abraham fonseca okafor

CM: Fonseca planning changes vs. Udinese after being ‘betrayed’ in Fiorentina loss

Photo by James Worsfold/Getty Images

In what has been a constant theme during his brief time in charge so far, Paulo Fonseca is planning more changes to the AC Milan team after the break.

According to Calciomercato.com, Fonseca really didn’t like what he saw in the defeat against Fiorentina, in particular from the two Englishmen Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham in the penalty mutiny that took place in the second half.

They have ‘ended up in the dock’ and both should start from the bench in the next match against Udinese, scheduled for October 19 at San Siro. It is a choice that should serve as a warning for the rest of the group: those who make mistakes in terms of respect towards the group and the coach will be punished.

It is not only those who make mistakes from a playing point of view (Abraham didn’t score his penalty, Tomori made an error leading to La Viola’s winner) but above all from a behavioural point of view, and the deliberate ignoring of instructions was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’.

Fonseca is finding unexpected difficulties in managing the group because he was ‘betrayed’ by two of the players, Abraham and Tomori, around whom he had decided to build his starting line-up. The disappointment experienced will lead to some strong choices, starting with the next game.

Noah Okafor can take advantage of the international break break to put gas in the engine. The former Salzburg player was not called up by the Switzerland coach for the Nations League commitments and will work even harder to be ready. Fonseca’s idea would be to pair him with Alvaro Morata.

In place of Tomori, a chance will be given to Strahinja Pavlovic, the Serbian defender who has played only one minute in the last three games. Samuel Chukwueze, on the other hand, is still on the sidelines, because of Pulisic’s great form and his struggles making an impact off the bench.

Tags AC Milan Fikayo Tomori Noah Okafor Strahinja Pavlovic Tamy Abraham

12 Comments

  1. Milan should change formation to 343 (Pavlovic in the center of CB’s). This formation doesn’t need genuine playmaker since we don’t have one at the moment. Theo as wingback so he could stay away from making error in the penalty box and advantage his offensive ability. Leao focus as forward left. At right wingback, we have Musah, since we don’t have reliable RB. Alex Gimenez and Terraciano could be the back up for wingbacks.
    This formation can easily change to 3412 when Leao unavailable and play Pulisic behind the two striker: Morata-Jovic/Okafor/TA or even Camarda. Reijnder-Fofana are the primary duet, but RLC can slot in for both of them.

    1. It’s not rocket science, this is what our current crop of players are best suited for especially the defense but I’ll put Gabbia at the middle instead of Pavlovic. This will also help the build-up and defending.

  2. Así idiotas!!!! acá me llamen troll… COMO EN 2015 /16… GAME OVER!!!! MEJOR LA REALIDAD A LA DULCE MENTIRA!!!! (FONSECA) 👍🏻🤡🇵🇹🤮

  3. The missing penalty was not just Abraham, but also Tomori. One solution would be to keep them apart. Allow only one to play at a time and see how they perform. The climate of the game changed once Tomori grabbed the ball. Unprofessional.

  4. 1) It is absolutely appropriate to punish Abraham and Tomori for their disrespect. There is no doubt that the players were at fault and share in a very big way the responsibility for the defeat against Fiorentina. They placed ego ahead of the team and that’s not acceptable. Theo was also a big culprit.

    2) Okafor with Morata, and Pavlovic with Gabbia, do seem to be good ideas to implement the above punishment. As for who substitutes Theo (regardless of a punishment which he does deserve, he is suspended for two games anyway), that’s a whole other nightmare because Terracciano is clueless and Bartesaghi and Jimenez are not much better at defending.

    3) This said, coaches who get “betrayed” are those who don’t know how to manage grown men with egos, don’t command respect, lose the locker room by publicly throwing players under the bus, and are not obeyed out of the players hating them and/or not believing in them. Unfortunately, I think that all of this does apply to Fonseca, who is therefore also responsible in a big way for the loss against Fiorentina (and other dropped points).

    4) I think the players need to be punished but I’d love to also see Fonseca fired. I know that it is risky to fire a head coach in the middle of a season, and I know that normally a new coach should be given more time; I’m just very skeptical that Fonseca will ever be able to be loved and respected by the players, and when it’s like this, the players always perform poorly, regardless of tactics or form. Just think of how the players at Roma and Napoli were performing under Mourinho and Garcia. In this situation, I think that firing Fonseca sooner rather than later would have fewer downsides than keeping him longer.

    5) I am quite sure that Fonseca will end up getting fired anyway at some point, because I don’t believe that he will achieve decent results with this current group of players, for reasons of his mediocrity and also for reasons of a broken relationship with these players. So, firing him later delivers no opportunity for some recovery; that’s why I favor firing him sooner. Maybe the odds that Milan will recover by having a new coach after a few rounds into the season is low. But I believe that it is more than zero, while the odds that Fonseca will end up achieving good results if he stays longer, in my opinion are a lot closer to zero. So, the lesser evil is to fire him sooner.

    6) In an ideal world, whoever decided that hiring Fonseca was a good idea should be fired too. I know that it won’t happen.

    7) All of the above said, I really don’t believe that the management will do anything. They are too cheap and arrogant, and firing Fonseca would mean paying simultaneously a full salary to two coaches, and admitting to a mistake. I don’t see them doing either. So, what we will see will be a roller coaster of bad results with some good results, and the management will keep propping Fonseca up after the few good results; he will stay, and Milan’s season will be a complete waste, at season end he will likely be fired, finally. That’s what we get when our managers are amateurs.

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