It's pointless to talk about yet another lackluster performance from Fonseca's Milan, who, even in Cagliari, not only fail to win but also concede three more goals. True, the first goal probably should have been disallowed for Luvumbo’s active offside, but it’s also true that they had two goals disallowed and created at least five clear scoring chances on Maignan’s goal, who turned out to be one of the best on the field.
Defensive issues to work on for Fonseca...
Against Cagliari, the defence was made up of the central pairing Thiaw and Pavlovic, along with the fullbacks Emerson Royal and Theo Hernandez. Out of the four, none managed to earn a passing grade; instead, their scores ranged between 4 and 5. A staggeringly poor average…
Milan has conceded 14 goals in the first eleven Serie A matches, and since 2022/2023, the Rossoneri are also the team that has conceded the most goals in the first five minutes: 10! When people talked about the wrong approach, whether under Pioli or Fonseca, the numbers don’t lie!
Adding the four Champions League matches, the Rossoneri team has conceded a staggering 20 goals in 15 games (practically an average of 1.3 goals per game).
Returning to Serie A and the recent history of the AC Milan team over the past few seasons:
They have conceded 14 goals, as they did in 2016/2017 under Montella and in 2018/2019 with Gattuso. Allegri did worse in 2013/2014, with 19 goals conceded, while similarly negative numbers were recorded in 2014/2015 (under Inzaghi), 2015/2016 (under Mihajlovic), and 2017/2018 (again under Montella), with 16 goals conceded in the first eleven matches. One less goal (15) was conceded in the first eleven matches of the 2011/2012 season with Allegri on the bench, and in the 2019/2020 season under both Giampaolo and Pioli.
These negative numbers are putting Fonseca and several players back on trial! The break will surely be of little help, but at this point, if the decision is to continue with Paulo Fonseca (yes, he won the derby and in Madrid, but many issues remain from previous seasons!), then they’ll need to start turning things around, as Milan cannot afford to fall outside the top four (or five) positions, which ensure entry to the 2025/2026 Champions League!
There’s also the risk of collapse if no reaction comes from the matches at San Siro against Juventus and Empoli.
