Arsenal, beware! General Gattuso has AC Milan firing again

News Views and Player Updates from the Europa League
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 551
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:15 pm

Arsenal, beware! General Gattuso has AC Milan firing again

Postby admin » Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:26 am

After a slow start, the former midfielder has transformed the club's fortunes ahead of Sunday's Milan derby and next week's meeting with the Gunners.

Image

When Fabio Borini netted for AC Milan during the first half of the second leg of their Europa League tie with Ludogorets at San Siro, Patrick Cutrone turned to the crowd to celebrate his assist rather than running to congratulate his team-mate for converting his cross.

Rossoneri boss Gennaro Gattuso was furious and his rage hadn't subsided by the time the full-time whistle blew. He immediately informed the new darling of the Curva Sud that such egotistical behaviour was anathema to everything he believes in, both as a former player and now as a coach.

At Gattuso's Milan, the team always comes first. When it was reported that he might be sacked in December, just a month after succeeding Vincenzo Montella at the helm, the Calabrian insisted that he didn't care about his own position.

"The important thing is not whether or not Gattuso is on the bench," he explained. "What matters is Milan.

"I have been given this great chance. It is an immense honour and a dream that I hope will last as long as possible."

Gattuso is certainly going the right way about extending his stay at San Siro beyond the end of the current campaign.

When he took over, Milan were a laughing stock – again. After a summer spending spree by the club's new Chinese owners, there had been giddy talk of a title challenge. At the very least, it was expected that the Rossoneri would secure a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2014.

By the time Montella was sacked, though, Milan were seventh in the Serie A standings, having lost six of their opening 14 matches. They were not only 18 points behind leaders Napoli but also 16 adrift of city rivals Inter and, most importantly of all, 12 points off the fourth and final Champions League berth.

Almost exactly three months on, Milan remain seventh but their situation has been completely transformed.

After a dismal start to Gattuso's tenure, which yielded a run of five points from four games, Milan are now on their best unbeaten run in nine years (13 matches), have won six of their last seven Serie A games, set up a Coppa Italia final clash with Juventus, and reached the last 16 of the Europa League, where they will face Arsenal, with the first leg to come at San Siro on Thursday.

Even more significantly, they are now just seven points behind Inter, whom they tackle in the Derby della Madonnina on Sunday evening.

Dino Zoff pretty much spoke for everyone in Serie A last week when he confessed, "Gattuso is very much astounding me." Not even Milan CEO Marco Fassone anticipated the former midfielder capable of making such an instant impact.

"We can only take our hats off to his work," he confessed. "I also have to congratulate [sporting director Massimiliano] Mirabelli, who pushed me to make this choice."

Mirabelli, for his part, has already insisted that Milan are no longer looking for another, more experienced coach to take over the summer, boldly proclaiming that Gattuso could stay at San Siro for another 10 years.

Such talk is obviously premature but given the previously patchy nature of his coaching CV – he was sacked by both Sion and Palermo, walked away from OFI Crete, and his most notable success was earning promotion to Serie B with Pisa – the Rossoneri's former Primavera coach has undeniably done an excellent job to date.

Return to “UEFA Europa League”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests