Vincenzo Montella received a lot of praise for his work with Fiorentina a few years ago, but he is now making an even bigger impression with AC Milan.

After taking over the Italian Serie A strugglers in the summer, the manager has been able to transform the club into a top three contender after a long gap.

Milan have not been seen near the top of the table for the last couple of years, as they have been struggling immensely with finances and lack of quality in the playing squad. The club has already gone through a number of managers – mostly their former stars – in the last few years, with tickets that were previously unobtainable now available to fans if they click here and visit 1st4tickets.com.

Aged just 42, Montella was a surprise appointment by Milan. An even bigger surprise awaited the fans as Silvio Berlusconi decided to sell the club to Chinese investors. It has brought the promise of new money to the club. Once upon a time, Milan were regularly competing for the best players in the world. The time is yet to return, but Montella perhaps was not in need of this change.

After three consecutive victories, though, the team suffered a shock 3-0 loss against Genoa. Manager Montella decided to take the blame for this defeat as he felt that the changes to the team did not bring about the desired effect.

“My choices were pondered carefully and considered in full. Obviously I couldn’t know beforehand how it would turn out. Suso came off the bench and did well, but could’ve done even better, because physically Genoa were wiped out. Every game is different, the team showed character, but with highs and lows. Genoa took away our depth and defended on the edge of the box. That is their strength and my choice of players was also based on those characteristics,” said Montella.