Serie Aaaaargh!… : Cagliari

Milan cannot afford to continue isolating 'out of sorts' Pato

Richard Whittle — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 11:39:00 GMT

AC Milan surely couldn’t be losing that loving feeling for the Boys from Brazil, could they?

In the summer, Leonardo gave up having to bow to Silvio Berlusconi and the writing was then on the wall for Ronaldinho, who recently slipped back home leaving the corridors of Milanello no longer echoing to the Samba beat.

Thiago Silva, Robinho and Alexandre Pato are still there of course, but the latter is now feeling something of the cold shoulder from the new coaching regime.

Massimiliano Allegri has brought a more pragmatic approach after Leonardo had previously paid a romantic homage to the Brazil World Cup side of ’82 by occasionally playing four up front.

With Antonio Cassano arriving to reinforce the Italian contingent, Zlatan Ibrahimovic ploughing his own path on and off the pitch and Robinho coming to grips with life in a new league, Pato has been given the distinct feeling that he is becoming the odd man out.

He probably won’t end up like Dinho, disappearing inside a giant snood like an old woman waiting for a bus that’s just never going to come, but since the turn of the year it has been made clear to the 21-year-old that now is the time to start imposing himself on matches.

When Berlusconi met the players to give out his New Year pep talk ahead of the league game at Cagliari, he went round the gathered audience picking out faces and making a comment or two about each and when he got to 'the Duck' his opening line was 'stop getting injured'.

It wasn’t the most ringing endorsement and not the first thing that a player wants his boss to think when he claps eyes on him. Injuries, after all, are part and parcel of the game, and Pato’s set-backs have generally been minor niggles rather than season-wrecking ailments, such as those that have plagued Fabio Quagliarella, Walter Samuel or even Filippo Inzaghi’s five month lay-off.

Rino Gattuso then had a go at him as they walked off at half-time at Lecce on Sunday, lementing what the combative midfielder felt was a lack of effort from his team-mate; at least Pato answered in kind and Clarence Seedorf was forced to break up the verbal sparring.

Cassano eventually replaced the youngster who was clearly out of sorts – and ahead of this evening’s Italian Cup tie against Bari, Allegri had to deflect probing questions on whether the South American was unable to coexist with Ibra who demands passes played to his feet in tight spaces so that he can dance around with the ball for a while.

The Swede had complained earlier in the season that he was seeing less of the ball when Dinho and Pato were on the pitch and preferred to have Inzaghi as his partner upfront, but he has since toned down his comments no doubt due to the fact that he is now the big chief in the side.

Under Leonardo, Gattuso was pushed to the margins but he is just the sort of competitor most Italian coaches like to have in their side, hence he has become more vocal when the bad times threaten to raise their head – such as now with the side drawing the last two while Inter closed the gap to six points last night after their fourth win in 2011.

Pato, for his part, prefers inspiration to perspiration so it is doubtful if he will ever find common ground with a player who will run himself into the ground to patch over a lack of natural ability.

It is hard to say what affect such sniping and public displays of frustration will have on Pato – he still looks as fresh-faced as the teenager who arrived at club back in 2007 but answering back to Gattuso demonstrates there is a hardening steely resolve developing underneath those soft features.

The statistics bear out the fact that apart from the Lecce game he has been no turkey when fit – eight goals in eleven Serie A outings – ten of which he started – is more than an acceptable return.

He netted braces against Leece (on the opening day), Chievo and just recently Udinese to take his overall tally to 49 goals in 106 games for Milan - which for someone barely into their 20s is quite extraordinary.

He has already nipped any speculation that he would follow the man who brought him to Milan - and then acted like a big brother and confidant - to Inter, but there has been speculation that Europe’s heavyweights will be knocking on Milan’s door this summer: Carlo Ancelotti, wherever he may be next season, would definitely be making enquiries.

