AC Milan’s 2024-25 season took another backwards step on Sunday night as they were beaten 2-1 by Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in a dramatic game where there were three missed penalties.
Despite the disappointing results in Europe against Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen, Milan managed to find some stability domestically as they sat on three wins in a row prior to the Fiorentina game, with one of those wins being against city rivals Inter.
Given that positive league form it was no surprise that the Rossoneri were the favourites to win this clash against a stuttering Fiorentina side under Raffaele Palladini. However, they were 1-0 down at the break after Yacine Adli’s opener, and that came after Moise Kean had missed a spot kick.
Theo Hernandez had given away the penalty and things went from bad to worse when he missed one at the other end, then Tammy Abraham also saw his effort saved from 12 yards before Christian Pulisic volleyed in a brilliant equaliser.
However, the away side didn’t take advantage of the momentum and allowed Fiorentina to get back in front in the 73rd minute through Albert Gudmundsson, which ended up being the winner. Below are five things we learned from the game…
1. Mentality issues persist
Something that has been an issue for quite the while is the mentality of the squad and Fonseca does not seem to have an answer to fix it.
Against Inter we saw a proper reaction as everybody seemed to be committed to the cause, but then against Liverpool and Fiorentina, for example, we saw lack of desire and passion that is becoming all too normal for the squad and is certainly not the mentality a club like Milan should have.
In contrast we can only observe how Antonio Conte managed to turn the Napoli dressing room around and the team are flying now, admittedly without European commitments to balance. Fonseca might have limited time to sort this out.
It might be harsh to only pin it on the coach and it’s probably not just his fault, but what we see on the pitch and what we saw on both penalties (where the designated taker Pulisic did not take either of them) speaks volumes about the authority or lack thereof that Fonseca has in the dressing room.
The fact that we are back to discussing his future is also a red flag and it’s a delicate situation that has to be handled with a lot of thought by the management and if they were to actually sack the coach then a proper high profile replacement is needed for the project to progress.
2. Birthday hangover?
Given how Theo Hernandez played, Milan might have been better off without him against Fiorentina. The Frenchman conceded a penalty, then missed one to equalise, then slightly redeemed himself by providing the assist for Pulisic’s goal, but was lucky not to concede a second penalty towards.
He then managed to surpass himself again to provide the worst moment of the night in terms of a headloss as he got himself a red card after the final whistle for going after the referee Luca Pairetto, which probably means he’ll be out for a couple of games.
With Fonseca having no real replacement in the squad it makes it an even more baffling sending off to comprehend, and to top it all off he did it with the captain’s armband on, hardly setting a good example after the earlier penalty mutiny.
3. English duo supercharge the defeat
Whilst the performance wasn’t brilliant by any standards there were some players that really stood out in a bad way. One of them was Theo, who we already discussed, but then there’s Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham.
The latter missed the second penalty of the game after barely touching the ball prior to that moment and the frustrating part is that videos have surfaced of how Tomori grabs the ball and gives it to Tammy to take the penalty when Pulisic – who was stood nearby – should have been on it.
The feeds into the mentality point, but that whole circus and then to miss the spot kick in a very delicate moment of the game is possibly worthy of being benched for a couple of games. Some would argue he showed confidence and initiative to take on the responsibility, but after usurping the hierarchy (again) you’d better score.
The cherry on top has to be the sloppiness that Tomori showcased on the second goal, completely caught off guard and misjudging De Gea’s long ball allowing Gudmundsson to go through and score the winner.
That topped of a game for Tomori where he was clumsy all around and made several mistakes. At this point Gabbia seems like the only defender worthy of starting every game and maybe we’ll see a Pavlovic-Gabbia partnership soon.
4. Questionable changes
We already highlighted Fonseca’s inability to control his dressing room, but his in-game decisions didn’t look much better either. He subbed off Leao and Pulisic when Milan needed a goal, with Pulisic being the best on the pitch for the Rossoneri and Leao also having a couple of positive moments.
One could argue that the Portuguese wasn’t having the best of games which is true, but he was involved in a couple of dangerous situations and seemed to be finding joy against a tiring defence, as showed by a 50-yard run through the middle that could have been an assist.
The winger is a player that can have that moment of brilliance and score or assist a goal, but on the other hand Noah Okafor has also proven to be crucial off the bench so it is not entirely unreasonable to bring him on, but could Morata or Abraham have made way?
What is unreasonable is to bring on Samuel Chukwueze, who has produced nothing so far this season, in favour of your best player on the pitch. The American didn’t seem happy either on the sideline as he walked off the pitch asking why he was brought off.
