Four years of Mr. Normal - another tattoo on the way?

After the fifth of the Serie A championship campaign, AC Milan sit at the top. The Rossoneri go to the penultimate international break of this calendar year as the leaders of the Italian top tier, which is quite a surprise considering what has happened this year.

AC Milan barely won a place in the Champions League last season, in the elite competition they reached the semi-finals, but there they got a lesson from their city rivals Inter and the impression was spoiled. Then, tectonic changes were made in the sports sector as the directors Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara, the architects of the last scudetto, were fired. Sandro Tonali, who was supposed to become a future leader and captain, was sold, and the club invested over 100,000,000 euros in reinforcements that were not to resounding (Reijnders, Musah, Chukwueze, Okafor...) or whose careers were in decline (Pulisic, Loftus Cheek , Jović...). It didn't seem promising and smelled like a transitional season, even weaker than the previous one...

However, Milan have seven wins after eight rounds of the Italian championship and if there was no debacle in the city derby, the impression would be almost perfect. Things are different in the Champions League, as Milan did not score a goal in two matches and recorded two draws. However, it is the "group of death" in which Newcastle first slipped past them at San Siro until Borussia outplayed them in Dortmund. Chances are still there.

The impression is that the results so far have exceeded expectations. Especially since the team has been drastically changed this summer and some things still need to settle down and for the players to get to know each other better.

"The season is still at the beginning and the boys are still looking for each other as a team. However, I am proud of the character and determination they have shown so far. They show a championship mentality", said the owner of the club, American Gerry Cardinale.

The biggest success is how Stefano Pioli managed to amortize the debacle from Inter so quickly and that the heavy defeat did not leave a mark on the team. After that game, there were rumors of a dismissal and the fan slogan 'Pioli is on fire' could have a completely different meaning. However, he sorted everything out very quickly which was not his virtue before. Tying four wins in a row in Serie A with only one goal conceded is no easy task. Milan are handling the role of favorite better than before. This season, they won difficult away games against Genoa, Bologna and Roma, while at home they defeated the difficult teams of Lazio and Torino. The victories against Verona and Cagliari were in the category of those that are taken for granted. The only stain remains that derby, but now everything is fine again.

Today, Pioli is celebrating four years on the Milan bench. Only Gasperini in Atalanta has a longer tenure. Rarely any coach in Italian football can boast that he survived four years on the bench of a big club. He came as a forced solution after the disastrous start of Marco Giampaolo, who had four losses in seven games and set the wheel of history in motion.

Until then, Pioli was known to be good at two things: shock therapy and working with young players. But his biggest flaw was that he didn't know how to react when a new wave of crisis hit and that his teams fell uncontrollably while he unsuccessfully came up with a plan B.

Although his behavior earned him the nickname Mr. Normal as an antithesis to Jose Mourinho, he never lasted more than 100 games anywhere and won nothing anywhere unlike Mr. Special. His record was 91 matches in Lazio, and he has recorded 198 games on the Rossoneri bench so far. When it was speculated this summer that he could be fired because for the first time he finished the season in AC Milan with less than 50 percent of wins (48.08%), the owners gave him maximum support while replacing Maldini and Massara. Although the management tandem with Zlatan Ibrahimovic was considered even more deserving of the surprising scudetto from last season, Pioli managed to last. Even today, Pioli is not really a favorite of the fans, but he has gained respect and is considered an elite coach of Italian football, which was not the case before coming to Milan.

In the beginning, it seemed that he would really be a temporary solution and a passer-by like in most of the previous clubs. After two and a half months, he experienced a debacle in Bergamo when Atalanta ran over the Rossoneri 5-0 and there was no sign that it would last.

Everything changed when veterans Ibrahimovic and Kjaer came and changed the mentality of the dressing room. Pioli was pragmatic enough to give Ibra a role greater than that of a leader and to indulge him with complete freedom in bringing order and discipline. He practically agreed to let the Swede occasionally do his work and educate the younger teammates.

Meanwhile, Pioli hit jackpot with tactical choices such as moving Calhanoglu forward, Kessie formed a tandem with Bennacer, forcing different types of wingers Rebic and Saelemaekers, launched the main lever on the left flank Theo Hernandez - Rafa Leao, got the most out of the universal soldier Rade Krunic, built a completely new defensive line with Tomori, Kalulu, since recently Thiaw... Pioli is the first coach of Milan who brought the Rossoneri a victory at the Juventus' Allianz Stadium and became poison for the great rival from Turin (four wins, four draws and two losses). Winning the Scudetto the season before last was a peak followed by a decline.

He knew how to get into a crisis when he experimented with switching to a formation with three in defense. Milan have been criticized for depending too much on the left flank where Theo and Leao are, for relying too much on the veteran Giroud in the attack, for Pioli not having enough rotation of players...

Last summer, he received a dozen signings, none of which guaranteed success, but each of them carried some hope that it could be a hit. Apart from Jović, who came as a forced solution at the end of the window, none of the newcomers has left a weak impression so far. It can't be said that they impressed, except possibly Pulisic and Reijnders, but you can see the huge space and capacity for that to happen, especially with Musah and Chukwueze.

Pioli has been given the widest rotation in four years at the club and has shown that he knows how to use it. This season, Milan mostly played in a 4-3-3 formation, but also 4-2-3-1 in the second half in Dortmund, 4-2-4 in Genoa, and 3-4-3 against Verona. The coach showed variations and proved that this Milan is not one-dimensional and that it does not depend only on the "Theao" tandem on the left flank.

The Rossoneri are in first place in Serie A for the first time in a year and a half. The last time was in the last round of Serie A 2022 when they won the scudetto against Sassuolo. Still, hardly anyone can bet that they will last this race to the end. Inter Milan seem to be stronger, as it proved in the matches where the two met. The city rival is Stefano Pioli's Achilles heel. Against Inter Rossoneri recorded are three wins, two draws and as many as nine losses. Simone Inzaghi is an unsolvable enigma for him, but AC Milan win "small" games more easily.

Milan go to the international team break as a leader and it can be said that the first mini-cycle ended above expectations. A much harder job follows in the second. From this to the next international break, the Rossoneri have a hellish schedule: Juventus at home, then visits to Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain, Udinese and a rematch with the Saints at San Siro and a trip to Lecce. If they pass that stage successfully, they can hope for the Scudetto again. It would be a huge success for Pioli to win the title of Italian champion twice in five seasons. And he was the one who gave Milan the second star, that is, the 20th Scudetto. Even coaching minds like Arrigo Sacchi or Carlo Ancelotti do not have more than one Italian championship title with Milan, and Pioli could prepare his other forearm for the tattoo artist...