Massimiliano Allegri

[ACMILAN1983]

It's not about motivation Xudong, when Allegri says that, I think he would prefer our players to go forward from the start and play big games like a big team ... But it seems the players like to start slowly (Thiago and Nesta passing the ball to each other 30 times a minute before sending a long ball to Ibra), and the problem is we don't manage to change the rythm of the game then ... which was one of our forces last season and even during our good run after our "magnificient" start (ironical) !!

Look at the games against all big teams: generally a slow start, we keep the ball but don't really push forward, the opponent defends well (easy to defend when everything is in slow motion), and they suddenly wake up because our concentration drops, and once the opponent starts to play and their players start to really run, we're unable to adapt. It's a bit like a table tennis/ping pong game (my sport), sometimes you play a way that works, without too much difficulty and as a consequence, your mental approach is weird (you think you're going to win easily, but at the same time, you wonder why it's so easy), and the opponent suddenly manages to find a solution and then, you don't manage to do anything because the mental approach is wrong (you keep trying the same thing because you put yourself in a bad situation).

I agree. Note that last season when we needed results we came out fighting from the first minute and often scored within the first 15-20 minutes of a match. Nowerdays, we're not seeing that same spirit and hunger, and this is what Allegri has to sort out first.

If it is not about motivation, it is about the execution of the gameplan. It is still the coach's responsibility to make sure that his plan is carried out; which is why he picks the best 11 on the pitch and when things fall apart, he makes substitution. Judged from what he said, it concerns me as it seems to me that either he does not have a good plan suitable for big teams or the players can not do it (likely so).

Another thing that concerns me is that there seem to be some coaches that constantly outfox him. I can think of Mourinho (yes, I know that Allegri at Cagliari beat Mourinho's Inter), Cosmi, Raja, Delio Rossi, Guidolin. Allegri still has all my support, and I hope that he will learn and grow and turn himself from a small-team-coach to a big-team-coach, even though this second year's trajectory seems to go in a reversed direction. I heard that the second year is the hardest for a new player; maybe it is the same for a coach?

In all honesty, I don't think there are many coaches that outfox Allegri. Mourinho's always had teams to dominate Allegri's so it's difficult to judge them (though imo Allegri hasn't done badly against Mou). Reja's a very tactical coach who often has good battles with Allegri, but they often cancel each other out imo (even this last match, Lazio were nothing until they scored). In all honesty, when faced against top coaches, Allegri has generally done himself little harm and often put out good gameplans. This is totally different to Leonardo, who has lost every tactical battle against every decent coach he's faced.

I have little respect for Allegri and I started the Sack Allegri Thread back on the old site. In fact, I have more respect for Leonardo & I will explain why.

Leonardo was given certain players (we all know he had the weakest Milan squad in past 20 years). He started to fight with Berlusconi when he knew he could not compete with that squad. Either he left or he was fired but the point is that he did not pretend, nor did he act as a Puppet to B&G.

Every coach has certain expectations. I think AC Milan's expectations at this point is to win Serie A, and to compete (Semi's, Finals or Win Champions League). This squad cannot do that. At this point we are not the favorites to win Serie A. We would need mountains of luck to win UCL, and I would say personally we have no chance of that.

Allegri is responsible for the results. Not only do I think he's in over his head in terms of managing big stars, picking formations, resting players, and tactically defeating other top coaches/teams, I also think he's a P*ssy. His comments clearly show he's not willing to challenge the system and just wants to keep his job.

At full strength our midfield is not good enough. Now keep in mind Van Bommel will probably elect to leave in June. Our backups are not good enough. Something is seriously wrong with MilanLab and our January trips to Dubai.

Allegri is responsible for his results. The results against top teams are atrocious:
Loss to Inter
Loss to Juventus
Loss to Lazio
Loss to Napoli
Draws to AS Roma, Lazio, & Udinese
Loss & Draw to Barcelona
Draw's to Plzen & BATE Borisov

The Best Team we beat this Season is Palermo.

Mourinho would tell Management this squad is not good enough & there are too many injuries. He would fix things the best he could and demand players to help him WIN. Ibrahimovic & T. Silva are great players, but they won't stay forever if they're playing in a mediocre squad with a mediocre coach.

