The game between Lazio and AC Milan at the Stadio Olimpico was probably entertaining for the neutral, but for fans of both clubs it did nothing to dispel the early-season doubts.
Calciomercato.com write that the game ‘confirmed that Milan are in trouble’, with just two points amassed from the first three league games of the season which puts them well behind rivals Inter and Juventus, plus even Napoli.
The team who took to the field in the capital ‘seemed confused from a tactical point of view, not very brilliant from an athletic one and nervous among their main protagonists’. Lazio exposed all of Milan’s weaknesses with a spirited recovery in the second half, scoring twice inside a few minutes.
The departments were too stretched, Noah Okafor struggled as a striker and the team slipped into the familiar negative habits that characterised the disappointing and difficult end to the Stefano Pioli era.
There are two themes that dominate the post-match discussions: Fonseca’s initial selections and that ugly image of Theo Hernández and Rafael Leão far from the coach and their team-mates in the cooling break.
Fonseca was right to try to pour water on the fire, as the Frenchman did on Milan TV as well after the game. The moment is too delicate and the team need to close ranks internally, so the break comes at just the right time.
Leão and Hernández paid for their lazy performance last Saturday in Parma as Fonseca took risks, with the awareness that these are not two players like the others but the vice-captain and the most obvious talent in the squad.
Faced with such a complex situation, the advice is for the management to intervene to understand the intentions of the left-back in terms of the future and his renewal, as well as what Fonseca plans to do with the new signings and to fix the defensive woes.