After a season in which the Milan clubs finished outside of the European places, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Roberto Mancini will be hoping to restore pride in the city

Milan

After two consecutive years of mid-table finishes, it feels as if Milan are back. The 2014-15 season saw yet more turmoil as one of Italian football’s giants fell further from their past glories, finishing 10th in Serie A, their worst league position since 1998.



Fans may point to the fact that the last time Milan finished so low down the league table, they won the Scudetto the very next year. Although they are perhaps not quite ready for such a feat, the Rossoneri are undoubtedly a rejuvenated team, having cast aside many of the erratic ways of their underachieving recent past.

With Thai businessman Bee Taechubol acquiring a 48% stake in the club, Milan went all-out on the offensive in the transfer market, investing high quantities of cash in proven quality players. Furthermore, they have cut adrift much of the deadwood that weighed them down for so long. Gone are Daniele Bonera, Sulley Muntari, Michael Essien and Giampaolo Pazzini. In their place have arrived talented young centre-back Alessio Romagnoli, midfield creator Andrea Bertolacci and prolific strikers Carlos Bacca and Luiz Adriano.

Milan: Serie A alternative club guide Read more

Although the exit of Stephan El Shaarawy continued the disappointing recurrent theme of Milan selling off their finest young talent, that tide also seems to be turning. Newly appointed coach Sinisa Mihajlovic has dedicated plenty of time and space to youth, giving opportunities to 16-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, 21-year-old centre-back Rodrigo Ely and 18-year-old full-back Davide Calabria, as well as more established youngsters Mattia De Sciglio, M’Baye Niang and Jose Mauri, a new signing from Parma.

Milan have also broken with the tradition of hiring former club legends to coach the team by appointing Mihajlovic, a former Internazionale player. It was a sad to watch Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi, each with little or no managerial experience, failing in the hotseat. Now, however, Milan have a coach with a very reasonable track record to speak of, even if he wasn’t exactly on close terms with Milanisti in his playing days.

The more inclusive approach towards youth, along with a promising coach and investment in quality players, suggests the club’s future is bright. There now appears to be a longer-term vision at Milan, something which has not been evident for some time.

The coach: Sinisa Mihajlovic

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sinisa Mihajlovic directs proceeding as Milan play Perugia in the cup. Photograph: Matteo Bazzi/EPA

Sinisa Mihajlovic once said: “I could never coach Milan. They are one of the best clubs in the world, but I played for and was a coach at Inter. I couldn’t do it out of respect towards my old fans.”

On the back of those words, spoken while he was in charge of Fiorentina in 2010, it was slightly surprising that he was Milan’s choice to succeed Filippo Inzaghi this summer. Other candidates were reportedly in the running, such as Maurizio Sarri and Vincenzo Montella, but Mihajlovic was eventually chosen as the man to steer the club forward.

A volatile defender with a cultured left foot, Mihajlovic is taking the biggest job of his career, having worked with Bologna, Catania and Fiorentina before taking charge of the Serbia national team. He then returned to Italy with Sampdoria in 2013 and guided the Blucerchiati away from relegation before achieving an impressive seventh-place finish in Serie A last season.

The key player: Alessio Romagnoli

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alessio Romagnoli in action for Milan against Perugia. Photograph: Matteo Bazzi/EPA

Alessio Romagnoli finally became a Milan player on 9 August after a seemingly endless chase for his signature. The Italy Under-21 international had returned to Roma after a successful season-long loan with Mihajlovic’s Sampdoria last season, where he showcased good timing in the tackle and the composure to pass out from the back to emerge as one of the best young defenders in Europe.



Mihajlovic was keen to bring Romagnoli with him to San Siro but Milan were initially thwarted in their pursuit by Roma’s asking price. Eventually, however, the two clubs agreed on a sizeable €25m transfer fee and Romagnoli and Mihajlovic were reunited.

In recent years Milan have completely failed to uphold their proud defensive traditions of solidity and style. The combustible Philippe Mexes, the slowing, ageing Alex, and the underwhelming Adil Rami and Cristian Zapata were not up to the standards previously set by the iconic Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta. Milan desperately needed Romagnoli to restore stability to their backline.

One to watch: M’Baye Niang

Mercurial French forward M’Baye Niang is still only 20 years old and highly rated, but his development has been stunted by a succession of coaches, multiple loan spells and the resultant inability to settle into any clear tactical system. He impressed during pre-season after returning to Milan from a six-month spell with Genoa, where he hit five goals in 12 league appearances.

