Paulo Fonseca continues to gain credit for his hand in AC Milan’s victory against Club Brugge last night, and in particular the in-game changes he made.
Milan finally got off the mark in the competition after two defeats with a victory against the Belgian champions, with Tijjani Reijnders scoring a match-winning brace in the second-half with assists from two substitutes in Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze.
This morning’s edition of Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) labels it ‘Fonseca’s victory’. In their analysis of Milan’s performance they were keen to point out how the Portuguese coach’s changes on the fly had a positive impact on the final result.
Replacing Rafael Leao and Ruben Loftus-Cheek on the hour mark was ultimately the right move, even if the decision to take off the former was met with jeers from the crowd who perhaps did not agree with his decision.
From the moment they left the field Milan – who had a man advantage but had conceded an equaliser, putting the result in jeopardy – changed attitude and changed gear, winning thanks to the two substitutes: Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze.
However, we must beware of interpreting these changes as Fonseca deeming players to be failures, also because as the coach himself said in yesterday’s post-match interview the team ‘needed energy’. It is therefore not a punishment move, and just an injection of fresh legs.
Good call gaffer. Leao is not a serious footballer. He reminds of Balotelli. Lazy, zero effort, plays for himself and not the team. That goal we concede against Club Brugge was because Leao wasn’t even tracking back and he didn’t even care.
His reaction to Milan scoring says a lot. Time to sell this guy next summer.
I hope to see Leao, RLC, Tomori, and Abraham out the door next summer. RLC is a waste in this team. Mr. Fonseca, please give Liberali some respect. He deserves it and he would be much better than RLC.
Why does a 17yo kid deserve respect? He’s a shadow in futuro yet good enough for top italian football?
D FUK?
What has become of us when a win against a team like Brugge excited us, especially when they were playing with 10 players for 2/3 of the the match. Coach deserves praise? We look like a team that any other team in the competition can beat.
And on Leao. In his interview with management before being hired, did he say his plan was to take our number one player and make him a shadow of himself? Because that’s what he did. Notice how Leao didn’t take any shots yesterday? He clearly lost his confidence, and what does our coach do? Plays childish mind tricks with him, like in Udi where he told him to warm up mid second half only to let him dry on the bench until the end of the match.
Fonseca has a better squad than Pioli had last year. But are we playing better? Against Inter, sure. But in the other matches?
we playing 433 and it isnt working vs a 10 men side then he goes back to 4231 and he’s a genius.. mhm
papers act like we won vs real in madrid…
glad for the 3 points but the truth is we didnt play all that well for over an hour.. remember how Brugge scored?
I’m glad Fonseca is figuring things out slowly, but with all due respect, Brugge is the kind of team that Milan needs to always beat.
We won’t get a result against Madrid, especially after seeing what they are mentally capable of after going even 2 goals down. So Fonseca will get roasted again. That game is always going to be an L.
But as long as Fonseca beats the remaining teams, then he will have coached up to his potential. This win on paper isn’t worth writing home about, but it comes at a crucial period for Milan and that’s what makes it an important one …