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.