Good article form ESPN:
FOCUS ON AC MILAN
Leonardo's tactical revolution
By Svend Frandsen
August 19, 2009
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With the new Italian season almost upon us, Italian football journalists are already queuing up to sound the alarm bells for AC Milan, after mediocre displays in six consecutive friendly-defeats fuelled speculation that Leonardo's new tactical regime (following the departure of Carlo Ancelotti to Chelsea) will ultimately lead to a horror season for the former Champions League winners.
Leonardo can expect a tough season.
Indeed, it seemed the 2008-09 season was barely seconds over before Milan turned just about everything on its head. Captain Courageous, Paolo Maldini - at the age of 41 - finally brought down the curtain on a glorious career, coach Ancelotti paid the price for a season where he (according to president Silvio Berlusconi) "got it all wrong" and Real Madrid's £59m bid for Brazilian playmaker Kaka was simply too much for the Italians to resist.
The arrival of Leonardo, who was a prominent part of a star-studded line-up at the San Siro from 1997 to 2001 may possibly signal a tactical revolution at a club who have had to endure the humiliation of seeing bitter rivals Inter take over at the top of Italian football. Leonardo has wasted no time stating his admiration for his old mentor Tele Santana's attacking ideas in the Brazilian World Cup team of 1982, though he also recognises that much has changed in football since the 1980s.
''I admired the Brazil team of 1982, with players who basically did not have exact duties and who had two full-backs who often pushed forward,'' said Leonardo on his first press conference to Milan's TV-channel. ''But those were the '80s, today you cannot do without fighting spirit and physically robust players. Even a coach like Guus Hiddink has changed his team selections slightly, putting more emphasis on physical strength.''
For the time being, Milan have moved carefully in the transfer market, recalling Massimo Oddo from Bayern Munich, picking up Thiago Silva from Fluminense last January and bringing in €15m worth of Dutch striker in Klaas Jan Huntelaar (as well as signing American centre-back Oguchi Onyewu and making a move for Sevilla's Luís Fabiano).
Needless to say, such moves have hardly caused rapture among the fans who still feel Berlusconi and club director Adriano Galliani should have done more to hold onto Kaká. The same fans, too, remain concerned that Milan might even be tempted to cash in on their remaining big-name talent, striker Alexandre Pato, as well as the likes of Andrea Pirlo.
So Leonardo certainly has his work cut out for him, but his calm presence and positive outlook may possibly help Milan in adapting to new tactics. The Brazilian boss emphasises speed, creativity, and courage as the main themes of his new club's play and the change in thinking should symbolise a new Milanese era. However, poor displays in the pre-season friendlies have caused fears that the new tactics are not rubbing off on the players.
''Leonardo said in his first press conference that Milan will be inspired by the way Brazil played in 1982,'' says Andrea Perra, a well-respected football journalist in Milan. ''It would be very innovative to see Milan adopt such a system in a country which prides itself on catenaccio tactics but I think Leonardo will have big problems against mid-table teams in Italy.
''However, if he can find the right mix of Brazilian-inspired will to attack and Italian flair for controlling the matches, Milan could be the big surprise of the season.''
Still, even if Leonardo has great plans towards launching a virtual tactical revolution at Milan (at least on paper), most of Milan's football reporters doubt that he has got the right players to realise his dreams.
''There has been talk of playing two very offensive full-backs, as well as three strikers, but I think this will change during the season,'' says Perra. ''Players like (Marek) Jankulovski and (Gianluca) Zambrotta don't fit in with Leonardo's offensive philosophy and at the same time they are over 30 years old. Ronaldinho's form will have to change drastically to the better and it is also very uncertain if new striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar will function well with (Alexandre) Pato.''
GettyImages
Pato: The Brazilian is key to Milan's hopes.
Most experts in the football-passionate country also feel confident that Milan will finally pay the price for relying too heavily on ageing stars. It might have done wonders for Milan's strategy of marketing the club as 'home of the stars,' but at the same time it did not help that many were unable to put in their best performances.
''Berlusconi was hoping to have a very young team where the average age was around 23 but this is a dream that won't be realised. The new players Huntelaar and Thiago Silva are 26 and 24 years old and Pato also belong to the few youngsters in the team. But the others are well over 30 and this could spell problems for Milan'', says Perra, who believes Milan could be in for a transitional season.
''Milan have gone through so many changes in a short amount of time. Kaka was a unique player who is impossible to replace, even if Ronaldinho should recapture a bit of the form that saw him win the Golden Ball a couple of years ago. Player by player, Inter and Juventus are superior to Leonardo's troops, Huntelaar and Thiago Silva need time to adjust and I certainly don't see Milan getting past the quarter-finals in this year's Champions League competition.''
Time will tell, but if Leonardo succeeds in bringing his revolution to Milan, it be will against all the odds.