Conceicao angry

Repubblica: Tensions high at Milan – two stars unhappy with Conceicao’s ‘hard line’

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

According to reports, there is unrest in the AC Milan dressing room, and worryingly, the issue is stemming from two of the Rossoneri’s stars.

For any club, keeping stars happy is ideal for multiple reasons. Primarily, happy players typically play better, and secondly, they stay at the club. Today, La Repubblica reports that there is an ‘air of revolution’ at Milanello, and as Calciomercato.com relays, there is unhappiness among the walls of Milanello…

There have been reports of unrest for some time now, in fact, all season players have been unhappy at points. When Paulo Fonseca departed, it was hoped that these problems would disappear, and they may have, but they have now returned.

Alvaro Morata has reportedly had issues with the coach, Davide Calabria publically had a problem with Sergio Conceicao, and now, Repubblica suggests that Christian Pulisic and Theo Hernandez ‘do not like the hard-line’ of the new head coach.

Morata and Calabria are already heading towards exits, and the report states that ‘many more’ will follow in the summer.

Considering how Gerry Cardinale reportedly wants to keep Theo at the club personally, and how much of an impact Christian Pulisic has on the club’s American fanbase, the loss of these two would be substantial, especially considering it was Cardinale himself who brought Conceicao to the club.

Tags AC Milan Christian Pulisic Sergio Conceicao Theo Hernandez

77 Comments

  1. AC Milan thrives on discipline, structure, and a winning mentality—values Sergio Conceição embodies. His hard-line approach is not the problem; it’s the solution. Success demands intensity and accountability, and those unwilling to adapt must question their place at the club. Milan is bigger than any individual, and under Conceição, the Rossoneri can build something truly special.

      1. THEY ARE MIILLIONAIRES HIRED TO DO A JOB …. JUST DO IT OR MOVE ON !!! (ENOUGH WHINING} . I have a job and if i don’t do it I will get fired or I can quit and move on ….

  2. than let’s kick off these miserable ‘stars’ and buy new players. I have first idea about players to sell: 1) Calabria; 2) Tomori; 3) Leao; 4) Abraham. I could give more names next time.
    .
    bravo Sergio Conceicao. 100% support for you. someone need to back order in the club.

    1. No these players are prima donnas, so that means we couldn’t have got Conte either cause he is a hardline coach too. This is pathetic for athletes who get paid millions, they’re too used to Pioli coddling them

  3. Who could have guessed it? You mean just constantly screaming at the players and blaming them for everything, while offering up no real tactics at all isn’t going to go well…
    I’m not surprised that Theo doesn’t like him, he doesn’t like anyone that doesn’t coddle him like a baby, but if Pulisic who is the hardest worker on the team has a problem, there’s something wrong here.
    Conceicao is like Conte without the tactics. I hope he can change my mind but this is looking like a disasterous signing.

    1. Yep. The news re Pulisic is back breaking. The only true star we’ve since Ibrahimovic. I say this because he’s the only one who has the skills, drive AND performs consistently. And now he’s alienated too. We’re so screwed. SO SCREWED.

    2. He won’t. We will recycle managers until we land on a Pioli type man manager that builds good relationships with the squads top players. Most modern footballers and people in general do not respond well to getting yelled at. I’d rather have a boss that helps me progress in my skill set instead of telling me when I am screwing up. The yelling coach is successful when the player actually doesn’t know what to do for example, Musah.

  4. They don’t like the hard line because they’ve been babied all their life. Theo has been babied by pioli and Maldini since the day he joined milan and in a season where he’s arguably been milans weakest player he’s upset a he coach? These players these days have it way too easy and need some discipline.

    Do I agree with all of conceicaos methods? No, he could turn it down a bit but you need to have discipline in your life. It’s a mess here at milan and it’s only going to get messier if we don’t go on a run of positive results.

    1. And Pulisic? Is he a baby now too? I don’t disagree re Theo and some of the others, but if Pulisic, who has always worked hard and been professional, is complaining, then this is real trouble.

      1. PULISIC IS AN AMERICAN AND THERE IS NO QUIT IN US !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the support to Conceicao ! Exactly what we need, 6-7 new players…

      2. He might not like the hard line methods but too bad. I want change to be successful, and I’m behind conceicao. Whoever doesn’t like it then there’s the door. I truly don’t care who goes anymore if your not behind us, LEAVE. we’ve stuck behind players like theo and leao for years and where had that gotten us? It’s not like they made this team great and they’ve performed below par this season. I want players that have the hunger to win every single game instead of their followers on Instagram. I want to be a team that’s top of everything for years just like inter. Inter is well ahead of us and have a stable team with a stable coach. We do not.

