It's pretty frightening just how bad AC Milan are. After watching them lose like chumps to Juventus, it just hit me even harder than an anvil smacked against my teeth that this Milan team are horrendous. That is not a term I use lightly. But it is very apt to describe the exact state of AC Milan right now.
I don't know whether Galliani, Berlusconi and Mihaijlovic have realized, but the Serie A this year is highly competitive. The teams in the top ten are very capable of beating this Milan team home and away, and even those in the bottom half will be very difficult to play against in their house. With the current crop of players that Milan have in their squad, they shouldn't even bother about dreaming of coming in the top four. In terms of quality, they are a billion light years away from finishing in the higher echelon.
Apart from Bacca, Adriano, Balotelli and Zapata...I cannot call any of the other players worthy of wearing the Milan colors. Watching them quite a bit this season, they are simply not good enough. No guile, technique, imagination or creativity. When you think of the standard that was demanded from Milan, it's shocking that these players take the pitch. They are in no way in the same conversation as Inter, Roma, Napoli or Juventus. As for the other teams, they are about on the same level. It's gotten to the stage now where any match that Milan play, there is a good enough chance of them losing it.
You have Montolivio who was once meant to be the next big thing for Italy in midfield. But after many injuries, he looks like a great grandfather who's just gotten out of bed. Very labored, slow and lethargic. For someone playing the role of controlling the midfield, he is absolutely the wrong player to have. When you compare him to what Seedorf was doing, along with Gattusso and Ambrosini who formed a powerful and creative midfield, you just have to shake your head at the depreciation in quality. As for the others in midfield, I don't even know what to say. The evidence is right there on the pitch with the inability to keep the ball, make clever passes or drift past players.
I would be more than happy to bet hard cash that Milan will come nowhere near the top four. They are just not playing football at the level those teams are to finish in those positions. What this season's Serie A has shown are that teams have gotten better and the gap in quality from years before which was vast, as decreased. This is mainly due to a lot of the world class players opting to head to Spain or England, which has meant the matches are now a lot more closely contested and teams like Inter, Juventus and Roma have to now work really hard to get the points. But they have a very good chance of ending those matches as winners because of the players that they have. I would love someone to tell me exactly what Milan can do with that joke of a midfield that they have.
As far as when next we will see Milan in the Champions League, it could be another three or four years. The entire squad needs to be revamped, with the first priority being the midfield. Bacca and Adriano are both great strikers and Balotteli still has that quality, which they have been missing. The defense can be strengthened but it's really the core of the team that's the midfield which is where Milan are lacking. Until that is improved, Milan can forget about coming anywhere near the Champions League. And even if they bribed their way into Europe through the help of Berlusconi's connections, then they will be roundly embarrassed once there.
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HH
