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’ve been a Tomori sympathizer, but I can’t do it anymore. His mistake leading to the 2nd goal was pure sh**. It was comical how bad that was. And then to see him keeping the 2nd PK from Pulisic. I’m done. He should not be starting. Really disappointed in Abraham as well. I thought highly of him. Very bad look.
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.
It’s easy for a 2m tall player to disrespect pulisic like that,i wish he tried to disrespect Mike like that,he would eat him for a dinner and demand tomori for a dessert
If he hadn’t brought Leao out, everyone would be writing today that he had to try Okafor. The only mistake Fonseka made was that he did not bring Abraham on, after the embarrassment of stealing the ball and missing the penalty, and introduced Chuka instead. Move Pulisic to AM and Morata to CF. That’s all he had to do. However, this is a match that was unwinnable because of Theo. The man did everything to lose the match. Tomori has to go to the bench, because he is not better than Thiaw.
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.
Yeah and not to jinx him but Puli has never missed a PK in his career
Except in the Trofeo Berlusconi against Monza 2 years ago but that wasn’t “a real match”.
*Over a year ago
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%
Reading between the lines a bit, there is a correlation to our captain (Calabria) not playing on the regular and this “circus”
Last year I believe Theo was suspended for 4 or 5 games due to immature play or yellow card accumulation. Tomorri missed the first derby b/c of a red.
The problems you point out were there to see last season as well. This only goes to further the point you are making now.
So actions in the now –
* Get the best leader we have on the pitch – Calabria.
** This happens to also remove a liability in Royal
* Send a clear message to problem of Tomori with Pavlovic starting the next few games.
* I am a big fan of the Tammy signing. Bench him and bring him on as a sub.
* Theo gets a two game suspension from the league but sits the bench regardless of circumstance on his return.
I am only able to take Fonsy serious if he shows he also understands that no one person is bigger than the team.
“They disappear vs quality sides. Not just this season, but throughout their Milan tenure” … you have a short memory my friend, sorry but that’s just facts. But I agree about the no leadership part. And it’s most glaring in the couch department unfortunately.
Incredible, Z. You somehow managed to suggest that Leão was at fault for this loss as well, when he actually played well, tracked back, showed effort (even engaged in a tackle to recover a ball), had a great shot saved by a possessed goalkeeper, and set up Pulisic perfectly for what should have been an assist, if not for Puli taking too long to try the shot. It’s not Rafa’s fault if his companions can’t convert the perfect opportunities he creates for them.
Meanwhile Theo causes a PK, misses a PK (taking it against the coach’s orders), is silent when another player steals the PK taking from the designated taker, almost causes another PK, and tops it all by being expelled… and all this while wearing the captain armband… and it’s somehow Rafa’s fault.
Tomori gets smoked and almost on his own causes Fiorentina’s second goal… and it’s somehow Rafa’s fault.
Even Pulisic gets smoked by Adli in their first goal. (I forgive him because he evened it out by scoring, and because poor Pulisic was trying to help the defense, given the low quality of his same-sided full back, but still, he did allow Adli to completely beat him and score…) and it’s somehow Rafa’s fault.
Abraham misses several chances, and as a loan player he overrides the coach and takes the PK and misses… and it’s somehow Rafa’s fault.
Great.
By now, your hatred of Leão is so explicit, that even the good points you sometimes make about him lose force. I’ve been willing to agree with you on some of Rafa’s shortcomings, but when you produce still ANOTHER criticism of Rafa in a game when he was decent and OTHER players were clearly responsible for the loss, it’s too much.
And no, Rafa has not disappeared throughout his Milan history like you say. The last three seasons he produced 28, 30, and 31 goal participations (team best in two of them, second best in one of them), and 4 so far this season (second only to Puli’s). And see, he should have had more assists, if for example Reijnders and Puli had converted the perfect passes he provided to them.
Like the other poster said, your memory seems to be too short because you don’t seem to remember the several games when Rafa scored the winning goal or assisted someone else to score the winning goal, throughout his Milan career.
