Allegri not under discussion

I don’t understand how in Italy you can be the best in the world one day and then you should be fired the next. Massimiliano Allegri  comes from a long experience in the lower leagues, a fundamental school for someone without experience in a big team, even as a player and thus does know the psychology, by which I mean how you behave after a win and after a loss (Experience in Pontedera, Siena, Pistoiese, Carrarese...-which has been very useful in my career). Then the jump up to Milan, sudden but not shocking, and a year and a half of great results. Allegri has managed this cycle as a real leader should by immediately choosing his formation and first teamers. By making courageous and difficult choices, sometimes even accepting the club’s politics by letting Pirlo go and taking on Van Bommel (he won the title but Juve benefitted as well). Getting players back (Bonera) and putting players forward (Nocerino) , inventing roles for others (Boateng and Emanuelson as playmakers) with the creation of the tactical foundations allowing for the insertion of atypical players, like Ibrahimovic and finally creating a positive feeling around the team by expert management. It’s not by chance that Milan chose him. The choice belongs to that experiment of picking young and winning coaches – Sacchi, Capello, Ancelotti – who, with motivation and intuition have constructed the modern history of the club. The technical and psychological management of Allegri has been excellent and even the 2011 Champions League elimination against Tottenham was absorbed without consequence. Juventus today receive the same compliments. They’ve certainly surged to the fore this season but have been helped by a bad year for Inter and Napoli’s difficulties in managing two competitions (three if you count the Italian cup where they’re finalists), the number of injuries that have hit Milan and finally the great work done by staff and players. Yet still, Milan are there: They won the Supercup; they’re in the running for the league; they went out of the Italian cup in the semi-final and they’re out of the Champions  League after the excitement and fear of the matches against Arsenal because they were drawn against an unbeatable Barcelona. Who knows where they could have got to in Europe with a different draw? And here we are putting question marks over the coach. If Juventus are being lauded, I don’t believe that Max and his players deserve the criticism. Especially for him, in his role as leader, he’ll have to get used to these things which will accompany him throughout his career as he’ll definitely continue to work in high level clubs. And as always at the start they’ll build you up just because the higher up you are the harder you’ll fall. But that won’t be the case with Max, whether or not he wins the title this year.