AC Milan are winless in their last four league games and in two of those they let two-goal leads slip, which has prompted questions regarding the mentality of the squad and Stefano Pioli’s grip on the situation.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, his reflections after the draw with Lecce turn on more than one warning light: “We are Milan and not bringing home these results is a shame. It penalises us a lot in the table.”
The collapse against Napoli, the dire performance against Udinese, the reaction against PSG and the two-sided match against Lecce highlight a negative moment, and it is not something he is a stranger to.
Milan
Pioli has had more than one rough patch at Milan. In January there was a 2-2 draw against Roma from 2-0 up, a 2-2 draw against Lecce from 2-0 down, elimination from Coppa Italia Torino, the defeat in the Supecoppa against Inter and the hammerings from Lazio and Sassuolo.
The move to a three-man defence was fundamental for getting back on track and progressing to the Champions League round of 16 where they beat Tottenham, then against Napoli they were the underdogs but won on aggregate.
Signs of recovery were also needed at the end of the season: after the trio of defeats against Spezia and in the two Euroderbies with Inter, three consecutive wins allow the Devil to qualify for the next Champions League.
The other great collapse of the Rossoneri experience takes us back to December 2019 and the 5-0 against Atalanta. A disastrous match Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Simon Kjaer arrived, and a run of 5 wins and 2 draws in the first 7 games of the new year came.
Fiorentina
With La Viola, Pioli’s start wasn’t the easiest. Between the end of August and September 2017 he collected 4 defeats in the first 7, then in October he rearranged the situation with a trio of victories against Udinese, Benevento and Torino.
However, between December and February another bad run arrived, which began with the defeat in the Coppa against Lazio and continued with another 3 defeats, 3 draws and only one victory in 7 league matches.
The situation was critical, but a win against Chievo arrives at the end of February was followed by the tragedy of the passing Davide Astori. Fiorentina unites, restarted in memory of their captain and finished eighth thanks to five wins in the last part of the season.
The following year, between February and April 2019, a new moment of crisis coincided with 8 consecutive matches without the three points. After the defeat at home against Frosinone, Pioli spoke like this: “I don’t feel betrayed, but disappointed.” A few hours later, he resigned.
Inter
At Inter it’s a similar story in some respects. Pioli arrived on the Nerazzurri bench on 8 November 2016 and made a strong start in the league. After the 2-2 in the derby, a victory against Fiorentina and a defeat against Napoli, 7 victories arrive which launch the team into the Champions League race, playing well and scoring plenty of goals.
Then, between April and May, a real vertical collapse happened. Pioli collected only 2 points in 7 games, one of which involved a collapse in the final stages against Milan to draw 2-2 (Zapata 97). The club sacked him and promoted Stefano Vecchi from the Primavera.
Lazio
His experience with Lazio began in 2014 with 3 defeats in the first 4 rounds of Serie A. Then came the vigorous reaction with 5 wins and a draw in 6 matches, the true incipit of a season which for the Biancocelesti ended with third place and qualification in the Champions League.
In the following year, the elimination in the preliminaries against Bayer Leverkusen, a 4-0 defeat by Chievo and a 5-0 defeat by Napoli put the capital club on the alert between the end of August and mid-September.
It’s a season that progressed with ups and downs, but the blow comes in the derby at the beginning of April. El Shaarawy, Dzeko, Florenzi and Perotti scored a resounding 4-1, putting an end to Pioli’s Biancocelesti adventure, with Simone Inzaghi taking his place.
Bologna and Parma
A separate chapter is deserved for Pioli’s spells as a head coach in his native Emilia, between Bologna and Parma. Pioli coached the former from 2011 to 2014, but in the last few weeks he was really under pressure.
Pioli achieved comfortable safety with thirteenth place in the 2012-13 season, after overcoming a complicated period between October and November (with 6 games lost out of 8 played). He was sacked in January 2014, with 15 points in 18 games and the Rossoblù in the drop zone. The last 9 games were decisive, featuring 5 defeats, 3 draws and only one success.
A negative period also came to Parma, the club with which he made his Serie A debut. After a so-so start, he was sacked in February 2007, after 6 defeats, 4 draws and only one win in 11 matches.
