As is tradition at the mid-season mark of the season, Serie A managers have offered an insight into who they believe will be crowned with various awards at the end of the season – AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli was amongst those to contribute his opinion.
The ItalPress (via MilanNews) announced the list of the mid-season opinions for a list of topics, the Scudetto winner, Serie A’s breakout team, and also the player revelation of the year, as is tradition now, and there are very few differences in selections.
Stefano Pioli’s selections were as follows:
1. Revelation team: Bologna
2. Revelation player: Albert Gudmundsson
3. Italian Champion: Inter
Inter, given their nine-point lead, were consistently named as the managers’ vote for who will win the Scudetto at the end of the season. However, Gian Piero Gasperini strayed from this, believing that Juventus would lift the trophy at the end of the season.
Claudio Ranieri sat on the fence with his selection, listing both Inter and Juventus, which we feel somewhat breaks the rules of the debate, but hey-ho, and Inter’s Simone Inzaghi flat-out refused to answer that question.
In terms of the revelation team, Thiago Motta’s Bologna were most commonly given as the answer, with Inzaghi, Vincenzo Italiano and Gabriele Cioffi all straying from the norm and suggesting Frosinone.
Finally, in terms of the player who has broken out this year, Milan target Joshua Zirkzee was the most common choice.
The full list of votes can be found below.
SIMONE INZAGHI (Inter)
1. Frosinone
2. Zirkzee
3. ——-
GIAN PIERO GASPERINI (Atalanta)
1. Bologna
2. Ederson
3. Juventus
CLAUDIO RANIERI (Cagliari)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter/Juventus
AURELIO ANDREAZZOLI (Empoli)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
VINCENZO ITALIANO (Fiorentina)
1. Frosinone
2. Gudmundsson
3. Inter
EUSEBIO DI FRANCESCO (Frosinone)
1. Bologna
2. Calafiori
3. Inter
ROBERTO D’AVERSA (Lecce)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
WALTER MAZZARRI (Napoli)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
FILIPPO INZAGHI (Salernitana)
1. Bologna
2. Buongiorno
3. Inter
ALESSIO DIONISI (Sassuolo)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
IVAN JURIC (Torino)
1. Bologna
2. Zirkzee
3. Inter
GABRIELE CIOFFI (Udinese)
1. Frosinone
2. Payero
3. Inter
MARCO BARONI (Verona)
1. Bologna
2. Ngonge
3. Inter
Ha ha ha.
And people come in here telling us that Motta is a bad choice to replace Pioli because he is an interista. No coach in the league is a bigger interista than Pioli.
Even Inter’s own coach didn’t pick Inter but Milan’s coach did . The fool could have refused to answer or be bold and say Milan because he believes in his own and team’s quality.
June can’t come soon enough.
Pioli doesn’t believe he can give another Scudetto to Milan lol.
I guess it’s a mind game
Pretty sure it’s tradition to not pick yourself. I remember last year Spoletti saying Juve were the best team in the league and Allegri immediately said the opposite
no coach will ever call themselves favorites and will marotta keeps calling juve favorites now pioli probably knows milan are out of the race
Why didn’t he say Milan? U always should have hope and the mentality that you’ll win until it’s mathematically impossible to do so. Or is that just me being old school?
Possibly, but also think about the pressure it puts on your players. We’re clearly hanging on to the title challenge by our fingernails, and given our injuries, it may be a counterproductive signal. Same as how Inzaghi didn’t name his own side, although they’re the clear favorites both before the season and now. It’s like jynx thing.
I understand why Inzaghi said what he said. He doesn’t want to put pressure on his own team. I would have said the same thing (non response) if I was Pioli (he doesn’t understand the gravity of the second star and bragging rights in the city; I don’t think management gets it either). We’re 9 points off ( win vs them against and one slip and it’s pressure back on them). This isn’t insurmountable albeit unlikely but u don’t say straight up you don’t think u can win. Its a mentality thing. Him saying he thinks Milan can win the Scudetto adds a push to the team. It signals despite what they’ve faced so far, he still believes in them to get it over the line. But half way stage and saying you’ve already given up to your most hated rival is a poor choice of word and poor mentality to have. Sorry buddy
And that ain’t no mind games as people saying here. We’re 9 points behind. I’d say both Juve and Inter if he really wanted to put the pressure on the two (and in that case take us out of the equation) but to single out only Inter meant he was being serious and not playing games.
I can say a lot of bad about Pioli but I bet he’s fully aware of how important the second star is…
If inter wins it first the world will weep and Pioli knows this
Mind games, l don’t expect him to say Milan, it doesn’t mean he is not ambitious.
He’s not going to put pressure on Milan and is likely playing mind games. Bologna being a surprise team this season does seem to be on point. They seem to have many good younger players.
The CNN buyy-boy is back!
Those that say it’s mind games give Pioli too much credit.
No one puts more pressure on someone who wants to win than they do it to themselves.
Like Pioli saying inter will win the scudetto puts pressure on inter?! The pressure doesn’t come from the fans, the owners, the current position on the table, no, the pressure comes from Pioli picking inter. 🤣
He would have looked better if he said Juventus. They are only 2 points behind Inter but they have the benefit of not playing in Europe or travel to Saudi Arabia for Supercopa.
True winner would have picked his own team. Milan is not out of the race. They are only 9 points behind, not 29. But then again Pioli has always been a perennial loser. He has won only 1 trophy in his entire coaching career.
Too many naive kids in here
Yupp and Goku is the worst 🙂
You put off small d*ck energy
A MILAN COACH ADMITTING INTER TO WIN SCUDETTO AFTER just 18 games played.
What a great coach we got?? Lol..
Completely agree. What a stupid stupid thing to do! Look what Insaghi did, “no comment”…
If he really had to answer the question, he could easily pick Juventus just for the sake of avoiding this kind of controversy. But hey, he also knows this is his last season, so the hell with that.