  5. Also pulisic aside. All players that are unhappy like Morata and theo are players who haven’t performed at all and deserve to be substituted. Especially Morata, that man has been such a flop and he offers nothing to this team. He could once spread play and hold up a ball but he can’t even do that anymore. Terrible finishing, terrible positioning. Just works hard

    1. Performing and effort are entirely different things. It’s clear that Theo and maybe Leao, have attitude problems. But Morata tries. Even if he doesn’t execute you can’t say he doesn’t run and try. So if he’s unhappy with the coach it’s not because he’s mad at not being allowed to do whatever he wants. Morata is and has always been professional, as has Pulisic. So if these players are saying things about the coach, we’re in deep trouble, regardless of Theo and Leao, or any players in that category. This news is really bad.

      1. You’re right. Morata and Pulisic has always been professional. And to someone’s point above, Conceição could be a screaming coach and Pulisic and Morata will stay professional and listen just like they did with Fonseca. But the difference is, fonseca was screaming with tactics and Pulisic blossomed in that tactics but with Conceição, he’s screaming without tactics and Pulisic is suffocating in that plan. Fonaeca identified that Leao and Theo are babies that didn’t wanna evolve in his tactics that’s why he opted to punish them but Pulisic and Morata remained professional thruout that whole debacle. So, if both of them are now complaining , Conceição definitely lost them with his lack of tactics and not man management.

  6. As much as a coach can be open to listen to his players ideas etc. running a football club and handling a squad is by no means a democracy where every opinion matters the same and players simply will have to step into line and accept what they are ordered to do. Considering that there has been issues all season tells me that our players is behaving unprofessional and has a lethargic attitude.
    Any player that doesn’t want to comply with our coach(es) can leave for what I care.
    Too many cooks spoil the broth.

  7. All I can say is look at how many trophies he had won vs how many these players had won. All these divas “combined” can’t come even close to what he has achieved as a “coach”, not even counting as a player.
    Simple solution: unhappy = sold. Serie A is known to be tough and divas won’t belong.

  8. Most of successful coaches were not extreme hardliners in my opinion. There must be a balance. Don’t forget mental tiredness affects the gameplay as well. Pulisic complaining about it says a lot. He is one of the hardest working players out there. Unfortunately when performances, results are so poor choices are very limited for a coach. Becoming extreme hardliner is a desperate move to bring results back.

    1. 100%. Carlo Ancelotti is one of the most successful coaches of all time, and his entire thing is man-management. His strength has always been figuring out how to get talented players (and their egos) to work, and work together, over having some kind of tactical genius. It’s why he’s had such longevity in the cauldron of expectation that is Real Madrid.

  9. These players are paid millions of Euros by the club and their job is to go on the pitch and win the match not to complain about the coach cause he is to strict.

    1. I don’t think so. I noticed in the interviews Pulisic gave . It was basically ,

      “They [Dinamo Zagreb] had a good game plan and they executed it well:”

      Leao said that playing on the left under Conceicao is hell. You play on the right and left, how do you feel?

      “What can I say (laughs). He has a strong voice… (laughs).”
      Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Conceicao.

  10. LOL, Pulisic is not going anywhere. What loss of Pulisic???

    I mean, the owner is American; Puli is “Captain America” and has a HUGE fan base in the United States, which represents money for Gerry Cardinale. Not to forget, Puli is Milan’s best player. Do you actually think Cardinale would allow Pulisic to slip away? Only when pigs fly. If Gerry needs to authorize a salary upgrade to keep Puli happy, he will.

    Sometimes (actually, often) web sites and other journalistic venues engage in wild, baseless speculation. Yes, maybe Puli is upset at Conceição although I see no hard evidence of that, but even if true, no, Puli is not leaving.

    1. Excuses for what? Weren’t you the one making excuses?
      And Pulisic even if he doesn’t like the coach is still performing and giving an effort, not using it as an excuse. That’s called being a professional. That’s the difference between him and Theo.

        1. And your non answer says it all. You can’t even explain your own statement. You’re dying to hear the excuses for what exactly? This coach who you thought was so much better? Or the fact that you tried blaming all of Theo’s poor performances on the coach?
          What does “Pulisic too” have to do with anything? He’s still giving his all, he’s still producing regardless of if he likes the coach or not. So if you are trying to use it as a cover for Theo doesn’t really work, does it?

  11. Leao can singlehandedly win games when he is on his day. But when he doesn’t play well, it is almost as if we are a player down. If our goal is to challenge for trophies, we cannot afford his level of inconsistency. We should have sold him for a bazillion dollars when we had the chance…

  12. Don’t think Pulisic isn’t happy and don’t think he wants to leave 🙂 he has one of his best season already and he is the first who know they all need to train more for victory.. but yes, Theo is diferent example, especially this season…

    1. If my boss yelled at med all the time. I would be unhappy and get unmotivated too. Maybe he needs some balance and dance a bot more and actually give them some tactics to work with instead one just lighting fires under their asses.

