Yahoo Sports Longoni takes aim at Milan’s ’embarrassing metamorphosis’ and ‘stubborn’ Fonseca
Journalist Andrea Longoni has heavily criticised AC Milan for how they performed against Cagliari last night after the Champions League win over Real Madrid.
The deserved 3-1 win over Los Blancos in midweek had many hoping that this Milan side had turned a corner, but it proved to be a false dawn as they dropped more points in the league by drawing to struggling Cagliari.
Fonseca made the decision to use a five-man defence against Real and it proved to be a beneficial switch in terms of balance. However, there were question marks regarding whether the same precautions were needed against a struggling Cagliari side.
In the end, the defence underperformed yet again and allowed three goals against a side who had only scored nine in 11 Serie A matches heading into the game.
Longoni published his weekly column for MilanNews in which he reflected on another difficult evening for the team in the league after such a memorable night in Madrid. The piece is titled: ‘Embarrassing Metamorphosis. Horror defence. Stubborn Fonseca.
“The metamorphosis from Madrid to Cagliari is incredible, but unfortunately it is a film already seen this season. The approach to the match was unacceptable, as was the general management of the game in terms of concentration,” he began.
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“You cannot concede 3 goals against Cagliari. Or maybe we should say that you cannot take three goals EVEN against Cagliari: yes, because it has now become a sad constant in this season, that of conceding goals and chances in bursts to any opponent.
“Fonseca, we have been saying it since August, must focus on the defensive phase: yesterday, among other things, he should have fielded an extra midfielder, by now even the stones of Milanello have understood this. And in the post-match explanations he cannot consider Pulisic as a midfielder.
“Madrid should have taught that this team needs more balance, which only one more midfielder can guarantee. Because if Milan didn’t win yesterday, it wasn’t because they conceded too many goals and not because they didn’t score.
“The 3 points yesterday would have allowed them to sort out the standings a bit and today to close the gap on at least one between Napoli and Inter: and instead the reality is that even fourth place is far away.
“The series of errors at the back is inexplicable at certain levels. Emerson Royal, after the Madrid exception, returned not up to par, the two central defenders disoriented, Theo evidently lazy (as often happens to him before leaving with his national team), as well as irritating. Bad, very bad.
“In the centre why not propose Tomori who had done very well on Tuesday and guarantees a better matched pair? It must be said, then, that the choice to launch Camarda from the first minute was courageous, but not exactly spot on. Hoping that Fonseca has not been taken by ‘phenomena’.
“It’s a shame not to have taken full advantage of Rafa Leao’s splendid brace. No, the Portuguese with the number 10 on his back was not Milan’s problem. In this regard, on the occasion of Cagliari’s third goal, in addition to Theo Hernandez’s sleep, it is worth mentioning that Okafor was absent during the fallback phase. Okafor, not Leao…”
