SACK HIM ALREADY!

11 games, 6 losses , 2 draws , and 3 wins.  Even the most pessimistic Milan fan wouldn't have predicted this disaster at the start of the season. The Rossoneri have now experienced 3 back to back losses, fans of the red and black like me have become accustomed to losses, going into every game hoping for a victory, content with a draw, and deep down, expecting a loss. Like the fans, I’m pretty sure the players feel the same way, and in my view, only a change in leadership will break this psychological barrier to help Milan get out of it’s free-fall.

I was shocked last night listening to Champions League commentary when one of the analysts said “Well, if they sack Allegri, another coach is gonna come, and what’s he gonna do?” Well, another coach could do much more. This is not a team that should lose half at its games. Yes the best players have gone, and the squad has many average players, but there are still players with great potential and every Milan fan knows that this squad is not playing to the best of their abilities.

The passing is shocking  the game plan is confusing, there is no stability in the lineups, and the result is a lack of organization and chaotic displays.

Let me start by what Allegri has done:

1.       He has played 11 different defensive lineups in the last 11 games. Surely after a few games, a coach must have an idea about who is the best person for which position. Not only does this lack of consistency hurt the player’s confidence, it also makes it impossible for the team to gel as every week a certain defender is partnered with a different player.

2.       Milan have conceded more than half their goals as a result of set-pieces which further proves that experimenting with the defensive lineup hinders any chance of progress. Also, conceding so many goals from set-pieces is  a direct result of the coach not addressing such a pressing, yet simple issue.

3.       After the favored 4-3-1-2 lineup failed, Allegri switched to a 4-3-3 where the team showed signs of progress, however, after the international break, the 4-3-1-2 was re-introduced and resulted in a 3-0 lead for Lazio. The coach then changed to a Gung-ho strategy to make the final score 3-2, and then claimed that we were unlucky not to get a draw.

4.       The most recent experimentation was a complete disaster when Allegri fielded a 3-4-3 last night against Malaga. This was quite dysfunctional as Milan only created 2 or 3 goal scoring chances while Malaga never looked like losing.

5.       Apart from the defensive lineups, until the last match, Allegri has insisted on fielding Nocerino and Boateng in the starting lineup when both players were extremely out of form. Emmanuelson was in top shape in preseason, yet he only played a few minutes in the past few weeks.

6.       Pazzini in my eyes is an atrocious player. Little skill, can’t dribble , can’t finish, can’t press, can’t hold up play, absolutely useless. Yet he plays every game.

7.       The Shaarawy and Bojan partnership looked very effective when they played together. There was a natural chemistry between those players. We saw those 2 pair up in 2 consecutive games where the team performance improved greatly, but then Bojan was inexplicably dropped.

The list could go on and on about how poor Allegri’s team management and squad selection has been. When he won the Scudetto with Milan, the team had leaders on and off the pitch (Seedorf, Silva, Nesta, Gattuso, Ambro, Ibra, Van Bommel). If he failed to motivate, then the senators would step in and take charge of the situation. At the moment, Allegri doesn’t inspire confidence in any of the players, and Ambrosini seems resigned to defeat. There isn’t a Gattuso, a Nesta, or an Ibra to shout a battle cry to get the team back on its feet.

What would a new manager bring? Well for starters, every Milan player knows that Allegri will be replaced in the next weeks or months. If the average employee knew their boss was leaving, they certainly wouldn't be performing to the best of their abilities. On the opposite side, Allegri has probably already packed his bags, and hence, he wouldn't put everything into it either. A new manager would bring stability to the team, the players would improve their performances, and the team would get a much needed injection of positivity.

Chelsea last season were collecting defeats with AVB, then DiMatteo took over and won the Champions League with the same set of players. Yes, maybe Chelsea had better players than Milan, but it still shows how a change in leadership can improve the team. On the other hand, we have also seen teams suffer after a change in leadership, however, after only 2 months into the season, Milan have almost lost their chance of a Top 3 finish in the Serie A, and if their current performances continue, will most likely be eliminated from the Champions League. They have nothing left to lose.

