Protection vs. avoidance: Maignan’s leadership under scrutiny after Sassuolo defeat

There are currently more questions than ever before about the mentality of the AC Milan team and after this weekend, it is understandable.

The scenes at the MAPEI Stadium at full-time were telling. At one side of the pitch, you had a Sassuolo team who had just recorded another fantastic victory as they continue to punch well above their weight in Serie A.

At the other end, you had a Milan team that looked mentally broken. They have scored one goal in their last five games, whilst losing three times. During this run, they have lost the same number of games as they had in the 31 fixtures prior.

The run is taking a toll on them; it is as clear as day. Maybe it’s the pressure, maybe it’s a lack of ideas. Whichever it is, the squad looks deflated and there is seemingly no antidote.

Take the defeat to Udinese, for example, a switch in ideas that would hopefully bring change. Instead, it brought a 3-0 defeat and since then, they have not really recovered. Their defensive imperfections were highlighted, as was their general lack of attacking talent.

Moving to a five back again has not reassured anyone, though. Let alone the players. Goals are still seeping in and the same issue remains up front. The Rossoneri cannot and do not score, just looking at the stats from this weekend tells you as much.

Christian Pulisic is clearly struggling, shaving his beard almost feels like a superstitious attempt to break his drought. Rafael Leao is clearly struggling, deleting his Instagram account shows a man who is feeling the pressure.

Then, who knows what the case is with the other three, they remain untested or equally unable to score.

Unfortunately, the mentality issue – whether a case of being elsewhere mentally (moves away, contract impasses, who knows) or struggling to deal with the situation in which they find themselves in, you’ve got to remember this is a fairly young squad – is being scrutinised heavily.

So, the actions of Mike Maignan have been put under the scope this weekend.

Maignan’s captaincy

In case you missed it, at full-time, whilst Sassuolo were celebrating, jeers from Milan fans were almost deafening. It has become somewhat of a regular occurrence, but rather than facing up to them, Mike Maignan took his team away.

Now the club captain, Maignan is the most senior player to have served the Rossoneri for a few seasons and the captain’s armband is currently his. Questions about that have been present before and they may still be asked.

However, there are very few alternatives.

The romanticism behind the idea of Matteo Gabbia wearing the armband makes sense and he may be the best alternative. Given that he, once again, faced the noise in the post-game press conference, where Mike, once again, wasn’t seen.

However, stripping the armband from a multi-million Euro per year player wouldn’t go down well internally, especially when efforts to see him renew likely included something about him being a leader of the club.

You’ve also got to ask if Gabbia is ready to take the armband. There will probably be a natural moment for it to happen and it hasn’t yet, so rushing it may not be the best idea.

Aside from him, Rafael Leao has struggled with the pressure before, Adrien Rabiot has not been at the club long enough and Luka Modric fits that category too, even if he’d be an exceptional option.

So, in some ways, Maignan is sort of trapped as the leader of a group that lacks a definitive (and maybe ready) one.

When you actually sit and question which players could be the captain, the pool is very small and finding someone perfect is tough. So, there is pressure on the Frenchman’s shoulders, but who else could there really be? That in itself brings pressure.

Hiding or helping?

His actions to lead his team off the pitch, then, can be debated a little. This is his first moment like this, where the team have been so heavily booed at full-time. So, he needed to make a decision quickly.

As we’ve alluded to already, this is a very mentally fragile team currently. So, a split-second decision had to be made for their good at the risk of things blowing up further had the wrong call been made.

In recent years, we have seen instances where players have gone across to the fans at full-time to listen. Not to argue, but to just hear the words of the ultras, who probably would’ve had a lot to say after another terrible performance.

They would be right to do so, and when first seeing it, your reaction may well have been, well, why has he taken them off the pitch? Why has he not taken the squad over to applaud? Why has he not taken them to accept the criticism?

The answer may just be as simple as him being the captain and wanting to protect his players. It takes a lot of guts to go over, but you could argue that it takes a lot more to be the one to say, ‘No, we’ll do this internally’.

Throughout this season, there have been no public airings of incidents, as was often the case last season, which often caused nuclear-level fallouts (the water break incident). Instead, everything has been behind closed doors.

Seeing the moment that his team are in, he could well have wanted to protect his players and give them the message that the Curva would’ve, albeit maybe a little bit less harshly, in the dressing room.

Time for tests

Ultimately, and perhaps frustratingly, there could be a bit of both to it. After a difficult day at the office, no one wants to publicly be told how to do their job, let alone criticised for doing it so badly. So, it could well be an avoidance of an abundantly clear issue.

Alternatively, he may be taking the stick to ensure that his players are able to continue mentally, without being broken by real messages of annoyance about their performances. You can delete an Instagram account to try to quieten the noise, but you can’t really do the same when the voice is coming from in front of you.

It leaves Milan, again, in a difficult position. Unfortunately, the pressure is only rising and Maignan is going to be scrutinised more than he ever has been in a Rossoneri shirt.

Whether his decision was protective or not, his qualities as the captain are about to be tested in every sense.