Capello warns Fonseca and De Rossi needed ‘time’ to flourish

Fabio Capello warns it would be ‘wrong’ for Milan to sack Paulo Fonseca even if he loses the derby with Inter, while he was ‘shocked’ by Daniele De Rossi’s Roma dismissal.

We are only four rounds into the Serie A season and already the first coach has been fired, with De Rossi shown the door at Roma and replaced by Ivan Juric.

Fonseca could very well follow, as his position is hanging by a thread at San Siro following one win in the opening five games including a Champions League 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool.

“I am shocked by De Rossi’s dismissal,” former Milan and Roma boss Capello told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“If you revolutionised the squad, then he has to be given time, not fired after four rounds. It would be wrong to fire Fonseca, even if he loses the derby. Fonseca also needs time, although now it is up to him to turn things around.

“Antonio Conte made his voice heard at Napoli, both in private and public, after failing the first game, and they were given a wake-up call.

“Fonseca has to get into the heads of the players, as they don’t seem prepared to face situations different to the ones they practiced in training. They almost seemed sated after the Scudetto and never got it back.

“Perhaps Zlatan Ibrahimovic could drill it back into them, that hunger is something he never lacked.”

Capello advises Milan and Roma on way forward

Ibrahimovic said on Sky Sport Italia before the Liverpool game that he was the “boss” at the club, though it was a tongue in cheek comment responding to questions over what his role actually was.

Capello referenced this when discussing how Fonseca can forge this new Milan into his vision.

“When I took on a team, I looked at the past, but also put my ideas in, you have to make wine with the grapes that you harvest. As for Milan, they’d have to ask who was in charge of the transfer strategy. Ibra said he is in charge, so he must have some responsibility too.”

Milan unexpectedly won the Scudetto under Stefano Pioli in 2022 and never quite followed up that success.

“If you win, then you have to build on those foundations, not destroy them,” continued Capello.

“In recent years, they signed lots of support strikers, but where is the midfield playmaker? Where is the centre-forward who is a fox in the box? Alvaro Morata is very different to Olivier Giroud, so a tactical change like that needs to be studied by the club and coach together.

“With Milan, I see 11 players scattered around the field, not a team. And that was the case last season too.”

So how would the veteran coach, now a pundit on Sky Sport Italia, turn things around for the Rossoneri?

“Coaches have to invent something. Carlo Ancelotti moved Andrea Pirlo, I put Marcel Desailly in front of the defence. At the very least grab the collar of a player who doesn’t run or help out the defence,” added Capello.