One positive for AC Milan as Balotelli rides off to Liverpool

Date: 22nd August 2014 at 1:04pm
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El Shaarawy - AC MilanIt was only a couple of years ago that Stephen El Shaarawy was heralded as the future of AC Milan and the Azzurri. Fast forward to the present day and he is the forgotten man of the Rossoneri and Italian football.

Two reasons can mainly be attributed to the fact that the audaciously spiky-haired former superstar has been cast in obscurity for nearly two years now: A horrible spate of injuries and Mario Balotelli.

Thankfully for him, those two problems look to have come to an end with the imminent departure of Balotelli to English giants Liverpool in the coming days, and the player enjoying a decent pre-season after the injury ravaged campaign of 2013/14.

Injuries, however can be part and parcel of the game, and at times are out of the player’s control. His situation with Balotelli though, can be further scrutinized. The most glaring statistic to come from the El Shaarawy-Balotelli conundrum is that Il Faraone has scored just one goal since Balotelli signed for the club in January 2013. One goal in 17 months! An astonishing statistic.

Much debate has been given to whether El Shaarawy and Balotelli could work together, but looking at the facts, then bluntly, the answer would be a concrete no. To integrate Balotelli in the team meant that El Shaarawy’s productivity took a huge hit.

Balo SESNow cast your mind a further six months before Balotelli signed, and the contrast in El Shaarawy’s form is astonishing. A total of 14 goals in nearly as many games in the first half of the 2012/13 season rightly depicted El Shaarawy as the savior of this new Rossoneri outfit.

When Balotelli was signed, El Shaarawy had to make sacrifices and was forced into a more defensive alteration by coach Massimiliano Allegri. While being played more or less in the same position as he did when he enjoyed his purple patch in the latter part of 2012.

Balotelli’s lethargic approach to covering and pressurizing defenders meant that El Shaarawy was entrusted with more responsibility to carry out defensive duties when the pair played together.

Previously given the freedom of the attack to do whatever he pleased, Allegri’s constraints on Il Faraone meant that more energy was spent towards defending, than it was to hurting the opposition. His creative rein had been put on a leash, and his output suffered as a result as Milan could not afford to have two players in the same team that put nearly zero effort in helping out defensively.

With new coach Filippo Inzaghi set to implement his 4-3-3 tactic he used so successfully for his Primavera squad for the Rossoneri this term, El Shaarawy is expected to slot in on the left wing. There, the Rossoneri fans will be hoping to see the ‘El Sha’ of old, cutting in and causing all sorts of problems to the opposition rearguard, eager to dispel his nightmare run in the past year and a half.

With Balotelli gone, El Shaarawy should have more freedom to play his natural game, and this can only be a positive for the team and the fans.

 

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