Sergio Conceicao was viewed as the saviour of AC Milan’s season, yet he has failed to do that. In fact, some may argue that he has made things worse since joining.
When it was rumoured that Conceicao could arrive in the summer, the thoughts were quite mixed, but the viewpoint was more positive than negative. Then, when it was announced that the Portuguese would be taking the reigns from his fellow compatriot, there was a feeling of excitement about what could occur.
The Supercoppa Italiana was a perfect start. Yes, there were a few problems, but the greater picture was promising. However, that has not been the way things have progressed. Instead, the club now finds itself in an equally bad place, and Champions League season looks near-impossible.
To top it off, the new head coach could leave in the summer, if not sooner, making the past few months quite wasteful.
In a video published on Il Giornale, Ordine spoke about the ‘disaster’ unfolding at Milan, and his words have been relayed by Milan News.
“To give an explanation for the Milan disaster, in my opinion, you have to start from the tail, that is, from Conceiçao’s declarations. When someone shows his CV and says that he has won all the Champions League challenges against the Italians, that he has his bags ready and that he doesn’t want one euro more, for me it is a statement that smacks of surrender.
“After all these competitions, Conceiçao, who was presented as the iron sergeant, already has his suitcase packed and wants to run away because he has ended up in a dead end, here again the responsibilities of those who chose him emerge.
“They took a coach who is the opposite of his predecessor, that is Fonseca, with the difference that the former was considered a soft touch, this one as a very rigid coach who argued with Morata, Bennacer and Calabria.
“Fonseca was considered the proponent of dominant play, Conceiçao instead of counter-attacking as he scored yesterday in Bologna. All this would make footballing sense if you could count on a defence that makes a wall, on a solid defence.
“Milan, on the other hand, have the ability to take goals too easily. That’s why there’s the disaster.”
Conceição “argued” with Morata, Bennacer and Calabria, Fonseca “argued” with Theo, Leao and Tomori.
Anonymous Juventus players telling media that a lot of them can’t stand Thiago Motta which will lead to his firing at the end of the season.
Players get too much power and 99.9% of them don’t deserve it.
Players today get so much hype from “followers” and fanboys, on top of the money they make that their heads are too big and they become uncoachable.
Fonseca was too soft, Conceição is too rigid.
Players were too dumb to learn a new style of play under Fonseca after 5 years of counter attacking football under Pioli so the club brought them a counter attacking coach, but he is too mean.
You can’t find one Milan player that has received a new contract with higher salary that has elevated his game or even played on the same level.
Theo form started dropping after his extension not after Maldini left.
Tomori has been a turnstile since the extension.
Leao after the contract extension went on almost 6 months without scoring a goal, and scores less than 1 goal a month in serie A since.
Bennacer was absolutely useless after his pay raise.
This is why Milan needs to find players that are self motivated, ambitious, who are driven by winning, not by social media hype.
Management made a lot of mistakes but no bigger than trying to build a team around those 4 mentioned, plus Maignan.
This Milan house is built on a weak foundation.
No matter what coach you bring if you give him the same foundation you will get the same mess.
Higher a proper sporting director who will clean up the rubble.
How was Fonseca soft? He benched our two biggest superstar players. Just because you don’t scream like a lunatic doesn’t make you soft. Meanwhile Conceicao didn’t even punish theo at all or drop him for a single match after his insane performance getting red carded and crashing us out of the Champions League.
Ordine said in the article that Fonseca was soft or had a soft touch while Conceição is rigid.
I’m trying to make a point that Milan had 2 coaches with 2 different approaches and players still don’t like it. It’s not about the coach but the players. They are not coachable.
I was all in support of Theo and Leao benching under Fonseca because they didn’t deserve to start.
Clubs don’t fire players, they fire coaches. Players know this and it works in their favor especially since they raise brand value in the case of the 4 you mentioned.
But you are right in the sense that these players also have to be accountable and need to be moved on from the club if their ethic is a liability to the club.
The problem is, this management is also a liability to the club, and if they “weed” out the top earners/lazy players, I don’t know that I would trust them to replace them properly.
As for the coach, the right appointment isn’t always easy or straight forward. It has to be organic and have chemistry. Many called for Conte – he too is a maniac. So by our logic if Conceicao’s methods don’t work, Conte’s wont either?
Clubs do fire players.
You can easily get rid off the players who are poisoning the locker room. You don’t need to fire every player.
Who poisoned Milan locker room this season? Theo especially, followed by Leao.
If Milan sold Theo and Leao last summer Fonseca or whatever coach Milan hired would have had a better season without them than with them. Even Conceição himself said that he had teams with much less talent but played better than this Milan team.
If Milan hired Conte his first order of business would have been to sell Leao. Same with De Zerbi, Motta, Gasperini etc. All of them demand effort. Leao especially has been pampered at Milan and no coach and no club will allow him to behave like that. When Leao is sold by Milan he will either go to Arabia or be a bench player at a club of Milan stature.
Milan absolutely need to hire a proper sporting decision maker, something that they haven’t had since Galliani.
“You can easily get rid off the players”
Origi. Ballo-Toure. LOL.
Showing the stick to the ones who deserve it, sure. But when players who leave everything on the pitch like Puli and Reijnders, start receiving the stick too… Then it’s the coach.
Gen Z man. Just like in all other walks of life, this generation just loves to complain and not work. No respect for those who came before or institutions. Instagram and instant gratification.
These team aren’t conceicao choice. What do you expect if Milan hire another coach again ? Silly things…
The problem with Fonseca and now Conceição is that these coaches want the players to adapt to their style instead of playing a style that fits the players they have.
Why Fonseca and Conceição insisted on using a 4231 is shocking to me especially since we don’t have a natural attacking midfielder or defensive midfielder.
This team is full of midfielders who are mezzalas. This is very poor squad building by management.
But it makes more sense to play 433 especially now that we have Bondo. Musah and Fofana can do the defensive dirty work which will give Reinjders the freedom to roam and support the front 3.
Conceição also seems obsessed with Felix who is underperforming and has only played 1 good game where he scored against Roma in the Coppa Italia.
Apart from that Joao Felix sucks but Conceição insist on using him. Instead of switching to a 433. Musah Reinjders Fofana/Bondo.
Milan should sack Conceição. Being in Tassotti as interim manager and then appoint Ancelotti next season who will leave Real Madrid in the summer anyway. This is the best solution.
Then Ancelotti will do wonders with Leao similar to Vini Jr.
You want Ancelotti to come to Milan and destroy the awesome record. ‘No way’ if was him. How things have changed in the world. Coaches were seen as a father figure. They dish out instructions and the players obey, and things work out fine. This is because the coach, standing outside has a better view of a match and has better chances of making good decisions. The players in the field hard have the privilege. But now, a player gets upset when his coach subs him off.
The coach (especially Conceicao) isn’t the problem, rather most Milan players are long over due. They behave more like co-owners of the club rather than employees.
In recent times, Milan has employed two different coaches with opposite characteristics, yet the players are not okay with them, because they are the once to choose who to coach them, just like the students choose who their teacher will be.
How many more coaches will be buried for Milan players? This is what got Man U to where they are currently. Keep hiring and firing coaches while the players are lounging. They know they can’t be held accountable for losses, it the coach that will be fired. So… it’s a jamboree.
If this management really wants to make a difference, they should shake up the dressing room. Look at the big names ManCity is preparing to offload. Name that are bigger the Leao x2, yet we are here clinging to our one and only Super Star.