Should Rafa be doing more? Sure, yes. But part of the problem is not that he isn’t doing anything… it’s that his companions are not converting chances that he creates for them, and in at least two occasions he faced some mighty performances by the opposing goalie. Rafa could easily be at 8 goal participations by now with 3 goals and five assists (counting a possible assist to Reijnders, one to Puli, a goal that Sommer saved, and a goal that De Gea saved). It could then be one more goal participation than Puli’s. I think Rafa did enough to get to those 8, but was a bit unlucky in the two great saves the opponent goalie provided, and two of his companions failed him in not converting to assists the sugar-fed passes he produced.
For me, while Rafa does have shortcomings, he is far from being the main problem we’re facing.
We have a mediocre coach and players who don’t respect him and don’t follow his instructions… meanwhile the coach loses the locker room by shifting blame publicly to his players. We have an amateur managerial team that hire someone like Emerson Royal and someone like Terracciano, therefore failing to address the huge liabilities in the RB and LB positions.
These things are a lot more serious in causing the hole we are currently in, than Rafa’s inconsistent displays (yes, he is inconsistent, but no, he is far from being our main problem, and not even one of our main problems).
Oh, here we go. Leave it to Luigi to make it all about Leao and lose his mind.
Leao next book, which should be his biography, should be written by @Luigi. Forget Walter Isaacson.
If Leao ever has a legal issue, @Luigi should be his defense lead counsel.
Read my comment again, especially the first sentence before you start losing your mind because your guy “Rafa” got mentioned.
You admit that Leao is very inconsistent.
“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.”
You literally agreed with what I said. Your guy Rafa had 2 good games this season vs Lecce and Venezia, relegation teams.
Last season numbers were enhanced by Europa league and Copa Italia games vs, you guessed it, bum ass teams.
I mentioned Theo and Tomori in my comment, you had no issues with that “hatred”.
To be honest with you, this Leao meltdowns you have on a daily basis are meat riding and embarrassing.
Leao is a big problem at Milan.
He is hyped up to be the best and highest paid player on the team who shows up once every 5 games and it happens to be vs a bum ass team.
He was one of the problems yesterday because he was invisible, but I’m glad you found 1 or 2 plays in 75 minutes to show us that we are wrong about Leao.
Playin at top level for you is doing bare minimum. You blamed Pulisic for not getting to a ball that was too far, even though he was running full speed, unlike your “Rafa” who gave up on a Reijnders pass in the 1st half
He was subbed off by the coach because he was invisible and he was one of the worst rated players on the pitch, but he did a bare minimum which is more than enough for Luigi.
Chukwueze in 10 minutes did as much as Leao did in 75 minutes.
Leao shot that you praise him for was going above the goal as usual, I’m not even sure that de Gea touched the ball, but even if he did it wasn’t going in but above. De Gea did have a great save on Chuk though.
Look at the words you are using, showed effort, even track back, like Leao is doing Milan a favor and doing that bare minimum is not his job.
But it’s funny how it’s OK for you to criticize every player except Leao, and it doesn’t count as hatred, but any criticism of Leao is explicit hatred.
You are taking this Leao issue way too personal or your love for Leao is blinding you, because you are one of the few that can’t see what’s in front of their eyes.
Nobody hates your guy. People just analyze his game, and the truth hurts your feelings.
Truth sound like hate to those that don’t wanna hear it.
Amen, bro!!!
Why can’t you just say Ranieri made an excellent tackle for Fiorentina which is exactly what happened, it was a perfect pass and a perfect tackle, can’t really get on Pulisic for that. He did get turned by Adli, at the sideline though so someone could’ve helped ffs. However, I get the point you are making, Rafa is becoming a scapegoat and I don’t like it either. It’s the way Fonseca has him playing, it has completely neutralized his attacking talents. Pioli had the wingers on the sidelines out wide and Fonseca has em roaming around the middle too often. I thought Rafa had a good game and he is still our best player who will put in a transfer request if the fans don’t get off his back.
Excellent points!
