AC Milan have had a difficult start to life in the 2024/25 Serie A season, picking up a point from the first six available. Following the poor opening, Franco Ordine has spoken about a possible lack of respect between the squad and the new coach.
Teething problems are always expected when change occurs, and in football, this is no different. However, when a lot of things are largely the same, the level of teething should not be vast. Unfortunately for Milan, it has been so far.
In pre-season, the Rossoneri looked superb. Not only did the team seem to be understanding Paulo Fonseca’s demands, but playing to them, understanding the nuances being asked of them. However, this has not translated to the Serie A season so far.
Every positive sign from the American Tour seems a lightyear away. Pressing which was once done with meaning and aggression looks poor and timid. Passing which was once incisive and controlled now seems sloppy. Overall, it looks like two different sides.
Of course, there is time to rectify things, but with questions being asked about the Portuguese coach’s ability already, Fonseca’s time could be running out before it has even really begun.
Ordine spoke to Milan News offering his verdict on the early stages of the coach’s tenure, and questioned whether the Milan team have harmony within the squad.
Did you expect this performance in Parma?
“Obviously I didn’t expect it. For two reasons: first, because of a very encouraging pre-season. And then because I imagined that, after the clamorous mistakes in terms of defensive organisation seen against Torino, there would have been an opportunity during the week to tidy up and put things right, especially the understandings.”
“Napoli also made a mistake on their debut, taking three pats from Verona but the following week, in their second game, they didn’t make a mistake. This means that Conte made himself heard, understood and got the change of gear.”
Do you think Fonseca was unable to make himself heard in the dressing room?
“I’m not saying he wasn’t able because such a professional should be respected. I say that he was not listened to immediately.”
The technician is the first to climb into the dock. But is he really the problem of this Milan team?
“If we think that the problem is only Fonseca we have got the analysis wrong. The real point is: is there absolute harmony between the football that Fonseca wants to achieve and the willingness of the team group?”
More was expected from players regarded as technical leaders and more…
“I contest the negativity of the judgements on Leao’s account. He is becoming a kind of scapegoat, when he did things in the game that could have brought other results.”
There are four days left until the end of the market. Do you think more action is needed?
“I fiercely contest those who think Milan has made a bad market, because the four signings are all of quality. And I contest those who say Milan need a fourth striker, when they already have Morata, Jovic and Okafor.”
Where to intervene then?
“The point lies in the game strategy. If Pioli’s Milan end the season with 99 goals scored and 59 conceded it’s clear that you have to focus on the defensive phase. And if you get turnovers like that and counter-attacks like that there is something wrong.”
Fonseca made amends after Parma, also talking about collective and individual mistakes…
“If there is sharing and there is fierce motivation, after a swerve you have to get back on the high road while Milan continued to swerve.’
And to think that Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona were beaten in pre-season. How is it possible to change so quickly?
“Only one rational explanation: in pre-season, there were players who arrived from day one, who were not sure they would play. There were no national players or new signings, those who were introduced had great motivation. I highlight two of them: Saelemaekers and Chukwueze.”
Fonseca was not exactly greeted with enthusiasm among the fans. It was necessary for him to score points, possibly convincingly. The opposite is happening…
“The scenario in front is even more worrying. If it doesn’t go well against Lazio either, the picture becomes alarming.”
Is Fonseca already at risk?
“It would be very serious if he was. It would mean questioning after only three weeks a choice made a month and a half ago.”
How much more time will he be given?
“Time he has none, he has already expired at Parma.”
Do you remember such complicated starts to the season?
“Giampaolo’s but there were also a few other handicap starts to the season but there was great trust in the technical leadership to put the team back on the right track.”
How do you assess Ibrahimovic’s role and his performance?
“I liked Ibra because of the way he presented himself and managed the entry into his role. What he needs to understand is the communication aspect: Ibra is no longer the champion but Ibra is the manager. I’m not saying he has to shut down social media but be more shrewd, yes.”
Can’t expect a full-court press when Leao and Theo are doing Fook all in the defensive phases.
We looked great in Pre-season because all the kids from Futuro trying to break into the 1st team and all the fringe players were trying hard to impress the coach.
How are you expecting to play gen-gen pressing with our lazy left flank? It’s 9 v 11!
