Journalist Alfredo Pedullà believes that AC Milan have a ‘ladder of problems’ which is impacting the current moment and has somewhat darkened the previously positive atmosphere surrounding the club.
It has been a rocky last week-and-a-half for Milan, as they suffered their second defeat of the season in the 1-0 loss against Juventus at San Siro which was followed up by a 3-0 pasting against Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital in which more tactical naivety was on display.
Then, on Sunday, Milan threw away a 2-0 lead against Napoli to draw 2-2 at the Maradona, with pressure mounting on head coach Stefano Pioli.
This is not just because of the results either, but because of incidents like Davide Calabria’s comments post-PSG plus Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao’s reactions to coming off in Naples.
Pedulla wrote an editorial in the columns of Sportitalia focusing in particular on Milan and the alleged errors which he detected were committed by Pioli, and his comments were relayed by PianetaMilan.
“Stefano Pioli has made a considerable contribution to Milan’s recent progress, but he makes important mistakes that should be reported. Last season would have ended without qualifying for the Champions League if they hadn’t taken the points away from Juve,” he said.
“Of course, precisely in the European event most important for the club they went all the way to the semi-final. But it would have been better to go out in the quarter-finals to avoid being slapped like that by Inter.
“The summer transfer window was tailor-made, generally respecting the coach’s requests. And there’s also little to say about the timing. The new players arrived on time, they cost a lot of money, to allow them to work on ‘team chemistry’ with the minimum amount of time necessary to avoid being in deep trouble.
“It’s right that Pioli meditates on the last week, leaving aside the five slaps suffered by Inter in the league. From the last week: the too naive defeat against Juve, the trip to Paris which he summarised with a first half of ‘excellent level’ (lie), the heavy observations of Calabria (the captain).
“Giroud who does not accept the substitution, isolates himself on the pitch to meditate and cool off, Leao who asks for explanations, the inadequate substitutions (Pulisic out as a precaution? Everyone except Romero in his place, the Argentine is not yet ready. You don’t always replace role by role, the coach must have imagination to protect the team.)
“Well, the last week in several episodes has seen the scales tip clearly against the coach, a ladder (of problems): on and off the pitch, it’s an aggravating factor. And all those injuries can’t be the result of chance.”