Milan need to sign a great manager, someone who knows what it means to be a part of this legendary club, someone who can instill confidence and fighting spirit into the team, reignite the flame, and the will to win in every player.    

The Deepest Fears of a Milanisti

So we sold Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva, then swapped Cassano for Pazzini, not to mention the departure of the senators (Inzaghi, Nesta, Zambrotta, Gattuso, Seedorf) and Van Bommel. What we are left with is an average squad that should be able to compete in the top 5 in Serie A, yet winning a match has never felt harder for me in my entire career as a Milan fan.

A few nights ago, I was watching Real Madrid play Deportivo, and I thought "man that team kicked us out of the Champions League only a few years ago". Since then they've gone downhill , been relegated to Liga Adelante and are now fighting to keep their place in the Primera division. The same can be said about Celta Vigo who were also once a team that regularly finished in the Top 4 and took part in the Champions League. Then there is Liverpool, who despite showing real improvement this season, have really struggled to regain their status as a top club as they once were. The examples are countless of how bad management, bankruptcy, and perhaps a little bit of bad luck can leave a football club , and it's fans in shambles.

My deepest fears is to witness the free-fall of Milan into a team that is no longer competitive , not only on the European scale, but also on the domestic front. Yes, my deepest fear is Milan turning into a Deportivo.

Granted, Milan have only played 7 games this season, but the fact is, all these 7 matches were winnable! We have not played against Juventus, Roma, Inter, Napoli, Lazio, Arsenal, or Barca. We have played against Anderlecht, Sampdoria, Udinese, Bologna, Cagliari, Parma, and Atalanta!

Recent performances have been slightly better than the initial horror shows exhibited at the start of the season, however, these performances are still far from convincing. We have teams like Zenit spending 100m Euros on transfers, Chelsea continuing to reinforce their squad, and PSG spending like money grow on trees, while Milan have sold their best players and have purchased the likes of Pazzini, Constant, and Traore, among others, who in their wildest dreams would have never thought of breaking into Milan's first team only a few years ago.

This brings me to the point of UEFA's FFP rules, which has been a constant excuse used by Berlusconi and Galliani for refraining from purchasing any top quality players. But then what is the point of meeting the UEFA FFP rules when the current team stands very little chance of qualifying for the Champions League? The idea is to build a financially viable, and competitive team, yet it seems that Milan management have overlooked the competitive aspect and are expecting average players to miraculously turn into skilled magicians on the field.

The problems at the club have been heavily directed towards Allegri for not utilizing the players at his disposal properly, and while I agree there are better coaches than Allegri out there, who could probably organize the team in a better way, and churn out a few results, it would be naive to think that changing the coach will suddenly make this Milan team a title contender. The problem lies with the management, starting from the board, and the president.

A common defense is that the president has done a lot for the club, yes, we have seen a lot of titles won under Berlusconi's watch, but we cannot continue to call on past achievements to justify recent failures. It only takes common sense to see that the senators will soon get old and need to be replaced by equally talented youngsters who can uphold the name of the club and continue it's legacy. It only takes common sense to see that other clubs who we previously out-earned in revenues have overtaken us by miles. It takes common sense to see that the San Siro is no longer a world-class stadium but more of a pre-historic landmark. A stadium that floods every time it rains, a stadium that has very little facilities. All these aspects add up to gigantic amounts of revenue that Milan have missed out on over the years. Revenues that would have helped rebuild the squad properly to ensure that the team remains at a competitive level.

Another aspect is the diabolical lack of wage structure. We have fringe players like Flamini and Mexes pocketing 4M Euros a year! While in Torino, Juventus legend Gigi Buffon who earns a little over 3M euros is one of the top earners of the club.

At the moment, I don't foresee any easy fixes, the best a Milanisti can hope for is some sort of plan to build a new stadium or renovate the SanSiro, develop youngsters, implement an appropriate wage structure based on achievements on the field, and attempt to increase commercial revenues.

Until then,  we'll have to learn to enjoy mediocre football.

