Paulo Fonseca took charge of his first competitive AC Milan game on Saturday, and the performance has drawn some rather unfavourable comparisons.
This morning’s edition of Il Giornale (via MilanNews) has a section with the headline ‘Fonseca debuts in Giampaolo style: dubious roles for Loftus and Saelemaekers’, casting doubt on some of his choices for the starting line-up.
The paper first and foremost criticise the decision to deploy Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the double pivot given his more attacking tendencies, as the Englishman and his partner Ismael Bennacer failed to get much control in the engine room.
In addition to that choice, the one to use Alexis Saelemaekers as a left-back instead of Theo Hernandez was questionable, given that the Belgian was never tried there during preseason and the Frenchman ended up coming on in the second half to try salvage the game anyway.
Finally, the fact that Fonseca preferred Malick Thiaw to Matteo Gabbia in the middle of the defence was a third question mark, because Gabbia was one of the best performers in the second half of last season and Thiaw has shown himself to be error-prone.
Il Giornale continue by adding that ‘these are the mistakes made by Fonseca to the point of reliving in the minds of many fans the disturbing debut made by Giampaolo (1-0 defeat in Udine with a very questionable team selection) at the dawn of the Boban-Maldini management’.
In that particular game, Giampaolo fielded a midfield three of Fabio Borini, Hakan Calhanoglu and Lucas Paqueta, with Suso playing in an unfamiliar playmaker role and Samu Castillejo – normally a winger – joining Krzysztof Piatek up front.
Truth be told that 11 looked like something furlani would field on his fm app
This 😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 what da hell bro????
🤣👌
Fonseca as genius as giampaolo
Saelemaekers at LB is not that revolutionary because he’s played RB.
RLC was excellent. Bennacer was the main issue and he really is not the same player he once was (and even then he was probably our fourth best midfielder after Kessie, Krunic and Tonali). He has a tendency to dribble too much and his positioning is questionable in defence.
The big question for me is whether Fofana is an actual DM. If he’s not then we don’t have one.
The other big question is Thiaw. He shouldn’t have been starting, he probably shouldn’t be at the club, and he probably shouldn’t have been signed. Another in the long list of CBs we’ve had in the past 20 years.
Of course Gabbia is better but he came from our youth so even the fans are constantly questioning his ability.
Calabria out
Thiaw out
Pobega out
Adli out
Bennacer out
LEAVE THE CAPTAIN OUT OF IT.
Calabria is Milan. Who does not like Calabria does not like Milan.
Leave him out of the starting XI.
Loftus Fail needs to be sold no impact, Bennacer was destroyed by Pioli when he benched due to Kessie and Tonali Pivot and then the injury.
Thiaw, Tomori, Calabria are just pure mistake maker‘s, they Need to be Sold also and replaced.
If Chuku fails this Season to deliever he needs to be sold also. For my opinnion we Need to bench Leao some Games and start with Okafor, to tell him he is Not untouchable!
I actually think Gabbia won most over when he came back last season and Thiaw lost it all last season. I just don’t get what he is good at.
Pavlovic, Theo, Reinjders, Fofana, and Morata are not ready to start. What do you expect?
JAJAJAJJA I had SAID it before that it will start… GIAMPAOLO =FONSECA🤢🤮🇵🇹
Fundamental line up
MAIGAN
Royal Tomori Pavlovic Theo
FOFANA Reijnders
Pulisic Ruben LC Leao
Morata
Bench
Gk Torriani
Rb salamakers/Jimenez/Kalulu
Lb Terracciano/Jimenez
CB Gabbia
CB Kalulu
Dm Musah
Dm Kone
Amf Liberali/Zeroli
Rwf ChukwuezeSalamakers
Lwf Okafor/Salamaekers
Cf Okafor
Cf Carmada
Cf Jovic
The only mistake you made overhyped Loftus out and chukwueze in and pulisic again as 10 if he doesnt play welk pur Liberali!
I will not critisize the coach right from the start but one thing is driving me crazy.
Saele as a LB was world class sh*t move. The whole preseason you prepare team with Teraciano as a LB and all of the sudden you put Saele who never played LB in his place…it’s so disrespectfull ,you could just spit in his face and he would feel better.. And on top of that now people critisize Sale to ,because the coach put him to play something that he never played.
Saelemaekers has played at LB in the Belgian national team before but that wasn´t great on the defensive side as either. However Theo isn´t great a defending either so perhaps Fonseca thought it would work. But Thiaw was the main issue causing problems for Saelemaekers as well. You need 2 excellent CB´s if you have an offensive LB.
Yeah but tera was also cràp on lb. So 3 things are known now. 1, tera is not a lb. 2 salad is cràp on lb (and everywhere else) 3 we need to get a backup lb asap.
Putting Saelemakers in as a left back was too big a risk, you can’t take that much in the league. And that was a big mistake. These aren’t practice matches anymore… If Fofana isn’t an original DM, we’re in trouble because there isn’t one. We still need someone who can filter in the midfield. We don’t really need RLC and Thiaw either.
