Preseason has Begun: Abandon Ship...

Every year Milan, along with Juventus and Inter, participate in the Trofeo TIM. A round robin tournament that see's the teams play in shortened matches, all in the same day, akin to a youth soccer tournament. Every year Milan finds a way to muddle their way through, and every year true to form some fans use this tournament as some sort of benchmark of data for the way the season will proceed. Unfortunately, the same fans that want to benchmark this utterly useless public relations tournament neglect to realize that the preseason has literally just begun and any stock put into these matches is fairly useless. How quickly fans seem to forget that the summer prior to our scudetto victory was one of the worst preseasons on record, yet the boys still managed to win a Title in the next season. Clearly patience is truly a virtue...

The preseason is a time for players to gain fitness, chemistry to be built, and Coaches to apply varying tactics. The preaseason, where results truly don't matter, is a good time to deploy new formations and tactics. While some wonder why we can't do this during the season, the answer is simple. Why risk results when you don't have to? So while it is nice to believe your team should win each and every time they take the pitch, that belief should be reserved closer to season, or maybe justmatches that last the full ninety! Instead of focusin on the positives, such as giving primavera players gignificant minutes, fostering confidence and finding fitness, fans want to only see the doom and gloom.

Even the Ultras, the same band of idiots who booed Maldini in his last home match and plublicly stated their belief in Berul and Fester last week, have gone out of their way to make fools of themselves. They have faked the death of AC Milan and paraded around the streets, a bit dramatic if you ask me, and makes me ask the question, if they believe the Club is dead can we be rid of them? So to invest so much time effort and complaning into the first friendly seems sort of overzealous and desperate. There are going to be significant growing pains, time to gel, and tactial changes, this team will struggle to find it's stride early and with the possibility of new players arriving that will only be get worse before it gets better. So instead of complaining, ride the wave, enjoy the ride, and see what happens. When the season starts we can dust off the panic button and inflate the life boats, but for now I am going to enjoy the summer. Heck next week I get to see AC Milan in person a few times, and I won't be wearing black, I will be wearing RED AND BLACK because we are not dead yet!

One more quick point, what I find most ironic is the fans who cry the sky is falling most are the same fans who have an affinity for Pato. So can I ask you something? If Pato is a good as you want me to believe, shouldn't we rest calmly knowing his return will strengthen the team significantly? Or maybe your belief is simply unfounded and his return will not give us an significant improvement, reinforcing the point that he is worth more somewhere else...I will let you decide. But if you are going to cry doom, please do so when he has returned so I can lay some blame too. Oddly enough it is these same fans who also couldn't wait to see the backside of the senators and now wonder why this team lacks leadership and direction...I am seeing a trend here...are you?