All I want for Christmas... [Newsletter]

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Dec 18, 2024

Just one game remains ahead of the Christmas break, with the Hellas Verona clash scheduled for Friday, but we are willing to bet that most AC Milan fans aren’t feeling too festive. Things have certainly escalated in the last few days, with clear protests from the fans and a birthday celebration gone wrong, so for once it seems the Rossoneri faithful need the break more than the players.

Christmas is normally a time for the players to recharge their batteries and celebrate the progress made during the season so far. Of course, unless you are at the top of the league, you will always be able to do better but there is something to be said about giving yourself a pat on the back. In Milan’s case, however, it’s clear that few players will actually be justified in giving themselves that.

Instead, it’s the fans who need the break the most after having been through countless ups and downs this season already. The Banter Era has been brought up a lot in recent weeks, and while that was undoubtedly a very bad time as well, we at least more or less knew what to expect from every game then. The difficulty now is that we actually managed to get back to high levels, only to drop down sharply.

By high levels we don’t mean the performance against Real Madrid, but rather the Scudetto in 2021-22 and the semi-final finish in the 2022-23 edition of the Champions League, to name a few. Many also like to point out the sacking of Paolo Maldini in this sense, highlighting that a point of reference - as well as a Milan man through and through - was lost. When you consider all of that, one can understand the pain.

All that we want for Christmas, therefore, is a little bit of peace and quiet before making our voices heard in January. The contract renewals of Mike Maignan and Tijjani Reijnders are certainly good news, but they won’t fix any immediate issues. Subsequently, they won’t silence the Curva Sud either and the pressure will certainly be on the management to deliver something.

If you are wondering how Cardinale felt about the protests after the Genoa game, and during the private party on Monday, this is something we wrote about in our latest bonus article. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, though, as when you lose an entire fanbase (more or less), you need to prepare a powerful response. Selling now doesn’t sound like Cardinale, so let’s see what he comes up with.

Then again, worrying about this too much now will be wasted energy. The holidays are a time for family - an element AC Milan seems to be lacking - and resting up ahead of the new year; in our case the Supercoppa Italiana and the January transfer window. It might be difficult, also depending on the result on Friday, but giving it a go certainly doesn’t hurt.

News Bulletin

➤ Milan Futuro fell to a late defeat against Vis Pesaro away from home on Sunday afternoon, losing 2-1 and once again failing to build on a positive previous result. It was a big week for six players though, who were training with the first-team squad and helped fill the bench against Genoa.

➤ The Milan Women suffered a very disappointing 2-0 defeat against a struggling Lazio side on Saturday. To make matters worse, a former player was the culprit as their ex-striker Martina Piemonte scored a brace.

➤ Milan Primavera’s hope of reaching the play-off stages of the UEFA Youth League were ended as they were beaten 3-1 at home by Red Star last Wednesday. They were unable to bounce back after their midweek defeat as well, losing 2-1 to Juventus at the weekend.

➤ There has been some good news regarding planning for the future of the club, more specifically with core renewals. An agreement has been reached with Mike Maignan and Tijjani Reijnders, with Christian Pulisic also expected to extend and optimism rising regarding Theo Hernandez too.

➤ Transfer news round-up: a story emerged about Sandro Tonali returning to Milan and then was quickly squashed, Alex Jimenez is attracting loan interest from multiple clubs, Luis Diaz has been linked, competition is rising to land Morten Frendrup and contacts with Santiago Gimenez’s father-agent remain alive.

➤ Our features over the past week include: a tactical analysis of the 2-1 win over Red Star plus one for the 0-0 draw with Genoa, and a look at the Paulo Fonseca rant after the game against the Serbian side including the causes and after-effects.