Stefano Pioli gave his first press conference of the summer today at Milanello on what is the first day of preseason for his squad, and he answered some important questions.
It has already been a hectic summer for Milan. Less than 48 hours after the final game the sacking of Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara was confirmed, plunging the project into disrepute, while the sale of Sandro Tonali to Newcastle created another storm.
Nevertheless, a crucial season awaits for Pioli in which he is reported to have more trust and more responsibility than ever before, with the ownership RedBird Capital clearly admirers of what he has done so far.
Pioli spoke to the reporters who gathered at Milanello and answered their questions ahead of the first training session of the summer which takes place at 17:30 CEST. His words were relayed by MilanNews.
What are your first sensations?
“There is emotion, it is nice to come back here and see everyone again. It is important to start working again, only by working will they understand which path to follow.”
How was the last month?
“I want to thank Maldini and Massara, if I’m here it’s also thanks to them. It was a relationship of esteem. I’ve always felt at the centre of the Milan project.
“Before I spoke with Paolo and Ricky, now with Moncada and Furlani I’ve worked a lot this month, even in the past I’ve talked to players who could have arrived. So my job hasn’t changed that much. Ours is a market of ideas.”
Is there more weight in your choices now compared to before?
“Even before, I said what we needed, I’ve always participated in building the team. I have great respect for my players, but I think the time has come to make some changes.”
What is Milan’s goal?
“The goal is always to get the most out of it [the season] and be competitive in every competition and try to win something.”
Who could be the surprise?
“It’s hard to say now, the mercato is constantly evolving.”
Would you like a completed squad for the USA?
“I’d like a completed team, but it’s not possible. The transfer market lasts until August 31st. From now until I leave for the USA on July 21st, I expect some movement.”
Do you feel more alone and less protected?
“No. A manager’s fate depends on results. I have always assumed my responsibilities and I will do it again.”
The fans are always by your side…
“They continue to prove that they are unique and the best.”
Are you looking for a centre-forward?
“It’s not fair to focus on a single player, but there will be changes. Zlatan will be missing, so the striker is a goal.”
Will you change formation?
“This is almost my fifth season. I feel like an architect of a thing with a solid structure, but where some areas of the house should be arranged to have something better.
“There could also be tactical innovations to have greater advantages. A lot will also depend on the characteristics who will arrive. With players of quality and intelligence, new things can be done.”
Is Milan’s schedule a difficult one?
“I’m starting with a lot of confidence. The fixtures? We have to face all opponents. We just have to think about working well. We have to make the most of the days we have before the start of the season.”
Are Milan looking more at players from abroad than players in Italy?
“It’s not that we don’t want Italians. We’re looking for players suited to our way of playing football. If they’re from abroad, it’s because we think they’re more suitable. We’re talking about high-level players who won’t need a long period of adaptation.”
How much do you miss Ibra? Who could be the new leader in his place?
“This team has grown, also thanks to Ibra, but now we have players who can be leaders. We are more mature than three years ago. This too will be a challenge, that is, being successful even without Ibra.
“Ibra as a manager? He is always welcome at Milanello. I spoke to him a few days ago, I still don’t know what his future will be and also the club’s choices in this role.”
Is there a need for a new balance without Maldini and Massara?
“Maldini and Massara were protagonists, but it is the club that gives continuity to the path. The players know where they are, what shirt we wear and what we represent.”
Have you heard from Cardinale?
“I spoke with him this morning. He wished the team good luck and motivated me for the season.”
Tonali was sold to Newcastle United – how did you take his departure?
“It’s a serious loss from a technical point of view and he will have to be replaced with dignity. It’s a good situation for him, it’s difficult to do something different…”
Who will be battling for the Scudetto?
“The opponents will be the usual ones. The starting grids are up to you and in the last two years, you’ve didn’t guess right. It doesn’t count now. It will be a hard-fought and difficult season.”
This year there will be no break for the World Cup…
“Having routine weeks is optimal for everyone. Having fewer shifts during the week is an advantage, but like for us, it is also for others.”
Has there been any changes to your staff?
“Roma and Betti have left, there is still a place and it will soon be filled.”
How have newcomers like Loftus-Cheek and Romero looked?
“Loftus and Romero are very motivated, they want to give a lot to this team. One of the best characteristics we can look for, beyond technical quality, is motivation.”
Have you talked to Chukwueze and Reijnders?
“I speak all languages a bit badly, but I try and hope to make myself understood.”
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What kind of players are you looking for?
“Speed and one-on-one ability for the right winger. Midfielders with different characteristics.”
Do you see Kalulu as a full-back or centre-back? Do you need reinforcements in defence?
