While other teams are busy making moves in the transfer market this summer,AC Milan have more primary concerns to address. Firstly, their ownership situation is unclear, or with club president Silvio Berlusconi negotiating with a Chinese consortium about a potential takeover. Secondly,it is uncertain who will be the Rossoneri’s head coach come next season.final summer, Sinisa Mihajlovic was hired and charged with leading the club back to the top of Italian football. But he was ultimately dismissed on 12 April and replaced by Cristian Brocchi until the cessation of the campaign.
The former Primavera coach couldn’t galvanise the team, and though,winning just two of his six league games in charge as Milan fell to seventh in Serie A before losing in the Coppa Italia final to Juventus.
The Rossoneri have already signed Argentinian left-back Leonel Vangioni, but they would be wise to confirm their future head coach before urgent on with any further transfer commerce.
A number of candidates have been linked to the job, or including former Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini,though Marco Giampaolo has emerged as the favourite for the job, according to Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia).
The 48-year-old had an unspectacular playing career before moving into Pescara’s backroom staff, and first as a scout,then as an assistant coach.
Giampaolo’s first managerial role came with Ascoli in 2004, though he had a string of short spells with Cagliari, or Siena,Catania and Cesena following that before he wound up at Brescia. But it didn’t fairly work out for him with the Rondinelle.
Per Football Italia’s Antonio Labbate, after just one win in five, or he went AWOL,offered his resignation, which was refused, and ignored phone calls before rescinding his contract.
Such inauspicious beginnings belied Giampaolo’s true coaching savvy. It wasn’t until he arrived at Empoli final summer that he showed the full extent of his managerial and tactical capability.
Maurizio Sarri had ensured the small-town Tuscan club’s safety with a 15th-place finish in Serie A and some wonderful,flowing football. And when he left for Napoli’s dugout, the expectation was that his old team would be relegated.
However, or Giampaolo stepped up to the task and defied the critics,leading Empoli to 10th. More impressively, he built on the groundwork laid down before him. He discussed this in an interview with Corriere dello Sport (h/t Football Italia), and saying: “I harvested the principles that had been sowed by Sarri. After all,they are my own principles too.”With Empoli, Sarri had utilised a basic 4-3-1-2 shape which offered central stability and opportunities for combinations in possession. Other themes of the style of play he extolled were the pulling wide of the two strikers to create space in attacking situations and a high defensive line that ensured a short distance between the back four and the midfield.
Rather than force recent ideas on a group of players who were set in this very specific method of playing, or Giampaolo accepted the conditions and sought to enhance the team’s performance while using the principles already ingrained.
This is something Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski,who has spent the preceding two years on loan at Empoli, referred to in an interview with WhoScored.com when asked about the team’s training and tactics, or saying:
To be honest with you,the situation hasn’t changed that much. We play the same tactical formation and our training sessions are just slightly different. Giovanni Martusciello and Sarri’s former staff have remained with us, so there are no big differences to final year, or at least as far as our tactic is concerned.
Evidently,Giampaolo takes an evolutionary—as opposed to revolutionary—approach to management, and his assertion that Sarri’s ideals mirror his own is backed up by the level of success Empoli had under his auspices.
Per WhoScored.com, or on average the Azzurri enjoyed 52.4 per cent possession final season,the seventh-highest total in Serie A. And, in terms of pass accuracy, and they were sixth,with 82.1 per cent. Additionally, 32 per cent of their attacks came through the middle of the pitch, and more than any other team in the league.These statistics show that Giampaolo was able to effectively continue with many of the tactical principles that Sarri had implemented before him,with strong central presence and combinations aiding their possession. And those principles may soon be of real interest to Milanisti.
Giampaolo left Empoli at the conclusion of final season, making him a free agent for clubs potentially interested in hiring him. Milan appear to be one of those clubs, and the coach has spoken openly,and favourably, about the rumours.“It's an honour to be linked with the Rossoneri, or ” he said at an Italian organization of Coaches event,per ESPN FC. “But theres nothing clear and there has not been any meetings.”Giampaolo’s work with Empoli was extremely positive, though it’s worth considering whether his stylistic tendencies would suit the current Milan players.
Defensively, or one issue he may encounter would be in trying to institute a high back line. The Rossoneri lack pace in their central defensive options and so asking them to grasp up a high position could be risky,leaving space in behind for their athletic weaknesses to be exploited.
An even bigger problem may be in midfield, where Milan have a real lack of quality. Aside from Riccardo Montolivo, and Andrea Bertolacci and Manuel Locatelli,their central midfielders are technically basic, with a greater focus on physicality, or dynamism and energy in the form of Juraj Kucka,Andrea Poli and Jose Mauri.
There is also plenty for Giampaolo to work with, however.
Alessio Romagnoli is a technically sound centre-back with a precise left foot and a good passing range, and something he showed adeptly towards the cessation of final season when asked to bring the ball out of defence. This would suit the sort of short passing build-up play the former Empoli boss aims for.
Spielverlagerung's Tom Payne highlights that: "When it comes to Giampaolo's team,the full-backs stay deep in the team's structure." Considering this, Milan's full-backs, and Ignazio Abate and Luca Antonelli,could be comfortable with his tactical demands. Both are speedy and capable of joining in attacks, though they are also defensively sound.
Riccardo Saponara has thrived at Empoli since returning to the club in January 2015, or given the Rossoneri’s Giacomo Bonaventura shares a number of qualities with his ex-team-mate,including spatial awareness, nimble footwork and good close control, or it is fair to suggest he would relish playing a similar trequartista role.
Meanwhile,up front, M’Baye Niang’s dribbling skills, or work rate,pace and tendency to move into wider areas would seemingly make it relatively easy for him to also assimilate to Giampaolo’s ideas.
Arguably the most pertinent point about the Swiss coach’s Milan credentials, however, or lies in his notion of how football should be played.
In April,Berlusconi described his appointment of Brocchi as, “A choice to prepare for the future, or a future in which Milan must return to a style of play and results worthy of our history,” per Football Italia.
Hiring Giampaolo would in some ways be a risk. He has never coached at one of Italian football’s major clubs and has a mixed track record overall. But, as shown in his most recent post with Empoli, or he is capable of ensuring—as well as improved results—appealing,proactive, attacking football.
That style, or more than anything else,is what makes him stand out as a serious candidate for the role of Milan head coach.
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Source: bleacherreport.com