AC Milan 2014/15 Season Review – What Difference Does It Make

Date: 2nd June 2015 at 10:15am
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For AC Milan to have stagnated relative to last season was unexpected enough considering their eight-placed finish in 2013-14, but for them to have contrived to regress was simply bewildering.

ac milan curva sud

AC Milan stepped into the new season with a new coach — Filippo Inzaghi replacing Clarence Seedorf — new players and even a new training center. However, the Rossoneri concluded the 2014-15 season 10th with less wins (13) and just one loss less (12). Statistics aside, it was the spectacle on the pitch that was of an astoundingly low level.

Much fanfare was made of Adriano Galliani sealing the summer signatures of Alex and Jeremy Menez from Paris Saint-Germain, Champions League winner Diego Lopez from Real Madrid, Giacomo Bonaventrua from Atalanta, and Chelsea youngster Marco Van Ginkel. With youngster Hachim Mastour being integrated in the senior squad and a new homegrown coach at the the helm, Rossoneri fans looked upon the coming season with renewed optimism and excitement.

It all started brightly too, with opening victories over Lazio and Parma that provided eight goals. The early tests against Serie A’s big hitters proved inconclusive in the first half of the season: a loss to Juventus, draws against Fiorentina, Inter and Roma, and a win against Napoli. New signing Menez had been the top-scorer at that point, with eight goals.

However, it all went pear-shaped for AC Milan in 2015. Galliani had even brought in reinforcements during the January transfer window, drafting in no less than six new players, but none had much of an impact.

The Rossoneri went the entire month of January without a Serie A victory, which was further exacerbated by a quarter-final Coppa Italia exit against Lazio.

Menez was still scoring goals, easily out-shining his underperforming teammates but AC Milan were still far too inconsistent. Their most consistent and best player was Diego Lopez, which in itself spelled out the kind dire straits the Rossoneri were in.

Inzaghi failed to impose any sort of style on the team. The forward line lacked inventiveness and ideas, the midfield was leaden-footed and too easily overrun, and the defence far too porous and unorganised. The tactic comprised solely on sitting back and countering. However, the team’s inability to play out the ball exposed them to constant pressure. AC Milan’s greatest weakness, set-piece vulnerability, still plagued the team after three coaches in as many years.

Beyond the disappointment on the pitch, turmoil also hit AC Milan at board-room level.

With the future on Filippo Inzaghi always called into question with the team’s poor results, Galliani’s free-agent recruitment policy, fan protests and refusing to attend games, the ongoing saga of president Silvio Berlusconi indecision over the terms of the club’s sale to Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol was just another episode of the season that turned hopes of optimism into despondency.

Player of the Season

Diego Lopez AC Milan

Diego Lopez proved to be by far AC Milan’s most decisive player in the 2014-15 season. Although Jeremy Menez’s 16 goals are hard to overlook, the Spanish goalkeeper as saved the Rossoneri’s blushes on so many occasions that his saves have arguably garnered more points than the Frenchman’s goals.

In a team that has so often found itself under the cosh, Lopez constantly stood as the Rossoneri’s last rampart to either keep them in the game or save them from the blushes of an embarrassing defeat.

He did however experience two moments of embarrassment, mis-controlling Mattia De Sciglio’s back-pass against Parma and spilling Domenico Berardi’s shot into his own net against Sassuolo. But indeed, when called upon that often, Diego Lopez could forgiven for the odd lapse in concentration.

Goal of the Season

Jeremy Menez AC Milan

Jeremy Menez is the outstanding Rossoneri candidate here. It was on matchday two, in a 5-4 away win against Parma. Menez arrived at AC Milan and was given a central role, spearheading the attack. The positional change quickly bore fruits, as Menez enjoyed the best goal-scoring season of his career.

The highlight of a personally great season for the Frenchman — in contrast to one that, collectively, was certainly to forget — came on 79 minutes when Menez made it 5-3.

Menez intercepted a loose back-pass in the area, rounded the goalkeeper, and with his back-heeled the ball into the roof of the net.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/FZlMiWFYjqA[/youtube]

Best and Worst Signings

Cerci - AC Milan

The best AC Milan signings will by far have been Diego Lopez for his miracles in goal, and Jeremy Menez for his 16 Serie A goals. On the other hand it becomes harder to pinpoint who the worst player has been — mostly since there have been so many potential candidates. Alessio Cerci would have to be the standout choice. After returning to Serie A following a dismal six months at Atletico Madrid, he provided only a solitary goal in the midst of 16 under-par performances (only seven as a starter) for AC Milan.

The Coach

Filippo Inzaghi AC Milan

Filippo Inzaghi did not enjoy a great maiden season as coach. This was his first big job in Serie A, and it can be said that it turned into an overwhelming failure.

Inzaghi begun the season, seemingly with ideas of a 4-3-3 that he wanted to install. Menez would spear-head his attacking tridente (front-three) as he would impose a counter-attacking strategy, to take advantage of his forwards’ pace.

As results deteriorated however, so did Inzaghi’s faith in his system. Players came in and out of the lineup, with neither rhyme nor reason. Not just in attack, but the back-line often changed as well — albeit injuries did dictate many of those in Inzaghi’s defence. The case of Philippe Mexes was indeed the strangest: absent in the opening 10 games and an immovable starter ever since.

Inzaghi’s greatest failings didn’t limit itself to the tactics however. They also extended to the press room, where his post-match conferences seemed to translate of either denial or poorly veiled disillusion.

Indeed, for someone who had prided himself on his coach’s thesis and its emphasis on psychology, Inzaghi proved mystifyingly inept in getting a reaction out of his players.

 

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