Paulo Fonseca spoke in his first press conference as AC Milan head coach about bringing an ‘attacking and dominant’ style of play to the team, and he is at work on the training ground to instil exactly that.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport writes (seen below), Fonseca began to build from the first training session towards the footballing principles he has in mind. It is logical that the results will be seen later but the basic ideas have been transmitted already.
Defence
Fonseca worked both on the low defensive line, i.e. playing a bit deeper to move as a unit and protect against the counter, and on the high defensive line that is more geared towards quickly recovering the ball.
The former Lille coach also focused on details, starting from the posture that players take when not in possession (both by defenders and central midfielders) and on the use of the arms to push opponents away smartly.
The defensive phase involves winning the ball back high up or in the opponent’s half of the field, but it will not always be possible to press for 90 minutes. This is the reason for exercises being done to avoid leaving space between the lines with the two midfielders and centre-backs involved.
Attacking phase
The key word for Fonseca’s football is possession. The exercises so far have insisted on keeping the ball deep and inviting the goalkeeper to get involved too, with the possibility of him launching quick attacks as we have seen from Mike Maignan before.
Fonseca often asks his players to think quickly and play one-two touches. Training games on smaller fields are frequent with teams of four or five players who alternate continuously. Naturally, there is no lack of work on attacking development in the other areas of the pitch too.
The coach focuses on full-backs looking for width and depth to widen the opposing defence and allow the attacking winger and midfielders to get into the box. There have also been exercises to circulate the ball from one side to the other and then using switches to exploit gaps.
Use of the ball
The athletic part is done both with and without the ball, but the work without the ball is minimal because Fonseca believes that exercises that involve the use of the ball are easier keep your attention high.
Before and after training, resistance, flexibility and speed tests are scheduled. As far as the gym is concerned, the work is mainly on strength and injury prevention, with each player having a personalized program to carry out before and after the session.
Naturally, with the help of data (collected with GPS, also used in matches) it will be easier to calibrate workloads for the prevention of injuries.
Staff changes
The physiotherapist staff will therefore be expanded from seven to 10, as part of a reorganisation which will see the group take care of both the first team players and those of Milan Futuro.
Compared to last season, Marco Paesanti will no longer be part of the Rossoneri staff, while Roberto Morosi had reached the end of his contract. Albino Rossetti will take charge of the AC Milan Women’s team.
Among the four new physios who will join, one is Leonardo Belotti, formerly of Sassuolo. The first team coach will be Paulo Mourao, who will work closely with Milan Lab. Right after his first experience in Italy, his two years at Roma, Fonseca changed almost all his collaborators side from Tiago Leal).
The current staff is of the highest level and, among others, can count on the experience of former defender Paulo Ferreira, who won two Champions League titles with Mourinho’s Porto and Chelsea.
Nothing in here I haven’t seen before with Pioli. I do hope we’re playing some different sh!t