AC Milan are expected to part ways with Stefano Pioli at the end of the season and several managers have been linked with the club. The Rossoneri’s former manager Arrigo Sacchi has hit out the club, mainly criticising the summer mercato.
Statistically speaking, the 2023 summer mercato was the best in several years as the new signings have scored many goals for Milan. Furthermore, the depth has evidently improved compared to last season, as seen with subs such as Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze.
In his latest editorial for Gazzetta dello Sport, however, Sacchi hit out at the management for not making these signings in agreement with Pioli. It seems like an unfounded statement, truth be told, and his reasoning doesn’t exactly make sense.
“Milan, according to the current standings, are second: not exactly a position to throw away. Furthermore, leading a team full of foreigners in Italy is very complicated. Therefore, at the end of all reasoning, I ask myself the following question: are the purchases of last summer Pioli’s creation or the responsibility of the directors, who aren’t coaches?
“If Pioli wanted all these players, then I give up. If, however, as I believe, the directors decided to sign them, that’s another matter. Who assessed the temperament and moral qualities of these athletes? A coach or directors who have never been coaches? For this reason I say that, having reached this point, everyone at Milan must look inside themselves and do some soul searching.
“It’s very easy to dump the coach, it’s usually the first thing that comes to the owner’s mind. Pioli, as happens with anyone, has certainly made mistakes, the team hasn’t been continuous, and there have been too many ups and downs, but who will replace him? Ancelotti, Guardiola or Klopp? This doesn’t seem to be the case, so we should be very careful before undertaking a radical change,” he stated.
It seems unlikely that Pioli didn’t have any say whatsoever during the summer, as Milan have always made it clear that they work as a team. Sacchi is right that the Rossoneri need to think carefully about the replacement, though, with several candidates mentioned so far.
I soul searched last season and came to our current situation in February of 2023.
This has been a long time coming.
Maldini knew it but Cardinale had to learn with a bitter pill.
Now they’re working with maldini’s evaluation while he was away
💯
Tylko tu chodzi o to że Stefan nie potrafi wyciągać wniosków ciągle stawiając na to samo są zawodnicy pod formą on daje ich na ławę nie daje szans młodym taki Simic spokojnie jest lepszy niż gabbia
I didn’t have a problem with Pioli till after the Roma game. Firstly, instead of just switching to a 4-3-3 to give more cover to Calabria who lost many 1 on 1 duels in the first leg he opted to make Calabria as an inverted fullback and let Musah play on the right. Secondly even after the Red card Roma was closer to scoring a third goal than Milan the first. Lastly instead admitting that it was completely his fault he took no blame.
If we look at this season objectively and holistically, Pioli is to blame for everything , all the positions he said that needed to be strengthed were done, from the GK to the striking position, on the right that was problematic as he said, 2 players were brought in, on the left another one was brought in, he got a new striker, he got 2 new midfielders, in defence he ot 2 players, it’s not the managements fault that their was an overhaul, he deliberately stifled and drove out CDK and Alexis.
When Jovic and Okafor were beginning to get their match fitness, and score goals, he deliberately reduced their game time, he insisted on Fielding Giroud even though he was out of form and shape, he refused to give young players a chance to play, it was only when the injury crisis was at its peak that he decided to play them, he kept on using Florenzi and Kjear even though they were not fit, everyone knew Kalulu was not fit, and he immediately put him in a difficult situation that got him injured.
He continued to use the 4231 even though it clearly showed that system was not working, and it was exposing the defence, he still countinues to use the inverted full back system, even though it is not working, and is a reckless move, he refused to make quick subs when Milan was in difficulty, he waited until almost the end, even when Roma won in the first leg BCOS of his suspect tactics and selections, he still went into the second leg, with the same strategy and line up, everything is the Coaches fault, but people like Arrigo Sacchi will always support Italian failure, that’s why Serie a is stagnant.
You summed it up so well..
I remember a right back was to be brought in but Pioli insisted Calabria is Cafu reincarnate. He also stuck with Krunic even when the management was ready to bring in a defensive midfielder .
Even when it was obvious Simic can be a better option than scared Thiaw…he never gave the boy a chance again.
Sacchi can create his own club and put Pioli in charge
Clearly he did not watch the roma games. It’s like sacchi wants Milan to stay the way we are. Uncompetitive
This old guy continues with the same nonsense, blaming the foreigners.
Pioli had a say in the transfer market, which is the main problem here. And blame goes to management for that as well for allowing him to have that much say.
Milan operated in the mercato with the idea of signing players that fit in 433, because the genius Pioli decided that he will try himself in that set up. That’s why they signed so many mezzalas because before they had only 1 (Pobega).
2 months into the season the genius decided to revert back to 4231 and the players that were bought are not at best playing in double pivot.
Also, he played RLC, a central midfielder at Chelsea, literally as a striker. Giroud played closer to the midfielders than RLC. RLC didn’t do that on his own, he was instructed by the genius on the sidelines.
He refused to let Krunic leave in the summer, when the man had high salary offer, which blocked Milan from signing Dominguez, just so 2 months into the season to bench Krunic for good.
Not to mention that he also blocked the signing of Singo, because according to Pioli he couldn’t play in the inverted fullback role, slotting in the midfield, another thing he went away from, until the disaster in Rome.
Pioli and Sacchi have something in common. Besides both being follically challenged, both were made famous by Milan. Both had zero success prior to Milan and zero success after Milan.
