AC Milan’s upcoming game against Lazio on Saturday night at the Stadio Olimpico has become an early crossroads in Paulo Fonseca’s reign, and he is thinking about the team that will take to the field.
With just one point from two games and above all after the disappointing performance against Parma, the match against Marco Baroni’s Lazio on Saturday evening at 20:45 cannot afford to result in another misstep.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Radio Rossonera) talks about the possible changes to the starting line-up that Fonseca has in mind and it is unlikely that the new coach he will field the same side that were beaten by Parma.
There are certainties and doubts. One certainty is the central defensive pairing: after the anke problem sustained by Malick Thiaw in the last few hours, Strahinja Pavlovic and Fikayo Tomori will keep their place in front of Mike Maignan.
Theo Hernandez should start from the first minute despite being criticised for his work rate in Parma, while there is a battle on between Davide Calabria and Emerson Royal for the right-back role with the captain currently ahead.
In midfield, Yunus Musah could pay and Ruben Loftus-Cheek could move back into the double pivot, at least while Ismael Bennacer remains a question mark given his absence from training and with Youssouf Fofana not yet close to 100%.
With Loftus-Cheek in a deeper role, Samuel Chukwueze has the opportunity to start in the attacking trident along with Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao and one between Noah Okafor and Luka Jovic.
He doesn’t know what to do.
No one does. Same crappy midfielders. Take one crappy midfielder out and put another one in. Loftus and musah can scare off any opponent.
I wish we could see Fonseca’s job interview with the clowns, it probably took no more than one minute. “Hello I’m Paulo and I finished 4th with low cost players”, “Say no more Paulo, this is exactly what we’re trying to do here, you’re hired”
Bart back again with his amazing mind reading abilities. Never ceases to amaze. He knows everyone’s plans and what everyone is thinking. And he’s never ever wrong. Bart you should really be running the club with all this knowledge.
Hey bro wassup? I was concerned that you didn’t tell me I’m an idiot today, happy to find you well 😘
Hey, I’m trying my best but you make it very difficult. And I didn’t call you an idiot.
But it would be better if you just stuck to reality rather than all these scenarios and conversations that you make up in your head.
What is most likely? The management decided that Paulo Fonseca who didn’t play in UCL since 2018 with Shakthar was the right guy to lead Milan to its 8th UCL and second star? Or that he’s cheap and would be enough to « compete for UCL appearance » (in the words of Scaroni) ?
Actually Management first decided someone else was the right guy to take over this team but Curva Sud and a bunch of other whiny fans who think they know better complained so loudly that ownership caved and chose someone else.
You keep using the word cheap but the facts don’t back it up. Look at the money they have spent in the last 2 mercados. It’s more than thee previous ownerships by a lot. But don’t let facts get in the way.
Does anyone want to make the argument that the squad is not stronger now than it was last season? I would love to hear someone try and make that case. They added Morata who is an upgrade over a 37 year old Giroud. They added Pavlovic which is an upgrade at CB. They added Fofana who everyone here wanted right up until they signed him, now he’s no good of course. We’ll see how Emerson goes. And now it looks like they are going to get Abraham to back up Morata. So they have spent money and they have strengthened the squad. The people that hate on them must have some other motives, at least be honest about it.
Your guys’ rants are epic, man. 🤣
4th you joke right? Inter,Juve,Atalanta and Napoli will 15points more then we minimum
Hahahahahahahaha!!!
You forgot – “I won’t ask for you to spend any big $$ on any big players and I will only take a one year see how it goes deal for really cheap.”
“Did I mention last time I coached in Serie A – I finished like 7th? So the expectations will be really low and honestly, I’m just happy to be here and get the chance to visit Como again – for free!”
It is obvious that they mistake sacking Pioli. They keep the same logic and formation with some fresh names. They bring Fonseca who will not be able to control stronger team that Pioli had before.
4-3-3 :
Mike
Calabria Tomori Pavlo Jimenez (for only 1st half)
Reijnders Fofana Bennacer
Puli Okafor Leao/Saele
Why start Jimenez imo? Simple, it’ll show Theo that nobody is bigger than the club. You don’t wanna play 100%? Okay, we’ll play someone who will give it their all. Same goes for Leao.
PLEASE just don’t start Musah…
Théo is one of the stars of the club, he sells jerseys, he contributes to the popularity of the team (with a season pass up to 19% more expensive than last season) and he appears on every commercial for Puma. He will start every game until he’s gone. Squeezed like a lemon. It’s not the performances on the field that dictate who plays or Musah would already be loaned to Galatasaray.
