AC Milan have started the season abysmally, and several questions are being asked of their stars. Rafael Leao, naturally, is a target of criticism as the highest-paid player at the club, and currently, he is not deserving of such a contract.
When you think of Leao, you think of one of the best wingers in world football. A tricky player who scores goals for fun and beats players at ease with a smile throughout. Whilst the smile remains, Leao is a shell of that player currently.
Yes, he has scored this season, but even this was overshadowed by a moment of controversy.
Of course, this is not the start to the season that anyone had imagined, especially after Paulo Fonseca had personally been to speak to Leao about his centrality to the new project. However, we must not dwell on the past.
Everyone knows the player that Leao is, and more importantly, can be. He is clearly a confidence player, when things are good, the smile is brighter, and the contributions come regularly. When things are difficult, he shells a little. Milan must work out a way to change things, and Leao must grow further.
As Gazzetta dello Sport (via Milan News) writes, the Portuguese star cannot hide in the approaching fixtures, and if he is as good as we know he can be, three games are awaiting to remind himself and everyone else.
Venezia, Liverpool, Inter. Three games of varying difficulty, three games of indescribable importance. Leao must show himself as the star we know he can be, as Gazzetta claims, there is no room for any mistakes.
Fonseca comes, everything falls apart
His performance is not a problem, everything else is… and im not defending the guy, i think he is simply overrated based on a handful of brilliant performances and what we are seing is his normal level… there is also a question of his motivation, which clearly dropped after maldini was sacked… almost the same could be said for theo and maybe mike
My bad, i was not trying to reply to fonseca critic, but article
Lol he is not a problem, he have 1assist and 1goal in 3matches after being facing treated badly by his own coach
Problem is défense system we are playing and most importantly coach who don’t acknowledge problems himself.
Pioli seemed much better in acknowledging problems in his system than Fonseca to do.
He’s had exactly 20seconds of positivity inb3 games kiddo. Grownup and face facts. He’s lazy and needs to change
The criticism of Rafa is grossly exaggerated and unfair. He created and assisted a goal in the second game and scored in the third one despite playing just a few minutes. He created several chances in the first game (but finished poorly which is not uncommon in a season’s first game). What other Milan player had 2 goal participations (score + assist) in the first three games? So he misplaced a pass in one of the games and the opponents scored? The ball was recovered by the opponents mere yards near their own box; then they advanced it through our midfield and our defense; how was Rafa solely responsible?
The haters will hate, and soon Rafa (and Theo) will leave, and Milan will be much worse without them.
In a dispute between Fonseca and Theo and Rafa, I support Theo and Rafa against the mediocre coach who blames his own players and scapegoats them (and the managers who hired the mediocre coach).
Oh, Rafa was disrespectful in the cooling break episode? Do remember who started the disrespect: a Milan top executive said he would personally pack Rafa’s bag.
Fire Fonseca and stop scapegoating our best players.
What other Milan player had 2 goal participations (score + assist) in the first three games?
Pulisic.
You forgot to mention that he missed 3 scoring chances in the 1st game vs Torino that should have won Milan the game.
Leao also went almost 6 months without scoring a goal last season. Mediocre Fonseca wasn’t the coach back then.
Leao was benched by Pioli for a derby vs Inter for the same reasons Fonseca benched him vs Lazio.
Is Fonseca also the mediocre coach that has been coaching Portugal where Leao was subbed off at halftime?
Excuses, excuses and nothing but more excuses when it comes to Leao.
Yes, I love Pulisic. Still, Rafa had more goals + assists all competitions, than Puli, last season. Since Puli was hired Rafa had 28, second only to Lautaro with 30, and Puli had 27.
Yes, Puli had two… one of them, assisted by whom? Yep, a certain Rafael Leao who created 75% of that goal.
6 months without scoring: also lots of assists in that period, and at season end, 2nd best after Giroud.
So Leao contributes a lot, but that’s not something that you haters want to acknowledge.
Telling the truth sounds like hate to those that don’t want to hear it.
Oh, and no, I did not forget to mention the missed chances in the first game. Re-read my post; it’s there.
Haha Leao miss 10chancies and score one.Look guys you so patetic because you think Milan will be worst without Leao,so you at this way make him a God even he is small player now. He nothing do at national team too. At the end if he good he need prove that and start play but no,he is new Balottelli and that is. Klop and Anceloti cant help him anymore.
Milan will be better without clowns,we need players who will do everything for club not for instagram and some rap songs
Leao has become a scapegoat of sorts, due to his wages and talent. Our club has plenty of talent, but unfortunately we aren’t playing as a team yet. Players don’t seem committed to the new coach, or maybe it’s just taking them a while to understand what Fonseca wants…
Leao’s form isn’t THE problem. It’s A problem, but one that has been present since he came over – lack of consistency. This is NOT news to us. It’s just a low hanging fruit for the media to pick when things aren’t going well.
Leao isn’t a leader on this team, he’s a senior player. He will never single-handedly drag this team out of the dark or will it to perform better. He isn’t that player. Tonali could. Maignan can (it’s just hard to motivate the team all the way back from the goal sticks). If Maignan was an outfield player, I would have made him captain.
I will always maintain that Leao is at Milan BECAUSE he isn’t a world class product… because he is inconsistent… because he doesn’t respond well to pressure outside of social media. That is the version of Leao we can afford to keep here to take our chances with.
If Leao improves and actually consistently plays the we know he can, he’s as good as gone.
“Leao’s form isn’t THE problem. It’s A problem, but one that has been present since he came over – lack of consistency. ”
The problem is that a lot of people think that Leao is in poor form. Nope. This is who Leao is
Yep, this is who Leao is: the guy who consistently finishes the season first or second in number of scores + assists (you must hate this HARD FACT because it doesn’t fit your world view, right? And you talk about “the truth” – what is not true about these demonstrable stats???). Not to forget, he attracts double or triple marking from defenses, opening space to his companions. Without Leao we consistently have more trouble scoring. We saw another example last game: the offense was struggling, we fell behind 1-2; Leao came in and in 2 minutes we were level again). But those who are short-sighted and hateful (and some of them, plain racist) only see the “lazy” stereotype they love to scapegoat him with. Goals and assists, who cares, right? It’s not like scores win games in soccer, right? Oh wait, scores do win games or rescue defeats making them draws? Oh, right, then Leao does contribute, doesn’t him?
You occupy most of your online time here bashing Leao. What happened? Did he steal your girlfriend from you? Honest question… LOL
Leo form isn’t good but it isn’t the problem even if he will score more we will concede more goals…
No defence and no midfield
If he score then we need to be able to win 1-0
If the midfield will work Leo will be able to create and score even more