Stefano Pioli and AC Milan are trying to navigate a difficult part of the season, because while the Europa League remains the only remaining target, the off-field events after the raid of Casa Milan are not helping.
As Calciomercato.com report, the Europa League and second place in the Serie A standings are two important objectives that could force everyone to re-evaluate a year that has so far been anything but exciting.
This is why last night the head coach went to dinner with RedBird Capital’s Senior Advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the CEO Giorgio Furlani, as he himself confirmed in the comments that he made to Sky.
Between Pioli and Ibrahimovic there is a real harmony and it is not a superficial one either, as yesterday’s dinner confirmed. The two struck up a strong bond when the Swede return to the club halfway through the 2019-20 campaign.
Zlatan reiterated that the trust on the ownership side has remained intact even if there are several points that have not convinced them and which will have to be analysed at the end of the season.
The main factors that work against Pioli in his bid to stay in charge are the number of injuries at a crucial point of the season, the management of the derbies against Inter (five lost in a row) and the early elimination from the Champions League.
Pioli is a coach with his feet on the ground. He wants to stay at Milan but he knows that, beyond mutual respect, him keeping his spot depends only on results. Even second place in the standings could be enough but the only certainly decisive factor would be winning the Europa League.
Reconstruction?
It’s honestly like council workers who keeping digging up the same roads.
Keeping him will be disastrous, his circle has ended, we are playing badly, no movement, no creativity, he needs to leave
I almost feel he is consumed, having said that I would only replace him with the right profile if and when it becomes available. The names I have heard for me are not proven, Motta seems to be doing well right now but the question is can he do that at Milan. These are some things that need to be taken into consideration, which I am sure Zlatan knows best. He is a serial winner and has personal good and bad experiences with coaches.
Capello wasn’t proven when he took over from Sacchi, Guardiola wasn’t proven when he took over from Rijkaard, Arteta had zero experience before taking over at Arsenal, Allegri wasn’t proven when he led us to a title in his first season in charge, etc. This list goes on.
Motta is doing great, knows football he’s been involved in it at the highest level , a strong character with winning mentality. There’s a lot more to think of him making it than not. And I’d rather gamble with such than settling with a certainty that won’t satisfy me.
Sarri is available , he is a winner, and is Italian, and his team’s play well
Winner?
Pioli beat Sarri’s Lazio 6 times out of 7 from 2021 to 2024.
I dunno. Don’t forget that our squad has been better than Lazio’s overall during the Pioli era, except for maybe the very first year (2019-2020), but that wasn’t even during Sarri, it was S. Inzaghi. I also think Sarri would not be a bad option, if we can’t get some of the others and they decide to get rid of Pioli. Sarri’s Napoli played beautiful football, he won a title with Juventus, and and Europa League with Chelsea. If we dismiss Pioli and we aren’t able to get Motta or De Zerbi, Sarri for me is a more appealing choice than say Lopetegui or Italiano or some of the other names mentioned in the next tier under the top targets.
So well he is sacked from his team. Fall through from 2nd post to 9th post with Lazio, and not won anything with them.
He is a winner? Well he already won many trophies… 2. 1 Scudetto and 1 europa league. Not much different from Pioli, but he is a winner. OK.
At least Sarri plays a certain brand of football, we seem to through everything in the air these days and hope something sticks. I would certainly give Sarri a look in. 2 years contract to see how this relationship works out
Not Sarri. His teams haven’t even been playing great football after Napoli. Didn’t follow much of his time at Chelsea but their fans didn’t like him much. His Lazio played bad football, little possession with nothing. And guy complains too much about everything
I’ve never been a fan of Pioli but his record is pretty solid. One Scudetto, a return to prominence, he developed our star players. He had to deal with a change of ownership, then a change of management and a busy mercato with a relatively important turnover, an injury crisis, he’s under fire for months now. I would give him one last chance.
I hear you. I’m constantly flip flopping. Given the record and a good patch of form, I think “he should at least get to play the last year of his contract, and we’ll see what happens in that final year”, but then we often play so poorly (even when winning) and then we inevitably have a month or two month period every season where we black out and lose a bunch of games. I dunno. I think a manager with better tactical philosophy who will focus on getting the team to play as a unit, and will fix our defensive issues, will result in us have a good 10+ more per season. In the end if we finish 2nd in a year where Inter is setting records and get into the semis in the EL, it would be tough to justify dismissing him despite the usual fookery.
Hard to blame Pioli for the UCL exit. In the home Newcastle and away Dortmund fixtures the players were in several instances in perfect position to score but missed easy opportunities. Just one of those needs to go in, and we advance. Or even worse – if PSG isn’t gifted a terrible penalty at the end of their 5th game, we also advance.