“Abraham misses several chances, and as a loan player he overrides the coach and takes the PK and misses… and it’s somehow Rafa’s fault.”
About this comment.
It is actually your “Rafa” fault.
You remember the Venezia game?
Of course you do, that’s one of the 2 good games Rafa played this season.
Milan shot 2 penalties in that game too. Pulisic scored the 1st one. Took the ball to shoot the 2nd and someone took the ball away from him and gave it to the on loan player Abraham to shoot the 2nd penalty. Do you know who that someone was? Your “Rafa”. Yep, he started that : forget what the coach says stuff when it comes to designated penalty taker.
You remember?
You also said a lot IFs and Buts. How Leao did enough to have more goal contributions, but his companions messed it up for him. Nice throwing everyone under the bus to protect your guy.
Let’s try your logic with the coach Fonseca who you called mediocre.
If Leao scores at least 1 of the 3 goalscoring chances vs Torino Milan has 2 extra points today.
If leao doesn’t assist Parma on their winning goal, Milan has at least 1 extra point.
If leao and Theo as the “leaders and captains” of the team didn’t create a culture at Milan where it is OK to disregard coaches instructions, Pulisic shoots those 2 penalties vs Fiorentina and Milan most likely wins that game and 3 extra points.
I think that mediocre Fonseca did enough to have 6 extra points, 17 total, which puts Milan on top of the table. Don’t you think Fonseca did enough? It’s not his fault that his companions/players can’t score penalties and easy 1v1 vs the Goalkeepers.
You see how that works?
Your guy Rafa is involved in all of it. But we can’t say that, we should only talk about Theo and Tomori, not Rafa, not ever..
“If my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike”.
OK, maybe you have a point (or several points). What you said in your last two posts did give me pause.
It frustrates me that the fans keep scapegoating Rafa, and Rafa himself said it affects him; so, predictably, soon enough he will ask to leave Milan, and despite all the shortcomings you indicate (and I do agree with you for some of them), I still believe that we will be worse off without him (I do understand that you thing we’ll be better off without him; in this, I do believe you are wrong).
Regarding Puli, you can believe it or not but he is actually my favorite player, not Rafa. Yes, I’ve praised Puli extensively in several posts, including what I said in the pagelle thread “always a class act.” But I can see that Adli beat him, and yes, I was screaming at him for not taking that shot against Fiorentina. Reviewing that play (I re-watched the highlights) after what Natarian said above, yes, it does seem like the ball was slightly out of reach for him until the defender cleared it. Oh, and yes, Leão’s shot was going in if not for the goalkeeper. Watch it again.
But you are wrong that I only defend Leão. I’ve praised several of our players in several posts, including against attacks from others. Not just Rafa. By the way, now everybody seems to agree that Puli is great. A while ago people (including the official staff rater here at SempreMilan) were always saying that Puli should have done more, that he disappeared in big games, and there was gratuitous hatred on him just because he’s American. I always defended Puli against those attacks.
But yes, now people generally praise Puli so there is no need for me to defend him, while the scapegoating of Rafa became so intense, that I’ve been defending him a lot more.
But I did listen to what you said in your last two posts, and you did make a lot of sense, so I do believe that I should reassess my attitudes here. Thanks.
Kudos for the good write-up. Hard to disagree here.
I agree with you 💯, you having logical reasons
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.
We have 4 CB’s and only one is starter lvl atm. And you want to user 3 of those at the same time? Literally all of them will be injured before the end of the year. This team is built for 4 in the back. 443, 4231, 433. This is why Kalulu was sold.
I like it, worth a try for sure. Theo would be great as a wing back and we have 3 solid CBs
Calabria for Royal and I’m sold on it.
I think it’s worth having this wrinkle. I’d actually put Musah at the RWB – he’s looked good out there before. RLC can also play out there just fine.
Interesting idea!
It would make more sense if we had Kalulu and Simic.
Still could be worth using in certain circumstances.
I’d probably put Jimenez or Musah as RWB
Any formation that keeps Emerson off the team is worth a shot!
“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.