Your assessment of Allegri is completely wrong. If he's a puppet, Ronaldinho and to a lesser extent Pirlo would probably be still with us and starting. Also, Pato and Pippo would have more prominent roles in the squad and for sure our brand of football would be different (actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Berlu's had some influence in our play this season as we seem more concerned with holding possession than last season, although this is something we needed to find balance on). Also, I'm more than certain Ibra wouldn't be given the freedom to drop as deep as he does if Berlu had a great influence.

As for our results, we beat Roma, not just Palermo.

As for Leonardo, I was a fan when he was with us because I honestly believed he'd grow if given the chance. However, he was rightly sacked when I look back, particularly when looking at his stint with Inter. He plays the game based on the quality of the individuals in his team rather than the teamplay, and tactically he's mediocre (even if he has some nice ideas on how he wants his team to play). The fact that Allegri totally destroyed him tactically when they last met was quite evident of who's the better coach.

Allegri has problems which he needs to resolve, but the biggest problem right now is we're not approaching games with the intensity (or meanness as Allegri said) as we did last season. For me, this right now is Allegri's biggest failing.

[ACM2023]

Fair enough, Dev. When I said "being outfoxed" I actually meant "not being able to get all 3 points". Deep down, I feel that Milan should be able to bulldozer through all "smaller" teams and collect 3 points hands down. I understand and do admit that it is not easy in Italy, a nation traditionally full of great defenders and great tacticians. Even Ancelotti (a great coach in my opinion) often struggled against some of his peers. And I surely agree with you on your assessment on Leonardo.

[ACMILAN1983]

Not getting results against all the big teams this season is something bizarre, as last season we dominated every major team that we faced. The only teams that I feel are truly superior to us that we've faced are Real and Barca, who are on another level.

I still don't think the lack of results is down to the coach as much as I think there's something odd in the way the team are playing (such as the lack of intensity). It's up to Allegri to resolve this though and if he doesn't then it's nothing short of a failure this season.

[mek]

In football successful managers can be divided into 2 groups: the pragmatic and the visionary, the majority belong to the former while few belong to the later.
A visionary in football is the manager who adopts a system and enhances it with his player selections and their style of play (Like Ancelotti or Sacchi who embodies the concept) without thinking about the opposition. These manager search to force their style of play on their opponents instead of countering it.
To get right to the point Mister Allegri, up until now, has proved that he is not a visionary and here are my arguments.
He doesn't adopt a system or a clear plan, he played only this season with 4-3-2-1, 4-3-1-2, 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 .
Many players and specifically our midfielders do not have specific roles except for Van Bommel, the rest are all being used as utility players (Urby, Prince, Ambro, Seedorf and Aquilani have all played in 2 or more positions).
Finally you feel that Allegri do not have a saying in the transfer market and that was clear during this winter transfer activities as he was waiting, like us, who will be added to the squad, instead of having in mind a clear idea about who he wants to add to the squad in order to help him to take his plan and not the management to the next level.

So it is not bad that Allegri is a pragmatic, this was one of the reasons why we won the scudetto in his first year at the helm as Allenatore. But this season he showed some weaknesses in certain areas that are supposed to be strengths to a pragmatic manager.
He failed so far to beat any big team or direct rival (in Serie A and UEFA CL).
His substitution choices are very poor and are always done late.

I hope that I am wrong and Allegri will start a new chapter of success in the AC Milan story.

[ACM2023]

I don't like the substitutes Allegri made today after Ibrahimovic was sent off. We didn't make any quick adjustments, it was Napoli who made changes first by putting into Inler and Pandev. All Allegri did was instead, putting in Ambrosini. Lopez came in with only 5 minutes to go (and I was hoping that he would throw in El Shaarawy).

A team like Milan should strike fear into the opponents' heart; so it was quite insulting (IMO) to see the aggressive move by Mazzari and lack of tic-for-tac response from Allegri.

---

After all, we still controlled the game quite well. We were worse after Ibrahimovic was off, but we were still better than Napoli.

