AC Milan have won two games on the spin since the international break, but Zvonimir Boban remains unconvinced that they have turned a corner.
Milan were made to work incredibly hard for all three points against Udinese on Saturday night as they went 1-0 up through Samuel Chukwueze but then went down to 10 men and held the lead for over 60 minutes.
Then, during the victory against Club Brugge on Tuesday night, the Rossoneri conceded an equalising goal against a team with 10 men after Raphael Onyedika’s red card. Nonetheless, Tijjani Reijnders scored a brace to secure a first Champions League win.
Speaking to Sky, Boban gave his thoughts on the current moment that Milan are experiencing and he pumped the brakes on the notion that they are a changed side after two wins.
“It is clear that Milan still do not have a clear identity, Fonseca tries in every way. Before the second goal [vs. Club Brugge] there were many problems in the build-up phase of the game, but also in the block that was not there, the opponents arrived to shoot too easily, then Maignan is a phenomenon,” he said (via MilanNews).
“It is a deserved victory in any case that brings good energy, but the problems remain, they must improve a lot.”
The former midfielder also spoke during Inter’s game against BSC Young Boys about the best left-backs in the world, stating that Theo Hernandez ranks above Federico Dimarco who is not even in the top three.
“Dimarco is number one in terms of footwork in my opinion, maybe even in the world, for everything that concerns crosses, set pieces.
“Overall, however, my podium is Nuno Mendes, Theo Hernandez and Mendy. The first was amazing even in Portugal, but Theo also has class in shooting and touching the ball.”
He is right. We only beat very bad teams, except for Inter (a Derby has a different energy and effort given the huge rivalry and is more unpredictable; an isolated Derby victory doesn’t mean we’re equipped to beat very good teams, like the games with Liverpool and Leverkusen demonstrated). We were only able to prevail over a weak Brugge by having a man up, and only after they predictably tired in the last 25 minutes (teams tire earlier if they are a man down).
Yes, we still need to improve a lot. Not necessarily in the offense, though. Our offense has performed decently since season start, scoring many goals. But simultaneously, we’ve conceded too many goals and even when not conceding, we were fragile defensively and having to rely on extraordinary saves by Mike Maignan.
I am afraid of what will happen when we face Real there at their home in Madrid.
So, after our victories against bad teams (again, except for the Derby) I am not yet ready to jump on the Fonseca bandwagon. We still need a lot of improvement, physically, tactically, skills-wise, and mentally, with several players engaging in concerning failures and mistakes, quite regularly.
In short, same problem as last season.
My sentiment as well. There’s work to be done. We still grind out wins against teams that we should be walking over…the coach need to find his 1st 11 and get the team to settle. Too many experiments, so he still doesn’t know his strongest 11.
Guess who is not missing Fonseca? The Lille fans after beating Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid this season.
Yep Zvonny – it’s the start of the season and we’re not the only ones struggling. Shinter aren’t as strong as last season, Jube just got embarrassed in Europe, Crapoli were sh*t against Empoli and needed a dodgy pen to win, Roma are in free fall. Let’s give Fonseca and this team some time…
We’re not the only ones struggling but we’re struggling. I’m not saying we should go for Fonseca’s head, but we have to say things as they are. So far, outside of the derby, we have no reference game and every decent team got the better of us.
I have actually some respect for Fonseca for showing character and daring to bench stars when they don’t perform or behave as they should and I think we should give him some time but so far as a tactician we didn’t see that much greatness from him and I’m worried when I see people being euphoric because we won against a 10 men Brugge or because we played well in the last 30 minutes against Leverkusen.