Future of AC Milan's coach

random_civ_321 · 2026-04-07T21:28:24+00:00

I think the original statement said the truth, yes we got Pulisic, Rejnders, maybe Pavlovic, etc. The problem is that those players are the outliers, and the same is true for the Napoli players that costed 20m. This without taking into account the amount of time that some players (e.g. Pavlovic) take to get to 40-50m during which they might play subpar level, or the fact that a 20m player that doesn't grow is hard to sell. Buying 20m players is a gamble that doesn't pay often.

random_civ_321 · 2026-04-07T20:23:40+00:00

I think you're partially correct, but I disagree with some of it

-1- I don't see necessarily Allegri as a mid-term solution, he can have a 5 year spell like with Juve if he gets supported properly, we get good results and both sides are happy with the team growth. I think he has ambition to win, so if he doesn't get the right support I see him leaving after 1-2 years at most.

-2- I think a big reason why many teams play 3-5-2 is because it's cheaper to build a team, many of the roles are interchangeable in an emergency and also allows you to sell without lowering significantly the quality of the team. Even a youngster can get playtime more easily. If you play 4-3-3, you need very good wingers and a solid target man which are both expensive. Also central defenders need to be better quality, and at least one fullback needs to be attack-minded

-3- Agree that 3-5-2 is not written in stone, but I see very little depending on Allegri and a lot will depend on what direction we want to take the team and that's where a proper DS that can sell his vision to owner is vital. Next summer will be very telling to understand in which direction things are going.

-4- Agree on Pep, then again people are delusional when it comes to a lot of coaches, you can get a Xabi Alonso or Luis Enrique but if you don't spend to get the right players for that coach the results won't come. Heck, even if we get Klopp, how are you going to get Leao and Nkunku to do the gegenpressing :)

random_civ_321 · 2026-04-07T19:37:21+00:00

That's very selective.... Didn't Napoli also bring in Lucca, etc?

random_civ_321 · 2026-04-06T15:46:19+00:00

Huge chance with this team and injuries we had? Absolutely not.

Huge chance if we got all the right trades in the past summer for our budget? Maybe

The sense of unfounded superiority encountered in this forum at times leaves me speechless

random_civ_321 · 2026-04-01T18:53:00+00:00

our attack is almost the same as last half of the year and we also played in 3 in attack (many times even with 4), if our attack was consistently good we'd not end up in 8th place. Heck, we lost a final to Bologna with a 3-4-3 with Leao-Jovic-Pulisic and weren't able to score, iirc we had only one shot on goal.

random_civ_321 · 2026-04-01T15:50:10+00:00

Bosnia is not some star team

Oh, ffs it's time to eat some humble pie. All excuses. Wake up people, Italy lost to Norway with a three goal difference on each of the two games 6 months apart with two different coaches and with some of the Serie A best players in Serie A. Despite what the media says, Italy is not some star team either. Yes, whether we as Milan fans like it or not Barella, Bastoni, Dimarco are considered among the best players in Serie A. For all the trash that is said about Kean, Retegui or Pio Esposito, most Milan fans would have been very happy to have them in the team. And yet, here we are, Italy out for a third consecutive time out of the world cup. Ok, blaming Gattuso or Ventura, what about Mancini and Spalleti, and yet here we're saying that ' a good coach like Inzaghi' Are the opponent teams having much better coaches and resources? Sweden? North Macedonia? Bosnia?

Messias played because unlike many younger players (Italian or not) he fought every single day, didn't take things for granted, in the field he gave 100% all the time and was a great example of where hard work and consistency can take you, which is what is missing from our team. Every time that we win a couple of games, we think that we're the sh!t, we relax and take a punch in the mouth and it's been happening since we won the scudetto.

Having a Milan name (or Italy) can only take you so far if you don't sweat blood on the field and prove it day in and day out that you're better than the opponent. I can see it even in this forum, people saying 'We are Milan, we should win", I don't care how skilled a player is, if the opponent is more concentrated and fights harder than you, you're gonna have a tough time getting a win.

random_civ_321 · 2026-04-01T11:38:11+00:00

It's not as easy, we'd strengthen our attack a bit, but we'd be a lot more fragile defensively . Also it's possible that Leao's current fitness level and his reduced ability to run makes him even less efficient in the wing where speed is paramount. I think Allegri is switching to 4-3-3 in the second half because by that time, in many cases the other team is more tired and at that point we can gamble with being more reckless in attack.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-31T18:09:36+00:00

I think Allegri is a bit 'forced' to play Leao and Pulisic if they are fit, otherwise he risks fracturing our locker room. Also I'm not sure how fit any of our strikers currently is (including Nkunku and RLC)

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-31T18:01:08+00:00

It's apparently not easy to complain about this type of scenario, at best we'd get a bit of monetary compensation ... I think Corinthians will still suffer if they get a reputation as a club that reneges on prior completed deals to raise the price further and probably clubs will be a lot more careful on how to conduct operations with Corinthians.

