Luca Serafini: Pioli and the silent revolution

If the benches that Stefano Pioli has imposed on Calabria, Rodriguez, Biglia, Suso, Kessie, Piatek, Leao will be seized by the players as instructive and not punitive, there is hope that they will finally understand that the work culture is a necessary assumption (like in any activity of life) to grow, improve, reach top levels and stay there. In sport in particular, however, it is a fundamental aspect that can change the career of those who have less talent and maximize the number who has it. I always mention Costacurta as an exemplary case of the first category: it was certainly the least gifted of Filippo Galli, Baresi and many other defenders of Milan and the National team. What led him to be the owner of Milan for 20 years, to play 59 times in the national team and win everything, was consistency, application, self-denial, method, training. The professionals do this. And all the champions I've known and seen play up to the age of 40 or over (Maldini, Totti, Inzaghi, Del Piero, Bergomi and many others), without exception they were the first to arrive at the field until the last day and the last to leave. The daily life of an athlete and his training from Monday to Friday are like studying for a university student: if you commit yourself, when the exam arrives you go downhill without even having to pedal. Matches are won on weekdays.

What the coach said after the game with Roma ("Here it seems that winning, drawing or losing does not change anyone's life …") is of extreme violence and depth, lays bare the core, the true essence of the problem. "I will hang the standings in the locker room", said after Turin last Sunday, is an initiative to Helenio Herrera of another unusual strength, because obviously he has the perception that his players do not realize the danger. Or simply the situation. And this is even more serious. Returning to the dressing rooms of the Juventus Stadium after such a defeat, I would have smashed everything and made the benches fly. Instead the main problem was the toast, moreover after leaving the field almost laughing and joking embraced to Douglas Costa, Dybala and someone else.

I do not understand why the Elliot group remunerates Maldini and Boban so handsomely, so as not to follow them and share their indications to the end, not following their choices. If they have mentioned (as previously Leonardo and especially Gattuso) that together with the school children, it takes at least a couple of buccaneers who know all the rules and make them respect, who inculcate the obsession of victory and the reluctance to the ugly figures, there will be a reason. And the reason is what I described: too many clean-ups here think that Milanello, San Siro, Milan are a point of arrival and not starting point. That is why the perfect identikit in January would be Ibrahimovic's – but I have no illusions: I would find it strange to take it, after its non-arrival was one of the most significant elements that led to the resignation, precisely, of Leonardo and Gattuso -, one who is losing and making a bad impression does not fit. One that when entering San Siro for reconnaissance an hour and a half before the game, with the uniform or the suit of Milan, does not have a mobile phone (or even two like Kessie), does not have headphones and for this can look around, greet the fans, test the terrain, breathe the atmosphere. Remember with pride that if the talent has rewarded you by taking you to play with this shirt and at this stage, it is because you have worked hard, not because you have been lucky.

Pioli has already firmly begun his silent revolution: it took him 3 weeks to understand everything. Gattuso already knew that. We hope that soon the property will be noticed too