A report has stated that Christian Pulisic deserved more respect after the penalty debacle that took place during last night’s defeat against Fiorentina.
As Daniele Longo writes for Calciomercato.com, Paulo Fonseca is ‘not a coach who likes to hide in front of cameras and journalists’ and he was ‘since, frank and direct since his first day at Milan’. Last night, after the defeat, he stated: “I’m p*ssed off, the taker is Pulisic. It must never happen again.”
The message that lingers, Longo states, is ‘that of a squad that does not listen to its coach, or even better, of a coach who does not have control of the dressing room’ The cooling break at the Stadio Olimpico with Theo Hernández and Rafael Leão hinted at it, and last night reinforced it.
What Tammy Abraham did is ‘absolutely unacceptable’ as he ‘got the ball from Tomori, he pushed Pulisic who was the designated penalty taker away in a bad way and then shot badly, putting his personal success before that of the team’.
Pulisic has five goals and two assists in seven games. He is ‘probably the only Milan player who never makes a mistake in his attitude and preparation for the match’, and sometimes he ‘may even play less well, but he always manages to be useful for the team’.
The USA international ‘is an introverted man who likes to work hard and talk little’. He doesn’t have the personality of Mike Maignan or the boldness of Theo and Florenzi but ‘he is a leader and as such he must be respected’.
What happened yesterday ‘was a clear lack of respect’, the journalist adds, before concluding: “For his part, Pulisic can and must take on more responsibility to become the leader of a group that must come together quickly.”
First nail in the coffin for Abraham.
Abraham is a striker who can’t score, and screwed up this match. No way Milan will buy him at the end of the season.
Yeah you said it. He couldn’t even get on the pitch for Roma. We should have bought Dovbyk.
End Tammy’s loan early
We need Camarda on pitch not bench.
A captain should be an extension of the coach on the pitch and example for the rest of the teammates to follow. Someone who will hold teammates accountable.
Milan captain is Theo Hernández.
That’s all you need to know. That’s your problem right there.
He set the example to Tomori and Abraham that they shouldn’t follow the coaches instructions by wanting to take the penalty on his birthday so he can score and post on TikTok after the game.
Remember the example he set along his buddy Leao during the cooling break in the Lazio game?
It’s a travesty that he is even allowed to wear a captains armband. But meatheads have been calling for him to be that captain, because he fights with Dumfries during the derbies even though Dumfries outplays him in almost every derby.
He wanted to leave this past summer, pimped himself out, but no tricks showed up with any money to aquire his services.
Milan should think twice before offering him a new contract for the money he wants.
Pulisic needs to speak up and stand up for himself. Otherwise you get walked on. But he is the clear winner of this fiasco as apparently no one else can score a PK in this team.
There seems to be camps within this team. Chelsea/English boys stick together? Fik decides Tammy needs a PK and no one objects? Where’s the captain? Oh that’s right – he did the same thing earlier and is voiceless now.
Fonseca and Ibra need to reestablish the order on the team. The bigger concern is a big lack of leadership – they would be wise to assign new leadership and make Mike the captain, and maybe Morata the backup – most experienced player at the moment.
That wasn’t meant to be a reply, Z. Sorry.
This isn’t the Wild West..it’s a professional football club. How unprofessional would it then look if Pulisic started arguing back…so we want Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer at San Siro?
Schmuck has been here 5 minutes l, missed a hatful of chances and then demands the ball off Pulisic….end the f@ckers loan now or ban him interallly.
It’s time for Baresi to step out of his honourary role and get him in the dressing room….
We signed two strikers who can’t really score…Tammy should have sealed the derby and scored at least twice in the last three weeks, and Morata albeit great at the teamwork and the workrate yadder yadder isn’t clutch either.
I agree that Pulisic should not argue back on the pitch. Players should do what the coach says. If X does not do that, instead of Pulisic arguing back, X should be taught a lesson from the coach&management.
This. 100%.
Making Morata vice captain or Mike captain is adding fuel to fire, you fans and journalist are part of the problem, one lucky performance from Abraham and couple from Morata, you guys already started calling them leaders, this is the problem, Tammy that’s a bench player, who couldn’t score to save his life is now good for a whole Milan, too bad
Morata has been on top behavior on and off the field since he came to Milan
Making him Captain would be the right decision because he’s clearly the most experienced player we have, and when he’s valued by others that’s when you get the absolute best out of him
Pulisic 5 Goals, 2 assists, excellent penalty track record, designated pen taker.
That is all the talking that needs to be done. If more is needed there are other problems.
Exactly.
If there is a Chelsea boys click Pulisic would be part of it no?
I think Gabbia is the Captain. He is local and can represent the club well.
The fact he is not French or English or any of the click groups is valuable, he is a Milanista. Also he has the physical presence to impose his will.
