Stefano Pioli’s position as head coach continues to be the subject of scrutiny, but there are no signs of AC Milan making an immediate change at the moment.
As Tuttosport (via PianetaMilan) reports this morning, the general feeling is that if Pioli manages to remain Milan’s coach until the end of the season, it is unlikely that he will be kept for the next one despite having contract until 2025.
Since mid-October the team has been struggling, they have only won two matches between the league and the Champions League. They lost three times at home and suffered two draws in which they were 2-0 up, drawing questions about the mentality of the team.
The enthusiasm at the start of the season was swept away by the heavy defeat in the derby and then, along the way, Milan fell apart thanks to questionable choices, tactics and too many injuries. The main issue is that this was already seen at the beginning of 2023 when a long winless run was endured.
Pioli has been left saddened by a situation that he is unable to change. Injuries do not go beyond his responsibilities and yesterday, at Milanello, he spoke about it for more than an hour and a half with the managing director Giorgio Furlani and the owner Gerry Cardinal . The owner wanted to take stock of the situation and give the support of the entire club to the coach.
The ownership and management retain their stance: only by remaining united can Milan overcome this difficult period. The Rossoneri might be six points behind Inter but they are also five points above fifth place. Maintaining a top four position, in view of the 2024-25 Champions League, is considered a minimum objective and changing manager now would destabilise things.
A possible defeat against Frosinone on Saturday evening at San Siro would lead the club to make new assessments, perhaps more drastic. Even if it is not American sporting philosophy to change the coach during the current season.
The support for Pioli, according to the newspaper, also derives from the fact that there are no experienced ferrymen on the market . For this reason, in the event of an immediate change, the possible replacement for Pioli could be Primavera head coach Ignazio Abate.
Ignazio ftw
This is the best solution just promote him in💓
A new caretaker manager, be it Bonera or Abate, may give an energy boost but nothing more. The squad is poorly constructed and has massive holes. No defensive steel or offensive creativity in midfield and as individuals, no one has shown the quality needed to raise the level of this team. Without one or two signings there, we will limp through the rest of the season. Speaking of limping, we don’t have defenders. Kjaer and Caldara are physically done at this level and Kalulu and Thiaw will be out for a while. We need to go all out on Kiwior. A striker is a waste of money unless you fix the midfield because they will only feed on scraps
Leave Abate where he is. Just because first team is broken doesn’t mean we also need to break the Primavera (which finally is doing well after so long).
Also, coaches doing well with youth team means very little.
Let a few primavera players have their chance, and we absolutely have to buy in January 2024 or we are pretty doomed…And sell that piece of cr*p Krunic please, I can’t watch that guy anymore