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| | Friday 9 May, 2008 | | Blog: What crisis? | | While many believe Milan’s season to have been a disappointment, James Horncastle looks on the bright side |  |  | | It was all set up to be the final humiliation in Milan’s disenchanting season. The Rossoneri went into last Sunday’s Derby della Madonnina knowing that a defeat to Inter would hand their cousins the Scudetto. The Nerazzurri fans unveiled a huge banner in the Curva Nord, reading: “Say what you like, but your nightmare is about to arrive.” It smacked of hubris, pride before a fall, and Milan were to have the last laugh.
Across the ground, Milanisti – not to be outdone – revealed a cheeky riposte, cutting close to the bone of every Interista stood in the San Siro. An enormous drape showed an angry Homer Simpson sat watching TV, a date is written above him, 21-05-08, that of the Champions League Final. The expression ‘d’oh’ didn’t come out of Homer’s mouth, but the sentence: “Anche nell’anno del centenario, sempre il solito scenario.” Even in your centenary year, it’s the same old scenario.
Given Milan are exactly 20 points behind Inter and went out of the Champions League at the same stage as their bitter rivals, do the Rossoneri have any right to be so smug? Well, as a matter of fact they do. After beating Inter 2-1 at the weekend, spoiling their party and leaping into fourth place, Carlo Ancelotti’s side demonstrated why they, if anything, need refreshment rather than revolution.
The Diavolo have enjoyed an exceptional second half of the season and would be second in the League, above Inter, if the championship had started in January and not August. Milan have racked up 33 points from their return fixture schedule with two games still to play, remarkable seeing as they only took 28 points from their first 19 matches.
The Rossoneri have thrived domestically since the end of the exhausting group stages of the Champions League and their tiring adventure at the Club World Cup in Japan. The likes of Kaka, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf and Massimo Ambrosini have shown that, when they are rested and not playing two or even three games a week, they are the best in the business.
The addition of Mathieu Flamini is welcome, not as a replacement for one of Milan’s talismanic midfielders but, as an alternative. The versatile Frenchmen will give each of the Diavolo’s central workhorses a rest, something they need and haven’t had all season.
Five of Milan’s midfield have made 151 appearances in the League between them and have, on average, started on the bench only once each. The Rossoneri’s squad players, Ibrahim Ba, Cristian Brocchi, Emerson and Yoann Gourcuff have, on the other hand, started 18 games, illustrating Carlo Ancelotti’s over-dependence on his middle quintet. Strength in depth not wholesale change is needed at Milanello to bring the Scudetto back to Via Turati again.
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| I agree with you – Milan only needed refreshing. Injuries and a lack of alternatives did take their toll. SuperPippo has restored the cutting edge that they missed for long periods this season and Kaka is integral to the resurgence. As long as he stays fit, Milan will remain efficient and entertaining. Flamini will now add a new dimension. I must admit that I am not one of his biggest fans, but he will provide good cover for that experienced central midfield composition of Ambro and Rino.
Simon
I have nothing against Milan, but am sick of hearing about their "tiring adventure at the Club World Cup in Japan", as James Horncastle puts it. I don't mean to single James out but this is a ludicrous excuse forwarded far too often this year by the club's players, officials like Adriano Galliani and journalists. The fact is it was two games. Two games against mediocre competition (Urawa Red Diamonds?) in a competition very few in the football world afford any genuine credibility. Milan's failure (regardless of finishing fourth) this term is quite simply the result of arrogance.
Every summer the need for reinforcements is clear, but only one or two signings are made, as Galliani tries to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes by saying they have the best squad in the world. The argument that the squad is too old is not always fair, Paolo Maldini's performances this season being the perfect example, but in other instances is quite right. The contrast could not have been clearer in the Champions League, when sprightly youngsters like Fabregas, Clichy and Walcott showed up men like Kakha Kaladze and Zeljko Kalac, who, regardless of their age, were never even terrific players in the first place.
Which brings me on to another point. The Club World Cup cannot be used as a means of praising Italian football and excusing the abject failure of Serie A's clubs in Europe this year. It pained me as much as anyone to see sides like Inter and Roma, who had looked so impressive on the domestic scene, defeated without even a goal by English clubs. However, at times like these, admissions must be made and facts faced. Flimsy excuses do no one any good, serving only to make people appear as fantasists, or perhaps worse – as bad losers
Scott Fleming
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