Juventus may be entering the fight for Bologna head coach Thiago Motta as anger grows around Massimiliano Allegri’s leadership of the team after another defeat.
As has been reported by Calciomercato.com, the Bianconeri may be in the frame for a new coach come the end of the season, along with Napoli and perhaps even AC Milan.
Stefano Pioli still has a year left on his contract but if the rumours are to be believed, he may be replaced at the end of the season unless the Rossoneri manage to win the Europa League and finish strongly in Serie A.
Bologna are currently fourth under Motta and are the most likely side to secure a place in the Champions League beneath Inter, Juventus and Milan.
Juventus were keeping pace with Inter in a battle for the Serie A title but a terrible recent run means they are just fighting with Milan for second.
Motta is very hot property and could be Milan’s first choice if they decide to part ways with Pioli, especially because it would potentially make it easier to sign Joshua Zirkzee as the new striker at the same time.
Allegri’s decision to sub on Joseph Nonge against Napoli and then take the 18-year-old off after giving away a penalty has also caused his popularity to drop.
Allegri has 6 Scudetti, 4 Copa Italia, 2 super Copa, led a team to 2 UCL finals, and Juventus wants to replace him with an up and coming young coach who has only coached for 3,4 years and has won nothing yet.
At the same time Pioli has won 1 trophy in his career, which means he has won 1 more trophy than Motta, and according to the pro Pioli crowd, replacing Pioli with Motta is crazy. 🤔
Forget it. If Juventus is really in the race, Motta is as much as gone. While we dawdle between Pioli and Conte, a savvier club will grab the better talent. Oh well. “Benvenuto” Conte, ciao Leao.
Leao can play in Conte’s system.
For Leao to grow in his career he needs a coach like Conte who won’t tolerate the lackadaisical behavior the Leao shows most of his career. He will need to come in early and stay late unlike now under Pioli where he jokes that he is the last to show in training.
Question is if Leao is mentally strong to handle Conte because undoubtedly he has been pampered by Pioli and most Milan fans so far.
Yes and if Leao doesn’t like it, he can put in a transfer request and leave.
Where can he play in Conte’s system? And don’t quote the like 10 games he used 3-4-3 at Tottenham because that was the only time he has used 3-4-3 and it did not go well for him. And the only reason he did that is because he probably couldn’t justify sitting one of Son, Kane or Kulusevski to the ownership.
Also, as lackadaisical as Leao can be, we haven’t had a talent like this in a decade. If we sell him, there is no top winger tree in Milan’s backyard where they can just go an pick another one. I agree that another coach might perhaps instill more discipline, but given the formation issues and extreme character, Conte isn’t the best choice. He will just drive him out of the club.
I am not calling neither for Conte to be hired nor for Leao to be sold. I’m all I’m for Motta.
As much as I criticize Leao and his lack of improvement, I am not selling him until I see him under a better coach that will create a system that will require more from Leao than just going 1v1.
Conte is most known for 352. Leao CAN play as a 2nd striker and based on his physical talent he CAN play as a striker as well. Leao doesn’t play closer to the goal because he doesn’t want to. Because it’s easier to play on the wing than in the middle, so he takes the easy way out.
He needs a coach that will make him do what he is supposed to do not what it is easy.
Zlatan early in his career was also drifting wide, not scoring many goals, until his 2nd year at Juventus where Capello forced him to play as a striker, making him stay after training, improve his penalty box game, work on his finishing, making him watch Van Basten videos. The result was Zlatan becoming one of the best and most prolific strikers ever.
Leao was signed to be a striker but a weak coach allows him to hide on the wing. Leao is bigger, stronger taller than Osimhen. How many 6’2, 180 pounds wingers do you know?
@Z, dude you’re comparing apples and oranges. Ibrahimovic was never meant to be a wide player, thus why he didn’t succeed there. Leao belongs on the wing where his speed is his greatest asset. Forcing him to play in the middle and watch van Basten videos (or maybe Ibrahimovic videos in this case) isn’t going to make him into a no. 9. If you’re going to force him into the middle just to fit a system then you might as well sell him and bring in whatever striker Conte wishes. The best coaches always adapt to their players, not the other way around.
According to your logic, whoever has more title automatically means better, right?
So Xabi Alonso also hasn’t won anything and is that mean Allegri or Pioli better coach than Xabi Alonso now?
Who will choose Pioli over Xabi Alonso?
Can you tell me what are you smoking? I want that too
Tell me you didn’t understand what you read without telling me you didn’t understand.
Read again
Giuntoli knows what he is doing, that’s the key difference.
We sacked the guy who knew what he was doing and replaced him with yes men and novelty acts. Hence, rather than signing the next Pep or Ancelotti, while he is young enough to be in our price range, ego is going to undo it all so that we can embark on another project led by a guy with no experience. and pinning our hopes on a coach who will give us 2, maybe 3, seasons before leaving us with a outdated system and stating again within 36 months.
Motta getting this Bologna into the top 4 by season’s end would be a more significant coaching feat than winning a Scudetto with one of the top 6 teams. It’s on par with Xabi Alonso which has been partially facilitated by Bayern’s collapse and the drain of talent out of Dortmund and Leipzig. It’s not to detract from Alonso, it’s more trying to accurately measure the performances of Bologna and Leverkusen relative to resources, quality of opposition and strength of league, etc.
Look at Bologna against the top sides. Unlike RDZ, Motta’s team has a defensive backbone which is what is required to win things (and not just develop players for sale).
The evolution of Milan would look weird on paper going from Pioli to Motta because they’re at the opposite ends of their careers. You generally don’t see a switch to the younger and less experienced guy to bring the project to its zenith. But the issue here is not about winning mentality and other unquantifiable noise. There are clear issues with midfield structure and attacking patterns of play. Pioli has done a pretty amazing job building a strong culture and uniting the dressing room. What is now needed is someone to finish it off tactically (with a few extra players). He also happens to be a guy that won absolutely everything as a player while playing for the biggest clubs.
LOL. Couldn’t have said it better myself. 😀