MASSIMILIANO ALLEGRI was convinced he’d stay and looks forward to the new season and the new formation.
There were many doubts about Allegri a few weeks ago but Milan decided to confirm the manager and Massimiliano is set to lead Milan for the fourth year in a row and he will look to do better than he did in the 2012/2013 term next season.
“This year we are preparing for the play-off in the Champions League on August 20th and we will change a few things compared to past years,” Allegri told the journalists in the press room on Monday afternoon before the first training.
Galliani: “Milan must do well, top three finish an objective”
Video: Milan’s first 2013/14 season training at Milanello
“The team knows how to play with three strikers as well as a playmaker so it does not change that much. We will have four at the back and three in midfield and then we will see on a game by game basis. We’ll change it but we’re looking to play with a playmaker. We want to improve our position from last year. As usual we’ll be going all out; in 2013 we only lost twice.
“It was not by chance that we gained a lot positive results in a row and this helped the team develop so we have to start from this point once more. I am here because I have a contract with Milan that was my priority. After Siena, which I enjoyed a lot, I went home and every day I read the news about me but I was very calm and serene and I was convinced that I’ll stay at Milan. It was my priority. After three years of working with results at Milan it was normal that some teams could be of interest.
“I lived a quiet summer, staying out of it completely. It is normal that teams would be linked with me but it left me indifferent. I heard from the President weekly, we were in good tune together and after that we met at Arcore, we are in tune on everything. we did the evaluations and we are ready to start the season. Juventus? They will start the season as favourites.
“But we all start from zero on August 24th. We must get closer to Juventus but football is not mathematics. We must have the desire, strength, and mental and physical desire to reach an important goal but they remain the favourites. They’ve got two great players like Tevez and Llorente. We currently have Mario Balotelli, Stephan El Shaarawy, Giampaolo Pazzini, M’Baye Niang who has to grow, Riccardo Saponara, Prince Boateng have quality to do better than last year and Robinho in attack. We must have great willingness to sacrifice as all did on January 6th when we started to play again in 2013.
“El Shaarawy? Stephan scored 16 goals in a time of trouble for us last year. He dropped off because that is normal for a 20-year-old. It was not easy but he gives his all and we will meet up with him again on July 24th because he was on international duty. The same thing happened to De Sciglio and is not easy to play for Milan but they will be ready for the new season. Stephan has scored a lot goals as the support striker and he always has a lot of chances in the course of a match.
“Keisuke Honda? Honda is great player who has good technical qualities. I believe his role is that of an attacking midfielder and then of course the good players are always welcome. The meeting at Milanello with President Silvio Berlusconi? He wanted to know the two new players, Poli and Saponara and gave them some advice. I have a good relationship with the president and (Vice President and CEO) Adriano Galliani. Maybe too much. It is normal to have an exchange of views.
“Massimo Ambrosini? “I thank him for what he did over these three years. I wish him all the luck in the world and last year he was important. The club has chosen to go with a younger team and players of a certain age have left. I give him the best of luck for this new season and he was a great player and a great man.” Ambro left after 17 years and joined Fiorentina.
“The defence? To win the championship you have to have the best defence. We need to improve the defensive set-pieces. To have great defensive solidity the whole team needs to move together,” added the 45-year-old former Cagliari boss.
3rd place wouldn’t be easy this time,looking at how other clubs have strengthened their team.
Top six finish is possible but top three finish will be very very difficult this time around
1.Juventus
2.Napoli
3.Fiorentina
4.AC Milan
5.Inter Milan
6.AS Roma
I should take this:
1. Milan
2. Juventus
3. Roma
4. Inter
5. Fiorentina
6. Napoli
Forza!
I would expect this:
1: Juventus
2: Milan
3: Napoli
4: Fiorentina
5: Udinese
6: Inter
Still dont want to drop this defensive mindset..the whole team needs to work together defensively right? why didnt you say that about the whole team working together offensively..? Oh I forgot the back will be empty no personnel to defend..thats the same reason why our attackers dont score much cos they are doing defensive duties most of the time..