Fonseca said after the game that it was because Pulisic had an adductor problem during the week and he didn’t want to risk him yet the former Chelsea man’s reaction suggested he was fine, so was that another example of a coach not understanding his players?
5. French backbone remains intact
Mike Maignan managed to save the penalty and keep the score level in the 22nd minute and followed that with a few goods saves, while he was largely not at fault for either of the goals that Fiorentina did score given the aforementioned defensive howlers.
He also distributed the ball well and is finding continuity between the sticks, so at least there’s one positive. It might be time for him to step up and be a leader in the dressing room too, though, as we’ve read about his mentality many a times and this squad is in a dire need of someone to uphold standards.
His compatriot Youssouf Fofana also had a decent game although nothing spectacular, compared to the Leverkusen game for example. He did shield the defence well and won most of his duels, though he is playing that role to facilitate Tijjani Reijnders, who is offering little in terms of end product.
I agree that fonseca made a huge mistake in taking both leao and pulisic off. Whether they’re having an off game they’re your two best players. How Abraham and Morata get to play a full 90 every time. I think it’s time to put. Morata up front and bench Abraham. Use the subs better.
Has Abraham managed to score on open play? I think the energy he brings is better suited as a sub.
And whether Pulisic misses 5 Pks in a row – he has to take them.- and he is far from my fave on this team.
Another inane international break coming up….then our defence should be….?
Mike
Jimenez / Gabbia / Pavlovic / Terracciano
It’s criminal how we don’t have a decent back up for Theo. Although judging from last night we probably would’ve been better off without him.
For a team, any team, to have a success, your top players need to play at top level in most of the games, with occasional poor game. That’s what makes them top players.
Milan top players are the opposite. They have the occasional good games and in most games they are poor even awful.
Theo Hernández.
Milan have lost 2 games in serie A this season, vs Parma and vs Fiorentina. Guess who was the worst player on the pitch in those games. Not the dedicated scapegoats Thiaw, Calabria, Emerson, Musah, RLC, Chuk, Jovic, nope, it was Theo Hernández. The captain.
Rafael Leao.
Milan has played 7 games in serie A this season ( i won’t even bother talking about Leao in UCL), Leao was good in only 2 of them, vs Venezia and vs Lecce, awful in all other games. He has his occasional good game vs a relegation team. He was subbed because he was totally taken out of the game by Dodo.
Matter fact, the “best” left side in Europe only looked as the best vs those same Lecce and Venezia. I guess they are bottom feeding best left side in Europe. They Disappear vs quality teams. Not just this season, but throughout their Milan tenure.
Tomori. He jumped higher to get the ball and gave it to Abraham for the penalty than he did on Fiorentina winning goal. Yeah, Southgate was an idiot for not calling him for the NT. After the way he behaved towards Tatarusanu 2 years ago, I can’t believe he is one of the captains.
Maignan had a poor season last year, but he is top in most of the games.
Milan made a huge mistake thinking they can build a team with those 2, plus Tomori, Maignan, at the center of the project. They probably expected for them to mature the older they get, but we see they actually get more immature as the years go by.
Theo and Lautaro are the same age. Look at the way Lautaro leads his teammates compared to Theo. Lautaro could have set a new record for most serie A goals scored in a season last year if he shot the penalties but he doesn’t take the ball away from Hakan to pad his stats, he isn’t selfish, he puts the team first. Even this season he isn’t shooting them when he was going through a goal drought.
Too many bad cooks in the kitchen at Milan. Theo, Leao, Tomori are no leaders. Calabria, Maignan, Gabbia, Pulisic and Morata should be the leaders.
The example for Napoli and Conte and how he turn the dressing room around is accurate, but he did that after the club decided to distance themselves from the bad apple in the dressing room, Victor Osimhen. Another dude who after 1 good season thought that he is some top player.
Whatever coach is at Milan, Fonseca or another, will have to get rid off the bad apples to be able to unite that locker room. Just changing the coach won’t do much. Some players have to go as well.
100%
So called leaders of this team losing their heads. Theo lacks so much leadership, very talented but with no discipline you ain’t go no where lad. The most experienced players Theo and making things so hard for the coach. At the end journalist and news papers will be on the coach mounting unnecessary pressure.
This team is built for a 3-4-3 formation!!
———————Maignan———————-
——–Pavlovic—-Gabbia—–Tomori——-
Royal(?)——Fofana—–Reijnders——-Theo
—–Pulisic——–Morata———-Leao—–—
Bench Tomori. He literally pi**ed on the team’s plan and Fonseca’s orders.
“Questionable changes “, I disagree with this point. What is the essence of not playing Okafor or chuku. Fonseca is the coach, let’s respect his substitute choices. If you don’t trust these subs against fiorentina,which game can you trust them again, Real Madrid or a UCL knock out. Journalist and News Headlines now comparing Fonseca with Conte, very funny.
