But still: could the “red-black” avoid a sharp collapse in the results? In order to answer this question exhaustively, it is necessary to judge the situation, as they say, from the inside, to know about all the recipes and dishes of Milanese cuisine. We, of course, are not included there, and therefore we analyze what is happening with an understandable share of conventionality.
Let's start with the ending of the past season. Among other things, she was remembered by widespread complaints of player fatigue - physical and moral. In the forefront of such regrets went head coach of “Rossoneri” Carlo Ancelotti. Almost every spring match, he blamed on the difficult calendar and the inability to properly restore the wards.
Then there was the world championship, where most of the “red-blacks” went. Speaking for different teams, they played with inspiration. An emotional upsurge leveled the accumulated problems, helped to cope with adversity. At the same time, five (!) Core performers of the Ancelotti ensemble (Pirlo, Gattuso, Nesta, Gilardino and Filippo Inzaghi) achieved an unprecedented career success - they became world champions. They conquered football Everest. And, according to all the laws of logic, a recession was inevitable. Let's look at other trumpeters of the planetary forum: Cannavaro, Grosso, Zambrotta, Buffon in the second half of the year also passed noticeably. The trouble with today's “Milan” is that almost all of its leaders ... winners of the 2006 World Cup.
The judgment is somewhat wild and paradoxical. However, physiology and psychology cannot be fooled. “Rossoneri”, however, tried to: on the still not exhausted fuse and courage, they perfectly passed the starting segment. Now, preferring to blame the reproaches in one heap, few people recall that in the first nine games of the 2006/07 season, the team missed only one goal. This was later, in October, a global failure in all directions came.
They will object to us: what about Inter? His footballers did not cool in the summer either, but now they look very convincing. Firstly, in the ranks of the “black and blue” there are not many who have reached the summit. Secondly, with all due respect to Grosso, the face of the “nerazzurri” is determined by other performers. In addition, a complete rest became a necessary springboard of victories. Unlike “Milan”, which played the first official match in early August (in the third qualifying round of the Champions League), “Inter” continued to accumulate energy until the end of that month.
In the case of the Ancelotti squad, the situation is complicated by the respectable, by soccer standards, personnel age - 29.9 years. Needless to say, for players who are over or about 30, recovery takes longer than, say, 25-year-olds. Maldini and companies are now just right to play in the weekly cycle. But the insidious calendar is relentless: matches take place in three to four days. The consequence - an abundance of injuries and an extensive infirmary. His regular patients are just age-old football players. And this is despite the fantastic pharmacological capabilities of the grandeur!
A typical example was cited by the Belarusian Vitaly Kutuzov, who recently advocated for Sampdoria. For several months, the attacker could not heal the groin injury and entered the field, overcoming pain and discomfort. Having suffered, he visited the doctors of Milan, which also belonged to the contract. Those solved the problem in a couple of days. After that, Kutuzov only stated: "They have another planet there!" But on it, however, by no means everything is in pink. For example, the other day in the use of prohibited drugs convicted Marco Borriello. His doping test, taken after the fight with Roma on November 11, gave a positive result. In other words, even the innumerable resources of Rossoneri so far do not help to rectify the situation and even begin to fail.
... Since the mid-80s, Milan has been associated mainly with the politician and media tycoon Berlusconi and has become a kind of football brand. Indeed, for a relatively small segment, just three (!) Compositions grew into standards, examples to follow from other clubs. It's about the teams of Sacca (late 80s), Capello (first half of the 90s) and Ancelotti (season 2003/2004). Milanese accustomed not only their own, but also foreign fans to the best examples of the game. But because now the demand from the “red-black” is special.
Against the backdrop of recent failures, the opinion is growing that Ancelotti has exhausted himself as the steering “Milan”, that stagnation has generally taken shape with him. They offer to change almost a half of the team. Judgments are controversial. If only because the same Nesta, Kaladze, Yankulovsky, Pirlo, Bonera, Gattuso, Seedorf, Brocky, Gurkuff, Kaka, Gilardino and Ricardo Oliveira did not realize themselves.
The only thing that can not be doubted: the team needs to compensate for the loss of Shevchenko. It doesn’t matter how - by mechanical replacement or skillful regrouping of forces in an attack. By the way, if Andrei had stayed in the club, it’s not a fact that Milan would have looked better. Do not forget, Sheva was also deprived of a full summer vacation, plus he was already 30.
Returning to the attacks on Ancelotti, we add that the problem of competent and painless generational change has always been considered one of the most global and intractable problems in sports. In club football there were no cases of smooth transitions. Even great teams took a step back, then to step forward twice. The famous Juventus of the 70s and 80s, after leaving the orbit of Zoff, Tardelli, Shirea, Platini, Gentile, Cabrini and other champions for 9 years, could not win the Scudetto. “Manchester United” under the leadership of Alex Ferguson from 1993 to 2001 became the champion of England 7 times, and in the next five seasons - only once. Kiev “Dynamo” Valery Lobanovsky took a couple of seasons (1983-84) in order to redraw the ranks and continue the victorious traditions of the 70s and early 80s. Once again, the current Rossoneri still has something to say. However, a gradual update is inevitable in any case.
So could “Milan” miss the pit? The question is, perhaps, a rhetorical one. Given all the circumstances, we answer negatively: no, I could not. Could only minimize the loss. Perhaps it even succeeded. A three-week pause after the pre-Christmas tour and a breath of fresh air from the January transfer window will surely help the Milanese to rectify the situation.
Denis ORLOV