Paulo Fonseca was keen to stress after the win over Slovan Bratislava that the win is what counts, and yet even he cannot ignore AC Milan’s defensive woes.
As Calciomercato.com report, the most recent win in the Champions League – the third in a row in the competition – confirmed that Milan’s defensive problems remain. The issue of goal difference must be taken into account when thinking about getting into the top eight, with respect to Slovan Bratislava.
From Stefano Pioli to Fonseca, there is a common denominator: defensive fragility. From man-to-man marking in open play to a high defensive line, there have been different methods finding the same unsatisfactory results.
“These are difficult things to explain. On the corner kick we have three players back, it is difficult to explain because they are not tactical issues, but it is a question of reading, of preventive marking,” Fonseca said after the game.
“If we attack, the defenders must move up and prepare for preventive marking. We were too far away.” Fonseca believes it is an individual problem rather than a collective issue, even if he did then mention improvements have been made compared to last season.
There seems to be a real issue with the approach when Milan take the lead, as seen last night but also in Cagliari too, among other games where the Rossoneri have been pegged back. A team that has already conceded 22 goals in this first part of the season cannot remain competitive and fight for trophies.
Furthermore, Fonseca has backtracked: until the beginning of October he was stressing the need to find a starting defensive pairing, only to then change the two centre-backs basically every game. The result is that he has not given certainty to a team that really needs it.
After four months of work, the situation could and should have been different and the management are disappointed. The Portuguese coach is expected focus more strongly on the Thiaw-Gabbia pairing, according to what filters, and he must hope this is a strong foundation to build on.
The CB musical chairs is terrible. Pick two and let them roll for a while. Gabbia and one of the other ones.
“From Stefano Pioli to Fonseca, there is a common denominator: defensive fragility.”
I’d have to disagree here. Under Pioli and prior to the 23/24 midfield revamp, we’ve had the first and third best defence in the league over two seasons with one winning us the title and the other we placed second. So we did have in the past solid defence under Pioli. Ever since we parted with Kessie (ended 6th best defence) and then Tonali and Krunic (ended 11th worst defence) we’ve been getting worse and worse defensively each year. We’ve been removing the defensive elements from midfield each year which I believe is the main cause.
Now this season we’ve obviously had an improvement over last season but only because last season was so horrendous (we’re currently tied 5th best and Fofana has alleviated some of the issue). We’re still a bit away from Scudetto defence pace and far from seasons past when we had a better setup in the midfield.
Well Pioli team back then, had Tonali and Bennacer who played excellent defence, combined with Kessie.
Kalulu, Tomori, Kjaer and Romagnoli were in top of form. Kalulu just started to form as a player.
And Calabria was solid.. Milan didn’t have strong right wing in attack but was very helpful playing defence.
Yep..that’s what I was implying with the Kessie, Tonali and Krunic departures
Everyone Together Now:
Stop rotating your CB’s every game! Pick your best pair and let them develop consistency and understanding.
For now it should be either Gabbia-Tomori or Gabbia-Thiaw. Thiaw is a fraction better than Tomori right now but Gabbia-Tomori worked against Inter.
Then if Gabbia is not available it should be Thiaw-Tomori.
(I barely believe myself that I’m willingly choosing Thiaw to be a starter).
This was definitely one of Maldini’s Heir’s better takes.
“What Fonseca is doing that doesn’t help”
Sticking around?