With four wins in their last five matches, things are slowly beginning to turn round for AC Milan under head coach Gennaro Gattuso.
After a mediocre start to the season, the Rossoneri are steadily gaining ground on the teams at the top, with a 2-1 victory over third-placed Lazio on Sunday leaving them just three points off a Europa League spot.
Gattuso seems to have instilled some of his famously dogged mentality into his team, though his methods are what you might call “unorthodox”.
Indeed, the 40-year-old gathered his players in a huddle after the Lazio game and invited them to take out any and all of their frustrations on him.
Gattuso SUPER MASTERCLASS:
He is asked why the after match celebration getting slapped in the middle of the team:
Gattuso: “I just want to make them happy, especially the players angry with me because are on the bench, so now they have chance to slap me” pic.twitter.com/KsBGR0lvw0— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) January 28, 2018
“I just want to make my squad happy,” Gattuso said afterwards.
“Especially the players who are angry with me because are on the bench, so now they have chance to slap me.”
It’s a strange (not to mention painful) way of going about fostering team spirit, but you simply can’t argue with the results.
Chris covers the funny side of the game for ESPN FC in the Toe Poke blog.