Primarily a winger, Niang showed increased potency in front of goal at Genoa, having failed to score in Serie A for Milan in 33 appearances over three seasons. With pace, trickery and versatility, he could be an ideal foil for new signing, Colombian hitman Carlos Bacca, up front.

Tactics

Milan Photograph: Blair Newman

Mihajlovic’s preferred system at Sampdoria was a 4-3-1-2 with an enforcer in defensive midfield and two strikers capable of pulling out wide to stretch opposition defences and create space. Over the course of pre-season, he has tried to implement this with Milan.

It helped that he has players well suited to the specific roles. Full-backs Ignazio Abate and Luca Antonelli will have no issue providing the width given the narrowness of the midfield; both have played as wingers at different times in their respective careers. Elsewhere, Nigel De Jong has experience as the midfield enforcer, while both Giacomo Bonaventura and Keisuke Honda enjoy playing centrally behind the strikers, and so either could be utilised as the trequartista in Mihajlovic’s midfield diamond.

While the team is vastly improved from last season, the core area of concern remains the centre of defence. De Jong’s positioning can be askew, while his temperament has been called into question throughout his career. Alongside him it looks as if Mihajlovic will choose two of Andrea Poli, Riccardo Montolivo or classy new addition Andrea Bertolacci, none of whom have ever been regarded specifically as ball-winners, which puts a lot of onus to shore up midfield on the occasionally wayward De Jong.

This midfield setup could heap additional pressure on the central defenders, which is a worry given that Mihajlovic’s probable favoured partnership of Romagnoli and Rodrigo Ely lacks maturity. While the former should be able to cope, the 21-year-old Ely lacks top-level experience, having spent last season on loan at Avellino in Serie B. With the high pressure that comes with playing for Milan and a possible lack of real authority in front of them, it will be interesting to see how such a youthful central defensive partnership performs.

Internazionale

The return of Roberto Mancini as Internazionale coach last November was seen as the first step towards restoring the grand old club’s dignity as they, like city rivals Milan, struggled to break free of mid-table mediocrity in Serie A. Since José Mourinho’s departure they have finished second, sixth, ninth, fifth and eighth, finding Champions League football elusive and a title challenge nigh on impossible to mount.

The Nerazurri failed to build on becoming European champions in 2010 under Mourinho and have been paying the price since as a result. A string of managers came and went prior to Mancini, including Leonardo and Rafael Benítez, before Walter Mazzarri came in and established the 3-5-2 system that he had utilised so well with Napoli. It didn’t work for Internazionale though, hence Mancini’s return towards the end of 2014.

Internazionale: Serie A alternative club guide Read more

Results continued to underwhelm despite Mancini’s presence, however, with the coach bemoaning a lack of width in the team. The subsequent additions of Davide Santon, Xherdan Shaqiri and Lukas Podolski in January failed to solve that issue, and the team ended up in a wingerless 4-3-1-2 formation come the end of last season. That has been the formation of choice throughout pre-season too, suggesting that instead of addressing the lack of attacking width, they will now seek to thrive in its absence.

The club has strengthened in other positions, predominantly in the central defensive area, by bringing in imposing midfield presence Geoffrey Kondogbia from Monaco, underrated Brazilian centre-back Miranda from Atlético Madrid and the Colombia international defender Jeison Murillo from Granada for a combined total transfer fee of around €60m.

Internazionale also brought in forward Stevan Jovetic from Manchester City and right-back Martin Montoya on loan from Barcelona. Both players have plenty to prove after finding themselves unable to break into their former teams’ starting line-ups on a frequent basis. Making all of these deals happen was an achievement in itself; the club was recently fined €6m for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations. As such, the work of sporting director Piero Ausilio and general director Marco Fassone in structuring the deals in a way that allows them to be paid over one- to two-year periods has been vital.

Despite all this, the most high-profile piece of transfer activity could be a player sale, with Croatian playmaker Mateo Kovacic joining Real Madrid for a fee that could rise to €35m. Kovacic’s exit is a big loss but the sale does have an important purpose, with Mancini saying: “We need to sell Mateo because of Financial Fair Play.” Some of the money from the deal is likely to be re-invested, suggesting that Internazionale are far from finished in this summer’s transfer market. Ausilio and Fassone may well have work still to do.

The coach: Roberto Mancini

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Roberto Mancini. Photograph: Claudio Villa/Inter/Getty Images

Roberto Mancini is revered after the club’s achievements during his first spell in charge. Internazionale won three consecutive Scudetti between 2006 and 2008, the first of which came in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal, while also winning the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa twice.

