Kenan Yildiz and Rafael Leao are two of the more high-profile names in Serie A when it comes to attacking talent, and yet they are each going through tough moments.
As Calciomercato.com writes, both should have very central roles with Juventus and Milan respectively despite their gap in age, given their technical ability and game-breaking quality. Instead they are finding themselves being used not so much sparingly, but practically as authentic supporting actors.
We can refer back to the words of Thiago Motta immediately after the draw against Parma and those of Paulo Fonesca after the defeat against Napoli for some insight into how both coaches are thinking.
The Juventus coach preferred Tim Weah: “It’s important to maintain the balance of the team. Weah did well at San Siro and again today. Kenan coming on later, when the game opens up more, I think is ideal for creating situations, for giving the final pass or finishing the plays. He has the freedom to do so.”
The Milan coach went with Noah Okafor: “I manage things with the players differently. There is no conflict, it’s just a choice. It’s up to the players to put in the right amount of dedication.
“I’m not the one who has to beg them. Leao came on well, but let’s look at Okafor’s game, who played well. It’s difficult for me to decide at this moment.”
The two key words from these two statements are ‘balance’ and ‘freedom’, and it these two concepts that Motta and Fonseca are leaning on, which in turn is leading to the choice of benching the two talents.
In Motta’s mind, Yildiz is the one who can break games open by coming on and taking more risks, but only in the final minutes. The Portuguese coach meanwhile knows that his compatriot is unable/unwilling to sacrifice himself as Okafor does in defensive work.
It is certainly not Fonseca’s fault that Leao has become the face of Milan and the highest paid player in the squad, because it was the directors who granted him a renewal of €7.5m net per season and the No.10 shirt.
So who is to blame for such a complex management of their respective moments? Is it the players who are unable to transform themselves, or the coaches who sacrifice them instead of finding a way to help them?
As always, the answer lies somewhere in the middle, but the feeling is that the scales might tip slightly in favour of the players in this case. Why? Not all teams can boast players with such unique characteristics in their squad, while Milan and Juventus have them.
Finally, a comparison with Antonio Conte’s Napoli who boast Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Such a decisive player cannot be left out, but must instead be moulded in a way to get the best out of him. Conte even changed his tactical ideas to do so, going from a 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3 (but only in the attacking phase).
The key in this sense was the conversion of Matteo Politano, whose defensive spirit of sacrifice allows Kvara to be more free offensively. The results? The table speaks for itself.
Motta treatment of Yildiz and him talking about balance is another proof that no matter what coach Milan hired, what is happening with Leao today would have happened under Motta, Conte or any other coach Milan hired.
Not only Politano but also Kvara does a lot of defensive work. We just saw that during the Tuesdays game.
Fonseca is responsible for a lot of things that are not going well at Milan this season, but Leao being awful is on Leao, not on Fonseca.
Leao was bad last season too under his daddy Pioli.
Milan under Fonseca plays with the same set up as they did under Pioli. Leao plays in exactly the same position. Nothing has changed. It’s not like Fonseca is playing Leao out of position. The only thing that Fonseca asks from Leao is to put effort during games instead of behaving like a diva. Leao doesn’t produce enough offensively to be granted freedom defensively. He isn’t making up for his lack of effort on defense with goals on offense. In contrast to him, Pulisic is giving a 100% effort on defense and produces on offense.
People should go and watch Real Madrid game vs Borussia Dortmund and see how an actual great player Vini plays and how much effort he puts in defending. Scored a hat trick and defended. Leao neither scores nor defends.
Ssssshhhh. No,no,no. It’s fonseca fault that poor leao isn’t playing well. And the management is at fault for making him feels uncomfortable and unimportant.
Poor leao. Ima send him a gift basket with a supportive card. Maybe that will lift his spirits a bit.
I would love to sell leao for 80-100m but I already know we are gonna replace him with a useless bum who has worse work rates and worse consistency like chiesa