Almost everyone is asking the same question after AC Milan’s win over Parma: why was Sergio Conceicao so angry with Davide Calabria.
La Gazzetta dello Sport publish a report which begins by talking about ‘the concert, the bottle, the warning’. Conceiçao’s afternoon was much more hectic than expected and maintains a sensational trend: he’s been at Milan for less than a month and to everyone it seems like a year.
Everything has happened to him and he has made everything happen: noble victories and defeats without a fight, arguments with the players, a trophy, battles of principle won and others still to fight. He has made a big impact, that’s for sure, and has changed the atmosphere at Milan.
The scene at the end of the match against Parma was ugly, however, not worth of a Milan coach in the eyes of Fabio Capello. Conceiçao had the wisdom to admit it publicly, but what was behind it?
On the eve of a very important week – with direct qualification for the Champions League round of 16 at stake in Zagreb, and the derby on Sunday – we can zoom in something and it related to an event on Friday night.
Conceicao not appreciate that some players went to Lazza’s concert two days before the game, and he made it clear to the players. A photo from that evening shows Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Theo Hernandez, Francesco Camarda and Calabria with the rapper Lazza, a lifelong Milan fan.
According to Conceiçao’s unwritten principles, it could have been avoided, even if Milan were aware of the players’ presence at the concert. Similarly, the Portuguese did not take Calabria’s reaction to the substitution well: he threw a bottle away, picked up by the coach, and punched the bench a few times.
So, it was a case whereby the ex-Porto boss didn’t seem to like the decision to go to a concert on Friday night, and this was then brought to boiling point when Calabria behaved in a further unprofessional manner after coming off.
In terms of seeing what it means for his selection, Calabria will be suspended against Dinamo Zagreb and that means Conceicao doesn’t have a difficult call to make.
On the flip side, Emerson Royal is injured and Kyle Walker is not eligible yet, so the favourite to play is Filippo Terracciano, with Yunus Musah and Fikayo Tomori as alternatives.
why dont we start jimenez at right back?
Because he isn’t available for Champions league. unfortunately, he didn’t play in Italy long enough to qualify for the U21 list
Another Conceicao casualty, along with Gabbia, who is only playing because Thiaw is injured. Also gone are Tijji’s goals, which carried us through December when Leao and Puli were not available.
What are trying to say?
Gone are Tijji’s goals? He scored yesterday.
Lol
Jimenez is not part of the Championsleague squad list
Bro was so fumed at Conceicao that he forgot this fact lol
I don’t get it really. Why didn’t he address the issue immediately? How about the joy of the winning goal? How is it that after experiencing the joy, he’s suddenly able to reignite his anger towards Calabria’s reaction? I just feel like it’s something else which we don’t know yet.
Exactly. Still unprofessional. Even if the players were unprofessional the manager should hold to a higher standard. I mean I like that he says what he thinks but he is acting like a child as well. I think someone should slap him properly once or twice and he wouldn’t behave like this.
“I mean I like that he says what he thinks but he is acting like a child as well. I think someone should slap him properly once or twice and he wouldn’t behave like this.”
Acting like a child? And YOUR response is “slap him properly”. Ooooookay then… Mature? Sure. 🙂
“I don’t get it really. Why didn’t he address the issue immediately?”
Why? How about he was focused on WINNING THE MATCH instead of babysitting our ex-captain.
Cheek, Calabria, Theo… Why camarda joined these underperforming players who hit their ceiling??
You are not even 20 years old and you decided to go to freaking concert just before the matchday??
You are moving like a 50 years old player on the attack. No speed, no agility… Instead of working on himself, he joined to fooking Calabria lol
This is the problem when you have terrible leaders like Theo and Calabria, our so-called captains. The other players follow. Can’t wait until Calabria is gone and we sell Theo. Then we can get a real culture change in this team.
The coach is smart to bring this direct unknown behavior which caused us alot in the last 18 months. Yes it went above in public but nothing going to solve it with taking it easy and later.
Players unprofessional standing has to be known for the fans , media and their respective national teams. Kill it now, ones and for all so we focus in the remaining of the season.
So the concert was all the way Friday?? A whole two days before the match. I thought it was like the night before or something. Plus this ain’t the dinosaur age, people can go to concerts and be perfectly fine the next day. This is just being strict for no reason at all. Let ppl enjoy their lives too. Good luck with Walker in that case haha
It’s ugly but it’s also not fair if we put all the blame to Conceicao. In some previous interviews he said something like he didn’t have a home and him and his staffs are 24/7 at Milanello to give all the tools that the players need.
And when he saw his players, moreover the ones that should be so-called leaders on the team, didn’t even share the same ethic as he did, of course it’d bring out something in him.
Have to say I’m with Conceicao in this case. Don’t we all tired to see soulless play from our players (moreover in the ‘regular’ matches). Something’s just not right. The chemistry, the bound, not just from coach – players, but to the management level, is just not there.
And if that means Conceicao had to act ugly to shake things up, so be it.
Even children won’t react like Conceicao did!
If you want a change, Manager should act like a man.
Something happened on Friday shouldn’t be a reason for sunday afternoon. Especially training on saturday also.
Manager should act like a man not worse than child.
“And if that means conceicao had to act ugly to shake thing up, so be it” Supported by me
Those who complain yeah it was just Friday 2 whole day. Certainly have no principles. If rules aren’t obeyed and principles aren’t upheld how are we supposed to get results?
Remember Inter Players or was it Conte said during interview that his Players aren’t allowed to have sex before matches. Going to a concert is a far cry
If the incident happened on Friday, he had the whole of Saturday to iron the issue out privately. If he was so angry about it, why wait till after the match to address the issue. Could he now say he was adequately focused on the match if he was stewing inside? He says he wears his heart on his sleeves, well his mouth should not be on his sleeves too.
Imagine if this was fonseca, he would be crucified right now!
The coach—and the player—disgraced the club, simple. There should be no excuses. Attributing it to them being hotheaded is just trying to deflect the rot in the dressing room. Why did he attack only Calabria? How about the other guys in the photo? Why not them? You stripped him of captaincy, so he thinks he is no longer accountable to anyone. That’s another issue to dissect. When Leao & Theo mutinied against Fonseca; I didn’t see any sanctions, so what is all the fuss about? The rot starts at the head.
Ibra goes around doing photo shoots on trips when Milan is in a small crisis; no one bats an eyelid, so why can the players not go to a concert?
double standards everywhere.