WITH the season gone by and every equation regarding relegation and CL solved, I thought it would be interesting to look back at this year and point out some figures that excelled in the Serie A. Focus is always on the players, so most of you already know the outstanding players of this season, but I’ll focus on the men on the backstage.
Given that Milan won the Scudetto, it’s no surprise if Allegri were to be picked manager of the year in the Serie A. He reinvented the team and our playing style, but he also gave some players motivation to dig deeper and give their best on the pitch. Some might say it was boring or too safe at times, but it was wildly effective as well. Proof ? the best defense in Serie A and only 4 losses in the whole season, the second team with most goals scored right behind Leo’s “Kamikaze offensive tactics”.
Of course, this is not only due to Allegri. Mauro Tassoti, a Milan legend, deserves a lot of credit as well for the improvement of Abate, who was key this season for our defense. I can’t wait to see what he’ll do with Urby or Vila. And for the attack, we have to thank Uncle Fester for providing Allegri with the proper tools, both in the summer and the winter’s transfer markets.
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However, a good coach doesn’t only prepares his team, but also studies his opponents, specially the ones that are likely to cause some damage or leave a scar. In my opinion these were the best sides of the Serie A this season, of course right after Milan.
Lets go south, to Napoli, where coach Walter Mazzari made an incredible achievement. He didn’t only kept Napoli as a contender for the Scudetto for a huge part of the season, but also he managed to qualify for a very well deserved spot in the CL. Of course, the talent in the Napoli squad is undeniable, with young talents like Hamsik, Lavezzi and Cavani and the expirience of De Sanctis, Maggio, Cannavaro and Pazienza, it’s no surprise how they got there.
North to the East, we find ourselves in Udine. Guidolin made a young team led by experienced and in shape Di Natale to reach the CL. He did it while playing a very entertaining and offensive football, something that is hard to do nowadays. Given that the average age of Udinese’s starting eleven is around the mid 20’s, this team has a lot of room to improve, and if they were to keep their best players for next season, they’ll be a team to take in account.
Finally, two teams that managed to have a relatively good season given their squad depth and the limited amount of talent at their disposal : Lazio who had a big first half of the season and has to me a pretty solid squad, and Cesena that played entertaining football and managed to stay in Serie A despite the fact that they have no depth in their squad.
Although there are many talented coaches in the Serie A this season, I think that with Allegri we found a keeper. His discrete attitude in the press room, and his likability remind me a lot of Ancelotti, and although some might say he could have done even better this season in the CL or the Coppa Italia, remember it’s just the beginning. He can be one of the greatest rossoneri coaches in the same list as Capello, Sacchi, Zacheroni or Ancelotti and bring more glory to Milan.
A little bit of history :
“La Panchina D’Oro” is the award given to the best coach of the year in the Serie A. It’s decided by all the coaches in the Serie A. The last winner : José Mourinho. The team with most winners : AC Milan with 5.
It might be because I’m rossonero, but I think that this year’s “Panchina D’Oro” will go to Allegri with Guidolin and Mazzari as his contenders. He has already won it twice, and if he was to win again, he would be the coach with the biggest amount of Panchine.
Good luck Allegri…
The award goes to
Mr. LEONARDO => lol
I know you are joking but I can recall a lot of Rossoneri’s wanted Mr Allegri’s head on a chopping block.
Many people on this blog wanted Leonardo who suck big time instead of Mr Allegri. As long as Leonardo is coach of Inter, AC Milan will always be Serie A Champions.
Leonardo had a horrible defensive record with Milan,and same for Inter especially in big games.
Dont know why anyone would think Leonardo is better than Allegri! Bizarre!
nick. Remember when i said REMEMBER my name when cassano will come to milan and dont live up to expectations?
What happent? Still remember your words. You said, REMEMBER my name when cassano comes and rocks.
Cassano did fine, he wasnt bad. But how did he “rock”???
Cassano did very well actually with the playing time he had. He came on a free transfer. Expectations weren’t that high for him to begin with. So I say he exceeded expectations.
Like you responds to others. Did I ask for your respond?
Yes you actually did. A few posts down. You asked me to give my opinions. Dumbass.
not trolling and all but its 5m to real madrid.. while samp also paid 5m to madrid to buy cassano’s contract..
Runner up = Rafa Benitez => lol
Totally agree! I think Allegri will be Serie A Coach of The Year,say no to Leonardo!!
Allegri is the Man!!!
Leonardo won dumbass of the year as well as best dressed manager. :):)
Yeah, can’t lie, Leo dresses to impress.
allegri is d best!!!
Best hair for Leo, Pirlo came second!
The sad part is many people still want Allegri sacked… lol… I see people say it on this website. I guess don’t give a damn that we won the Scudetto. Maybe we should just give that up?
Allegri definitely deserves it. He wasn’t perfect this season, but his tactics were effective.
They weren’t effective in Europe though. He was only able to beat a garbage French team.
Look a bit deeper than that Rossonero23. It was the player’s faults as well. And we also didn’t have the correct squad to challenge the CL. Our key players were cup-tied.
