Even Stefano Pioli has realised he is entering his final three months as AC Milan head coach, Franco Ordine claims, but he will keep working hard to try and reverse that presumption.
Despite the fact that there are many games left and objectives to fight for, there continues to be a lot of speculation suggesting that Milan are planning for a future where Pioli is no longer the manager after what will be nearly five years.
Pioli deserves credit for guiding the Rossoneri back to being one of the top dogs in Serie A, and of course for the 2021-22 Scudetto win as well as the run to the Champions League semi-final last season.
That said, winning the Europa League – where the likes of Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen await as fierce opponents – is the only way to avoid the fact that Milan look set to end Pioli’s almost half-decade tutelage with one trophy to show.
The well-known journalist and Milan inside Franco Ordine spoke in his weekly column for MilanNews and he dedicated the final paragraph to the future of the head coach.
“From how Stefano Pioli now reacts to the rumours about his future being away from Milan, one thing is clearly clear: while at the time of the first rumours about Antonio Conte, he had remained calm and confident for some time – I think after the speech to the Financial Times last Friday – he instead understood that his adventure with the Rossoneri has reached the final lap,” he said.
“But that doesn’t mean he has decreased his intensity of commitment and motivation to try to end the season in the best possible way. It already happened during the time of the Rangnick rumours: we all thought he had reached the end of the line and instead he listened to Ivan Gazidis, held firm and obtained a confirmation that many of us (including myself) considered impossible.
“That Pioli is able to give his best, almost like his Milan, when they seem to be on the edge of the precipice is a characteristic that could come in handy in the coming weeks.”
Winning Europa League will reduce by half pioli chance to be sacked. He must win Serie A title in order to secure his assss as coach
Sorry to burst your bubble, but to even suggest he could potentially win the Europa League seems a bit outlandish. If this is how they perform again Prague, I can’t imagine what would happen against teams like Liverpool.
To be fair im not so sure his time is over yet if he wins the europa league, Considering how great inter has been this season which is well beyond what could have been expected and that we was in the group of death in cl im not so sure its a fair ruling to sack him. The ownership might also want to run his contract down untill 2025.
Dont get me wrong here if there is someone who can guarantee us the leap in quality then i dont mind us replacing him. If its possible to hire klopp on a lower club salary but also hire him through red bird with a higher salary in an ambassadour role to make it feasible then by all means make that upgrade as that would be an immediate leap in quality. De Zerbi also intrigues me and Motta to some extent but less.
If Pioli is gonna get replaced by Conte then ill prefer us keeping pioli for another year and then look for someone else.
I agree with this sentiment. And if Pioli wins the EL I think the chances of him returning for the final year of his contract go up exponentially, and then all bets are off because if he goes on to win the title, or at least mount a proper challenge until the very end, then he might even get extended.
On another note: “No experience” De Rossi has Roma 2-0 up against RDZ’s Brighton. What a turnaround for Roma and DDR, and an indictment of park-the-bus football.
If we thought Pioli leaves us exposed at the back wait until we get De Zerbi.
Ok, so let’s go with Motta. He’s my favorite anyway, outside of unattainable names like Klopp. I know people will jump on me for saying this, but I think Sarri is a good option to. Highly likely he and Lazio part ways this summer. Can’t blame him for Lazio’s lack of quality.
No pioili and definetly no de zerbi next season. Wish i can bring a name up but i can’t. Im sure there is someone out there. MOTTA, alonso looking good atm, but lets hope its just not one of those one season wonders. Conte, has been sloppy in the last clubs.
DDR have them playing high scoring football. It’s actually nice to watch. Happy for him and as a young coach it’s great to see. I keep reminding myself of the time he told Ventura why bring him on when Italy NT needed an attacker to win the playoff game. Was quite telling
Also Quarabag have Bayer on the ropes lol as of writing
Hopefully quarabag can bag a victory but i can see taht leverkusen unfortunately has reduced their lead now,
Yeah that scenario could indeed happen if that were to happen,
Sometimes it works hiring a young and unproven coach at least for the short term but whether it works in the long run is a different matter, solsjkaer was great at the start of of his utd tenure but that also fizzeled with the renewed hope and hype that he brought with him.
4-0 now. Roma is smashing Brighton.