“I moved him about a bit. He’ll start as centre-back, but if needed, he can also play full-back. If there aren’t any departures, I think we’ll stay that way.”
How was your relationship with Maldini?
“We had an excellent relationship. Obviously we also had discussions, which were greater in the year of the Scudetto. Respect and esteem have never been lacking.”
Were you afraid of being sacked?
“If one fears it, he is sacked. I know the risks of the trade.”
Not long ago Silvio Berlusconi passed away…
“I learned of the news that I was on the plane to the Maldives. In my years at Milan, Berlusconi called me often. The last time a few days before his death.
“He has always had an incredible love for Milan. All the Milan fans have lost a point of reference. I spoke to Galliani. We are happy to participate in the Silvio Berlusconi trophy.”
Will Baresi have a new role?
“I don’t know if it will be like this, Franco is Milan and he already has a position in Milan. His experience could only be useful for everyone.”
Well at least he doesn’t have his head in the clouds, it will be a very tough season indeed. But we’re here for it. Forza Milan
“he will have to be replaced with dignity”
Not with the likes of RLC.
Rightly so. As RLC was first approached by Maldini when we still had Tonali and Isma (injury). So it’s more towards depth and providing players with different characteristics rather than a replacement. So whenever I read RLC is the replacement of Tonali, he was and is not.
Check the shirt number he took.
So? Lazetic chose № 22 and he’s supposed to be Kaka replacement?
Wkwkwk . @ibrahim ba cannot stop laugh read the comment above you about ted guy. Imagine make shirt number as comparison. Leao take number 10 so he is seedorf replacement?
So the claim that Pioli didn’t take part in squad building at previous transfer market and the claim that Pioli has increased role starting from this transfer market are both false.
“Even before, I said what we needed, I’ve always participated in building the team.”
“Before I spoke with Paolo and Ricky, now with Moncada and Furlani I’ve worked a lot this month, even in the past I’ve talked to players who could have arrived. So my job hasn’t changed that much. Ours is a market of ideas.”
From what I understood even when they were fired, the whole point was that Maldini made the decision about transfers with Massara, with advice from other staff. They did not want a big team for that. And now they decision is made by AI, those data US guys, Furlani, Moncada and maybe more.
It’s not just advice. Pioli talk to the targets:
“even in the past I’ve talked to players who could have arrived”
So Martin, data and AI still picked out RLC? Lol
Or was that DI? Desperation Intelligence 😅
More like writing “midfielders not more than 20m” in chatGPT
🤣🤣💀💀💀
To be fair it is a spectrum anyway, do people really believe there are coaches that have 0% or 100% say in transfers in the modern era. It is always going to be something in between the extremes.
Some people here believe in extreme, either lover or hater.
Truth hurts, Stefano rocks! He brought milan back to winning ways which eventually make sense after winning the league a year ago. We often tend to forget about it.
People also tend to forget that it’s Maldini who had his back when Rangnick was almost a certain thing. Without it, he’s still be a coach who never wins Serie a. Let’s see how he’ll manage the winning mentality without the help of person who knows what it takes to win, who has Milan in his DNA, and who’s always there for the players. Of course I hope nothing but a good thing for our team. It’s gonna be a challenging (and exciting) season ahead.
Bingo Stanley! I just can’t think of a world where M&M went out of their way to get CDK for instance without zero recommendations from anyone.. someone else had to have made a recommendation. It simply doesn’t make sense. M&M were the fall guys last season, so barring us winning the UCL, which in all likelihood we will 🤭, I wonder who would be the fall guys come season end😁
The bulk was on their table to choose between Dybala (free agent) of CDK (35m)
But they choose CDK despite recommendations suggesting Dybala even from Cardinale himself. But Maldini being Maldini put his job on the line for CDK.
The same Maldini style, rigid in his convictions and wouldn’t back down, chose to continue with Pioli despite the poor results, and all Rossoneri around the world wanted Ragnick, but he put his job on the line for Pioli. It paid up, so he received his due accolades for that.
But it was obvious that, despite Pioli getting the results on the pitch, the play and chemistry dropped significantly. While results showed Maldini’s gamble on Pioli paid up, the gameplay however showed he did a poor job in getting the best potentials out of the squad.
Gentle words, dignifeid, good luck mister, the first words, in the last 2 months, to make me believe we can still be competitive, true gentleman, lets get it rolling
I’m very confident we can finish in the top 6 in the league and finish 3rd in our champions league group. Anything else will be a bonus.
“I’m very confident we can finish in the top 6 in the league and finish 3rd in our champions league group. Anything else will be a bonus”
Anything else means, you should stop supporting Milan..