The Current Financial Landscape in Football

So it's that time of the year when your favorite club is either buying players for reinforcements or (in my case) selling it's stars. With Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations about to kick off in 2012, it seems the only clubs who are taking this issue seriously are those in Serie A. While that cannot be ascertained by looking only at the purchases and sales of star players, I don't see clubs like PSG, Manchester City, or Chelsea meeting the FFP rules. These rules state that clubs who make a loss of more than 45 million Euros over the 2012-2014 period are disqualified from participating in the Champions League. Based on current figures, Manchester City had in excess of 100m POUNDS in losses, when you do the maths, that equates to 127 million Euros! and that's just in one year. How on earth are they going to reduce their losses to 45m over 2 years?! 


In any case, apart from transfer fees, here's an overview of who spent what on wages last year. From the figures, it is no surprise that Barcelona and Real Madrid are what they are at the moment. Whether they can sustain that sort of expenditure is another story. It is also surprising that Milan are fifth on this list with an average salary per player of USD 6.1 million. Most people consider Milan a cheap team that looks for bargains, but it seems like what they were saving on transfer fees, they have been paying in higher wages. From this perspective, perhaps the Ibra/T.Silva sales were necessary to reorganize things. 

Rank	Team and League	Avg Wages per player (USD)	$ per week
1	Barcelona * La Liga	8,680,569	166,934
2	Real Madrid La Liga	7,796,637	149,935
3	Manchester City * EPL	7,403,754	142,380
4	Chelsea EPL	6,795,899	130,690
5	Milan * Serie A	6,104,769	117,399
6	Bayern Munich * Bundesliga	5,907,652	113,609
7	Internazionale Serie A	5,700,915	109,633
8	Manchester United EPL	5,521,423	106,181
9	Arsenal EPL	5,280,108	101,541
10	Liverpool EPL	5,230,525	100,587
11	Juventus Serie A	4,695,976	90,307
12	Schalke Bundesliga	4,187,722	80,533
13	Aston Villa EPL	4,067,464	78,220
14	Roma Serie A	3,897,660	74,955
15	Tottenham EPL	3,809,476	73,259
16	Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga	3,122,824	60,054
17	Valencia La Liga	3,065,511	58,952
18	Werder Bremen Bundesliga	2,734,924	52,595
19	Stuttgart Bundesliga	2,721,154	52,330
20	Hamburg Bundesliga	2,579,904	49,614
21	Atletico Madrid La Liga	2,575,531	49,529
22	Sevilla La Liga	2,546,216	48,966
23	Fulham EPL	2,425,160	46,638
24	Everton EPL	2,371,948	45,614
25	Sunderland EPL	2,367,467	45,528
26	Bolton EPL	2,342,962	45,057
27	West Ham EPL	2,338,844	44,978
28	Bayer Leverkusen Bundesliga	2,278,258	43,813
29	Newcastle EPL	2,239,808	43,073
30	Blackburn EPL	2,164,252	41,620
31	Nuremberg Bundesliga	2,131,880	40,998
32	Fiorentina Serie A	2,053,745	39,495
33	Wolfsburg Bundesliga	1,977,999	38,038
34	Stoke EPL	1,951,237	37,524
35	Lazio Serie A	1,925,350	37,026
36	Athletic Bilbao La Liga	1,909,662	36,724
37	Wigan EPL	1,828,126	35,156
38	Genoa Serie A	1,807,493	34,759
39	Kaiserslautern Bundesliga	1,762,005	33,885
40	Hoffenheim Bundesliga	1,760,991	33,865
41	Cologne Bundesliga	1,759,956	33,845
42	Celtic * SPL	1,757,964	33,807
43	Hannover 96 Bundesliga	1,716,322	33,006
44	Birmingham EPL	1,710,585	32,896
45	Borussia Monchengladbach Bundesliga	1,683,902	32,383
46	Napoli Serie A	1,669,305	32,102
47	Mainz Bundesliga	1,665,531	32,029
48	Zaragoza La Liga	1,658,391	31,892
49	St Pauli Bundesliga	1,656,318	31,852
50	West Bromwich Albion EPL	1,650,305	31,737
51	Villarreal La Liga	1,641,640	31,570
52	Sampdoria Serie A	1,629,504	31,337
53	Wolverhampton Wanderers EPL	1,463,969	28,153
54	Freiburg Bundesliga	1,379,842	26,535
55	Rangers SPL	1,355,612	26,069
56	Palermo Serie A	1,234,698	23,744
57	Espanyol La Liga	1,206,102	23,194
58	Mallorca La Liga	1,113,970	21,422
59	Bologna Serie A	1,061,291	20,409
60	Udinese Serie A	1,059,458	20,374
61	Catania Serie A	1,049,493	20,183
62	Real Sociedad La Liga	1,046,964	20,134
63	Getafe La Liga	1,034,400	19,892
64	Parma Serie A	972,067	18,694
65	Bari Serie A	920,411	17,700
66	Cagliari Serie A	881,469	16,951
67	Osasuna La Liga	854,323	16,429
68	Racing Santander La Liga	829,195	15,946
69	Deportiva La Coruna La Liga	799,880	15,382
70	Lecce Serie A	790,298	15,198
71	Blackpool EPL	718,893	13,825
72	Chievo Serie A	695,463	13,374
73	Malaga La Liga	695,184	13,369
74	Brescia Serie A	633,957	12,191
75	Levante La Liga	577,924	11,114
76	LA Galaxy * MLS	555,799	10,688
77	Heart of Midlothian SPL	541,437	10,412
78	New York Red Bulls MLS	529,126	10,176
79	Hercules La Liga	502,543	9,664
80	Almeria La Liga	489,979	9,423
81	Cesena Serie A	418,285	8,044
82	Sporting Gijon La Liga	380,642	7,320