Add RLC to the mix and it’s 8 v 11. The crazy high line and the way Fonseca spoke about his surprise in the team’s play compared to the week of practice may mean that he really doesn’t have control over the squad b/c they have a deep, almost subconscious patter of behavior and you may need to bench some starters to break up the vibe. This means Theo, Leao, and RLC need to sit. Leaving 1 or 2 defenders to defend from the opponents half looks like a Sunday league configuration and I can’t believe that a coach (other than maybe Leonardo lol) would insist on playing like that, especially in Serie A.
And the reward for those kids was to be sent to Serie C!
To the ironically named Futuro.
These kids won’t have Futuri at Milan.
We’ll just keep signing players to replace them.
Better than back to primavera to play with kids
Futuro is just another delaying tactic, excuse for some more wheelin’ and dealin’.
The new coach needs to establish authority by benching underperformers like Calabria and addressing any insubordination, including from players like Theo and Leão.
love our stars but i agree with this. we need players to give 100%
And that is where the problem lies. But when these players have no equal on the bench it is difficult for the coach to make those decisions.
In other words, who can we play if Theo is underperforming and has no competition in the team?
This is also a problem management needed to address and they neglected it because for 3 seasons now we haven’t signed a good player who can replace theo. So even if he’s playing badly he will still most likely start the game. Smh
Only Theo doesn’t have an equal on the bench, matter fact there is no one behind Theo.
There are players on the bench that can replace Leao. Pulisic is a LW, Saelemakers is a LW, Okafor is a LW.
There are players that can replace RLC. Liberali might be young but at least he isn’t lazy.
I’ll rather see less talented players or younger players than lazy players.
I would try Alex Jimenez and alternate with Theo.
He may not be as mature as Theo, but physicaly and play-style wise he seems the closest to him.
What we need is not a replacement, but someone to light a fire under Theo’s arse to make him work as hard as he used to.
Yes, but how will Milan score if Leao isn’t playing? Honestly? Which gameplay is going to bring a goal exactly? Did you watch the games? You can’t bench the only player that can make a difference solo while standing around the opposition half and passing the ball back and that is the tactics. Milan has been playing like this for 4 years.
One again you reveal you didn’t follow last season. Milan can’t score without Leao? Yeah. Pulisic & Giroud had almost the same contributions as Leao. Right side produced roughly the same amount of goals as the left. It’s not as Leao-dependant as you claim/think. Plus, Leao contributed a lot to opponents goals too. Unlike e.g. Pulisic who ran his socks off to defend too.
“You can’t bench the only player that can make a difference solo while standing around the opposition half and passing the ball back and that is the tactics.”
Sure you can. Especially when the attitude is lacking.
What exactly did Calabria do wrong?
Ever since fan favourites Musah and Reijnders rocked up our midfield has collapsed.
We went from having one of the strongest midfields in the league to the weakest.
Musah said himself he didn’t know what he was doing but I’ve finally worked out the issue with Reijnders.
He’s too much of an all rounder and lacks any dominant strength.
He’a good at a few things – dribbling, passing, shooting, but he’s not amazing enough to justify his inability to defend, and his poor positioning in defence and movement in attack.
As a result Reijnders really offers nothing significant in midfield.
His poor defence positioning is made worse by the fact that he lacks a midfield partner who can do the job.
So basically when Milan are defending they have no midfielders covering either the centre or the flanks leaving our defence completely exposed.
This has been going on since Krunic was frozen out last season.
He was our last midfielder with a sense of positioning.
I think you watch different match with me . In second goal tiji run infront ACM penalty box to help defense while 2 our full back out of position ( theo & emerson) . In first goal it is just 2 minute play ,midfield cannot do much , it is pure man to man marking the scape goat for first goal are calabria & theo . Rating also confirm that, theo rating higher than calabria because he got lucky assist . If calabria continue to play like vs torino & parma then most likely ACM will release him in 2025 also with florenzi ( ACL injury and contract expire 2025) . Jimenez & Terraciano will replace both calabria & florenzi
I don’t exactly pay too much attention to ratings….
SempreMilan and the rest of the media are all on the same ‘Calabria Out’,’ Disrupt, Disrupt, Disrupt’ page.
As for Reijnders running and indeed Musah tackling are indications of their poor defensive positioning,
There’s no getting away from the fact that since Krunic was frozen out our midfield has basically been bypassed both in attack but most problematically in defence by the other team.
