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The decadance and revival of AC Milan: How Chelsea should take a slice from the Rossoneri 's cake


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AC Milan, a scintillating, enthralling and entertaining side.

Today they embody all the elements of Joga bonito, but not so long ago, infact a mere 1 year, they were a side slipping down the dreaded slope to which Liverpool similarly fell from.

This stagnated squad suffered a 2-0 defeat to the hands of Arsenal in 2007/08, exacerbating the problem further by dropping into the 5th place and ensuing entrance to the dreaded UEFA Cup. The very next year hey lost to Utd 7-2(agg) and just last year they infamously lost to the Sp*ds. An underlying reason for these persistently fatigued and lackluster performances lay in their aging base. Unbelievably 6 players remain in the squad which took force against Juventus 11 years ago. Not just this but they yielded the oldest squad in the UCL last year averaging an age of 29.2. Players at the end of the careers continued to arrive and this pitiful cycle saw no end.

The parallels between their past situation and ours are dangerously evident.

So the question emanates: how on Earth did they turn it around?

Last year they dropped out of the UCL to Tottenham with the axe dawning ever closer. Nevertheless Galliani and Silvio Berlusconi stood by their man (possibly due to the success they had in Serie A). Milan eventually won the Scudetto, but were not a finished article. Inter were on the decline, and it is only until recently that Italy actually made their jump. (In many way Milans rise simultaneously occurred with Italy's rise.)

Massimillano Allergi inherited a inatley bleak squad starving in flair and pace. He immediately made some shrude acquisitions in Ibrahimovic, Robino and Cassano. Slowly he began lessening the power of ageing fan favorites such as Inzaghi and co. introducing Thiago Silva, Robinho, El-Sharaawy, Nocerino, Pato, Boeting and Emmanuelson (Pirlo was a mistake though). This process took over a season and though Allergi faced his critics, it worked. Chelsea are experiencing a similair transition, with the player-power vs. manager battle potentially hitting a culmination point. Unfortunately for AVB we also have a Torres problem,who should like Ibra did for Milan, be winning games with his goals. Sturridge has been introduced, Luiz and Cahill have found their place, (Romeu was) and his most prized acquisition in Mata has done his bit. The ageing players still outweigh the youths, but it must be noted, AVB hasn't acquiesced to the influence of players such as Lampard. Nonetheless AVB hasn't shown Allergi's balls, and perhaps Mceachran, Kakuta and Lukaku should have been given more time. But in the precarious situation we are in now, would sacking AVB achieve anything? In short no.

Player power would remain, and egos will be given another undeserved opportunity too prove themselves. In some ways AVB was too kind, he should have been ruthless and replaced them immediately. He could have done this, but we can't forget that quality beats quantity. We went after the very top in Hazard and Lucas and didn't panic buy (exception to Meireles). I for one commend AVB here, sure they could've done a job but who's too say that these acquisitions could of done any better than our ageing players. Buying players in January is never ideal, nobody wants to sell, and most of the time players take time to settle. AVB knows the squad and should know who's going and coming.

Relieving AVB of his duties will cost the club millions and who's to say his replacement will do any better. You can't build a bridge without the material, AVB is using the shit we have and we're only getting what our quality commands. I sense a mutiny exists in the camp and the conceited seem to be unconcerned with our current state. Give AVB this season, give him a genuine opportunity to buy the players and beat the ego. He's a talented manager; yes he's made mistakes, but who hasn't? This transitional pain will be made redundant if we sack AVB and I want to give Boas the opportunity to successfully exert his attacking style upon Chelsea. We are not a short-term project, we know that. He's shown glimpses, but like Allergi, needs to be given more than a season to change Chelsea.

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Interesting read.

But what can we said about Inter?

Are Mourinho teams bad? When he left Chelsea everything has gone down and been with many manager. Likewise it has happen at Inter.....

Is that a coincidence?

Although I havent got the facts to hand my memory/instinct with player ages in the respective teams would indicate that jose gets the absolute maximum out of the players whilst they are still at their most productive then moves on once they are just going over the hill, jose seemingly doesnt build teams per say but tweaks the current team in such a way that it operates at its fullest with a dash of his style players, a very clever way of managing, he it would seem (on current form) stays until he has made his mark (won everything) then leaves to make his mark else where, usually culminating in a 3 year stint at each club.

Now while a very successful management style and a very good cv maker it isnt a long term approach to managing a football club, and if jose continues in this format then whilst he will be one of the most successful managers of all time and rightly so, some people may put a question mark over whether or not he could of stayed at a club for a decade and actually rebuild a team once his first had come to its natural end, like the way ferguson has done time and time again.

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Although I havent got the facts to hand my memory/instinct with player ages in the respective teams would indicate that jose gets the absolute maximum out of the players whilst they are still at their most productive then moves on once they are just going over the hill, jose seemingly doesnt build teams per say but tweaks the current team in such a way that it operates at its fullest with a dash of his style players, a very clever way of managing, he it would seem (on current form) stays until he has made his mark (won everything) then leaves to make his mark else where, usually culminating in a 3 year stint at each club.

Now while a very successful management style and a very good cv maker it isnt a long term approach to managing a football club, and if jose continues in this format then whilst he will be one of the most successful managers of all time and rightly so, some people may put a question mark over whether or not he could of stayed at a club for a decade and actually rebuild a team once his first had come to its natural end, like the way ferguson has done time and time again.

Great points. Which is why I see some people are skeptical about Mourinho coming back to Chelsea if he where to come back....

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Nice one.

Winning over the dressing room? Fuck that, they are professionals, not girls you need to impress. When they listened to AVB and gave their best in the beginning we did well. Once they started bitching everything started to crumble.