*Data Obtained from the Guardian.co.uk 

A Biased Opinion: Barcelona Vs Milan

For this article, I am throwing all the unbiased bullsh*t out and writing about how I truly feel.

I have been a supporter of AC Milan for as long as I can remember, since 1996 to be exact, that is when my interest in the game started. 16 years of ups and downs, 16 years of sadness and joy that I have shared with hundreds of players that have come and gone at my beloved AC Milan. From the days of CostaCurta and Albertini , Weah and Bierhoff, Boban and Ruicosta, Kaka and Shevchenko, to the more recent Prince and Ibra. I stood by and supported them with a heavy heart when we had a bad season, and with unrelenting ecstasy when we were winning. I even refer to AC Milan as "we"! Isn't that funny, as if I had some affiliation with the club, a club that knows nothing of my existence or support. Heck I have never even been to Italy, yet still consider them a part of who I am. It defies logic, it is beyond logic that their performances and results affect my mood and stir up hidden passions and feelings of anger and rage that I wouldn't normally show. I cannot explain why or how this happened, but I love them unconditionally. As Paolo Coelho puts it: "One is loved because one is loved, no reason is needed for loving".

You can imagine my frustration when sitting with a self acclaimed Barca fan as he said "If Milan were the best team in the world, I would support them". To him it is logical, the man wants to see pretty football. To a loyal supporter like me who loves his club, it is simply outrageous to switch clubs just like that! Barcelona fans have been growing exponentially since their European domination 5 -7 years ago, come to think of it, I have never seen so many Barcelona fans in my region before. But I don't know if i'm comfortable calling these new fans, "fans" at all. Like every great team, Barca too will go through a bad cycle, and when that happens, how many of those new fans will stick around for an unpleasant ride? Right now, they are invincible, the new fans go into every game confident of winning, even crushing their opponents, they have rarely tasted defeat, they do not know what it feels like going into a match as underdogs. Their arrogance annoys me to no bounds.

 I remember feeling as confident as the new and old barca fans once upon a time when AC Milan's line up alone would send shivers down their opponents spine . I don't feel as confident now, but I still cheer on. 

There is no dispute that Barcelona play great football , although I feel like they could do with some more shooting from distance, but they are undoubtedly the best team in the world at the moment. I have no problems with my AC Milan losing to the best team in the world in the Champions League Quarter Finals. 

We had a shot at going through to the semi-finals, we really did. Our players put up a great display of grit and character to prevent Barcelona from scoring at the San Siro. We came to Camp Nou to give it our best shot, but we were prevented, not by Barcelona, but by external factors. That is what I have a problem with. 

