A report has made the claim that nothing has changed in Paulo Fonseca’s AC Milan compared to that of Stefano Pioli’s tenure because they consistently fail in big games.
As Calciomercato.com write, Milan wanted and needed to carry on their performance level from the second half of the defeat against Bayer Leverkusen and instead they were the protagonists of a disconcerting performance at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Fiorentina won 2-1 and sent a confused Milan side back to squad one after defensive blunders from Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernandez and Emerson Royal plus two penalties and some substitutions that raised eyebrows.
After three consecutive league wins against Venezia, Inter and Lecce the Rossoneri had the chance to take second spot with a win but they once again misinterpreted the challenge and took a clear step back in their journey under Fonseca just before the break.
For Fonseca this will be a long international break, with the fans’ bad mood and several internal situations to resolve . First of all, the travel sickness: two bad defeats against Parma and Fiorentina, the hard-fought draw in Rome against Lazio and the only exploit against Inter albeit at San Siro.
Milan changed their coach and some players last summer but it remains a trend that they continue to fail in the games where they can take a leap forward. Last season, certain results stood out, starting with the home defeat against Juventus that interrupted a series of four consecutive wins and the elimination in the Coppa Italia in the quarter-finals against Atalanta.
Then there was the two defeats in the Europa League quarter-finals against Roma, the 4-2 loss against Monza and the 5-1 of Inter that radically altered the ambitions in the league. It could be argued that not beating Newcastle or Dortmund at home in the Champions League were failures too.
Fonseca certainly has obvious responsibilities, but the main problem lies in the mentality of a group incapable of traveling at high pace for a long time. The issue is central and must be addressed in these two weeks of break, because with this attitude you cannot aim for the Scudetto.
What mentality lapses were there under Pioli?
We finished SECOND.
We qualified for back to back Champions Leagues.
We won the Scudetto.
We reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.
You don’t do these things with ‘mental lapses’.
Stop trying to cover up for the fact that you made a stupid call to get of Pioli by dragging his name into the current shambles.
He did his job. It’s now for Fonseca to do his.
Anything below SECOND and the entire management who did this to the club need to go.
There were plenty of them last season, losing two goal leads against Lecce and a horrible Napoli team come to mind for example. And how can one forget January 2023.
We finished SECOND so there clearly wasn’t ‘plenty’ relative to 18 other teams.
What does finishing second have to do whether we had mental lapses or not? It only proves other teams (aside from Inter) experienced more than us, nothing else. Because of said problem we were out of CL before winter and got eliminated by freakin’ Roma in EL. The year prior to that we finished 5th – again because of a completely absurd January. Even the coach himself (the one you’re defending) admitted time and time again that don’t approach the full 90 minutes with the right mentality.
Yes there were lol.
Pioli kept saying after every single game that “we lost clarity”. It was a running joke all season.
I am sure it was running joke because things tend to run a lot around here but the FACT is we finished SECOND.
Yeah we were the best losers that season. Such a success.
JAJAJAJJA QUIEN ACÁ APOYA A ÉSTE PERDEDOR (FONSECA)? 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🇵🇹🤡
Not sure if you’re trolling about Pioli or you’re just one of those fans who only looks at the results/stats.
If the fact that the reigning champions lose 5-2 at home to Sassuolo and 4-0 to Lazio in a few days is not a mental lapse, then what is? Not to mention losing 5 times to inter in a year.
You’re just looking at the achievements while ignoring the bad parts…
Trolling?
We finished SECOND.
This isn’t open to debate.
What you and others are doing is imagining what perfection is and then when the manager or a player of the club you allegedly support doesn’t achieve said perfection you demand change and we end up with Fonseca and Emerson Royal.
I gave you specific examples of mental lapses. Keep ignoring them, like you did when they happened, but don’t be surprised when people don’t take you seriously.
LOL!!!! 😀 😀 😀
The OP asks “What mental lapses” and when you give him examples the reply is:
“This isn’t open to debate.”
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
This!
Comparing this guy to Pioli. Under Poili, we atleast had individuality of some players to unlock teams. Sacrificing individuality for the so-called team play sounds good until you realise it shackles your key assets. Leao looks like a shell of himself, and you can clearly see that is by instruction. Leao, Serie A MVP in scudetto winning season.
