Arrigo Sacchi has once again pointed out the flaws in AC Milan’s approach tactically, but he stressed his belief that head coach Stefano Pioli was let down by the 2023 summer transfer window.
Geoffrey Moncada and Giorgio Furlani took over the mercato duties from Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara in the summer. A total of ten signings were brought in, using the money from Sandro Tonali’s sale, and you can read our Substack breakdown of it all here.
The ten signings cost Milan a total of €113m and a number of different positions were addressed. The likes of Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tijjani Reijnders and Luka Jovic have all made their contributions in what has been a rollercoaster season.
However, as we head towards the end of the campaign there is talk of revolution in the air, given that Milan are way off the pace in the title race and are likely to end without a trophy at present barring an excellent Europa League run.
Sacchi spoke during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport that seemed to be mostly angled around the things that irritate him most about the current Milan side.
What worries you about this Milan?
“When I see the Milan players scattered around the pitch it means that something is wrong. And I’m very sorry, because I think that Pioli is a good coach as well as a good person. But he has to intervene.”
How do you rate Milan’s season so far?
“Judgment is suspended. The season was negative, not because Inter will win [the Scudetto], but because the Rossoneri have never been in the fight for the Scudetto.
“And also the exit from the Champions League in the groups after last year’s semi-final weighs in the evaluations, as does the elimination in the Coppa Italia.
“Milan must finish second, and they can do it because they have more overall quality than Juve, and go to the final of the Europa League. Otherwise the balance sheet will not be good.”
What is the main cause of a lower-than-expected season?
“The transfer market wasn’t done well. And I’m not just referring to individual qualities, given that Pulisic offered an excellent performance and Loftus-Cheek improved after a difficult start.
“But a reliable central defender and above all a valid centre-forward were needed, that would let Giroud take a breather. Unfortunately it is difficult to integrate so many foreigners together.
“And I have the impression that many signings were not decided or at least shared by Pioli and, if this were really the case, it would be a serious mistake.
“In general I believe that the way in which the squad was composed is not the right one, I didn’t see a project as had happened in the recent past, but a series of operations unrelated to each other. And so it is difficult to create a competitive team.”
Was Maldini’s competence underestimated and that of the algorithm overestimated?
“Paolo had done very well, respecting the budgets and history of Milan. He had chosen a coach who tried to move away from tactics to become a strategist and helped him not only on the transfer market, but day after day.
“I fear that Pioli felt like a a little abandoned after the decision to do without Maldini. I don’t know the Americans and not even Furlani. I hope that there aren’t different souls in the club, otherwise there are risks.
“In my time there was a clear chain of command: Berlusconi, Galliani, Braida, me. We all had the same idea of football. The managers were competent and together we respected the style of the club. Style tells you who you are and where you are going. What is Milan’s style today?”
On the field the team often appears split in two. This is Pioli’s responsibility…
“Yes. He’s good and he has to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I see that Pioli is often criticised, I wouldn’t blame him too much because the context and the group available must also be evaluated.
“Milan sometimes give the impression of not knowing how to stay on the pitch, then get five or six games right, then fall back into chaos. There is no balance on the pitch and there is no continuity in the results. So they don’t get anywhere.
“If a player doesn’t sacrifice himself, If he doesn’t run backwards quickly, if he doesn’t collaborate, Pioli must have the courage to leave him out. Otherwise that player damages the whole team.”
Are you thinking about Leao?
“He has enormous qualities, but he has to play for the team and with the team. Instead he mainly plays alone. The temperament is genetic: you have it or you don’t have it. I hope he has it because, by bringing it out, he would become a champion.”
How can the gap to Inter be reduced?
“With the power of ideas. Inter are playing spectacular, modern, European football. And it’s not right to criticise Milan and Juve because they can’t keep up with the Nerazzurri.
“But you have to know how to read the situations and operate accordingly. Milan will have to sign functional players at the right price. But to do so, competence is needed in those who decide, therefore in the managers.”
How can the gap to Inter be reduced?
competence is needed in those who decide, therefore in the managers.
How can the gap to Inter be reduced?
competence is needed in those who decide,therefore in the managers.
Think Pioli, for the first time in his manager career, had some say in what kind of players he wants/needs and the dude had no idea. So he kinda just nodded yeah they’re fine i can work with this..
Sacchi has been consistent in his analysis since the derby loss.
“When I see the Milan players scattered around the pitch it means that something is wrong. ”
“The season was negative, not because Inter will win [the Scudetto], but because the Rossoneri have never been in the fight for the Scudetto. And also the exit from the Champions League in the groups after last year’s semi-final weighs in the evaluations, as does the elimination in the Coppa Italia.”
