The coach’s harsh sentences make the players (and especially Theo) face their faults. But Ibra and the managers remain silent
There is only one man in charge of Milan. His name is Paulo Fonseca and he is putting his face and soul into building a better team. In recent times he has gone further, he has even put words to it. Many and hard. Not always right, to be honest: the accusations against the referee after the defeat against Atalanta were excessive in tone and wrong in form. But – as we know – football is also communication and, if there is no one who does it, it is up to the coach to try to protect the Rossoneri world from alleged injustices. Perhaps, in the circumstance, he needed someone to tell him: let’s leave it alone, there’s no point in going this far, putting this referee on trial. But he was alone and took a path he should have avoided. It happens.
the challenge in the locker room
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Alone, after announcing it to his managers, Paulo Fonseca also decided to challenge the Milan locker room in the public square. Or rather, a part of this. As soon as he won – in too painful a way – the fundamental Champions League match against Red Star, he revealed his bad mood to everyone. With a truly disappointed, almost suffering expression on his face, as if he felt betrayed. He could have gone in front of the cameras and said the usual banalities: the team fought, the opponent was strong (all the opponents are strong), we achieved a great success (even the successes are all great). Then, having closed the door of the Rossoneri’s large room, he could have taken it out on whoever he thought was guilty of that bad match. He chose a different path, this time the right one: he brought his disappointment to TV. A traumatic decision, because it put the players in front of their responsibilities: he saw soft, dull people, with their heads elsewhere, and he thought it was appropriate to report this situation.
the breakup
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We too have seen them, everyone has seen them, the wrong attitudes of some Milan players, but if it is the coach who highlights them, then everything changes. Because after those words there is no going back: either behaviors change or the rope breaks. And perhaps in the long run the bond that binds Paulo to the Rossoneri club also risks breaking, although today no one thinks of questioning it. But that’s another story: the Portuguese prefers to run into danger in order to try to find a solution. Fonseca did not name the players who, in his opinion, do not give everything for Milan, but the news says that yesterday, the day after the outburst, he spoke to a player: Theo Hernandez. The most disappointing of the Rossoneri if we compare the qualities (excellent) with the performance (terrible). He is not the only one who the coach considers – let’s say – distracted, so much so that individual talks could continue today. But Theo’s case is the most difficult to accept.
contract and goodbye
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It seems that there is something else in the Frenchman’s mind, his contract expires in eighteen months, already last summer he made it clear that he is thinking aboutGoodbye. A situation common to many players, not only in Milan, but a professional of such a high level cannot be affected to this point. Fonseca is right to expect more from certain players, you can’t be champions just for one season or when you have to discuss a contract renewal or transfer to another club. And Milan, who transformed Theo from a promising young Real Madrid player into an international champion, deserves to be respected. Fonseca may seem like a weak coach because he has a polite, never rude manner (in this he is a bit reminiscent of his predecessor Pioli). In reality he is not afraid to compete, even decisively, with the champions: in Rome, for example, he did it with Dzeko, and at Milan he did not hesitate to leave Leao and Theo Hernandez out of the team, later protagonists of the sensational rebellion of cooling break. Even if he’s not soft at all, Paulo shouldn’t be the only one to expose himself in situations like these. When he protested about the episodes of Atalanta-Milan, he was disavowed by president Scaroni (“The referees are always right”). Now that he has taken it out on the team, none of the Rossoneri managers, starting with Ibrahimovic, have spent words in public to support him, to give substance to his uncomfortable accusation, to make the weight and strength of the club felt alongside the trainer. The leaders are with him, they just don’t say it. But there is always time for the company to come out into the open: Fonseca has spoken, now it’s up to those who are on his side.
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