While waiting for the field to show signs of progress, what continues to filter out of Milanello is that the squad are very much getting to grips with Paulo Fonseca’s methods.
There is now less than a month until the season opener against Torino at San Siro and with a number of challenging friendlies to come, Fonseca is hard at work to prepare the team for a tough campaign.
The degree of competitiveness in this season’s competition can often be derived from the betting odds. Bookmakers analyse the likelihood that each team can win the competition and such information collected on the BetZillion site.
New personnel
One of the things that often goes under the radar when a new coach arrives is that they will usually bring their own staff and with that comes a total change in the approach.
For example, the Milan coaching team has welcomed addition of athletic trainer Filippo Nardi and match analysts Giorgio Tenca and Igor Quaia, who will work as part of a bigger group.
There have been some exits too: Marco Paesanti, Roberto Morosi and Albino Rossetti will not be part of the first team staff as they have been dismissed. They worked as massage physio, physio and rehabilitation therapists respectively.
Last year, the goalkeeping coach was Tony Roberts, but now he will step aside for Antonio Ferreira and ‘could be a goalkeeper scout’.
New methods
Milanello has a new mayor’ and, at least in the first round of votes, he has received great approval. Fonseca has been working at the sports centre since last Monday and, after just over a week, it can be said: the Milan players like him.
Fonseca worked a lot with the ball in the first few training sessions and only stopped over the weekend. He tried to bring intensity, working a lot on passing and receiving the ball, on posture, on build-up, and the players are almost always happy when they get to play with the ball.
Some players speak (without being directly quoted) of clear ideas, transmitted by the Portuguese with clarity. The season is long but there are certainly smiles, despite Fonseca having called everyone to a series of double sessions, i.e. training in the morning and in the afternoon.
The use of double sessions is something that would make most players raise their eyebrows, but they seem to acknowledge that it is for the greater good in terms of getting them ready for a gruelling campaign.
After a friendly on Saturday at 17:30 in the friendly against Rapid Wien, games against Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona follow in the USA.