And play Emerson? Lmao no thanks, if anything I’m glad we got Emerson. Although it was money wasted, he’ll make us appreciate Calabria.
See this was the problem in pre season. He had guys who haven’t really featured for milan much so it was like a new team understanding his philosophy and actually looked brilliant. Then all the regulars start coming from vacation and don’t have time to learn anything so they play what they know. We probably would have performed better with the players that were with us from the beginning of training.
BUT, if these players can adapt to the way fonseca wants them to then they would look really good. Fonsecas task is to try and do it immediately
Well said. The worrying thing for me is that Fonseca seems to just keep repeating the same mistakes from the past – Salad at LB, RLC at CAM, Jovic alone, high line with lackluster press, kamikaze defending… The list is endless… but it is only match day two so there is time.
I was saying this all through pre-season.
Pre-season matches are pointless because the players who play are usually sold or frozen out before the end of the transfer window to make room for the new signings that arrive at the end without any proper pre-season.
It’s the same every season and is made worse when the tournaments are on as the core players return late.
Fortunately most teams do this so have the same self-imposed handicap.
I’ve said from day one I don’t like loftus in the attacking mid role. It’s either we switch to a 4 3 3 or he stays as a bench player to cover both the pivot and attacking
When you bring a coach who finished 4th in France with Lille and expect him to fight for 1st place in Italy , he lost 3rd place in last game week vs Nice and finished behind Brest, so they have to play CL qualif. now. He is doing just as I expected here. Top 5 will be nice.
His menagerial stats:
Lille -1,79 points per game
Roma – 1,76
Shakhtar – 2,37
Braga – 1,82
Ferreira – 1,38
Porto – 1,95
Ferreira” – 1,93
Aves – 1,70
In Serie A i expect something about 1,8 ppg by his Milan.
Meanwhile, Motta is 2-0 at Juventus. Oh well.
Remember how people here on SM called Motta “unproven” and “a gamle”?
I do
It’s always a gamble with most of the new coaches. There are just a few where you know what you get. It;s better to get a promising coach like Motta then someone like Fonseca who has had many clubs and didn’t really impress at one of them.
I don’t normally worry too much about stats (because football is unpredictable) but those aren’t that reassuring…
Neither was Pioli’s stats or history. Fonseca deserves at least a month until the verdict. And he’d better improve a lot and quick!!!
First of all Milan has no concrete captain in the squad. Leadership is missing. Calabria is no captain material nor is Theo. I would give the armband to Mike. Second, Fofana needs to start from the next game. Milan should switch to a 4-3-3 system immediately. Third, RLC should start from the bench to get used to a new role which should not be AM but rather CM. It should be Reijnders, Fofana, Bennacer/Musah. Fofana as a DM so Reijnders can play his attacking football as he did in the Euros. The quality is there but the system is wrong.
It has been only two games. It is way too early to look at these two games as a crisis. The team should listen to Fonseca. I belive in him and so should the players.
I see you GIAMPAOLO. The champion of UKRAINE!!! JAJAJAJJA JAJAJAJJA!! 🤢🤮🇵🇹🤬
Definitely,i will consider to call liberati, this kid played well during the preseason including some no call starters that really played well during the us tour. At least give them a chance to play some games, i dont like leao, lazy soccer player, dont press and defend well. if i’m milan management i wii start thinking to sell Leao next season who i think after so many years with the club, was babysitting too much. he remind sometimes the lazy baloteli. put him in the bench to crush his ego and his horrible perfomance period. No one is bigger than AC Milan.
When players are not performing, what happened to the substitutions?
It has changed nothing and worst players are not replaced, parma find empty spaces all the 90mins which shows the lack of changing tactics to cover the problems. There are always 6 or 7players behind the ball while Parma is counter attacking while 2cb’s alone cannot defend for 90mins.
There is problem with specific players and there were many problems with tactics to correct, identify whom to replace.
We cannot have Pioli 0.5 as 1.0 hve given better results than this.
I hope we don’t have to bring back Pioli to save ourself just like 5years ago
3more matches to decide the fate of Fonseca
Maignan
thiao,pavlovic,tomori
salemakers. bartesaghi
benancer rijnders
pulisic. chukwueze
okafor
Juventus is winning led by youth players that we have never heard of.
