The Coppa Italia defeat at the hands of Atalanta has once again thrust Stefano Pioli’s future into doubt, with the most accessible trophy having slipped away again.
La Gazzetta dello Sport talks about Pioli’s tenure as a repeating film. First there is the crisis, then an improvement (often very clear) that deceives, and then a return to darkness. It happened yesterday in the cup after the sparkling 3-0 league win against Empoli, just as it had happened against Salernitana after the 3-0 win against Monza.
This is what Milan are in 2023-24 and it sends its supporters to the madhouse because it is clear to everyone that the potential for another type of season was there, leading some to suggest that the operator of the machine is no longer capable of getting the best from the sum of the parts.
Over the course of 90 minutes there is almost always a Milan that pleases and one that disappoints, one who believes and one who condemns himself, one who has clear ideas and one who is confused. The return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic hasn’t provided an immediate fix, either.
The main problem for the coach is that now the missed targets are starting to accumulate very dangerously. They fall one after the other like leaves in November: the Scudetto fight was done several weeks ago, Champions League elimination followed and now the Coppa Italia.
The cup is not the most prestigious of the lot but in such a season it could have been a suitable bit of satisfaction to give a bit of flavour to an otherwise very forgettable campaign, also because the bracket was not as daunting.
What remains is the Europa League – where nine games are needed to reach the end and there are opponents like Liverpool on the way – and the bare minimum that the owners demands: qualification for the next Champions League.
It is here – for the most part – this last factor is the key to understanding the situation and Pioli’s position. In terms of objectives, seeing three collapse in just five months would put any manager at risk, let alone at a club always called upon to compete to win.
However, RedBird’s Milan is a club that reflects on a broad spectrum. Gerry Cardinale represents an owner that does not base everything on the result, but on the whole project and that is why he is used making evaluations and decisions at the end of the season.
It is the reason why Pioli remained in his post after the 2-2 draw in Salerno, that is the moment in which the coach’s position – net of the usual unofficial denials – wobbled the most in his four and a half years in charge.
The lack of real alternatives also helped him. In those hours the club asked itself: if we change coach and give the job to someone else, who can guarantee that things won’t get worse? A look at Napoli teaches something.
Pioli’s navigation therefore continues despite the missed objectives, because the guiding light remains that of fourth place. Once that is achieved, the financial flow would continue in a virtuous manner but the increasingly looming feeling is that in the summer it will be more likely to see a separation from Pioli than the opposite.
Nothing has been decided yet, this must be underlined and is a fact, but Antonio Conte’s name is destined to hover until the end of the season and the current campaign has shown critical issues that are impossible for the club to ignore.
Inconsistency in results, tactical confusion on more than one occasion, questions regarding mentality and of course the injuries are all things that stack up against the former Lazio and Inter boss.
At the same time, Pioli continues to be recognised for his merits in the management of the group, in the approach to difficulties, obviously recognition for previous results and these days also for the launch of young players who are generating the beginnings of an interesting new cycle.
Pioli and the team has lost the connection since Napoli draw. If you gave that summer money to Conte, as an example before you jump into conclusion, he would at least guarantee results. He doesn’t let Moncada or someone to else do decide on transfers
Yeah thats why every top team is after fraud Conte and not just Napoli lmao
And which top teams are looking for a coach right now? Always the stupid comment, you are subscribed to stupid comments…
Exactly. I would rather have a coach that knows what he wants than the one that allows some bankers and Moncada to buy players and hope it will be ok. Yes, Conte could leave when Furlani says something stupid as he was a banker until 2 years ago but that is how it goes when you have non-football people running the show…
Furlani has been involved with Milan well before the takeover. If you just look at his LinkedIn Profile, you will see that he’s been with Elliott since 2010. He’s not just a banker and had been behind the scenes during the Elliott takeover and loan from Li.
Trash!
We know, he knows, that this is his last season.
Sadly yes. Im not sure what ur opinion is on this but I’m not sure there are many coaches in the same pay bracket that could do much better with this team.
I’ve been a true defender of Pioli thru the last season’s fiasco. But I just can’t anymore this season. He just gets ahead of himself too far this season. And sometimes change is needed and something inevitable.
Regarding the payroll, maybe it’s exactly the thing we really need to reach a higher level? The same goes to the players’ wage budget. Unless we have settled on only being a top 4 club season in season out. That, we can keep Pioli for life.
I am going to tell you all Conte would change nothing.
It would be a step in the opposite direction..
I am going to tell you another thing ,that is we need to keep hold of pioli ..He has brought some success to this club in the past few years ..Yes we are out of the champions leauge ,,but we almost made it through.
In deed we should have done ..
Let’s see this season out ,before we make a wrong drastic decision..I hope pioli is still with us next season .if we finish in 3rd place in the league and win the Europa cup ,or at least to the latter stages ,,then I would still count that as success.
Man City this season in the premiership,do not look as good at the moment ..
