Youssouf Fofana has been criticised heavily after his miss in AC Milan’s draw against Genoa, but his teammates have surrounded him with support.
After his miss last night, Fofana needed support through the rest of the half. So, when he was substituted for the second-half it was not really a shock. However, the team did not leave him alone on the bench.
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When he scored the equaliser, Rafael Leao rushed to the bench to dedicate the goal to him, rather than celebrating in his normal manner. A touching moment, certainly, but that was not the end of it.
Fofana and Leao on Instagram
Later in the evening, the French midfielder took to social media to apologise in a story which has since been deleted. His message was simple, ‘Mi dispiace tanto’, ‘I’m so sorry’, with a praying emoji next to it.
Since then, Leao has put a message on his own Instagram story, which can be seen below. Again, the message is simple: ‘Together, brother, no matter who is against us!!’
Whilst it may be easy to criticise players after moments, it is important to remember that they are still human and see what is being said about them. For a player who was clearly struggling after the mistake, hopefully, the support from his teammates and coach can bring stronger performances.
The issue with Fofana is not what happened yesterday, he was simply unlucky to slip.
The issue is that he cannot have so many responsibilities in the final third. He does not have the accuracy to be impactful with the last pass or the finishing. Rabiot should play more up the pitch, with one between Jashari and Ricci alongside Modric.
It’s not an issue of who should play more in the final third, it’s more of who moves enough to show up there and fortunately or unfortunately it’s Fofana because he somehow is everywhere, RCL was on the pitch but managed not to find himself there most times, likewise Rabiot, a time or two we see Pavlovic pop up in those areas.
My main concern now is we who are not coaches or trainers manage to see these things and I wonder if they go over the clips and train players to be better effective when they pop in those areas, by now I would think the training staffs would have drilled Fofana on shot taking and other areas he needs to improve since he has the energy to pop in the right places.
The desire is there but the technique is lacking and thats where data and training should block the loopholes.
Forza milan
well said
Mistakes happen but these players should grow some chest hair and some balls as they are overly sensitive to critique and quite frankly comes to sound like martyrs who everybody is out to get down. Whether its positive or negative or even harsh critique it should be recieved in the exact same way.
When that is said I don’t really think that Fofana should publicly apologize for it but he should nevertheless have scored, hell even a kid should have scored on that chance but as I said mistakes happens.
Have you ever received death threats or racism for not being able to kick a ball? This is what these guys have to deal with. Social media is destroying the world.
Well not that I think its ok to threaten to kill the fella for a missed chance but sorta I’ve been stabbed with a knife on two different occasions, Ive been in fights with several people on my own on different occasions and has had glass bottles smashed in my head and getting stomped on while down as well so yeah I sorta do as I’ll rather get threats than getting stabbed.
As I said though death treats or racist remarks obviously isn’t ok for a missed chance but that is still a long way from my reply if what goes his direction is mere words. In the end if he takes the treats seriously I would recommend him contacting the police.
Martin, that sounds terrible. Nobody should go through that. But the level of one’s person’s troubles don’t justify the acceptance of another person’s. The dude is down because he messed up and needs some support, Leao is giving it. At least he feels responsible. Worse if he was out partying that same night, no? We should be talking about Leao’s leadership, not Fofana needing to grow chest hair.
It certainly has had its impact on my life and sometimes still does. It wasn’t really my intention to justify any acceptance on his ordeals but it was just an answer to your question and quite frankly I hadn’t initially heard that he had gotten treats or racist remarks. Sure its good that he gets support from his teammates. My comment in regard of chest hair was in regard of players being too receptive to internet comments as its pretty much expected in the line of profession they are working in as football fans can become angry or emotional right after a match and whos to say some of those commenters isn’t just trolls or supporters of other clubs trying to cause havoc. My point here is that players really shouldn’t get either too hyped and too disuaded by either positive or negative media or fan attention as neither serves them well.
You feeling weak and puny now my man? We have all suffered. This 1999-born footballer has not seen life for longer than most of us here. Weak is weak.
I haven’t walked a mile in his shoes, or anyone else’s. Talk is cheap.
All team play disaster at evry game with small clubs.
At the end we should be happy if will at first 4th places and that is.
Scudeto cant take team who play disaster and lose 10 points against clubs which play for survived at seria A.
We not good for scudeto so blame Fofana only can who dont know anything about football. He is one of our best player.
where is jashari and ricci alegri?
Allegri’s Milan doesn’t play progressive football. One thing is certain, Milan can’t draw to the Scudetto