Theo Hernandez has often fallen below the level expected of him this season, but a report has claimed this is the fault of AC Milan, rather than the player.
When looking to build a squad, ensuring the correct amounts of depth are in place is equally as important as the starting squad itself. After all, what is the point in a fantastic eleven, if the other 14 members of the squad are substantially below the level required?
Whilst Milan’s issue is not at this level, there is a clear drop between Theo and everyone else at left-back, and this is an issue which needs addressing. As his suspension proved, there are no clear deputies to him, and this only harms the Rossoneri.
However, we are now at a point where it is potentially harming the player.
In an editorial piece for Milan News, Antonio Vitiello states that the Frenchman is effectively forced to play, and due to his lack of rest, there is now a psychological struggle. With no rest, there is an eleated risk of him not maintaining his atttention level, and thus his general performance levels fall.
Didier Deschamps has already issued the warning about the player’s condition, and now, for their own good, the Diavolo must now listen.
Oh my god. I want to vomit reading this pathetic article. Can we make some excuses for this poor little spoiled millionaire player. Nothing is ever the player’s fault.
First of all, between the suspensions for his red cards and him being benched for his bratty behavior , he has already “rested” a number of matches this season. Stop making excuses for him.
Cue up the Maldini sycophants to say “he’s just sad that Maldini isn’t here anymore.”
Yep – Theo’s cost us points, along with most of the rest of the team with their poor play/attitude and yet the only people you hear get blamed are management and Fonseca. Both of whom have their faults but let’s be honest the players ain’t helping.
management is blamed for vile mistakes…
RLC in possession-style system. no cover for either Tijani or Fofana, no RB… cheapening out in every corner….
Except for Fofana and Morata this mercato was a tragedy and that’s a fact. they have used up entire international slots and have ignored young and quality Italians for too long. people talking BS about players like Rovella, Bellanova, Retegui…
all 3 would have been way more important than Emerson Royal, Tammy (who costed points vs Fiorentina and in the most unprofessional manner), keeping RLC…
Funny opinion. Théo became a top player under the previous management and coach. Under this management and coach he’s not the same. Reality. Like many other things that derailed over the past two years. Keep looking for excuses and who to blame but the management.
Yes Bart, the player’s performance is always someone else’s fault, never the players. Zero accountability, zero responsibility for the player. Man, I really hope you don’t have children.
Ben this was one of the worst articles I’ve ever read. You literally said nothing but poor little Theo who wants 9M a year should only play once a week. Tell that to Ronaldo or Messi
Theo plays A LOT. Mental fatigue isn’t a myth. American sports organizations usually have mental strength coaches. Not sure why that hasn’t been adapted at Milan yet.
Overall compared to 20 years ago, players seem more mentally fragile. Not sure what this shift is down to. But it’s also true that they didn’t play this many games two decades ago.
Anyway I’m sure rest and rotation would improve Theo’s form.
“Theo plays A LOT. Mental fatigue isn’t a myth”
Bingo!
I’d also add is not that they didn’t play this many games it’s that they didn’t play this many competitive games. In the past, the friendlies used to be a reward for playing well at your club. A mini vacay if you will and a nice relaxing friendly game. Somehow along the way ppl complained that the intl breaks were useless so they made it competitive. So instead of switching off for a couple weeks they have to play competitive games (Nations League is a prime example).
Literally said this in the other article. He’s mentally and physically drained. He has no backup and plays insane minutes for both us and France. He has played the most minutes (or close to) the last few years. And we expect him not to be fatigued somehow??
Milan has played 11 Serie A Matches so far. Theo has only started 7 of them. He’s missed 2 due to red card suspensions. He only played 30 mins against Torino and only 20 mins against Lazio. And Milan has had an extra week of rest due to the Bologna postponement. He’s played fewer minutes this season then ever before. Can we stop making excuses for him at some point?
yeah but even though season restarts it doesn’t mean previous seasons aren’t in effect… he’s not some character but an actual person
we both need to find his sub and give him a bit of reality check… both sides are in the wrong imo
That’s not an excuse. It’s finding a reason and that’s as legit a reason one can have. He’s played ins.ane minutes and has no viable subs. I’ll repeat…he has NO SUB. Even Deers gets subbed when he was drained last year irrc. What about Theo? Look at players’ starts to matches played. The smaller the gap the more they play from the start. This dude clocks crazy numbers, something like 95+%. No one comes close over many years as he does
But we expect him to somehow b.omb up and down the field incessantly for many years in a row?? He’s very fking tired. It’s clear as day to see. Even his France coach said as much.
Look at your own stats. You’ve basically pointed out the only two times he hasn’t played. And even with that he’s still the fourth highest used outfield player used this season by minutes.
Last year he was the most used and by over two games which is alot. The year before and the year before and the year before all either the most or top 2…….
It’s as if you didn’t even read my post. Theo has been rested this season. 67% of the minutes in Serie A. Only started 7 out of 11 games so far. He has been rested by France as well.
When exactly has Reijnders been rested? He’s probably played more minutes than Theo the last 2 seasons. He seems to be fine. Same with Pulisic.
Stop gaslighting ppl here with this ‘you don’t read my post’ nonsense when clearly I made reference to what u replied with in your post. If u want to debate do so but don’t pull that c.rap.
You’re looking at things in the short term while I’m looking at a more aggregate over time on the player’s body. The numbers Theo has put up over the last 5 or more years, no one else in the team has come close. Not Deers, Not Puli. (Maybe Morata but I’ll have to check).
