GdS: Results, tense relationships and mentality – the real reasons Fonseca lost his job

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·30 December 2024

GdS: Results, tense relationships and mentality – the real reasons Fonseca lost his job

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.

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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.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

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.