CorSera: The two big puzzles Milan must solve to rescue poor start to season | OneFootball

After the defeat to Napoli on Tuesday night to fall 11 points back of the league leaders, the media have sharpened their pens and have resumed picking AC Milan apart.

As Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) reports this morning, the expectations that had been created around Milan heading into the season were high. They made their coaching appointment in June, didn’t lose any star players and added to the squad with over €70m of new signings.

The idea was that the squad was strengthened and that a new coach would bring fresh ideas, but as the paper remarks, ‘between saying and doing, there is the sea’. The old proverb fits perfectly with the moment that Paulo Fonseca’s team is going through in the first part of the season.

Milan have not started off a season so badly in Serie A since 2019-20, confirming the fact that something isn’t working. Some blame must inevitably be given to the Portuguese coach, who it must be said is not being helped by the team and those who should be his most important players.

It is quite difficult to take stock of the situation at Milanello because of the complexities, while talking about and analysing the real deeper-lying problems and unknowns is something that remains hard to do.

However, there are ‘two puzzles’ in the eyes of CorSera: ‘Leao and the defence’. Milan have lost the exploits of their best and highest-paid player, while the rearguard – despite the additions this summer – continues to be extremely fragile and (always) commits the same mistakes.