Discredit. The World Cup killed Milan. The worst in Europe

What worked well for years doesn’t work at all today. We are going through a very difficult moment and all I feel today is pain. Nothing works out for us – said the coach of AC Milan – Stefano Pioli after the match with Sassuolo (2: 5).

The Italian champions are in a huge crisis. In January, Milan won just one of their seven matches, losing any chance of defending their title, crashing out of the Coppa Italia and taking a thrashing in the derby with Inter (0-3) for the Italian Super Cup.

Milan have been playing disastrously in recent weeks. I don’t recognize this team. Milan has fallen into a huge sports and mental hole from which it cannot get out and I have doubts if it even knows how to do it – Julian Kowalski, a commentator for Eleven Sports station, told us.

Terrible defensive stats

2023 started as planned for Milan, with a 2-1 win over Salernitana. The good moment of Pioli’s team, however, lasted only until the 87th minute of the next match against AS Roma. The Italian champions were leading 2-0 and everything seemed to indicate that they would continue their pursuit of the leader – Napoli. But then something jammed and their game crashed. Roger Ibanez and Tammy Abraham scored within six minutes for Roma to end the game in a draw.

“What has happened to Milan since Ibanez scored is inexplicable. I don’t know if anyone can explain it,” Kowalski said. And it’s hard not to agree with him, because the results of Pioli’s team since the match against Roma are shockingly weak. 2-2 with Lecce, 0-4 with Lazio and 2-5 with Sassuolo in Serie A, 0-1 with Torino in the Coppa Italia and 0-3 with Inter in the Super Cup – Milan hasn’t played so badly in years.

Five matches without a win in a row is Milan’s worst series under Pioli’s tenure, who has been working at San Siro since October 2019. The team looks especially bad in defense, and the defense records further dramatic statistics.

Milan conceded 14 goals in five league matches in January. As calculated by the statistical portal Opta, none of the 98 teams in Europe’s top five leagues defended so badly. And yet these are only the results from Serie A. Describing the number of goals conceded by Milan, one should also remember about the four goals conceded in cup matches against Torino and Inter.

Milan’s defense is shattered. The Italian champions have conceded nine goals in their last two games against Lazio and Sassuolo. That’s as much as the entire rematch round last season. It was only the second time in the club’s more than 123-year history that Milan had conceded at least four goals twice in a row. “That’s not all – three official appearances in a row with at least three goals conceded has not happened to Milan since 1956.” – added the portal acmilan.com.pl.

“By conceding so many goals, we won’t be able to win any game,” said Olivier Giroud after the meeting with Sassuolo. We need to change something as soon as possible. Both tactically and mentally. But I know only one way out: we have to work hard,” added Pioli, who announced a change of line-up to Sunday’s derby with Inter.

“Pioli takes full responsibility”

Until recently, the Italian was carried on his hands in Milan. It was he who built the team that regained the national championship for Milan after an 11-year break. Today, Pioli divides fans and journalists. Some defend him, pointing to the injuries and fatigue of the players and the lack of reinforcements. Others see him as the main culprit in the team’s problems.

“I don’t believe that Pioli will be sacked. Certainly not now. Of course, if he loses a few more matches, the subject can be treated much more seriously, but for now, he will definitely be given time to work calmly. The very fact that the Italian media are wondering about his future is significant, said Kowalski.

“Pioli has full responsibility for what Milan is presenting at the moment. The team is constantly divided in two and at the mercy of the opponents. Milan is in a very bad position.” “Last season Pioli was a hero, today he is most responsible for the team’s crisis. Milan is powerless, especially in defense” – these are just two of the many critical texts that have appeared in the Italian media in recent days.

What exactly can be accused of the Milan coach? – Pioli’s decisions are strange. Everyone can see that Giroud is tired, but the coach is still betting on him. He does it because he thinks that Divock Origi or 19-year-old Marko Lazetić are not ready to play. The first of them may not really be an outstanding striker, but he is a representative of a country that could at least give Giroud some breathing room – said Kowalski.

– But it is not everything. Ciprian Tatarusanu fails in goal, and Devis Vasquez did not get a chance. It’s puzzling, because it’s hard to imagine that the Colombian defends worse than the Romanian. It’s the same with defense. Defenders make terrible mistakes and Pioli is not looking for other solutions. The Italian does not use 21-year-old Malick Thiaw at all, who at this point would probably be no worse than Fikayo Tomori or Pierre Kalulu.”

Milan today looks like a team that was ruined by the World Cup break. It seems almost certain that Pioli and his staff made mistakes during the preparations for the spring round. It is even more strange that only seven Milan players flew to Qatar.

