The Rumour Commode XLIV: Paragliding to Piolistine Crisis

[Hitman]

i'm just wondering doesn't diddi have more important things to do right now than comment on milan

 

[Dokoa]

look at this fat feck... he's not even off the ground!
View attachment 31708

Dont talk like that for Chelsea's Bellingham

 

[papaberlu]

I'm not angry, but I am lacking in patience when I keep reading the same tired arguments about Pioli being trotted out only after a loss. Everybody's mum when we're ripping through everyone for one of our best win streaks in a long time, but as soon as he gets it wrong, he's thrown into the ocean. It's the lowest kind of criticism and judgment, on my view. Praise him when he does well, slag him when he gets it wrong. If all anybody does is the latter, then I think that's shit criticism. I wouldn't appreciate that from anyone in my own life, whether personally or professionally, so I dunno why folks think it's reasonable to do it for Pioli.

Anyway, for as much as you think Pioli is a bum, I see that you've already penciled us into the next EL round. What's with that? Is Pioli going to get it right away from home in Rome? Seems like the answer must be "yes", so I await your praise of Pioli when that happens. If not, then I'll keep my tinfoil hat firmly on my head.

No I think Milan has far too much talent for Roma to pull the same trick twice. I hope some form of internal motivation from the player takes over, I don't expect any tactical masterclass from Pioli

I don't like Pioli and I never have. The team badly needs to move on from him

 

[doraemon]

I'm not angry, but I am lacking in patience when I keep reading the same tired arguments about Pioli being trotted out only after a loss. Everybody's mum when we're ripping through everyone for one of our best win streaks in a long time, but as soon as he gets it wrong, he's thrown into the ocean. It's the lowest kind of criticism and judgment, on my view. Praise him when he does well, slag him when he gets it wrong. If all anybody does is the latter, then I think that's shit criticism. I wouldn't appreciate that from anyone in my own life, whether personally or professionally, so I dunno why folks think it's reasonable to do it for Pioli.

Anyway, for as much as you think Pioli is a bum, I see that you've already penciled us into the next EL round. What's with that? Is Pioli going to get it right away from home in Rome? Seems like the answer must be "yes", so I await your praise of Pioli when that happens. If not, then I'll keep my tinfoil hat firmly on my head.

Well why should we praising pioli for beating verona slavia empoli fiorentina lecce? Thats just his job beating low tier and mediocre team, sometimes he not even doing good job

Now we are talking about team that a bit stronger like roma juve inter dortmund psg and we've been left disappointed watching the team and his tactical choice

I'm not asking for winning every matches but we need to win the important match to win some titles

 

[pippofan]

I too think you could see from the very first second of this game the difference in body language between us and Roma.

Diddi mentioned that too, but read it differently than most of us. I left the part out because the post got longer and longer. However he basically said there's always this period after a long streak of wins of us where we become all smug and overconfident, almost supercilious. The players began the game like they were sure it would go their way any moment, by divine intervention or whatever, not giving too much of an effort while De Rossi's Roma was out there fighting for the win and not taking anything for granted.

That happens a lot to us.

I don't know if I agree with him on that tho. I guess ironically enough one can read it both ways (scared or overconfident) while the result remains the same: dull, unfocused and lethargic gamestyle.

I agree with Diddi's analysis, he's spot on with Pioli who's stubborn and doesn't learn from his mistakes but keeps repeating them over and over. I'm also tired of his lame and late substitutions: Chuku is on fire and should have come in much sooner, same with Okafor. In fact our best chance to score came with Samu's assist, after some great dribbling, to Giroud who incredibly blew it. Leao, RLC, and Giroud were literally hurting the team and a brave manager would have taken them out around the 60th minute. Instead the latter two played the entire awful game, should have used Pulisic at AM, while Benncer came off at more or less the right time. This was one of the most disappointing matches for me, I expected better since our form had been good but just about everyone played badly which is a recipe for disaster. We lack fighting spirit, don't react well to adversities, and our off the ball movements were disastrous. RLC except for his goals has very little to offer, awful passer and defender, which he showed in Roma's goal which I believe him and Theo were partly responsible. We have some primadonnas but no real leader like a Ibra to rally the troops or our past greats. The only players that didn't suck among the starters IMO are Maignan, Gabbia, and Calabria.
I have defended Pioli on some occasions but it's time for him to go so I'm officially on the #PioliOut team now.

