Youssouf Fofana of AC Milan

Fofana suspended for derby clash against Inter – Conceicao takes the ‘blame’

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Youssouf Fofana will be forced to miss the derby against Inter on February 2 having picked up a yellow card during the win against Parma.

Calciomercato.com speaks of ‘the feared card’ and the fact that Milan will not be able to count on Fofana in the crucial game next weekend. It is a big absence in the return match against their city rivals, as the linchpin that has supported the midfield since the beginning of the season is missing.

Fofana has actually been one yellow card away from a one-game ban since the match against Juventus on 23 November, and Conceicao made the decision to start him against Parma perhaps knowing he had previously navigated the disciplinary tightrope well.

In the 43rd minute of the match against Parma, Fofana stopped Valentin Mihaila on the counter-attack in midfield. The Frenchman immediately apologised knowing what might come, yet the Rosario Abisso pulled out the yellow card, much to the anger and frustration of the home crowd.

Conceiçao will have to find solutions to replace the former Monaco man, a difficult mission given the importance of the Frenchman on and off the ball. Why did he start him? The coach spoke to DAZN at full-time.

“He was disappointed, he will lose a match on the pitch. However, I was the one to blame for putting him on the pitch. I know that for the fans three points in the derby are important, but for me today’s are also important. Otherwise we risked losing one and the other and I didn’t want that,” he said.

Tags AC Milan Sergio Conceicao Youssouf Fofana

10 Comments

  1. Has he really been that good? He has played almost every game. And look where that got us?

    Jk, I know the rest of the team has been even worse.

    But he is in a slump right now so a rest could be good for him.

  2. Dumb move. But could be a tacit admission by Conceicao that we are more likely to get 3 points against Parma than Inter, regardless of who we put out there against Inter, so might as well make sure we play Parma with the strongest lineup. It is what it is at this point.

  3. I don’t get it. You didn’t have to field Emerson, yet you did and he got injured. You didn’t have to field Fofana, yet you did and he got himself suspended for the Derby. What are we doing here???

  4. Tbh I agree with Sergio. With the team’s current form we are more than likely to get steamrolled by Inter, even with our strongest lineup. Parma was threatening constantly, and lets day we did not have Fofana on the pitch? Then we might’ve conceeded 1-2 more goals and lost the game. But he played Fofana to give us the best chance of getting s win against Parma, so that the eventual loss to Inter will be least damaging to our Champions League ambitions. That’d good thinking

  5. Win against Parma to then lose against Inter, or lose against Parma to then win the derby, it’s all the same from a pure ranking point of view.
    I would have prefered Fofana to be rested, and in the end he wasn’t that much useful against Parma, but I think I can understand the coach wanting to win the game he’s going to play rather than making calculations.
    In the end we’re so bad, that even relegation level teams can defeat us at home, so we’re not in a good position to risk any game.
    The decision to field Emerson against Girona was wrong plain and simple.

    1. “Win against Parma to then lose against Inter, or lose against Parma to then win the derby, it’s all the same from a pure ranking point of view.”

      Inter losing would hurt their scudetto hunt and us losing to Inter is NEVER acceptable. NEVER. So yeah, I would take a loss to Parma and win Inter 10 times out of 10. No doubt.

      1. If I can foresee the future, I would definetly take a derby win over a win over Parma, but from a pure ranking perspective (ours not inter’s) it’s the same.
        Ideally of course I’d want to win both and ruin inter’s chances for a title.
        And just to make it clear, I would have liked Fofana to be rested yesterday, but I can understand from where the coach is coming from. I don’t agree, but I can understand.

  6. While I would have rested Fofana as well, Conceiçao’s point is that we need to make up the gap towards the top 4. Catching Inter and chasing the scudetto this season is not a thing.

    3 points is better than 2 (1 Win &1 loss vs 2 draws) since Parma is extremely beatable and beating Inter is never a guarantee.

    Dropped points at home vs Parma is not acceptable whereas a draw vs Inter is acceptable.

    3-4 points from 2 matches are better than 2 or 0.

    Common sense and basic mathematics.

    Of course beating Inter is what we want as fans.
    Risking points vs Parma just to fall flat against Inter would be much much much worse for the table.

    Fonseca beat Inter and look at where that got us.

    Risk vs Reward. We now have +3 points and still have a chance at points vs binter. Yeah losing Fofana sucks but its not like we start the derby with 10 vs 11

    3 points are 3 points.

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