Paulo Fonseca gave a fascinating answer during his pre-match press conference today when asked about how AC Milan perform with the ‘underdog’ tag.
Not many gave Milan much hope on Tuesday night against the champions of Europe Real Madrid, but they pulled off perhaps the shock of the night as they beat them 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Now, the challenge is to find some consistency heading into the international break, and perhaps resume the discussions about a potential title challenge. Cagliari will not be easy opponents though as they are in another relegation scrap at present, and they present a different type of opponent.
During his presser at Milanello today on the eve of the game, a reporter asked him about the potential reasons that Milan did better against Inter and Real Madrid, when they were expected to lose.
“Maybe we can have different explanations. First of all I have to say that this type of match is a great motivation for the players. If we can tell the truth, the players face these matches more motivated than other matches,” he said.
“And for this reason I am more worried today about Cagliari than before the match against Real. Then, they are totally different matches. When you play against this type of team like against Real, the worst that can happen is not having courage because there is so much space.
“When teams play these types of matches they go in with a bit of fear and think about defending themselves. But I tell the players that there is space, that we can do our things and therefore during the match you gain confidence. In this type of match we have space to play.
“Tomorrow I am sure we will not have the same space to play. The team when it is in this context is a team that has courage, that controls the match, that plays together. That is why we did well.”
Friend, if you are afraid of Cagliari, resign. Don’t ask me for excuses, please, because that doesn’t suit Milan
He is making a comparisons not absolute statements. And sensibly the right ones. It would suite you well to tell the difference.
Also by publicly stating that what occurs is the psychological effect on players to realize that the success can get into the heads an relax them so they can be aware of that in beforehand.
And you might ask why should he lay it out publicly instead of just explain directly to the players is not the same as the former carries the public pledge of a sort and gives the statement additional value.
So he should say, no worries, it’s going to be a walk in a park? He needs his players focused and on their toes not lowering their guard after Madrid game. We’re nowhere yet both in CL and Serie A and every games is a battle to the end. It’s psychological battle for Fonzy to have his players aware and motivated.
He just said what we all know ,we all know that best players will just walk during “small” matches without any energy