Paulo Fonseca of Milan

Pedulla suggests Fonseca ‘should be relieved of his duties’ amid ‘anarchy’ at Milan

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Alfredo Pedulla has once again gone in hard on Paulo Fonseca after the Fiorentina defeat, suggesting that he should be sacked given the issues that arose over who takes penalties.

The story that seems to be dominating the media headlines this morning concerns the issue of who takes penalties for Milan after Christian Pulisic was confirmed as the designated taker of spot kicks by Fonseca after the game.

That incident came during a 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina last night that has piled the pressure back on the head coach, given that Milan have now won just three of their first nine games this season across all competitions.

Pedulla spoke on his YouTube channel about the ‘anarchy’ that has erupted at Milan and what the course of action should be to correct the course of a season that could very quickly become lost again.

“Fonseca is back to his old self, worse than before, in a club where anarchy reigns and has made him increasingly weak in the eyes of the players. Milan must relieve him of his duties as soon as possible. Yesterday, too many things went wrong,” he said (via MilanWorld).

“He thinks he still has the derby amulet, but there is no game. The spark of one night is monotony in all the others. The team is the product of a wind of superstition after the derby because it went well for them once.

“Royal is unsuitable, Tomori has been unpresentable for some time, Theo is unmanageable, you can see that there is nervousness. Leao is doing a favour when he plays well.

“I hear people say: it is useless to speak badly of coaches. Fine, go ahead: but by doing so you are harming Milan. Certain journalists should take off their shirts with the crest. You cannot lose by surrendering in that way to the opponent.

“From a mood point of view, what was seen yesterday with the penalties is not seen not even in Serie D. Fonseca thinks he’s in an amateur league team when he gets angry in a press conference saying he’ll talk to the players about it.

“He’s the one who lost his grip on the situation and who should have made himself respected. Only at a sports bar do you make statements like that, a professional dressing room is something else. He
has no strength or respect.

“The club sent him out on a mission, a sort of adventure, and he himself understood it a long time ago. He should be relieved of his duties. If you don’t change with a situation like that, if you play with the calendar waiting for easy opponents to stall, it means you want mediocrity, that you haven’t understood how the team and coach have been traveling on different paths for a long time.”

Tags AC Milan Alfredo Pedulla

49 Comments

  1. At this point I personally doesn’t even care if he is sacked but then there should also be clear repercussions for those players who doesn’t behave according to expectations of professional football players because there is no guarantees it wont happen again to the next coach as well and if that means shipping out some of our star players so be it. Id much rather have a squad with players that might not be star players but who will fight and bleed for the club, each other and for the fans who indirectly pays their salaries with their hard earned money.
    Instead we have a bunch of overpaid players who behaves as a bunch of toddlers in a kindergarten class and only manages to show their own egos any respect.
    You can win with basically mediocre squads if it all comes together but you cant win or progress with a bunch of self serving clowns who cant think beyond their own nose tips.

      1. If you doesn’t have anything else to contribute with than a couple of emojis then you can go and eat sh1t Pablo.

          1. Not really just got a bit irritated as he doesn’t bring anything to the table except for his bad table manners.

        1. I bet he’s NOT talking about Leao alone. Plenty of others too who have no respect for the team or the club. Or – especially – their teammates!

        1. I quite liked the player Conte but was never a fan of the coach so obviously I wasn’t one of those people wanting us to hire him but at this point of time id take him but as things stand id persuade Vinnie jones to quit his acting career and come back into the world of football as I feel confident that he would straighten them out 😛
          Kidding aside Milan needs someone who can take charge but the players also has to take part of the blame in my view if we end up having to change coach this early in the season. Same also goes for the management.

  2. Do not blame the players. The managment of the sport department and the couch are the ones who should be changed, the sooner the better. The guy who both Rojal and sold Kalulu should not do anything football related in the feauture.

    1. Players are also accountable for their actions so surely they deserves criticism as well and if players refuse to follow orders from the coach then they aren’t acting professionally which is the bare minimum to be expected from them and even amateur players would in most cases know that as well.

  3. Theo & Rafa are terrible leaders who think only of themselves and not the team. They have been equal parts brilliant and terrible, and the terrible is losing matches for us.

  4. Players absolutely need to be held accountable le for their actions. If there’s no accountability there’s no respect.

    Theo is sitting out either way but Tammy needs consequences. Not like he’s scoring with his eyes closed. There’s no room for error. Puli is on 7GA’s in 7 games.

      1. I think the bigger lesson here is that Theo isn’t captain material.

        To me a captain puts the team ahead of himself. Birthday or not. Maldini and Baresi would have never done this.

        1. I’ve always viewed Theo as our most difficult player to replace but I agree he certainly isn’t captain material and yes a captain always should put the team ahead of themselves and their egos.

  5. I fell like when we win it gets blown out of proportion. Praises all around, we just won the league.. when we lose it gets blown out of proportion. No respect, no chemistry, fire him and him, sell the players, sell the club, sell cra*k etc..
    Its all just so childish..

    Who the f is Pedulla anyway and what has he done in football so far?
    Its ‘cuz of people like him that players get frustrated when things dont go our way. And they act out. And sh*t happens.