 

[LemonCookies]

I don't like Pioli and I never have. The team badly needs to move on from him

So just put this as your signature so it's clear that when you make arguments, they're biased one way and you won't see the other side.

 

[danilo1899]

we are on the same wave lenght, astute post daiilo...

I was hoping for the sub of chuck for RLC and move pulisic to the middle & okafor for OG...actually brought this up in the first half as an exciting option.
when I saw the the 2 on the side lines, i then exclamed, "wow, pioli and I are finally on the same page"...then he takes off our top (2) offensive weapons?????
sure leao is lazy defensively, but, come on, were down a goal and at any time, leao can do the special thing...unbelievable.
he did get my adli for bene...so I'll give him that, but probably should of started that way.

while moderately successful, i personally dont care for our tactics...calabria inverting to CM, to CF on every possession simply pisses me off.
our defence is so uncohesive. thaiw needs work, actually rate gabbia higher.

keeping the faith that we can get a result in rome.

Yep, same thought-process here mate...

I get the idea of Pioli, spamming crosses so having two tall players in the middle of the box (theoretically at least) would be useful... But by the 60th min it was obvious those two are having a day off, which was even wprse when nobody else was stepping up to pick up the slack.

When we squeeze teams in their own half/box we don't really have good crossers of the ball. Suso was great at it for eg., he just had nobody to cross to back then. Last night Chuck tried several times to cross to the far post and nobody was there, which is odd if you take into consideration that far posts are the weak spots in the aiir of this Roma defence. Giroud couldn't get a sniff in the middle.RLC the same.

All in all, yeah, I agree we need a change, but... Not even prime Carlo/Pep could build attacking schemes around Rafa and Giroud, two (now) SEVERELY limited players in certain aspects of the game. It is good enough for 2nd place in Serie A, but for (serious) titles... We all can see that it's not.

With a good 9 we'd have much more potent attack. It doesn't even have to be a great #9, just a good one (or more complete, if you will). Not taking anything away from Oli, but he's 37 ffs; of all the teams left in euro-cups not one of them has a starting striker that's even close to his age.

If we patch up those glaring holes (reserve LB, starting DR, DM & ST) this summer I see us lifting a scudetto in 2025 comfortably.

 

[Kmoney]

Pioli to break the curse.

Self respecting Milan teams don’t lose the first leg at home, this could be one of those misleading stats

 

[Kmoney]

Bennacer rested

The ****** is gonna start him again isn't he

vs Roma he looked like a child running around trying to win the ball from adults. I swear he didn't win a single tackle

The only explanation I have is that we are showcasing him in European competition hoping that some club takes him off our hands

I doubt clubs have scouts at the Mapei with specific instructions to analyze the budget

Maybe here he scores a goal and we can make a whole YouTube comp about the Algerian wizard that will go viral

 

[Kmoney]

Leao is a marketing gem. Our financial people would have a stroke if we ever sold him, regardless of the fee. Well, unless it's north of 100mil, but we're not getting that. He's going to stay. Apart from our loanees, the obvious potential sales are Maignan and Bennather. I can also see us offloading Thiaw or Kalulu, as well as Reijnders if a mega offer comes in that we can't say no to.

Lebron James of soccer

Probably has the deepest physical toolkit of any player on the planet

 

[Kmoney]

we are fucked

Decided to get rid of nepotism only to replace it with Nepotism

 

[Kmoney]

Incredible how Pioli gets it right game after game in March and into April, wins 7 in a row, and then once he gets a game slightly wrong, we're ready to execute him in the public square. We should have won last game 2-0, instead we lost 0-1. I understand that Pioli has his moments of poor performance, but what's the alternative? He never gets anything wrong? Every game has the best lineup and best tactics right out the gate? "If Pioli isn't perfect and the best manager in the world every single game, then he's a bald fraud who should kill himself." There's a middle ground here, morons.

We just had an easy run of fixtures where tactics and organization didn’t really matter because of the talent gap.

Leao marking their CB for example and creating a 2v1 against Theo is amateur hour. Even a seasoned FM player would understand this

 

[Kmoney]

What the fuck our computer guy that sits behind Pioli do? What is his job? Isnt he analysing matches, why they dont have any plan b just continue with the same tactic from start.

Im sure he watch the stats from flashscore.

Im not dissappointed by the result but how they managed the game, both the coaching staff and the player who melted from the pressure.

