As a fan of AC Milan for couple of years, the season of 2008-2009 is the most special one for me. It is incontestable that the feeling comes from the degraded situation for this, probably the most prestigious club in the Europe, which could only take part in the UEFA Cup this season. It is equally incontestable that the crazy summer transfer market leads me to ride a roller coaster; however, the scream is filled with sadness more than happiness.
I’ve never forgotten the day of May 4th, 2008, when I went to San Siro, and witnessed the only victory over our rival forever, Inter Milan, in the past several derby matches. What was more important is that the victory led Milan to find back the fourth place in the standings. I had celebration dinner at famous “Happy Hour” in Milan with some Chinese fans whom I met during the match accidently. I’ve never, ever thought that I could meet so many fans from my country abroad. It is our team to make us become friends, and I am really appreciated for it. However, all our efforts wasted after the following match which we lost to Napoli. That season was tough and disappointing, although my favourite super Pippo Inzaghi scored his 100 goals for the Rossoneri, and become the leader on UEFA‘s all-time scoring list. I moved to tears and comforted myself and friends, it would be the same story as that seven years ago. At that time, we had to compete for the UEFA Cup as well, but then we had Pippo Inzaghi, Rui costa, Andriy Pirlo to make us the King of the Europe during 2002-2003 season, just one year after. I expected the new Rossoneri would found this year after the unsuccessful season, but it seems to be only a dream.
Carol Ancelotti is still in his position, actually I don’t think he is an awful coach, at least he won two UEFA Champions League trophies and the prestigious Scudetto for Rossoneri. But he is too conservative to perform an operation, especially in terms of lineup, tactic, and strategy. Ronaldinho has come, maybe he is still one of the best players in the world, but it seems that Milan’s tactical system does not fit him well. Anyway, such player is not bad. At least he is not so old for this aged club, and he did quite well in the Olympics. Gianluca Zambrotta is neither the one in Bari, who spared no effort to sprint to-and-fro, nor the one in Juventus, who could play either as a full-back defender, or as a winger. However, it depends. Although he could not compete with Ashley Cole or Sergio Ramos now, he is better than the leavers, Serginho, for instance, and the suck one Favalli, who, I have no idea why he still would stay. As for Abbiati, I have to admit that Milan wasted another chance to bring in a young and good goalkeeper for the following years, and I only could wish Abbiati could prove himself. Mathieu Flamini, maybe the best transfer in this summer, “Fla-Tuso” could probably replace Rino Gattuso whose competitive level has dropped down dramatically during the past seasons; in that sense, “Free Pirlo” will be not only a slogan . Marco Borriello, an intractable choice. The quality time may be improved for this striker after his previous successful season, but Milan is not Genoa. First thing under the consideration is that whether Ancelotti’s tactic fits him, and the second is that he is injured without any outstanding performance for the Rossoneri, especially after Andriy Shevchenko return, Marco’s situation between the beetle and the block.
Andriy Shevchenko, a strange but familiar name, suddenly became the headline of the newspaper and official website. To be honest, I am sick of what he and the club said about “love”, “Milan is family”. He is selfish, in my opinion, because, when Milan was in trouble, he left with a ridiculous reason in regardless of fans’ tears, and when he is in trouble, he is eager to come back urgently without consideration of Milan’s future. He did make numerous contributions to Rossoneri, but he won countless personal achievements from that, didn’t he? Therefore, don’t argue anything about moral stuff. It is football, and it is business. He was Milan’s hero, but now he is only a loser from Chelsea, whose wage could feed several potential youths. The personal relationship has helped him a lot. Alberto Paloschi has been the first victim, and who is next? Alexander Pato? Marco Borriello? It is well known that Paloschi’s effort for the higher team has been struggling, but he could catch several chances to be outstanding just like his idol Pippo Inzaghi. However, it is not enough to remain his name. Not to mention that Kaka’s stupid young brother, Ancelotti’s unknown son, for instance, could be promoted easily, Sheva’s return could further confirm that the club places emphasis on the wills of Berlusconi and Galliani. Sheva’s transfer has been at the expense of Paloschi, Oddo, Brocchi, to name but few. The latter two seems not to hold water, Milan, probably, is in the financial crisis, otherwise how could it sell so many players in short 48 hours without caution considerations? Anyway, although I hate the return of Sheva, I still hope he could prove himself if he has chances. After all, it’s my club, not only his. And the fact is that he will have the chance for sure, because he has such strong back-ups, sometimes I just feel pity for Carol, who could not decide the squad by himself.
The Rossoneri suffered several galling failure during the pre season friendly matches, and added some injured members. Furthermore, the brush transforms make the problem worse. Anyhow, forza Milan!
Dan Wu