      1. The players have to earn their salary. It’s great that someone is brave enough to ensure they are working for it. Once the message sinks in they will fall into place. Good on you Sergio Conceicao !!!

  13. Napoli sold kvara because he was not meeting up. They backed their coach, when you have a winner it’s difficult for loser to meet up, the winning mentality comes at a cost, this coach has a record of winning consistently so, that means he has a track record a proven winner. This guys are not proven winner, one league trophy doesn’t make you a proven winner. When mediocre meet winners they crack at the hectic work. Success is not luck but hard work.

    Take mbappe for instant, he came to Madrid and he is running his ass off, not giving the baby treatment, he came to a winning team, so put your pants up. Salah still runs vini too, this people win every year in, but our players complain when been push harder.

    We’ll if I was the management sell anybody who doesnt follow the coaches order, if it is instigated to enhance focus and work rate.

    Guardiola sold walker sold cancel sterling for disciplinary issue and low performance. He’s the most successful coach I have seen, or maybe one of them.

    If you can’t put your whole heart in it, you’re surely gonna come up last.

    This is all but Sergio’s demand. The basic for success is hard work before tactics. Napoli is a proven example currently. And they have to star stud players. Or atalanta who buy trash and turn them gold.

  14. I see a few things that Puli maybe deserves to be a little ticked off about, both of which potentially hurt the team.

    1. The constant shuffling of the attack makes it harder to get the whole thing firing on all cylinders. He hasn’t played the 9 yet, but he’s been right, left, and middle, with all combinations played a bunch. I guess it’s fine to experiment… but it’s not preseason, so Conceicao needs to settle now.

    2. He’s being overused. He was just back from injury and we were talking about partial games and instead he’s going full 90s. He played 90 back to back in the SuperCoppa just back from injury. OK. We won a cup. Then he played full 90 vs Cagliari. Stupid. And he get’s injured playing in his 4th game in 12 days, vs Como. He IS a little bit fragile. He plays with such high intensity that we really shouldn’t play him 180 minutes/week. Shoot for max of 150 minutes/week. This is a problem across the field, not just for him. When we see it show up in the play of the players, it’s too late. The coach already screwed up the rotation. Now that Chukuweze is back, we can afford to run Pulisic 150 minutes/week. And Reijnders 150/week. And Fofana 150/week. We have enough quality to rotate and we can play harder if we rotate.

    And Conceicao doesn’t learn. Big clubs with big schedules need to rotate. Playing Puli for full 90 vs Parma and DZG with the derby coming up was stupid, after he was just out for muscle fatigue.

    The worst thing that can happen for both Puli and Milan are he messes up a hammy again and he’s basically out for the rest of the season.

    For Conceicao, it feels like everything is a crisis. Maybe that works at Porto, but it doesn’t work at Milan.

  15. I don’t know why we are all complaining. This team is not built to the level of elite team. Top four has been the main goal of this management. That’s y we are experiencing epileptic performance by the team. How a team like Milan doesn’t not have back up for Theo, Rejinder, Fofana. We have been using these players like slaves and when fatigue start surfacing , and they are not playing well, we will start shouting that they are not good. They are this ,they are that. This management is the problem. They are contented with nibbling at Revenue that comes from Champion league qualification without taking action to improve the team. We saw Osimen, we went for Morata.We saw Lukaku, we went for Tammy.

  16. You can make anything up in the press if you want to. Christian Pulisic has been a consummate professional for his whole career, even when he was being played at wing back by Tuchel at Chelsea.

    I strongly doubt that he is causing a problem in the dressing room: he’s a quiet guy and has performed well for Conceicao.

  17. The management is the problem and i see reasons while they sack Maldini, the management are lowball, they sell players for good price then they buy cheap and lazy players, if you want to make a statement signing then sign gyokeres rather than Gimenez, if the players can’t play to the coach strength then sell the players and buy better players.

  18. Repubblica…

    The king of nothingburgers.
    Why are we bickering about a news from a platform that is notoriously famous for spreading false and completely fabricated smear campaigns?

  19. I have followed Pulisic closely since his days at Dortmund. He has had 10 coaches to date. At least two coaches he had more than once. Tuchel and Lampard.
    This figure does not include coaches from the USA
    national team. I have not heard him put down a coach, not even once, though he has had good reason at times. He is very reserved in his opinion.
    I suspect the press is using him for their own reasons.

    1. TT played his gumba’s from Germany e.g. Timo Werner, who sucked but kept him in the starting lineup. After having a brilliant game Pulisic would not start next game.
      He was a victim of favoritism caused by touchhole tuchel.
      Puli scored a hat trick in the PL, hero in champions league semifinals and this coach almost ruined his career. Christian has a right to be pissed.

