Sergio Conceicao of AC Milan

‘We need to improve in our fitness levels’ – Conceicao questions Milan’s work under Fonseca

Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/AC Milan via Getty Images

Sergio Conceicao made more interesting declarations after AC Milan’s narrow win over Como last night, a game they had to come from behind in.

Conceicao has already made it perfectly clear during his first two weeks as the coach of Milan that he will not be frightened of speaking his mind, such as when he labelled the first half against Cagliari the worst of his managerial career.

Given that the Rossoneri had to come from a goal down to beat relegation-threatened Como, he cannot be totally satisfied with how the game last night went either. The team showed good spirit again though, scoring through Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao to eventually win 2-1.

After the game Conceicao spoke to the cameras of Sky and DAZN, and during his interviews he stated that the players are not up to the fitness levels he wants, because of the work done under Paulo Fonseca.

“I can talk for two hours, but if they don’t get it into their heads, then it becomes difficult. We need more pressing, more intensity, a lot of work to be done,” he said (via Football Italia).

“We have clear ideas, but the players were not accustomed to a certain type of work. They think that if they press high, then they end up running more. That is not true, you run less.

“This is my whole philosophy of football. Naturally, we also have a lot of players who do not have these characteristics, so we are trying to change them. We have everything to gain.

“Isma [Bennacer] went off because he was on a yellow card and it was risky in midfield, but it is also true that he and Fofana need to improve the way they occupy the space with and without the ball.

“Morata also had a muscular problem and we preferred not to risk it. We’re checking the work that was done before we got here, we need to improve in our fitness levels too, because we need intensity for my football and at this moment we are missing something.”

Tags AC Milan Sergio Conceicao

18 Comments

  1. It’s true. If the players moved (even walked) earlier instead of standing still, they’d need to run less as the man they’re supposed to mark wouldn’t be open to passes. You don’t need to necessary work harder – just smarter. And as a team.

    1. You can’t do that if you are not fit. Obviously lacking in fitness, last 10 minutes yesterday Como players looked like all stars team until they reached the box. Good thing they can’t score.

        1. This is what is missing here. We don’t have sufficient depth at any positions, so we’re playing our players nearly twice as often as the lower table teams. Six days rest vs two days rest is a huge difference.

  2. Exactly. You press high ,the pitch is smaller therefore less ground to run at. Just have to move as a unit and go really hard for the moments you decide to press. It’s otherwise pointless getting yourself exposed high up while affording the opponent free time on the ball. This however leaves the defenders with a tougher task in terms of managing the space left behind were speed and of course intelligency are crucial. I love Gabbia and it’s not like he’d suck at playing it but I understand why Tomori is being preferred. Some mistakes like being all over the place when should be staying put and poor pass accuracy. However seen him on several occasions sprinting back from the centre to successfully close down an opponent striker. In any case I believe there’s a bit more general faith in Tomori now than during the time he wasn’t playing and not costing the results too much on the process. Now more defenders to possibly count on. Gabbia shouldn’t be completely sitting on the beach and Pavlovic shouldn’t be forgotten neither. Would be nice to see him too recovered in some ways. They are all good defenders. We can’t just be complaining about congestive schedules and not work on being ready for it.

  3. Generally, yes, but last night was the worst example and I think it had a lot to do with Fofana and TJ being exhausted from the marathon of matches they’ve been subjected to. You can’t press high with just some of your players, everyone has to be equally involved in terms of intensity. We were cracked open so many times while Como was easily building their transition or simply sending long balls to the wingers. We are a very soft team physically and I really hope it’s all Fonseca’s fault, as the narrative suggest, but somehow I doubt that’s the case.

  4. I didn’t watch many Porto games, but I do remember the 2 games against us in the UCL 21/22 and I remember how relentless and aggressive (in a good way) their players were (especially Diaz, Taremi,..). We couldn’t have the ball for a second without a Porto player storming us like a bee storming from a beehive and part of me want us to play like that.
    The problem is that it is going to take time and most of our players weren’t used to play like that. When we used to press, Bennacer (the fit one) was a good presser, Tonali was a good presser, Rebic was a good presser, Saelemakers was a good presser,… and Kessié kept all of that in balance. Currently our players are adapted for whatever style and they’re more used to an individual sort of play where each one try to beat the man in front of him rather than playing collectively.
    Fitness wise, it’s no secret that someone like Leao doesn’t enjoy running all the time and because of the mayhem that was the EURO 2024, plus our lack of depth, Theo, Reijnders and Fofana might already be exhausted.
    So I guess it’s gonna take a while before the players actually understand how to press and play together, and probably till summer for them to work on their fitness level.

    1. Excellent point I remember how they got the ball quickly out our feet. No wonder the players mind set has to improve and change for the better.

  5. This has been an issue since we’ve had Pioli. These guys have never been able to cover a full 90, at full speed, besides Theo, and of the new guys Reijnders. But we’ve always had this problem. Fitness is crucial, even at 39 and 37 Maldini, Serginho and Cafu could still give us a high energy 90 minutes.

      1. He is not but he plays like 4000 minutes or more per season, never injured, always a starter, neved subbed out, not even late into the game, so I don’t think he is the most unfit player of the team.

    1. Fitness is crucial I like that one. Maybe that’s the reason we even have many injuries. Lack of fitness let it be taken positively by our players. I’m happy that they have welcomed the coach. And on the other side the coach is quick to notice on what’s missing. Forseca was always blaming without having the answers to the problem.
      Forza Milan

  6. We don’t have sufficient depth at any positions, so we’re playing our players nearly twice as often as the lower table teams. Six days rest vs two days rest is a huge difference.

  7. In my opinion fitness is generally lacking. The player’s recovery skills is very lacking and this is where we need to develop our players in sprinting skills to catch up fast with long balls and fast counter attacks by our opponents.
    The speed of Leao and Theo is something to develop on our players.
    We cannot have 2 players attacking with speed while their colleagues are suffering to keep pace with them too.
    Also we need to rethink the waste of precious time when we pass the ball to the goalkeeper and we build a big amount of passes between our defence

  8. The problem is not Fonseca, Fitness and injuries are a problem since before the time of Pioli. Its a long long way to go, he needs to remove the old staff, they useless.

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