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Milan Back At Square One

Frank TiganiCorrespondent IOctober 23, 2010

MADRID, SPAIN - OCTOBER 19:  Zlatan Ibrahimovic (R) and Pato of AC Milan trudge back to the halfway line after conceding their second goal during the UEFA Champions League group G match between Real Madrid and AC Milan at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on October 19, 2010 in Madrid, Spain.  (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

Milan’s abject defeat during the week against Real Madrid only served to highlight the absolute failure of the Milan board to properly rebuild the squad in recent years.

Nothing has much changed since 2008 when Milan were comprehensively outplayed and eliminated from the Champions League by Arsenal by two goals to nil.

Last season, things only got worse as Milan suffered three humiliating losses. Two degrading losses to Inter in the Milan derby were followed by a mortifying loss at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

The arrivals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho had many pundits believing Milan were now credible title challengers this season.

Despite the obvious quality these two players bring to the squad, there are just far too many issues elsewhere in the side, notably in midfield and defence, for this Milan side to be considered challengers.

Even for a top manager, coaching this current Milan side and achieving any success would be a difficult task. With the presence of a coach with little experience, there is little chance of success any time soon.

Sure it is early days still, but, thus far Max Allegri has not shown himself to possess the masterful knack that the Rossoneri need at this moment.

With the club having suffered a string of miserable defeats in recent years coupled with the complete lack of silverware since 2007, it is simply incredible how nothing has been done to rectify the club’s sure decline.

How the club is still relying on the likes of Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Gianluca Zambrotta and the once phenomenal Ronaldinho is mystifying.

All these players are well past their prime and they should have been sold some time ago. As for Ronaldinho, he should not even have been brought to the team in the first place.

On the field, the major problem for Milan at the moment is the lack of movement and lack of work-rate of his players. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, the likes of Zambrotta, Gattuso and Seedorf are simply too old to run for a full 90 minutes. Even after an hour, these players struggle.

The second reason is that if it is not because of their age that they are not running then it is because of their attitude, or lack of it.

Ronaldinho, Robinho and Ibrahimovic are all guilty of this. Pato may be included in this too. As for Andrea Pirlo, it is a perhaps a mix between these two reasons.

Basically, on the one hand the core of the current Milan side consists of players who are simply too old and the newer additions to the side, the likes of Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic and Robinho all seem to miss the idea that football is a team game and therefore one must work for the team.

With upcoming ties against high-flying Napoli, a resurgent Juventus and then again against Real Madrid, it will be testing times for Milan and in particular for Allegri.

One thing is for sure and this is that Allegri has to change something. Maybe he could use Boateng more, drop Flamini in at right back despite the player's misgivings about this position.

Perhaps Allegri could take a chance on a youth player; the likes of Verdi, De Vito and Merkel have all shown some promise that is at least worth taking a chance on.

How Allegri plans to resolve the problems at Milan will be interesting. Whatever he does, it had better work, for his job will depend on it along with Milan’s season.