Hopefully he will take Pavlovic under his wing in order to improve him and to have the biggest mofo on the team as his back up
Gabbia is no leader. Maybe he can grow into one. But he needs to learn.
I believe he has been very good organising the defense and making himself heard. His goal in the derby was the goal of a champion.
He has years of history with the club, his family are lifelong members.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man
Yes but that sounds like Calabria 2.0. I would love for Gabbia to become a Milan captain, but I want his leadership to merit it. I don’t want him to default into it like Davide.
Tammy and Tomori are English and have known each other since they were kids. This is actually on Tomori for giving Tammy the ball and the okay to screw Pulisic over.
Yeah but Tammy even said that Pulisic is the pk taker a few games back so he coulda just gave it over to Pulisic. It’s on both Tammy and Tomori. Drop them both for a few games.
More than that. Their parents are both Nigerian origin.
Ruben Loftus Cheek is biracial, his mother is British and his father from Guyana. He also went through the Chelsea Academy as a child, but doesn’t seem to have the same sort of blood bond that Tomori and Abraham have.
RLC also very introverted, like Pulisic.
Of the Chelsea boys, Pulisic was closest to Giroud, the two had a great working relationship at Chelsea.
Pulisic’s time with Abraham at Chelsea always seemed a bit touchy to me. Abraham never gave off great vibes around Pulisic. I think he was jealous that a white American guy came into Chelsea and got this huge contract.
Abraham wanted that same contract, but Tuchel hated him (even more than he disliked Pulisic) and flat out benched him, calling him lazy, and ultimately he was more or less forced out, and went to Roma because Mourinho pushed for his signing and to give him the contract that he wanted (or close to it – it never came close to what Pulisic was making at Chelsea)
More specifically I think its a Chelsea Academy clique
Absolutely Mike should be the captain, no discussion or questions asked.
“Pulisic needs to speak up and stand up for himself. ”
Nope. Didn’t you read this: “The USA international ‘is an introverted man who likes to work hard and talk little’.”
Why should he try to be something he’s not? He should be himself as it’s clearly working. He’s a teamplayer. Unlike Theo & Abraham. The others will let Tammy know how they feel. It’s not Pulisic’s job.
Morata should be the captain
Pulisic the vice-captain
Mike is too sensitive to be captain
Well said
Don’t blame the young kids who aren’t behaving when their parents are right there. Theo is our best player, and our number one asset. He’s just not a captain
The capain should be Alvaro Morata ffs
The rest of the team are a bunch of losers
Morata has shown a lot of passion since he was transferred and giving him the captain’s armband would make him raise his own standard even higher
Complete revam required….
Fire our tactical genius first
Sell all most all the players except Puli, Gabbia , Calab and Theo(play him as LAM) and buy Tonali back
Torr
Calab, Gabbia, Bart, Jim
Zero, Tonali
Puli, Lib, Theo
Mora
Who’s the genius that starts Tomori and Abraham every game?
Do we even need Morata and Abraham on the field at the same time? Now and then it might work but clearly, all the time is not working out for Milan atm.
Abraham is still a big question mark. Not sure why many were calling to sign him on permanently. I maintain we need to see what he does in the full season. But I agree that there’s absolutely no need to be starting the same players every game with the same setup.
He has not learnt to shoot the ball properly yet. That is the main reason why Chelsea sold him out. Unless the coach can help him fix that issue, he is not up to the standards of a top Serie A team.
That is true and i think thats why Roma gave up on him too, his finishing is not good.
he is very poor, twice he has been faced with the goalkeeper to beat, and twice he failed to score, he is no good
I showed Turtle’s m0m’s rear a lack of respect last night when I punished her for creating him.
You do realize when the lights came back on it was actually your own mother, right?
Most likely just a wet dream with him all alone in his bed.
do you want to sell maignan?
This is an embarrassment. Theo should never wear the armband again cares more about himself than the team. I’ve been a fan of Abraham since he’s been here, but where does he get the balls to do that? You just got here, now you are going to step in and take the ball away from the guy who has been our best player for the last 2 seasons and defy the coach’s wishes. F off man. Both he and Theo should be benched for this. Pulisic has too much class to make a scene on the pitch and start fighting over the ball and these clowns take advantage of that.
Well said. Pulisic isn’t going to make a scene.
Agreed. He chose not to make a scene that would have impacted the squad badly. THAT is putting the team first. Something Theo, Tammy, and even Rafa know nothing about.
This. 100%
The next PK is going to place a lot of unnecessary pressure on Puli. If he misses everyone will leap to defend Theo, Timori and Tammy.
Quite right.
point of correction Pulisic isn’t the best player but one of the best, if I have t pick I will say Leao
Most people agree Leao is the most talented in the squad but Pulisic numbers match Leao’s and Pulisic’s hard work and attitude makes it easy to root for the guy. I agree Leao is better but if Pulisic puts up these numbers for a few more seasons I’d say Pulisic is a more complete player.
