Carlo Ancellotti: 'YES' or 'NO' ?

Originally Posted by Siregar

The opened only one eye when Milan failed to qualify for CL and you expect they will open the other eye when Milan can join CL automatically (3rd position)? I am not pesimistic, I just want to be realistic.

If Milan really failed this season (no CL, no UEFA which means bottom table), MAYBE they will open their eyes!

They are not mad, and when I say the management, I don't speak about Ancelotti, as we already stated it many times, he is not the guy who chooses his players, he can just give some advices, some choices, but no guarantee he will get them.

Last year opened one eye because we failed to qualify to CL and also because we were beaten, at home, by Arsenal.

This year, they probably (I would even say "for sure") opened the second eye by seeing we are 12 points behind Inter and were slapped directly in their head when we were eliminated, at home again, in an early round of UEFA Cup ...

Don't think our management is totally blind and stupid, they just tried to spend the less possible the last 2-3 years, trying to play with our glories all the time and probably hoping that Kaka' could lead us to the victory by himself. That didn't happen, Kaka' hasn't played like in 2007 again. It was a kind of bet, if that worked, everyone would be happy, but that didn't.

PS: It's maybe stupid for some people, but it's quite logical actually ... you have a player who, when he plays well, allows your whole team to play well.

Until Carlo has a first class squad to work with, and fails, then I say, let him stay.

It took 7 years for Alex Ferguson to win a trophy with Man U...Carlo did it his first season. Regardless of the underlying similarities and differences, the bottom line remains the same:

AF: 7 years before a single trophy
CA: < 1 year, trophy won.

Since then, he has won the same amount of UCL titles it took Sir Alex a decade or more to win...again...keeping things simple:

AF: 20+ years, 2 UCL titles
CA: <7 years, 2 UCL titles

Now, that said, I have questioned Carlo´s tactics, team selection, and substitutions...countless times....I have moved from calling him "Carlo Ance-lose-a-Lot-ti" to a grudging acceptance of his tactical acumen, and man-management skills.

I always felt, and still feel to some extent, that he is slow to sub, and quick to go on the defensive, yet I hardly see a coach out there that is head and shoulders above him.

Even the so called "special one" has one 1 UCL, for all his bluster...

Scolari: His inexperience with coaching club football in Europe was very evident, and where is he now? Jobless. Not good enough IMO.
Wenger: Wont leave Arsenal, like his style, yet seems unable to attract experienced quality players, and not convinced that given superstars, he would be able to "manage" them.
Van Basten: Tactically naive, no experience managing a "big club"
Rijkaard: Could be a good choice, yet his tactics are questionable when stars are out....man management skills also questionable...

The fact is that Carlo is in demand...from Real Madrid (this week) no less...now tell me, although Real have made questionable decisions, or lets change that to: Real tend to make questionable decisions more often than not...but Perez with this choice, is for me without question a smart move, and if he does get Carlo, then I think we wont win another UCL while he coaches them...they are a direct rival in the UCL, and with a proper management structure (yes, difficult to get at Madrid, but not impossible) they wont be the 4-0 patsies they were at Anfield this week.

If Carlo was that bad a coach, then why would all the top clubs (with vacancies, or potential vacancies) be after him? Hmmmmmm

I dont care who here doesnt agree with me...and I am not here to convince anyone to change their opinion...thats a personal choice...I just want to state my opinion openly, and without reservation.

I definately think he is "our" Sir Alex...and I hope that, given the tools he needs, he will be with us for the foreseable future, winning at least one trophy every other season, if not one per season.

FORZA MILAN! FORZA CARLO!

no, no and no, thx very much, but now is time say good buy, Milan need trophies, but Carlo can not gave him

Guys some of you guys are trying to remember the good times and how he is a good coach.

Carlo is a good coach maybe even considered a great coach. I agree with this.

BUTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!! He is not the right guy for this team at the moment, he has favorites (we alll know them by now) and his tactics with our team are old and not working. Thats the bottom line..

Scolari for NT's good coach for Chelsea not so good. Jose Mou better at chelsea than inter in my opinion.