Napoli saw the hope and showed desire to win, and we on the other hand, didn't. Maybe Allegri still did the right thing, but I didn't like it.

[ElMago99]

Not getting results against all the big teams this season is something bizarre, as last season we dominated every major team that we faced. The only teams that I feel are truly superior to us that we've faced are Real and Barca, who are on another level.
I still don't think the lack of results is down to the coach as much as I think there's something odd in the way the team are playing (such as the lack of intensity). It's up to Allegri to resolve this though and if he doesn't then it's nothing short of a failure this season.

You're all over the place, buddy. Is it his fault, or not? Or is the whole thing bizarre?

When is he going to resolve it? April? When we're out of every championship? We're 6 months into the season. Granted we've had injuries, however many bad results and strange decisions came when we had almost everyone healthy.

In football successful managers can be divided into 2 groups: the pragmatic and the visionary, the majority belong to the former while few belong to the later.
A visionary in football is the manager who adopts a system and enhances it with his player selections and their style of play (Like Ancelotti or Sacchi who embodies the concept) without thinking about the opposition. These manager search to force their style of play on their opponents instead of countering it.
To get right to the point Mister Allegri, up until now, has proved that he is not a visionary and here are my arguments.
He doesn't adopt a system or a clear plan, he played only this season with 4-3-2-1, 4-3-1-2, 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 .
Many players and specifically our midfielders do not have specific roles except for Van Bommel, the rest are all being used as utility players (Urby, Prince, Ambro, Seedorf and Aquilani have all played in 2 or more positions).
Finally you feel that Allegri do not have a saying in the transfer market and that was clear during this winter transfer activities as he was waiting, like us, who will be added to the squad, instead of having in mind a clear idea about who he wants to add to the squad in order to help him to take his plan and not the management to the next level.

So it is not bad that Allegri is a pragmatic, this was one of the reasons why we won the scudetto in his first year at the helm as Allenatore. But this season he showed some weaknesses in certain areas that are supposed to be strengths to a pragmatic manager.
He failed so far to beat any big team or direct rival (in Serie A and UEFA CL).
His substitution choices are very poor and are always done late.

I hope that I am wrong and Allegri will start a new chapter of success in the AC Milan story.

Nice Post

[ACMILAN1983]

You're all over the place, buddy. Is it his fault, or not? Or is the whole thing bizarre?

When is he going to resolve it? April? When we're out of every championship? We're 6 months into the season. Granted we've had injuries, however many bad results and strange decisions came when we had almost everyone healthy.

It is bizarre. Quite how a team that last season completely dominated these matches is so poor this season isn't normal.

Also, I never said it's Allegri's fault. Please read what I wrote carefully, as I said I don't think it's so much down to Allegri that these results haven't gone our way, but it's his responsibility to sort it out. This means I'll wait until the end of the season to judge him. As for him sorting things out, I think today he went a long way to actually rediscover his side from last season.

[ElMago99]

This is all very subjective here. We're not discussing the mathematical equations that make up the Universe. Being subjective, I respect your opinion. For me, creating 1 chance the entire game (Robinho's horrendous scuff 1 on 1 with Goalkeeper), is not good enough at home. Granted once Ibra went off we needed to secure the point and not risk it, thus putting on Ambrosini.

As you said, I will judge in June, and then on September 1, I will then judge AC Milan's Management. All of this is intertwined, of course.

[Jay Crisp]

We don't have the players available simple , and they the old guard are a year older.2 many injuries and squad players being used as legit starters.It isn't impossible that we don't make the CL next season .I'd like to think its unlikely but at the rate we are performing now it isn't impossible.

[fLame]

Allegri is annoying me a lot lately. Luckily, there's not much he can be blamed for after the Napoli game. His usual pitfalls are lineups / subs.

Yesterday, he just fielded whatever 11 players were fit for the match. And that looked good. The only decision from yesterday that pist me off to no end was subbing off a clearly in form Robinho.

Again, luckily for us, Napoli played like crap yesterday. They didn't have that trademark attacking spirit, and couldn't tear our defense apart even against 10 men.