"Chaos at Milan"
The crushing defeat on Wednesday in Zagreb against Dinamo Zagreb set off the detonator. Milan has plunged into the most classic of crises, where everyone is on the defendants' table. But as always happens, the person most at risk of losing their job is obviously the coach, even though he arrived just a month ago, immediately winning a trophy, writes Tuttosport in this morning's print edition.
It’s paradoxical, but Sergio Conceiçao’s position is in fact under scrutiny.
Not so much because of the results, the loss to Dinamo Zagreb, though heavy, was only the second defeat in eight matches, but because of the atmosphere around the team.
The mood at Milanello, in the locker room, is heavy. The hard and uncompromising approach chosen by the Portuguese coach, while raising the team’s level of focus and battle spirit, allowing them to win four comeback games, has also led to excessive nervousness, which was evident, for example, in the confrontation with Calabria at San Siro (though there had already been strong discussions at the training center) or in the first half in Zagreb, where many players seemed uneasy.
What happened in the last few days with Morata is exemplary: the Spaniard did not get along with Conceiçao’s methods and asked to leave. And apparently, he wasn’t the only one.
For this reason, in addition to wanting to tighten ranks after the defeat against Dinamo, yesterday Furlani, Ibrahimovic, and Moncada were at Milanello to speak with the coach and the team.
They wanted to understand what’s happening, what the problems are, and how they might be solved. Because it’s not possible to play only one good half per game. This happened in the Supercoppa, then against Como, Juventus, Parma (where they played almost 90 minutes), and Dinamo Zagreb. Conceiçao, who had already been verbally critical of the team and the environment in previous weeks, said in Croatia: "For me, passion is more important, putting something extra of yourself. Otherwise, we could change coaches, the best in the world could come, but it’s difficult. The problem is the foundation." But in January, that foundation cannot be completely changed, and so... the derby might once again represent a crossroads. Fonseca won it in mid-September and saved his position for a couple of months, now it could be Conceiçao's turn.
The club wants to understand the team’s response, whether the players are still with the Portuguese coach or if a difficult fracture is emerging. Unless the former Porto coach himself takes a step back: after all, with his statements, he is continuing to make clear how difficult it is for him to work at his best with this Milan. And if the Devil were to dramatically find a third coach, who would it be?
On one hand, some still push for a tactician (Xavi, Edin Terzic), but within the club, some are starting to think that what is needed is someone who knows Serie A well to right the ship, someone like Max Allegri.
