Paulo Fonseca’s time as AC Milan head coach is over, with the 1-1 draw against Roma being his final match in charge.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport recall, Fonseca’s reign lasted exactly 200 days, but how did it end so abruptly? It was a six-month long process but there was an acceleration recently, with the defeat in Bergamo and the draw against Genoa.
On Sunday morning there was a meeting with the team first and then the directors that was held at ‘high tension’. Fonseca fought, he was consistent with his ideas and he faced all the problems he thought he would have to face.
The tactical choices, Rafael Leao, the attitude of his players, Theo Hernandez: the Portuguese was always honest. The issue is that by the end he had friction with many and that came to include the management, so the mutual trust ended.
The Milan that Fonseca had in mind almost never materialised. Of course, it had great peaks – the derby win, and the one against Real Madrid – and he deserves merit for those. The problem is they were few and far between.
Attitude problems
Fonseca always pointed towards attitude when asked about the team’s problems. The diagnosis is correct: his Milan has never had the fire of those who want to win games and dropped points right away, due to many individual errors.
More importantly, they lost them against inferior teams like Parma, Cagliari and Genoa above all. The games, looking back, are not very similar. In Parma there were defensive chasms and what looked like a physical collapse, plus Theo’s lack of effort.
In Rome against Lazio, we saw great difficulty in defending in transition. In Florence, an assorted madness of penalties and defensive errors. Against Napoli there were too many absences. Against Juve and Genoa, a blunt attack.
Milan are a team that are not currently ruthless. For this reason the idea of Antonio Conte in the summer intrigued as he seemed the most suitable man to restore strong rules and clear principles. Conceiçao, who has the same reputation for being tough, goes in that direction.
Relationship with stars
Fonseca was not weak either, though. He certainly seemed responsible in some games too, like in Milan-Juve when he went with Yunus Musah on the right despite Thiago Motta wanting to defend a 0-0 draw from the start.
Other times the coach has been a victim of the team’s limitations, which lack one, two, even three leaders capable of calling his team-mates to their duties. Fonseca cannot say he hasn’t tried.
He sent Leao to the bench (several times) and Theo against Genoa and Verona, he spoke clearly and when he didn’t speak clearly he made it clear what he didn’t like. The fans liked him for his sincerity but in private, at Milanello, he failed to get into the players’ heads.
By the time he was sacked, he had been in charge for 24 games. That should be long enough to make it clear the standards expected and to get the best out of the stars in any team, yet Fonseca did not.
Diverse problems
The management evidently do not see a way forward with Fonseca in charge of an ‘exhausted team, without leaders and without ideas’. Fonseca recently underlined the progress, he said \we no longer concede goals like those in Cagliari’ and yes, he is right about that.
However, Milan jumped from one problem to another, because they chased one issue away which was the goals they were conceding, then another knocked on the door which was a lack of attacking threat.
The match with Genoa was a dull affair, as was the one in Verona. Milan struggled against two teams that are heading for a potential relegation battle. A 1-1 draw against a Roma side in chaos did the rest.
Christian Pulisic’s injury evidently had a big impact but cannot explain everything: for the club it was perhaps a mitigating factor, not an alibi. Fonseca lost Milan step by step, with the widening of the gap from the top.
Results
His six months were tough, intense and more complex than his two years at Roma. Fonseca had adrenaline rushes, he won at the Bernabeu but he had to fight with everyone – the players, the fans at first, maybe the press – and he must have often felt alone.
He played a derby knowing that a defeat, and maybe even a draw, would have led to his dismissal. From there he had a jolt but probably never felt calm. So let’s go back for a moment, to the first press conference.
It was July 8, Fonseca spoke of dominant football, of ideas, of victories. He said he wanted to build ‘a courageous, offensive, dominant, reactive team, that doesn’t let the opponents think, with a strong identity’.
He didn’t manage to do it in five and a half months – the players didn’t help him – and no one will give him more time. Football is a tough business, that waits for nobody.
He was a mediocre and wrong choice since the beginning. But RedBird laid rotten foundations to build on and any coach coming in will have problems achieving something in this toxic environment.
At least before there was Paolo everyday making sure players were looked after and gave support to them on and off the field. Now there’s an errand boy, self proclaimed lion turned into Gerry’s lap pooch and that fraud one hit wonder scout showing their mugs only when sh*t hits the fan and even then they only come to lecture and demand more from the lads.