So Theo is the official scapegoat now. Are people tired of bashing the other scapegoat Rafa and they have now moved to Theo?
Can’t anybody suppose that maybe Theo is just exhausted? It usually happens that players who play the FIFA World Cup or the Euro in the summer come back very tired and take a while to recover their best form when the season starts.
After all the excellent games Theo has performed for us over the years, are we ready to throw him under the bus because he had one bad game? (One, against Parma; he played few minutes against Torino).
Are you trying to convince me? Man I’m probably the biggest fan of Théo around here haha
I don’t buy that idea that is pushed here for two days that players come back from international competitions tired, the Euro was two months ago and he stopped in semifinals. Unless we can have relevant statistics to confirm that. Look at Thuram with Inter, look at Mbappé with Real. Even some players who were at the Olympics are already playing and they’re ok. He seems more out of motivation than out of form.
“I don’t buy that idea that is pushed here for two days that players come back from international competitions tired, the Euro was two months ago and he stopped in semifinals. Unless we can have relevant statistics to confirm that. Look at Thuram with Inter, look at Mbappé with Real. Even some players who were at the Olympics are already playing and they’re ok. He seems more out of motivation than out of form.”
I honestly don’t know what the EFF is happening, but I agree with Bart here 100%. Out of form? After two minutes against Parma? Exactly. Not buying it.
I said as much earlier about Fofana – something is not right
Agreed
I agree but still, Theo’s performances for country were better than for club recently.. I get he wants the wage increase but it’s not an excuse to be lazy and inactive in a league game.
Jimenez is a promising young LB. Just look at Juve and Barca, they give their youth so many chances. We have great youth too (Camarda, Liberali, Zeroli, Martinez and now Vos). It’s not unrealistic, since Fonseca used youth in his Lille side.
I’m not sure that Jimenez is healthy, but it would be surprising to see Theo in the starting 11. I also think the same with Leao. They can do Puli and Chuk…They also just signed another young back, not sure if he’s a realistic option…
Fofana was really bad in the last game. the same number of turnovers as musah but in 1/4 of the time..and the team had all the momentum in the 2nd half before those subs…he needs more time….i doubt they change formations, but rather play someone more mobile at the 10. would like to see Reijnders who has the desire and engine to get back into the midfield when the ball is lost.
So far every single full back has struggled under Fonseca….
I think it might have something to do with the formation and/or lack of midfield.
the second line of the fullbacks and midfield will get picked apart if teams have time on the ball…It would be interesting to see if they are able to press successfully with some minor adjustments. RLC is just not getting back into the midfield after the ball is lost…they need someone mobile if they are gunna play with a 10. Theo is either injured or something else is going on so its not worth putting him in that position…Calabria is doing what he can do. He is grinding. I wouldn’t say he thrived under Pioli.
Here we go with this stupid double pivot BS. Fonseca days are already numbered and I have put my money on him getting sacked before the international break because we will lose against Inter in an embarrassing way if we continue like this.
433 or nothing. But Here’s my suggestion Mr. Fonseca, why don’t you just quite now so we can correct the mistake of hiring you in the first place?
Ibra and Furlani lacked the courage that’s why they chose another weak coach like Pioli who has no command of the dressing room.
We have defensive problems so get Allegri. Nobody will score against us and I will take an ugly win over a horrible defeat any day.
I want titles and trophies and I don’t care if we win ugly. Capello won back to back Serie A titles and a UcL trophy playing boring ugly football and every now and then we played good football like we did against Barcelona in the UCL 4-0 finals win.
Get me Allegri. Damn it!
