Mercato

GdS: Fonseca should present ‘third version of his Milan’ against Lazio

Things have not exactly gone to plan so far for Paulo Fonseca as AC Milan head coach, but he is planning some changes for Saturday’s game against Lazio.

Milan began the season with a 2-2 draw at home against Torino where they had to fight from two goals down, and they then followed that up with a 2-1 defeat away from home against Parma on Saturday.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, it will be difficult for Fonseca to find consistency in the next game but at the Stadio Olimpico he could present the ‘third version of his Milan’ after the first and second in weeks one and two.

What does this mean? Well, it is possible that Youssouf Fofana will have a chance from the start and it might not be the only change compared to the starting eleven of Parma. It is not excluded that there could be further alterations, such as Emerson Royal coming in.

In this summer mecato one new ‘starter’ for each department has been recruited: Emerson, Strahinja Pavlovic, Fofana and Alvaro Morata. The club’s objectives have all been achieved but it is not certain that the business is done either.

“We are on the sixth day of seven,” repeats Ibrahimovic. The last days of negotiations are always unpredictable and there could yet be surprises, while negotiations are ongoing over Silvano Vos of Ajax even if he is seen more as a player for the Futuro.

Tags AC Milan Paulo Fonseca

38 Comments

  2. just field our best line-up and see. I would also not object to benching Theo and Leao for Jimenez and Saelemakers.

    Maignan

    Emerson – Tomori – Pavlovic – Theo/Jimenez

    Bennacer – Fofana
    Pulisic – Reijnders – Leao/Saelemakers

    Okafor/Camarda

    2. Pavlovic can play LB also, which would give us more solidity. Gabbia deserves a shot at CB.
      Also I would pick Calabria over Emerson

      I like your lineup though.

      Bennacer/Fofana/Rijnders should be our midfield, whether that is in a 4231 or a 433, I would choose the latter.

      2. Dunno why management bought him, was it panic buying? Anyway late Mercato cost us two winless game. Still looking for first win.

  3. Maignan
    Calabria, Tomori, Pavlovic, Terracciano
    Fofana, Reijnders
    Pulisic, Zeroli, Saelemaekers,
    Jovic/Okafor (doesn’t really matter)

    1. Who is terriciano that one that is terrible teo is only been fatigue for now and we don’t have good replacement

  4. Ma, but am i crazy to say this team would excel in a 433 with Tiji Fofana and Isma/RLC/Musah in the mid?

    Tomori and Pavlovic showed they can be a great duo but got left out to dry by theo and royal/calabria so I am not worried about that.

    Keep Puli as a natural RW, Leao out wide, and then Morata/Okafor/Camarda.

    1. Better but still not quite balanced. A proper DM would do wonders.

      Fofana/Musah – DM – Reijnders/Benny

      But since our wonderscout Moncada is after NFL ball chasers while they’re selling our last fantasistas, I don’t know what to cook out of this. Maybe a 343. But it’s late for experiments now.

  5. Funny fact we keep playing 4-2-3-1 but we don’t have a defensive midfielder since Kessie and Tonali left, and we don’t have an attacking midfielder since Brahim returned to Madrid.

    1. Fun fact and a very very sad truth.

      But who cares, the players bought were cheap and can be re-sold. Once again we will fight for the prestigious of best financial run club in Italy.

  8. Well then I expect to see gabbia. Calabria, Gabbia, pav/tomori, Theo should be the defense. Gabbia is our best and most balanced cb.

  9. It is incredible how Rafa is the official scapegoat of a large segment of the fan base. He is called “lazy” all he time even when he works hard. Rafa is the kind of player who often disappears for large segments of the game or finishes poorly, sending the ball too high and so on; crosses poorly to nobody. But then suddenly he ignites and scores/assists. People don’t seem to realize that even when Rafa doesn’t play well, it is often better to have him there than not, as he attracts double or even triple marking, opening space for others. The whole offense often is worse when Rafa is not there. Sure, Rafa needs to improve, but I don’t bash him and put him down because of two games where his finishing wasn’t calibrated right at the beginning of the season (when often other players are not in ideal form either). He was even more heavily criticized after the Parma game, when he created at least 75% of our only goal. I mean, if the defense hadn’t failed, we could have won 1-0 just based on what Rafa did.

    For me, if a forward plays horribly for 85 minutes but then for 5 minutes disorganizes the opponent’s defense and creates a score, he has done his part.

    I mean, that’s even a common occurrence for Messi! No, I’m not saying that Rafa is as good as Messi. I’m just saying that Messi often disappears for 85 minutes then creates a goal or two. We don’t see Messi being scapegoated… But instead, even when Rafa scores, fans will still bash him and say he played horribly and the score was just a bit of luck. If that is true, Rafa is one lucky dude, because he has produced dozens and dozens and dozens of scores and assists during his Milan career; often he is the most prolific forward or the second most prolific; this still seems to be insufficient for his critics.

    No, I’m not happy with Rafa’s performances in the first two games, and yes, he needs to improve. But he is far from being the biggest responsible for these poor results.