I think this year for whatever reason we have had so many injuries..let’s remedy this first ,,then good results might follow .
😂.
If it’s up to you Milan will keep Pioli forever and Giroud will sign lifetime contract.
Almost made it? If not for Juve getting point reduction last season we wouldn’t even be in cl. Pioli have been extremely lucky considering
this is very wrong. very wrong. you cant keep a loser in charge and expect better results on pure optimism.
the world does not run that way.
We need to sack the baldy and at least half the mangment and start over. At least the team does not need a big remont. A dm and st would be enough for one summer.
Speaking of your world knowledge, you want the management to sack itself out of a job? And on what grounds? On the grounds of being the only profitable club in the country in a sport where almost everyone bleeds to death, out of the 10-year ashes of the banter era, and quite likely meeting the minimum sporting (financial) objective of making the top 4 every foreseeable year which guarantees a competitive club? All of this in a country where building a new stadium takes 20 years of bribes and red tape?
Like all fans, I’d like to be in first place and winning the UCL like 15+ years ago. But short of both FFP dying and being bought by a Sheik, this is as good a path as we can for the mid to long term. Pioli is meeting the sporting objectives. He should remain coach until the sporting objectives change.
im not even gonna bother with you.
jesus us there any sane perosn on this f*cking site left?
Great reply!
And you are the sane one that asks the management to fire itself. Maybe we can all do magic mushrooms and live in your reality!
Who fired Maldini? If you know this then you know who can fire the fuuuuuuuuucking managmnet. Braindead imbecil
Related to management – Scaroni has no real power, you’ve even alluded to this. To see the change you want to see you need a completely new org. which means a new ownership with different goals.
And its spelled imbecile in English, there is a space between brain and dead, and management is spelled like you are reading it now, cupcake.
dude ran out of ideas and decided the gramar nazi route. so pathetic . MOST DEF BRAINDEAD
All CAPS and selective reading does the charm!
I think you’re spot on with regards to the running of the club, but I think you’re wrong on Pioli. I think a better coach will get more out of these players, improve consistency between games, and bring new tactical ideas. We’ve seen the same issues for two seasons running now. New players were brought in, and while we’re struggling a little less, we’re still seem to be stuck in second gear. It’s time for a change. Pioli can stay until the summer, unless we really start crashing, but then it’s just time.
I agree!
When turtles fly…. 🙂 Don’t bother with him (to quote him). Some people are so short-sighted that they can’t see past the length of their nose…
The club operates in a fiscally responsible way and that’s saying A LOT given we’re in Italy, where the federation actively takes steps backwards instead of forward. With FFP and abolition of the Growth Decree it is vital now, MORE THAN EVER, to operate within sustainable parameters.
I am good with it. Pioli, given his limitations, is doing reasonably well and keeping the club within its objectives. Hopefully we are set for a coaching change this summer to take us to next level.
People think that we need to be winning Scudetto and in Europe every year to be successful. LOL!!! Just Unrealistic.
I’m good with Pioli until the summer and RedBird in charge (so far)
Interista detected
Pioli seriously lack ability to read games and act. Was screaming at the tv for him to take out Jimmenz but again it took a goal against for him to react.
Fire that clown….! Furlani also!!!
Well it’s simple lol. Small teams… great (which is not a bad thing btw). And the articles on how Reijnders is a bargain and RLC rediscover his form and so on comes out. Then we play the bigger teams and these guys are nowhere to be seen…not so much fanfare and reality steps in on the actual quality of players we bought. Things will take time, it’s a transition year. We have a whole new midfield. Last time we had that was when Kessie and co came and they didn’t really got clicking until 1.5-2 years out. By overhauling in the summer, this is expected but management and the coach seem to think you can just carry on as if nothing major happened. That being said, imo Pioli is doing the best he can with this team. We’re not better than Juve or Inter and we seem to be the best of the rest in the league which is in an around what REALLY should have been expected. Like Scaroni said Top 4 baby!!!! 😂
Words of reason and objectivity. Well done!
I feel this is crazy harsh on Pioli.
He’s got the side comfortably in third place, with the fourth highest payroll in the league (might be third).
He’s come third in a Champions League group with a team with the third or fourth highest payroll.
And he’s achieving ‘par’ with a team full of injuries and transferred players who are new to both Milan and Serie A. To me he’s doing an acceptable job. Maybe someone else could get the team to overperform but there’s no crisis going on.
If people think Conte is a guarantee to overperform whilst bedding in a young squad full of new players, you must have never seen him manage. And the other replacement options are very unknown gambles.
I have been watching Conte since his Italy national team coach era. One thing he can obviously bring is discipline. He will put players into their boxes from sky. He doesn’t give nonsense interview after being ra*ped by parasite Inter by 5:1. He works for result NOW. He is not a puppet for management. We lack discipline and mentality compared to Inter. We HOPE, they WANT. That’s the difference now. They are playing to win the league and reach UCL final.
