AC Milan’s elimination from the Champions League at the group stage will not go down well with the management, and Stefano Pioli must now fight to save his job.
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport (via PianetaMilan) talks about Milan and in particular Pioli’s future. They write that after being eliminated in the Champions League, he has ‘one foot out of Milanello’ but he could still save his job.
If the Rossoneri were to go on a great run in the Europa League and finish among the top four in the league again, that could end up being enough to convince Gerry Cardinale to keep him beyond the end of the season.
The primary objective is to find consistency in the league again while waiting for European football to come around in mid-February. The trend of the season, the paper points out, remains heavily negative for Pioli.
After just 15 league games, Milan are nine points behind leaders Inter but still maintain a four-point advantage over fourth, while they missed out on qualifying for the Champions League round of 16.
Not the ideal scenario for Cardinale, who after the dismissals of Ricky Massara and Paolo Maldini opted to give Pioli the keys to the team. Pioli must regain the trust of the owners and, with it, the possibility of continuing his story with Milan.
So the owners only care about Top 4 and getting UCL money but not making any steps further.. If they care and want to grow and do better they sack this useless coach.. If Top 4 without winning anything is enough to save Pioli’s job I think this says enough about the goals, or rather the lack of goals from those sh*t owners
In all honesty I believe our current owners don’t really understand soccer. If they do, Pioli would have been sacked end of last season, and that indecision is evident in our current campaign and is is costing us points.
Pioli won the league and I don’t think there’s any room for growth with him as a manager anymore.
To keep him after this December will cost us 6 2-6 points in Jan-Feb. As he will lose games again and the team will play terribly. As they have done this season 90% of the time.
“In all honesty I believe our current owners don’t really understand soccer. If they do, Pioli would have been sacked end of last season, and that indecision is evident in our current campaign and is is costing us points.” -Perhaps, but it’s tough to fire a coach that brought you a title when it was unexpected. Even coaches who ARE expected to challenge for titles, or at the very east finish top for and don’t sometimes get a reprieve. Take Klopp for instance. Last season Liverpool finished 5th. You’d think that after so many years in charge that he’d have gotten the sack, but sometimes it’s better not to rock the boat. In our case you also had 10 new players come in to better fit the ideas of the coach. It might have been a bridge too far to have so much player turnover AND change coach (the players most likely having been brought in in consultation with Pioli). Now that he’s gotten an improved squad and isn’t doing better, it’s clear that Pioli isn’t up to standard. So the next thing is to change the coach.
That said, given where we stand at this point, it would be difficult for anyone else to come in January and do better. The coaches that would be an improvement are all employed, and I don’t think Conte is right for us. Given how we’ve started, top 4 is the objective in the league at this point, whether people like it or not. As such, we’re well on course. We’re also still in Europe and won’t get knocked out until February at the earliest. SO Pioli is most likely safe until the end of the season, or at least until February/March if we get knocked out of the UEL early and also threaten to fall out of the top 4. Then, assuming he makes it to the end of the season, they will evaluate and hopefully decide to change coach as we definitely need something else in that position.
Scaroni:
” On the objectives of Milan: “I’m a business man so I don’t have any hopes or illusions. I budget – in our budget we expect Milan to arrive at least 4th, in the Champions League zone. This is our objective. Then of course, we are very happy with everything more.” “
Pioli out….
Do they have the money to hire a top coach ?
Why does that matter?
We obviously don’t have one now.
Utter nonsense. As if top 4 is enough given the investment made. If Pioli doesn’t win the scudetto or Europa League, he’s gone.
Pioli is gone in the summer either way I think.
I think many here forget that this is a business, with heart strings attached. But at the end of the day it needs to be sustainable. Otherwise you end up with Berlusconi’s sunset years and Chinese fiascos.
There’s nothing wrong with Scaroni/RedBird pointing out that financially speaking, this model is sustainable with a Top4 finish and CL money.
They won’t overspend on the market and the current roster while incomplete, has plenty of quality. Just need a different approach and tactics to bring it out in a way that works better.
Pioli Stefano since you don’t want to use the 4-2-3-1 then start playing the 4-1-4-1 is another pattern Acmilan can play when we attack opponents
Pioli OUT 😠