AC Milan dropped more points this afternoon against Lecce, surrendering a 2-0 lead at half-time to draw 2-2 with a side that have not won in their last seven games.
Calciomercato.com write how it is a result that hurts Milan’s morale and also their position in the title race. By winning tomorrow at home, Inter can go eight points ahead of their city rivals who are showing signs of cracking under pressure.
Milan have a huge problem relating to muscle injuries and for the first time Pioli made a public admission at the end of the match: “It’s true that we are suffering a lot. I don’t have an explanation, but it certainly can’t just be bad luck. It’s true that by playing a lot, physical and mental stress increases and this can affect the players.”
The Rossoneri go into games with an average of four players unavailable per game and they have suffered 16 muscle injuries since the start of the season, a trend that had already been seen in the last season and in the one before that.
The result is a team that has to constantly battle emergencies and they pay the price in terms of physical and mental tiredness, and in competitiveness too. Having less depth increases pressure and workload on the starters, reducing the option to rotate.
For an hour of the match Milan were excellent, but that final half hour was a blackout which had many causes. The most obvious is in the management of substitutions which is at least questionable.
Yunus Musah as a full-back and not Alessandro Florenzi was a head scratcher and the American committed errors for both goals. Rade Krunic remained on the pitch despite a mediocre performance in both phases, while Luka Jovic was inserted at the end out of necessity.
There are many points for reflection on Pioli’s work, but he does not seem to be at risk of losing his job despite such a bad run of form. Now it’s up to the coach to ensure that the excellent performance against PSG doesn’t remain a false dawn.
It has never been more obvious than now that our title win 2 years ago came from the players we had, and the leadership in the squad. Now those players are gone, and we see the result. There are no excuses for pioli anymore. He has all the players he wanted, all the time to intergrate them, and was backed to continue his choice of tactics. And yet we sit here with 1 win in 5 games, dropping points to teams who can’t even buy a win before playing us. His tactical failures are on full display
The team is clearly mentally fragile. The mindset for a campaign as favorites instead of underdogs is not something the bald man seems to have a handle on. If a coach is going to get leao to the next level then it will have to be someone leao respect as a great player and or coach and not some lovable father figure. It is a new Milan now and we have pioli to partially thank for that. But a team with high expectations and better players does not seem to suit pioli. Plus how can we have a coach that is Simone inzaghi’s tactical bitch? That’s ridiculous. I just don’t know. Lecce game bummed me out big time. I think top four is going to be a problem.
Even proven serial winner coaches would be at risk of getting sacked after having the year Pioli is having, but Pioli is still somehow safe and not at risk of losing his job.
Right. I think there is this fear that if pioli is truly put on the hot seat then the whole season unravels on us. But it seems to be beginning to unravel anyway. I’ve got to think internally cardinale and co must be wondering…..they gave him more talent and a deeper bench. Games like lecce are supposed to be much easier for pioli because of the moves made in the summer. Yet we still have “depth” issues. Honestly when I think about it like that I get pretty pissed. It’s like we have no depth. It’s as if pioli has no trust in his bench as well AS HIS OWN TACTICS.
Pioli is done, time to move on. Time and time again he proves how incompetent he is. Also, what did Adli do to be relegated to the bench? I’m not saying he’s a world-beater, but you can’t tell me deserves 0 minutes while that donkey Krunic plays a full 90.
All you Pioli and Krunic lovers have shown how dumb you are. Good job.
I never have faith in Pioli such incompent coach, today match meein what even pained me most was leaving Florenzi playing Musah as a full back .
Hey @Kaka, just an opinion, but I think Krunic doesn’t deserve this much hate. He didn’t want to stay at Milan and wanted to transfer to Fenerbahçe. It was Pioli who forced him to stay. So he now reverted to 4231, but can’t play players on their natural positions. Pioli should be blamed for his game management and his player management. Injuries have also been crucial in our lack of momentum. I don’t know how so many players are getting all these muscle injuries. We are averaging at least 4 injuries every week. In just 10 day, we have lost 4 key players due to injuries. Something needs to be done about this otherwise top 4 could become a challenge which it shouldn’t with all those players we have. Next match is against Florentina, which might be difficult to win because we will be without Leao and Giroud.
One more thing to keep in mind is that this is the worst start of Milan under Pioli. Last year we were at 26 points in our first 12 games. Keep in mind, we had a worse team last season compared to this season. This just shows how much Pioli is degrading.
Pioli out!!!
Even if we win, Milan still haven’t played good anyway.
Pioli tactic and selected players are always the same.
So, Milan will not be change if Pioli still in his way, and Milan will never be a big club anymore in Champions League, if still like this.