There is a not too unrealistic world in which Sergio Conceicao could hold the distinction of winning two trophies inside six months at AC Milan and still leave.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the fates of some coaches already seem irremediably sealed, with Thiago Motta desperately trying to convince Juventus that he should stay and Conceiçao halfway out of the door.
The Rossoneri are looking for a new sporting director, then they will start working on the head coach to take over from Conceicao. They are thinking concretely about the 2025-26 season, and yet there are still objectives to fight for this season.
Of course, winning a trophy doesn’t guarantee staying. Maurizio Sarri was fired by Juve after winning the Scudetto, the last one that they won, while Andrea Pirlo said goodbye after winning two trophies and still getting into the Champions League.
Conceiçao’s side are currently in ninth place in this curious league table, in which there is a great crowd in the race for the top four. There is also a Coppa Italia semi-final to contest with the hopes of getting to the final in Rome.
The Supercoppa Italiana arrived after two games under the Portuguese following victories against Juve and Inter. This time, if it were to happen, it would mean having eliminated the Nerazzurri in two very heartfelt derbies.
Winning the cup would also mean qualification for the Europa League, with the possibility of playing the Supercoppa Italiana too. It won’t be the same as the Champions League, but – in addition to the satisfaction – money would still be guaranteed.
Of course, all this would not be enough to mitigate the bitterness of the elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Feyenoord, for which Conceiçao is not among the main culprit. When you lose, it is clear, no one is free from blame.
Conceiçao, perhaps through gritted teeth, could point out that Milan lost the first leg due to a sensational blunder by Mike Maignan and that were knocked out in the return leg – with the team leading by a goal – for a baffling Theo Hernandez red card.
In short, Conceiçao could at least hope to leave a much less negative memory than it may appear today, with two trophies in the bag and a European spot secured. In two months and we will know: red or black, like a roulette.
Fonseca is better than Conceição TACTICALLY. I see no style of play from Conceição. Just a bizarre suicidal high line and a lot of chopping and changing players.
Conceição reminds of Gattuso. Zero tactics. He should have been sacked after the defeat to Lazio and Tassotti should have taken over as interim coach until the end of the season.
Tassotti that you know nothing about his tactics or man management, just because he has a CV of being an assistant
very silly text. Conceicao even hadn’t too much time to work with players. however, he won Italian Supercup. when we lost in Champions league with Feyenoord it was first time when Rossonerri haven’t needed to play every three days. it’s true that Conceicao came to us in difficult moment, found the team in bad shape, no support of fans and huge critic of medias.
.
if Conceicao win Italian Cup and finish the season in top 4 or even top 5 (probably five teams from Serie A will play in Champions League next season) so it will be no the point to change the coach on the bench. let’s give him calm and silence to good end of the season. for me Conceicao is serious guy.
Nobody is looking at the possibility of some of the players playing to get the Coach sacked.
Chelsea did it a couple of times in the past. The new man is not always better, as seen with the sackings of Pioli and Fonseca.
Pioli gave up at the tail end of last season. His time was up.
Fonseca did not have the trust of the players he was coaching, which is damning for a coach.
Conceicao has come in with no pre-season and zero time to implement his tactics. HIs first two months as coach here he’s had to work with a squad who played a high stakes game every 3 to 4 days. Heck the time between Torino (Feb 22nd) and Bologna make up game (Feb 27th) was the FIRST time in two months that Milan had 5 days in between games. How are you suppose to implement your tactics when all you get in between games is a 40 minute light training session and 2 days of travelling to the next stadium/interviews to play the next game?
Heck, even Fonseca, with a pre-season, took at least 2 months of the season to get his tactics right. His first month of results with us were Abysmal (Torino Draw, Parma Loss, Lazio Draw, Liverpool Loss) but it seems like nobody remembers that.
Impatient, is what the fans are. And unreasonable.
It will depend on the new sporting director, but having a strong finish of the season can save Conceição’s job as it did for Pioli and management in 19/20.
Conceição is a very good coach who was put in a very bad position mid season with an already broken locker room.
Coaches are not miracle workers. It takes time to implement a football system and philosophy. With a whole pre season and proper transfer window based on the coaches football, Conceição can be a success at Milan. He didn’t forget how to coach in 3 months.
I have to disagree.
One of the biggest tests of a coach/manager is adapting to the situation. Sometimes the situation is the players available to you and sometimes it’s the opponents.
As others have mentioned, SC insists on playing a high line. I know that’s a popular tactic these days, and I’m not against it, per se, but Milan simply doesn’t have the players for this tactic! Other than Tammy, we don’t have a CF who presses the keeper and Leao is the absolute opposite of the player needed to run a high press. Even Pulisic puts most of his defensive effort tracking back, and not pressing forward.
As if that’s not enough, we’re also VERY weak, defensively, in the middle of the field. If you’re going to press, you HAVE to have defensive depth, which Milan is lacking.
As a final note on the matter, our frontline is built for counterattacking. Leao is really only effective running at the defense with space to exploit, Gimenez likes to play on the shoulder of the last defender, in front of goal, and even Pulisic likes to take a defender on from the wing and turn into space in the middle of the field. These are all tactics that do not work when you are playing a high line, with little or no room behind the defense.
If SC can’t adapt to the most basic of issues, like the fact that he doesn’t have the horses to run the race he prefers, he’s not a good coach/manager. He’s like the definition of the American expression about trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.
At Porto, he had the players to run HIS system. At Milan, he doesn’t, but he insists on trying to run his system, anyway. If it weren’t for Tiji and Pulisic bringing some individual brilliance to the equation every few matches, Milan would be FIRMLY in the bottom half of the table.
Best regards
👍👍👍
And you all should remember that Allegri was sent off in Juventus’s 1–0 victory over Atalanta in the 2024 Coppa Italia final, he was sacked even tho he got trophy.
Could leave but won’t. Milan won’t reach the final as the semi-final is two-legged and no way Inter would squander them both. Watch them cruise into the final with two 2-0 or 3-0 wins.
let’s see. Conceicao has got first time so much of time to prepare his players for next game. Inter is in the better shape -that’s true. but I think that dressing room of AC Milan is much more hungry of success. that’s the reason why Conceicao is a great manager, he knows how to change mentality of players. how to make them feel hungry and then feed them properly.
Hi,no matter how good is a coach if the players are not playing in a spirit of football and winning the result will be negative. Goalkeeper and left half back are responsible for the defeat.