Among the news that emerged from Milanello yesterday was that the absence of players was down to an instruction from the head coach Paulo Fonseca, who has granted the team a few days off.
As Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) report this morning, the arrival of the international break brings the hope that the right solutions can be found to help remedy the defects exposed in a bad start to the season.
Given the absence of a large part of the starting group, after the sessions at Milanello on Tuesday and Wednesday after Lazio Fonseca granted the team four days of rest, which began yesterday. The resumption of training is scheduled for Monday, when the game on Saturday 14th against Venezia will be in focus.
It is a ‘rather curious choice’ in the eyes of the paper, but in a certain sense also inevitable considering the physical, mental and results-related difficulties that Milan are going through. So Fonseca has chosen a bit of a rest – both physical and mental – for his players, preferring it to the intense work in training and hoping it refreshes everyone.
Among the reasons is also undoubtedly the absence of the 11 first team players called up to their respective national teams: Theo Hernandez, Mike Maignan, Youssouf Fofana, Rafael Leao, Tijjani Reijnders, Ismael Bennacer, Luka Jovic, Strahinja Pavlovic, Yunus Musah, Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze.
If the idea previously might have been to fill the gaps left with players from Milan Futuro, there are seven of Daniele Bonera’s side that are away with U19 teams: Francesco Camarda, Davide Bartesaghi, Kevin Zeroli, Lorenzo Torriani, Mattia Liberali, Noah Raveyre and Hugo Cuenca.
Nonetheless, Morata returned to running on the Milanello field yesterday to anticipate his return, while the likes of Davide Calabria, Emerson Royal, Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw, Matteo Gabbia and Filippo Terracciano are all available.
That is a large part of the defensive department, which has come under fire the most during the first three games of the season and could have used the time to build a further understanding and work on some of the flaws.
The fact is that no coach knows his team better than the coach himself and pulling the plug, in some cases, can also be the wisest option, even if in the end only the pitch will provide the answers.