Well the bonus in your comment is you stop support AC Milan & find other club . That would be good bonus
Repost unsure it went through
There’s so much to unpack from this presser.
“I want to thank Maldini and Massara, if I’m here it’s also thanks to them. It was a relationship of esteem. I’ve always felt at the centre of the Milan project.
“Before I spoke with Paolo and Ricky, now with Moncada and Furlani I’ve worked a lot this month, even in the past I’ve talked to players who could have arrived”
So the idea that Maldini didn’t work or have a good relationship with Pioli can be thrown out. Or Maldini going about his own business and buying players Pioli didn’t want can also be thrown out. And yet y’all ran with the narratives, smh.
And I guess we can rule out Pioli not having a say in building the squad and asking for players in the market. Both him and Scaroni has said he’s the centre of the project which leads me to question…if he has that much power, why did he not have a say in who he wants to be surrounded with ie keep M&M. So one of two things…either he no longer wanted M&M around or he has no choice in decision making but is yet “central” to the project lol (I think the latter)
It seems while he can be the centre there are greater powers that be ie Furlani and I suppose less so Moncada. The higher ups basically run the show…he’s only central to the project because he doesn’t make a fuss. It’s perfect for them. Even here in the interview, if you can read between the lines, he timidly is asking to replace Tonali with a proper CDM which RLC isn’t LMAO 😂. Drop in technical quality indeed which needs to be replaced with dignity lol. Oh I spat out my tea. But he won’t go as far as to say “investments are needed”. And …..that’s why they like him 😁
On the formation, like I’ve said before, he aint changing shyte haha 😂. Funny seeing ppl get hyped up on the 433 lol. He’s the architect of a solid 4231 structure. Sure he might choose differently from time to time but 4231 stays.
Yup, the fact that they are still pursuing a starter-level RW after signing Pulisic means they plan on using Pulisic as AM in 4-2-3-1.
Yes that’s my guess as well too. Pulisic AM and CDK as backup. And if they really want Chuk they should pay up now, have him in preseason to get accustomed to tactics instead of waiting til.thebwnd of the window. By that they’ll get pretty much what they needed. And add in some capable but cheap CDMs and they’re in good shape tbh
💯💯💯💯. Perfectly said @IKWYDLS.
Pioli just proved what most intelligent fans and non-Maldini haters already knew – that the false narrative of Maldini being a power hungry non-collaborator which is what lead to his firing was completely BS Redbird PR SPIN to attempt to deal with the negative fan backlash they were seeming not prepared for.
Maldini was fired because he asked Gerry to spend more $$. Period. It wasn’t because of this transfer or that transfer working or not working. End of story. Pioli towed the company line so he stays. As long as he does that they won’t fire him.
Now – Mr Pioli is all on his own. That’s fine. Nobody to blame if things don’t go well. Let’s hope we get results and everything is smooth sailing.
Also agree Pioli is not changing his double pivot system. Perhaps we play a 4-3-3 occasionally- but the majority will be his tried and true 4-2-3-1.
Let’s hope Redbird spends the $$$$ Pioli/we need to remain competitive in UCL and league. Chuwezuke, Reijnders, Musah, Singo, and a real #9 are still needed. Get to work Gerry and pull out that check book.
Yes Juro..so that’s the thing. From a logical standpoint what was written about M&M simply didn’t make sense. The narratives got me upset and how ppl running with it.
That being said, I also hope they equip Pioli with the players he needs because he’s been pulling rabbits out of hats for a long time now and sooner or later a rabbit might not pop out. It’s not crazy to have both opinions co existing as a fan too 🤦♂️ lol
Pioli is MVP
Hey don’t get me wrong, I actually like Pioli as a coach. I think he should given the players he wants and then we can truly assess his work. But what’s he don’t with what little he has is commendable. I also dont think there’s another coach available that can do a better job
I want to be positive but I cannot see this team making top 4 or getting anywhere near the cups.
We never replaced Kessie, but got away with it last year, now we have lost our best and most reliable midfielder in Tonali and replaced with an injury prone reject from Chelsea. The other midfield targets are risky at best having never played in Serie A, Reijnders would have to make a massive step up from dutch football, Musah is expensive and certainly not on the same level as tonali or kessie, plus he is from la Liga, and we don’t have much joy there.
The links we have to strikers is laughable, so no doubt we will be left with Giroud and as for right wing, Chukwaze is too expensive and never played in serie A, so a risk and prob won’t come anyway as we don’t have the money and seems Messias won’t leave anyway.
We have no upgrades on last year’s team, let alone the scudetto team, in fact the only upgrade we have is Sportiello.
