Ronaldinho, the Wrong Promise?

By Niccolo Conte | 21st September 2009

Ronaldinho, the Wrong Promise? | read this item

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alexandre-pato Before the Serie A season started, AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi forced Ronaldinho to stand on a table and promise his teammates he would lead them without question, and that he would help AC Milan recover from the loss of Kaka through good playing. With Kaka and Ancelotti gone, AC Milan is left with Leonardo, Ronaldinho, and Pato. But what can these three Brazilians create?

The New Guy

After seeing what young Josep Guardiola was able to do with Barcelona, AC Milan decided that they would try to bring in a young guy. The Rossoneri brought in Leonardo, a young, inexperienced coach looking to inspire an old and weary AC Milan side. Leonardo came in with many promises and ideas: he said he would play a quick 1 to 2 touch passing game, raise the defensive line of the team by 20-30 meters, and play a solid 4-3-3 with Ronaldinho and Pato on the flanks, and Borriello as the target man.

Of these three things, I cannot say that he hasn’t achieved any of them, but he still has a long way to go. The idea of the “solid” 4-3-3 was scrapped and he has started reusing Ancelotti’s 4-3-2-1. The defensive line has not changed at all, if not gotten worse with Nesta thinking he can still play. And the 1 to 2 touch passing game certainly has room for improvement. But we cannot blame all of this on Leonardo; he is new, he has a decrepit, aging side to work with, many of his important players have been out with injuries (Borriello, Seedorf, Kaladze), and Berlusconi cashed in the money he got for Kaka leaving Leonardo with a couple of weak signings. So who can he depend on?

The Young Duck

Pato had an explosive start at AC Milan: he was able to prove himself in a highly competitive league by scoring goals and providing assists against world class opposition, when he was surrounded by a team that was still young and hungry to win.

Now the team has changed; without Kaka AC Milan has lost some sense of direction. Maldini retiring leaves a weak backline that needs to be covered by the ancient midfield, and without another proper striker that isn’t 36 years old like Inzaghi, Pato is left alone.

Some say he started off his 2009/2010 season selfishly, but I find that absurd. He started the season off without anyone; he was supposed to move to Chelsea, where he would have had a chance to play with world class strikers with a powerful supporting midfield. Instead he was left in Milan, with only Ronaldinho to create cute little one-two’s that in the end don’t win you matches.

The Masked Leader

Ronaldinho seems to be the happy-go-lucky leader, appearing on FIFA video game covers smiling and waving, and saying that when you lose the passion, you lose the game. It seems that Ronaldinho still has his passion for soccer, saying in interviews how great the AC Milan side is and how his passion drives him on to create beautiful soccer.

This is starting to become a mask under which Ronaldinho hides himself, constantly showing this fake side of himself which he really only had when he was young and was popping in goals by the minute for Barcelona. With this mask, he portrays that he is a leader that is able to inspire his team through football, but isn’t it time we see a serious Ronaldinho?

Isn’t it time to see a Ronaldinho who, when his little tricks don’t work out, doesn’t just sit on the ground, smiling to the crowd and to his team, as if everything were okay? If Ronaldinho were to say, “Enough of this silly business, I need to lose weight, and take everything more seriously, play for the team and try to lead by example” maybe, just maybe, Ronaldinho could start to grind out results for AC Milan.

When this promise that Ronaldinho made got out to the Italian press, everyone thought he was serious, and 100% committed to working for the team, but maybe this was the wrong promise, maybe Ronaldinho was the wrong promise…

We have all seen what he can do. He still has the skill, but because he is fat he cannot run anymore and he cannot keep possession of the ball because he goes down with the slightest nudge. This causes him to be left out of the Brazilian national side – a side which plays with physical dominance. If only Ronaldinho could get down to business, the world might see the rebirth of another great player and leader, which is exactly what AC Milan needs.

These are three key factors which could either cause AC Milan to start rising above the competition, or to sink lower and lower into Italian soccer. Not only would football lose a great team, but it would lose great players, great players that just need to get down to business.

Can Ronaldinho revive his career and his club? Comments below, please.

Niccolo Conte says:

October 31, 2009 at 4:33 pm

Yes, I agree with you to a certain point, but how could a footballer that made the world smile now be so different? Everyone wants Ronaldinho to go back to his spectacular levels, and hopefully the star will be reborn soon.

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murderous says:

October 31, 2009 at 8:28 am

Yes he will revive his career and his club it is only a matter of time everyone just needs to give him a break and stop depending on him and pato ac milan is a team everybody needs to pitch in and work together yes ronaldinho is not playing well at the moment but he will revive his career before 2010 people monitor his every move on the pitch with him listening to all negative thing people to say avout him he will never regain his confidence everyone just need to give him a break.

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