There are actually many positives to learn from this game, not in the sense that I think we did well at some point, but rather that I see elements that, if they are adressed correctly, would allow us to progress further.
1. Theo shouldn’t wear the armband ever again. He actually should be fined for being selfish for the penalty and getting a red card at the end of the game. Some players are not leaders no matter how long they play for the same club and Theo is not a leader.
2. We DO have a locker room problem. I suspect that this started since Ibrahimovic, Tonali and Maldini left and we already see even new players doing what they want (Abraham I’m looking at you). The sooner we put in place a disciplinary and a fining system, the better. Some behaviours should not be tolerated, period. Yesterday night, what Theo, Abraham and Tomori (I think Morata as well according to some sources) did is simply disgusting.
3. Leao is unreliable, period. I’m not going to say we should sell him or whatever, but the sooner we understand that he is a moody player with unpredictable ups and downs who can’t play as a striker no does want to defend, the better. Make of that what you want. Also, I don’t think I need to repeat that Leao shouldn’t ever the armband as well.
4. Our team is shallow, even after bringing so many new players. We’re not fit for a 4-2-3-1, lack the CDM for a 4-3-3 and the depth for a 4-4-2. We need to bring good deputies as soon as we can. Speaking of deputy, who will replace Theo now ? I don’t care how we do it, loan players, cancel Adli/Kalulu loaning,… We should probably start keeping the players who showed some hunger, spirit in them even if they’re average, rather than brining “more” and “newer” players because an algorithm deemed them better.
5. Collectively and combinaison wise, we still don’t have a team. We struggle a lot to build a decent attack either from the flanks or down the middle. That’s on the players as well as the coach.
Well said. Firing a successful management team without cause, disrespecting a club legend, and selling a star player was always going to bite us in the ass.
Penalty circus: I’m a big fan of Theo and he has a lot of credit in the bank. For the first penalty, it was a mistake but I’ll be generous. He has scored penalties before so maybe Pulisic gave it to him to break the record on his birthday. However, as a senior player and captain, he should have stopped Abraham and there’s no excuse for the red card after the game. Abraham and Theo need to be made an example of.
The most important thing we learned is that Theo is not captain material and should never wear the armband again. He sets a horrible example with his selfishness and other players like Leao and Abraham follow his lead. Fonseca was hoping that by making Leao and Theo captains that they would step up and mature and show some leadership. All it did was inflate their egos even more. Leao is a follower and looks up to Theo. I guarantee you the incident during the cooling break was Theo’s idea. While he can make some amazing plays sometimes, his attitude is a cancer for this team. In his mind this game was all about him and he was going to break Maldini’s record on his birthday. He didn’t care about the team winning at all. And him getting the red card after the game is over is just furthur proof how little he cares about the team. Time to sell him.
1. I’m not concerned about Theo having a bad game. He’s been one of our best players in terms of quality and consistency throughout the years and will bounce back. However, he needs to answer for the red card and taking the penalty from Pulisic, as does Abraham.
2. We have to acknowledge that this squad is a downgrade from the Maldini Massara squad by all metrics. We’ve downgraded from Tonali, Bennacer, Diaz, Kjaer, Ibra, or Giroud. The only upgrade signed was Pulisic.
3. It’s hard to judge Fonseca tactically. He’s had his ups and down and this is a poorly constructed squad. Any coach would need time and couple of smart transfer markets to fix this team. What might get him sacked are things like captain rotation and last night’s penalty debacle.
5 things learned.
1. Tammy and Tomori needed to be dropped from the squad for a game or two.
2. Gabbia needs to be the new permanent captain.
3. Emerson is worse than Calabria in my opinion.
4. Pulisic has been putting together an amazing highlight reel at his time st AC Milan.
5. Fonseca better get a handle on his players if he wants to turn this year around. You can’t have players being unprofessional and disobeying your directives.
I lost all respect for Tammy and Tomori but is Fonseca the man with the balls to sanction them? If he doesn’t then he’ll certainly lose the other half of players, our main man Pulisic included.
He tried with iron fist but failed, then tried with a barbecue which seemed to work, only to get screwed by the same rotten ones again. Sorry to say but Theo is turning to be the rotten apple here and Fonseca is too weak to handle these primadonnas.
But the root cause of this mess is our management and their bland strategy and recruitment policy from players to coach. We’re downgrading for second season in a row while they’re feeding us with cráppy bed time stories about how they’re here to help us bring us back to the top. Sad thing, some still believe them.
Please set up an olympic pool on training ground,i want to see if abraham can hit it