I understand where you’re coming from Milanista, however, Spurs were without several of their key players….we are Milan ffs…no way we should lose to the 5th best BPL team IMHO.
but did you see how we played at their turf?? the second leg. on top of that they only had 1 real shot at our goal in two matches, which unfortunately was a goal. fuck spurs we will tear them apart the next time we meet them. in the last 3 years we have let go of a lot of prestige under Ancelloti and Leonardo and even a little bit at the hands of Allegri. But I know we will get it all back. Milan is coming back.
I just found out the big coup Galliani and raiola spoke about…. a left side midfielder, a quality midfielder, a midfielder from abroad, all these are clues that the big coup is Gareth Bale….. I would have preferred fabregas to replace pirlo but that’s fine..
I would not be happy if that was the case. Bale is totally overrated. He did nothing the second half of the season and suffered from countless injuries. Claudio Gentile is right… Gareth Bale is not worth the price and is totally overrated.
if you use the clues it could be frank ribery as well, but thats to fill seedorfs role who i expect will be leaving, that still leads to pirlos replacements, and it has been said that we will get a quality player to replace him, why not schweinsteiger as well, a double swoop from bayern
Bayern isn’t stupid. LOL. I don’t think they’ll give up either. Remember to whole Ribery to Madrid drama?
true…. enough injury prone players……….
btw allegri has won it the last two times
jose mourino didnt win it i think
I don’t know how it works, but yes Allegri has 2, but according to la Gazzetta dello sport, Mou got the las one. It’s a very reliable source so I don’t question it.
Allegri’s not on Mourinho’s level atm…not even close.
He’s still a decent manager though…his first season, we win the title which is a great start!
i agree with giancarlo.i don’t know why many milanistas want allegri to be sacked?give him some time dude..he is a football genius..even an arrogant football experts in my country praises him because of his decisions.
1.let star attraction ronaldinho on the bench for a long stretch.
2.send abate to tassoti(whom they see as the best right- back in football history during their era).
just let allegri do his job man.
to ppl who want Allegri sacked…….go die!!! if u think u can manage better apply for the job then! he’ll soon be on Mou’s lvl!!
People want Allegri sacked because they don’t play the kind of football they want. These same jokers want Leo back.
Allegri plays practical football. Some people hate it. That kind of football wins trophies.
defensive football.
for example..playing with seven defenders against spurs in the cl, at home, in front of 80k supporters. that’s disgraceful.
Was I talking to you? No, we play practical football, and we play with 4-5 attacking players just like every other team out there. You’re disgraceful.
It was his 1st match in CL, I think he did great, given the fact that our CL squad was very limited, and that pressure might have gpt the best of him.
Actually, it was his 7th CL game. He didn’t learn from the disaster at the Bernabeu..and used the same garbage tactics against the 5th best BPL team.
lmaoooooooooo
Just keep blaming it on the coach and keep blinding yourself.
I think everybody understand that I mean it was his first eliminatory match in CL, I think everybody knows it wasn’t his dog nor his wife that coached the team in the group phase.
Allegri need to prove in Europe. Eventhough this season is a success. I have only 2 regrets, losing 0-1 at home vs Spurs and eliminated by Palermo in the semifinals of Coppa Italia. But I am now believing that next year will be even more better! As new players will arrîve and we are gonna witness a competent Milan in Champions League.
Our European campaign in general was a disaster.
I blame Allegri for embarrassing Milan in front of the world.
At least we weren’t beaten by the 12th best German side. 7-2 on the aggregate, lmao. Ranocchia’s own goal was hilarious.
Allegri didn’t embarrass anyone. Get a clue man!
I agree with Giancarlo, Allegri did not embarrass anyone, after we got eliminated I felt a little bit sad and disappointed but I wasn’t ashamed. We played better than spurs, sometimes its a matter of luck, look at barca, they lost to hercules who got relegated. You can’t judge Allegri only for those two games, I bet you even forgot who won the two derbies which in my opinion deserve more credit than beating spurs, the CL will arrive when it has to arrive, you can’t judge a team’s performance only because of the CL, that’s what’s wwrong nowadays, people… Read more »
@Giancarlo i 100% agree with Allegri’s tactics…they are awseome and Milan are said to Attack with 10 players and defend with 10 too 😛
and frnds may i remind u the loss(to Tottenham) was mainly because of missing many key midfield players and defenders (no Cassano no MvB no Pirlo no Nesta no Abbiati Even in the 1st leg)…..and that stupid Gomes was in good form for a change (he’s Epl flop gk of the season lol)
@rossonero23 I bet you’d be like Roman Abramovich did to Carlo, eh? Cut Allegri some slack for crying out loud. For CL he’s still an amateur, but look what an “amateur” did to our team. He brings stability and finally after a few years I don’t have to curse and go berserk every time we gave our neighbour a title. Man I hate Intermerda to the bone.
Just give him a time, this season is the first time for him to taste the champions league atmophere… Wait n see next CL session..