      1. Yeah I know, the whole point of the thread was discussing talking about coaches and he sure did with TT in a book even. I never said anything about if TT was wrong in the situation.

  20. Is not conceicao fault our problem is Acmilan management we need big spending like man-city so we can get to the top if possible let sell and replace with quality and effective players.

  21. Hahahahahaha!!!

    This is amazing!!

    It’s AMAZING what a fkn DISASTER of a club we have become under Redbird.

    From Gerry’s firing of M&M to promoting the inexperienced Furlani Zlatan and Moncada – who have DESTROYED everything M&M and Elliot built.

    The “amazing” summer transfer window? Emerson Pavlovic Morata and Fofana. Only Fofana we wanna keep and the rest we wanted to dump after 6 months?? LOLOLOLO. And these idiots complain about Origi??? Hahahahahahahaha!!

    All the trash we purchased the year before we wanna sell them too: Pelligrino, Teracciano Chuk Okafor Jovic etc…all wanna dump.

    Sold Kalulu for peanuts and he’s shining; Adli and Maldini shining; CDk shining

    Had Conte but took Fonseca who nobody wanted.

    Could have signed Hjulmumd for 20M and we spent it on the brain dead Musah because he’s American lol

    We are a COMPLETE DISASTER and this is all because of our OWNER – Gerry Cardinale and RedTurd.

    And the jacka$$ who thinks the owner doesn’t matter are pure IDIOTS and conveniently don’t know their own history. Tell me how we did under Berlusconi vs Li and Redbird??? He’ll even Elliot was a million times better than this TRASH Redbird

    Sell the club Gerry. You are not worthy – and take your Redbird Loving TRASH FAKE fans like @uberhulk and @Boulden with you

    We are NOT a serious club. GROSS

    1. At least Elliott was humble enough to know they weren’t good at sport so they brought sporting people to the club. And humbled their way to a major trophy, decent table finishes. But Gerry oh where do we start….so much expertise….so much disaster. Didnt Scaroni himself …our current president mind you, said that he doesn’t know if what Gerry is doing can work in Europe. Lol 😂 wtf
      Selling a player in January which you bought last August???? How people can support whatever this nonsense is is beyond me. People having literal mental breakdowns trying to justify this cr.ap

  22. Do these players understand that they are earning millions at the end of the year and we are here paying for tickets to go and see this awful performance! Do they understand the value of the jersey they are wearing?
    Keep going Mr Conceicao, if they are lazy kick their bum.

  23. Furlani and Moncada generally did a good job in 23 summer, but last summer was a disaster, and I only saw one change in the management: Ibra

  24. Drama and emotion makes for clicks

    It doesn’t matter if a player fails and complains or if he plays well and keeps his mouth shut.

  25. ACM’s problem isn’t the coach; it’s the serious lack of quality and depth in the squad. A jockey doesn’t need to have been a horse, but he needs to ride a very good horse if he’s to win a race. ACM fans who obsess over whether the team has the right coach are wasting their time barking up the wrong tree.

    ACM is a storied club that ruled world football in the not-too-distant past; its supporters rightfully won’t accept its current, dual, ignominious status as a retirement home and a nursery for other clubs. During the imperious Berlusconi era, the team regularly won domestic, European, and global competitions with players who had great power, intelligence, and style – stars who were among the best, if not the best, on the planet in their positions.

    ACM will never reach those glorious heights again until the owner acquires and retains players of the highest caliber. If it’s unable or unwilling to do that; if its main objective is to treat the club purely as a commercial asset from which to extract an annual financial return, then it should get out and make way for a party with deeper pockets that’s prepared to do whatever it takes to restore ACM to the top.

  26. I love the coach approach, whosoever that doesn’t want to give his 101% on the pitch should leave the team enough of this pampering tactics which is not helping the team. Take a look at the recent results very poor from a big team like AC Milan

  27. Until I hear Pulisic say it in public , I choose not to believe it – it isn’t part of his mental makeup- let the coach Coach!

  28. The Pulisic story seems to have originated from his interview when he said you can hear the manager across the field as a follow-up to a statement Leão made. Nothing to see, move along.

  29. Conceicao is a professional coach that I know our problem is that this big players are not doing their job so in that view conceicao have the right to sell and replace any player that do not perform with that Acmilan will return to their winning ways other wise reverse will be our case and I repeat Gabbia is better than tomori no matter that he made mistake he is the best.

  30. winning the super cup by two remontada and winning a couple of games in the last minutes, doesn’t give a good impression about the team nor the Couch.
    I believe the whole combination of the players is not working, they need to dissolve this team and building from scratch. They need to bring back Tonali and any Milan core player and build around them. This include selling of Leao and Theo is needed.

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