AC Milan’s Scudetto hopes were put to bed with the 2-1 defeat to Atalanta last night. As a newspaper highlights this morning, the Rossoneri settled for a draw too early and were rightfully punished by the home side.
After finding a way back into the game through Alvaro Morata, making it 1-1, Milan seemingly took their foot off the gas. This was noticeable especially in the second half as they barely had any chances, while Atalanta continued to threaten in attack.
As highlighted by today’s edition of Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews), Milan settled for the draw too early and came away with a poor defeat as a result. Not to mention that both goals came from set pieces, showing a lack of concentration and attention.
There’s no doubt that Christian Pulisic’s exit in the 38th minute made a difference, as Atalanta were then essentially able to focus on Rafael Leao, but Milan also stopped playing. Paulo Fonseca deserves all the criticism he can get from this, as the approach was fundamentally incorrect for yet another big clash.
Indeed, instead of complaining about the officiating, Fonseca should have been busy explaining his own flaws to the media. After all, we’re at the start of December and the Scudetto train has already left the station.
I said in the middle of the match that Fonseca CLEARLY only wants a draw here because he hasn’t subbed Emerson and/or Musah and it will backfire. Yeah. I fng hate when I’m right about these (obvious) things.
Musah was probably one of the better players. Remember he’s a kid and he’s getting talked about like he should be flawless, he give everything last night and was surprised at a 5.5 rating. I’m not his biggest fan, or this current Milan’s but he tries and gives everything. Theo…when he’s met for pace and power such as bellanova, Dumfries or hakimi is an absolute no show. I want to know why fonseca, playing tge way we started didn’t bring in chukuweze instead of RLC to keep us on a similar path. I have no doubt without that injury we would have seen a different outcome
do you not get tired of talking about the scudetto, honestly, we have had enough
Its obvious that most of the squad dont want to play for Fonseca. This doesn’t apply to the players who are always starting under him (pulisic, musah, emerson,reijnders)
They rest of most of the squad dont take fonseca seriously. Maldini was a reference point that Zlatan can never be and served as a serene and calming influence for the young stars. A father figure if you will. Most great managers have this ability themselves (Don Carlo, Klopp, Pep, Fergie etc) this team has zero grinta and little to zero mental strength. And that starts with the manager/management. Look how Percassi and Pagliuca bleed with their team. And thats Atalanta!
If you’ve ever worked for a horrible boss you know what I’m talking about. Why give 200% and continue to suffer to someone you dont respect when you know you can leave and get a raise elsewhere or just wait out their inevitable firing.
They don’t respect him because they’ve won more than him. A few of these guys have won more Scudetto a than Fonsy. So if he says this is how to win that sort of a tough sell