Arrigo Sacchi was predictably scathing of AC Milan’s performance during the 5-1 derby defeat against Inter on Saturday evening.
Both teams had won all three games in Serie A thus far heading into the game at San Siro, but goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Thuram before the break made it clear Inter were in the mood to continue their recent derby dominance.
Rafael Leao’s well-taken finish did halve the deficit and suggest it would be a close finish, but Mkhitaryan’s second and a Hakan Calhanoglu penalty pulled the Nerazzurri away again, then Davide Frattesi made it 5-1 in the closing stages.
Sacchi spoke during his weekly piece for La Gazzetta dello Sport and he was not impressed with what he saw during a game that saw Simone Inzaghi outsmart Stefano Pioli again.
What happened in the derby?
“Simple. On the pitch there was a team whose main qualities were modesty and attention, Inter. And a team, Milan, who seemed light-hearted, perhaps even presumptuous, confused, superficial.”
Milan’s mistakes?
“The list is long: non-existent pressing, attackers almost never present in the defensive phase, approximate marking, a stretched team, lack of collaboration between departments, little clarity of play. Should I move forward?”
No, no, we understood the reasoning. Whose fault?
“Everyone’s.”
Is Pioli confused?
“I really hope not, but he certainly made a mistake in the game. He needs to be the first to be convinced of the things he does and then transmit this belief to the players. In the derby, by playing in that way, the coach didn’t give certainties to the team.
“If Milan want to be successful, they must be a collective in which everyone participates in the offensive and defensive phase. Whoever agrees with Pioli is fine. And whoever doesn’t agree stays out.”
It’s difficult to play with three attackers if you don’t press…
“I would say impossible. Milan was a team that had eleven players scattered on the pitch, without logic and without organisation. We hoped for Leao’s breakaway, Hernandez’s run, Giroud’s header…
“But we want to understand that Is football a collective thing, that double marking is necessary, that the departments have to help each other and, to do this, they need to be close? You can’t have a 50-metre-long team like Milan.”
And Inter cannot be given that many chances to counter…
“Every time they went on the counter-attack, the Nerazzurri created a dangerous opportunity. This is unacceptable. And where were the preventive markings? I repeat: the Rossoneri’s attitude seemed superficial to me.
“The proverb says that errare humanum est [To err is human], but let’s remember that persevering is diabolical. So, roll up your sleeves and everyone get to work. With clarity of ideas.
“Inter won because they were a compact, determined, humble team. They did a few things, but they were clear and simple.”
Milan with the full-backs acting as midfielders…
“Well… I saw that when they had the ball the Rossoneri threw long shots. But what good is it? Calabria, as a young boy, was a midfielder, but now he’s been a full-back for a long time so let’s let him play that role without confusing him.”
It seems that Pioli’s tactical ideas do not convince you?
“I am in favour of innovations, they denote a desire for progress. But first of all there must be the base, the collective. Then you can think about the variations.”
The insistent ball possession slowed down the pace…
“Of course, the players were not positioned well and were waiting for the ball while standing still. But the main problem is that Milan must become a collective and not a collection of individuals.”
How to absorb the blow?
“Thy must not be demoralised, but we must clarify things. First the coach, who has already proven to be an intelligent person. The lesson can be useful if it distances superficiality, carelessness and presumption.”
We hoped for Leao’s breakaway, Hernandez’s run, Giroud’s header.
Exactly this. I said it over and over again, Pioli becomes more and more dependent to individual skills. And that’s never a good thing.
I know the media is all consuming and former managers and players are expected to give their 2 cents, but I do find it disappointing when these former legends get trotted out to attack the current team.
Sacchi should know better and he should also appreciate that the Inter game came down to moments, some improbable e.g. Thuram’s goal.
5 v 1 to Inter is still better than Sacchi’s Milan losing 6 v 1 to Juve in 1999. Glass houses and all that.
Sorry the 6 v 1 Juve was in 1997.
Yes. Except Sacchi didn’t lose 5 derbies in a row.
It’s the same sacchi that launched Milan into today’s one of the greatest team moulded for capello and the rest to build on…. you can’t never compare
Yes you can.
They have the same number of Scudetto and a higher win percentage (54.97 v 54.08).
Oh and more importantly Pioli is OUR CURRENT MANAGER so the one we should be supporting NOW.
Did you conveniently forget the back to back European Cups, intercontinental cups, supercups, all in four years….Pioli is coming up to his fourth year…he has one Scudetto
Plus the fact he was more than likely an injured Roberto Baggio away from winning the World Cup?
You’re clueless, pal. Big difference between Serie A back then and now, buddy. F*ck the win percentage.
This derby defeat was the much needed reality check for current team and Pioli. It’s not a death sentence, but rather a rude awakening that there’s work to do as regards tactics.
There was no visible, opponent-specific game plan and it’s all on the coach. You can’t approach a vs inter the same way you prepare for a vs bologna. Losing a derby is one thing, but last Saturday performance is just unacceptable for Milan.
Im thankful for the Scudetto but Pioli has to be sacked. He is limited in his tactical ways.. Its not the first time when a team pressed high with a 3-5-2 that we had problems. He never found a solution. We should rather go for an other Coach like Nagelsmann, De Zerbi. We have to sacrifice money for that.
Too soon?
