When Sinisa Mihajlovic was appointed as AC Milan's manager on June 16th, it felt like a good fit. Milan have spent the past two seasons languishing in the middle of the Serie A table, to the point where neither players nor fans have much confidence left in the football club's ability to win titles. Mihajlovic, meanwhile, is a coach known for being able to motivate and inspire his teams to better performances than they ever thought possible. He proved that much at Sampdoria, where, in just two years, he took a recently promoted Serie B squad and turned it into a Europa League-qualifying organization.
A Golden Opportunity
The hope, of course, was that the motivational Mihajlovic would lift the lagging spirits of the AC Milan 
soccer squad and return the team to former levels of glory. After all, AC Milan's "glory days" aren't even that far in the past at this point: they last won the Serie A title in 2011 and landed in top-three slots in the league in both 2012 and 2013.
AC Milan have also had a golden opportunity to leap right back up to the top of the title this season. After four straight Serie A titles, Juventus have come back down to earth for the 2015 2016 campaign. With the Zebras struggling in the middle of the table, the top slot is wide open for the first time in years.
Inter's Rise from the Ashes
If all had gone according to plan, Mihajlovic would have been able to capitalize on Juve's weak start to engineer a return to form at AC Milan. That's precisely what Roberto Mancini has done at Inter Milan. AC's crosstown rivals have hit a rough patch of their own in recent years. They won the Serie A title five years in a row, from 2006 to 2010, but stumbled to sixth place with the 2011 2012 season and have been struggling ever since.
This year, though, Internazionale finally seem to have found their footing. Under Mancini's leadership, the football club has drawn confidence and motivation from the collapse going on at Juventus. They won their first five matches of the 2015 2016 campaign, and have spent the majority of the soccer season in either first or second place.
Mihajlovic on Shaky Ground
In other words, Inter seem to be taking the golden opportunity that AC Milan haven't been able to grab. That's not to say that Milan has been terrible this season. On the contrary, they've enjoyed a few good games, including wins against Udinese and Palermo. A few of the soccer club's recent marquee signings-including Carlos Bacca, Luiz Adriano, and Alessio Romagnoli-have also, at times, helped to reinvigorate Milan's offense and defense.
Unfortunately, a few embarrassing losses-particularly a 0-4 at-home defeat against Napoli on October 4th-have kept Milan languishing in the middle of the table and unable to establish any momentum. Those losses have also resulted in some fans and soccer pundits calling for Mihajlovic's head-an unsurprising, but perhaps unfair turn of events.
Sure, Mihajlovic may be struggling to establish the kind of aggressive, dominant football team he wants to build at AC Milan. But it's becoming quickly apparent that AC Milan's problems are bigger than a coach. Just as Mihajlovic's immediate predecessors-Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi-couldn't inspire direction in the Red and Blacks, Mihajlovic can't seem to do it either. And if Mihajlovic, one 
of soccer's master motivators, can't restore direction to AC Milan, then it's unlikely any manager can.
ESPN has pointed the finger at President Silvio Berlusconi and CEO Adriano Galliani for AC Milan's problems. From a failure to stand behind and support their coaches through rough periods to a number of bungled transfer deals, AC Milan's upper management officials certainly deserve most of the blame for the football club's current struggles. If Mihajlovic doesn't turn things around soon, he'll likely be sacked, but don't expect that to change things.
Do you think AC Milan can be fixed? Are you hoping that the club's officials give Mihajlovic the time he needs to motivate his players? Pick up an AC Milan shirt 2015 2016 from Soccer Box to show your support for the embattled football coach.