In the short term, everyone’s minutes have decreased due to Fonsy’s rotations. This doesn’t mean ppl aren’t tired. Over the long run, minutes carry through, accumulate and takes a toll on your physical as well as mental was the point in case you needed my post spelt out for you. Regardless of your own definition of “rest” above (because I READ your post), Theo still is clocking the fourth most minutes in the team. How is that rest for you? The Torino game where he played only 30mins? He just came back from the Euro where his team made a deep run and is a protagonist. Lazio? Technical choice?/ also very early in the season. Apart from that very early on, he has had to play almost every other game for the maximum minutes. Especially because he has no replacement (see my original post). How convenient that you forgot UCL fixtures in there because him (and Deers) are the only player to have played all minutes in all games in that competition. Further, the types of runs he makes very few can perform them and it lends itself to fatigue. Apart from Rafa, no one is clocking 8 or 9 second sprints from one end of the field to the next. It comes at a cost. However it’s fundamental to his respective teams’ creative output.
“When exactly has Reijnders been rested?” If you can’t recall Deers being benched last season due to being tired then it will be difficult to even have a conversation…and that was just last season smh 🤦♂️. At least he got to rest when he was clearly overused.
sempremilan.com/gds-reijnders-unusual-feeling-benched
“He’s probably played more minutes than Theo the last 2 seasons…Same with Pulisic”
Theo: 4051 minutes 23/24
Reijnders: 3861 mins 23/24
Pulisic: 3589 mins, 23/24
(Haven’t counted intl in there or else it’s going to be even more skewed towards Theo so let’s not even go there. Also France went all the way to WC finals and semi of Euro not to mention he’s been in the France setup longer than Tijji has for Holland. Tijji played at Alkmaar in 22/23 so that makes comparisons difficult but if u want to go there be my guest). Puli hasn’t played this many minutes since his Dortmund days and he’s also load managed.
According to Fbref, Theo’s is only behind Puli, Fofana and Deers this season in minutes played.
But you do bring up a good point because I’m also concerned about the overuse of Puli and Deers from last season to now. Even Fofana now is a bit of concern as we see him week in week out. You should be too. We don’t have viable alternatives in these roles either though we could make do. We can’t make do at LB though. At some point that bill is going to be due and it seems like it’s this season.
“The numbers Theo has put up over the last 5 or more years, no one else in the team has come close. Not Deers, Not Puli. (Maybe Morata but I’ll have to check).”
LOL!!!!! So the matches 4-5 years ago are making him tired now? OK. Sounds plausible… 😀 😀 😀 😀
@bb putting it nicely, do u guys actively feign inability to read or are you trolling? Did u read the entire thing or u just stopped at that part you’ve snipped? Did u not read the part about accumulation ? You’re telling me a player who plays 5-10 more games each season for the past 4-5 years doesn’t have more fatigue in his system ? That’s a whole season extra in his body. That’s what you’re laughing at? ??🤦♂️
@mykidplayssoccer now do you understand what I have to deal with on the forum?
Yeah, going back 5 years… The length they will go to make excuses for this guy is unreal. Like I said he has been rested more this season than ever before and he’s playing worse. Started 7 out of 11 matches. What would you have him do only start half the games? Don’t be ridiculous.
You’re going around in circles here and keep repeating the same point without reference to anything I wrote. That he played 7 of 11 Serie A games seems to be your main and only point of argument.
Yet you’ve:
– not acknowledged context, as I’ve pointed out, 2 of those games were early in the season after he returned from the Euro later than everyone else, the other two is due to suspension. Other than that he’s been used when available adding to the fact that he has no credible backup and is therefore forced to play more than anyone else in their position.
– not addressed the fact that he plays other games not just Serie A (UCL for instance where’s he’s used for 100% of those games).
You’ve also been shown, with the use of data, that other player in fact have NOT had the same minutes as Theo. In fact, far from.
You’ve also been shown that Reinjders have been left out of the team due to fatigue as well.
Players are not robots. Does Theo have an attitude issue recently? Sure I can buy that. But what I can’t buy is just simply saying get on with it without really looking at the whole picture. He’s been ran to the ground for years now without breaking down, performed admirably and forms a key part of the attack and is one of the best left backs in the world. Yet we’re fiddling our thumbs on a renewal knowing very well other clubs can offer greater chances for trophies and even wages. His idol/mentor is no longer there. They’ve given him a coach who has won less than he has in the league rather than one who can shut him up with his accolades. They’ve dismantled the team which he won a trophy with and replaced with arguably inferior or lateral players (bar one), each year feels like a rebuild. They’ve basically not matched his ambitions and the club has not been publicly close to him (and Rafa) in recent times. And you wonder why he has a problem? Sheesh 🙄
He played an insane amount of games both with Milan and France. Considering we have no proper backup for him for many seasons now, he’s rightfully exhausted. But folks here live in some fantasy football world where players cannot be humans because they’re paid in millions.
They feel this is FIFA or Football Manager and you rest them for a week and the energy bar goes from red to green and they’re good to go. All stats and common sense points to him being overworked
I remember two lazy goals conceded against Parma where he got outran by Dennis Man (twice).
Lazy marking against Zapata on Torino’s 2nd goal.
Penalty not scored against Fiorentina.
Penalty conceded against Fiorentina.
Red Card against Fiorentina for arguing with the Ref after the match was over.
The Stupid clearance against Madrid that led to the Vinicius Penalty.
If those two losses and draw had been wins instead, we’d be 7 points better and 1 point off of 1st place, with a game in hand, EVEN with the Napoli loss.
So yes, I think Theo’s errors have really hindered us this season.
Correction, we’d be 8 points better and in Top spot with a game in hand.
Yep. No arguments here.