Only Giroud and Theo Hernandez played in the final. Rafael Leao finished in the quarter-finals, Sergino Dest and Fode Ballo-Toure in the round of 16, and Simon Kjaer and Charles De Ketelaere in the group stage. “Even Pioli’s biggest fans must see that a mistake has been made somewhere, even though the Italian had most of the squad at his disposal during the break,” Kowalski said.

Pioli’s critics also point to vague statements in the media that do not guarantee that the Italian knows how to put together a broken team. We have flaws that we need to eliminate. I am disappointed with all this. But we have to pull ourselves together because bad results create a bad atmosphere in the dressing room,” Pioli said after the match against Lazio.

Small and missed investments

However, it’s not just Pioli who is responsible for Milan’s disastrous results. – The injury of goalkeeper Mike Maignan was crucial for the team. His absence took a huge toll on the team’s confidence and performance. Maignan is not only a great goalkeeper, but also a very important figure on the pitch and in the locker room. It made defenders feel much more confident. Tatarusanu is not only a worse player, but he also can’t manage the team well and set it up on the pitch – said Kowalski.

Maignan suffered a serious calf injury during France’s September match against Austria. Tatarusanu, who replaces the 27-year-old, is playing badly. And even very bad. In January alone, he conceded as many as 14 goals from just 19 shots on target. Despite this, the Milan authorities did not decide on even a short loan of a better goalkeeper in the winter transfer window.

– Why did we do it? We believe in the players we have. In addition, Maignan is recovering fully,” Pioli recently commented. But this statement also characterizes Milan’s other problems. Reluctance to invest and poor transfer windows.

After winning the Italian championship, the only major transfer to the club was the arrival of the 21-year-old attacking midfielder – De Ketelaere – who cost Milan over 30 million euros. It’s huge money for them. Especially since they had EUR 50 million to spend in the summer – said Kowalski.

“Most of the transfer budget went to the winger, where Pioli already had good players. The team needed reinforcement in the center of defense. Milan wanted to sign Sven Botman from Lille but had no chance against Newcastle. After losing the fight for the Dutchman, the club did not try to bring in a good stopper, which would be invaluable today – he added.

The transfer of De Ketelaere from Club Brugge turned out to be a mistake. The 21-year-old has not scored a goal in 24 appearances and had only one assist. Apart from Belgium, Milan only signed Thiaw for €7m from Schalke in the summer, Junior Messias for €4.5m from Crotone, Alessandro Florenzi for €3m from Roma and Divock Origi for free from Liverpool. In addition, the club has loaned Aster Vranckx from Wolfsburg and Sergino Desta from Barcelona. Neither the players nor the amounts impressed.

– After the Italian championship in the club, they fell into self-admiration – his former coach Arrigo Sacchi briefly diagnosed Milan’s actions. “Pioli has gone to the wall with this team. The club needs to invest if it wants to stay at the top it has so long and arduously returned to. Milan has some stars like Maignan, Hernandez, Leao and Giroud, but it’s definitely not enough. Most of the staff is simply too weak – added Kowalski.

Key weeks

Key weeks ahead for Milan. On Sunday the derby with Inter, in mid-February the first match of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League with Tottenham, at the end of the month a league match with Atalanta, with which Pioli’s team will fight for a place in the top four of the table.

Because no one at San Siro thinks about defending the Italian championship. Milan are 15 points behind Napoli, although they were only eight points behind before the resumption of the World Cup after the World Cup. Even at the beginning of the year, it was possible to assume that if Napoli slowed down again and squandered the lead in the table, it was Milan that could take away the coveted championship. But today, Pioli’s team has other goals.

Milan must focus on qualifying for the Champions League next season. Five teams will compete for the remaining three spots. With 38 points, Milan is ranked 5th in the table. Pioli’s side are two points behind Inter, equal to Lazio and Atalanta and only one point ahead of Roma. The situation would be even more interesting if Juventus had not been punished with 15 negative points for financial scams.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League would be a huge blow for Milan. It would not only be a financial loss for the club. Who knows if in this case Leao, the leader and the most valuable player in Pioli’s team, would not decide to leave San Siro. The Brazilian’s contract expires in 2024, and Chelsea was already very interested in his transfer.

“We won’t defend the Italian championship for sure,” Pioli admitted bluntly. But we still have something to play for. Qualifying for the Champions League is crucial for us. Finishing in the top four will be like winning the league for us.” Without him, Milan may face another lean years, as in the last decade, when the 19-time Italian champion was consumed by a great sports crisis.