Journalist Luca Serafini has praised Stefano Pioli for addressing the issues that his side were experiencing during a horrendous month of January.
Milan now have a new tactical structure after a January in which they conceded 15 goals in six league matches, plus the three conceded in the Supercoppa final. Stefano Pioli decided to make a change and move away from the 4-2-3-1 formation in favour of a three-man back line that offers a bit more protection for Ciprian Tatarusanu.
It seems to already be bearing fruit as the one goal conceded in the last three games shows, as well as the win against Tottenham who have a deadly attack with Harry Kane, Heung-min Son and Dejan Kulusevuski.
Serafini spoke during his usual weekly column for MilanNews about the transformation that we have seen in the last couple of games.
“A new address was needed, even the children had noticed. We had also suggested it before the league derby, indeed already after the one in Riyadh. Pioli did it, as soon as he had the numbers to be able to change, as soon as he recovered some protagonists,” he began.
“In the first outings against Inter and Torino, the formation with the three centre-backs was interpreted with fear and in an almost entirely defensive key, except for flashes in the second half of both matches.
“Normal, given the avalanche of goals conceded and the beatings that weighed on the back and in the mind. With Tottenham, while maintaining a prudent attitude (which also means shrewd), courage has returned: you have to go and hit them, you can’t just stand there and wait.
“I said in the pre-match not to paint the Tottenham monster uglier and meaner than it is. We are talking about an excellent team with (some) great performers, but still fifth in the standings (they have rarely been in the top four this season) 12 points behind the first and a club that has won a League cup in 37 years.
“Maximum respect and maximum attention, but Milan in the last 3 years (not January 2023) against Spurs this season, a continuous up and down, could do it, can do it. Pioli was right: the collapse was mental, it was necessary (also) to regroup the group tactically.
“Criticisms poured in – rightly so – for that midfielder Messias and for Origi on the pitch and Leao on the bench, but the coach soon found his way too. He was right because, while never mentioning the gratuitous nastiness said and written here and there, he had tapped the key on the harmony of a slightly bewildered squad, on the absence of thrillers, intrigues, rifts, internal controversies.
“In fact, the Rossoneri didn’t play three crazy matches, from an aesthetic point of view, against Inter, Torino and Tottenham, however they showed that they have recovered solidarity, energy, trust, that spirit that has been making up for some technical differences with stronger teams for three years.
“And Ibra was right too: I’ll come back, change the music. The music has changed. In a world of virologists, war strategists, finance strategists, all sorts of experts, if you change it’s because you change, if you don’t change it’s because you don’t change. That’s how it’s always been.”