Nicely stated.
Having watched Fofana settle you don’t think he can play the CDM role? (I do realize that even if he could we’d lack depth, so more an academic question)
Fofana certainly improved compared to earlier this season and we have to remember that he missed the preseason and was out of shape due to missing training with AS Monaco.
As for being a lone CDM in a 4-3-3 I think we have to consider the following:
– While he certainly did improve, I think he is not quite there yet. He still has to learn a bit more how to cover the holes created by our fullbacks drifting forward, and he also has to learn to time his own drifting forward, when to press or when to backup,… I’m a bit afraid that, should we drift to a 4-3-3, he will be back to square one when he has to learn yet again how to position himself, what to look for,…
– While he was a bit more offensive with AS.Monaco, Fofana was always in a double-pivot as Monaco used both a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-4-2. The CDM in a 4-3-3 is a bit different and can actually mean many different roles depending on the team. For example, both Real Madrid and Liverpool used a 4-3-3 in 2018, but Casemiro and Henderson were very different from one another.
So it remains to be seen if Fofana can settle as a CDM in a 4-3-3. Some players learn new roles just fine, some others are a bit one dimensional.
Or maybe another idea is to copy what the Netherlands did, having RLC and Fofana on each side and Reijnders drifting forward and backward, but again it remains to be seen, especially considering how much Fonseca seems to insist on the 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-4.
Thanks for the detailed comment. A lot to think about.
Excellent explanation, Giga94. You know your stuff! Thanks!
thanks for this comment…I am really tired of hearing that Fofana had a decent game (besides the excellent game he played prior to this). He easily could have been involved in stopping both goals. He just doesn’t seem to have the same type of timing that Musah has for example. He is constantly a second late to challenge…Hence why, Musah has won the same number of won tackles in 1/5 the minutes. Offensively, the ball rarely moves through the middle as he just doesn’t work to make himself available (he seems to be conserving energy and staying deep, so it works up the wings which makes the offense a lot less dynamic. But if hes going to stay deep, he needs to be more effective defensively…
Agree that 433 midfield are interesting and can be made up of very different profiles. You can do jorghino in the back if you have stoppers like konte and kovacic in front of him…
I agree with much of what you are saying. However we cannot recall players like Adli/Kalulu because there are not spaces available on the list for non-Italian players.
We need more depth but it needs to be more Italian/Academy players to actually meet the list rules and provide true depth.
I.e. recall players like Colombo or Maldini. Or otherwise recruit some Italian talents.
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.
You are wrong about the strength of the squad. This team is stronger than the squad of Maldini and Massara. That team had no depth whatsoever.
Then Attack: a 39 year old Ibra, 35 year old Giroud, Origi, Leao, Messias, Saleamakers.
Now: Morata, Abraham, Leao, Pulisic, Okafor, Jovic, Ckukuweze
Midfield Then: Tonali, Bennacer, Diaz, Pobega, Krunic, Bakayoko
Midfield now: Bennacer, Fofana, Reijnders, RLC, Musah
Defense then: Calabria, Kalulu, Tomori, Kjaer, Theo, Ballo-Toure, Thiaw
Defense now: Calabria, Emerson, Tomori, Pavlovic, Gabbia, Thiaw, Theo, Jiminez, Terraciano
Overall our attack now is better and has more depth. We are scoring plenty of goals.
I will also take our current midfield with way more depth than before. I”ll take any of our current guys over Pobega, Bakayoko and Krunic. Our midfield has not been the same since Kessie left. Everyone benefited from the work Kessie did. Both Tonali and Bennacer don’t look nearly as good without Kessie along side of them.
You could argue that the defense was better because of Kjaer and Kalulu but again no real depth.
When I say the Maldini Massara team, I mean 2020-2023. Yes we lacked depth the last season and suffered for it in the league, but we still had quality, chemistry, and a defined set up in the starting lineup to get to the CL semi-finals. We disagree but I think Diaz, Bennacer, Tonali, and Krunic were miles ahead of what we’ve seen from Reijnders, Loftus-Cheek, and Musah so far.
