Paulo Fonseca provided quite a critical assessment of AC Milan’s first game of the Serie A season against Torino, a game in which his team had to battle from two goals down to earn a draw.
Milan’s 2024-25 Serie A season could hardly have begun in a more dramatic way as they fought from two goals behind to draw 2-2 at San Siro against Torino on Saturday night.
The memories of those preseason wins over Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Monza quickly evaporated when the Rossoneri found themselves two goals down after Malick Thiaw failed to clear a ball off the line and Duvan Zapata scored a close-range header.
However, the substitutions injected life as Alvaro Morata opened his account for the club with an instinctive finish, and then Noah Okafor thumped in a volley in added time to complete the comeback and earn a draw.
Fonseca spoke to both Sky and DAZN after the full-time whistle and he attempted to analyse what was a game full of both positives and negatives, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
There were some initial difficulties…
“I didn’t expect us to be perfect now, but I have to say that in the first 45 minutes we were passive, without intensity. Then we were more aggressive up front, having enough opportunities to win the match. We have to keep working, there is a lot to improve.”
You were able to bring quality off the bench…
“We have a week to improve these players physically. It was impossible to start them but when they came on they did well. Now we need to get them back into shape quickly.”
What do you make of the defensive problems?
“I think it’s a collective problem, not a problem of [individual] defenders but a collective one. The team must improve defensively, it’s a bit passive while I want it to be more aggressive in recovering the ball. We left time and space for Torino to play the first phase calmly.”
What did you think of Leao’s performance?
“Rafa was a different player defensively today. He worked well defensively. After a player like him, he must always be close to the goal, he must be more dynamic, active.”
Can Morata help Leao in the penalty area?
“This type of player lives on numbers. Rafa has the ability to score more goals and assists. Today he tried, all he lacked was the goal. He worked hard to have the chance to score.
“Morata has a lot of experience, he can create spaces for Rafa. The problem is not offensive, we have many solutions and structures. The problem is the team’s passivity in the defensive phase.”
Do you still have the confidence you said you had yesterday?
“My confidence is the same, I haven’t lost confidence in my players: I have no doubts about their quality. We need more together as a team. You don’t change in a day, we have 5 weeks of work. We need to continue working to improve these aspects.”
Send Thiaw packing… Not kalulu… Chiesa/sala swap is a win for milan(added creativity upfront
Or a kalulu/chiesa swap deal and making okafor the 2nd striker, i rate saelemaekers as a backup in both wings because he can press and help the defence more compared to leao and chukwueze.
Thank you 🙏 for that,Don’t know y Thaiw is still playing more so he played as a left side CB which he cannot but I think he is yet to recover well from injury I guess
Thaiw is just a waste of fund throw him out pls see professional defender can’t clear that weak ball, he actually brought the ball back in the net tho, the ball was cleared already
And those who say we are sorted and don’t need Chiesa… matches like these are for the experienced players who are used to winning.
They can lift the team.
Chucky hardly made a correct pass all game, Leao missed a sitter and was awful.
We need Chiesa. My two cents.
I saw some school boy defending from Calabria and Thiaw today.
What a shame.
couldnt agree more
You are often right, and now again. Spot on. We need a proven winner, player and Italian like Chiesa.
The defensive line has being passive for years. They need to work harder and smarter. Forza Milan
How do I say this? That lineup is asking for a draw, we need backup LB, I don’t want Theo to keep starting every match because that’ll risky. Fofana alone won’t solve the defense, I hope I cam see Pavlovic and Morata on the starting lineup
Got home from work and just saw score, opportunity to go up on Inter by 2 and we’re lucky for the draw, what a f’story
Today’s performance shows how badly we need Pavlovic, Fofana, Royal. Thaw was very poor, Calabria can’t defend or cross. Chuck is not at the standard for first team and soo to Salad Maker. We need to sign two quality players. Chiesa and a proven striker. Jovic is poor.
Pulisic need to maintain his last season’s position before they destroy his career.
Thank you RLC is not a player I rate cos he only bring his physique that’s all he cannot create any play I guess he will need to stay from the bench and allow Tijani play there while Bannecer n Fofana play the double pivot Pulisic move to his wing positions Chiesa for Salemakers @ least Chiesa,Chuks,Pulisic n Leao will all be in competition for the wings.