The club’s hierarchy may need to rein in any growing criticism of their prize asset from within the rank and file or face losing another Samba Boy ... Kaka, Ronaldinho and now Pato, surely not?

Italian players lay out their demands as strike threat looms

Richard Whittle — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 15:24:00 GMT

“Right lads – down tools, we're all out.”

You know the world has gone crazy when footballers are threatening strike action. This Saturday and Sunday, full-backs will join fantasistas around the flaming oil drums on the picket-lines to protest at the “slave-like” conditions they're forced to work under.

Of course, not all players earn multi-million-Euro contracts like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who will have to forgo his €320,000-odd weekly wage packet if the union make good on a walk-out. The average top-flight weekly salary might be "only" €5,300 but the average office worker has to make do with less than €250 a week.

How one contract rebel made his point

However, the current agreement between the footballers’ association and the clubs has expired and now the players are filled with revolutionary zeal, just when they may need to toe the line for once. How many times has a player basically broken his contract to ensure a move to another club or sat around earning vast sums of money for doing nothing because he refuses to accept a transfer?

Both parties are to blame for the situation we find ourselves in now – the clubs have been handing out massive and lengthy contracts to players in their late twenties and expecting them to be at the peak of their powers in their early thirties or even later.

AC Milan are prime example. The players who avenged the 2005 Champions League final defeat by beating Liverpool two years later were rewarded with four-year deals – meaning that at the pinnacle of their careers, the whole squad was set up for life.

There was only one direction they were heading after that and Milan were saddled with the likes of Marek Jankulovski, Nelson Dida, Massimo Oddo and Kakha Kaladze – who simply didn't deserve the star status bestowed on them.

Milan attempted to get some value out of having Oddo hanging around by extending the full-back’s contract for another season but spreading the final payment over 24 months.
However, Jankulovski refused to budge and will no doubt literally sit out his final season before becoming a wealthy free agent at 33.

With this in mind, what concerns the players’ union is the proposal that will allow clubs to terminate the final year of a contract and pay the player 50 percent of what he was due if he refuses accept a move to another club of equal standing.

Tellingly, Oddo was the shop-steward at the press conference to warn the country that their national sport was heading the way of the public transport system – brought to a standstill on a regular basis by industrial action.

“We are not objects,” he bleated as he sat there in his designer shirt, sporting perfectly manicured sideburns and looking all for the world like the perfect object of footballing desire. Clarence Seedorf, Javier Zanetti and Rino Gattuso nodded gravely in agreement while the rest of the working world shook its head in disbelief.

Oddo, Seedorf, Zanetti and Gattuso: model professionals

Let’s face it, any current player who has been in the top flight for the last four or five years should be able to survive until the end of the century on their earnings, investments, luxury villas, cars and other trappings of material wealth. Even those players not given star billing can have few gripes about earning a very good living from playing football. Considering football is all about results and success, if you are good enough you will generally reap the rewards from the game.

There are a number of other issues. Clubs want to decide where a player has treatment for an injury and not the player. Under that arrangement it would be difficult to imagine Alessandro Nesta spending 18 months in Miami receiving treatment on a back injury. And the union has demanded that coaches must work with one group of players in training – ensuring that those no longer in their plans or in dispute with the club cannot be exiled to train with the youth team, or all alone.

There is no doubt now that the party is over but these issues can no doubt be solved through dialogue rather than threats of bringing the national game to a halt. Silvio Berlusconi would not have been taken too kindly with the stance taken by his Milan militants, especially in the light of the team’s defeat to the proletariat – newly-promoted Cesena, whose annual wage bill is less than Ibra’s basic annual pay.

FEATURE, 9 Sep 2010: Milan lead the way as wage bills revealed

However, only the under-fire prime minister could still profess solidarity for his hard-put-upon stars in the most political manner by claiming that the match referee’s political leanings were to the left.

