The AC Milan head coach, Paulo Fonseca, has spoken to the media in a press conference in view of tomorrow's Serie A fixture against Udinese at the San Siro.
Here's what the boss has said when asked: 'Milan - Udinese has been in perfect balance in recent years...'
"Honestly, I haven’t looked at that statistic. I knew there were great difficulties in winning here against Udinese, and tomorrow will be no different. Udinese is a good team, they’ve started the season well, are very aggressive, play well, and are highly motivated. I’m sure we’ll need to be at our best to win tomorrow. It will be intense and very difficult."
How has the week been?
"The first day was fine, I didn’t see anyone. I was angry, after those kinds of games, I don’t like seeing anyone. We didn’t have many players for training, so we took the opportunity to train with the youngsters from Milan Futuro. The international players only arrived yesterday. We did what’s normal: we talked about Fiorentina and started preparing for the match against Udinese. I know there will be many questions about this. Yesterday, it was important for me to talk about the Fiorentina match, today we focused more on Udinese."
What did you talk about? Fonseca said:
"Everything you’d expect, everything that’s normal to talk about after what happened. I don’t turn a blind eye to problems, maybe in other teams, things are more public, but I addressed the issues by looking everyone in the eye."
Your quiet leadership is misunderstood from the outside?
"I don’t flaunt my leadership, I’m not an actor. What I say, I say inside the locker room, face to face. If there’s a problem, I don’t care about the player’s name, I address it directly with the team or the players who made mistakes."
Did you talk to Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
"We traveled back together by train, and we talked after the game, as you normally would."
Will those who made mistakes in Florence be punished tomorrow?
"We’ll see tomorrow. For me, no player is more important than the team. You have to take responsibility when you make mistakes. And if someone makes a mistake in this team spirit, it’s tough for me. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow."
You’re often criticised for not having control over the locker room...
"I don’t need to prove anything, I’m not an actor. In football today, there’s a lot of need to be seen, but I’ve been this way since day one. Ask the players if I’ve been this way from the start or not."
Reijnders said, 'Little by little, we are putting the coach’s instructions into practice.' How far along is the process?
"I want to be honest. It’s hard to change. It’s always hard to change. Are we changing? Yes. I’ve reflected on this too, and I need to understand that it’s a big change, and I need to be more patient. We need more time to change. We’re starting to see important things, but we need to keep going. We don’t have much time to train, but little by little, we need to improve in the areas I believe we need to improve."
Who will replace Theo Hernandez?
"I haven’t decided yet."
Before the break, you said you wouldn’t rotate much. Now, with so many commitments, will that change?
"Maybe. We need to do that at the moment."
On Yunus Musah:
"I think I’m lucky to have a player who can play in different positions. Playing as a winger right now doesn’t seem like an option. He can play in other positions."
Could Noah Okafor play tomorrow? Fonseca replied:
"It’s a possibility, but I don’t know if he will play."
Davide Calabria and Theo Hernandez won’t be available tomorrow. Who will be captain?
"When I arrived here, Milan already had three captains: Calabria, Theo, and Leao, because they’re the players with the most appearances for Milan. I may or may not agree with this, but I’ve respected it, and I have to respect it. What I think is that this team needs more leadership. It’s not important who wears the armband on the field, but it’s important to have 2-3 players in the locker room who share this leadership. I think we have other players who can help these leaders: being a leader isn’t just about wearing the armband... We have other players who can help with this."
Does the schedule allow Milan the time you need?
"I’m working hard to help the team grow and get them to where I want them to be. We’re doing what we can with the little time we have, and the players are responding well. We have to keep going; I continue to believe we’ll be a different team in the future."
From now until the end of October, there are three Serie A games and one in the Champions League. Is this the first truly crucial moment of the season?
"Here, all matches are important, so I don’t think too long term because the most important one is tomorrow. Tomorrow’s game will be very difficult, and the little time we have is used to focus the players on the next match. Here at Milan, every match is crucial, decisive. Maybe for the fans, the derby was a decisive moment, but for me, they’re all decisive."