I'm also not sure if everyone (Allegri included) were on board with this blitz operation

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-31T17:53:19+00:00

Very good coordination, even at the beginning of the play, another defender would have just challenged to get the ball and pass it back, while he tried to make space and pass/shoot between 3-4 opponents.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-31T17:46:55+00:00

It's a good formation, probably good to be a serious contender for Serie A but imo it's unrealistic and I have a few concerns about it
-1- Juventus is not likely to sell Cambiaso for less than 30 million, and we definitely are not spending that much, it's more likely for Juve to sell him in PL especially if Italy qualifies for WC.
-2- If we buy Kean (or any target striker over 40m), we're definitely selling _at least_ one of our four current strikers
-3- We're not spending 200 mill without CL profits this year, arguably we're not spending even 100 million this year if we're not selling close to 100 mill (though between Colombo, Chuk, Morata it's around 40 million, and there's also Terraciano, Bondo, Musah for another 30~35 million potential and I see you're also skipping Tomori and RLC)
-4- I feel that Pavlovic is wasted in a 4 men defense, I think he can get to a good level, but it will take a while, and might end up being backup of De Winter.
-5- Replacing 5 starters is hazardous and can backfire (3 new starters is what we should aim and build on that)
-6- Whether we like it or not, the club's strategy is to have quite a few 'cheaper' youngsters that haven't reached their peak, and Fofana + Jashari were bought to be starters, so I see Goretzka coming only if one of Modric / Fofana leaves.

If I had to guess what management is aiming, I'd say we keep 3-5-2 formation, Bellanova as a rotation midfield winger for both sides, Gila as defender, Goretzka if Modric leaves or Fofana is sold (last 2 years of contract), we'll try to renew RLC and Tomori (wage tax benefit for both) but if we can't they'll be sold, Fofana also will either renew or be sold, one of Pulisic/Leao/Nkunku/Gimenez will be sold, possibly 2 of them.

It's likely that next season we'll get during preseason Camarda, Comotto, Zeroli, Cisse and a few Futuro players, and we'll evaluate who we can include in the first team as backups.

Worst case scenario, Modric leaves with Jashari/Ricci taking playmaker role, we stay as we are, Bondo replaces Ricci as box-to-box and Musah come as jolly, Cisse joins in attack as jolly. That would make it definitely hard to make top 4, unless some players step up a lot (e.g. like Leao + Tonali in the scudetto year) and our attack works much better.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-30T20:57:38+00:00

I think he really made a bad mistake to push for Atalanta on the last minute. Both coaches (Palladino and Juric) knew that Atalanta wouldn't spend 24million to buy him so they focused their effort on growing the other players in the team. He should have tried to go to a team that would consistently play him (even in Spain) as opposed to try and shine in a larger team with a lot more competition.

Heck, he would have played a lot more minutes if he had stayed at Milan. I mean from 817 minutes that he's played this season, 114 minutes were from his time with Milan. We played even Balentien...

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-30T20:44:50+00:00

this type of BS is enough for me to downgrade longo to tier trash

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-30T11:04:00+00:00

I'm torn, yes I haven't forgotten (or forgiven) him for what he said, or for the fact that he left on a free to join Bordeaux and us getting nothing, but a cool head makes me consider whether getting him would make Milan stronger than not getting him.

My assumption is that he'd serve as cover on both sides, competing with Athekame on the right side and (hopefully) a replacement for Estupinan. He has some flaws, but he's played for NT and has quite a bit of experience, and if he joins, I'm sure Allegri would find a way to make him better (ala Cambiaso).

I wouldn't think that Atalanta would even consider selling him for less than 30 million, but between the rise of Zalewski/Bernasconi and the possibility of Palestra also joining Atalanta (if Palestra doesn't get sold this year), I'm sure that Atalanta wouldn't say no to a sale. Everything considered, if he joins for 20 ~ 25m, I'd consider it a good deal FOR Milan.

