Last night’s derby defeat will the Stefano Pioli’s last as the head coach of AC Milan, and the management have drawn up the list of requirements that his replacement must have.
According to Antonio Vitiello’s latest column for MilanNews, the Europa League defeat against Roma is what seemed to kick off the search for Pioli’s successor and now all the remains to be seen is whether he will be sacked or if there might be a mutual contract termination.
One thing is sure: the replacement must be a profile that everyone can agree on and that fits with the RedBird Capital project. Thus, the club will focus on a coach with an international profile, in the sense that he already has experience managing in European competitions.
Above all, he cannot be the classic English-style manager like Sir Alex Ferguson who wants to decide everything himself when it comes to recruitment. It will not be a coach who after two months will complain about transfers, for example.
Instead, it will be a profile who has the willingness to share choices with the management and the club, both in terms of athletic/physical preparation and tactics. Without forgetting the transfer market, there must be maximum cooperation there too.
Profiles circulating around Milan such as Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri have already been excluded, Thiago Motta is difficult and seems close to Juventus but the door could yet creak open.
Julen Lopetegui is admired by some within the club but not everyone and that’s the reason why he hasn’t been locked in yet despite multiple meetings and interviews.
Milan are also evaluating other options, both young and more experienced coaches. Unai Emery is one of the favourites but financially it is far from easy. Many other coaches were offered by intermediaries and agents, so the next few days and weeks could be a waiting game.
They want a puppet
“Above all, he cannot be the classic English-style manager like Sir Alex Ferguson who wants to decide everything himself when it comes to recruitment. It will not be a coach who after two months will complain about transfers, for example.”
Ok, suddenly transfer non-strategy of last summer makes sense.
If the main requirement is down to “no complaining” then better stick to Pioli.
It’s crazy that (always based on the media) there seems to be zero football criteria in the selection of the next coach.
We hear about young, experienced, international, demanding, no demanding, growing talents, having worked with X player etc.
None seems to care about the most important thing: the type of football each coach brings.
“None seems to care about the most important thing: the type of football each coach brings.”
The things is though… Not many care HOW the results come as long as they come. Fans want trophies. Even if it meant constant 1-0 wins over occasional 4-3 thrillers.
Sure, it would be fun to win 3-0 every time but management cannot have unrealistic expectations and to them, it’s all about staying in budget and getting the results they want.
That’s quite possibly every club, but people don’t understand this. Even PSG changes coach every summer when results don’t come and they have money to use as toilet paper. Your name could be Guardiola, but if results don’t come within the relative budget you’re out.
All coaches (and their football approach) is supposed to win, none decides on a football style that loses. You can win in deferent style, Guardiola is different to Klopp and Klopp different to Simeone, to Ancelloti, to Conte, to Touchel, to Luis Enrique, to Mourinho. All of them have different style of football, all of them can potentially win (not to the same extend of course).
You need to assess your roster, understand what are the requirements of each approach and decide accordingly. Otherwise you end up like Chelsea or PSG: great (and super expensive) rosters which constantly fail because there is not (football) identity. They don’t know who they are, what kind of football they want to play.
“None seems to care about the most important thing: the type of football each coach brings.”
The things is though… Not many care HOW the results come as long as they come. Fans want trophies. Even if it meant constant 1-0 wins over occasional 4-3 thrillers.
Sure, it would be fun to win 3-0 every time but management cannot have unrealistic expectations and to them, it’s all about staying in budget and getting the results they want.
We are in the billy beane cardinale era boys!!! F*** American owners for turning this club into a soulless club
They should get amorim and bring gyorekes with him and 2 experienced defenders on a free or loan then done. Leoa could also flourish with a compatriot as manager
If they really want to bring Milan back to the top of European football as they say they do, there are two ways of achieving that goal. Either invest heavily in squad improvements or put a coach with a system in place that makes the players punch above their weight.
We know the first option is out of the question and so far RedBird has done nothing that would lead me to believe they’re opting for the second option. So the conclusion must be that they lack either ambition or competence. I don’t know which is worse.
As others have suggested, everything points to them looking for a yes man and preferably a cheap one.
“put a coach with a system in place that makes the players punch above their weight.”
Well… TBH, the Milan squad isn’t THAT bad actually – winning PSG should give some indication what the squad is capable. Getting the right coach to develop the players further and play as a team would suffice to getting at least some (domestic?) trophies while waiting for the stadium to fix the finances once and for all.
Our problem has been lack of consistency because of poor tactical decisions .
Of course this is the requirement. Because they have no clue what they are actually looking for and take experience over aptitude. It should be the other way around.
Coaches with inexperience and the right behaviors will out class experience with the wrong behaviors.
FWIW, Emery extended with Villans. So, he’s out of the conversation.
Ruben Amorim, Paulo Fonseca or Christophe Gaultier would do a better job than Pioli.
For those who don’t know in the EPL the manager is responsible for all the transfers and the manager chooses the players.
In Serie A there is a GM who selects the players based on what the manager ask for. So it’s not uncommon for Serie A teams to not have coaches making the decisions on who leaves and who stays.
Milan management seem fixated on playing European football with only 1-2 Italians mentioned.
Curious how that plays out.
“Above all, he cannot be the classic English-style manager like Sir Alex Ferguson who wants to decide everything himself when it comes to recruitment. It will not be a coach who after two months will complain about transfers, for example.”
In a way this kind of means they want a puppet that won’t complain, rather than a true coach who actually want to have a say in the strategy, and maybe this is one of the reasons why they decided to keep Pioli and sack Maldini.
It will be helpful to understand what is the actual strategy of the management, what is their goal ? what type of Milan do they want to create ? What is their objective for the following seasons and how to they plan to reach those objectives ?