Who is to blame for Milan's debacle?

For those still holding out hope in Milan's chances of reviving their challenge for the scudetto, Saturday's home draw with Sampdoria provided further proof of the vulnerability and inconsistency that has kept the Rossoneri adrift of long-time leaders Juventus and second-placed Inter this season.

Milan have improved their tally by two points over last season but this is an underachievement when compared with the better records of Juve, plus nine, and Inter, who have obtained 13 points more than they had at the same stage last season.

Milan, who lie third in the standings 12 points behind Juventus and four below Inter, have been erratic this season.

Beyond doubt, a big mistake has been committed by the club management not to have rejuvenated the squad, particularly in the wake of last season's second place finish in the Serie A and their incredible defeat against Liverpool in the Champions League final.

Their upset to Liverpool, going down on penalties after squandering a three-goal lead, looks to have had a devastating effect on the morale of most of the players and the coach.

This season, some key players have been rather complacent. Take Gennaro Gattuso for instance. Before the start of the season, the ex-Perugia and Rangers midfielder made it known that he had requested a transfer just after Milan's defeat at the hands of Liverpool.

Gattuso is not the only Milan player not living up to expectations. Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and Brazilian stalwart Kaka have also underperformed on many a time this season.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Milan's problems lie at the back and not in midfield or attack. Their ageing defence had performed well up to April of last year with keeper Nelson Dida, Cafu, Jaap Stam, Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini forming arguably the strongest defensive set-up in Italian football.

By then, Milan were still in contention for the scudetto and the Champions League. A dip in the physical form of the squad in general, in particular the defenders, led to Milan finishing second in both competitions.

In the close season transfer window, Milan opted to bolster their midfield and forward line instead of focusing on their defence. But what about the defence?

No signings of note were made. On the contrary, Dida's understudy, Christian Abbiati, was offloaded to Juventus on loan.

In the meantime, Dida and the rest continued where they had left off in April as they never really recovered from their traumatic end to last season. In particular, Brazil custodian Dida, the Ajax-bound Stam and Nesta seem to have become fading copies of themselves this season.

Milan won the 2003/04 scudetto by playing with a tried-and-tested 4-3-2-1 system. Ancelotti stuck with this formula for most of last season, albeit club major shareholder, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi kept criticising the Milan coach for favouring a one-man attack. It was towards the end of the season that Ancelotti surrendered to the pressure and shifted to 4-4-2.

This new system, inevitably, weakened the defensive mechanism of the team because, apart from Gattuso, Milan cannot rely on other midfielders who can protect their rearguard from opponents' attacks.

When Ancelotti deployed Kaka and Manuel Rui Costa as support strikers, just behind either Andriy Shevchenko or Hernan Crespo last season, these two players used to give a vital helping hand to their three midfielders when the team had to defend.

It looks as if Milan will focus exclusively on the Champions League this season. They will meet Bayern Munich in the last 16 with the first leg to be played later this month.

Milan do not have an easy task to eliminate the Germans but one thing is certain. If they are to avoid finishing without a trophy, Milan have to improve defensively apart from rediscovering the fighting spirit of the good old days.

Serie A statistics

1st home win for troubled Messina after three consecutive draws, the southerners edging fellow strugglers Cagliari 1-0 on Sunday. Cagliari opted to play a containing game whereas Messina pressed for victory from the start. The game looked heading to end goalless, which would have been the first drawn result between these two sides since October 2003 (2-2 in Serie B) but Arturo Di Napoli scored from close range to give three priceless points to Messina. This was Messina's second home win in a row against Cagliari. Former champions Milan threw away a 1-0 lead against Sampdoria to fall 12 points adrift of pace-setters Juventus.

2nd league win on the trot for runaway leaders Juventus. The champions conquered Ascoli's Del Duca Stadium for the first time since November 24, 1991 (2-0) with three goals inside the opening 18 minutes. Ascoli's most recent home win against Juventus dates back to November 28, 1982 (2-0). Luigi Del Neri became the latest coaching casualty following Palermo's shock 1-3 home defeat against Siena. For the umpteenth time this season, Palermo's porous defence hampered much of their good work as Siena profited from the southerners' defensive errors. Siena's first win after a barren run of six winless games coincided with Palermo's second straight league defeat.

3 teams only - Juventus, Milan and Lazio - are still unbeaten at home. On Sunday, Lazio returned to winning ways away from their Olympic Stadium, beating bottom-of-the-class Treviso by a solitary Tommaso Rocchi goal. This was Lazio's first away success since beating Empoli 3-2 on November 27. Delio Rossi's side are undefeated in their last seven league outings. The change of coach - the experienced Luigi Cagni on for the novice Mario Somma - has yet to leave the desired dividends for beleaguered Empoli as the Tuscany side went down at home against Parma in a basement clash. Parma's second straight win, following their 2-1 victory over Chievo, coincided with Empoli's 11th consecutive game without a win.

4 years had to pass for Inter to return to winning ways against Lecce in the Via del Mare Stadium. The Nerazzurri left it late to record their fourth straight league win thanks to well-taken goals by Luis Figo and Dejan Stankovic. After two defeats and one draw, Beppe Pillon's Chievo regained their winning touch against Reggina. This was Chievo's first home win over Reggina in almost three years. On the other hand, Reggina have still to prevail in Verona against Chievo (three draws and five defeats in eight league visits).

6th straight league win for in-form Roma who overcame Livorno 3-0 at home to close in on fourth-placed Fiorentina. Livorno, who have not come out of the Olympic Stadium with a win since their 1-0 victory on February 23, 1947 (in Serie A), continued to show signs of strain as they were a far cry from the side that confounded the pundits in the first round. Suffice to say that Roberto Donadoni's men have now gone four successive games without a win (three draws and one defeat). For the record, the only time Roma-Livorno shared the spoils in 15 league meetings was on November 12, 1933 (0-0 in Serie A). Cesare Prandelli's Fiorentina saw their lead over Roma cut to only five points after they could not go beyond a goalless draw against 10-man Udinese at the Friuli Stadium.

24 goals, equally shared between hosts and visitors, were scored on the 22nd day. Visiting teams managed five wins. Foreigners contributed with 13 goals while there were 10 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far amounts to 577. Despite not being on the goalscorers' sheet, Luca Toni is still the leading marksman with 21 goals. The Fiorentina and Italy lanky striker is closely followed by Juve's David Trezeguet on the 18-goal mark. No own goals were recorded. Two players - Trezeguet and Erjon Bogdani (Siena) - notched a hat-trick each to help their respective sides cruise to identical away wins over Ascoli and Palermo respectively. Francesco Totti (Roma), Sergio Pellissier and Amauri (both Chievo) grabbed a brace each. Pellissier together with Denis Godeas (Palermo) and Parma's Mark Bresciano were the only players to come on as substitutes and find the net. Two players - Roberto Baronio (Udinese) and Christian Ledesma (Lecce) - received marching orders. Four penalties were awarded by referees, from which Totti, Francesco Tavano (Empoli), Amauri and Andriy Shevchenko (Milan) made no mistake.