Paulo Fonseca is no longer secure in his position at AC Milan, and the Portuguese head coach is prepared to take risks once again.
It is difficult to know exactly how strong Fonseca’s position within the club actually is, considering it seemingly shifts with each passing game week. However, after a loss that effectively killed Milan’s Scudetto hopes, the management informed him that he was no longer fully safe.
For this reason, he is going to fall back to old habits and take risks with his selections.
This evening, Milan News have reported that is prepared to make four changes to the side that lost to Napoli in midweek, with half of them coming in defence.
Mike Maignan will keep his position, as will Malick Thiaw, but Filippo Terracciano will be shifted to right-back to allow Theo Hernandez back into the side, which is a bold decision in itself. Additionally, Fikayo Tomori will start ahead of Strahinja Pavlovic.
In midfield, Youssouf Fofana is the only survivor, with Tijjani Reijnders coming in to support him in the double pivot, and they will be sat behind Christian Pulisic. This means that Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor will support Alvaro Morata from the wide areas.
Once again, Rafael Leao will remain on the bench, even after earlier reports had suggested that he was in line to return this weekend.
As always, our pre-match preview is available for the full rundown of the fixture!
Milan predicted XI vs. Monza (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Terracciano, Thiaw, Tomori, Theo; Reijnders, Fofana; Chukwueze, Pulisic, Okafor; Morata
Fonseca needs to get tf out of this club. IVE HAD ENOUGH. Benching Leão for this many games should be a crime atp
Leao is a bench warmer for Pulisic. Go make CP11 some Tea while youre at it rafa, chop chop now boy.
This Leao situation is creating unnecessary drama. What is wrong with bringing Okafor in at the 65 minute mark? He’s shown he has done well in that situation. And just like last week, asking Leao to come in off the bench and save you when he is not happy about being benched is not going to work. Leao is the better player. Period. Okafor has looked good but it’s mostly off the bench. Like Jovic, some players when you play them from the start just don’t have the same success. Not to mention this is going to hurt Leao’s value if they do want to sell him.
bruh leao’s attitudes is bullish, he thinks he is the only man in the club , he is unambitious player , look at vinicius jr. he track back and help the defence bt leao doesnt .
Not sure if “bold” is the right word. Our play, standings, spirit, body language, put it whatever, suggests choices are quite stupid at the moment.
What exactly is Leao’s crime to be at the bench, which right thinking coach will bench his game changer? You have to make him work for you as a coach, been on the bench will hurt Milan more, these guy should be fired. Period
Start Leão and if he isn’t giving you what you want then take him off. No one thinks Okafor is better than Leão. This is all a sad struggle session to prove who is in control of the dressing room.
Fonseca like a man w nothing to lose
If bold he would start Zeroli Bart Liberali or Camadra or atleast give a chance to them during match.
I think we need to revert back to 2 strikers up front. If Abraham is not ready maybe play Okafor and Morata and you can play Leao too
With Theo instead of Teracciano. at the moment this is the best 11 we have.
Okafor needs to play games to get back in shape. If we have the real Okafor, we will see good things from him.
Media already talking about Leao leaving… Milan would be stupid if they allow this nonsense to repeat. Piatek was good and flying high until Gimpaolo came along with his stupid philosophy. Now we are seeing the same thing with fonesca.
Giving Okafor more minutes is all good but he has shown himself to a much better sub then starter while Leao is the opposite.
Start Leao, then bring in Okafor in the 65th minute when the defender start getting more tired and Leao helps even less in defense.
I hope Terraciano plays really well as RB so we see more of him there over Emerson.
Lets face it, management scewed up big signing Emerson and Abraham över Buongiorno. Would had been so worth it (a scudetto chance difference) to cough up another 20 mil for that.
I love Leao but at this point he thinks he is bigger than the club with his attitude, Fonseca is benching him for a reason, Milan cannot rely on Leao’s brilliance for an entire season (it was shown last year we finished second but for the last two seasons we were never in contention for the league). He needs to evolve and become better in many areas especially when making the right decisions and in terms of his defensive game. He is not Ronaldo or Messi he doesn’t get a pass just cause he scored 15goals and 15 assist’s. He appears to just be throwing his toys out the cot cause Fonseca didn’t put his arm around him and tell him it’s going to be ok, he will never be Balon d or with this mentality he can forget it now
Leao thinks he is a irreplaceable.
Fonseca thinks he is a top coach along with Carletto, Pep, and Klopp.
Clearly this coach can not handle a big team with bigger star ego. Leao and Theo have been okay with us before this PE teacher take the job at Milan.
Fonseca is a very bad coach, what a useless coach if Milan don’t sack him I pray Leao leaves to a better team and I will never support Milan.
All the best with that bro, Fonseca may not be a top coach but ask yourself, what happened to the team commitment and performance after beating Inter in the Derby. They don’t have the same attitude and that’s killing Milan. Whether u start from bench or u start the game, ur attitude should be the same. If Leao thinks he will do better at Barcelona or Mancity with this lackadaisical attitude then good for him to dream. Milan would bounce back but not with this attitude from all the players. A coach may fail tactically but the reaction of the players at least gives some hope but not this Milan players.
Fonseca not just lost tactically, but he lost the dressing room as well.
So we are willing to risk the entire season, alienate our best and those with the highest resale value players over a coach who has not accomplished anything in this league and is a below average coach??? This is the strategy of the great Zlatan, Moncada and Furlani??? It’s not just Leao he doesn’t get along with, it’s Theo and others as well. All this DRAMA for FONSECA?????? Are you fkn kiddin me? Last I checked Fonseca isn’t Pep, Klopp or Carletto – it’s Fonseca a below average coach who hasn’t won anything. This is the man we have entrusted our “ambitious project” too??? This is the genius hire of Management???? Really?? Take away the Inter game and we haven’t beaten anyone – Venezia Lecce, Udinese and a 10-man Brugge?? Wow. What a record!!😂😂😂😂 Fonseca is on fire! I mean if we beat Monza then for sure we should keep him as manager cause that proves how good a coach he is 🤡😂🤮🤪
What a fkn disgrace. Ya let’s use Leao as the SCAPEGOAT to mask Fonseca’s shortcomings as a coach – so we all convenient forget his tactics are wrong, formations are wrong and team choices are wrong. Okafor is a good player but he’s not a starter – he doesn’t even get called up consistently by his national team. And the solution is to bench Leao for Oak against a team (Napoli) that Leao destroys each season?? Brilliant. DISTRACTIONS to avoid what most of us already know – Fonseca is trash and should be replaced immediately. Ok so if we beat Monza with our Leao what does that prove??? Fonseca was right? LOLOLO. Ya sure like we are going to win a Scudetto or qualify for UCL with Leao sitting the bench. Yup sure.
Great job Management. We fired M&M for this???????
What a disgrace