Milan had faults in the defensive phase, and were not daring enough while attacking, especially when they were controlling the game in the 1st half, before the counter that lead to the 2nd goal
1997 is stronk. They got zidane, del piero and alien striker Inzaghi.
Can someone put a gag order on this guy?
Yeah, we all prefer to read your genial ideas. How about you put one on yourself, Sacchi actually understand football and tactics, you just babble. Pioli is better than Inzaghi :DDDD
Oh dear!? Is @Dejan 10 now actually the doppelganger of Poli aka Boulden?
Why is he blowing his gasket?
I heard he is inter fan.
“Milan was a team that had eleven players scattered on the pitch, without logic and without organisation
the players were not positioned well and were waiting for the ball while standing still”
This is so true. The way Inter played I don’t know if they forced us to not have movements but we needed to space them. I know ppl will hate me for saying this but against Inter sometimes you need to go backwards to go forward as they basically held all 20 outfield players in this little 30m band. The interchanges that we saw the first few games were not there and the newbies looked shellshocked by the aura of the derby. Add in the poor revert-to-old tactics by Pioli and it was a recipe for disaster
The one odd thing that struck me the that Sacchi said was “Whoever agrees with Pioli is fine. And whoever doesn’t agree stays out”. What does this mean?.is he talking about Adli or those that dont play often?
Simone play his normal set up 352 with patient waiting counter atack and it is already 4 match like that , but yet our coach pioli fall into that same tactic in 5 match in row. Imagine ordering all his player play high defense line with enemy that are deadly on counter atack , what make more worst is our defender that he use as starter are slow speed player like kjaer,thiaw,calabria. Better use low block defense too vs IM with that 3 starter defender
Straight facts!!!
Dumb Pioli
Average coach
Let’s hope that pioli at least now learned something after loosing with such a margin. But our attackers can’t just sit in the front and wait for the ball to get to them. Sometimes you have to go to to the ball and help the team whether it’s with the build up or when defending.
Pioli is too dense to learn anything, is he a coach?
Which is why I think we should have put in Okafor for this game. He has pace and has shown great work rate so far.
I am a huge admirer of Giroud, but he isn’t Giroud of Arsenal anymore……sadly. He’s still class but he is 37
Sacchi is a legend, anyone who doesn’t understand this knows nothing about football. He is one of a handful of visionaries alongside Pep, Michels, Shankly and Clough.
In fact so much of what Pep does is Sacchi based.
This is uncomfortable for the Pioli fan boys as a proper coach who destroyed Europe for 3 years, totally reinvented calcio, and formed a blueprint for the likes of Klopp and Pep has ripped his pathetic tactics apart…..
Hey Drew I couldn’t respond to your comment above (I think people must have this ability to switch off replies to their comments which is a bit random).
Did you miss the fact that Pioli is our current manager?
I don’t really care about ‘legends’, I care about the present, this team, that you either support or don’t.
As this rate there won’t be any more ‘legends’ because fans lack the loyalty, focus and support required to build long term success. Without loyalty for the current players and managers it’s pointless since all you’re doing is supporting ghosts from the past.
What kind of loyalty are you talking about?
To support a manager if the team lost a match even after playing better or team lost like chickens with no brain even after improving the squad by 130m
There is a limit for everything. The season before scudetto everyone supported Pioli, but after 4seasons you are loosing matches and always depending on 2players to do magic in every situation.
Is that how a coach works even after 4years of work at same club and same set of players.
And still the way Pioli reacts before/after the match, no one have loyalty anymore.
Loyalty should be 2sides not just 1side, it never works like this.
If he thinks better for AC Milan, he should quit himself he cannot go further than this. Even after coaching for 20years, you need Ibrahimovic to motivate the team!!!!
#Pioliout
I don’t switch off replies mate so not sure what’s happened.
Pioli may be our current coach, but he isn’t good enough. That is plain to see. Maldini alluded to this after the Derby defeats last season. Pioli has one plan, if it works we win, if the other coach counters it, we don’t. Most of our success is down to individual brilliance too, Leao, Theo or Giroud
Legends form a part of our history, Sacchi is blunt but he wants what’s set for Milan
Sacchi also touched on what I’ve said previously. People blamed the midfield last year, but as Sacchi says, the attackers need to start the defensive phase…it’s not about defenders defending and attackers attacking, its playing as a malignant unit, 30m from defence to attack…. Watch footage of Ruud and MVB pressing like madmen from the front
Plus their crazy offside trap is part of that press. I really don’t know up to this day how they did that. I have yet to see a big team play like that. The whole backline and team just moved up at the same time as if pressing a button on a controller. It was fascinating.
As you said it’s attackers defending. On Thuram’s goal, who lead that counter from deep? It was Latauro defending from a deep position. Something our attackers don’t do. Inter players had a fighting spirit. We didn’t hv any of that
Yes mate; that back four was phenomenal and will never be bettered imo.
The best defenders at Man City are the front 6, they press press press.
I don’t think we get enough out of Leao, it’s moments of brilliance but Gullit offered so much to all phases of the match.
As someone who watched Sacchis Parma and Milan teams he’s 100% right. Cohesion and understanding your opponent is the problem, you cannot force the same system season after season and lose season after season against the same coach. It’s embarrassing, imagine being completely outwitted 5 times in a row. It’s a damn shame.
Pioli fan boys are just clueless, how can you be happy after a poor performance like that? You don’t obviously want the best for Milan, because your mumu coach has nothing else to offer.