Pioli said sometime ago that he has stopped coaching the team (literally, exact words)

He just selects the lineup and watches cluelessly

 

[Fusiproe12]

 

[Super22]

In the return leg we need to be careful because if Roma score another it would be game over and they will defend until Christmas.

 

[General]

Decided to get rid of nepotism only to replace it with Nepotism

 

[Ryo]

Once again Carlo Pellegatti held his weekly talk with Hellas Veronas Ex-match-analyst and Milan fan Luca Diddi, and once again a lot of interesting insights came out of this.

Carlo Pellegatti: Luca, you’ve just rewatched the whole game. Was De Rossi's decision to put El Shaarawy on the right all it took to disrupt all of Milan's plans? What went wrong?

Luca Diddi: Well, Carlo, the errors in the first half were numerous, starting with a flawed first press by Milan and a struggle to execute a specific style of play due to a lack of players suited to it. I also observed Milan completely faltering in their first press during the first half.

Pellegatti: How exactly?

Luca Diddi: Rafael Leao constantly pressed Smalling, leaving Celik and El Shaarawy in a two-against-one situation with Theo Hernandez. This alone caused chaos because it allowed Reijnders to attempt to even the numbers, but whenever he did, Cristante was left completely unmarked. Additionally, Paredes and Pellegri completed their midfield trio, while Dybala dropped between the lines, acting as a playmaker, further overwhelming Bennacer who suddenly had to cover for everyone. Essentially, Roma consistently had numerical superiority in midfield because Milan's first press focused on Leao pressing Smalling. It's that simple.

Pellegatti: But why did Leao press Smalling?

Luca Diddi: I don’t know. Honestly, there's no logic in that decision. It was Mancini building from behind or Paredes dropping deep to receive the ball, pressing Smalling was useless.

Pellegatti: You also mentioned that Pioli wants to play a certain way even when missing crucial players for that style of play?

Luca Diddi: Yes, besides the flawed first press in the first half, there was a constant delay from our center-backs in advancing, especially Gabbia on Dybala, who had too much freedom in the first half. Obviously, this brings us back to the point that has been made by many: Tomori and Kalulu possess the aggressiveness, urgency, and pressing to play in an advanced midfield role and disrupt the opponent's playmaker. Gabbia doesn’t, and neither does Thiaw. Therefore, as a coach, I need to adapt and alter our defensive approach and pressing tactics.

Pellegatti: So that's how Roma could dominate in the first half.

Luca Diddi: It was a culmination of several incorrect decisions on our part. From Leao being bypassed by Celik due to his focus on Smalling, to Gabbia failing to close down Dybala, to Reijnders being out of position, unsure whether to follow Cristante or Celik, leaving both Theo and Bennacer constantly in a two-on-one scenario with their opponents. Yeah, that's the simple summary of our first half.

Pellegatti: Then Pioli deployed Leao on the wrong opponent.

Luca Diddi: I'm not sure if that’s the case. After the game, Pioli mentioned he wasn’t satisfied with Leao's positioning either and that Leao should have stayed wider. Indeed, in the second half, Leao ceased tracking Smalling and instead focused on Celik. That's when we started to better control Roma. So either Leao misunderstood his assignments in the first half or chose to ignore them. But that's not the end of the story.

Pellegatti: No?

Luca Diddi: You see, Leao is a player who doesn't do both defensive and offensive phases. He either can't or simply doesn’t bother. Milan looked better in the second half because we altered our first press and Leao started tracking Celik. However, he never fully covered the whole flank. For instance, at the 61st minute, Cristante started deep, passed Leao, who then remained completely stationary instead of tracking him, allowing a counter that led to Lukaku taking a shot. Maignan then expressed his frustration towards Leao for failing to track back, you can see it in the footage.

Pellegatti: But why doesn’t he do both phases?

Luca Diddi: Based on his body language, he doesn't seem to like it. But who am I to say? I honestly don't know. It appears to be a part of his playing style, which is why in the past, we switched to a 4-4-2 formation where either Pulisic or Chuckwueze sacrificed themselves in midfield so that Leao could freely express himself upfront.

Pellegatti: When I think of great attackers of the past, no one expected Shevchenko or Inzaghi to excel in both phases. Has football evolved that much that everyone defends and attacks with all eleven players?