Maybe he should have been questioning his own team's work ethic. But then, Inter aside, it wasn't a profit-making weekend for the top flight’s fat cats: Milan were humbled by Cesena, AS Roma thrashed at Cagliari and Juventus held by Sampdoria. On top of that, Palermo lost at Brescia while Fiorentina went down to Lecce and Napoli drew at home to Bari.

Chievo won at Genoa to leave the table-topping Flying Donkeys as the only team on maximum points. Power to footballer’s true workers, and long may it continue.

Party over as players threaten to strike

Richard Whittle — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:51:00 GMT

"Right lads, down tools we are all out."

You know the world has gone crazy when footballers are threatening strike action.

September 25th and 26th have been earmarked as the dates when Italian football comes to a standstill as the country’s players take to the picket-lines to protest at the ìslave-likeî conditions they are forced to work under.

Of course, not all players earn multi-million Euro contracts such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic who will have to forgo his €320,000-odd weekly wage packet if the union make good on a walk out.

However, the average salary is still around €23,000 a month in the top flight so on the surface there seems little to protest about – unlike the average office worker who has to make do with less than a €1000 a month.

The current agreement between the footballers’ association and the clubs has expired and now the players are filled with revolutionary zeal, just when they may to toe the line for once.

How many times has a player basically broken his contract to ensure a move to another club or sat around earning vast sums of money for doing nothing because he refuses to accept a transfer?

Both parties are to blame for the situation we find ourselves in now – the clubs have been handing out massive contracts over four years to players in their late 20s and expecting them to be at the peak of their powers in their early or some cases mid-30s.

AC Milan are prime example, having awarded the players who "revenged" the 2005 Champions League defeat to Liverpool two years later with four-year deals which meant that the whole squad was set up for life at the pinnacle of their careers.

There was only one direction they were heading after that and Milan were saddled with the likes of Marek Jankulovski, Nelson Dida, Massimo Oddo and Kakha Kaladze who you could never say deserved the star status bestowed on them.

Milan attempted to get some value out of having Oddo hanging around by extending the full-back’s contract for another season but spreading the final payment over 24 months.

However, Jankulovski refused to budge and will no doubt literally sit-out his final season before becoming a wealthy free agent at 33.

With this in mind what concerns the players’ union is the proposal that will give an employer the right to terminate the final year of a contract and pay the player 50 per cent of what he was due if he refuses accept a move to another club of equal standing.

Tellingly, the shop-steward at the press conference to warn the country that their national sport was heading the way of the public transport system - brought to a standstill on a regular basis by industrial action - was Oddo.

Massimo money mo' problems...or something

'We are not objects,' he bleated as he sat there in his designer shirt; sporting perfectly manicured sideburns and looking all for the world like the perfect object of footballing desire.

Clarence Seedorf, Rino Gattuso and Javier Zanetti nodded gravely in agreement while the rest of the non-football playing work shook its head in disbelief.

Even those players who do not warrant star billing have little to complain about: earning a very good living from playing football – and isn’t football all about results and success so if you are good enough you will generally reap the rewards from the game.

There are a number of other issues on the table, so to speak: clubs want to decide where a player has treatment for an injury and not the player. So now we know why Alessandro Nesta spent 18 months in Miami receiving treatment on a back injury.

There is another good one: the union has demanded that coaches must work with one group of players in training thus ensuring that those no longer in their plans or in dispute with the club cannot be exiled to train with the youth team - or all alone.

There is no doubt now that the party is over but these issues can no doubt be solved through dialogue rather than threats of bringing the national game to a halt.

Silvio Berlusconi would not have been taken too kindly with the stance taken by his Milan militants especially in the light of the team’s defeat to the proletariat: newly-promoted Cesena whose annual wage bill is less than Ibra’s basic annual pay.

Maybe he should have been questioning his own team work ethic and apart from Inter, it was not a profit-making weekend for the top flight’s fat cats: Milan humbled by Cesena; AS Roma thrashed at Cagliari and Juventus held by Sampdoria.

