After suffering their heaviest defeat in 21 years when they were thrashed 5-0 by Atalanta at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia on the 22nd of December, the question has got to be asked; does manager Stefano Pioli have what it takes to restore Il Rossoneri to their former glory?
Pioli signed a two-year contract back on the 9th of October. He was not the choice that many fans would have made. Stints at his three previous clubs, Lazio, Internazionale, and Florentina all ended disappointingly, so what convinced the club to hire his services in the first place?
With only three wins, three draws and four losses to his name since he took over as head coach, Pioli has not made the best of starts. The team are languishing in 11th place in the Serie A league table, and the glory days seem far away indeed – just a distant memory.
You have to go back to November 2001. That is when one Carlo Ancelotti took over the reins at AC Milan. It was the beginning of an eight-year reign that would see the club win two Champions League trophies; become Italian champions twice; win the Italian Cup in 2002/3; become Italian Super Cup winners three times, and be FIFA World Cup winners in the 2007/8 season.
They were also UEFA Super Cup winners twice – in 2003/4 and 2007/8. They won 11 trophies in total during his time as manager. Of course, Ancelotti has recently joined English Premier League side, Everton, as their new manager.
The EPL is said to be the best league in the world right now, and that is why football team managers have to get results. It was only a few weeks ago that Everton’s previous manager, Marco Silva, was the latest casualty in December – the month which statistically records the highest number of sackings in any season.
One of the key areas of measuring the performance of football club managers is how their current teams fare against former ones. In the EPL it was Mauricio Pochettino who came out on top with 2.13 points. When you check out a similar listing for Serie A, Stefano Pioli doesn’t figure well. He only has 1.2 points putting him only 11th best.
If Serie A is anything like the EPL, Mr Pioli’s head could soon be on the chopping block unless he can turn the fortunes of Il Diavolo round in the short term. It’s a shame that AC Milan did not sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
It has recently been revealed that the Portuguese was close to signing before changing his mind at the last moment and joining Juventus. His presence might have made the difference. Instead, Ronaldo scored the single goal that saw Juventus beat AC Milan in the final of the Supercoppa Italiano in January this year. But as they say, it is no good crying over split milk.
One thing is sure, and that is that Stefano Pioli needs to make some new signings to turn the Rossoneri’s season around. The only concrete move of the club so far is the signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Okay, he is a great name, but at 38 years of age, he is surely past his best? Pioli is going to have to do a lot better to stay on as manager at the San Siro, and he needs to do it quickly too.
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