AC Milan Retreat Revealing All the Ills of This Once Storied Club

Finally, after a ninth loss in this doomed Serie A season, coach Filippo Inzaghi has had enough. He forced AC Milan into confinement, locking them up in their training ground, Milanello, possibly until the end of May. 

"When you hit the bottom like today, you need to reflect," Inzaghi said, per the BBC. "It isn't a retreat of one or two days that changes things."

The 2-1 loss to Udinese at the weekend was troubling indeed. The Rossoneri looked like a team ready to call it quits. They had trouble stringing together consecutive passes, and there was almost zero movement off the ball. 

Their performance over the next few matches will determine how long they stay put at Milanello. It's effectively a detention.

This is not uncommon in Italy. Napoli went through similar treatment this month, their president moving to punish his players and keep them from the press after a dire winless stretch.

Napoli coach Rafa Benitez didn't necessarily agree with it. 

"It's something that was used in 1970," Benitez said, per Goal. "I am not against a training retreat per se, but I am against it as a punishment that has no effect other than to annoy the players."

But there is proof that it works. Napoli have won four of five games in the aftermath, including a surprising demolition of Wolfsburg in the Europa League. 

Perhaps Inzaghi saw that and decided to act.

Paolo Giovannini/Associated Press

Except, it's simply too little too late. At the time of Napoli's mid-season retreat, there was still something to achieve; for Milan, there is nothing left. They are stuck in 10th place, six points behind the final European spot, with a second straight season without Champions League football beckoning. Record losses are expected, according to La Repubblica (h/t Forza Italian Football), and the players are beginning to rebel.

During the bus ride back to Milan, according to Corriere della Sera (h/t Football Italia), Inzaghi told his players that they were "unworthy" of wearing the jersey, to which an unnamed player responded: "We might be unworthy, but you are unworthy to be coach of Milan."

The players are doing to Inzaghi what they did to Clarence Seedorf a year ago. Seedorf had retired from playing essentially on the spot to coach Milan, but the players did not appreciate his methods. The captain Riccardo Montolivo was the most vocal against Seedorf, saying that there was no harmony in the team with the Dutchman at the helm. 

Paolo Giovannini/Associated Press

Inzaghi's future with the club was already in doubt. He is not expected to survive any potential takeover. Thai businessman is in Milan to negotiate with president Silvio Berlusconi, and he is expected to clean house if he completes a deal to buy the club, per Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia).

There are legitimate reasons to criticize Inzaghi, who is clearly not ready for a position of such great pressure and expectations. It took him more than half a season to settle on a core of 11 players, despite numerous injuries, and still there is no coherent philosophy to their game. 

But the rebellion hints at a greater problem: that the players themselves are overpaid, uncooperative and unprofessional. This squad has the third highest payroll in Serie A, and they are nothing more than a mid-table team.

They could be responsible for three sackings in a row, from Massimiliano Allegri to Inzaghi, and that is too big of a symptom to ignore.