By now, everybody knows that AC Milan's golden era has gone, that many of the squad's core members are past their best and that the Via Turati head honchos need to effect change sooner rather than later to avoid facing revolt from the fans. These are the same fans who already showed what they can do when the club dared to entertain the notion of selling Kaka to Manchester City for a world record-smashing fee in January.

With the Champions League door slammed shut in the most mortifying of circumstances at the end of last season, Rossoneri fans can at least find solace in the fact that a window of opportunity has creaked open for them to escape from this debacle with at least some remnants of their dignity. The UEFA Cup, soon to be dubiously renamed the Europa League, is a competition now devoid of any genuine prestige, but has been made meaningful at Milanello purely because, as one of the world's most successful clubs, Milan have in fact never won it before.

And now they really have to win it. In the wake of the loss to Inter on Sunday night in the derby, Milan trail their city rivals by 11 points and can all but kiss their Scudetto hopes goodbye. The club's vice-president, Adriano Galliani, had on numerous occasions underlined that the league would be the priority, but the squad remains too frail to sustain such a challenge against the likes of a robust Inter side or even Juventus, who despite still lacking in quality, have the fighting spirit to get a result against just about anyone.

What they still have though, is an abundance of class. More than Juve and yes, more than Inter. This Milan team remains one of the classiest to have graced the field of play over the last decade, but their occasional lack of goals, coupled with their more-than-occasional penchant for gifting them to opposition of all shapes and sizes, has made them a soft touch for all comers, domestically and on the continent.

Sunday's Derby della Madonnina was one of the games of the season so far - not just in Serie A, but the whole of Europe. Without going as far as to recycle the cliche that the game 'had everything' - which it didn't - it was an intense and absorbing clash of styles, with play shifting from end to end and in the end, it was steel that made the difference when the full-time whistled sounded at San Siro.

Yes, luck played a part not just in Adriano being 'handed' the opening goal as Milan were threatening to dominate, but also in Pippo Inzaghi's strong penalty claim being waved away by a nonchalant and occasionally nonsensical Roberto Rosetti. Precluding all of that, though, was Inter's steel. Steel in defence, steel in midfield and steel in attack. Milan had none of the above and it showed.

Carlo Ancelotti has already done well to get more out of this ageing squad than many thought possible, and indeed maybe the full-scale Milan makeover many thought was a necessity can in fact be discarded in favour of a less drastic and more long-term approach to transition. For the remainder of the season, Ancelotti must simply ensure at all costs the capture of the UEFA Cup, but beyond that, the fact remains that big, brave decisions need to be made in the summer for Milan to ensure they become more than just a cup team.

The acquisition of David Beckham was a minor masterstroke, and Ronaldinho, while he will never be the player he was at Barcelona, is still one of the best passers of the ball in the world and an undisputed footballing genius. The rise of these two would-be Galacticos has coincided with the decline of Andrea Pirlo. The World Cup winner remains a commodity of undisputed class, but his limitations are even greater than those of Beckham and Ronaldinho, two players universally castigated for pace and work-rate respectively.

All three of them cannot play in one team and on the evidence of the derby, the whole season's form and indeed the shape of the team, the head would rule, much to the hurt of the heart, that it is Pirlo who has to go. The conundrum will remain that Milan are a family before a football club and in that sense are more likely to stand in the way of their own success; but sacrificing Pirlo to facilitate the inclusion of a striker would restore the threat possessed in years gone by with the likes of Hernan Crespo and Andriy Shevchenko leading the line.

Not for a second is it being suggested that Sheva, back at San Siro after his soul-*u*king experience at Stamford Bridge, should be the man for the job. Marco Borriello, though having had a torrid time with injuries all season, does not offer quite enough to warrant a starting place in any top team either. In a brief, offside-frenzied cameo in the derby, Pippo Inzaghi showed what a threat a real striker can be on the end of a production line housing as much creativity as Milan's.

In truth, Milan would have done well to battle Juve for Amauri in the summer, but with that opportunity now well and truly beyond them, the likes of summer target Emmanuel Adebayor or Adriano, whose handball goal decided the ill-fated derby, could be on the end of the barrage of crosses from Beckham, Gianluca Zambrotta and Marek Jankulovski, with little Pato scurrying around waiting for every knock-down and rebound. They might have even been better off swooping for Real Madrid's January signing, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

Moving on, Carlo Ancelotti must eventually get over his infatuation with Massimo Ambrosini and give the younger, more vibrant Mathieu Flamini a fair run in the holding role, while Clarence Seedorf is another one who, while obviously in possession of vast amounts of quality, has become somewhat ponderous and lacking in a defined role within this Milan attack. With Kaka back in the team, having missed the derby through injury, there is no telling what more the Rossoneri could have got from the game. Ronaldinho is the new Pirlo, Beckham is the new Seedorf and Flamini is the new Gattuso - it will not be as simple as like-for-like replacements, but Milan must embrace this change and adopt a new style for a new era.

And speaking of old and new eras, in light of the once-great Kakha Kaladze's strong bid to rival Simone Loria as one of the most embarra**ingly poor performers of the season, change is needed at the back for Milan as well. Philippe Senderos is not the answer; he's not fit to wax Jaap Stam's head, never mind lace his boots or take his shirt number.

Thiago Silva will prove to be a good signing, but one more is needed to be first-choice as partner alongside him next season. Alessandro Nesta is almost as finished as Paolo Maldini, which will see the Rossoneri all-but lose two of the greatest defenders of all time in one summer. Nesta will be back, but for how long? And will he ever be the same?

Daniel Agger seems the most likely defensive recruit of this coming summer, and indeed Milan could do a lot worse than an athletic Dane with a lethal left foot. Philippe Mexes would prove to be a signing of valuable experience and proven class, though Roma may make his sale a lot more difficult than the Rossoneri would be willing to tolerate. Fabiano Santacroce, a highly touted prospect at Napoli, is an option probably too unproven (and young) for Milan, while Sergio Ramos is something of a pipedream for Rossoneri fans that does not look like coming to fruition, and they have even been linked with Nemanja Vidic today. Now there's a Stam if there ever was one - but he, too, will be beyond the reach of Milan as long as Sir Alex Ferguson rules the roost at Old Trafford.

It's true that there are players all over the park in this Milan side that aren't as good as they were. There are better goalkeepers out there than Christian Abbiati and better full-backs now than Gianluca Zambrotta and suffices to say the alternatives on the bench aren't good enough. Change across the board can come over time, but fantasy football rebuilding would be taking things too far. Just two major signings and some reshuffling - even if at the expense of fan favourites such as Pirlo and Seedorf - can give back to Milanello the one thing they want more than anything else: to be the undisputed Kings of Calcio.