Arrigo Sacchi has once again had his say on the rough patch of form that AC Milan are going through, expressing some doubts that the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be all positive.
Going into the last international break Milan were top of the table having won seven of their first eight league games while they were also unbeaten in the Champions League. This time around, however, they are winless in four in Serie A which has relegated them to third place.
The defeats against Juventus and Udinese (plus PSG away in Europe) and the 2-2 draws against Napoli and Lecce (each from 2-0 up) have put head coach Stefano Pioli under pressure once again, something he has become used to in 2023.
Meanwhile, there are continuous rumours regarding the possible return of Ibrahimovic in some capacity, and Sacchi spokeabout Milan’s situation on ‘Tutti Convocati’ on Radio 24, with his comments relayed by Radio Rossonera.
“Can Ibrahimovic’s return be useful? I don’t know, Ibra was a great football figure, as well as a great player. In my opinion he could have done even more,” he began.
According to the former coach, it is important for a club – especially one with foreign ownership – to surround itself with great competence and knowledge of football.
“If the club is made up of people who don’t know football it’s a problem. It’s essential to have people who know football. Pioli was left alone, before there was Maldini.”
We need good manager even vicenzo Italiano is better
Is that even a question? He is overachieving quite a lot with that Florentina team.
I share his sentiment, culture is important and no one understands what it takes to win more than Maldini. For ownership to question his abilities and assessments of where we stood in our project demonstrates gross negligence. Arrogrance and ignorance as well.
R. De Zerbi is next….
My instinct tell me that Maldini was sacked because he refused to sell Tonali and push came to shove. Money talks … . Also, Maldini letting players leave on a free transfer didn’t help his cause either. In a way, I am glad to see Jonathan David’s value dropping because he will be cheaper (and more accurately costed) for Milan to make a move. Milan has to buy on the dip and develop their youth in order to fund type of team they eventually want to be. This is not Berlusconi’s team anymore.
Maldini didn’t let them leave. Upper management refused to allow him to give them the amounts they needed to remain at our club. He insisted on keeping them, but Jim Bean and his moneyball machine said no, they were worth less than their analytics suggested so they refused to give him the funds. They also insisted he try to sign them instead of selling.
99% of what you blame Maldini for and Pioli stems from upper management decisions as well as policies. Wenger was considered a genius at Arsenal until Gazidis showed up and interferred with operations. Gazidis singlehandedly tanked Arsenal for 15 years with his salary caps, recruitment policies, refusal to renew their star players and stupidities recruiting only unknowns. Elliot brought him and Jim Bean here. Those Americans were part of the shitshow at Arsenal too
Before Ibra and Maldini came here, we were going nowhere fast.
Everything you just wrote is nonsense that you just made up in your head. Unless you were in on those meetings…
Sure, like people here claim Maldini wanted to sack Pioli and hire Pirlo, Maldini was sacked cause he wasted 35 millions on CdK etc., Maldini was sacked cause he let Dollarumma, Hakan the Snake and Kessie the moneygrabber leave for free.
People claim all kind of nonsense but majority here will bash him for reasons they made up from media speculations.
No one ever came out why he was sacked neither Cardinale, Furlani or Maldini himself. But folks will push their claims when it’s convenient for them or when they feel threatened although is all bunch of media baloney.
Would Italian media defend Pioli as much if he was a foreign coach?
First, I agree that Milan needs more people in management that know football so they can advise the CEO and ownership on football matters like firing and hiring coaches, or signings.
But, what does Maldini not being there has to do with how bad Pioli is at coaching?
Maldini himself said last season that Pioli has no answers for the way inter plays and opening low block defenses vs smaller clubs. Do Milan not have the same issues this season as well?
Milan played much worse last season BTW.
Maldini negotiated for 2 months and spent 35 mil on a player who played as a striker in Brugge, Maldini and Moncada saw him as a striker when they made him the highest transfer in their era at Milan, but Pioli never used him as a striker.
