AC Milan coach Paulo Fonseca

Fonseca discusses Milan’s lack of intensity, Leao change and Camarda’s disallowed goal

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

AC Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca has explained his decision to make the changes he did in the second half of the win over Club Brugge, while also claiming Francesco Camarda deserved the goal that was disallowed.

Milan finally got off the mark in the Champions League with a 3-1 victory against Club Brugge, with Tijjani Reijnders scoring a match-winning brace in the second-half with assists from two substitutes in Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze.

Prior to that Christian Pulisic’s Olimpico goal had given the Rossoneri the lead in the first half and Raphael Onyedika’s red card after a VAR review looked like making it a simply evening, until the visitors levelled early in the second half to stun the San Siro crowd.

Francesco Camarda saw a late goal disallowed which would have sealed the game and the record for youngest ever goalscorer in the competition, but Milan will bank the three goals and the three points to get the ball rolling.

Fonseca spoke to Sky after the game to comment on what wasn’t a fully straightforward night for his side but was ultimately three points, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.

It was a record-breaking debut for Camarda, and so close to a goal too…

“I think he and the team deserved this moment. I’m sorry for the disallowed goal because it was a very beautiful moment for a young man who deserves to be part of this group and who worked hard to have the opportunity. I was sorry but he will score many goals in the future. Don’t be disappointed, this is just the beginning and he will score a lot.”

What do you think of the performance?

“I think we played a game without intensity, with too slow a circulation and we didn’t understand how to do it against a team that was good at defending low. When Okafor and Chukwueze came in, the game changed, they brought more energy and the team regained intensity. After the second goal we did very good things, before we played without intensity.”

Why did Leao come off?

“There is no specific problem with him. The change is not a punishment, we needed Okafor and Chukwueze. It must be seen as normal, Rafa must see it as normal and work to be able to help the team like all the players.”

With a numerical advantage, wasn’t it possible to attack them a little more?

“Our intention was already there 11 against 11. We have to do better. I think we weren’t aggressive until the second goal. After that, yes, but we have to be a more aggressive team.”

AC Milan players pre Club Brugge
Photo by AC Milan

Chukwueze came on and seems to be doing better as a substitute…

“I think we improved with the introduction of Okafor and Chukwueze. But we improved a lot when Pulisic went to play inside, no longer as a winger. Honestly Pulisic as a winger does not have the preponderance that he has when he plays inside and when we changed the team was different.”

Could we see Chukwueze-Pulisic-Okafor from the first minute in the next game?

“Maybe. I’m going to think about it now. I have to say that I haven’t studied Bologna, I’ll study them and we’ll decide who will be the best players to face them.”

Tags AC Milan Milan Brugge Paulo Fonseca

32 Comments

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  1. Okafor-Puli-Chuk up front will demand a more physical and defensive presence in pivot positions. Fofana cannot do it alone with those three up front with Reijnders roaming as well.

    Kudos to Fonseca for subs but we need to understand it was a 10 man Brugge low on fuel chasing two fresh wingers.

  2. One thing is clear. The players that would not be needed next season and where reinforcement and depth will be needed under this coach are becoming known.

    1. I completely agree. What I love about Fonseca is he takes no nonesense with divas. Pioli didn’t have the backbone to stand up to divas, while Fonseca is clearly establishing what the standard should be. The Bruge goal came from an unmarked player coming into the box that was supposed to be marked by Leao.

    2. Yep. One of Theo or Leao will be sold. A new right back and striker will be the priorities. If decent offers come in for RLC and Tomori, they’ll be sold. The lack of Italian players is going to force management’s hand.

      1. I would approach Newcastle and give them an offer of Tomori and RLC in exchange for Tonali and us the budget for a proper CB, AM and ST. We also need a RB

  3. 👏👏👏 for Fonseca and the decisions he made during today’s game. No one should get a guaranteed spot and anyone can be subbed at any time.
    In other news, Juventus luck is running out.
    Their results hide how awful football they play. They are outplayed in almost all games this season, but somehow found the wat not to lose.
    Stuttgart was running circles around them tonight in Turin.
    1 shot on goal for juve , 11 for Stuttgart.
    4 shots off target for Juventus, 6 for Stuttgart.
    Stuttgart hit the post, got a goal disallowed, missed a penalty and finally scored.
    Nice goal by El Bilal Toure. Got our guy Kalulu chasing ghosts out there.
    I said before, Juventus plays exactly the same way this season under Motta as they did under Allegri. Very good defensively, awful offensively, even after spending 200+ m, while all Allegri got last season was George Weah bum a*s son.
    Hopefully they can hold inter to a draw Sunday.

