Tijjani Reijnders stated in an interview on Thursday that he believes AC Milan are improving under Paulo Fonseca, and with that he must hope his own personal levels continue to rise.
La Gazzetta dello Sport begin by picking out the most interesting quote from his interview at the BMW event: “There have been tactical changes, we are improving game after game. The important point is to understand how the coach wants to play, we are understanding it slowly and we are developing our game.”
Reijnders said something obvious: when a new coach arrives, you have to understand what he asks of the team and so far they are on the same page. What stands out, if anything, is the timing: talking in mid-October about ‘understanding how the coach wants to play.
In addition to that, the Dutchman did say that the team – or at least he personally – is ‘understanding it slowly’ which is not the best for the fans’ ears, because the first training session that Fonseca had was all the way back on July 8.
The problem is that Milan seem to take one step forward and two steps back. They were capable of winning a derby after two years of waiting and then disappearing into thin air like against Fiorentina. They are a team that alternates high-level plays, the evident result of weekly work, with slow-paced games without ideas, without ferocity and without a defensive phase.
It is strange to hear certain things from one of the engines of the team. Reijnders is a starting player, unique in the squad because of his characteristics, he has the keys to the game in his hands and the slowness in understanding the instructions of the coach that the coach speaks of is an alarming factor.
On the other hand, it was the coach himself who admitted that this Milan are still far from the idea of the complete team that he has in mind. The problem is that the Rossoneri are in a real hurry and patience – after a bad start at a club with title ambitions – is not the virtue most appreciated.
Reijnders’ words, however, come in the wake of other peculiar statements by some teammates. The most sensational? Yunus Musah after the Parma match: “I didn’t know whether to press or stop and defend.”
Then, Christian Pulisic after Liverpool: “We can’t keep up the momentum, and keep the ball in the opponent’s half.” Even Fonseca at a certain point had explained: “When things work, the team wants to play and do well. When there are problems, the team lacks courage.”
The real question then is: when will the coach finally find peace and transmit his ideas? The answers have to come soon, starting with tonight against Udinese.