    Calabria because he is Italian, a lifelong Milanista, and has been with Milan since he was 9 years old, is often given a pass even when he plays much worse than Rafa. Calabria left HUGE holes behind him and was beaten several times during the Parma mage. Still, people focus the criticism on Rafa.

    Theo and Calabria were way more responsible for this loss to Parma than Rafa. So people focus on the fact that Parma’s second goal started with a mistaken pass from Rafa. But have you all noticed where the ball was recovered by Parma after Rafa’s bad pass? A couple of yards from their own box! So, they went almost all the length of the field to score, and somehow it’s only Rafa’s fault??? Where were the various other players who should have stopped Parma’s progression through most of the field from their box to ours???

    So now most of you want to sit Rafa, to punish him for being “lazy.” Beware of what you want because our offense is half as effective when Rafa is not there.

    If the managers who managed Messi had the same attitude, I’m sure their clubs/country wouldn’t have scored as many goals as they did thanks to Messi.

    Put down all this hatred for Rafa. He is an excellent player. Not perfect. He needs to work on his finishing. He needs to track back more often (even when he tries, he is still called lazy). But he is still an excellent winger who terrorizes the opponents. They will be very happy if your opinion prevails and Rafa is benched.

    1. This is impressive on how much compliments Rafa gets on this post, obviously he’s part of the few Milanista we’ve in this group but still get negative comments from his beloved fans

    2. “People don’t seem to realize that even when Rafa doesn’t play well, it is often better to have him there than not, as he attracts double or even triple marking, opening space for others.”

      Don’t you just love the “get out of jail free” -card? All Leao has to do is go stand on the pitch and his fanbois will praise him for attracting half of the opponents and creating space for others. And the others wouldn’t/couldn’t even score without Leao’s presence.

      Even Messi has to work to earn his praises but Leao though is on a whole nother level and standing on the sideline is enough. 🙂

  10. Does this third version involve more than 2 players playing defense? I certainly hope so. If you thought Pioli’s 505 formation was bad. It looked like Fonseca was playing a 2-0-8 formation on Saturday. I understand everyone today wants to play a high pressing attacking football but a little practicality and common sense might go a long way.

    1. This is a very insightful post. I often write posts that are too long. I’m a verbose guy. But you nailed it in a very demonstrable summary with your 2-0-8 formation!

      Yes, that’s exactly right! Against Parma, poor Tomori and the excellent Pavlovic were left to fight for their lives while everybody else pressed high leaving huge holes behind! And poor Mike was left alone against Parma’s forwards; the two goals weren’t his fault.

      People still tried to fault Tomori and Pavlovic. They said Pavlovic didn’t mark his man in their second goal. Whoa! Pavlovic was left with two men to mark; he picked one; the other one scored. So, if our full backs hadn’t left Tomori and Pavlovic alone, they wouldn’t have had trouble marking their men.

      Whose fault? The manager’s obviously! It is Fonseca’s responsibility to direct his players in terms of who should press and when, and who should stay behind for solid defense to avoid counters.

      Fonseca doesn’t seem to understand that in Serie A defense is the most important part. Hey, this is not Ukraine’s league, and it is not France’s league. This is the Italian Serie A!!! And Fonseca should know better because he has already coached in Serie A for two seasons (utter failure, though).

      For me, it is clear that the administrators hired a mediocre coach (likely a downgrade from Pioli), and like I said in other posts, you can only expect mediocre results from mediocre people.

  11. Please go with 433 and deploy a compact midfield. We do not ever need the 2 CM’s in 4231 to “carry” the ball forward. There is absolutely no linkage between the CM’s and the AM. They are all waiting for the ball outside the opponent’s box. When we play 4231 the midfield is always non-existent.

  13. I think a 433 stabilizes the team until Fonseca’s strategies sink in.

    Maignan
    (whoever) – Tomori – Pavlo – Theo
    Bennacer – Reijnders – Fofana
    Puli – Morata(?)/Okafor(?) – Leao

    Maybe?

  14. Gabbia done well for Milan last season. Until he warrants losing his place he should be one of the first eleven.
    He’s also Italian and from the youth sector.💪

  15. I would go for this one:
    4-3-3
    Saelemakers———-Jovic/Okafor———-Pulisic
    Bennacer—————Reijnders————–Fofana
    NOT Theo–Pavlovic—Tomoria/Gabbia—Calabria
    I would also favour a counter-attack style of football with a lowblock rather than a possession/high block one.

  16. Who is terriciano that one that is terrible teo is only been fatigue for now and we don’t have good replacement

  17. Some of you are saying rubbish with 4-3-3 we even have more complex issues because our wingers played from wide so the best line up for Acmilan is 4-2-3-1 our major problem is two things and must addressed immediately tomori is not perfect for our defense Gabbia should play with Pavlovic then we need an attacking midfield least three of them for this season and that attacking midfield is our major problem. Since Brahim Diaz left Acmilan to Madrid our problem started we don’t need a central midfield or defensive leave benercer alone that guy is Good let’s sign only two attacking midfield and you will see that our wingers can score goals even our striker

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