Any idyllic notions of an immediate return to success with the club as he took the reigns again last November following his time in charge of Manchester City and Galatasaray were shattered as Internazionale stumbled from week to week without any consistency. The club were ninth in the league table when he returned; they finished last season in eighth. The team lacked of a clear identity, as Mancini chopped and changed between formations with almost blurring frequency before settling on a 4-3-1-2 towards the end of the campaign.

Pre-season has allowed for further clarity, with the team continuing in this shape, though without much obvious success. The results have been poor; of their last eight friendlies, they have won just once while losing six times, scoring three goals and conceding nine. This form suggests that Mancini has a tough task on his hands as the new league season approaches.

Key player: Mauro Icardi

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mauro Icardi. Photograph: Claudio Villa/Inter/Getty Images

The 2014-15 campaign could be classified as Mauro Icardi’s breakout season, as he hit 22 league goals to earn joint Capocannoniere status alongside Verona veteran Luca Toni. It was his most prolific season yet, and by some distance too.

Icardi joined the club from Sampdoria in the summer of 2013 as a top class young talent, though in his first year at San Siro he courted controversy for having an affair with Wanda Nara, who was then married to fellow player Maxi Lopez. He and Nara are now married and Icardi seems settled in his personal life, something which – at 22 years of age – could be integral to ensuring his career continues on its current upward trajectory.

The arrival of Stevan Jovetic could help in taking some of the weight off of Icardi’s young shoulders. With Rodrigo Palacio out of form last season, Icardi had to take on the burden of scoring goals almost singlehandedly, but that should change with Jovetic around. The Montenegrin’s dribbling, passing and creativity could prove the perfect foil for Icardi’s clinical touch.

One to watch: Assane Gnoukouri

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Assane Gnoukouri tackling Denis Cheryshev of Real Madrid. Photograph: Rex Shutterstock/Imaginechina

The sale of Mateo Kovacic was a slight surprise in spite of the almost constant speculation linking him with a move away. He was expected to play the role of regista and, as such, his departure will leave behind a vacancy at the base of the midfield diamond.

The most obvious candidate to fill the vacancy is Chilean warrior Gary Medel as, although not a brilliant passer, he handles the defensive midfield area with efficacy. In the long term, however, the position will be handed to the 18-year-old Ivorian, Assane Gnoukouri.

Gnoukouri made his first start for the club in the Milan derby in April. The game finished 0-0 and the youngster received deserved praise for the assured manner with which he handled the occasion. His performance capped off a fast rise to prominence.

Gnoukouri was released by Marseille in late 2013 before spending six months with Italian fourth-tier side Altovicentino. From there he was spotted and recruited by Internazionale in the summer of 2014. Mancini believes in Gnoukouri, having said: “He has the potential to become a great player. Despite his age, he has qualities that not many players have; he never gets anxious and rarely loses the ball.”

Tactics

Internazionale. Photograph: Blair Newman

After adopting a variety of different systems since returning to the club, Mancini appears most happy with a 4-3-1-2 formation, although he is still lacking in a few tools to make this setup work to its maximum capability.

Kondogbia’s arrival in central midfield provides the necessary physical and athletic qualities; the Frenchman played the ball-winner role well for Monaco during their Champions League run last season. Alongside him, Marcelo Brozovic is a neat and tidy passer. However, both in front of and behind this central midfield pair there is uncertainty.

The sale of Kovacic means that either Medel or Gnoukouri will assume the deep-lying midfield position. Medel is more experienced and is a strong yet understated performer, but lacks the passing range of Kovacic. Gnoukouri might just possess the qualities to undertake a regista role, but is still fairly inexperienced. Further forward, Hernanes looks likely to take on the role of trequartista, though he has been inconsistent since moving to Inter.

The team may also lack balance depending on who starts at left-back. On the right side of defence, Montoya is likely to start and provide much-needed technical quality and an ability to drive forward. Internzinale lack a left-sided player of the same ilk, though. Yuto Nagatomo has been linked with a move away, while Davide Santon and Danilo D’Ambrosio have yet to fully convince. This means that Juan Jesus may be used, but the Brazilian is more suited to a central defensive role.

Without a genuine left-back to offer an outlet further up the pitch, Kondogbia may find himself drawn out of position, leading to the potential for overloads in the centre. An issue similar to this occurred in their pre-season loss to Bayern Munich.

Internazionale have augmented their squad with more depth and individual talent, but with just days to go until the start of the new league season, they still lack cohesion. The good news is that, with the strike partnership of Icardi and Jovetic up and running – each scored in the friendly win over Athletic Bilbao – and with possible further reinforcements to be made, Inter should still be a somewhat improved force over the course of the 2015-16 season.

• This is an article from Tactical Calcio

• Follow Blair Newman on Twitter