AC Milan said goodbye to several important figures after the game against Salernitana last night, including Stefano Pioli, and now it’s time to focus on the future. A cycle has ended and a new one is on the cards, as a report highlights.
Today’s edition of Corriere della Sera, as cited by MilanNews, discussed the emotional farewell of Pioli, Olivier Guroud and Simon Kjaer on the San Siro pitch. However, now the management must shift focus to the future, with a new manager to appoint.
Emotional farewells at San Siro
Indeed, it was an emotional evening at San Siro as a ceremony took place for Pioli, Giroud and Kjaer after the game. The result was second on the night, even if a 3-3 draw against Salernitana was far from ideal, as the fans were fully focused on the farewell of the trio.
Together, they made Milan history and certainly deserved the farewell that they got. The Curva Sud ended its protest for the final 45 minutes of the clash and this made for a beautiful scene as the trio each held a speech on the San Siro pitch.
It had been a very complicated season and an evening like this was needed, showing just how much Milan means to everyone. Hopefully, it will also prompt the ‘new leaders’ of the team to step up and assume responsibility.
Focus on the future
As one cycle comes to an end, a new one is on the cards. Curva Sud have made it clear that a leap in quality is needed to compete at the top. Second place is not enough for a team like Milan, trophies are needed to really satisfy the fans.
The friendly against Roma is scheduled for next week and will take place in Australia. Daniele Bonera should be on the bench for Milan, instead of Pioli, and then the new manager will be announced at the beginning of June.
All clues point to Paulo Fonseca, even if the fans are far from happy with the Lille manager. It’s similar to what Pioli had to go through in 2019, heavily criticised prior to joining the club. In any case, a three-year deal worth €3m per year is ready for the manager.
I still can’t wrap my head around it. With all these coaches available how do we target fonseca. Motta going to juve, Conte going to napoli and we’re going to get fonseca after being linked with or having free agents like coincecao, de zerbi, sarri, pochettino, Xavi.
These owners aren’t showing real ambition to take this team tk the next level. While I’ll give anyone their fair shot fonseca has been coaching for years and his results haven’t been great. Even bottled his cl place on the last game day this year with lille. He’s meant more for Marseille than milan. Just remember he’s linked with teams like Marseille and lille and we’re letting a guy like de zervlbi go when he’s been linked to the top teams. That says something.
Especially now that juve and napoli seem to be getting great Italian coaches it only makes sense to get de zerbi to compete.
Add coach who have different idea is bad for club project. Pioli is always mid, but when his idea match with club direction, he can reach unbelievable result.
I believe conciao, conte or de zerbi doesn’t like what project that milan offer, so is the best option to leave them and choose someone who alight with the club direction to avoid another year zero again.
I will give Fonseca six months to proove himself. Let’s see what he can do without veterans like Giroud and Kjaer in the team or even worst if important players like Mike, Theo, Tomori, Leao, and Benna got sold by Furlani before the season start.
I can see a very rocky start for Fonseca handling all the players who already got used to with Pioli personality and strategy, but now they need to adapt with Fonseca who they don’t have a clue about his personality or his coaching style.
If De Zerbi don’t get hired it will be riot in Milan
Conte is a dinosaur in football just like mourinho. These coaches style and tactics are outdated. Just like I wouldn’t want Mourinho at Milan I also don’t want Conte either.
De Zerbi would have been a disaster similar to Giampaolo. De Zerbi teams (Sassuolo & Brighton) are horrible defensively and they have no balance.
Milan would have conceded more goals under De Zerbi and we wouldn’t have finished above 4th place with him either.
Sergio Conceição was by far the best option for all the coaches we have been linked with.
Fonseca is still a good option and with the right players he can challenge for titles next season.
He’s definitely better than Pioli in terms of tactics and game management and he doesn’t play any players out of their natural position. Instead, he uses the right formation and tactics to get the best out of his players.
Therefore, Musah will not play as RB or RW. RLC will not play as AM and Okafor will not play LW.
Under Fonseca, he will use Pulisic or Reinjders as attacking midfielder. RLC will play the double pivot with a defensive midfielder and Okafor will be used as a CF.
I think it’s the narrative that is the most puzzling here. When Pioli came, it was to stabilize the club after Giampaolo’s fiasco and I didn’t have that much expectation from Stefano – just guide Milan through the season and lets get someone better in. But then things started clicking and the rest is history.
The problem with Fonseca now, (if its true) is that there was/is PLENTY of time to make a calculated, weighted, balanced decision to bring in a coach. And again, the Trio in charge comes up with Fonseca of all the options available…
It’s just hard to compute….