AC Milan legend Mauro Tassotti has diagnosed some of the issues that Paulo Fonseca’s side are having in the defensive department, while also urging Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao to apologise.
The new coach Fonseca pledged to work on Milan’s defensive phase during the preseason, and yet the team have let in six goals across the first three Serie A games of the season, conceding two in each game.
The worrying thing is how many of the goals that Milan have let in have come from similar circumstances – crosses from the right side – which indicates a trend that they have failed to fix after other teams attempted (and succeeded) to exploit it.
Tassotti is someone who knows exactly what it takes to make a virtually impenetrable back line, and he spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport to pick out what he sees as the issues at present.
“Milan are struggling to be aggressive and dominate games It’s a tricky part of the campaign; the physical shape is far from ideal, and a new coach needs time to enter the players’ minds,” he said.
“The team is unbalanced and concede from counter-attacks. I think they want to defend as a unit, while we saw man-on-man defending last season. I don’t know how much time Fonseca has had to work on this. It takes time and hard work, it can’t happen from one day to another.
“Most importantly, Milan must defend as a team, and if they want to be attacking-minded, they need strikers to track back. I am not only talking about Leao.
“In modern football, you attack and defend with 11 men. Today’s defenders cannot defend with a numerical disadvantage, so they need help from everyone.”
The Leao and Theo cooling break saga continues to dominate the headlines after they refused to join their teammates and coach Fonseca during the Lazio draw, and Tassotti believes the pair should own up.
“It was not nice to see. The players should apologise, even if only just inside the locker room. It was a crazy thing, and Theo’s words sounded like an excuse. The attitude was wrong. There’s nothing else to say.”