Great coaches adapt to their squad. They free their most dangerous players to do the most damage. Tell me exactly what complex tactics Ancelotti had for RM. You simply adapt your team to make the (proven) weapons (Leao, Theo, Vini, Bellingham, Messi, CR7…) be at their most comfortable to do the damage. Then you move on the market or inward to compliment that with workrate or homegrown passion or whatever apsects are missing (Tonali, Valverde, Camavinga…).
You don’t go in first with your football ideas, you go in with the understanding of your players, and you try to see what works best for them. Pioli understood that and achieved success (don’t let anyone fool you that he didn’t). Fonseca came in arrogant or unprepared, and at the earliest sign of trouble points to the players. So that’s on him and the management. Don’t compare that to Pioli.
“What mentality lapses were there under Pioli?”
The worst January in the club history? 6 straight losses to Inter? Oh right, Pioli was perfect. Krunic was perfect. RLC is perfect. All players are perfect. Except Reijnders. Did I got it right?
I honestly don’t give a crap about the Inter games (Case in point, we’ve won Inter now, you’d be okay with a finish outside top 5?). For one, they were arguably the best team in Italy throughout those 6 games. Bad luck that they’re your rivals but, they lost probably 2-3 times the whole of last season. That’s not on Pioli.
Secondly, the only reason we were able to play 5 straight games against them in a single year in the first place was because Pioli took us to the Champions League semi-finals against high odds. You mean if somehow if we had lost against Napoli (which would not have been the worst thing considering how good Napoli were) and not have to play Inter twice more, Pioli’s time with Milan will somehow be rated higher?
“Case in point, we’ve won Inter now, you’d be okay with a finish outside top 5?”
What does that have to do with anything I wrote? The guy asked about mental lapses and gave him examples. Whole nother topic what you are asking.
Losing to Inter is not a measure of mentality lapse. Not is it a measure of how good or not Pioli did. That’s my point.
And are we really surprised by this?
Is Ibra still the boss?
Why?
SACK him?
Milan suffer under this inept management!
He was never the boss of anything. he isn’t even employed by the club. He is a RedBird consultant, a mascot at best.
Some probably are.
Management was quite open about it. They wanted basically the continuation of Pioli’s tenure under a new coach. Someone that is willing to work with whatever algorithm spits out and not complain. So spineless and mediocre. And we got Portuguese Pioli with hair.
We replaced a coach who wasn’t much of a winner, with a coach who is also not that much of a winner. When a team or a coach seem ok with losing a game because they dominated the second half (I’m talking about the Leverkusen game), what hunger do you expect from them ?
Also when the stars of the team were used to do as they please, what leadership and discipline do you expect from them ?
What do mean Pioli was not a ‘winner’?
He won the Scudetto.
What’s your definition of ‘winner’?
Somebody who gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside?
Pioli was not a winner when be brought him. He had as much titles as a coach as I do, and I have 0 titles.
He won the scudetto and deserves the full credit, but he didn’t develop a winning mentality. I’m sorry but when I read “Inter didn’t touch the ball for 4 minutes” (final result Inter 5-1 Milan) or “we played better than PSG for 60 minutes” (final result PSG 3-0 Milan) that doesn’t scream winning mentality for me.
for coaches a winner would be a coach who already won many big titles (domestic leagues and possibly European titles). Said coach would not be satisfied with draws, losses and seasons with no titles and will make sure that the players aren’t either.
Someone like Conte (although I don’t like him), Conceiçao, Ferguson,… are proven winners.
Regardless of Pioli’s failures (which did exist; but side by side with his victories as well) at this point I believe that Fonseca is a downgrade over Pioli. As bad as Pioli became as his tenure went on, he did win a Scudetto and did take us to UCL semis, and placed second twice. And the players loved him.
We hired a spineless loser who can’t impose his wills to the players (and shifts blame to then, too, for things that it is his duty to address – not that the players aren’t without blame themselves, but you don’t go declaring these things to the press).
Hire a mediocre coach, expect mediocre results.
Conceição is a winner, has always made Porto punch above their weight (plus, 12 trophies in 14 seasons), knows how to discipline players, and is still available (he is the best available option among the ones listed). I’d like to see Fonseca fired and Conceição hired. But I don’t believe that this clueless management will make the good decision.