AC Milan are going through their second dip in form of 2023 and a journalist has questioned whether the end of the cycle under Stefano Pioli might be near.
The stats so far in the new calendar year speak for themselves as Milan are now 22 points behind leaders Napoli and of the defending champions in the three-points-per-win era no team has been further from top spot after 27 rounds of action.
Only Cremonese (23) and Salernitana (23) have conceded more league goals than the Rossoneri in 2023 (21), while Milan have lost seven games this year when factoring in all competitions which is far more than any top four rival.
Pietro Mazzara has written his weekly column for MilanNews and has asked questions about the mentality of the team and of the coach, suggesting change could be afoot in the summer if the situation does not improve.
“When Stefano Pioli introduced himself as Milan coach he said a very true sentence: ‘It seems that here winning, drawing or losing are the same thing. But it can’t be the same at Milan’. After the defeat against Udinese, after the draw against Salernitana and the match lost in Florence, that sentence echoed in my ears in a very ugly and frustrating way,” he began.
“And yet, looking at Milan after February, it seems that that feeling has returned. No, it cannot be something acceptable and duplicable. Milan can’t afford to think like this and, at the same time, they can’t go on the pitch and show off an indecent performance like that of Udine. Because no one was saved at the Dacia Arena and Pioli’s admission at the end of the game was as sincere as it was worrying.
“Are we at the end of a cycle? Are we on the path that will lead to a change of coach? Questions that remain in this phase, because Milan seemed to have lost all content and the stimuli of the transition to a 3-4-1-2 formation have passed by the wayside.
“The break, at this moment, should be a godsend, let’s see if it will be like this also because the first exam will be that of the Neapolitans, on April 2nd. The first of three encounters with the next Italian champions who will decide whether or not Milan can go to the Champions League. And not going there, as we have been remembering on MilanNews for weeks, would be an indefensible crime.”
