Following the game between AC Milan and Slovan Bratislava, in which the former prevailed 3-2, Paulo Fonseca spoke to the media and shared his thoughts on how the Rossoneri could have done better.
Once again, it ended up being a disappointing evening for Fonseca’s men, struggling to break through Slovan Bratislava defensively. Furthermore, the home side were lethal on the counter-attacks as the defending – yet again – left a lot to be desired.
Speaking to Sky Italia after the game, as transcribed by MilanNews, Fonseca discussed the errors in defence which led to the first goal. He also praised Rafael Leao, who came off the bench and scored a decisive goal, thus earning a high rating from us.
An important victory…
“Very important. We have won the last three games in the Champions League, we have scored 9 goals. It is very positive. Now there are three more games that we have a chance of winning. Today it was important to win and that is what we did.”
Why so many ups and downs?
“I think we dominated during the match, we changed a lot of players. We did some positive things but also some things to improve, maybe because we changed a lot of players. We didn’t do the preventive markings well, then after the break, we improved. We deserved to win, the last goal we conceded was due to a clear error by the referee, there was a foul for us. We deserved to end with a different result.”
Fonseca’s cure for Leao is working…
“I always talk to Rafa, he knows why he didn’t play today. He understood it and when he came on he was decisive. I’m satisfied with Rafa. Having this attitude and this desire even when he’s on the bench is very positive.”
Even today in defense, poor readings… What allows the opponents to get to the goal so easily?
“These things are difficult to explain. On corners, we have three players behind, difficult to explain… Maybe because these defenders haven’t played much… It’s a question of reading, not of attitude. In the first half when we allowed Slovan to come out, it was a question of defensive marking: we were too far away with the defenders and they were always alone to come out. A problem of reading and understanding what was happening.”
Empoli are up next for Milan and a win is needed in the league after two games without one, with the risk of falling way behind the rivals at the top of the standings. They are already nine points behind the league leaders, albeit with a game in hand, so they cannot afford to drop more points.
It seems like everything is “difficult to explain” for this guy. And it shows on the pitch.
Tell mi how he can be big coach when he doesn’t even know how to tactically prepare for opponents like Slovan.. Okey it was dominant match by Milan but again , chaotic and without style, identity… what ends with 2 goals from Slovan… I think we don’t have a chance a win against Empoli if he don’t know how to prepare against smaller ( or average) teams and fans will be again mad…. How long we need to wait for hope … for new , experienced and better coach…
Btw Barseghyan from Slovan was great attacker…. Much better on the pitch than Our Tammy….
He is not a big coach and won’t ever be. He’s a coach tailored to this management’s ambitions, cheap and average.
No one was available. His salary had nothing to do with his appointment. You do know that winning the scudetto brings in more money than finishing 4th? Management have invested €200+ million and you think they’re going to slump on a coach. Punter.
Slot, Klopp, Conte, Sarri, Conceicao….
All were available.
Tammy had 2 goal contributions today, what are you talking about?
Plus let the ball slide to Leao for the 2nd goal too. So he was involved in every goal.
Sorry but for me he still don’t prove his quality , specially when his price is 30m€ .. he pleyed 12 matches together with seria A and he scored together 3 goals (1 from penalty) and has 2 asistent… and 1+1 has just from last match, what means he scored 2 goals and had 1 asist in 10 matches like striker…
We must always compare Milan before and now with Fonseca.
This Milan does not have identity. There is no game play.
He force some kind of defence and still they concede a lot of goals
Two reasons why we keep conceding goals, one fixable now, one at the Jan transfer window:
1. Theo is a midfielder/wingback, not a left back. He’s caught upfield way too often. Play 3-4-3 with Theo advanced on the left in midfield. Pulisic can either be a 10 as one of the 4 midfielders or play up front.
2. Spend 30-40m and get a solid center back to plug the gap.
3-4-3 is Acmilan issue our issues is tactics thanks you
yeah a positive for a team which aim top 6 in serie A … what else we can expect from a Tier 3 coach
Fonseca : a problem of reading, Me : a problem of lack quality player
He’s just ETH with hair. period.
Acmilan needs to improve more in the attacks like i will want a complete reshuffle it should be that if pulisic should play attacking midfield the Reijnder should rest or Reijnder start then rest pulisic why musah and Fofana should play double pivot but Acmilan should be pressing the opponent with balls to weak their midfield is the secret of scoring goals and Acmilan winger should be fast not to miss chances to score then Acmilan attacking midfielder should improve more on creating chances for the winger and should learn how to run with the ball in the final third and also score goals the the double pivot should learn how to mark an opponent especially when the opponent plays counter attack and also the double pivot should learn how to score from wide which means they have a good wide short quality but so far the defense are trying like the like of central defence thiaw, Pavlovic, Gabbia and tomori then Calabria is doing good bt needs to improve but so far Theo have been superb
It is just painful to watch and I am sad to say it but it just doesn’t look that it will change unless we change the head coach AND his staff. Fonseca just always seems to put it on the players but nobody really seems to be playing or developing up to their expectations. There are no players that sacrifice it for each other, there is complete chaos between the lines, the defence is shambles and there isn’t much more to say to be honest. It doesn’t matter that Leao is not giving his all, it doesn’t matter that Theo is not as dangerous as he used to be, it doesn’t matter that Pulisic is doing his best performance ever. I just can’t deal with this guy’s approach at all. Unfortunately, I am not sure that sacking him right off will make things better as there are no coaches currently that are worth our attention but something needs to be done. This is all due to the management’s lack of courage which was shown on how the bent to the feedback from the fans when they tried to employ Lopetegui.
Playing high line like last night even against a team like Slovan. Just don’t put Pavlovic on the starting line-up. The only thing they did attacking were putting a high ball behind