So, Pioli wasn’t listening to Maldini and Maldini had no authority over Pioli. What does Maldini not being there has to do with anything if Pioli is not listening to him?
And most importantly, if Maldini was still at Milan and had his way, Pioli would not be at Milan right now.
Maldini wanted Pioli fired. Pioli should have been fired last January but, the extention Maldini gave him a month prior to that saved Pioli’s job.
Media needs to stop pointing fingers at everyone else and create false narratives.
Pioli is a one dimensional coach, who has been figured out by most coaches and because he doesn’t have the ability to adjust and implement any other system, Milan is suffering.
Pioli in that way is very similar to Sacchi and Zaccheroni. Also one dimensional coaches whose success was very short-lived after they were figured out.
If Milan actually bring in people that know football, the first thing they would tell ownership is to fire Pioli, as the person who knew football according to Sacchi and was there last year wanted to do.
Maldini knows football and he wanted Pioli fired.
You were doing so well with and excellent post until you called Sacchi one dimensional. Sacchi changed football. Both Klopp and Pep have said that they have basically reinvented Sacchi’s style. The problem with Sacchi’s style was that it was too much. Similarly to kiopp, it burns players out. His former stars like MVB, Gullit and Baresi have testified to this. They said at the end of the second season they were exhausted. Sacchi’s style wasn’t sustainable, it’s not that it was figured out, it’s not difficult to figure anyones style out, beating it is another thing, the great thing about Pep is he’s fused the styles of Sacchi and Michels, so you get the high press intensity with the total football. I’m a big fan of Pep, my boy is a City fan, it’s hard not to be impressed. People say Pep only wins because he has the best players, I think the truth is only the best players can play Peps way. It’s like an F1 car, you need all the very best components in each area to make the best car. You don’t put in a Kia engine…Pioli is a Kia engine 😂
Bro, you said I was wrong with calling Sacchi one dimensional and then you went on proving that Sacchi was one dimensional and his football being unsustainable.
Just because you come up with something new and something that changed football doesn’t mean you are not one dimensional if that new thing is the only thing you know.
Zaccheroni was the one that started the 3 men defense. He was also innovative. It worked for few years, it got figured out and he couldn’t adjust.
Sacchi coaching career ended in his 40’s. He is 77 right now and he hasn’t coached in almost 30 years. Outside of his 3,4 years at Milan he did nothing as a coach. Italy got to the final of the 94 WC on the back of Roberto Baggio, the best player in the world at the time ans a player who if it was up to Sacchi wouldn’t even play in his system. 5 goals in the knockout stages after Italy barely got out of the group as a wild card since they finished 3rd in their group under the “great” Sacchi.
I’m not sure how far along he is with brazil, but I’d try and hijack Ancelotti. He’s just what we need. We need an experience head that is used to winning. Carlo frustrated at Milan at times despite the success but I think a lot of that was to do with Silvio insisting on two strikers and a no10, with the advent of the trend of 4231 and 433 we got outnumbered in midfield. However since leaving he’s been nothing short of exceptional
For some reason it won’t let me reply to you mate (Z). The unsustainable nature of his tactics doesn’t make them one dimensional, it’s wasn’t just about the energy. He saw that there should be no more than 25m between the defence and the attack and any time, he saw the benefit of playing Rijkaard as a DM rather than a CB. He also created the false 9, the way he used to instruct Van Basten to drop deep into the midfield dragging the defence with him allowing midfield runners to exploit the space was revolutionary. Have a look at Rijkaards goal v Benfica in the 1990 CL final, it’s Van Basten dropping into that false 9 position that opens up the space for the goal.
I also don’t think Zac invented three at the back mate, plenty of teams used that, England in 1990 for a start.
Had Baggio been fit Italy would have won in 94, he was playing theory one leg. Sacchi like Pep wasn’t afraid to drop superstars.