So if Carlo left and went to Madrid he might bomb or he might be an amazing coach, ill take that chance any day. Ciao Carlo thanx for the memories.

Virtually none of you has offered something as substantial as Warro who came up with solid reason why Ancelotti should stay.

The closest argument is: "we need something new". But what is it?

And more importantly, WHO can do it given the players we have?

The word "given" should be granted with much relevance, because I just don't

When you have players who are out injured for a long time, with 5 / 6 first team members out for more than 2-3 months (which means, you need another month for fitness), with so many saga such as Beckham & Kaka`-ManCity link, with a pretty terrible defensive line that requires a 40-yr-old man to play every week, tell me:

WHO will you replace Ancelotti?

The fact is: None of you has come up with a better solution so far.

***

It's easy to say, "I don't care. I just want some changes".

Fine. We kicked Dida away coz he let in slippery goal. Abbiati was/is amazing but somehow Milan is still 12 points behind. No idea why. Could be worse.

We kicked Gila out because he never scored. No improvement in defense, partially because of Borriello's injury.

We didn't have a sub. for Kaka`; we got R80 who is equally injury prone.

We didn't have a WC defender:we have Nesta who is injured and never seems to come back. Then of course we have Senderos.

We didn't have a box-to-box player: We got Borriello who is out for the rest of the season.

We didn't have a sub for Ambro/Gattuso: We got Flamini, REQUESTED BY Ancelotti, and he is now playing well.

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I want to stress the last point: Flamini is going to be a great purchase by Milan, and it's recommended by who-else-but Ancelotti. Nobody seems to give any credit, but prefer to criticize Ancelotti for not playing Flamini at the beginning of the season when he not only lost the ball when passing but also wasn't strong defensively.

Flamini is yougn: 24 - 25 yrs old, full of energy and desire and passion to win. Carlo wanted him.

Yet, for the rest, we seemed to have bought just terribly aging players who are not doing Milan any good, and with an aging squad, esp. in defense, nothing is going to be in the better.

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Just think about whether this post will exist if Thiago Silva plays.

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Pato is a great buy and gets the time he deserves once he becomes slowly adjusted to Serie A.

Again, another young, world-class brilliant player who has succeeded in getting into the first team AND playing brightly.

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If you say: Ancelotti prefers his liking, then I bet you are wrong. I don't see how Ancelott hated Rui, yet he decided to fill the much younger, and faster, Kaka`.

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Many complained about Gourcuff not giving the time to play, and now he is playing well in Lyon.

For God's sake, it's the French league.

Most ironically, while we complain about Milan being slow, we also complain ab out not playing Gourcuff who is equally slow (or at least won't bve able to speed up the game).

When I say 'speed up the game', it's not just running with the ball. It's also about making an immediate decision and pass the ball quickly.

Kaka` is the former.

Rui is the latter.

Gourcuff? He dribbled, dribbled when playing against the packed Serie A teams, and pass the ball back.

How's that different from Seedorf?

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I do agree Ancelotti could have given Gourcuff more chance, and to use Gilardino more effectively.

Ancelotti should not have trusted Ronaldo. That's one huge mistake. Yes R99 is very classy, but he becomes yet another Rivaldo.

The management team in general has squeezed the last drop of their professional career to the end.

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So, now, will sacking Ancelotti solve the problem? If so, how?

Well, Jeff, I think sometimes a football team can need a whole new approach. For instance, when Capello's second return season flopped, we turned to Zac---who completely changed the team's philosophy, style of play (which I hated), personnel, etc..and that resulted in a fresher, new Milan that won the scudetto in his first year in charge. Of course, the subsequent years were a flop, but that change did have an impact. Now when Terim took over--again there was a change in the team, the team looked different, more dynamic, but for reasons we all know, Terim did not even last half a year and was replaced by Ancelotti.

The team changed again under Carlo. We started playing 4-3-1-2 with Pirlo as our DM, Seedorf in LM, etc, etc.. I don't think our style of play or the team personnel has changed much since. I think we ought to change coaches because I feel that Carlo is not very flexible, he is unable to change the way we play or the players he fields, not matter what. Unlike Ferguson who has been through at least 3 different Man Utd eras---each team was built differently and each one of those teams played a different style of football according to the players they had----Ferguson adapts his teams, that is why he has lasted so long. So far, Carlo hasnt adapted too much, and that's why I think it might be best if he left this summer.