I’m not really sure we can consider this current team to be stronger than the 2020-23 era. It might have better names in some positions but it lacks balance.
“Then Attack: a 39 year old Ibra, 35 year old Giroud, Origi, Leao, Messias, Saleamakers.
Now: Morata, Abraham, Leao, Pulisic, Okafor, Jovic, Ckukuweze”
No much contest here especially for the right wing. For the striking position, we have to mention that Ibra was actually pretty terrific in 2020, until his body gave up on him. Giroud was also scoring on a regular basis. Let’s not forget the 2020 Rebic, who was pretty good back then as well. Jovic and Okafor are certainly way better than Origi.
“Midfield Then: Tonali, Bennacer, Diaz, Pobega, Krunic, Bakayoko
Midfield now: Bennacer, Fofana, Reijnders, RLC, Musah”
It’s funny you forgot to mention Kessié who IMO is the best midfielder in this entire list by a comfortable margin. Then it’s Tonali, Bennacer, Reijnders, although it’s pretty close. Fofana has just came and all the others are average or rubbish although RLC did better as an AM than Diaz (who was better in the right wing). But the 2020-23 midfield was more balanced as each player was well suited for his role, which isn’t the case here.
“Defense then: Calabria, Kalulu, Tomori, Kjaer, Theo, Ballo-Toure, Thiaw
Defense now: Calabria, Emerson, Tomori, Pavlovic, Gabbia, Thiaw, Theo, Jiminez, Terraciano”
2020 Kjaer is the best defender IMO. And currently we didn’t buy any new defender that is remotly convincing, Pellegrino, Dest and Terracciano were disasters, Emerson is a poor man’s Calabria and Pavlovic is not convincing yet.
I didn’t mention Kessie because he didn’t mention Kessie. And Kessie was gone before the new management stepped in. So if you want to give them credit for Kessie, you have to also blame them for letting Kessie leave for Free and not replacing him, which is what started the deterioration of the team and why we finished 5th in points the following season and the reason Maldini was let go, along with the Origi and CDK signings.
I was just comparing the 2 teams.
Obviously, letting all of Hakan, Donnaruma and Kessié go for free+ the whole 2022 summer transfer window (I can’t think of a single positive for that summer) were big mistakes by Maldini and Massara.
@GIGA, Yes, the team in 20/21the year before the Scudetto was actually the strongest team with Ibra still playing very well and Hakan, Kessie. It got weaker ever year after that with our best player leaving for free and not being replaced. But I would take this current roster over the 22/23 squad. Just need to get control over these players.
“It’s hard to judge Fonseca tactically. ”
And also… The players keep doing what they want on the pitch. If they can’t follow the “designated penalty taker”-instructions, how can they follow more advanced things such as “what to do when we have the ball”.
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.
3. It’s not an opinion but a fact. Just like 1+1=2. It’s not open for debate as one of the regulars at this site famously said.
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.
He has to at minimum bench them but I think he should drop them and make it clear he won’t tolerate that behavior. For Abraham to have the audacity to shrug off Pulisic when he came to take the penalty as the designated pk taker is beyond me. Tammy can’t even score from open play. For Theo to take one is bad enough unless Pulisic said go ahead but it’s almost worse that he didn’t intervene as the captain on the second one.
I’d prefer Zlatan to do the punishing on Tomori & Abraham.
Please set up an olympic pool on training ground,i want to see if abraham can hit it
Five things learned
1. Fonseca is a tactical genius
2. Leo is an underrated gem
3. Tomori is a classical center back
4. Milan on track for top 4 finish
5. Milan is an happy place for young players
Mike punched a very weak ball awkwardly towards Theo instead of catching it, before the first penalty (which he saved). And somehow everyone missed the only player who actually showed up (apart from say Pulisic) which is Reijnders. He won a penalty, was super dynamic as usual, and actually useful in defense as well. Barely put a bad pass as well.