I’d say that Pulisic has already shown that he is a more complete player. He can play in any of the attacking positions; RW, LW, ST, CAM. He tracks back and at least tries to help the defense. He has enormous work ethics and is always trying his best. He has a 100% PK conversion rate; never missed one.
He is a class act, and his number of goals and assists this early season, following the last season that was his most productive in his professional life, reflect his quality.
I love Leão and often defend him here (although I love Puli even more), but Rafa can only play LW, is a disaster as a ST, and has trouble tracking back and helping the defense. He is also irregular in his work ethics, unlike Puli who always tries his best.
Yes, Rafa is hugely talented, but Puli is the more complete player.
OK, Rafa, Theo and Maignan are the other 3 very talented Milan players (Morata has the potential to join this elite group), but Puli also adds to his own mix, his nice and easygoing personality; he is never (or very rarely) involved in any scandal, while Theo and Rafa have voluntarily or involuntarily added to the turmoil that Milan is going through. Maignan for no fault of his own seems to be made of glass and is very injury-prone, missing large chunks of a season. So, of the four elite players, I’d say that Puli has been the most helpful one, for Milan.
Puli’s talent is being recognized now, with big clubs starting to plan on making high financial offers to Milan, to sign him. I do hope that because he is American and adds a lot to the popularity of Milan in the United States (and to marketing), the owner who is also American will never authorize a sale, even if the offers are tempting. I hope that Puli stays with us for several years.
The same Pulisic who told the referees to celebrate with the other team during the Copa America?
What does this have to do with what happened at the Fiorentina match?
Who cares? This has nothing to do with bad reffing.
I actually liked that. Puli for a change was assertive and confronted a very bad and biased ref. And what he did at Copa America has nothing to do with what he does at Milan.
By the way, that outburst was uncharacteristic. Puli has been the captain of the USMNT for several years, and he is respectful to the refs in his hole, and is respected by the refs.
But sometimes, enough is enough, and he exploded against the biased ref in that game. He is just human and people can’t be 100% cool-headed in all situations.
See, Puli is cool-headed and being hot-headed is an exception for him. Theo is hot-headed and being cool-headed is an exception for him.
That’s why I think Puli is a lot more captain material than Theo. However he doesn’t speak good Italian and he is not very assertive, so, he is not ready to be Milan’s captain. But if we were to chose only between these two in a hypothetical, I’d prefer to see Puli as the captain rather than Theo.
Tammy is a flop
Abraham had good work ethic in his first games. But he probably still views Pulisic as the injured newcomer at Chelsea who couldn’t get consistent time because of Tuchel’s moronic shuffling of players all the time.
But Pulisic is healthy, is much improved, and is the new sheriff in town. Abraham’s lack of respect is disgusting.
There ARE little cliques on teams — players who always pass the ball only to each other. I’m also seeing a bit of that at Milan. Pulisic, on the other hand, will find whoever is open. Abraham should apologize.
Abraham should be on the bench, he is no good
Absolutely
And play who? Injured Jovic? 16-year-old Camarda who can hack it in the Serie C either?
So Tomori keeps proving Southgate right.
Tammy and Tomori- all they have is work rate. Apart from that, they have nothing. Milan really needs to incoporate their youth players. Forget about their struggle in Serie C, that team was completely new. Slotting in a few yout players would be a lot easier.
To me, Tammy Abraham is meant to play as a defensive midfielder. He is strong, energetic and fights for every ball. He is wasting is natural talent.
Can he play right back?
you are 100% correct.
i dont know if tammy has been that good as some fans has said apart from the venezia game he hasnt done much and every player rating from him is ” he came on with energy on the field and work hard and did some dribbles”
I’m reminded of a quote by a famous wise man “this team has six captains”. Great leadership and organization on the field indeed. F’ing Tomori and Tammy acting like little kids.
Abraham and tomori should be gone two foolish fools taking bromance to the pitch
Maignan is not a captain either. misses too many games for one thing.
During Pulisic’s stay at Chelsea, César Azpilicueta was captain. I remember distinctly a game toward the end of Chelsea’s winning run when someone (forgive me, I forgot who) grabbed the ball to take a penalty. It was not the person chosen by the coach. Azpi ran to the player with the ball, yelled at him, took the ball, and gave it to the proper player. Azpi was a proper captain. Theo clearly wanted a goal for his birthday: that is not a proper captain. Tomori gives the ball to his friend: that is not a proper leader. Pulisic is introverted–that will not change. However, on a TEAM, it shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t help he’s an American. How could an American be the best field player on an historically great European club!? But he is.
A final point: Fonseca wants to get the support of Leao and Theo; instead, he must demand the players support the right way. Once he loses the locker room the season is gone.