Sacchi has to stop with these nonsense statements on foreigners coming to Serie A. Which Italian players does he see now who are world class players? Which Serie A clubs can compete with the European elites? None. It’s not a coincidence that the Italian national team missed two Worlc cups in a row. He is still dreaming the 1980’s. From all his statements about Milan since the takeover, he has shown that he has big problem with foreigners, specifically Americans. Always find a way to criticize. Your Italian archaic mentality has put the Serie A in a situation which no good players want to come to the Italian league.
Don’t blame him, his Italian lost in America
Sacchi can say things that are controversial but usually have some truth. A foreign player can more easily get poached or put a transfer request and in average contributes less to a healthy locker room. That doesn’t mean that a single foreign player is worse than a single Italian player.
I also don’t think that Pioli was fully listened and instead we focused on bringing discount players. I understand the why of this management decision but it shouldn’t be something to blame Pioli.
Sacchi, asked a vital question: who authorized the signings? thats where the blame starts. if Pioli is the coward that cannot stand up for what he wants, he should have left. Some coaches will walk away if you attempt to sell someone key to their playing style or refuse to make signings.
Also, players who have not played in Italy usually require a period of time to settle in, so if you add too many players to the starting 11 you disrupt the existing rhythm. it is that simple.
Sacchi, may be nostalgic for the times when the backbone of Milan were Italians, but he should realize that times have changed and talents in italy are not being given a chance UNTIL a senior squad player is injured. coaches like Sinisa are few and hard to come by.
I agree. I dont see what was so egregious with what Sacchi said. He’s asking fundamental and thought provoking questions 🤷♂️
Plus he isn’t saying foreign players are bad, just that they need a settling in time
If this is true then get Conte so he can convey to the directors who to sign and how to manage a club.
From my understanding Pioli had complete control over which players he wanted at the cost of over 100million…….. One of the reasons senior management got shot of Maldini and Masara.
Can this Sachi guy stop making noise. At least, wait till the next coach comes and underperform and say ” I told you so”. Right now, most of us are not buying this Pioli business anymore.
He’s right. Too many foreigners in one mercato and a complete revamp. Many of us were pointing it out last summer but cheap fast fashion franchise loving, fantasy football FM stroking “fans” were too busy drooling over all the shiny new toys to realise actual impact.
Pioli actually did good job blending them all together and to now hold us in 2nd place. Many would struggle to reach top four with such heavily revamped team.
The issue is not with how many foreigners we brought in. Pioli was getting it right with the team, but, sometimes, he just gets the tactics wrong. Against Sassuolo, Chukwueze, Pulisic, Okafor, etc, performed very well, and we all felt he was going to unleash them against Roma, with Bennacer and Reijnders in the middle. But, he used Musah, and completely changed the way the team played. I have not seen Milan aimlessly, and so open, in a long time. If they are going to keep, the management has to raise the bar. If he doesn’t meet the target, he should be shown the door. Same with anyone else coming.
If the argument is that AC Milan should during the summer have gone for Italiens players rather foreigners then the logical question is: which Italian players should we have gone for ?
For many reasons, Italy has less talented players than during the late 80s when Sacchi was coaching us or even during the early 2000s. Good Italian players in the positions we needed to reinforce were few and were expensive. A player like Frattesi costs almost twice as must as any of our purchasees individually with the exception of Chukwueze.
As for the players themselves, like many pointed out, it was Pioli who wanted to switch to a 4-3-3 and had more to say during this transfer window than during previous ones. So the fact that RLC and Reijnders, were are essentially mezzalas didn’t do well in a 4-2-3-1 is his fault.
As for whom will replace Pioli, this is a very important question and needs to be carefully answered.
Doesn’t have to be Italian but at least from Serie A. Players who are used to language, culture and the league. And milan signed 11 players all from different foreign leagues. It was obvious we’re going to struggle. At least RLC and Pulisic had Giroud and Tomori and that was evident as Puli started quite strong.
Nah.. basically everyone speaks English nowadays.. foreign or not, doesn’t matter. We struggled, not because of players, but because of the old goat deploying his bald tactics.
You make a point, but I can still ask the same question: which player should have gone for who is either Italian or plays or played in serie A instead of let’s say Reijnders or Chukwueze ? Orsolini would have been awsome but who else who is not too expensive. Hjulmand ?
Sacchi is senile, he is talking about a coach who continues to play Giroud for over 80mins every game
You summed it up so well..
I remember a right back was to be brought in but Pioli insisted Calabria is Cafu reincarnate. He also stuck with Krunic even when the management was ready to bring in a defensive midfielder .
Even when it was obvious Simic can be a better option than scared Thiaw…he never gave the boy a chance again.
Sacchi can create his own club and put Pioli in charge
Sacchi isn’t complaining about foreigners, can you people not read? He said there were too many signed in one window. Aside from Musah, the new signings have been a success, so you can’t blame the directors. The buck stops with Pioli. Yes, he’s integrated the new signings well, ovrall, but then there’s bonehead decisions like continually playing Kjaer and Musah and his mass rotation always backfiring.
“If Pioli wanted all these players, then I give up. If, however, as I believe, the directors decided to sign them, that’s another matter.”
To say that Pioli had nothing to do with all the transfers is just ignorant. Reijnders got a direct phone call from Pioli. Pioli clearly stated he needed a RW that excelled in 1 vs 1 situation. Management stated that Pioli had more say thru the last market. And also Pioli never said the he’s against the idea of selling Tonali, one of his key players. He simply said it’s a good opportunity for every parties involved. Coach talks about technical pov, not about business opportunity.
Of course not all of ’em were requested by him. But certainly he did play his part on it. But if somehow he didn’t have any say on the last market, it’s also a bad sign as he’ll proof that he’s a yes man, anything to keep him and his position safe. Either way, to let Pioli go is just a good opportunity for everyone. Just like he said on Tonali’s departure.