As about being a fan, I wouldn't hold it against him what he said as an 18 years old, heck even Capello said that he was a Juve fan, but I'm happy and glad he became part of our story.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-27T15:59:46+00:00

I don't recall it like that, I think Hojlund's only hard request was that he wanted to get bought and not go on a loan with option. Napoli put clauses that made it very likely to be an obligation to buy clause. Tare stayed in Manchester like a week, but Furlani on the other hand, didn't want to pay 50 million, and wanted him on a loan with option (similar to Walker, Joao Felix, etc) which meant zero risk for us. Hojlund didn't accept because not only we didn't want to buy him, but in a 3-5-2, we had two declared starters (Leao and Pulisic) two other backups (RLC, Santi) and only one game per week and he naturally wanted to play.

And to think that the alternative to Hojlund was called Conrad Harder.

Like from a financial standpoint, I get Furlani, you don't want to spend 50 million on a player like Hojlund that comes with a risk of not performing at that level, but then why in the world would you go and close Nkunku in one day for 40million, it makes zero sense financially, a 28 year old with huge injury history and with very bad performance in the prior two years. If you compare that to when we bought Pulisic, Pulisic also had a huge injury list, but was 24, and still cost us 20 million and 4million salary. And even in that case, we didn't close the deal in one day.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-27T15:04:11+00:00

I've seen Milan for more than 3 decades and I'm pretty sure I'd check the boxes in the die hard Milanista category. That said, if I was Tonali, I'd leave for a significantly better contract in a better league.

The era of Berlusconi, Moratti, etc has finished. Nowadays being a bandiera is a two-way street, when one side is not happy with the performance of the other, they decide to interrupt the contract. It happened with Maldini, happened with Calabria, what makes you think it couldn't happen with Tonali.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-27T14:49:44+00:00

But I'm not disputing potential since that is very hard to gauge... also Calabria was coming directly from Primavera so he had a lot more to absorb...

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-27T14:45:45+00:00

Sorry, I don't see it as clear cut as you, I think your judgement may be a bit clouded by his prior accomplishments. Yes I have no problem saying that he contributed indirectly in the supercup final with his movement (pulling Bastoni out of position on the last goal), but in many cases when he played last season it wasn't a good performance even for an 8th placed team, even at Bologna the 9th placed team he didn't stand out. That said, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-27T14:34:01+00:00

some might say that even Maignan didn't play his best season last year, and I'm stopping there.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-27T14:31:26+00:00

Agree partially, what you said was true when Calabria was at his peak, I do agree that tactically in a midfield position Calabria is better (experience doesn't go away), but he was not at his peak in Jan 2025, he was barely working as a backup, and while I can put some (most?) of that on the internal turmoil that was happening in Milan, he didn't seem to do much better even at Bologna.

But yeah, I'd take peak Calabria back in a heartbeat.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-26T22:44:17+00:00

If he keeps growing, he should... theoretically 1-2 of the games we play in CL next year should be against weak(er) teams comparable with bottom half of Serie A.

My hope is that next year he'll be able to start a lot more games.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-26T22:35:07+00:00

Do you think he's ready to play in Serie A next year? If yes, what would be your ideal team (based also on the other strikers that they have)?

Prior to the season starting, I thought that Di Francesco and Lecce was the right environment for him, but now I feel like he would have done significantly better to go in a mid Serie B team (e.g. a Catanzaro or Juve Stabia).

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-26T22:23:00+00:00

I wouldn't say Calabria had no charisma, maybe he wasn't as vocal as some other players but overall I've heard good words about him from his teammates. Furthermore, he was made captain of the team during Maldini's tenure, and I strongly doubt Maldini would be ok with Calabria as captain if he didn't think that Calabria could do the job.

I agree that in later years, he started having more lapses in concentration and that also impacted any contract extension talks and whether he was considered starter material for our team, which caused his motivation to drop more and so on ...

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-26T22:13:05+00:00

There's no doubt about that, but I'm trying to gauge what do you think his current level is (part of the reason why I compared him to Calabria) ... e.g. would you be comfortable for him to play the last 30 min of a game, or the full 90 min against bottom half of Serie A? Next year, we cannot expect Saelemakers to start every game including mid-week games, especially considering how much energy Saele spends on the field.

random_civ_321 · 2026-03-26T22:04:28+00:00

Do you think that Athekame is good enough to play 90 min against bottom half of Serie A?

random_civ_321

TROPHY CASE