In a bit of a surprise struggling Serie A giants AC Milan sacked coach Massimiliano Allegri this morning, a day after a 4-3 league defeat to league newcomers Sassuolo.
It has been a disappointing season the Mila, who are currently 11th in Serie A. Mian are closer to the relegation zone than the European spots and are a massive 30 points behind leaders Juventus and 20 points behind Napoli for the third and last qualifying spot for the UEFA Champions League.
A statement on www.acmilan.it said:
“AC Milan announces that it has dismissed as coach of the first team, with immediate effect, Mr. Massimiliano Allegri and his staff.
“AC Milan would like to thank Mr. Allegri and his staff for the work done and wishes them the best professional success. The team will be run on a caretaker basis by Mr. Mauro Tassotti.”
It’s say that the firing of Allegri is a bit of a surprise as he had already announced that he would leave at the end of the season. Plus Serie A teams are just back from a winter break. If Allegri was on such shaky grounds, that he is fired only two games into 2014, why not get rid of him over the winter break and give a new manager time to work work with the team?
Or maybe its a case that the board felt that once Allegri said he was leaving that he became a lame duck manager and started to lose the dressing room?
Allegri took over Milan in time for the 2010/11 season and won the title in his first season in charge.
Milan finished runners-up the following season but Allegri saw his side decimated as a host of key players, among whom Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and Clarence Seedorf, all left the club.
Milan bought Mario Balotelli from Manchester City on a four-year deal last January in a bid to boost their forward line and scraped to a third-place finish at the end of the season.
However, Milan have failed to gel as a team and began this season, like last, failing to play to their full potential.
Seedorf is expected to replace Allegri at the San Siro, a risky move by the club given the expectations in Milan and the lack of experience that Seedorf has.