  4. Fonseca should refrain himself from such words like punishment in the public & press, there are other ways to express his point, its not necessary to be so direct while speaking to press he need to learn to be a manager along with tactician that will make him coach

    1. Agreed. We’d all get the point.

      Leao does need to see that it is “team first” and improve his attitude. But if there’s a battle of wills going on between them, Fonseca needs to be the bigger man here. He should not say anything that even hints negative.

      He made the changes the team needed to win the game. That’s it.

        1. LOL. Okafor needed luck to perform but what did Leao do? Nothing. So there’s also that. But sure, you keep saying yourself Milan won thanks to the awesomeness of Leao. Again. As always. 🙂

          1. To say Leao did nothing is ridiculous he was the only good going forward while he was in. The sub was needed because of his lack of intensity on the defensive end. Plus fresh wingers would cause problems for a tired 10 man team. Leao completed 9 successful dribbles down the wing most in champions league this season. His crosses was def either off or no one in position to score. He didn’t have a bad game.

          2. Leao was our only offensive force I the first half because the vast majority of play was direct at him when we had the ball. This is a problem for the team and for Leao.

            To be clear, I don’t blame Leao. There are 10 players on the field choosing to send the ball left every time.

            Clearly this needs to be addressed when he is on the field so he himself can get some space to operate.

          3. “To say Leao did nothing is ridiculous he was the only good going forward while he was in.”

            Bashing Okafor’s effort as luck is ridiculous. He got an assist for the winning goal while Leao only got a yellow card for his efforts.

    2. I disagree. People said the management wanted a yes mkan, but Fonseca is the opposite. A strong character is needed. Some of these players are too comfortable.

  5. The lack of aggression and intensity of this team is simply shocking to watch. Even in big games like this or last year against Roma.
    I started thinking that the coach is not responsible, there is something lacking about this group of players.

  6. To me I prefer Okafor, pulisic, chukwueze to play behind Morata against Madrid why musah and Fofana play double pivot then rejnder will replace pulisic by 78th mins then zeroli will replace musah as well Loftus cheek is not better then Kelvin zeroli then Gabbia will partner bartasaghi or Pavlovic if not. May be Fonseca mistakenly switch is own rubbish ideas and Acmilan lose to realmadrid I will advice in view that Fonseca should be sacked let terzic or Allegri replace him we have lose two matches in champions league carelessly and we can’t continue to lose. This is champions league not serie A it call for seriousness and caution.

  7. First and foremost we need to understand that we played against a serie b level team with 10 players, and it looked pretty much even for 70 minutes. So I don’t get what all this praise is about.

    I agree that Pulisic should be on the middle. He gets way more touches there, and we need him to be more involved in the center of the action. But Fonseca needs to first figure out Leao – you can’t build a system that plays against the characteristics of your best offensive player.

    Also, could we please get a Milan match where the opponent doesn’t get 2-3 good chances in the first five minutes?

  8. U guys, can u all just be happy for victory. When we lose, u blame the coach, when we win, u blame the coach. When he sub’s off Leap, we blame the coach. We say Oka for was lucky, when it is glaring the impact he & chukweze made when they came in. I love Leao but its obvious he has to improve on his pressing and he needs to change his attitude, he’s team scored yesternight and he did not even celebrate because he was sulking over the fact that he was subbed off. Milan is way bigger than Leao or anybody. These bunch of Milan players are spoilt, they feel entitled and the coach is showing them that they need to earn their spot and they can easily be benched if they don’t step up. Am sure we will see improvements from everyone with what the coach did to Leao by subbing him. You must be ready to run the whole field to play for Milan and to be honest, Leao defending makes Theo defending looks terrible because he does not support Theo Hernandez the way he should. You can see it from his attitude on the field, he’s just non chalant. Tbh, I can say I have seen that attitude in any player in any league , he does not even do that for 🇵🇹

  9. Since rejnder is not available let’s use zeroli as the pivot with Fofana then musah can play as an attacking midfield let’s give him a trial he will be perfect and it will work out

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