Unfair criticism because all the players who would have started were not match fit except for Gabbia who should have started over Thiaw.
The truth is that this Milan team is built for a 433 formation because we have so many mezzala like RLC, Musah, Reinjders and Pobega.
So I really don’t understand why Pioli and now Fonseca is insisting to play 4231 when we don’t have the midfield players to play that formation.
That is the problem with this squad. Ibra said we will play 433 but when Fonseca arrived we are now playing 4231 and forcing players like RLC to play in unusual positions that is not suitable to their strengths.
There’s a lot truth to that.
Agree with all these points too.
Also.
Not sure where this leaves Terracciano. After playing him through preseason as the main LB, he doesn’t get a chance with Theo not fit enough to start the first game.
Did you see him play? Terracciano should never see the field again, he has no clue. I don’t blame Fonseca for taking the chance with Saelemakers at LB because, with Theo not yet ready to start and Florenzi out for the year, there was no viable option. He was trying to make the best of a bad situation. Alexis was not great yesterday while at LB, but he was better than anyone else Milan could have put out there would have been.
This is because they want to use Pulisic and Chuck at the same field.
They want more attack minded players and pioli tried to go a 4 3 3 for what the first 5 games? It failed miserably and he switched back to a 4 2 3 1. Fonseca has been here for 5 weeks so let’s give him a chance to get to know the players and see what changes he makes before criticizing his lineup and everything else already…
If failed because of the inverted fullbacks, not necessarly because of the 4-3-3 itself.
The problem though right now is that Fofana isn’t a lone defensive midfielder, he always played in a double-pivot system.
True.
And Alexis at LB wasn’t actually the worst performer IMO. Dude worked tirelessly up and down the flank, providing an extra option for Leao on the left, and he did actually provide a few good crosses. He’s no Theo, but can’t say Theo would have offered any significantly more defensively.
The our wing forwards were wasteful and CBs put a horrible show. Had they done their bit, we’d be having a totally different discussion.
I agree 100%.. 4-3-3 makes sense for the players at midfield and even attack. Pioli tried it and abandoned the 3 man midfield once difficulties hit and now worryingly Fonseca has continued where Pioli left off in many departments.
Pioli’s team was unbalanced ,Fonseca actually made the team even more attacking and less balanced by bringing in Chuks & Pulisic with Leao, not to mention Salemaekers as a LB.
One gets the feeling that Fonseca ,had he really known Italian football ,would build a base or structure that is strong in the defensive phase after a season of Pioli’s super leaky team that found itself goals down within the first 20 minutes.
Once the ball is lost opposing teams quickly make it to our goal with the double pivots unable to screen the defense caught up the pitch with the high line. That Fonseca would almost mirror Pioli’s team in this regard is alarming .
It’s the first game of the season but I feel Inter, Atalanta, Juve & Roma all have an advantage with their coaches over Fonseca and they know in Italy you win with a great defense over a great attack always.
I do agree a lot with the 4-3-3 since most of our current midfielders (Reijnders, Loftus-Cheek and Musah) were brought precisely for that. Reijnders and Loftus-Cheek’s best games happened when we used a 4-3-3.
And before someone points the inverted fullbacks problem, we can play a 4-3-3 with regular fullbacks. And I think it’s way better compared to having Pulisic as a 10 making our midfield too light, or Loftus-Cheek who sucks as a 10.
The problem though is since we brought Fofana instead of a defensive midfielder who can play as a lone 6, I’m not sure we can revert back to a 4-3-3.
I think for the short term Reijnders -Bennacer-Fofana for control and ball retention, whereas Reijnders -Fofana-Musah(RLC ) a more dynamic & physical midfield .
It will all come down to how well Fofana can handle playing as a lone 6 IMO.
That is true. We will have to wait and see.
No criticism to Fonseca’s results before at least 2 months.
He deserves a full chance regardless of what each one of us thinks about him as a manager.
The management on the other hand is the one to be criticized, Pavlovic and Fofana should have arrived earlier, Chiesa should be considered at least for San Siro matches because apparently Chuku has a San Siro phobia.
If the management picked Fonseca for his attacking football then they should support that new style rather than giving him Veretout, Carles Pérez and Borja Mayoral to play then get surprised with the results like the other stingy American management.
“The management on the other hand is the one to be criticized, Pavlovic and Fofana should have arrived earlier.”
WHY? They would not have played anyway, have you heard of this little cup called the Euros?
I thought loftus was decent in the double pivot and he can definitely play there.
Saelemaekers was not this issue last game, RLC was not this issue. The formation wasn’t the issue. Poor defending from Calabria, Thiaw and Theo lead to goals. Individual mistakes from players was the issue not whatever narrative Giornale is trying to spin.
Preseason was good , then all of a sudden 1st match was a very bad performance from the coach something that could raise alarm signs about the coach capabilities.
Great milan fans let just wait for the next match i believe our coach will learn from his mistakes ❤❤💪🏾💪🏾