What we are playing for?
You can yap about their salary expenses but you know that their income from tournaments are far better than ours.
If we stay with Pioli and play against inter 10 times, they will win at least 7 or 8 times and will be the favorites 10 times. This is not how it should work.
They don’t sign gamble players unlike us.
If we keep playing like this for the next 5 years, we will be next Roma and Lazio like club. No world class serious player will join us no matter how much we offer.
Some achievements are needed from time to time. We need the league title at least once in every 3-4 years to keep our name alive.
Every team has similar budget like us. Thankfully, Arab oil money hasn’t arrived to Italy yet.
Forget about UCL, Italian teams aren’t gonna win it in the next at least 5 years without crazy money. We need the league title.
MILAN has the strategy he doesn’t suit into our philosophy yap yap yap. Forget this nonsense.
We don’t have any special strategy or philosophy (at least it’s not working, so no one cares)
Conte is ideal name to bring result now if we cannot get Motta. 2 things we have to agree with him. 1. Not to sign a player older than 30. 2. Transfer budget limit for every summer transfer window.
Giving him at least 100 mil per summer (plus the money from transfers) and asking him to win the league seems achievable. Club keeps whatever money comes from tournaments. This is doable.
Sign a player who is wanted by a coach, not by Moncada or Furlani ffs.
We have to hire entirely different medical team anyway!
You’re amazing for this comment
How is Pioli supposed to achieve with no center backs, and Bennacer + Chuku leaving for the useless cup?
Rafael Lazyao and Headless-chicken Pulisic on the wings, 18 year old left back? Come on guys
He should have fired his athletic director.
You mean the Pulisic with 6 goals and 5 assists? Or the Leao that despite not scoring still puts in the assists? You’re right what a useless bunch…. SMH
If it was with any other team, any other club, big clubs, or heck any other era, Pioli would already have been sacked, heck he would have been sacked a long ago. No other team would have allowed such a disaster to go on and on for such a long time.
He is either very lucky, or the management doesn’t want to spend money losing him and trying to get a replacement. He was supposed to “go” if we don’t make it to the UCL knockout phase, he is still there. He was supposed to “go” if he doesn’t win the scudetto, it’s clear that we wont. We’re out of yet another title race, he is still here.
This administration has no guts.
But before some of you say it’s too risky to get a new coach now, let’s adress another issue: Matteo Osti. We have an injury crisis like never before, and I think it’s safe to say that he bears a big part of the blame, yet the management doesn’t do anything about it. It has been adressed multiples times, yet nothing has been done. Out of 28 players, this season only 5 have yet to be injured.
Muscular injuries and operations are not to be taken lightly, if it becomes a trend for a player, he might become injury prone, becomes less efficient on the field because of the time spent outside of it and in the end, pretty much has to go elsewhere.
Osti and Pioli have been working together for years, and I think it’s safe to say that the latter is against getting rid of the former. I’d say get rid of them both.
Well, Maldini was no fool when he wanted him gone… They wanted a puppet, and they got one. they cannot sack Baldy because they cannot afford his severance benefits. They could not afford the commission for a young lad; they claimed they had scouted severally and were going head-to-head with Man City. at one time, it was because they didnt want the non-EU slot taken, then the effrontery of arriving a day early, and then the agents were greedy like raiola! of course, they are not milan scouts! Who else will they be loyal too?
Their moneyball algorithm must have told them Pioli would win a trophy this season. lets watch.
Pioli should have been sacked after losing to Inter. early enough for another coach to salvage the season. excuses upon excuses, injuries and all, never his fault, his press conferences? They give me ear pain.
If we make it safely to Europe, he will say that was our season’s objective, and he has overachieved it. We are Milan; we are to exceed expectations, that spirit of excellence should be there. winning trophies regularly keeps the standard high, not struggling to stay in the top 4 and jubilating whenever we do!
I’m curious how you know what Milan can and can not afford? Furlani call you to get your input? Or you just huffing and puffing? LOL!!!!!
Our “spirit of excellence” as you called it was rotting and on a dramatic decline under the same Berlusconi who made you believe in it. Then under the Chinese.
Then come the Americans, clean up the mess of the last 15 years, wipe the debts, straighten the accounts and put Milan on a sustainable path.
And you call that “could not afford commission” and criticize ‘moneyball’? Right on…. Makes a lot of sense. If you want a club that affords sh*t you can back one of the Oil rich clubs, or ManUtd or Chelsea or something – look how well it’s working for them. 😉
“Pioli should have been sacked after losing to Inter. early enough for another coach to salvage the season” lol when Inter beat us we were 3 points off top, literally the gap was the derby. What was there to salvage at that point? Man u guys overreact. Thank goodness y’all not in management. Coaches that take over through the season rarely do well or make ground breaking improvements. See Napoli. Matter of fact the last time a coach did pretty well when they took over mid season was ….ummm…. Pioli lol 😂