Milan did a great job, especially if you note how little money they spent for the quality they brought in.

I hope Andre stays, he still has my full support.

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A very good article to read, and very true in so many ways!

I get pissed off more often than not, when people start slating AVB because his tactical decisions are off-key... and... yes... they are most of the time, because his substitutions leave a lot of question marks, but a lot of the blame should be directed at the players for the simple reason, that they just don't show enough desire on the pitch... our shape tactically is all over the shop at times... but the truth of the matter is, it's not something a good manager can't fix! This man (AVB) won the Portuguese league and the Europa League with a top club, Porto, so, although he's an incredibly young manager, he has more experience in the bigger games than any other upcomer. Heck, he even learned things from Jose Mourinho when he was at Chelsea, because he was one of his special scouts, sending the players DVDs of how the opponents played their football... so with all due respect, it's not as if AVB is clueless on the opposition... or the shape of the team... or the changes during matches... or the mentality of the players... it's the players' fault for not showing enough of the mentality and willingness on the pitch!

I'm kind of backing AVB here because I know he's a gifted manager, but I feel sorry for him because it's the players' unwillingness that's effectively costing him his job, and I don't think that's right at all!

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Great read my friend.

Football is filled with great examples of club that had to make a hard decision at one point in time to achieve great success.

In my home country of Ecuador for years the majority of the clubs live under the shadow Barcelona (Yes there is another club named Barcelona). They where like Liverpool the top team of the country and then descend into obscurity because of bad management from directors and such.

Today another team rules the country, Liga De Quito.

Liga De Quito commonly refer to as LDU was the first country from Ecuador to ever win a Copa Libertadores.

And I really have no one else to put down such work but the president and his assistant.

Now in modern europe the same can be said about Barcelona FC. I remember seeing a great documentary about how Barcelona where broke with little money, and a great project from the president, I think Laporta turn the club around.

The football world is fill with great examples of great project that started from nothing and came to frutition because of great planning from presidents, directives, and all down to managers.

Today, Chelsea FC is being eaten by a cancer, and that cancer is the board. Until Chelsea manages to clear this, changing managers every season won't help.

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Excellent post

Milan was a team in transition uder Allegri from a creative side (pirlo,seedrof,kaka) into a power side (Boateng,nocerino,Ibra) - (chelsea is trying to move to the other direction).

They realize that pirlo is not in his prime anymore and they need to move on, so like them we have to accept that when a team try to change its identity there will be casualties especially for players who represent the team in the previous system(in our case,it is lampard , terry(high line) and others )

Allegri job was not easy but he inherited ibra,robihno,pato,cassano up front = they are all proven players and boateng was the biggest surprise last season. Again I don't want to argue about youngster but there is a big difference between playing robinho/pato compare to playing Mceachran, Kakuta and Lukaku. I think AVB have made that gamble by playing Sturridge. I think for 90 % fans out there think he is a very good player with huge potential. For me he is still a young striker with plenty of potential who play on the wing and struggle most of the time. He does not offer much in term of build up, his one on one skill is not great, his distribution is poor, his decision making is poor, his defense is bad but he offer a goal threat for us.

And I 100% agree with viltwinz93

If RA still want to transform chelsea into a more expansive side, he need to be patient and give AVB more time to transform the squad but if he want result straight away, he should sack AVB and get a coach that want to play the old system

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yes yes, please show a. cole, lampard, malouda and co out of the team please!

drogba and terry could probably stay because they love the club. but if terry wants to constantly play week in week out. no!

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AC Milan are playing very attractive Football this year. Allegri's quality is extrememly evident with Robinho. Robinho is playing like everyone wanted him to at Real Madrid and Manchester City. Last night Robinho assisted 2 of Ibra's 3 goals, he is becoming a CAM and not a CF. If I do have one fault with Allegri is that he has neglected Pato, who in my mind without injuries should be the third best Foward in the world only behind CR7 and LM10.

Also what is decadent about AC Milan?

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AC Milan are playing very attractive Football this year. Allegri's quality is extrememly evident with Robinho. Robinho is playing like everyone wanted him to at Real Madrid and Manchester City. Last night Robinho assisted 2 of Ibra's 3 goals, he is becoming a CAM and not a CF. If I do have one fault with Allegri is that he has neglected Pato, who in my mind without injuries should be the third best Foward in the world only behind CR7 and LM10.

Also what is decadent about AC Milan?

so you rate pato higher than aguero?

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always been behind the managers ... yes at times frustration takes its toll but I always felt that a manager easily requires couple of seasons before you can tell whether he would succeed or not... I wanted to give CA this season but our board had other ideas ... I would give AVB the next 2 years as long as I see some progress , while we are among the top 4 :)

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so you rate pato higher than aguero?

No, but he should be better. He probably will never be now, but he should have been if he wasn't injured half a season every season. They are both very different players too, I think that Aguero is the perfect player for the Secondary Striker position like Baggio (Italian), Del Piero (Italian) and Totti (Italian) while Pato is a pure Striker like Ronaldo (El Fenomeno), Fernando Torres (Pre-2010 World Cup) and Ibrahimovic (Swedish Arsehole/Genius).

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I've heard a lot of Milan supporters complaining about Pato's performances, saying that when he plays, it's like playing 10 against 11. Maybe he's not the right man for Allegri's schemes.

These are the same AC Milans supporters that were wanking over Pato saying he was going to be better than Messi. He played well last year under Allegri, so he is just having a bad season. If continues to underperform next season then sell him as there is nothing to be gained by pulling the trigger early.

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