, their reputations, too big, but it’s safe to say it was roughly fifty percent of their starting eleven.
But Allegri steered Milan from fifteenth in their worst part of the season, to third, where they now are looking at Champions League qualification once more.
He hasn’t just been pushing the older players on this team. The three youngest players, Stephan El Shaarawy, Mattia De Sciglio and M’Baye Niang, have received 94 appearances between them all, something not many other teams in Europe can boast.
In all fairness Allegri is yet to give the fourth youngest player, goalkeeper Gabriel, a first team appearance after almost 18 months in the team.
However with Abbiati out and Amelia disappointing in his two most recent performances his time could be upon him soon.
Although Allegri may be criticised for not winning by explosive margins, he is certainly creating a team which has the potential to do much worse, just in the next few years.
People who criticise Allegri do not realise one thing: there are very few people who could replace him in all aspects.
At least one more season at the helm of Milan will hopefully see them fighting for the Scudetto and challenging in Europe on a higher level. In a year we shall see if Allegri can win his second Scudetto in four years or be shown the door.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.