We need to start using the young players so.that quickly adopt the system
We. Need to start using the young players so that they can adopt the system quickly
embarassing need late game just for draw in home
Chuks should not start a game for us.
Calabria should be sold. Most of the game we lose last season were usually from his position and yesterday’s game the 2 goal were crosses from the right side. So I think it’s time to let go of Calabria.
It is a big error for Jovic to wear our No 9
We need to sign Manu Kone to complete the DM
The team should be more aggressive in tackle, they are giving to much space for opponent to control the ball. We should be in control of the ball all through. Milan should learn. Watch Man City, Man U, Liverpool, even Inter they won’t give you the space to control the ball. We should learn.
What I saw from todays game unfortunately nothing has been change from Piolis time, still problem with teams which plays 3-5-2 (as Inter) especially with their wingbacks in offensive phase. They get free space to run behind Milan RB or LB which open our defensive line and always it will be big area in middle that opponents make scores.
This sounds just like Pioli, and the next games are going to look just the same. Nothing will change with Fonseca. Has been saying this for months now.
I’m gonna give him 10 games but this reminds me of Marco Giampaolo. A lot of talk how his tactics will be great and a we got a horror show. Hope it isn’t like that.
No chance, now we are much better team like when there was Giampaolo… There are many stars players… And definitely next game there will be another starting 11, i think Morata, Royal and Pavlovic will play from start, Fofana from bench.. Main problem is not im Fonseca, but the late coming of players because of EURO and late buying a players Like Royal and Fofana… Half of our players train with Fonseca few weeks, Like Morata and Theo 1 week and Leao, Puli, Musah and Okafor 2 weeks.. And now you have another new players (Royal and Fofana).. We need another 3 or 4 matches to start play good…
Our attack will be great, but defence is badly bad and we need change few things
Unfortunately, I don’t expect Fonseca to become a top coach he definitely isn’t but I’ll still give him 10 games . I have never seen Milans play be so boring and useless like 1st half against Torino. Chiesa should be a no brainer, at least to have even more individual quality to pull through the season.
For the good of the club, I hope Fonseca will train and doing good job.. Yes it is true he is not great coach, he mosty train mid-table teams, this is max e the reason why he know how to play against strong teams, but don’t know how to play against teams Like Torino or Udinese… We will se maybe it will be good seasson, still this first round is full of draws
Playing Alexis LB literally cost us 1 goal, I don’t understand is Jimenez injured?is Teracianno that bad? Then is again the same problem with Thiaw who is sleeping and Calabria being outsmarted by Torino players… I still believe Fonsesca can turn things around, I hope Pavlovic,Royal and Fofana will improve our defense
Also Leao, Puli and Chuck need to step up their game, today they been horrible
It’s 17 of August, no need to panic. But we need to hope that Pavlovic and Emerson will manage to peform. It’s true that we lack aggression from upfront in the first half, but we need defenders that are reliable and win duels with their opponents. And I also continue not to trust Tomori.
We have also clearly see that if you want to press high you can’t have Leao, Chuku, Pulisic and one forward one the pitch. Leao simply does not press, Chuku very little. Better to have an additional midfield unless we play with relegation teams.
Quite impressed by Torino, I think they will have a good season and their coach will have a great career.
Yes it’s start of the seasson, IF you see Inter, they are without big changes and their game was bad… In my eyes Inter and AC has still best team and will fight for scudeto, this is just only a first game…. Our main players need few more weeks to understand Fonseca’s style, i think we all will be happy with the game and the way of play… This wasn’t the best game but also there was so many unlucky moments… While we simply score in same situations in all of our preseasson games, yesterday it not Works..
It’s Serie A. The Torino team that played us was very good; not that we played badly. First game, so much to correct. There’s still time for them to work together. We can’t keep giving first team shirts to the known players, we have to allow the coach integrate the whole team. Saelemaekers didn’t play left-back badly, and, Leao was more helpful defensively. I see a far better team than last season’s. With more time, they will get better.