Paulo Fonseca might well be trying to hide it, but he has his back to the wall as AC Milan’s coach and seems to be constantly fighting battles.
According to Calciomercato.com, tonight’s match against Hellas Verona could really represent ‘the last stop’ on Fonseca’s journey at Milan. While the management have defended him, the Champions League places are slipping away and a negative result could be the final straw.
The press conference on the eve of the game at the Stadio Bentegodi included many quotes that could be seen as a clear declaration of the great difficulties that the coach found himself facing in an experience that started off uphill from the very beginning.
He arrived amid the skepticism of the fans and when the first few league results (plus two defeats in the Champions League) kicked off competitive action, things like the differences with Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez plus further stumbles only fuelled these doubts.
Yesterday, the Portuguese coach tried to defend his work, stating: “The team has already improved in many things, it is true that the results sometimes do not show it. But what is the game in which we had big problems or in which the other team has been much better so far?
“I honestly don’t remember. Maybe only Liverpool, in one half. But for the others, none were better than ours , they had other things that made them win even over our mistakes.”
They are not quite as dramatic as what he said just over one week ago following the win over Red Star. In a moment of maximum difficulty, he made it clear that he ‘felt abandoned by everyone around him’.
Supposed leaders within the squad were ‘the first to delegitimise’ his authority, ‘taking advantage of the power vacuum’ created by a distant management. The sequence of injuries in recent weeks has further complicated Fonseca’s work who, on the brink of the abyss, is forced to rely on youth.
The decision to put faith in the likes of Alex Jimenez, Mattia Liberali, Francesco Camarda and maybe others is a roll of the dice to try and overturn a destiny that seems largely written.
This isn’t Mister Fonseca’s fault, the blame for this is squarely on management. As Capello said, why not keep Kalulu but you buy Emerson who is not an upgrade on Calabria, personally I feel even if Calabria has lost his legs after the injuries he’s still a better player than Emerson who needs 3 touches to control a ball. Pavlovic is young and can be moulded, no backup for the midfield, selling guys who had their place as backups and the only backup you have is incredibly injury prone, so much so that some of us forgets what he even looks like.
This could be the best course of action for the club, instead of going to buy average players, why don’t they permanently put Coubis, Barthaseghi, Zeroli, Chaka Toure, Vos, Jimenez and Torriani directly into the first team, both Coubis and Barthaseghi can play either as central defenders or full backs, that way we are covered in defence they already are in the club, and are already in the mechanism of Fonseca and Milanello, Camarda has drive and hunger, but honestly he still needs another 18 months in the Futuro team.
In order for this to happen, then the club needs to create space this January, since Calabria and Florenzi are clearly at the end in Milan, why don’t they move them out now, honestly even Chukweze should be moved, he lacks strength, intelligence and the footballing class to be in this team, either Jimenez or Chaka Taore would easily replace Chukweze, they are faster, technically better and more direct than him, this way we replaced him internally within the club, freed a foreign player slot,and we get money to use in other areas of the team, or in future.
The attack honestly is very ok, it’s just the injuries that are affecting the department, Okafor. Jovic and Abraham are still good players, they just need love, and for the Coach to give them all the confidence and service to score, all three of them are powerful and technically good players, that way Morata can even get some rest.
The money we could get for Chukweze’s sale could be used to get a good midfielder in the summer.
This has to be done now, this will give the team an instant push, buying another average Foreign player would waste time, and not be effective immediately.