I was always hoping we’d somehow part ways with Pioli in an undramatic and respectable way. This club has risen from its ruins and he’s played a big part in that.
But as I’ve mentioned several times before Pioli has very obvious flaws when it comes to coaching. He is a tactically limited coach, and the fear was always that he and the team would be found out rather than “dominate Serie A for years to come” which was the mantra repeated by Pioli apologists prior to our recent crisis (which is only now showing in the table but which has been apparent on the pitch since the beginning of the season)
If only the club had brought people into the technical staff that could help strengthen the team tactically in areas where Pioli and his staff aren’t strong enough.
If that wasn’t an option I wish we had waited until the end of the season to renew Pioli.
It made absolutely no sense to renew him when we did.
I know Pioli’s contract would’ve run out in the summer, but even at the time of renewal the team was playing like garbage. Pioli was in no danger of leaving as Milan is the biggest club he’s ever managed, the only place he’s won anything and I highly doubt he was on the shortlist of Europes elite clubs. He would’ve seen his contract out and hoped for a renewal. But for some unfathomable reason the management decided to extend his contract midsession when the team was playing like utter trash and it was apparent to everyone that not only had we not built on our Scudetto success, we had regressed.
Not all great coaches are great tacticians, but if they aren’t they usually have players who deliver world class performances consistently. Pioli hasn’t had that luxury. His players have been hot and cold and when the right players were hot we often won and when they were cold we didn’t. Lately they’ve all been cold, so too has Pioli. It’s safe to say that the fire has been properly extinguished.