Dear Max..U ve gotten 2 creative players and u will get more pls dont do a “Bojan” on them..
Thanks
Thanks Simo..Lloriente and Tevez what hv they contributd in football for 3 consecutive yrs? And they come with no experience on the Italian game..
I strongly believe we can build on the success of the 2nd half of the season..we still got Tassoti right..he has a lot of Milan in him and he has to be more influential in the dressing room..
we cant fight juve with muntari or urby as playmaker. honda has to come now… don’t wait galliani
1. Milan
2. Ladri
3. Napoli
4. Lazio
5. Fiorentina
6. Roma
14. Inter
1.Milan or Juve
2.Milan or Juve
3.Fiorentina
4.Napoli
5.Udinese
To be honest I love AC Milan but I just don’t see Milan finishing above Juve, Napoli and Fiorentina… They are signing top quality players. Lets not forget Roma and Inter will have a say as well. We barely finished in the top 3 last season thanks to a dubious penalty scored by Balotelli and a lucky last minute goal! It will be difficult next season. Much more difficult! Top 4 seems more reachable unless Napoli, Roma, Fiorentina and Inter have a bad start! As Allegri record shows, he never starts a season well even when he was coaching Cagliari!… Read more »
I only c juventus as a threat , napoli , inter , Roma, and florentina as teams who got average players or below average players from d transfer market…. Mind u , we came third cos we ad a bad start to d season ….
stop crying, if you fear napoli and fiorentina then go and cheer for provincial clubs… im sure we are going to finish 2nd at least… i only hope we can reach the quarter-finals at least this time… we will also strengthen!
big name signings dnt compare with hungry youth trying to prove themselves
Prince bunga is right.ask bayern how they sweated it out with the youths of dortmund for two consecutive years dortmund won the league.hungry young players are the best footballers nowadays.just ask madrid wat happened in the semi-final.
Juve might finish above us.but i don’t see the rest doin such.but galliani pls sign honda now
And we have the best striker in serie a.maybe u hav forgotten we hav mario balotelli.nd a refreshed el shaarawy.
I dont know why someone that calls himself a milan fan will say that milan will finish fourth. opinion differs but do fiorentina, roma and inter have an attack like ours? apart from juve, which team has a midfield like milan? lets be reasonable
@egule1 : am in support
fiorentina can finish higher than milan just look at their attack G.Rossi and Mario Gomez and jovetic now thats worldclass + they have pizzaro and Borja Valero and cuadrado they are as strong as Milan
they couldnt finish above us with 10 points more after 12 games… how the hell should they do better than us? we are milan! we have the better players, the better squad, their best player in monto, and maybe another one… dont fear any team in seria a… noone can **** with us, Forza Milan!
They’re midfield is way better, the attack is about level on paper but they have more depth ATM.
Milan MUST finish in top 2!!
anything else is a shame…
if allegri still play boateng in the trequartista role milan can only fight in calcio level.
Boateng is a trequartista.
this is ridiculous.
allegri is almost sacked because his own stubbornness.
if allegri still play boateng in the trequartista role milan can only fight in calcio level.
and allegri risk to be sacked again.
This isn’t an Allegri issue I have it’s Italians in general…why do they think a 4-3-3 is three strikers?? They really don’t have a grasp of playing more than one attacking midfielder per team when every other top club play three in a 4-2-3-1 or at least two in a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2. We know Rafa will be playing a 4-2-3-1 with Napoli and I believe they will be much better for it and I think Rudi Garcia will do something similar at Roma. I also laugh when Conte refers to Asamoah and Lichsteiner as “wingers” since they’d be a… Read more »
napoli will be lost without cavani and at the back and in goal they have weaknesses( campagnaro left), they also have to adapt to a diffeent style with benitez…
fiorentina and juve will be the biggest threat and expect fiorentina to push and challenge for the title with mario gomez who scores a minimum of 20 goals a season…and juve have 2 great strikers this season which they lacked before…
1- juve
2-milan
3-fiorentina
4-napoli
We need Honda from beginning of the season .he come on January it will be to late to play in championship .
Please sing him up now.