If that’s the lineup, I give up on Fonseca. Unless every other midfielder is unable to play, why would those two be the starters and Theo gets a start? I understand Fofana isn’t ready, but we’re selling Adli (at least he has experience on The team), Bennacer seems out and we sold Pobega. So now we have 3 midfielders who are all very attacking with little defense skills then Fofana who has SOME defensive skills. What’s the plan again? I don’t know that there is a formation that suits this team lol. Is it not possible to bring in Zeroli for this match? It’s insanity and I don’t care who ran the team before or what ever, objectively, it is insanity. Arsenal knew what they needed and they went out and splashed 100 mil on Rice, look how that turned out (it’s great). Theo and Leao continuing to play just shows the team that you can do what ever you want in the end without consequence. For the long term, if they both play and perform well and we beat Lazio, what does that teach any body else on the team? Bench them in a must win match to show how little you can trust them right now and play the backups in their PREFERRED positions and set them up for success rather than the opposite. Think about jobs you’ve left, most of the time it was probably because your superiors weren’t setting you up for success so there wasn’t any trust. I see that here. Everyone that wants to see what a balanced Milan midfield is, look at Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf. Anyone wants to see team balance, watch how Ancelotti’s Milan shifted depending on which outside back went forward, it’s not rocket science. This is why teams like Barca and Madrid can have rocky periods but recover, because they never forget who they are. We are trying to be something we are not and it’s like forcing a square peg at this point.
Not sure how many defeats and. Punters we have to suffer for Fonseca to realize we don’t have the players for a Double pivot. Not do we have a 10.
433 would be wise. But hey, what do I know?
Agree. We sold Tonali and replaced him with a core of players suited to 433.
Then Pioli changed his mind on the formation after a month.
Yet we still have a core of midfielders suited to 433.
And they’re still buying players suited for 433 although Fonseca olays 4231🤦
Well something we agree on
4-3-3 is the only viable way with our current roster to make a decent run this season.
Fofana with Reindjers and one of Benny/RLC – or Konè (if we get our cheap a$$ alligator arms out of our pockets).
i agree with some of your points here…
-bench players getting too big for their breeches but of course after a run of not-so-good performances some people will be moaning that we cant do without them and w eneed to draft them in back
-we need to be setting our yopungsters up for success not failure (and i am not sure if the powers that be understand this)
Must you play RLC? Must you?
Series A teams are too sophisticated to play a full press against. Only really top teams with the right horses can pull it off. It is, and has most always been a technical league that counter attacks. Fonseca would be better off collapsing and building defensive prowess. Then, once this is establish he will have a better understanding of his depth and proclivities. But, he promised to deliver on a pressing style. Pioli don’t look so bad now does he.
I AGREE WITH MARK,WE DON”T HAVE THE HORSES (for what ever reason …LAZINESS ) TO HIGH PRESS !!!
We do not need an AM. We need a compact 3-man midfield. Explain to everyone what the AM position has been able to do for the club since the last season. You don’t just go 4231 because it is the meta. It is ridiculous for somebody of RLC’s caliber to come to Milan and gets to play AM every match. What does he even do in the position?
If this guy keeps playing Loftus and Musah its over for him and this seasson ! 2 braindead idiots are playing with 0 IQ. Better line up Zeroli and Reijnders and Liberali as 10 and Chukwueze right ! F. this marketing line up.
Lazio:we= 3:1
Need to switch to 433 with our current midfield options.
We don’t have the players for double pivot. RLC is not a CAM!
if not 433 then try a back 3 to improve the defence.
I cant wait to see what the next trick he will put out his sleeve.
Pioli is gone together with pobega, adli was crap according to many he is gone! bennacer was crap according to many and he is not playing. saelemakers could be on his way out aswell and still people in her are not statisfied. Now LFC and mousa are bothering you.. What is it that you want??
To hate?
Remember people:
a) we’re only two matches in;
AND
b) most importantly, professorial managers know more about tactics than you.
4-3-3 please it’s really not complicated. With the personnel we have 4-2-3-1 does not make sense.
If we’re bringing in players who are injured and need rest, then we should expect problems for a few weeks. Just say it out loud and we can adjust our expectations.
But we need a striker who knows the position.
If what this article says about the line up is true happen. Well, Fonseca is same like Pioli…Ready to say farewell to Serie A title then.
But, hope not. Hope Fonseca will have guts, same like at America tour. Nothing to lose preparation.
Lets see
Hey Ollie I wonder when your criticism of the management and the lack of quality transfers into this great club will start? Either people are blind or they have been brainwashed by Gerry and Zlatan into believing they have the best interests of the club.
Personally, I think Gerry couldn’t care less about Milan it’s simply a cash cow for him and his banker friends. I am willing to overlook this as long as he brings in football people to run the club people who have demonstrated a level of success in winning. Bring in top coach, players with a winning mentality.
But, I see everyone is blaming players and the coach but who runs the club? What kind of people are at the top? I think many know but are to ignorant or nieve to admit the issues are not players but management!
So, according to this report, the big changes following Saturday’s humiliation, will be Chuck coming in for Tij?
Genius…