Klopp is a rather interesting choice from fans because while I like him as a coach I wonder if people can ignore his actual record and be comfortable with not winning for long stretches (hint: I highly doubt)
He didn’t win the League even with a stellar squad (stellar apart from the first 2 years ofc) in his first 5 years of his reign as coach. I’m wondering if our fanbase is that patient. GRANTED he did win the UCL in yr 4. But remember Liverpool has more money than us with which they can spend…. and they had a great squad as I said above. So basically he’s only won two major trophies, the league title and UCL in 9 total years both coming in the middle of his tenure. That’s it! And I’m all for longevity in the coaching role. But fans (not saying you Martin) who big up Klopp as being far superior than Pioli has got to realize what exactly they’re getting into. Are they really that patient to wait…from now 2024-25 until say 2028 season for a trophy?? I highly doubt. Or is it the case they like his style of playing but not many trophies to show for? Or have him around for 9 years and only win 2. But if that’s the case…then just keep Pioli. Pioli also has 1 league title and a UCL semis with a much weaker team js. 🤷♂️
So Klopp not winning more titles in the best league in the world which is dominated by Manchester City means that he will need long time to win this mediocre serie A?
It means that we will wait till 2028 to win a trophy?
Bum a*s Pioli won a scudetto in his 2nd full season but for Klopp will wait 4 years to win a trophy! 😆
Also, he has taken Liverpool to 4 European finals during his time, winning one.
Klopp isn’t an option for Milan but if he was it should be a no brainer.
“Bum a*s Pioli won a scudetto in his 2nd full season but for Klopp will wait 4 years to win a trophy! ”
Lol you don’t realize it but it’s exactly my point. They did have to wait 4 whole years for a trophy. Can you?
Also their team was comparable to City. With Mane, Salah and Firi they should have won more. They had a top 5 squad all of Europe for a decent time. Hence the finals in the UCL but we don’t have those kindsmof squads do we?
Is Milan going to play in the EPL?
Is serie A on the same level as the premier league?
Is any serie a team dominating the league as Man City has done under Pep?
Inter had just 2 more points than Milan last season and around 20 less than Napoli. They lead the league by 16 points with 3 months left.
Napoli is around 20 points behind inter this season. They had the league wrapped up in January last season.
There is much more parity in serie A compared to EPL where one team has won 5 of the last 6 titles.
4 different clubs have won serie A in the last 4 years. Only 1 team has interrupted ManCity domination in EPL, Liverpool led by Klopp.
No one needs to wait 4 years. You comparing apples and oranges.
I am aware of his track record and im sure your point would absolutely translate to some fans not being happy but to be honest i think some segments of the fan base will never be happy 😀 considering we have won 4 scudettos in roughly 25 years i think im pretty patient but some wont be thats for sure,
This is a hilarious take. 😂
at least he will close a season. he cant say the same about the last 5 clubs he was at.
he wasnt sacked in fiorentina but resigned himself. Amongst his previous 5 clubs one of them was palermo and they basically changed coaches several times a season back then which clearly suggest an extremely volatile working enviroment where next to none was able to succeed. In fact he only lasted 2 matches there which underlines the insanity of the ownership.
getting the sack after 2 games still counts as getting sacked
Of course it does but if a team sacks 4-5 coaches a season which they had a habbit of doing back then it clearly tells more about the club president than the coaches that got sacked. The only club president that i can think of who probably sacked more coaches was probably jesus gil of atletico madrid while he was their president.
palermo was all over the place at the time tis true.. When we talk about sacking frenzy Ferrero also comes 2 mind
Yeah he sacked a bunch as well at sampdoria, He isnt the owner of them any more right ? it would explain why pirlo still can keep his job there 😀
nah he gone. cops got him for something (or not) i think. Lol Pirlo. He still has a long long way to go as a coach 😀
haha really, i always thought he was rather entertaining even if he sometimes was a clown in his statements. Absolutely its beyond my understanding why they keep pirlo as sampdoria is closer to the relegation battle than promotion at leats the last time i checked.
Technically he’s closed four seasons with us, so…
What a smart move by Roma ownership to fire Mourinho and hire De Rossi. They are getting results and playing entertaining football. Something that Mourinho couldn’t do with the same squad.
that was down to primadona players. so that is what it looks like when a coach loses the lockerroom. De Rossi is doing mkay but i’d need a few months of this to say he has the knack
Regardless if he has the knack or even if he is their long term solution, Mourinho’s firing and DDR hire saved Roma’s season. They are back in the race for top 4 and are through to the quarter finals of the Europa league.
If they kept status que none of it was happening
Indeed. The psychological boost from the new coach usually wears out after a month. Let’s see if Roma can keep this up until the summer.