Lol it was Tammy that Azpi took the ball from at Chelsea to give to Jorginho, the designated pen taker.
Hasn’t learned, has he?
Tomori had been the problem of Milan for the past 2 Seasons. Hope Fonseca realize that earlier before he end up like pioli.
Azpi at right back! He looks like he could play into his 40s
Very well said. I think Fonseca has already lost the locker room. Once more, in a post-game press conference he threw the players under the bus. Yes, the players were at fault, but you don’t say it to the press; you say it to the players behind closed doors (and you take disciplinary action if necessary). Publicly berating the players is what Mourinho did, and he lost Roma’s locker room, and they started to perform horribly because they didn’t want to play for him.
I think something similar is already happening at Milan, and it is very concerning. It is for THIS reason, more than for any tactical reason, that I want Fonseca gone.
It’s not because we lost the Fiorentina game that I want Fonseca gone. When Fonseca said in a post-game conference that he didn’t know why the players disobeyed him, he lost a lot more than one game. As an Italian TV commentator said, Fonseca scored an own goal when he said that.
Nah, he actually did the right thing
Theo, Tomori and Abraham had it coming
The latter 2 are garbage
Theo is only good offensively and rarely ever tracks back in time
Fonseca should be sacked but these players should be sold at this point, yes even Theo
USA can’t produce proper footballers.
This is the prejudice of European and South America fans.
No one can play basketball like Americans.
USA fans once thought this way but were proven wrong.
Pulisic is in the process of proving people wrong!
By playing at an exceptional level is the only way he will get the respect that wasn’t shown him yesterday.
And without the Americans those English players would be speaking German! That’s a fact…
No, the Germans would be speaking Russian.
The stereotype still stands. The English could say Pulisic is one in a generation like Tim Howard but not a recurring thing. Like the US can say the French might produce a great basketball player but its just one and after him there won’t be another for a while. Just look at Argentina and Brazil in the early 2000s they had a few good basketball players and now they are scrubs at the bottom of the bucket.
The whole American thing is very forced.
Pulisic is of Croatian ancestry so of course he kicks a$$ at football.
Honestly it’s cool to see people sticking up for Pulisic. That isn’t something that would have happened at Chelsea. I don’t doubt he will get his fair chance next time.
Italians actually just judge the footballing ability of the players, they don’t care as much from where the player is from like the English do.
That is not true. In this very forum I’ve seen Italian posters discriminating against foreigners and strongly advocating for Italian players being signed by Milan, even when those players were of inferior quality, and these posters have phrased their opinions with words that were clearly xenophobic.
I’ve always said in response to these posters that I want my Milan to sign GOOD players, regardless of where they are from, because this is club football, not national team football. Sure, I’d love to see Italians shine at Milan (I’m very excited for Gabbia’s first call-up to the Azzurri), but I wouldn’t support signing a mediocre Italian player over a good foreign player, for the simple fact that the former is Italian.
By the way, I’m Italian.
Milan is an Italian club. So of course Italian fans will want some more Italian players.
I’m not Italian and I think there should be more Italians at Milan, especially nowadays which I think the new generation is better than the previous failed ones.
There was no reason to sell Daniel Maldini after he performed so well in friendlies. Why sell him but keep Chuk?
What about Colombo who scored 2 past City? Now he’s kicking ass at Empoli scoring 3 goals in 6 matches while Tammy is stinking up the place.
Come on dude, at this point Italian players are getting discriminated upon by Milan.
I have said several times that I preferred to keep Colombo and not renew Jovic’s contract. But it’s not because Colombo is Italian (well, that does help with the European lists) but because I believe that Colombo is a better striker than Jovic.
As for Daniel Maldini, I always felt him to be unconvincing. People say he’s doing well at Monza. Well, Monza is 19th with only 4 points in 7 games. So, I guess Daniel is better than other Monza players… big deal.
Stop posting!! I can’t agree with all your posts. It’s too tiring. Good points everyone.
I would put Calabria back in the starting lineup and make him the captain from now on. I think Fonseca is failing as a man manager with Leao and Theo, but it’s a total set up. We hired a manager who wants to run a high energy counter pressing style and then tell him his best player is going to be a super talented but enigmatic winger who does not like to play any defense. I’m still 50-50 on who is here in January, Fonseca or Leao. Unfortunately, I think it will be Fonseca who leaves first. It’s hard to build a team around players who aren’t leaders. That’s what we have.
I would demote Calabria to Milan Futuro ballboy and leave him there until his contract runs out
i agree with you f#ck emerson he is useless when calabria comes back give him a new contract and make him capten sell emerson in winter or summer and buy a good rb and calabria could be a good backup
F*ck no
Calabria should be the first one to gtfo
Who is worse emerson or calabria emerson is worse we sell emerson Asap give calabria a new contract and get a better rb emerson is just a big mistake i would say jiminez or even leao is better defensive than him