There are three minimum objectives that the club and also potentially the fanbase have imposed on Stefano Pioli if he is to remain as the head coach for next season, a report claims.
After the last few months of ups and downs in terms of results, Pioli’s future on the Milan bench is constantly in question. Despite the public backing of the management, it can’t be avoided that the Rossoneri are heading for another disappointing and ultimately trophy-less season.
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport (via Radio Rossonera) writes about Pioli, describing him as ‘a tightrope walker who walks on a tightrope and every match is a crucial point’, from victories to defeats.
The fans are criticised by the newspaper for ‘the #PioliOut hash tag in the fickle world of social media’ which they believe shows little respect to the former Lazio and Fiorentina boss for the work he has done.
However, Pioli’s future is not a daily topical issue and the coach’s work will be evaluated and judged at the end of the season, as Gerry Cardinale has strongly hinted at in previous interviews.
To at least guarantee the possibility of staying in charge for 2024-25, Tuttosport state that Pioli will have to take Milan to at least the semi-finals of the Europa League, to at least hold third place and then the outcome of the derby scheduled for April will certainly be decisive.
The expectations are getting lower and lower, I won’t be surprised if he manages to keep his job even in the event of failing to qualify for next year’s UCL..
You can’t be a serious club if you are thinking about coming back next season with Pioli as a coach because he finished 3rd in serie A and got to the semi-final of the Europa league.
Being 3rd in serie A will probably come with 20 deficit to your biggest rival on the table. If inter wins their postponed game vs Atalanta tomorrow they will be 16 points ahead of Milan. Not to mention that your biggest rival owns you in almost every derby with this current coach.
Big club like Bayern already have decided the current coach is leaving at the end of the season because of disappointing results and play even though he still has a chance to win the Bundesliga and UCL.
Milan cannot wait till the end of the season to make a decision on the coach. You will be behind in the planning the team for next season if you don’t have your coaching situation figured out way before then.
There’s is nothing Pioli can do to keep his job.
Getting to the semi-final of the EL because of lucky draw just to get embarrassed by Bayer or Liverpool just like last season shouldn’t change the opinion about Pioli. He did good for a couple of years, but he can’t take Milan any further. Thank him for his services and let him go.
Milan is not a serious club.
We are turning into Arsenal at the end of the Wenger era. Just come in at least 4th and all is well….
Not hard to beat Slavia Praha, so the expectation must be to finish 2nd along with reaching the semi finals, all whilst playing a clear tactical style.
Quite a disappointing article: if it’s about qualifying for champs next season, that shouldn’t be too much to ask from Pioli. He’s capable for that.
The main thing is if he has anymore to give as @Z mentioned.
To be fair on him, he actually made plans to improve the team this season. And his plan was on course until the Inter defeat, succeeding by the recurring injuries. The team including the coach seemed to suffer mentally in consequence. In summary, life happened to them.
But in any case, if there should be a change, it has to be an upgrade with the aim of becoming one of the top teams in Europe again and to win the champs, even if it takes 4 or 5 seasons to get there. Pioli or no Pioli
De zarabi is the solution
I would argue EL Final and a win against Inter in the return fixture. So, mission impossible in other words.
Realistically though, if neither Conte nor Motta are available in the summer, I don’t know that Furlani would move on to a cat in the bag VS keeping Stefano for another season.
The devil you know…
Do you think that if Conte was our coach he would win with Milan vs Inter this season?
Conte who lost last year against Milan with Harry Kane, Son, Kulusevski and Perisic on the field, couldn’t score a single goal against us. Conte who’s flipped tables and burned relations with almost all the clubs where he’s coached, Conte who tried to get rid of Diego Costa through a text message.
Motta is also an unknown, many coaches struggle at preparing games every 3 days, but I’ll take Motta over Conte every single day
Conte sucks In European competitions but he is a proven winner in serie A.
Also, in his defense, around the Milan match up in UCL he was dealing with the death of close friends and I think he had some kind of surgery around the same time causing him to be away from the team.
His football is ugly, but undoubtedly Milan will be more solid and more disciplined than it is under Pioli. I’m not saying Milan would have won the scudetto vs Inter, but they would definitely still be in the title race today. Also, his players are always physically very well prepared . So no historically injury numbers as under the butchers Pioli and Osti.
Conte is a terrible idea, cmon now. We don’t want short term success and then mediocrity forever. He’s just another defensive coach like pioli, which is the last thing this squad needs. And he would just demand to bring in a bunch of expensive past their prime players…
Conte is a transformative coach. Always has been. There’s a reason Marotta let Spalletti go and brought conte in who won the Scudetto in his second year. I appreciate the winning mentality he brings in. Both inter and Juve are built on Conte’s backbone.