Mauro Tassotti, former Milan defender and assistant coach for many seasons, spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport today about the defensive problems of Paulo Fonseca's team.
Here are his statements:
"How to intervene? Proceeding step by step. At this moment, Milan is struggling to implement an aggressive and dominant style of play. It's a particular moment in the season where the physical condition is not ideal, and many players are new and arrived later. A coach needs time to get into the players' heads. Now, they should be more cautious; there will be a time when they can fully implement the coach's ideas. This Milan team is not capable of doing it now, but maybe in 20 days, they will be."
Tassotti on other factors contributing to the defensive fragility:
"The team lacks balance; it splits into two and concedes goals on counterattacks. I think they want to defend more as a unit compared to last year when they played more man-to-man. But I don't know how much time they've had to work on this: Strahinja Pavlović and Emerson Royal arrived later, and these things don't just happen naturally. Understanding and perfecting movements don't come with a snap of the fingers; it takes time and dedication. And above all, they need to defend as a team: if Milan wants to be offensively driven, the attacking players must help out defensively. I'm not just talking about Rafael Leão; in modern football, you defend and attack with all eleven players. The current defenders can't defend one-on-one or even in outnumbered situations without help from everyone."
On Emerson Royal and Milan's new 'offensive tendency' on the right flank:
"Actually, I'm not sure if Milan needs all this offensive tendency. There's already Theo Hernández who attacks, and normally you try to balance that with another full-back who is better at defending. Davide Calabria is an important player for the team, and if he's lost confidence, it needs to be restored. It's essential to build team unity now more than ever."
On the 'cooling break' incident with Theo Hernández and Rafael Leão at the 'Olimpico' stadium, Tassotti offered this comment:
"It was an ugly image to see; the players should apologize, even privately in the locker room. It was a crazy thing, and Theo's words seemed like excuses made for public consumption. The attitude was wrong; there's nothing more to say."
On the performance so far of AC Milan's Serbian center-back Strahinja Pavlović:
"He can help the team; he has qualities, just like the other defenders. But everything depends on how you defend, on the knowledge you have, more than on the individual qualities. Milan has conceded a lot because it has been a disconnected team so far. The defensive unit needs to move together, in harmony. And the others need to help, starting with the attackers. This is the mentality that anyone playing for Milan must have. This way, they can maintain the ambitions they had at the start of the season."
