The whole AC Milan world are still processing Paulo Fonseca’s rather explosive press conference ahead of the Udinese game yesterday, one in which he tried to stress that he is the man in charge.
As MilanNews writes, it was an unexpectedly fierce Fonseca who appeared before the journalists in the Milanello conference room yesterday, still evidently angry about the behaviour and attitudes of some of his players in the Fiorentina defeat before the break, more than the performances themselves.
“For me it was very important to talk about the match with Fiorentina yesterday even before Udinese,” he said. It is a clear sign that there is still a lot of bitterness for what happened in Florence, even if it is now two weeks ago.
The Milan coach does not want to leave anything out and does not want to underestimate any problem, and he does not hide in the face of difficulties. He also didn’t want to exclude the idea of punishing those who think they can implement their own rules: “No player comes before the team.”
The answer he gave on silent leadership was also very striking, underlining that it is much more important to have influence over the players inside the dressing room (stating ‘I am not an actor’), rather than manifesting it in the public domain.
The coach has certainly shown that he is not afraid to make choices that are sometimes unpopular, and that could also include some sacrifices tonight like Rafael Leao’s exlusion, either punitive or simply rotation of players in view of the hectic schedule that awaits.
If anyone wanted a reactive Fonseca who was not at all resigned in the face of events, then they will have been satisfied with yesterday’s comments. However, this must now translate into seeing a united and determined team, starting from today’s game.
Fonseca is in a no-win situation. If he punishes Leao (for defensive indifference), Teo and Tammy A and Tomori (for not giving the PKs to Pulisic), he risks alienating his players.
Whether people likes Fonseca or not its in my view the right approach as a coach simply cant have a group of players who think they can do as they see fit and that even goes for football played on an amateur level as well so in this regard he at least has my full support.
When that is said Milan better get wins in the next 3 games and at minimum a draw against Napoli and then a win against Monza and maybe a fairly small loss against Madrid.
If something in the vein of that isn’t possible then I doubt Fonseca will keep his job for long.
If he ends up getting sacked partially because of the players behavior then I seriously hope the management brings in a true hardliner as players imply has to step into line and accept the hierarchy of a coach and his decisions whether they like them or not.
He was obviously disrupted in his attempt to be the man by Zlatan claiming “I’m the boss” and is now trying to show his muscles too, probably with the consent of the management that hid Zlatan in the basement after popular and media backlash. Let’s see how the players react but it’s some good ol’ male gorilla behavior to protect his territory.
To be fair Zlatan isn’t hired by AC Milan but RedBird and shuttles in between the two entities. I might be wrong here but I pretty much assume he was brought in because Cardinale miscalculated the entire backlash of sacking Maldini last year and thought that would soothe the fans to some extent. I simply cant see what other qualities he brings in with him as it isn’t like he is with the team on a regular basis.
Even if its good ol’ male gorilla behavior it’s difficult for me to not agree upon it as players simply cant mutinize as they please and if it happened in one of the more well equipped and rich clubs around said players would be skipped out quickly.