Hovering between glory and trough, AC Milan had 19 Serie A gold cups, 7 Champions League glories, and 6 Ballon d'Or winners, such as Maldini, Nesta, Inzaghi and other legendary players have been draped in battle robes. However, for young fans, these glorious achievements are already unattainable legends. The San Siro, a shrine to glory, has hit a 30-year low after winning its 18th Serie A gold cup in the 10/11 season.
The team is in deep financial difficulties, had to sell the stars in the lineup; book strength is insufficient, difficult to attract the top stars to join; poor performance, frequent replacement of coaches, this vicious circle makes AC Milan from three years within two times in the Champions League finals of the European hegemony, reduced to seven consecutive years without the Champions League of the Serie A mid-table team.
However, it was at this low point that Milan turned the corner, losing four of their opening seven games of the 19/20 season, leading to then coach Marco Giampaolo losing his job after less than three months. He was replaced by a coach named Stefano Pioli.
Pioli's soccer career has been full of drama. He was one of the most highly touted Italian center back stars, joining Serie A champions Juventus at the age of 18, but was never called up to the national team due to chronic injuries. After retiring from playing, he turned to coaching without much success. In the 16/17 season as Inter Milan's coach, he was once regarded as expected to topple Juventus's reign of dominance with a start of 12 wins in 16 matches, but he was eventually dismissed after seven consecutive winless seasons.
The traditional giants with a glorious history of decline in recent years, paired with a coach who has had an up and down career as both a player and a coach, makes you wonder: who still thinks they're good? However, it is against this backdrop that Pioli and Milan have made an incredible comeback. 19/20 saw Milan finish sixth in the league, the same as in previous seasons, and 20/21 saw them finish second, their best result in nine seasons. 21/22 saw the departure of star players Çalhano?lu and Donnarumma, with the former even moving to reigning champions Inter Milan on a no-signing basis. even moving to defending champions Inter Milan on a signature-free basis, but Pioli and the Milanese side gave those doubters a resounding slap in the face with their first Serie A title in 12 years.
Today, we're looking at Pioli's tactics in the 21/22 season. How did Pioli lead the underdog Milan team back to the Serie A title that had been lost for more than 10 years, despite the lack of strength (two big players left) and the shortage of generals (the previous season's goal-scoring king, Ibrahimovi, only played 11 games due to his age and injuries)? Is this "miracle" the result of overwhelming strength or a combination of good timing and good fortune?
Look at Pioli's formation at Milan and you'll see that it's as standard as if it were copied straight out of a soccer textbook: center backs with a wide range of movement, wing backs who are actively involved in the attack, a defensive midfielder who is capable of attacking and defending with excellent physicality, wings who are fast and can cover for the wingbacks, an attacking midfielder who is a good passer, dribbler, and shooter, and a tall high midfielder to help keep the ball in the team's hands.
Pioli's formation may look conservative, but he is actually a very "open" coach. While maintaining the functionality of the traditional 4-2-3-1 players, he incorporates modern soccer thinking and uses a number of variations to maximize the functionality of each player.
Milan are not a team that likes to control the ball in the center of the field. In the 21/22 season, they ranked only 8th out of 20 teams in Serie A in terms of touches in the midfield and 13th in terms of touches at the back, with an overall possession rate of only 54.2%, and a pass rate and success rate in the upper-middle of the league. The low possession and passing success rates make the Pioli not as fond of passing tactics as other strong teams, but rather pursuing efficient and quick decisions.
