AC Milan closed the month of January in the worst possible day as they lost 5-2 to Sassuolo at San Siro, extending their winless run to six games.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) writes this morning that something has gone wrong on a tactical level for Milan and that is why Stefano Pioli is deserving of some scrutiny, because he persisted with a two-man midfield and a more technical attacking midfielder, which has not worked.
Against Sassuolo, Pioli decided to deploy a 4-2-3-1 formation once again, but at the end of the heavy defeat he understood his mistake.
“It would be foolish on my part to continue on the path that is not bringing us results, either I’ll do something tactically and mentally. The things that worked well up until a few weeks ago haven’t worked, so it’s clear that there will be some changes,” he said.
In six days Milan will take on Inter in the derby not long after being comfortably beaten by them in the Supercoppa, and in such a delicate match it feels like the right moment to deploy a three-man midfield.
The Rossoneri are not compact on the pitch, the departments are spaced out and on Sunday Pioli will have to choose the right XI. That is why Bennacer and Tonali should be joined by one of their Pobega or Krunic, while the chances of seeing Vranckx remain low.
We all owe Pioli a great deal for delivering the Scudetto but he was foolish for playing the last 3 games with a 2 man midfield when the whole world saw that we were overrun and vulnerable. Now the damage is done and we lost points , morale and the chance to get the players used to a different formation… It’s not just the formation though, the team has to man mark in the box to create organization as in the last game we looked amateurish and gave such a bad picture of the team. Hoping Pioli can turn this around… At least hoping.
Na tatarasanu be our problem
Not enough. We need a 7-1-2 or 7-0-3 formation against Inter to even dare to dream of avoiding a massive 6-0 beating. If Lazio & Sassuolo bang 9 goals against us, I’m afraid to even think about how many Inter will score…
And get Abbiati or Dida to play as our GK. 😀
Pioli isn’t exceptional neither is he a great coach, he owe his scudetto success to serial winners n leaders all departments of the field like Maignan(Gk), Kjaer(Df), Kessie(Mf) and Giroud (Fw)..these are players that shoulder and inspires others to work hard….and since all these lads are absent either by being injured, overworked and not used anymore.what do you expect… Pioli is such a little man with little to no ingenuity
Yeah 6 months late on the 3 midfielders part. Allthough these articles are click bait mostly without any real facts. I hope thats the case. Gotta strengthen that midfield. Ben and tonali do not provide any cover for our defense.
4-1-4-1 in defensive phase that becomes a 4-3-3 when attacking Tonali should come off the bench and calabria should sit this one out completely…hell we can throw in the new keeper as well even if we lose atleast ill say pioli tried something…before “Pioli’s on fire” becomes pioli gets fired.
Last year Pioli coached like there was nothing to lose the team was dynamic and resilient. This year Pioli is coaching like he has everything to lose and no has sense of direction. Even now he still doesn’t seem to understand what solutions are available, I bet he’ll utilize the same 11 in the same with changes only being marginal and slight.