After the shock Champions League exit at the hands of Feyenoord, speculation has intensified regarding the future of Sergio Conceicao.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was given the Tapir d’Oro yesterday and as part of the presentation he was asked about the future of Conceicao, giving an answer that leaves little room for doubt regarding the immediate future.
“He’s doing well: when he arrived things changed. We are still not one hundred per cent, but we are improving. He has our full trust,” he said.
Tuttosport (via MilanPress) report that Conceicao’s future on the Milan bench – despite Ibrahimovic ‘s words yesterday – is still up in the air. The confidence and backing from the Swede is effectively only a guarantee that he will remain in charge until the end of the season.
The main objective now, after the elimination from the Champions League, is to finish in the top four (or five, although it seems difficult) to qualify for the next edition of the top European club competition, while the Coppa Italia remains a secondary objective.
If Milan fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League, the Turin-based newspaper claims that it could spell the end for Conceicao after what would have been just a few months in charge.
That is because the Rossoneri could take advantage of a clause included in the contract signed until 2026 that would allow them to terminate it without having to pay him the last 12 months.
Mixed feelings on Conceicao so far. He’s yielded more points so far in the league but hasn’t been able to impose a style onto Milan play. Some of this is probably likely due to the timing of his arrival. I’d be OK with him sticking around another season to see what he can really do with a proper off-season.
But I’m also not a big fan of the substitutions he makes, and the fact that he is having to force Felix into this lineup at the expense of Reijnders and his use of Puli.
He’s shown this team to have a fighting spirit, namely in the super Coppa. But also this team at the same time is still psychologically weak and collapses. As we saw against the Dutch.
Mixed bag so far. Maybe his rough style worked at Porto and maybe the level of the players there were open and receptive to that style. I’m not sure the same style will work with more established players at Milan. He hasn’t fixed any disciplinary issues or mental weakness at this team has shown.
I don’t think it’s his style, I think it’s his lack of tactics and misuse of players. Yelling at players to play harder is a ridiculous strategy. If that’s the issue, pull them out of the game.
Conceição was among my candidates around the time when I thought Fonseca should be fired, and I still think he probably would have done a better job had he gotten the team in the summer instead of mid-winter with never more than 3 days to prepare a game (including travelling away and travelling back) but honestly unless he somehow pulls something huge for the reminder of the season (like winning 90% of the remaining games and winning the Coppa Italia) I’m not so sure he should be kept for next season.
He wears his heart on his sleeve and seems very passionate and eager to win but the way he communicates with his players seem to cause more frustration, anger and stress than actual motivation and desire to win.
I don’t know what to make of these stories of him arguing with Morata, Bennacer, Pulisic and lately Fofana but the way he butted head with Calabria publicly makes me think this is prone to happen more often than not and that’s not good.
I won’t criticize the tactics and playing style for now but we should note that he is a 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 type of coach and will probably try to make that our standard formation if he is maintained. This formation doesn’t work with a player like Reijnders who is great offensively but crap defensively and put huge pressure on the wingers and Pulisic is now having to track back even more not only to cover up for the work that Leão isn’t doing but now also Félix.
Félix might be the nail on the coffin for me, because he is a player Conceição choose personally while never coaching him. Félix looks to me more of a disturbance rather than an asset, although who knows, maybe given some time he’ll improve and adapt.
Wow! Excellent points.
well said
The sooner this coach leaves the better. No real tactics or style of play other than grabbing players and diving. It’s just ugly football. I can’t see any top players wanting to play this anti-football style of play, or deal with his constant screaming with no ideas to back it up.
Pulisic will probably leave if he stays. Reijnders too as he has completely been negated in Conceicao’s offense. He’s managed to ruin what were are top 2 players this season, just basically handing the keys to our offense to Jao Felix.
He may manage to squeeze into the top 4 with this ugly style of play, but at what cost? Alienating all of our top players… So he can rebuild Milan into Porto? No thanks.
See there’s no need for this because conceicao will get it done I’m 100% sure of that
The problem is not the coach, but the owners. They don’t know what the hell they are doing. They can bring in Guardiola and still not get past a CL group stage or finish 4th. The owners are clueless. All they want is an American audience and financial profit. If that is the objective, the club is destined to fail. The best is to sell the club when it’s a good time that Milan are a big club. Their value will decrease soon and Cardinale will be left with a big loss later on.
Milan must contract Ten Hag, caused Conceicao couldn’t control room situation. Many Milan player’s not respect Conceicao anymore.