It has been a tough start to the season and the AC Milan adventure for Paulo Fonseca, claiming just one point from the first two games. After the game, the manager admitted that there seems to be a very serious issue in the team.
Milan put in yet another sluggish performance on Saturday evening as Parma took control of the game from the first minute. Not just in terms of possession, as they even found the back of the net with less than two minutes on the clock.
In the end, the Rossoneri were punished for their many mistakes and in his post-match interview with DAZN (via MilanNews), Fonseca shared his thoughts on what went wrong. He admitted that there seems to be an attitude problem among the players.
In the first half, you were out of time when pressed…
“It’s difficult to explain. It doesn’t start with Musah, it starts further up the pitch. In general, we did very poorly defensively, it’s impossible to win when you defend like that. We didn’t defend as a team, but also individually we got the duels wrong. We were always late in pressing, always leaving space, wrong preventive marking. So many things went wrong defensively, it’s impossible to win a match like that when you make so many mistakes and allow a team like Parma to create so many situations.”
The difficulties of the attack in pressing…
“I have to say that I am always the main responsible for what happens with the team, I take responsibility. However, it seems clear to me that there is a collective problem of defensive attitude and aggression. You might just look at the defenders, but the defenders suffer a lot because of the ease with which the others play.”
Is it a problem of attitude? Characteristics? Getting the players used to it again?
“Everything, I think it’s everything. This team has a general problem. Against Torino, we didn’t press too high and we had problems. Today we tried to have our players press higher and we had problems. When the others get out of the pressure it’s difficult to stay compact and recover position. When we recover position we are a passive team. There are many things, for me it’s a problem of attitude, energy and a lack of desire to defend as a team.”
Did you expect to have all these problems after that pre-season?
“No. The truth is that we had a good pre-season but we are here now, in our reality. It is always easier to play against big teams, you are more motivated. We arrive here in our reality and we have had a change that is difficult to understand. During the week, when we prepare our strategies, the team does well. The match arrives and we start like this, it is difficult to explain.”
Milan will take on Lazio next away from home and although few would have predicted it a few weeks ago, this is now a must-win game for the Rossoneri. Anything else would put the team in a very tough position moving forward.