Football is not played on paper, if it were, we could just crown Barcelona with every trophy there is. As I stated before, I have been a fan of AC Milan for 16 years and I've experienced being knocked out of a competition, even losing a Champions League final in which we had a 3-0 lead at halftime, I've been angry, but never this annoyed with my opponent (Apart from Dudek's "Spaghetti Legs" goalkeeping tactics in the 2005 CL final against Liverpool). 

I do not feel we were robbed as Barcelona played better over both legs, however, it was expected that Barcelona would play better, and in a game where the only thing that counts are goals, Barcelona were awarded 2 penalty kicks, 1 of which should have NEVER been given in a match with such high stakes where a single goal would change the course of the game. The Champions League Quarter Finals is not the time or place to be setting a refereeing example for the world, shirt tugs and pulls happen before thousands and thousands of corner kicks in every league in the world. 

Calling a penalty ...for a shirt tug.. when the ball was out of play. A simply ludicrous decision that one simply cannot, with a clear conscience agree with. This decision honestly robbed Milan of a fair fighting chance against the world's best team, and also robbed Barcelona of a possible deserved victory. 

At 1-1, the game was in AC Milan's hands, all we wanted to do was defend , but the referee robbed us of that opportunity and decided that Barcelona should win this game. 

It was disgusting seeing the Barcelona players pressure the referee into that decision, where's the glory and honor in that? It was pathetic seeing their manager justify it after the game. For the Greatest football team in the world to resort to diving, pressuring the referee, time wasting, and an unsporting winning at any cost mentality is simply needless and unfitting of their title. 

I will never know what would've happened had that 2nd penalty not been called. Could we hold on for 50 more minutes? Even losing by 5 or 6 goals would have been easier than to go out like this.

If there are any true football fans who support Barcelona, they would not have wanted to win like this either as they will now need to deal with more controversial conspiracy theories surrounding their team.  

Alas, what's done is done, an unfair match, and an unfair albeit deserved win for Barcelona (if that last line makes any sense) 

Barcelona Always Complains...

It was a tightly contested match, both teams had scoring opportunities but both teams were also uncharacteristically wasteful in front of goal. 

Although Barcelona dominated possession, they found it difficult to penetrate Milan's defense and were often playing at a pace that Milan were greatly comfortable with. 

Apart from the tactical and technical aspects of the game ,the Catalan's chose to file an official complaint to UEFA about the state of the pitch at the SanSiro. 

While the pitch is indeed not in great condition as it has been relaid twice over the last 3 months and there have been problems with sunlight not reaching particular areas of the pitch, Barcelona's complaint was uncalled for. If any team had the right to complain , it would have been Arsenal, as the pitch was in far worse condition when Milan faced the English side.  

Instead of praising Ambrosini's gladiator like performance, or the legendary Allesandro Nesta's ancticipation and reading of the game, the astute defending of Bonera and Antonini, the clever tactics deployed by Allegri, or focusing on their team's own missed chances, by filing a complaint with UEFA, Barcelona has indirectly blamed the result on the pitch. 

Complaining has been synonymous with Barcelona lately, obviously a characteristic that does not befit a team of Champions. Due to their constant complaints, their concerns have naturally lost their weight in the footballing world , and instead of sparking anger, have evolved into a series of humurous reactions on twitter, here's a few of them:

Defensive football isn't football. We deserve to win always.#barcacomplaints

The referee was Swedish, so out of admiration for Ibra; he denied Sanchez a sure penalty. #barcacomplaints

Milan's goalkeeper played good. It should be RED!! #barcacomplaints

Milan played with 11 players till end of the match. #barcacomplaints

Busquets has never been recognized by the Screen Actors Guild :(#barcacomplaints

The referee only booked Milan players 80% of the time that we asked him to #barcacomplaints

why messi slipping when executing the free kick? #barcacomplaints

Ibrahimovic didn't let Mascherano climb him like a climbing frame#barcacomplaints

They left all of our gear on the highest shelf in the changing room. #barcacomplaints

#barcacomplaints Sandro Nesta is too old to play football

The grass was too green #BarcaComplaints"

The light was reflecting too bright off Ibra's nose. #barcacomplaints

Messi can't see his friends because the grass is taller than him#barcacomplaints