On top of that, Palermo lost at Brescia while Fiorentina went down to Lecce and Napoli drew at home to Bari.

Chievo won at Genoa to leave the Flying Donkeys as the only team on maximum points and top of the table – power then to footballer’s true workers and long may it continue.

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Roma fans unconcerned by Totti's cup final petulance

Richard Whittle — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:10:00 GMT

If any player was feeling a little uncomfortably about walking out on to a football pitch on Sunday, then it must have been Francesco Totti.

The AS Roma captain had been vilified for his unruly behaviour in the Italian Cup final where he booted Mario Balotelli not once but twice and then had to defend himself from allegations that he had made a racist comment towards the Inter player.

Totti admitted that he had lost his head but his subsequent claims that Balotelli had it coming for, among other things, winding the Roma players and fans up in the league match at the San Siro last season suggested that his actions in the dying moments of the game may have been premeditated.

The fall-out was the sort of bad press someone looking to impress his national team coach ahead of the World Cup could do without - and it is still touch and go whether Marcello Lippi will recall the bad boy for South Africa – a decision that will become clear on Tuesday.

Another concern for the veteran is that, although he has a €5million-a-year contract with Roma until 2014, there are also a number of very lucrative commercial endorsements to be milked.

The last thing he wants is a major mobile phone operator refusing to return his calls come time for the renewal of his biggest cash cow; considering that it is a family affair and his missus also plays a central role in the ad campaign as well.

So it was time to embark on a charm offensive at the Olympic stadium yesterday: Mrs Totti handed the kids over to dad for the afternoon so he could carry them into the work place which just happened to have 60,000-plus people waiting to maybe voice their disappointment at their fallen hero.

He need not have been too concerned as his adoring public were never going to turn against one of their own, especially when they had been told that his only crime had been to act like a true Roman in defending the honour of the city and just as importantly the Roma colours.

In fact, local radio station Radio Roma had been encouraging fans to wear the Totti number ten shirt at the match – Mrs Totti made sure she was caught on camera displaying her figure-hugging version when the teams marched out.

The banners dotted around the stands made it clear that Totti need not search for redemption amongst the faithful – "Thank-you captain, we are all behind you for defending our Roma."

You cannot buy popularity such as this but then again maybe this stay-at-home attitude has come at a price - and we will never know if he would have become universally adored on the back of moving to Real Madrid, which apparently was once an option.

However, remaining a big fish in a small pond has enabled Totti to develop a skewed view of what is right and wrong – and in doing so exposed the flaws that seem to go hand-in-hand with a sporting genius.

There have the petulant kicks, the spitting incident at Euro 2004 and of course the constant baiting of the neighbours Lazio, which at times have offered some comic relief for one side of the River Tiber at least.

And it was along the famous old river that he found the sort of welcome that would have brought a tear to any Italian mama when it comes to forgiving an errant son.

Of course, there was a match to be won to ensure that the title would head into the final weekend – and Totti would have to play his part as a thank-you for the undying fawning showered upon him.

He did in the end but for a long time it seemed that the leading man was going to let everyone down; first by doing little but stand around in the middle of the pitch and then when a goalscoring opportunity arose somehow chipping the ball over the bar from in front of the goal.

Then just when it seemed the Giallorossi season would finally peter-out in the Spring sunshine after Cagliari – yes there was another team involved but they were only meant to be there to make up the numbers – scored; the man with the Roman gladiator tattooed on his shoulder remembered his role as heroic savour.

A smart turn in the area and an angled shot brought the equaliser and then when offered the opportunity to score the game-winning penalty he took it with the aplomb of a conquering Caesar returning from taming the hordes.

Just in case the advertisers and sponsors had not gotten the picture there was a well-choreographed lap-of-honour with various kids in tow – it was Roman theatre at its most extravagant and the sort of occasion that any ancient emperor would have revelled in.

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