Sorry, I'm a bit late to the party, but I'd still like to share my three cents.
I don't think it's a secret that I always defended Pioli against a lot of what I thought was misplaced criticism, and - at least until 2022 - I still stand by what I said then. In 2023, on the other hand, it has become impossible even for me to defend Pioli against most of the criticism. Yes, we're in the thick of Top 4, but only thanks to a very abnormal season where Inter lost 12 games while still comfortably making it into CL and we could qualify for said CL with only 67 points - when's it been the last time in history of Serie A? So for me, Top 4 for once doesn't make a season a successful one. Not without context.
For example, I don't believe that the glaring difference in performance between this and last season can be explained away by the "not so rounded squad". After all, we are talking about exactly the same squad - minus Kessie - that won Serie A twelve months ago and collected more points in one season than any AC Milan team in history before.
Sure I don't argue that with a better squad you get better results. I mean to stretch the argument, yeah, if we had Haaland, Mbappe and De Bruyne, yeah, we sure would have won more games. That's a fairly easy argument to agree on. But most of the points we lacked compared to last year we lost to teams in the bottom half of the table, some even to teams in the lowest places in the table. That is not and cannot be a squad quality problem. Not for a squad that became champions a year ago and still has its entire core intact!
You've already said that you don't absolve Pioli of all mistakes, I more than agree with you on that. But I don't agree that Pioli is less to blame for the underperformance than Maldini and Massara. Pioli has, in my opinion, failed extremely in integrating the new players into his rotations. In my opinion, they are not as bad as their lack of minutes would make you believe. Pioli had months to prepare them for the important final phase of the season, balancing the Serie A and Champignons League. He failed in that. Only Thiaw seems to work out for now, all the other players (still!) look like foreign bodies.
And even with the established players, I don't see the identity of last season anymore, the playfulness and the ideas are missing. A lot of things seem stuck. And don't even get me started on the annual injury crises (the most annoying issue with Pioli).
If Pioli were to stay, I hope he can learn from all his mistakes and draw the right lessons from them.