Pretty much agree with what RT9 has said. Carlo's a great coach, but he's not getting the best of the squad he has, and has underperformed for a good few years now. It's all good and well we're arguing about these injured players, and it's a fair point that they have affected our season, but even with the remaining players we have left we're still on paper better than the majority of teams in Serie A and really should be aiming higher than we are. Serie A post calciopoli is no where near as strong as it was a few years ago prior to calciopoli. This has shown with the pathetic displays of Italian teams in Europe in the past two years and really besides Inter there's no team in the league that should cause us any real problem.

What my argument against Ancelotti is, why are we losing points against weak sides like Genoa, Reggina, Torino and Lecce and to make it worse, why do we play these matches in such a weak fashion, more often than not trying to protect 1 goal leads to secure a result. Even worse, why does Ancelotti persist with players that aren't performing. Pirlo is a debatable matter, but Ambro and Seedorf (who even said this week he's overworked) certainly shouldn't be regular starters in the side. Playing Janku in LB, when he's a known liability and we have other options such as Antonini, Zambrotta (with Bonera RB) or even Kaladze as some suggest certainly isn't inspiring. Kaladze himself is another example, he's been our worst defender by far this season yet when he's been fit he's an automatic starter.

We say Flamini (who I won't say was only bought on Carlo's recommendation as clearly the management were impressed by him) has now started and performing well. However, if Ambro hadn't been injured all this time would we see Flamini on the pitch? I even wonder that when Ambro is fully fit to play regularly, will Flamini keep his position in the side or will Carlo do the same as he's done in the past and play someone who doesn't deserve a first team spot.

As for available coaches, I made posts about it in the Summer Mercato thread, so won't discuss it all again.

Warro said that he'll support Carletto until "he has a first class squad to work with and fails". He had once and he won us a lot. But the world keeps moving and the running text at the end of the movie said that all the characters and events in Benjamin Button are fictious. We all knew that, except Carlo and Galliani. Players do grow old. It's blatant that our main weakness is in the center of the defense. When your best player is a 40 y.o, then your team is moving to the wrong direction.

Our success relied heavily on too few excellent players, and when they're injured or being played week in week out even if they perform bad, we're still a good team, at least good enough to reach at least the 4th place in serie-A.

A year or two before we won our last UCL, SAF said that MU don't have the experience needed to win the UCL. Year by year their players get the necessary experience and year by year, SAF keeps adding up one or two significant players to his already quality side. While we stick to the plan: leaving it all to Kaka to do his magic, and Pirlo+Clarence if they bother to do so.

Several days ago I put "Basta Carletto! Basta Galliani" in my signature. It takes two to tango, and I believe they got the same illness: the feeling of contentedness. Somebody said that when Galliani keep on bragging about we're the best team in the last 20 years and we won the Club World Cup last year and we should be grateful for that, we shouldn't be taken by that, it's just a political lip service. Well, I believe quite the contrary. I think that the more Galliani say about it the more he gets to believe his own words, you know like the more you add made up things to the actual story, and doing that over and over, the more difficult for you to tell which is real and which isn't.

But in life we have to make some exceptions. It's impossible for Berlu to fire Galliani, so the next best thing to do IMO is to change the coach. When the team he's in charge of keep repeating the same mistakes against small clubs every year, have no chance to win the league as early as January and fails to qualify in the UEFA cup competition in next month, for two consecutive years, then it's time for a change. Let all the top clubs after him, why would I care for clubs like Chelsea and Madrid who change their coaches more often than Ibrahim Ba changes his hairstyle. What I care about is Milan, and by any goal that has been assigned to him these past 2 seasons, Carlo has failed!

Warro pointed some candidates with their respective strengths and weaknesses. I agree with most of his points. I personally believe that Rijkaard is the most suitable choice. "His tactics are questionable when the stars are out"??? Come on, as if Carlo doesn't!