    1. It’s either black or white my friend.
      Win and now we’re favourite for serie A, we will do well in UCL…
      Lose and now the coach should be sacked.
      Middle ground was never an option.

      1. we suprised inter and won. fiora suprised milan and won. and that is all that happened.

        but doom&glooming is more fun. gives us a reason to rant and vent

        1. Well losses happens and are expected to happen from time to time but players showing lack of professionalism isn’t ok by any means and this comes from a commenter who rarely has bashed any of our players, coaches etc. but they are acting like spoiled little brats who think they are the coach themselves and by doing that they are basically losing any credibility to be so fortunate to represent the club.
          Either they get their acts together and start acting like men or they can freely look for a different club and leave for what I care.

          1. Well that’s a point of view but most people playing football would know better than doing that so why wouldn’t pros do that as well ?
            Players shouldn’t undermine their coaches neither on amateur level and let alone on a pro level.

          2. IDK, i’m not gonna overanalyze something i have very little info about.

            The way i see it, if they really wanted the coach to get fired they be playing much much worse than they are. My pov is they are genuinely trying but its just not gelling like it should the rest is just reacting to pressure

          3. Well it’s not about overanalyzing things when players think they can decide who is taking penalty kicks going directly against the hierachy, that’s evident as day for all to see.
            Red cards can happen in heated moments but the other stuff is not acceptable.

          4. To be honest I didn’t remember that initially but the designated penalty taker should nevertheless still be respected if he chooses to take it himself. Anyways I think its a bad situation as it sends bad signals but we can always disagree.

          5. It was Leao who gave the ball to Tammy in the other game. Not sure if Pulisic was on board with that or just decided to go with it. But that’s also different as Milan were up 2-0 against a bad team.

  6. Fonseca was not my first choice, he wasn’t even my tenth choice and I still think Conceiçao is a better option (who coincidentally plays a 4-4-2 btw). There are a lot of mistakes that he did and is currently doing one of which is exposing to the media our dirty laundry and losing the locker room.
    But the players have to shoulder a lot of the blame.
    Theo is the captain, a top left-back in the world and a scudetto winner. This is NOT the attitude of neither. I thought he improved a bit after the international break, but here he is acting like a teenager. He should be heavily fined.
    Leao is still the same primadona who contributes to 0 when he doesn’t have the ball.
    Tomori seems to be regressing each season and what is the meaning to stealing the ball to give it to Abraham. He should be fined for that.
    Speaking of Abraham, I complimented him a lot and wanted the deal permanent, but he has been dissapointing during the last 2 games. His finishing is poor and stealing the penalty is also inacceptable and should be fined.
    Reijnders did well in the derby then it was nothingness as usual.
    And of course the biggest share of the blame belongs to the management. Who think it was a great idea to bring Emerson ? Pavlovic ? Why do have no subs for either Fofana or Reijnders ? …
    Sorry for the rant, but yesterday during the game I wanted to gouge my eyes at some point.

  7. Absolutely correct. Yes, Fonseca should be relieved of his duties, and the sooner, the better. He cannot recover from this. He has lost the locker room, commands no respect among players and fans (including former players and serious journalists) and even if he collects some good results from now on (highly doubtful) the results should not undo the damage because the way things are going, even with some good results (like the Derby win; more the exception than the rule) we are not likely to collect any trophy this season, and are also not likely to make top 4. Currently we’re 7th place, and frankly, it’s deserved. We don’t look like top 4 material, despite having some good players.

    I’d favor immediately hiring Conceição who is still available, and not only is a much more competent coach than Fonseca, is also more of a disciplinarian who would control the players, and is a proven winner, always making Porto punch above their weight, having won 12 trophies in 14 seasons.

    The downside is the fact that he has never coached in Serie A, but should it be the criterion? See, Fonseca has coached in Serie A before, and is a disaster. Having familiarity with Serie A should not be the primary criterion. Competence and ability to command respect from the players are much more important criteria.

    Besides, Conceição has extensive experience in the UEFA Champions League, a league that is of course tougher than Serie A, and he has always made Porto perform well there, despite a modest roster.

    Fire Fonseca, bring in Conceição immediately; he’d have 2 weeks to get to work before play resumes after the international break. Yes, many players will be away in national team duty but Conceição could call them, videoconference with them, present himself and his philosophy to them, and start telling them what he believes should be done to take Milan out of this hole that our amateur management and our current mediocre coach have caused.

      1. flyingturtle, I couldn’t care less for what you think of my opinion. I do care for what ACM1899 thinks, which is why I gave him a full reply. You? Pffftt…

          1. What I meant is that I care for ACM1899’s opinions about the team and the games, not about me, as in, they are often well thought of, sound, and instructive. I didn’t mean that I care for what ACM1899 thinks of me. I care for what he thinks of Milan and the players because he is often right.

            As for you, I don’t care for what you think of me AND I don’t care for your ridiculous and always misguided opinions. You’re nothing.

