AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has spoken at length about his three-year journey with the club, the Scudetto win and the current season so far.
Pioli was interviewed exclusively by Lega Serie A instead of doing his usual pre-match press conference in view of Sunday’s trip to the Bentegodi to face Hellas Verona, and he spoke in detail about the past, present and future with Milan.
Three years at AC Milan, celebrated this week. Shall we take stock of the human and sporting side of these years?
“Yes, on 9 October I celebrated my first three years at Milan, three years full of emotions, of work, of collaboration in a great club. Three years in which an incredible journey was made together with my players, always in evolution. We continue to have ideas and mentality to improve and grow.”
Three very positive years. Three years ago when you arrived, did you expect to win the Scudetto?
“I have always been very confident and positive, the club has made available to me a staff with a very high potential and a lot of talent. When you combine these characteristics with availability, the desire to grow and improve, you can really aim high. Milan, it was right to try to win something again and having succeeded last year gave us great satisfaction. ”
Has anything changed on a psychological level after the Scudetto last year? Now you are the team to beat, do you have even more awareness?
“The victory of the Scudetto for such a young group was important. It gave us more awareness in our qualities and in our way of playing and staying on the pitch. And then we became a goal for our opponents, everyone plays to beat us, for this we must continue to think about raising our level, if we want to compete to win again.”
The first nine rounds of the season are already done, did it go as you expected?
“The season balance would have been very positive if we hadn’t lost against Napoli because I believe that, given the way the team played, we deserved something else. We know that we have to continue like this and that we can do better. At our level, in particular, the details can make the difference, as we have seen and paid with our skin. We have conceded a few goals too many despite having conceded little to our opponents in particular.”
Speaking of goals conceded, there has been a lot of talk about the three-man defence. Do you like it? Would it fit your Milan? Would it be the first time for you?
“I have done it with other teams and we have already done it here in the past. Also this year in the course of build-up on some occasions we have played with three, but I think that in general it does not change much playing three or four at the back, it doesn’t make you play better or worse. It’s a matter of concepts and principles, and we have them. If there are opportunities and occasions, we will try again this situation too.”
From November 14th to January 3rd there will be no games to make way for the World Cup. What will you do? How will you prepare for the recovery?
“It is an strange season due to the dates, never have so many games been been played in August, September and October. Now we are thinking about what we will do in this period and then also about how to manage the long break, especially for those who will not go to the World Cup.
“We already have a program for who will stay in Milan, but the biggest unknowns will concern our players who will go to Qatar. In that case we will have to make individual programs, based on when they will return and how they will return. We will need to understand when to rest them and when let them play. This will be the most delicate and important situation to manage.”
Let’s talk a little about the team, how are the new players coming in and what responses did you get from those who were also there in previous years?
“The new players are fitting in very well, they are all talented guys, young and with great potential. Of course, they join a very competitive group and staff also in terms of numbers, but they have the qualities to be important for us. We are satisfied also with the old ones, I told everyone that I saw them looking better than last year, stronger, more convinced, more attentive and more professional. When you train a group like this and you can only aim for the maximum!”
It is true that you motivate your players by hanging phrases in the dressing room, often even open provocations, phrases from former team-mates, or negative evaluations?Can you tell us a little about this motivational aspect?
“I believe that a coach’s job is to stimulate and motivate players using the most suitable means. I know the group and the feelings of my boys well, I know the matches and situations we are going to face and therefore I try to understand their mood and spirit to try to bring them to the maximum concentration.”
Do you use a mental coach? How useful is it to train the brain as well as the body?
“It is also very important to train the mind: a few years ago I trained with a mental coach and it was an experience that served me a lot and gave me so many more notions that I didn’t have before. I think many players use this too tool. In general, everything you need to make the most and exploit the potential must be used, because we have a relatively short career ahead of us and we must exploit it in the best possible way.”
How important is the group?
“Our sport is collective, we must involve everyone and make sure that everyone gives everything they have for the good of the team, even taking away something individually. The group is fundamental, it must be put at the center, it must come first of all.”
Does it also apply to management? What is your relationship with Maldini and Massara?
“The luck of a coach is to find competent managers who support you and with whom you can have a comparison. Maldini and Massara are a perfect pair and I am having a great time with them. The fact that we have been working together for three years has allowed us to get to know each other and to relate better. Their presence is very important both for me and for the team.”
What match are you expecting in Verona? History says that Milan often suffer at the Bentegodi…
“The away match in Verona is always difficult to prepare because every time we face a very physical, intense and difficult to overcome team that is fired up in front of its crowd. We have our cards to play and a lot of quality to put on the pitch, we will have to prepare very well every detail because we know the difficulties we will encounter.”
Verona-Milan last year immediately comes to mind: Inter on Friday night went down by two goals then scored four against Empoli. Everyone talked about “fatal Verona” and instead, after going behind, you won 3-1…
“In the last bit of the last season we happened to play after Inter many times and therefore we knew we had only one result available to be able to think about winning the Scudetto. I think that especially in those moments the team deserved to win, proving to be strong from a mental point of view.
“It is clear that going behind at Verona complicated things a lot, but the boys have always believed in their qualities and in our way of being on the pitch. We had the ability, the desire, the stubbornness and determination to recover from a very difficult situation from a psychological point of view and beyond.”
You made Bob Sinclair angry too, he seems to be sick of hearing ‘Pioli is on fire’…
“I’m sorry! (Laughs) There it is, I can understand it! It is a bit strange and exciting thing that can only please, also because it was born spontaneously by our fans when we had not yet won, so it is even more beautiful and exciting.”
