“In Italy, nobody ever asked for entertaining football, and therefore we see little of it. We have what people ask for. Results. When it comes to nice performances we are lagging behind and we need to understand that it’s important we work on the short term, but also on the long term if we want to catch up.”
- Arrigo Sacchi, 2012

Since his comeback to Milanello, Clarence Seedorf has worked on the short term, but especially for the future: given the competition and the points needed, the third place in Serie A is unthinkable. The season in Coppa Italia ended against Udinese and in Champions League Atletico Madrid has a non-negligible advantage on the second leg of the round of sixteen.


Therefore at this point in time, Milan’s goals are to qualify for next year’s Europa League and to build a firm foundation for the future.

From January till now, the former number 10 Rossonero has worked extensively on his team’s mood and on helping the players gain their self-esteem back.  This has resulted on Milan being more inclined on attacking, with a higher pressure on the opposition and a more fluent and unpredictable game.

This latest aspect has improved by leaps and bounds since Clarence’s first home match versus Verona. An improvement that also has to be attributed to Honda’s exclusions from the starting eleven in favour of a regenerated Andrea Poli on the trequarti which brought good runs, timing and great stamina to the team, together with a spirit of sacrifice necessary for a better line-up equilibrium and capable of nullifying the opponent’s playmaker, like, for example, against Juventus.

Seedorf’s Milan has also started avoiding the awful habit it had at the start of the season: long passes from defenders directly to strikers. Kakà’s movements towards the midfield to play the ball as well as De Sciglio and Emanuelson’s more advanced positioning have resulted in key strategic moves for a better ball possession, as very well demonstrated in the last two matches the team has played in San Siro.

The games against Atletico Madrid and Juventus have in fact by far resulted in Milan’s best seasonal performances, where the team started an offensive game from the first minute and demonstrated great competitiveness and desire to win.

Unfortunately though, not finding a goal in either of the first halves mentally and physically tired the team and this eventually and inescapably (given the calibre of the opponents) resulted in two defeats. The Rossoneri might be starting the game at the Vicente Calderon like they did in San Siro, hoping to score in the early minutes in order to equalize Diego Costa’s goal in Milan and later on try to qualify with more patience during the remaining time.

They most likely though, will start off a little slower against Diego Simeone’s squad. Atletico have in fact demonstrated a great defence in their home stadium and are incredibly lethal when it comes to counter attacking. Their 4-4-2 (or rather 4-4-1-1with Koke just behind Diego Costa) has actually created great problems to nearly all oppositions this season thanks to the two compact and close lines they dispose in front of Courtois’s net, making it very difficult to generate some goal-potential occasions in such a condensed area of the field.

 

From what we’ve seen up to now, Milan is expressing a game exactly like the one its new coach used to: balanced and intelligent, able to fluently mix defence and offence, thrilling at times and a pleasure to watch when its an important match, but slow and tiring when it’s not.

Since Seedorf’s leadership, Milan gained important victories playing some bad football and therefore boring matches against Hellas Verona, Cagliari or Bologna, whilst exalting its fans in losses versus Atletico Madrid and Juventus.

I wouldn’t be too surprised in hearing the Rossoneri praying for a bad performance on Tuesday… Sorry Sacchi, long term can wait.