          2. only losers care about opinions of random people online.

            being nothing is good. you should try it sometime. detach from that ego and fly

    1. You are over-reacting if you’re calling for coach’s head after each loss. Like Pedulla. Like Pellegatti.

      Fonseca is here. We can’t change that. He needs time to be judged.

      1. ACM1899, I always respect your opinion but in this particular case I respectfully disagree. See, Roma fired their coach quite rapidly. The simple fact that a coach “is here” shouldn’t shield the coach from being fired if he is a disaster.

        I’d agree with you in terms of time to be judged, if we were to judge him solely on results (the right attitude, the right relationship with the players, but results taking a while to being achieved). But see, that’s not what is going on. What I find most damaging is not even the fact that we lost a game. It’s HOW we lost the game.

        Look, when a coach says to the press that he DOESN’T KNOW why the players have disobeyed him regarding the rigorista (Italian word for the designated PK taker), he has lost a lot more than a game. What I said is that I find it highly unlikely that he’ll be able to recover from that, even if he produces some good results.

        The other thing I really dislike about Fonseca is how he throws his own players under the bus. He did it again this time. It’s so inelegant! It’s something Mourinho used to do and Pioli never did. Say whatever you want TO THE PLAYERS, not to the press!!! That’s another way for a coach to lose the locker room. One of the reasons Mourinho’s Roma was performing so horribly was his nasty attitude towards the players who then, didn’t want to play for him. Immediately after Mourinho was fired, Roma improved (with the same players) and trashed us in the Europa League. Their good form was transient and the new coach ended up getting fired too, but the point persists: the same players were capable of playing better when the nasty coach who made them unmotivated because he kept throwing them under the bus, was sacked.

        Fonseca said what he said to the press about the rigorista, forgetting that one PK happened in first half, and the other in second half. So, he had the halftime break to address it. That leaves us only two possibilities:

        1. He never said anything to the players, actually, during the break. If that’s the case, his post-game declaration to the press was at least partially a lie, was self-serving, and it was a blame shift from him (who had the duty to address it) to the players.

        2. He did say something to the players about it during the break. If that’s the case, then the players don’t respect him and have disobeyed him AGAIN in second half.

        It’s hard to know which one is worse. Whichever of the two possibilities has happened, for me either one disqualifies Fonseca as a viable coach.

        THAT’s why I say the sooner he is fired, the better. Milan will hardly recover from this disaster this season, but maybe there is a tiny chance that Milan will recover if the disastrous coach is replaced. If he stays, then the recovery chance is pretty much zero. You can’t win anything if your players don’t respect you, or if you keep throwing your players under the bus. Do you disagree with this?

        1. I would add to the discussion that every weak there seems to be some drama with this guy. And I agree about his terrible press conferences. He speaks like a fan talking amongst friends, not like the guy in charge.
          I don’t think we will fire him so soon, and I don’t think he’s that incompetent that fourth place is out of reach, but yeah, we most likely won’t go very far with Fonseca.

        2. Should he keep protecting players that don’t want to protect them.
          What is with this throwing your players under the boss.

          Do some of these players act like they want him or respect him. And second of all everyone is heaping blame on Fonseca. Did Fonseca hire himself, did he just jump into the position. Why is massive blame not been apportioned to the useless management that signed him and thought it wise to sell him as the “right man for the job” when he wasn’t.

          I don’t blame Fonseca. I blame the fools who hired him. He would not have been here if they done did their jobs right, though that is a tall order to ask for.

          Fonseca is here now, and does not seem to going away any time soon.
          The things that call themselves Milan management set up Fonseca to fail from the very start.

  8. This too hash on Fonseca and unfair. Milan would have won if the 2 penalties were converted and Fonseca hailed. He is not the real problem. Selling Tonali and lack of good italian players allowed other players to become semi-gods. Just earlier today, Spaletti emphasised the importsnce of Milan players to the national team. Thank God ,we now have Gabbia. Too many foreigners. An italian coach like Sarri or De Zerbi would have been ideal to deal with players egos.

  9. Who couldn’t see this coming with two hodge podge transfer campaigns? Tammy has been good off the ball, decent at distributing and holding up when I saw him. The finishing abysmal. But that is what you get when you go for secondary targets.

    If Leao doesn’t draw attention and/or Theo as well to open space while buying time for Royal, who is not fast enough, they are toast. Same for Reindeer, he needs to play a perfect game almost. Pulisic needs space to operate because he needs a few strides with the ball at his feet to attack space, with some openings. He won’t drive through a good defense that is in top form alone. Morata needs time to get in position as well after all the work he does off the ball.

    This team needed another striker if they were going to pay with 2, Jovic isn’t quick enough nor suited to the game. Theo needed competition 2 seasons ago…Calabria is not fast enough either…This team is 65 percent there in terms of depth for this, or any system…at best.

  10. They need to give Mike the captain’s armband and never even think about taking it away from him. He should have been named captain a long long time ago.

  11. Tomori has been getting away with a lot of bad plays but this bad behavior shouldn’t be left unpunished. Except if you’re a designated taker, or you caused the penalty I see no reason why a central back should be in the opposition box during times like this. He’s yet to play his own role right and he’s causing chaos up front again

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