💯💯💯💯 @Ted – well said
That’s the thing. He did nothing special for Roma before..in Serie A….and we were expecting what exactly???
It’s not like he was foreign and did well like some other coaches. In that case the it’s a fair punt (Sergio, NES etc). But with Fonsy, we knew he was mediocre with Roma and still hired him.
Exactly, and we all knew that before he was hired. Waiting to be called hindsight again🤣
Very well said.
Ac Milan is limited club. By that I mean, all positions are not covered by strong quality players.
Emerson Royal is downgraded as right full back. Thiaw and Gabbia are two young potential good players. But they are not one who are going to attack the scudetto. Theo lost his sight. So our first defensive line is for 8th position at most.
Maignan is solid golkepeer. Midfield: Reijnders and Fofana are ok, but after Diaz we dont have that number 10. Who is going to run at defense and at attack. Pulisic on right and Leao on left are ok and our striker is miss. They cant cover the hole of lost Giroud.
So this is first 11.
On bench we have only Yunus and noe Bennacer, and evrything else is for 8th position lus youngster.
So solution is evident. Sale in July. Keeping best players, and bringing much quality players and focus on SerieA only. Cardinale should cover the difference of loss in this season, and changhe tranfser politics.
The thing is, he should have never coached Milan in the first place. So the one(s) who made the call also have to share the responsibility. But yeah, as we see it now, they rather hide and dodge than to directly face the problem.
And for Fonseca, I thought he finally got the key when he fielded 2 strikers (or 1 who acted more as midfielder or whatever) and playing a more direct game at that Inter match. Then right after the game he shifted back to this old idealism again. 4231 with a long-winded slow possession building from the back again. He’s simply too stubborn with his own mid without any achievement evidence to back his idea.
Issue is there were better coaches out there like Conte who were ready but they wanted control and influence on the transfer market. Our board doesnt want that, they want a yes man so they opted for Fonseca. He turned out to be a bad choice, not defending him but he is now being made the scapegoat for the milan management incompetence.
They didnt back him in the transfer market, he never had the chance to evaluate Salesmakers, he didnt want Emerson but was forced to accept due to Moncada. He never had the chance to develop our youngsters like he did at Lille i.e. CDK was sold and Maldini was shipped out before he got there. We didnt opt to bring back Breschianni either he went to Atlanta. etc. Management are to blame yet they remain in charge!
Si Amerika dan semua direksi mesti ganti. Kalau si Amerika dan Direksinya TDK ganti,sama saja hasilnya akan terpuruk. Tahun depan milan TDK akan merasakan liga Champions. si Amerika pelit dan banyak hutang kepada Elliot.
Other aspect most seem to forget is our board doesnt want to pay high salaries for top coaches. The last time we had a genuinely classy coach was Ancelotti.
Conte wanted 7-8m which they bulked at. De Zerbi asked for funds to have a revolution, they didnt want that either. Pioli was on 2m before he extended and bumped up to 3.5m when he won the scudetto. Now with conceicao they are taking a similar approach of try before you buy which is good if it works out but he is also a risky bet. i.e. we are not going after elite coaches rather keep taking risks that may or may not pay off. I like Conceicao, he did great at Porto so hopefully he can replicate that for us. Time will tell.
This guy was a joker since day one. He disrespected more or less every player with the exception of Rojal. I hope he did not have hands in decisions for ofloding Kalulu and Adli, as this will hunt us in years to come.
When management pays peanuts, they get monkeys!
Pennywise and pound foolish. They should keep penny-pinching while paying themselves the higest salaries.
Aint that cute?
Fonesca tried to play lovely football, I loved watching the team playing and attacking under Fonseca. But he never had the fans support or even won the players’ room. A lot of times you feel the players are letting him down. Milan has a strong team by the way with the exception of the back left Royale and a strong forward to replace Morata and Abraham
Here’s the deal.. it is now on the players to perform. They can’t blame the manager as an excuse. Even last year, there were a number of games they underperformed. No, they wouldn’t have beaten Inter to win the league, but they could have gotten a better draw in the CL. Fonseca confronted their crappy attitude which wasn’t popular. Now the players need to put up or shutup.