“In general I believe that the way in which the squad was composed is not the right one, I didn’t see a project as had happened in the recent past, but a series of operations unrelated to each other. And so it is difficult to create a competitive team.”
These quotes pretty much summarize my thoughts on the season. A big positive for me though, is seeing the Primavera players given some time with the senior squad.
“When I see the Milan players scattered around the pitch it means that something is wrong.”
Everytime I see our midfield line up, I get uncomfortable in an obsessive-compulsive disorder kinda way.
No. Freaking. Balance.
Maybe Gerry should have hired Sacchi to be the proxy. 😛
🤣🤣🤣good one
Italians are really xenophobic and racist towards people who are not Italians and it’s so glaring obvious.
It was made VERY clear after Maldini exit that Pioli played a MAJOR ROLE in deciding on the players we signed.
The players were exactly what Pioli asked for but somehow Sacchi believes that this lack of competence has nothing to do with Pioli. Unbelievable.
Pioli made the decision to change to a 433 formation instead of sticking with the 4231 formation and instead of signing players who could replace Diaz, Kessie, Tonali and Salaemakers/Messias like for like he completely changed everything and made management sign players for the 433 then later switched to 4231 after January? Talk about incompetence and players all over the place.
Pioli and his fitness staff are the incompetent ones here. It was even stated by Pioli himself that he wanted players like Jovic who is better suited for a formation that uses 2 strikers as he has never in his career successfully played as a lone striker.
Milan management wanted to offload Krunic and sign a defensive midfielder but Pioli vetoed the move because he wanted to keep Krunic in the team. Clearly that didn’t work out well for the club, the team and Pioli because it was obviously the wrong decision.
I am tired of Pioli incompetence especially when we lose to Inter in the same humiliating way because Pioli refuses to change from playing a high line and high pressing which plays right into Inzaghi’s hands as Inter just sit back and hit us on counter attacks which how we conceded ALL of the goals they scored against us.
Talk being incompetent. Pioli still to this hasn’t learnt anything from his mistakes. He makes wholesale changes to the team against monza when there was no need for it because we already had a 3-0 against Rennes.
Instead of making one or two changes to rest some players he changed 5 players then we are losing he subs in our star players to try to salvage the game which means they have to play harder and risk getting injured and we wonder why Milan have so many muscle injuries this season. Sigh.
Pioli is the definition of incompetence that Sacchi talks about and when he leaves it be no surprise when we don’t have this injury crisis and when don’t demolish by Inter. That will prove who the real incompetent people are.
Couldn’t agree more.
I feel that Sacchi pretty much sees Pioli as one of the culprits for our failure this season, but for some reason doesn’t want to openly criticize him.
Maybe because since both were/are coaches, he doesn’t want to blame him.
“In general I believe that the way in which the squad was composed is not the right one, I didn’t see a project as had happened in the recent past, but a series of operations unrelated to each other. And so it is difficult to create a competitive team.”
Couldn’t have said it better.
At least it’s a professional opinion, right guys? /S
100 percent right
We went from creating a scudetto team, to losing a key player, then had a mediocre summer budget, losing targets because we won’t pay, to invest 70% of that budget on a single player who failed, we didn’t adress the key player’s departure, done nothing the next winter, sacked the man who built the scudetto team next summer, lost another key player, decided to swith to a 4-3-3, brought like 4 midfielders, still didn’t adress the first key player’s departure, lost the title races from 2023, switch back to a 4-2-3-1.
Am I right ?
Spot on! The only saving grace in this roller coaster ride is winning the Scudetto. I don’t know how’d I’d feel with all these changes and decisions without that title.
Well, I’ll make this strange statment: sometimes football is a gamble and the only way to justify decisions and changes is to win titles.
Like let’s look at Inter, they lost Skriniar, Brozovic, Lukaku, Dzeko and since their scudetto also lost arguably the best right back in the world namely Hakimi. They brought dozen of players this summer and some of their transfers are questionnable, like Sanchez, Cuadrado, Arnautovic, … and some of their transfers were rejects from other teams like Pavard, Sommer and Acerbi. On paper, it didn’t look like an impressive summer. If they didn’t have such a great season, I think many would have slaughtered them for that transfer window, but they managed to justify it.
Similar to us, in summer 2021, we almost brought no one except for old men like Messias and Giroud and lost Donnarumma and Hakan. If it wasn’t for the scudetto, it would have looked as bad decisions.
Loftus hatte einen guten Start…