This season is looking bleak at best, would prefer if we went for some tried and tested to get us through this rocky patch, Berardi, Orsolini, Amrabat etc, sure many would disagree but at least they know the league and would settle easily.
Pulisc could be a good signing but he will be injured with RLC. So little hope there.
Will keep my fingers crossed tho and keep supporting the team, Forza Milan
Yeah dude, Milan is finishing 10th because Tonali was such a important player that everything depended on him and there’s no way we can replace him without spending 80m on a midfielder right?
You literally just took every target and painted them as negative just to make your point lmao
Well tell me a target that replaces Tonali ? And then tell me one thet replaces Kessie ? Do you want the team to succeed or not ? How can we move forward without replacing what we have lost ?
lol Bennacer already replaces Tonali, he is far more offensive than him, you act like Tonali was the ultimate defensive midfielder, he wasnt, he was the type of player that didnt excel at offense nor defense.
Musah/Dominguez and RLC can easily replace him at the pivot or on a midfield 3 with Rejinders and it was be will better because unlike Tonali Musah/Dominguez are actual DMs which we were MISSING LAST SEASON because Maldini spent the whole summer chasing Renato Sanches to get rejected.
OK, so u obviously not a fan of Tonali, fine. Musah and Reijnderrs are unproven so we will see on that, Bennacer is out most of the season so won’t be able to contribute much, Dominguez, yes I agree and hope for, but I won’t hold my breath. You may think I am being negative but nothing so far is giving me much hope, and RLC ? Well just look at his record, u will prob disagree and that is your perogative, but we all have our own opinions
I dont need to be a fan of Tonali, you pretend like Tonali was the most important midfielder we had, no he wasnt, it was always Bennacer pulling the strings of attack and our problem last season was DEFENSE, if Tonali was such a good defensive midfielder why wasnt he able to stop the leaky defense last season? It wasnt all on our centrebacks, our midfield was atrocious
So lets stop pretending like we lost the most imporant part of Milan, we still have a strong CB and LB/RBs, Leao is still here, striker for Giroud is coming and they are working to replace the RW.
So why on earth would Milan struggle more than last season? Explain
“Tonali is a serius loss from a technical point of view and he will have to be replaced with dignity”
“This is almost my fifth season. I feel like an architect of a thing with a solid structure, but where some areas of the house should be arranged to have something better.”
Yes, he won’t change the formation. At least from the beginning of the season.
“If they’re from abroad, it’s because we think they’re more suitable. We’re talking about high-level players who won’t need a long period of adaptation.”
Such a contrary sentence. One of the reasons we get players from domestic market is exactly because the risk that they need long adaptation is smaller. The reason why we prefer abroad players is because the growth decree.
This was a hint to management to say if you’re going to get me players from abroad get me players of very high quality (“high-level”) so that they’ll less likely to need an adaptation process as opposed to a work-in-progress. It seems he wants Dominguez from Bologna (hence no adaptation needed) but Furlani and Moncada are pursuing 🦌
I’m not sure he thinks the deer is high-level
Pioli want to play European-style football, not Italian-style football. That is why players from abroad are more suitable.
Did anyone expect Pioli to utter anything negative about Maldini or Massara? As usual, Pioli is diplomatic and sensitive in his remarks and this is a dimension of good management. I find myself saying this every summer, but let’s wait at least until the window has closed before we start rating the transfer business the club has done. Ultimately, the results on the pitch will tell the story of this transfer window. I think it Milan secure all of their current targets, the squad will be competitive on paper, it’s up to Pioli to translate that into performances, and I’m confident he is able. The uncertainty of outcome is what makes sport enjoyable, so let’s take a step back and remember that the ups and downs of a season are what make it thrilling, only one team can win each competition, and we support the club first and foremost.
I don’t expect him to say negative things but I don’t expect him to say very positive things either. I only expect him to say diplomatically positive things.
For example, he say “We had an excellent relationship. Obviously we also had discussions, which were greater in the year of the Scudetto. Respect and esteem have never been lacking.” While I expect him to say ““We had good relationship. Obviously we also had discussions, which were greater in the year of the Scudetto. Respect and esteem were not lacking.”
You now want to write Pioli’s speech?
Gosh, this blog.
4-2-3-1 is not a bad formation, in fact it is still one of the most versatile formation in football today.
It all depends on the recruitment and setup.
Liverpool have used it to great effect and played some devastating football.
The secret:
1. They have the best destroyer in the world – Fabinho.
We haven’t had one since Kessie left.
2. Thiago or Henderson with the Playmaker activities, while playing box-to-box.
Krunic plays but decent at best, we need a significant upgrade.