Fonseca: ‘Modern football a circus, but Milan not aggressive enough’ | OneFootball

Paulo Fonseca called the penalty decisions a ‘circus,’ but admits Milan ‘were not aggressive’ enough in their 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina. ‘It’s not a tactical issue.’

The Rossoneri had won three Serie A games on the bounce, despite losing both Champions League matches, but capitulated 2-1 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

It was a wild evening in Florence, as Mike Maignan saved the early Moise Kean penalty and was beaten by Milan-owned midfielder Yacine Adli.

David De Gea managed to parry spot-kicks from both Theo Hernandez and Tammy Abraham, but after Christian Pulisic’s acrobatic equaliser, Albert Gudmundsson grabbed the winner from a long goal kick.

Fonseca fuming at Milan attitude in Florence

“I who love football do not want to contribute to this circus. Everything is a penalty now, in our favour or against, this is not football when you give a penalty for the slightest touch. I don’t want to get into it,” Fonseca told DAZN.

Did the lack of squad rotation take a lot out of the Milan players in what is effectively a 4-2-4 system?

“I think we’d done well with this structure until now, it’s not that Fiorentina created that many opportunities. What we lacked was being aggressive. In the first half, it was too easy to allow the goal on a throw-in and the second goal too with the long ball. I told my players, it’s not a tactical issue, it’s not being aggressive in defending and attacking.

“When you fail to convert two penalties, it’s tough to win a game, no matter how many chances you create. I felt like the crosses into the box didn’t have enough quality either.”

The Gudmundsson goal came from a long De Gea kick that Kean knocked down, as Fikayo Tomori missed it entirely.

“It is honestly difficult to explain how they scored those goals. It was a lack of determination, as we weren’t as aggressive closing down those spaces as in recent games, so that allowed Fiorentina to play it long and win the second ball,” confessed Fonseca.

There were more problems after the final whistle, as Theo Hernandez was sent off for insulting the referee, so he will have to sit out a ban.

Some of Fonseca’s decisions also caused controversy, such as taking a visibly irritated Pulisic and Rafael Leao off in the second half.

“Leao was my choice, as I wanted more depth with Okafor at that moment. Pulisic had a flexor issue during the week and I was worried it would be aggravated. I thought Chukwueze came on well and created chances.

“I don’t know what happened with Theo.”