I like Reijnders. Works hard. Lots of potential there. Just needs to work on his finishing. Honestly Reijnders, Pulisic, Fofana, Maignan and Gabbia are the only guys I would want to build this team around. They seem like actual team players who want to win, who work hard(aren’t lazy), and have talent. Everybody else either works hard but isn’t talented enough or they are talented but don’t work hard. Pavlovic I might be ok with too.
Reijnders’ passing was awful. He didn’t create anything.
It was but I think he is talented, works hard, and has a lot of potential.
So far, all Abraham and Morata been showing is determination and fighting spirit which is not enough without goals. Being desperate to score to an extent of nicking penalty kicks is not helpful. Morata is a striker, he can’t be used anywhere else, don’t play him as an AM. Team have played well against Inter but not exactly down to playing with two natural CFs in a strange format. Becomes clear from the following matches that having Morata deep is not ideal. I don’t know why coaches wait to be under pressure before considering changing things that haven’t been going well.
There is just ONE main thing that we have learned from this circus, this disaster of the designated PK taker debacle:
Fonseca is a mediocre coach who doesn’t command respect from his players and doesn’t hesitate in throwing them under the bus, thus having lost the locker room.
This is BY FAR, by very far, our main problem that is hindering our performances, and it is also the responsibility of the clowns who hired Fonseca.
It definitely could be better with a better coach but why is it on the coach when Theo and Tammy do what they did? That’s on them. Thats ego and thinking about their own stats before putting the team first. Plus it’s massively disrespectful to Pulisic. These players get payed millions of dollars to play a game. They need to act like professionals and get their egos out of the way. Fonseca can help himself by bringing the hammer down so hopefully he will but when adults act like this at their jobs the blame falls on them.
Look, the first PK was in the first half. The second one was in the second half. Fonseca had the halftime break to order his players to let Puli take the PKs in case another one happened for us. Maybe the first one that Theo took in his birthday is bad as an ego thing that endangered the team, but is not Fonseca’s fault; a thing of the moment, linked to Theo’s birthday. But still, in second half the players still disobeyed Fonseca and a loan player brushed off the coach-designated PK taker? That can’t happen. It is absolutely Fonseca’s fault that it happened. Had he strongly scolded Theo during the break for taking the PK directly disobeying Fonseca’s order that Puli was the one to take it, the second PK taken by Abraham would have been given to Puli. The boss is Fonseca. It’s his duty to control his players.
“Had he strongly scolded Theo during the break for taking the PK directly disobeying Fonseca’s order ”
And what good would have done? It’s not like he was expecting the KIDS to repeat the same idiotic maneuver all over again like 10-year-olds. I bet the coach had more important stuff to talk about during the halftime than b*tching Theo about a penalty. You focus on NOW and not on the past when the game is still on. It happened and you move on and focus on the 3 points.
But these players are adults. Not 10 year olds. Fonseca is to blame for tactics, team selection, in game decisions that he makes and I agree that he should have said something at halftime and I don’t know if he did or didn’t but the blame for these types of childish things is on the players. Again they strongly disrespected Pulisic(especially Abraham as you can see Puli trying to take the pk) and the coach.
What we learned is that our management is trash and the coach should be fired. We learned we gave up on Aldi fluke many others) too early. Period
Beating Inter only prolonged the inevitable. Now this. The PK situation only happens when the players don’t respect the coach.
Take away the derby win and who have we beat??? Exactly. We have talent – but this is not the coach to get the most out of these current players. That would have been Conte or maybe even Motta. But we went the cheap route as always and we are where we are. Disgraceful.
Pls sell all your shares Gerald and take these idiots you have running the club with you
5 things we learned after this new defeat ? Absolutely false ! We don’t learn anything
he’s a grown man. eph his birthday. be a professional.
I am sick of the lot of them, the management who tore down a winning management structure and playing squad.
The players who show no fight or respect for the jersey.
The weak coach who can’t control his players and has no system of play to speak of.
Can’t wait to hear how Zlatan the clown, who doesn’t work for Milan will deal with this.
How to ruin a winning team in 2 years by Gerry and the Red Turd$