Nobody doubts Carlo's tactics against the big guns of Europe in UCL. He has hit Alex Fergusen 4 times in the face in 2 years time. The problem is his tactics in Serie-A. I am not going to believe that ACM squad of 2005 and 2006 wasn't good enough to win the Scudetto???!!?? 1 Scudetto in 8 years is simply not acceptable. Carlo runs out of ideas when a mid table team comes to San Siro for 1 point and puts 6 men in the midfield. Defeat aginst Juve or Inter is less painful than defeats against say a Gennoas and Atalantas of this world.

Ideal replacements:
Jose Mourinho, Frank Rijkaard, L.F Scholari & Paolo Maldini (why not?!)

If Galliani wanted milan to play in UEFA forever, Carlo would stay.

Originally Posted by Jeff

Virtually none of you has offered something as substantial as Warro who came up with solid reason why Ancelotti should stay.

The closest argument is: "we need something new". But what is it?

And more importantly, WHO can do it given the players we have?

.........

WHO will you replace Ancelotti?

I have never been a Carlo basher and I think he's a terrific coach, but as I said before sometimes even the best coaches become stale if they stay in one place too long. I am beginning to think that Milan does, indeed, "need something new."

But new doesn't mean that you have to find someone who has already matched Carlo's (or Alex Ferguson's) success. There is no magic solution and certainly whatever happens will be up to the parties involved and not us. But I think it's become clear that the club needs a change of direction, whether Carlo is the manager or someone else.

Of course one problem is that the only alternatives people seem to come up with are the same names that are bandied about in the press (Rijkaard, etc.). Maybe it's time someone started thinking outside the box.

Here are a few names to throw out:

Cesare Prandelli -- the guy has done a magnificent job at Fiorentina and could be a great success at a "big" club such as Milan. And I have to respect a guy who walks away from a job like Roma to take care of his dying wife. He deserves an opportunity somewhere.

Martin O'Neill -- I think he's one of the best coaches in the world and he's done an amazing job at Aston Villa on a fairly limited budget. He was also a huge success at Celtic where, ironically, he also walked away to take care of his ailing wife.

Eric Gerets -- a former Milan player (how many of you remember that?) who won two Dutch titles with PSV Eindhoven and a championship in Turkey with Galatasaray. He is currently the coach at Marseille and has the club challenging Lyon for the title.

Originally Posted by Jeff

Fine. We kicked Dida away coz he let in slippery goal. Abbiati was/is amazing but somehow Milan is still 12 points behind. No idea why. Could be worse.

One reason may be that Abs lets in goals by the bucketful; he's at 27 in 27 matches so far, seven worse than last year's pace. He is not world class and never will be, his solid season notwithstanding.

I am not sure why nobody seems to believe that some coach out there can do better with less? Not that we have a 'less' squad, we just have some unaddressed weaknesses and to me that's different. But in any case talking in general and not only about Ancelotti the argument that 'he hasn't gotten the players he needs to win' is pointless in my opinion. In itself I wouldn't call that a reason to keep a coach, the reason I voted 'Carlo must go' is because of what he is doing with what he has and what he is doing in games...subs, tactics, etc.

Originally Posted by Blacktop

One reason may be that Abs lets in goals by the bucketful; he's at 27 in 27 matches so far, seven worse than last year's pace. He is not world class and never will be, his solid season notwithstanding.

So by that, you mean Kalac is a better GK than Abbiati ? I hope I misunderstand ...

Don't you think that has something to do with the horrible defence we have this year ?
Last year, our defence was decent/good (depending on Nesta when he was there or not). This year, without Nesta, with the form of Kaladze (he never was as horrible as this year, he was even good some years ago), with the joke Senderos who needed 6 months to play one game, with Maldini starting to make some mistakes, with Janku who can't defend (of course, it always was the case, but in the past, there was a very good Maldini and an excellent Nesta to cover), ...

You can use the best GK in the world, with our current defence, we're going to concede many goals ...

Hmmm, as for suitable replacements, I can only think of Rijkaard, considering his history with us and his time at a big club like Barca. Rick's suggestion of Prandelli sounds very interesting as well, who knows what a good coach like him can do with a top notch squad---only hope he doesnt bring Gila with him