There Is a different energy with them and it isn’t just because of the coach. They also got rid of some overrated, overpaid underperforming players, like Chiesa, Kaen, Rabiot, Kostic, Alex Sandro, Szczesny and replacec them with young and hungry players from their u23 team. Cabal and the GK Di Gregorio are the only ones of their new signings playing. They all run and they all put 💯 effort. Totally different from Milan. And this is not just because of Fonseca. What we saw in the first 2 games was happening last 2 seasons.
Milan should follow their example. Time for some overrated, overpaid underperforming players to hit the road. Cash in while they still hold some value or you will have to give them away like Chiesa for 10 m plus bonuses.
I’m watching their match against Verona and was thinking the same. They still got some of the same starters from last year. Bremer, Gatti, Cambiasso, Fagioli, Locatelli, Yildiz and Vlahovic. They started with two Next Gen players and subbed on others, Danilo the only OG, who usually was a starter under Allegri. Our boy Kalulu came in and had the chance to score
And at right back, still don’t know why was he sold and we paid more for Emerson Royal.
Yes but you also need to consider Juve is spending a lot on their youth teams as well, or better said has been spending a lot for some time now. They have some real potential in there, Milan is just building that with Futuro.
Exactly what I said last week when I saw their line up and the coach fielded surprising name in Mbangula. Exciting coach, exciting ideas, exciting young players. That’s what I expected in Fonseca (or some of it at least).
But no, he fielded the ol’ regular faces, playing the usual boring football.
Not to mention Locatelli who suddenly looks completely different player while sofa experts here said he’s finished.
Milan miss it by allowing players who was with the Coach in pre-season to go We will have done better with Columbus and Daniel maldini on the left with libera in middle and Chukwueze on right against Parma.
This is what happens when you get a serie a reject coach instead of going for Motta. Juve are laughing right now
Yep.
Juve agreed with barca 12m for chiesa and that deal seems to collapse. I don’t know why we don’t go in with an offer of 10m. Heck it shows we need him in any of those spots.
If he can play as a LB, sign him up.
Maybe Barca decided to go for Leao after seeing him play the last 2 matches and will gifts us 150M€? 😀
I agree that Leao is catching too much grief. He’ll have a good season. We have a fitness issue and game-planning needs to take that into account. And our D is confused.
Fitness issue? You’re confusing fitness with attitude. Theo couldn’t have been exhausted already after 2 minutes of playing.
The club has no future whilst most of the fans basically despise the club captain.
What is the point of supporting a club when you show such disdain for its leader?
then dont support it
normal people support a club
SempreMilan fans wait for losses and celebrate the negativity
certain people always disappear during positive periods
make it make sense
While I agree Juventus look dangerous with their youth products surprising, it must be said that the likes of Mbangula and Savona are 21 years old while Liberali and Camarda are still teens in their 17s.
But Locatelli, to many sofa experts on this blog, a finished mediocre overpriced Italian, who happens to be our your product is commanding their midfield. I mean no worries, we still have “the forever raw and confused” Musah, “vertical elegancy on the ball but no final product” Reijnders and a “10 but not really a 10 and neither an 8” RLC. So what are we cooking?
That proves how a good coach can change a player and raise value. Motta made name for a lot of apparently mediocre players at Bologna. The same with De Zebri at Brighton. Milan needs such kind of coach, but. Oh well.
Liberali maybe 17 but he played so mature in preseason and should have given a chance. It is not just Juve players are 21, they would never played with Allegri.
Firstly and mostly it is big mistake to use players who had not a preseason with the team. Since motivation is the main drive motor of a team in the start. Because it is actually takes time to adapt with the new tactics. Look how inter and juve had played These two games.
Second i have no idea why Musah is in pecking order rather than Bennacer . 😂 half dead of bennacer has 50% more efficient.
Third why everyone pass the ball to Leao 😂 is there our only hope after 100 mil € spending?!
That’s what happen when you got cheap, obedient coach. OK I understand Motta probably had pre-agreement with Juve. But why not De Zebri? Even Lopetegui is better than Fonseca.
Also because the preseason team which performed well was clear out to give way for lazy first teamers. Liberali played so well, but sent straight back to Serie C. Daniel Maldini, Colombo gone. Salaemaker played as left back.