Further confirmation has arrived that Stefano Pioli will be sacked by AC Milan once the season ends, and work is currently ongoing to identify the right replacement.
The last five days could hardly have gone worse for Milan as they were dumped out of the Europa League by Roma on Thursday night and then lost the derby against Inter 2-1 at San Siro last night.
Not only was it the sixth defeat in a row against the Nerazzurri, but it was also the victory that allowed them to celebrate the Scudetto which is the 20th in their history, thus meaning they got the second star before the Rossoneri.
There have been widespread stories over the past few days claiming that Pioli will be sacked as a result of failing to hit key targets this season, and further confirmation has arrived.
Fabrizio Romano has given the following update on X: “Stefano Pioli will be sacked by AC Milan board at the end of the season despite public statements after the Derby. AC Milan are already looking for new manager.”
A number of different names have been linked, with Gianluca Di Marzio providing a big list of them recently. He claimed that the likes of Xavi, Ruben Amorim, Thomas Tuchel, Sergio Conceicao, Unai Emery and Thiago Motta are all in the frame.
Motta or Xavi? No more Italian coach?
Yes. Those two are my favorites. If Motta can get Bologna to TOP4 with THAT roster, imagine what he can achieve with Milan’s.
Xavi on the other hand isn’t afraid of playing even the younger lads. It’s like the complete opposite of Pioli who wouldn’t even have handed Messi his debut before turning 21 or 22.
Motta to Juventus. We dithered too long. Watch them win it again before us.
Thiago Motta lo conosco meglio e so che a portato una squadra come il Bologna a lottare e essere la favorita per il quarto posto ciò vuol dire lottare per la qualificazione alla champions league.
E su Xavi non so dire niente ma per essere l’allenatore di una squadra come il Barcellona bisogna essere abbastanza bravi.
The recent happening made me even respect, reverred and love maldini the more… He foresaw this man called Pioli isn’t Milan calibre and called for his sacking a year ago, now the prophecy is coming true, rather than bends to the wealth of one man called cardinale, he stood convicted and convinced of standing on the right thing amd resigned….his charisma, character and weight of personality was to big for the management to handle….now this same rubbish management who lacks wisdom( direction in foresight) are sacking him now….it’s not surprising people with sound moral principles are always feared, Maldini you are a real man and as for the Man Pioli, if you were man enough, you ought to have resigned rather than been embarrassed now…Furlani, moncada and co have left you alone…what a shame
1,000,000 likes!!! spot on!!
You are looking at this as a fan, not as an owner. If things go south you can complain, stop watching the team in protest, #myfeelingshurt#everyoneout, etc. Your life will go on though your hobby time will be with sour taste. Owners are responsible for decisions made. They are under immense pressure on a daily basis to increase the value of the club, as they are operating the free cash of big corps and billionaires. That’s why they need people they can control and entirely trust. We might not like it, but Gerry and Elliot for that matter didn’t trust Maldini enough, so the opinion of the fans is less of a concern for them. Doesn’t mean they don’t care, on the contrary… they believe it is in everyone’s best interest.
Uhm, just read this….well spoken
Can we stop with this Maldini stuff.
Everyone wanted Pioli out, including Maldini, so credits goes to us all. However, the emotional factor crept in when Pioli started winning and they extended his contract, so somehow Maldini still bears this blame, we need to keep emotions away from business.
Now, that being said, I see nothing spectacular that the former management would have offered differently from the current.
Maldini wanted to sign:
1. Kamada, but the current management signed RLC instead.
2. Berardi, but the current management signed Pulisic instead.
3. Thuram, but the current management signed Jovic instead.
4. Renato Sanches, but the current management signed Reijnders instead.
So, no much difference after all, in fact I believe the current management signed better players (except maybe the Jovic for Thuram, which is still debatable anyway)
However, one of the biggest blunders of Maldini aside the CDK deal, was the non replacement of Kessie. We had the opportunity to sign Zambo Anguissa for 16m then, but instead Maldini requested we bring Bakayoko back. That was such a fatal managerial blunder.
So, please let’s try not to throw Maldini’s name into every conversation.
Pulisic dan RLC has long been targeted since Maldini was still in charge.
Truth!
Biggest mistake Milan ever made in it’s entire history (since 1899!) was to fire Maldini.
His work (w/ incredible results, getting us back to CL and competing in serie A) was then (mostly) given to Moneyball Moncada who has single handedly destroyed the team.
How so you ask? He pursued players who could only provide a financial bonus to Milan when selling. Buy low, sell high. Unfortunately, he never considered buying players to fit Milan or to improve Milan. Moncada spent > 130m last year, FAR MORE (>2x) than Maldini got the last few years.
Serie A winning midfield:
Tonali, Kessie, Bennacer, Krunic
Now?
Bennacer, Adli, Reijnders, Musah
the last 3 wouldn’t even BE in the top 4 midfielders the year Milan won Serie A. Whoever scouted Reijnders should be fired. Completely useless player at the top level and not at all at Milan’s level. Not even close. What is Moncada doing? Kid in a candy shop playing FM with funny money instead of doing a proper scouting job.
While Pioli is definitely “on fire”, the real problem lies with management, specifically MONEYBALL MONCADA
He’s going to destroy the club if he continues. Maybe that’s what Cardinale wants, I don’t know.
Listen bro, we gotta have to learn to put things in perspective, MONEYBALL won us a Scudetto. Moneyball isn’t a bad recruitment strategy, it is simply about using data analytics in finding undervalued players, and also help clubs find players to fit into thier specific system or certain style of play.
In reality, this last transfer window we deviated from the moneyball strategy, and it is now that we sing about moneyball the most, when moneyball found Kalulu, Theo, Leao, Tomori and we won the Scudetto, nobody complained. Moneyball scouted Zambo Anguissa, but we didn’t act on him, he would have effectively solved our midfield problem caused by Kessie departure.
But, in this last transfer, Milan changed strategy, we spent:
30 mil on Puli
30 mil on Chucky
20 mil on RLC
20 mil on Reijnders
These are players with established reputations, as against moneyball who mainly looks for unknown talents with high growth ceiling. Even Okafor and Jovic are players with established reputations, only maybe Musah falls under the moneyball characteristics.
In conclusion, moneyball isn’t a bad strategy, but Moncada didn’t seem to apply this strategy lately, so we should rest with the moneyball lashing.
Emery? 👀 FINALLY. I’ve been saying this for weeks.
Pioli is coward , he never want to say sorry when things going badly and shameless to resigning now.
It looks like the next manager is going to be Conte
Here are my picks
1. Motta
2. Amorim
3. Conte
4. Xavi
5. De Zerbi
6. Glasner
Foreigner coach has to learn Italian first?
Not that we have that many Italians in the roster anyway…
Milan is a joke….. why the hell are they waiting till the end of the season to sack Pioli….. he should have been sack that night of the derby……. shake things up…..
Xavi would be my pick. Plays attractive football and managed to put up a proper right against Real Madrid while fielding young teenagers. He could do wonders with Milan’s squad and command respect through his career as a player too ✨
This summer, the management should spend more on a manager than on players. Klopp, the dream. Now that he’s done with Liverpool, what if he decides to associate with their historical rivals. Now, that’s a dream!
Get Motta + Zirkzee