Luca Diddi: Not exactly. What I'm saying is, if Leao isn’t willing to contribute defensively, then as a coach, I must adjust our lineup accordingly. If I know Leao won’t help out defensively, then Reijnders and after him the entire midfield, will always struggle. In that case, I would play Musah instead. Musah possesses more athleticism, defensive awareness, and stamina than Reijnders to support Leao. I can’t afford to have both Reijnders and Leao on the left side if Leao refuses to contribute defensively, leaving gaps for opponents to exploit. This has been evident for two years now, and I'm not the only one who has noticed.

Pellegatti: It's incredible. It’s the same mistake we consistently make against Inter. De Rossi must have watched some derbies.

Luca Diddi: No, I disagree. Many have cited the derbies, but our errors were different there. You know which game last night’s reminded me of? Paris Saint-Germain vs. Milan in Paris. We made the exact same mistakes there. Leao pressing Marquinhos, Hakimi attacking without being tracked, therefore Musah overwhelmed in midfield and Theo in constant two-on-one situations. It ended 3-0 for PSG.

Pellegatti: Perhaps some of your colleagues watched the PSG game then.

Luca Diddi: I'm sure they did. Look, I personally know the match analysts who work with De Rossi. I've worked with them too. They are competent. That's why I was so concerned about this game. I knew they would analyze our weaknesses well and prepare accordingly. I hoped Pioli would do the same, but after the first five minutes, seeing the same first press from Leao on Smalling like back then in Paris on Marquinhos, I knew: "PSG-Milan, all over again." PSG, mind you, not Inter. These were two games we lost in completely different ways. Last night was reminiscent of the PSG game, not the derby.

Pellegatti: So, De Rossi outplayed Pioli tactically?

Luca Diddi: Yes, De Rossi’s team played cautiously, balanced, and with a spirit of fight and sacrifice, anticipating Milan's tactics. Milan, on the other hand, was poorly organized, committing the same mistakes as against PSG and additionally lacking focus and determination on many fronts.

Pellegatti: So, what's the solution?

Luca Diddi: If I were Milan's match analyst, I would review the goals conceded and the situations in the first half to understand what went wrong. Based on that analysis, I would conclude: «Coach, we need to adjust our tactics when we're missing key players or when certain players refuse to contribute defensively. We can't continue in the same manner when we're not in possession.» I've always praised Pioli's attacking tactics, but I've consistently criticized our defensive positioning. It's a cycle we need to break.

Pellegatti: But when it's evident to you and many other match analysts working with coaches in Italy, why don’t we change it? Isn’t it obvious to Pioli and his match analysts too?

Luca Diddi: ...

Pellegatti: Well, that's an answer too.

Luca Diddi: Honestly, Carlo, I don’t know. That’s why I can’t even give you an answer to this question.

So TLR is Tomori was missed and Pioli got no gameplan when he's out.
We're gonna win the second leg then.
Not worried at all.

 

[Ash-ish]

My goodness we gave the keys of the club to Zlatan?

Paolo was smart, Shark, listened to people while collecting talent , his only problem was when Ivan left he started talking shit about his boss.

Zlatan I hope he is better I truly hope.

 

[Kmoney]

View attachment 31710

Ibra is currently 0/1 in his player selection career (Roback)

He has done nothing off the pitch to justify him being higher up the hierarchy compared to Moncada

Nepotism doesn’t need to be family only; putting unqualified acquaintances in positions which they haven’t earned through merit counts just as much.

I don’t see a difference in Ibra vs Maldini as SD. Both equally unqualified

 

[Kmoney]

In the return leg we need to be careful because if Roma score another it would be game over and they will defend until Christmas.

Roma will score 100%. Pioli can’t keep a clean sheet to save his life. We’ll need to score 2 at least

 

[Soldier_of_god]

Ibra is currently 0/1 in his player selection career (Roback)

He has done nothing off the pitch to justify him being higher up the hierarchy compared to Moncada

Nepotism doesn’t need to be family only; putting unqualified acquaintances in positions which they haven’t earned through merit counts just as much.

I don’t see a difference in Ibra vs Maldini as SD. Both equally unqualified

100% nepotism.

Ibra is unqualified. Ibra hasn't won shit in Europe. I love him but he is a league leaged. Not ucl legend or europa.

 

[Alo88]

i'm just wondering doesn't diddi have more important things to do right now than comment on milan

To be honest, it takes me way more time to transcript, sort, translate, format and then translate it again into a written English than for him to talk 15 minutes once a week to Pellegatti.

