AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca was very happy with what he saw from his side on and off the ball in their 3-0 victory over Empoli.
It was a much-needed three points for Milan at San Siro against an Empoli side who have found themselves in mid-table after a good start to the season. Tijjani Reijnders was the man of the match, scoring a lovely brace to move onto six goals for the season.
The opener however came from Alvaro Morata, who had not scored for 64 days in Serie A prior to tonight. There were even chances to make it a wider margin of victory, though the clean sheet was an important aspect to preserve too.
Fonseca spoke to DAZN after the full-time whistle to pick apart what was a positive night for his side that allows them to watch other games like Fiorentina-Inter and Roma-Atalanta at ease a bit more. MilanNews relayed his comments.
You got a yellow card early on…
“I was angry with the referee but let’s move on without making any comments… But I was really p*ssed off.”
Did you like how Milan worked in possession?
“This is the spirit. A beautiful game, both offensively and defensively. This is team play, coming in and having a spirit of sacrifice. We won 3-0 but we had the possibility of scoring 6-7 goals and we have to improve on this. But obviously I am very satisfied with the team.”
Was the goal was to be a bit more dynamic? Leao played more central tonight…
“Today we created a lot, it was a different game against a team that defends in a different way. It was not only Rafa, but also Emerson and Musah who had a mobility that we needed. The good thing is that we created a lot.”
Was this the most complete performance of Fonseca’s Milan?
“We were balanced at all times, we attacked well and we were confident defensively. As we were against Juve. We were confident defensively, I never felt the team was in danger. It’s important to have this confidence to attack better.”
You’ll watch the first quarter of an hour of the second half a lot to prepare for the match against Atalanta…
“I can’t say (laughs). They are teams that have something similar. We’ll have to study Atalanta well, against this type of team Mike is an extra player.
“Today the role of the goalkeeper is different and when we play against this type of team that marks man to man he is a decisive player. And Mike has this quality to start our offensive possession.”
Fonseca used the same formation and lineup today that he used against Real Madrid but according to Fonseca Milan cannot play this way against Serie A teams? Really? Why didn’t he used this formation against Cagliari and Juventus?
Fonseca is sabotaging himself and the team. Smh
because it depends on the team… this formation is good against counter-attack style teams, like Empoli and Real…
The CBs weren’t tested that much, put under pressure sure but does it mean they can handle Lukaku? Martinez? Thuram? Kvara? I don’t think so… and the Real we played was in shambles, Donetsk would have won against them…
We need to have 11 players, currently we have Emerson+Musah covering for RB role, that’s not sustainable… Also, Tiji and Fofana get injured in this one month and we are screwed…
This team needs to string together 3 consecutive strong performances to gain the confidence to dominate teams.
Milan will struggle if Fofana or Tiji suffer an injury, so they need to strengthen in January.
It’s not bout 5h3 formation and lineup but how he made them play. Mush was assigned a different assignment in the match compare to one of Madrid and Leao played more like a second striker as he move more to the center of the box
To some extent, I think this is his best formation…
4-3-2-1
Morata
Reinders-Fofana-Musah
Theo-Thiaw-Gabbia-Emerson
It was a good performance, I think he is getting carried away with the 6 or 7 goals. We had 4 shots on target 3-0 seems a fair reflection of the game
The lineup and tatics worked today.
Reijnders was getting the freedom to move forward at times as Emerson would push up centrally and Musah would move wide right.
Then he would be an extra forward interacting with Leao, Pulisic and Morata. All four of them are flexible and can move anywhere.
Tomori could play as back up defensive midfielder
He is more experienced and could be used in time of need
Do this if you want us to lose against the weaker teams in Serie A. Tomori’s biggest weakness is his tendency to make silly mistakes because he misreads the game. He compensates for this with his pace – this is the number 1 reason why he isn’t starting.
You can’t press high if your CB is prone to making this kind of error.
I see this tactic/system more like a 4-3-2-1 with Reinders-Fofana-Musah behind Leao-Pulisic where Puli drift right to allow Tijji in central position when needed as well Musah taking up R when Emerson overlaps. All is base on team understanding and cohesion. The game was really smooth….
Well done Mr Fonseca.