AC Milan are yet to hit the right form under Inzaghi with repeated losses affecting their pre-season. THT analyzes Milan’s pre-season so far.
It will be an understatement to say that AC Milan has seen some big losses this pre-season. This being a rebuilding year for Milan, the focus is going to be more intense on Inzaghi and his troops. Days after Pippo was handed over the reins at Milan, he implemented his own regime and brought in his training schedule and food habit from the time when he used to don the famous red-and-black jersey. While it was a bold move and something which was appreciated by one and all, the players are yet to catch on that mentality and from the looks of the pre-season so far, they might take even more time getting used to it.
Inzaghi’s pre-season started off in Italy where they faced Renate and Monza, both from the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione, the lowest league in Italy with a professional status. Faced against teams who hardly challenged them, Milan came out as victors on both the occasions. What appeared to be a dress rehearsal for the International Champions Cup in the USA, eventually turned out to be something of a farce.
Milan lost three successive matches in the International Champions Cup which led to their early exit. What’s worse is that they conceded as
While it was Gabriel in the first match, it was the unfortunate Agazzi for the match against City. Abbiati finished off with his sole appearance for Milan against Liverpool. The back-line saw many combinations but at least two positions seems to be fixed from these three outings. Those belong to Abate and De Sciglio. While they are definitely fixtures at right and left back respectively, the two central defensive positions are still up for grabs. While Rami played in all three matches, he might not be a fixture at the back; but neither is Bonera, although for totally different reasons. Giving these two competition for the two starting places are Alex, who arrived for free from PSG and Zapata. Zapata might be the only defender who is yet to feature in a single match so far for Milan in this pre-season.
Although it has been a total experiment to find the two central defenders, the fact that Milan leaked goals left and right will neither please Inzaghi nor the Milan hierarchy, who are certainly under a lot of flak for appointing him after the recent debacle with Seedorf. Strangely though, Milan will be paying Seedorf 2.6 million for each season till 2016 while they will shell out a meagre 700,000 for Inzaghi! It was hardly two seasons back when Milan commanded one of the best defensive lines in their recent history and for them to go from that to the present situation can only be termed as appalling. The problem lies solely on the defensive line and it is the area which Inzaghi needs to focus on in the remaining pre-season matches. Someone once rightly said “You cannot lose if you don’t concede” and it will be this mentality that Pippo will be hoping to ingrain in his players once the season starts against Lazio.
The return of De Jong will be a welcome boost for them as they still will miss the services of their captain, Montolivo, who is out with a broken foot. However, one thing that all Milan fans will be happy about is the recent influx of young talents from the Primavera. Inzaghi has won pretty much everything there is to win in his short tenure with the youth team and his insights into those youngsters will pave their way into the first time this season. One player who has been given the most opportunity is Bryan Cristante, who played two whole matches from start to finish. Although he is still a raw product, the exposure he is receiving will hold him in good stead for years to come.
In the forward line, Niang, who was bought and then loaned last season has been a reassuring presence, and Inzaghi himself has been quite impressed by this particular player. Although they lost against Liverpool, Niang was their best player on the pitch and this led Pippo to say – “We need to give him time and confidence“. Well, with Pippo at the helm, he will receive both of them but the onus of taking those chances lies solely on Niang. Should he succeed and forge a successful partnership with El Shaarawy, the forward line will see a much-needed influx of pace, power and youth.
However, not all their forwards have been performing at their best and the most notable of those seems to be the eternal problem child, Balotelli. He has been unimpressive so far and was even heard shouting at his teammates. Recent transfer rumors links have linked him for a move to the English Premier League, although Milan will not make much money out of this transfer. What they can get out of this deal is a significant reduction in their wage bill. All in all, it has been a mixed bag so far for Inzaghi and the remaining four matches will surely see some more experimentation from him.
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