Pioli is the favorite to replace Napoli, Retegui is the hot name for the attack (Repubblica)

Pioli in pole position for Napoli, Retegui the hot name for the attack.

La Repubblica writes it:

The commitment was there and the Napoli players achieved at least one objective: the stop – whether temporary or definitive – of the punitive withdrawal, we will see. But the mocking draw (2-2) against Roma at Maradona was yet another bitter pill of a disastrous season, which barring miracles will end for Aurelio De Laurentiis’ club with the exit from Europe. The president was in the VIP gallery and is working for the future, with Pioli in pole position for the bench, the rumors about Tedesco – Belgium coach – and the residual hopes of a move for Conte. On the signing front, the name of Retegui, Genoa’s center forward, is hot.

by Lorenzo Giarelli

Stefano Pioli’s journey at Milan ends as it began: with a tsunami of pioliout which hashtags the spontaneous anger of millions of Milan fans who in the same way, in autumn 2019, welcomed the new coach (when everyone was calling for Luciano Spalletti). It seems that Pioli will not struggle to find a bench, perhaps even that of Napoli, whose fans – legitimately – will ask: but why a coach who found a team in fourteenth place and led them, in three years, to win a championship and playing in a Champions League semi-final, is it much contested?

The derbies. The figure of 6 derbies lost in a row was striking. But the problem is not so much losing derbies, but always losing them in the same way. In the last 3 years of matches, 5 times Inter took the lead within the tenth minute and three other times they scored within the first 20. It might be said: it is provincial to base a judgment only on derbies. True, but if trophies or seasons are played on derbies (like in the 2023 Super Cup or in the Champions League semi-finals) it is not acceptable to see the same mistakes repeated, with Inter having to do nothing but repeat the same old match to close practice in half an hour.

Humility. The day before the 5-1 defeat against Inter (September 2023), Franco Ordine del Giornale asks Pioli in a conference if he has found countermeasures to the problem – already evident at the time – of the horror approaches to the latest derbies. Answer: “I didn’t watch past derbies, I only watched Inter’s first three games in the league”. After the 5-1, Pioli believes he “doesn’t have to apologize to the fans”. In more recent times, before the last derby, Carlo Pelegatti introduces a question, defining himself as a “piolista and AC Milan supporter” and the coach interrupts him: “Not many have been this year, AC Milan fans”. Patents of Milanism – especially from an avowed Inter fan – are certainly a fall in style but even more demonstrate a lack of humility, given that most of the criticisms made by the fans turned out to be correct.

Tactical questions. An observation is now fashionable among AC Milan fans: we play with 5-0-5. The reason? Often the team in possession is split in half, 5 defend and 5 are crushed at the opponent’s penalty area. The result, in the event of a turnover in attack, is understandable. The fans probably exaggerate, but even the last few games offer an idea in this regard: Loftus-Cheek. The Englishman was among the best at the beginning of 2024, then he faded away. For a few weeks he worked great in the attacking midfield position – and Pioli should be given credit for this – but then he lost effectiveness because Loftus effectively became a striker. You could see it well with Roma: the former Chelsea player is effective if he starts from behind and arrives in the area with the insertion (see the goals in Udine or Empoli, to name two), because he has excellent times, but if during the turn ball on the frontcourt he is already waiting for the ball next to Giroud, he becomes useless. With the aggravating circumstance that to put him there, Milan gave up their centimeters in mid-field.

The technical management of the players. In his first year in Italy, Yacine Adli played 140 minutes in the league. In an often patched-up AC Milan he never found space even during the game (25 minutes in the entire second half of the season). This year, Adli suddenly becomes a starter after Krunic (perhaps Pioli’s main fetish, who sewed him a role at Busquets at the cost of rejecting big offers from Turkey in the summer) turns out to be what he is, that is, a very honest player who, however, cannot have turnkey management of the team. In the middle of the year Krunic leaves for a third of the amount that had been rejected 4 months earlier. Is it possible that Adli, who is 24 (not 18) and had 99 appearances in Ligue 1, has only discovered how to play football this year? Again: Samuel Chukwueze. By far the fittest in attack, in the decisive double match against Roma he played a total of 55 minutes, ten in the first leg (in which he put Giroud on goal) and 45 in the return leg with the match compromised. Why?

Injuries. Milan has been experiencing a cycle of injuries for years which especially affects in the autumn. Between October and November the team was decimated to the point of compromising important objectives (this year in the autumn the rift was created with Inter, two years ago absences hampered Milan in the Champions League group). Pioli has always defended his staff, but the repetitiveness of certain situations makes the fans lose patience: a wrong summer preparation? A bad management of the many close commitments in the autumn? The problem is, no one has ever given the answer.

Why change? Cycles end. The signs had already been there last year, when in January Pioli gave the sensation of having lost the locker room and above all of having run out of ideas on the pitch. The Champions League only arrived thanks to the penalty for Juve, then the owners decided to change everything (management, players) except Pioli, starting again with him. His merits (above all the good play of the first two years and the valorisation of those who were then only talented young players, such as Theo Hernandez, Leao, Kalulu, Diaz) are indisputable and any AC Milan player, 5 years ago, would have signed for achieve the results he achieved. For this reason, unlike Giampaolo, Montella or other meteors on the Milan bench, Pioli will have other chances at high levels. At San Siro he has nothing left to give. Elsewhere, for example in Naples, he will be able to start with the wind at his back (he also did well in his first year at Lazio) but in the medium to long term he will have a lot to correct.

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