Sergio Conceicao knows that he is likely to take charge of his last Milan derby tonight, but a line from his pre-match press conference attracted attention.
As Calciomercato.com write, Conceicao has frequently gone on the attack against the ‘disrespectful’ Italian media, for questioning his job security after having only just taken charge. His most recent rant came after the defeat against Atalanta, which kept Milan rooted in ninth place.
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The Portuguese coach is convinced that he worked well in unfavourable conditions, forgetting that he inherited a team that is eighth, just a few points away from fourth place and close to direct qualification for the Champions League round of 16.
The Rossoneri are now one place lower in the league and out of Europe too, after Conceicao oversaw defeats against opponents like Dinamo Zagreb and Feyenoord who – with respect to both – should have been beaten on paper.
During the press conference on the eve of tonight’s Coppa Italia derby, Conçeicao was pressed on the nervousness that has accompanied him in these first months in red and black and that became more visible a few days ago.
“I will talk about these things at the end of the season. About everything that the six months of work have been, about what we have done well and less well,” he said. It was a sentence that prompts two considerations.
The ex-Porto boss has no intention of taking responsibility, and already has clear in his head who will be the recipients of his messages once he leaves the club. He player preferred to postpone any such message though, so as not to disturb the squad on the eve of such a big game.
In the press conference, the reporters joked with Conceiçao that his “I’ll speak at the end of the season” like sounds a lot like a threat to overturn Pandora’s box. Most likely, the accusations of the Portuguese coach will not be far from those leaked by his former spokesman on March 7.
Conceicao could complain about functionality problems in the training facility at Milanello and also the poor athletic preparation of the team. Above all, he may take aim at the lack of management support, of a clear technical project and also the distance of the patron Cardinale.
Finally, the lack of commitment from the team and in particular from its key players such as Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez might be in the crosshairs. All that remains is to wait for what will be the farewell statements of Conceiçao.
Basically the same I would put my guess on. A lack of a strong management and probably a hint of some players doing as they please and probably amongst the least professional players he has come by both as a coach and a player.
From the outside that would seem fairly reasonable from my point of view but I would certainly also add that Conseicao has behaved like a freaking martyr from the get go.
Win the Coppa Italia and start playing some youngsters in Serie A then he would at least have left some sort of lasting contribution for us to work with next season.
He can put blame on whoever he wants and he may be right. But at the end of the day this man somehow made the team play worse and dropped in the standings and cl where fonseca had brought us. Fonseca is missed at the moment so that shows how poor he really did.
This clown of a coach should just shut his mouth and leave back to Portugal where grabbing, diving and just screaming at your players to run harder passes as tactics. I’ve never seen a coach so over his head than this little guy. The ugliest football I’ve ever seen.
Wheres the piolis hater