He'd do the analizis anyway as that's his job. Who knows what further mandates he has right now. Furthermore, Pellegatti gives him a platform with over 150k subscribers and 12-15k views per week.

Why you asking, do you disagree with him?

 

[Alo88]

[...]

Luca Diddi: Not exactly. What I'm saying is, if Leao isn’t willing to contribute defensively, then as a coach, I must adjust our lineup accordingly. If I know Leao won’t help out defensively, then Reijnders and after him the entire midfield, will always struggle.

[...]

Luca Diddi: No, I disagree. Many have cited the derbies, but our errors were different there. You know which game last night’s reminded me of? Paris Saint-Germain vs. Milan in Paris. We made the exact same mistakes there. Leao pressing Marquinhos, Hakimi attacking without being tracked, therefore Musah overwhelmed in midfield and Theo in constant two-on-one situations. It ended 3-0 for PSG.

[...]

BTW, guess what changed between PSG away and PSG at home?

At home, Leao did a tremendous work in both the phases while RLC returned from his injury and got assigned a way more defensive role, sorting and supporting our midfield and start his progressive runs from a way deeper position - basically a la Kessie.

Both Leao and Pioli should take notice from this approach and how big of a difference it can make.

 

[assa.abloy]

Lord

 

[AndreiX]

BTW, guess what changed between PSG away and PSG at home?

At home, Leao did a tremendous work in both the phases while RLC returned from his injury and got assigned a way more defensive role, sorting and supporting our midfield and start his progressive runs from a way deeper position - basically a la Kessie.

Both Leao and Pioli should take notice from this approach and how big of a difference it can make.

Your post made me think about RLC and his defensive usage and I realized that even when he does track back and show up defensively he doesnt really have good instincts, always chasing shadows and a step behind his man. He's decent in duels but not really smart defensively, I'd even say below average in both covering passing lanes and in man marking

 

[DonSilvio]

Pioli was a godsend when he arrived . He did a good job last few years to bring us back into relevance.. no one can take that away from him.. but come on WE ARE MILAN. No room for mediocrity in the long run. And that’s what he is for the current situation of Milan. MEDIOCRE. We cannot take the next step up with him and it’s painfully obvious to anyone without his dick in their mouth.

He was. Absolutely. But just like in any competitive sphere, you gotta evolve or you get figured out. He's been figured out by everyone and their mothers, and the Serie B reject De Rossi. We dropped out of the Serie A race way too soon, and I'm not talking about this year but last year. Because what we are watching is the same shit that took place last year but only worse. Its worse because we fucked our domestic Disney league this year by losing it early to fucking inter and did even worse in CL by a mile. We all know what to expect from this team whenever we are up against a team with some talent or against a coach with some basic football acumen. None of that fazes Pioli, though. His interviews are very telling. He will deploy the same tactics and make some incredulous subs just so he can brag about them whenever we win because of our talent gap against the Veronas and Fiorentinas of the world and not because of his asinine decisions.

Pioli another year at Milan? Serie A bottom feeders rejoice. GTFOH

 

[Alo88]

Your post made me think about RLC and his defensive usage and I realized that even when he does track back and show up defensively he doesnt really have good instincts, always chasing shadows and a step behind his man. He's decent in duels but not really smart defensively, I'd even say below average in both covering passing lanes and in man marking

He's definitely no prime Kessie in that regard. Let alone a classic DM. What RLCs main strengths are IMO is winning duels in midfield and to then progress the ball into the opponents box as well as making late runs into the box and score. In any case he should start deeper in a 3-man-midfield.

 

[Alo88]

Huh, completely missed that? Seems like Luis Alberto has completely broken bonds with Lazio. Should we try to step in?

(I can see Marotta already being all over another low-cost-player while selling someone else for 60M+)

 

[fray]

On a random note on Saturday morning - I cannot grasp how good & reliable Gabbia has suddenly become. In February after a run of 3-4 good games, I was skeptic about him maintaining consistency, but he keeps getting through every game without putting a foot wrong. I have no fear of any random Serie A striker getting the better of him anymore. Incredible turn-around and certainly ideal as we manage to turn what was our 5th choice into a potential starter & save money on a Kjaer replacement.

 

[fray]

Omg next game is away against relegation-threatened Sassuolo with a rotated squad. Unfortunately this stinks of a performance like this: