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.
Tony
Guest
The win/loss ratio doesnt look that bad especially after the horrible start to the campaign, but ive been watching Milan play for 25 years and I can tell you this season the way they have played is worst I have ever seen. The defense has been an absolute shambles for much of the season with Catania's goals on the weekend a perfect example plus the number of goals conceded from set pieces, which is the worst in the league. There is almost no transition between midfield and attack, there is virtually no creativity (apart from Montolivo), mainly due to Allegri's insane desire to play two holding/workman midfielders and all the movement is completely predictable. But you are right in that if the league was based on this years performance we would probably be leading the standings, but we still have dropped points against our main rivals in the games that mattered most. And in these games the tactics were completely wrong, and Allegri never did anything during those games to change it apart from his usual screaming of "Dai, Dai, Dai". I agree he was hard done by with all the retirements and other senior players leaving. But he had an entire pre-season to work with the team and in that he failed miserably. The evidence to this is the horrible start to the season where the lineup constantly changed, the formation constantly changed, and the tactics constantly changed. He needed Berlusconi to force his hand into settling on a 4-3-3 formation which started producing results. I've never said Allegri is the worst manager in Serie A, that is reserved for Palermo's president as he thinks he is a manager and Inter's manager, but i do believe Allegri has run his course with Milan and has no more to offer them.
William McInnes
Roar Pro
Out of 15 games this season, Balotelli has played in 9, scoring in 6 of those games... Its not all Balotelli by a long stretch. Everyone has off games, we have only lost once in 2013 and that was to the league leaders so I don't understand what all this rubbish about Milan being crap is? We drew against Napoli and Fiorentina and suddenly Allegri is the worst manager in Serie A?
William McInnes
Roar Pro
Constant played extremely well against Barcelona proving his worth against good teams, Abate I do agree lacks defensive skills but is still vital to the team. Pirlo sustained a massive injury in his last season for Milan, putting him severely out of form. He was out of contract at the end of the season anyway. Allegri is not responsible for the players coming in and leaving so I can't see why you're blaming Pirlo's loss on him. And El Shaarawy was rested against Napoli and not in the line up against Parma. This caused everyone to say Allegri hated El Shaarawy. The goals have dried up for one simple reason: Balotelli. Balotelli is different to Pazzini in the way that he has great speed and dribbling ability, minimizing the need for El Shaarawy to dribble into the middle. El Shaarawy is now playing a different role to what he was and Milan are now getting a lot of goals through penalties, something El Shaarawy never takes even though he has earned a few.
Tony
Guest
I think its more thanks to Balotelli than it is to Allegri, and it doesnt refute the fact that in the big games Milan's tactics were average at best, therefore the draws and loses in the games that Milan really needed to win - against the teams around them in the standings.
William McInnes
Roar Pro
Thanks Walter! Someone who gets it!
William McInnes
Roar Pro
But after the mass exodus of key players, of which Max Allegri was not responsible nor completely ready for, third is very respectable. No other team has the form in 2013 Milan has had and that is thanks to Allegri!
Tony
Guest
Could not agree more Domenic. It is well known that Berlusconi wants Allegri out and the only reason he is still there because Galliani loves him, god knows why. After the start to the season Milan had third is good enough, but Milan isnt any other club, anything below the top two positions is not good enough! Time to go CountMax
Tony
Guest
The players always come out in support of the coach until either the coach leaves or the player leaves. Constant is fine as a backup, he plays well against the lower teams, but is completely outplayed against the strong teams. Abate is fantastic going forward, good but not great at defending, but absolutely terrible at crossing the ball. Pirlo left Milan because Allegri didnt want to use him in his position in front of the defense pulling the strings, for some stupid reason he wanted to play him on the left of midfield. So he packed his bags and went to Juve who welcomed him with open arms, a three year contract and a scudetto - Allegri's fault. El Shaarawy has been amazing this season, simply stunning for someone so young and in his first full serie a season. But the goals have dried up and he looks increasingly tired and frustrated on the field - thanks Max for not properly managing, over using, and over depending on the clubs best young player (until next season when Bryan Cristante dominates the midfield) Time to go CountMax
Tony
Guest
You are kidding me. I have watched every single Milan game this season, helps being in Europe, and I can tell you that Allegri hardly makes any tactical changes during a match at all. The only change he makes is when the team is losing he will take off a holding midfielder for a striker or the ever useless Robinho. His first season in charge of Milan the team basically managed itself with many of senators controlling the locker room and play, continuing the tactics started by Ancelotti but making it narrower by playing "give it to Ibra". Last season Milan should have won the scudetto, except Allegri refused to rest players during the most important part of the season, which saw the team lose to Barcelona in the CL, the following two league games to hand the scudetto to Juventus. And the same thing has happened this year in the race for what should have been at least second place with draws to Fiorentina and Napoli and a loss to Juventus. Check out Allegri's record against the top four teams for the past few seasons, it is terrible. As a life long Rossoneri, I havent seen a Milan team play this badly, except maybe under Fatih Terim, and although losing many senior players has played a big part in this, Allegri the entire off season to get the players ready but didnt manage to do until mid way through the season - he change the defensive line up in all of the first 14 games!! Time to go CountMax
Domenic
Guest
I totally don't agree with Allegri being the best for Milan.!!! Actually, he is the Luckiest and worst coach i ever seen for Milan. So many facts support my conclusions 1- If you say he won the Scudetto in first year with Milan..well Conte did the same!!! 2- Runner up second year............well Conte Won for the second time in 2 years in a row 3- Played Barcelona six times in two years winning one and draw... He the only one made Milan lose 4:0 this year and 3:0 Against Arsenal last year 4- Cured the “Bad-boy” reputation of Ibrahimovic, Cassano and Balotelli.. Well Ibra stil scoring, Cassano doing great with Inter, Balo has still hyper and very aggrssive and intimidiating for his own team player. i guess this is nature as wild boy • Successfully guided Milan to third!!!! What about Montella ? C'mon season not finished yet Mister • Given young and inexperienced players game time... which lead to choas and bad performance. Prove, look at last game with putting Pazzini up-front. I mean you better be smart and know how to utilize your player during the game, don't be control freak and try to make them play out of their comfort zone as he always does every game Bottom line, He is a lucky guy that VP of milan choose him for cost effect reasons no more. He had give soooo many chances but he is an absolute joker. Milan needs a good experience coach to lead this group of young talented players as they did when they have Sacchi and Ancheloti
walter njoku
Guest
Leavd Allegri 2 build a new milan. He has the potentials.
William McInnes
Roar Pro
Happy to write on Italian football because it not covered that well in Australia! Check out some of my other Italian football articles if you want! Really appreciate comments and feedback! I do agree that Milan have been a disappointment this season and although they have spent money being assembled, there is a lot of fresh blood in the squad. I think Allegri just needs one more year. Next year we can rip the living shreds out of him if he fails, but until then, I wait.
William McInnes
Roar Pro
Unfortunately he does disappoint in many games but the curva sud's banner seemed to reinforce fan support form him. I don't think Seedorf is the man to coach Milan... YET. Milan is not a place for coaches to be debuted. Let him do the Pippo Inzaghi first and coach a youth team to prove himself. There are only a hand full of coaches I would feel confident replacing Allegri. I like Prandelli as a possible replacement. He doesn't just choose those who play every game. He chooses on form. If a player is playing well, he's in the squad. He also has a good eye for young players.
Damiano
Guest
I'll respectfully disagree. I understand Nocerino is a DM & Pazzini a forward, so it suggests he got both the personnel & formation wrong. Conte has been the most consistent manager currently in Serie A, the results support this. I don't know about Seedorf, he is untested as a manager, but he'd be a popular choice I'd imagine, as popular players are often popular coaches. For Milan's sake I hope he isn't their Ciro Ferrara! Milan are playing for 3rd place. Juve have first & Napoli have 2nd. They have a fight on their hands with , Fiorentina, and even if results went their way, the likes of Roma and Udinese in the mix for 3rd. These are squads assembled for a fraction of the squillions Milan have spent. All of this whilst the discarded Pirlo is pulling the strings for Juventus who are cruising towards their next Scudetto. On another note, good to see an article on the Serie A, although I disagree its a good read, and thought provoking. More of this please Roar editors!
GL
Guest
Haha yes try it! And I respectfully disagree after having see every game live but I understand where you are coming from. I'm just glad IL berlusca and most of the fans feel like I do ;p ... Now the real question is ... Will seedorf be the man to make the right decisions..? With Allegri I was getting so upset every game for the decisions he was making so I think it'll be a break for most of us.. But as you said, He's not an idiot... He just has a different vision... One that many of us don't agree with... But obviously some do. Thanks for the support of the club :)
William McInnes
Roar Pro
He has played Constant when De Sciglio is either out of form or on the right. De Sciglio has had many great games, but a few that weren't great. I do think that in many games Constant has left a lot to be desired and against Barcelona, maybe he was the wrong choice. Pirlo was out of form when we sold him (and even though this was because he wasn't playing comfortably, Allegri didn't want to build his team around an aging player) and it was an unfortunate thing that he recovered his form well for Juventus. Against Barcelona, Milan only made one unforced change for the second leg so I don't know why you're blaming Allegri for stirring things up. The team is behind Allegri too. Must try Allegrini sometime then! Haha!
GL
Guest
*phone auto corrected Allegri to Allegrini... Which is a wonderful wine btw haha
GL
Guest
It's been three years of bad calls. Having Constant play instead of DeSciglio when the youngster is over performing is a crime. It stops the momentum. Something Allegrini is great at doing. Abate is ok on both ends while DeSciglio is great behind Elsha, where he should always be... Giving Elsha a chance to stay up front more and score instead of having to run back everytime to cover the holes that Constant Constantly left open. He was the reason we lost Pirlo as he convinced Galliani that he was past his prime... We all saw how that went... Pirlo just didn't like working with Allegri as he was placed in positions that weren't comfortable for him... Again ... Story of the past three years... Misplacement of players... We could still have Pirlo... And after the win against Barcelona he chooses to out a different team up against them when the one that won obviously had conviction and felt confident after the win... But no... Lets stir things up ... I could go on for days listing the mistakes he's done in the past three years .. Too many... Just about any coach would have won with the team we had three years ago and just about any coach would not have blown our chance last year. This year it's up the players.. They had a great come back... Too bad Allegri was there to throw a wrench in the wheels with his puzzling decisions and wrong schemes or we most likely may be in second place now
William McInnes
Roar Pro
Nocerino and Pazzini play different positions and Nocerino simply did not perform on the day. Pazzini just happened to play well as a sub after not scoring at all in Balotelli's absence. Nocerino was given a chance and didn't make the most of it. Simple. And I'm saying that Milan really flopped towards the end of last season reflective of the season they had had. Allegri is a class manager who over the past three season's has been the most consistent manager in Serie A. Even if they were to come fourth, he would still be the most consistent! Saying he is a nobody and should be at Cagliari is like saying Mourinho should be coaching Hamburg! At Cagliari he set a precedent which is still yet to be achieved by any manager since he left. He is a class manager and fact will tell you that.
William McInnes
Roar Pro
Good point! He really has laid a foundation for next season and received a top three result at the same time! Give him one more season I say. Not too many managers who could do what he's done.